DIY Friday: I Get It Together...A Little

After I made the Wall De Jewelry, I decided to organize ALL the things!! I'm currently at about 73% organized. Naturally. But for a while now, I've needed a better system for my makeup. I generally only wear what is accessible and the rest is put away only to be seen on very random days.  I did tons of interweb searching and brainstorming...tubs, drawers, boxes, glasses, trays, DIY holders... nothing screamed at me. Well, nothing useful anyways.

One day I decided on plastic storage because I found these Snap N Stack storage bins for 50% off at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I got 2 different sizes, came home, reorganized my things, everything fit great and I thought I was super cool!  Well... until I realized that all I did was put everything in new bins that still required a few steps to access. Now, the thing is, my lazy factor sort of reaches an all time high in the bathroom. If I can't see it and grab it easily, it's not getting used.  So it was back to square one.

About 2 days later I ended up with this. No, this isn't everything I own.. I have a full sink/vanity with drawers and also a small closet. All to myself and all full with other various things.  I have a problem. So what??

Here's what I did:

Top Shelf: I got all my perfumes that originally took up a whole shelf and put them on a 2 tiered turn table from Wal Mart for $6.  I can't find this particular one on their website, but it's in the kitchen department near the utensil holders and cabinet organizers. 

I don't love that it's white plastic and will probably take some spray paint to it at some point, but right now I'm still in awe of how much room it's given me and wondering why I never did this sooner!

There are lots of options for something like this. Like this bamboo one from walmart, or stainless steel one on amazon.

The rest of this shelf holds my very useful, albeit ugly, clock, some cd's for my Indian guests and my radio/cd/ipod player, which I can't live without. These items have been here all along and I imagine will never leave. Kinda like the Black Eyed Peas.

Middle Shelf: After realizing drawers were the way to go, I got 2 Sterilite 5 Drawer Mini organizers for $5 each at Walmart (the website only shows a set of 4, but you can buy them individually in the store) All my makeup, so far, fits into these 10 small drawers. No snaps or locks so I can see and access everything without any excuses. Again, I'm not crazy about the look, but it's function over form at this point.  My research kept bringing me back to the Muji acrylic drawers, which look great and have excellent reviews, but I decided to go the economic way. 

For my makeup brushes, I took the easy Pinterest route and stored them in a Dollar Store candle holder and some clear beads I had left over from my bestie's Bridal Shower and boom...insta brush holder! I've actually been using a lot more of them now that I can see them. Again, why didn't I do this before??

The basket I was using near my sink for my daily makeup things is now used to wrangle all my daily creams and such, so now they aren't floating about like homeless products. Throw in my trusty fan and the middle shelf is complete!

Bottom Shelf: aka the Case Shelf. The silver train case holds my first aid things and sanitary items. Everything is close by but not out and exposed.

My Old School Caboodles case holds all my nail things. That's right, I still have it. It's ugly as sin, but I simply can't let it go. And it's the only case big enough to hold my unnecessary amounts of nail polish.

My other silver case is a New School Caboodles which is currently unemployed, but I'm sure I'll find something to fill it with shortly. That's never a problem. 

So far the re-do has been great and given me much more access to my things. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect counter top tray for some daily things near my sink. So far no luck, but I haven't lost hope! Perhaps there will be a Christmas Miracle on it's way. 

PS. Up top is the giant toothbrush I made in college. It still makes me laugh so I keep it always.

P.P.S. Yes, the bottle of perfume that is too tall to go on the turn table is indeed a J. Lo perfume from many many moons ago. No, I did not buy this. And no, I don't know why I still have it. 

A Birchbox Box

My first Birchbox has arrived!

So Birchbox.com is this great website that offers tons of great beauty and lifestyle products for Women, Men, and as of late, Home. The website is filled with tons of products from high end, upcoming and everything in between including exclusive products and sets. The site also has a full blog, online magazine and videos. What more do you need?? As you shop and review products on the site you earn points that turn into credit for more products! And come on...who doesn't want more products??

But besides all that goodness, Birchbox.com has The Birchbox. A small box of beauty and lifestyle products samples that are mailed right to you for $10 a month! Seriously. It's only ten bucks. With no contract. Every month there are new samples sent right to you, and if you love a product  you can purchase a full size right on the website. So smart.

This is like the ultimate adult beauty grab bag. How exciting!!

I signed up with them about a month ago and it took a few weeks for me to get an invite to join the monthly Birchbox club, but you can shop on the site at any time. Novemeber's box arrived yesterday and I'm still beaming about it!  Here's what I got!....

 It all arrived in a small pink box. I thought, 'how cute!" but it got better!

 It opened up into a brown box all nice like! 

The Contents:

1. A holiday gift guide complete with things for men and women. 

2. Oscar Blandi Pronto Texture and Volume Spray

3. ModelCo Fibre Lashxtend Lengthening Mascara

4. Shea Terra Organics Whipped Shea Butter Ultimate Moisturizing Body Creme

5. Twist Band Hair Tie

6. Color Club Nail Polish in Put A Pin In It

7. John Varvatos Artisan Perfume

8. A Coupon for $15 off Chromatic Heels

9. A Giving Pouch specially made to be packed and given to someone else, complete with cute sayings on the back!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, November's box theme was Give. The small note inside explains the theme and the nonprofit organization that Birchbox is working with, The Art of Elysium which encourages actors, artists, designers and musicans to dedicate their time and talent to children who are battling medical conditions. Such a great cause and such a wonderful effort! 

 To help out The Art of Elysium simply by doing some shopping and/or gift giving, check out: birchbox.com/promotion/artofelysium

So not only is Birchbox sending me tons of awesome things to play with, but they're doing good too?? So amazing!

I'm excited to try out all these products and already can't wait until next month's box! Until then, I'll be an artisan smelling, volumized ponytail wearing, mascaraed, soft skinned beauty with metallic nails.

I see a great future together with Birchbox, but in this relationship, I could share. So go now and sign up! 

PS....don't forget your guys either. There's plenty of stuff for him and a Men's Birchbox!

Live Nudes!

There comes a time when a girl needs to add some 'regular' colors to her selection of hot pinks and red lipsticks. My time came about a year and a half ago when I realized that I need to start looking for nude lip things. 

After running around Ulta trying tons of products with a nice sales rep who has a very similar skin tone to myself, and explaining what I'm looking for, she brought me over to the NYX section and showed me 2 colors that she likes herself...

 NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Stockholm ( left ) and Abu Dhabi ( right ) $6 

**currently buy one get one 50% off!**

Right, Stockholm. Left, Abu Dhabi

But before I get into it, let me tell you thee most important information about these tiny tubes.

They smell....like CAKE BATTER!! I'm not even joking. I would never joke about cake batter. I was so pleasantly shocked that I almost lost all my big girl self control and licked the sponge applicator. Almost. 

Ok, down to business....NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream actually says it all. The finish is a very soft matte. It doesn't have that dry finish that makes you look like you've been deprived of water for 2 days. It's a nice even matte, like natural lips with no balm. However, it's not very drying on the lips which I was shocked about. I was expecting to hate it  but it actually glides between your lips like a regular lipstick. My lips remained soft the whole time, just never looked glossy.

This is not a stick, not a gloss, not a lacquer, cream is the only word to describe it. It's thick and opaque like a cream, without being heavy like a concealer. I like the opacity because it conceals just enough of my natural lip color to give me a true nude lip. Since it's rather opaque it will show any creases in your lips, so I recommend exfoliating your lips really well before wearing this and/or using a waxy balm before hand to give you a nice smooth finish. 

Stockholm is a pink based nude while Abu Dhabi is a tan base. Both are very natural colors with undertones that could really go cool, warm or neutral very easily. At the moment Adu Dhabi is almost my actual skin tone, which I'm just not used to. I've been using it as a base to layer other colors on top and it's perfect for that! The Stockholm has some pink in it so looks more deliberate so I tend to be ok with wearing that on it's own, but we'll see over time. This is still a big step for me. My lipstick drawer is full of intimidating colors who shunned these little tubes at first, but they're making fast friends in there. 

Happy Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving holiday is officially behind us. I got to spend time with the family and my new(ish) niece and was reminded again just how much fun (and not so fun) stuff she has get to get to. I have a feeling there will be much talk about beauty products in our future and I look forward to her being old enough for me to test things on her like my own person faux bunny. 

Until then, I'm just thankful that I had a childhood/adulthood that included some awesome things...such as, but not limited too...

Loves's Baby Soft

That's right. Love's Baby 'perfume'. I use the term perfume very lightly. But seriously. if you didn't have at least one bottle of this that you cherished as if it were your very first Chanel No. 5, than I have no idea what you were doing with your youth, because this right here is where it was. 

And yes, the link up top is for a 2 pack which the niece shall be receiving. Well, she'll be receiving one, I'll hold on to the other. You know, to spray on letters that I write in my Trapper Keeper before I mail them out. 

What? Doesn't everyone still have their Trapper Keeper??

A Mascara Faceoff: L'Oreal vs. Cover Girl

A few years ago when Cover Girl launched their Lash Blast collection I decided to try it out to wonderful and life changing results. I fell in love with their one of a kind flexible plastic bristle brush. For the first time, I had a mascara that went on easy, with a great color and didn't clump or made me use 3 extra brushes to make it look right. 

My purple tube of Lash Blast Fusion, is the product I make sure I have and never run out of. When I find them on sale or have a coupon, I scoop them up because opening a new tube of mascara is like a personal Christmas happening in my bathroom.

 But after some thinking, and coupon holding, I decided to try out the L'Oreal Voluminous False Fiber Lashes Mascara. 

 

L'oreal False Fiber Lashes in Blackest Black: $9

• Deep, rich black with a velvety finish +
• Great thick formula that indeed gave me false lash fullness +
• Easy application +
• No real flaking or crumbling +
• Went on clumpy  - 
• Formula was so thick that the ends of my lashes looked like they were cut, like false lashes. + if you like that look - for my own personal taste.

Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion in Very Black: $7

• Great dark black color +
• Great formula that gives me good volume +
• Can apply as many coats as I want withouth clumping +
• No flaking or crumbling
• Amazing brush that separates and never causes clumps +++

L'Oreal is easily the winner in the volume department, but the end result was far more 'false' and just much more unatural then how I like my lashes to be, and for that reason, my Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion remains as my Go To mascara, delivering on volume,color and the best mascara brush I've ever used. 

Though L'Oreal's False Fiber Lashes has a richer, deeper black color, the regular spoolie brush that doesn't separate at my lashes at all is what finally lost the match for me. It's been so long that I haven't had to worry about clumps or lashes sticking together that having to add that step into my routine is just not what I'm looking for. 

The brushes in question. 

Left, L'Oreal False Fiber Lashes Right, Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion

Now, if there was a way to get my Lash Blast brush into the False Fiber tube, we might have something life changing. But until I can figure that out, I'm sticking with my tried and true Lash Blast. 

Some DIY Shoes

You may or may not have noticed, but I've added a DIY button to our little family here at Blush. So far it contains a few beauty DIY's, plus my jewelry organizer Diy. The thing is, diy runs deeps in my blood. I come from a long line of 'I can do it myself"!  Or maybe that's just me and my dad, but either way, I can't help myself. So instead of keeping them to myself, I will try to share them with you folks. At least the stuff that pertains to beauty and fashion and the like.

So today I'm going to show you how this happened....

These are the shoes that I wore for Halloween, and probably will in life as my costumes tend to end up there.
It was all very easy. I would say a 1 paintbrush on the DIY scale of 5 paintbrushes but is slightly time consuming because of paint drying time.

Supplies:

Nail Polish Remover

Cotton

Some paint brushes ( I found the cheap regular brushes to work best for me with this paint)

Fabric Paint

• fabric paint is flexible, which is why it works best in this situation. If you were doing just a heel or part of the shoe that isn't in an area that is constantly flexing, then you could get away with using a regular acrylic paint
• If you're painting real leather, invest in some leather paint like Angelus.
• The Tulip paint I used said 'matte' but it actually contained some glitter in it, so it made it a bit chunky. But it was the color I wanted. I would suggest their regular Soft Fabric Paints or going with the Slick. 

Shoes to be painted. (mine are a fake leather pair from Payless)

Bowl of candy optional, but totally advised. 

STEP 1. Using the cotton, clean all the surface to be painted with the polish remover. Try to make sure there is no dust left on the shoe

STEP 2: Start painting! Start with nice thin coats.  

This is a photo of the first coat. Yes, it's very thin....this is going to take some time.  Give some drying time between coats. 

Around coat 4

Around coat 7 or 9

 From here on out I started layering it on much heavier. Fabric paint dries flat so your brushstrokes won't be seen very much so it's ok to use a heavy hand now. 

And somewhere around coat 25 you get this!

STEP 4: Clean up any paint that made it onto the soles or areas you didn't want painted. I personally just scraped away at it with my nails because the soles were rubber and the paint came off ok that way. You can use the nailpolish remover and some cotton or q-tips, or you could avoid this step by using some masking tape or painters tape to cover the areas you don't want painted beforehand. I mean, if you wanna be fancy with it. 

STEP 5: Let the shoes 'cure'. You want to let the paint sit for about 3 days, if possible, to really make sure the paint is dry and ready to be worn. You can also hit them with some acrylic sealer, but I haven't done those to mine just yet, but I'm mulling it over. 

STEP 6: Wear in public like a one bad DIY mofo!

 

A One 'n Only Mask

Here in the North East winter is coming up fast and that means constant cold air and dry heat, which isn't exactly the kindest thing to hair. But I have something to make is all better!  (this is also the line I would have used if I ever had a role in a super cool after school special selling drugs on a play ground)

One 'n Only Restorative Mask  

$10 without a Sally's card for 8.5 oz $4.39 for 3 oz.

It says right there on the front, Reconstructs & Repairs, Hydrates & Moisturizes, Texturizes & Shines. And ya know what, they aren't lying at all! This one tube takes my dry, brittle, bleached ends and makes them feel soft, healthy and shiny. It also makes my virgin hair, soft, shiny and a lot less frizzy. 

It's an extremely thick formula, almost like cake frosting. In the summer, when I refuse to drive with my windows up but later regret it when my hair is one big tangled mess, I can put this mask on in the shower and comb through my hair with only my fingers to get all the knots out. It's an absolute miracle!  And even then it doesn't weigh my hair down, major points!

The instructions on the back say to leave this on your hair for 7-10 minutes. After re-bleaching my hair to put the pink in I did the full 10 minutes and it worked like magic and also replaced any chemical smell with the sweet, beautiful smell of argan oil. I love the smell and I would imagine everyone else will too since I've never come across anyone who hasn't liked the smell of argan/moroccan oil. 

I also use this mask as a regular conditioner, forgoing the 7-10 minutes for a quick 1-2. Many times I only apply this to my ends that need it the most, and go with a lighter conditioner closer to my head, especially when I use it as a Toning Conditioner to keep my pink nice and bright. That's where I mix some of my hair color in with the conditioner and use that after shampooing to keep the color nice and vibrant.

One 'n Only as a huge line of argan oil products. I know quite a good number of people who use their Moroccan oil and other products and really love them, but I haven't really delved into their line all that much. But because I love this mask so much I'm tempted to try other products of theirs, but I'm also reluctant. What if I don't love them as much?? I don't want to ruin the beautiful relationship we already have. 

Be Still My Tarte

I'm really trying my hardest right now to contain myself as I type this because I want to write this is nothing but all caps and exclamations.

Here's why..

 Tarte Statement Lip 5-Piece LipSurgence Collector's Set $34 (in stores at Ulta or at Sephora)

Are you dying??  Because you should be dying. 

5 FULL SIZED LipSurgences for the low, low price of $34. This is beyond a steal. This is a straight up full house burglary. 

Let's math for a minute.  Each LipSurgence sells for $24 EACH. 

$24 x 5 = $120 

$120 - $34 =  $86

That's $86 bucks of pure unadulterated savings!

 From Left to Right:  Escape, Enchanted, Expose, Sweet and Elite

Tarte breaks down their ulta luxurious LipSurgence products in 3 catagories. Lip Tints, Lip Lusters and Matte Lip Tints. This collection gives you all 3. 

Escape Lip Luster: A shimmering light pink with silver and cool undertones. This goes on glossy and sheer but leaves a lot of shine.

Enchanted Lip Tint: A sheer rose with warmer undertones. This goes on with some shine, but not like a full gloss. 

Exposed Matte Lip Tint: A matte nude shade that leans to the side of pink. The swatch photos make this look much more pink, when in reality it's a very nude shade that could easily compliment both cool and warm skin tones. 

Sweet Lip Luster:  A shimmery peachy pink, this color is very glossy and has a lot of gold shimmer to it which compliments the warm peach so nicely. 

Elite Lip Tint: A sheer melon that leaves the lip with a bit of shine without the heavy gloss. This is a perfect summer melon color for any skin tone. 

All the LipSurgence products go on as easy as Chapstick but really finish off a look flawlessly. Each shade is sheer but can be built up for maximum color and all have a soothing peppermint smell that leave your lips with that slight tingle that lets you know that not only does it look good, but it's also helping your lips in the process! 

In this collection of 5, Elite, Escape and Sweet are all special edition colors you'll only find here. Enchanted and Exposed are  some of their best sellers in their permanent line. I began using Enchanted some years ago but recently ran out...until now! 

Years ago, Tarte didn't put together too many gift sets, I guess the demand was there and they've come out with these holiday sets that are so perfect. You should run out right now and get this set, as a gift for someone special or to have for the holidays. Because what holiday party is complete without a little shine on your lip?? (or nude if you opt for Exposed) 

Don't Forget The End Caps

We all know End Cap Cosmetics  The brands revered not as worthy as Cover Girl and Revlon and are banished to the end caps of drugstore aisles. I think they get a bad rap. I mean, the end caps usually have better lighting, so who's smug now L'Oreal??

Milani Cosmetics is an End Cap Cosmetics brand, but I've grown to love their colors and apparently so do other, since they always seem to be half sold out. But that's a good sign, right?? 

This year I came across their Powder Eyeshadows, which I've since found is hard to find in stores, either because they are sold out, or the store doesn't carry these particular eye shadows in the line. 

Milani Powder Eye Shadow in Just Perfect, Pitch Black and Shocking Pink $6 each. 

 First of all, that Shocking Pink, is shocking. I picked that one up first because it was such an amazingly bright pink that I just had to have it. I've been coveting this shade of pink in other lines for ages. Such as Napoleon Perdis Color Disc in Pink Slink for $25 which I never bought because I thought it was too pricey, but this Milani is almost a dupe and it's only 6 bucks! Complete. Steal. 

Here is a swatch on the back of my hand in two angles just to show you how rich these colors are. 

I've worn these colors a few times now and love them all. Just Perfect is a peacock green with a lot of gold in it. I honestly believe it's called Just Perfect because it would be so flattering to absolutely any eye color. Honestly. On blonds, brunettes, blue eyes or brown, this is lovely for day or night.

Now, Shocking Pink is another story. I have used it once to create Jem's signature hot pink eye look, and it's the only thing I needed and it lasted all night! I've also used it in a more sheer way to highlight a daytime neutral eye. and loved it just as much as wearing it as a hot pink on it's own and even after 10+ hours, I've come home very happy. 

The line is complimented with both shimmers and mattes. The shimmer shades are great but it's really the matte ones that take the cake because it's especially hard to find matte eye shadows in drugstore brands. I'm not sure why that is, but one day I'll get to the bottom of that. 

I love mixing matte shadows with my shimmers because you get pure color and not shimmer piled on shimmer, which just causes more light to reflect from the color and you're left with more shine than color.  I also love the way the Shocking Pink mixes with the Pitch Black to make this extremely deep burgundy wine color. Perfect for the new Oxblood trend that I am in love with! And blending is super easy with these because it's easy to go from sheer to heavy color without much fall out or endless minutes of building up color.  

For 6 bucks a pop, plus constant sales at CVS for beauty bucks, these perfectly packages shadow pots are a huge beauty buy for sure. Each disc holds a lot of product but thhere is no brush or mirror with it, so it's minimal in it's packaging which makes it lightweight and easy to throw in a makeup bag, all things I appreciate. But beyond all of those things, it's the colors that really stand out and win the show here. Milani's color choices are always bold, saturated colors and that's something I pretty much live for! So thanks Milani, for giving me a cheap and easy way to wear wonderfully obnoxious eye color!

Being Organized Isn't a Crime

This post isn't about makeup products or hair or skin care, this post is about the time I came home with a bunch of necklaces after a shopping trip and realized that I've completely run out of room in my jewelry box area and something needed to be done.

I've known for a while now that my accessories were getting out of hand and that my only option was to start moving vertically. So on Sunday, I gathered some supplies and came up with this to create a super mega organizational wall!

I'm not going to lie to you folks. This is not everything I own. Not even close. But this is wall now holds most of the necklaces I own, along with some large earrings that take up considerable real estate in my jewelry drawers.  

The whole project probably only took no more than 3 hours and it was surprisingly cheap! But that all depends on how fancified you want to get with this. 

Materials:

Cork Board $8 at walmart

Wood Frames. I had these on hand, but you could find similar ones at a Dollar Store

Cork Tiles. Also on hand, but can be found at Walmart for about $5, or craft stores.

Felt in black and white. Around $4 at Jo-Anns. The white was a remnant piece, so even cheaper! 

5/8 in. Cup Hooks, I had these on hand, but you can get 100 for $4 at Home Depot

1 in. Black Paneling Nails, Less than $3 at Home Depot. These also come in white, light brown and dark brown. 

Picture hanging hooks, on hand. 

Tools:

Scissors

Xacto knife

Hammer

Something with a flat edge, like a butter knife or putty knife. 

I don't have step by step photos of this because it all came together pretty fast. So I will do my best to explain it all in words. 

I started with the small 4x6 frames. Once I took out the back and the glass, I used my Xacto knife to cut the cork tiles the same size at the back of the frame and a piece of white felt about 1/4 inch bigger all the way around. 

I simply laid the felt down, cork on top and popped it into the frame and closed up the back. No glue no nothing! 

I figured out the placement of the nails by just laying the earrings on top and made sure to put the nails in at an angle. 

At the bottom of the frame, I screwed in 3 cup hooks and that's it! Small frames complete! 

The larger board was even simpler. First I started by spray painting the molding a chrome silver. You could use anything here, acrylic paint, fabric, new molding, embellishments, there are really endless possibilities. I choose some spray paint I had on hand because it was simple and quick. 

Cut a piece of felt slightly larger than the board. Lay that on top of the cork board and using the flat edge of something like a knife or chisel, push the felt into the molding until all four edge are under the molding and it's nice and taught. 

From here I laid out my necklaces on the board to see how many would fit and how I wanted them to line up. Then I hammered in the paneling nails at an angle like this...

 And that's it! 

Use the picture hooks to get everything on a wall, or use the small frames as table top frames. And you're done!

There are really endless possibilities to this project. I chose to use black nails on black felt for the larger board so that I can move the nails around or add more as I need them.  I didn't use very ornate frames or anything because I wanted simple clean lines but this is definitely something you could have fun with. And for about $15-$20, this is pretty much an organizational steal. 

I loved the way this turned out and how much more accessible my things are. I've seen many versions of wall boards for jewelry floating around the internet, but this whole display is perfect for me in just about every way. 

Now if only all those pearls and stones were real...

So very unlucky

I normally don't do 2 posts in a day, but this was rather shocking and I had to share.

Not long ago, I remember reading an article about how Lucky Magazine apologized to the public for a horrible cover they did with included America's Sweetest Meltdown, Britney Spears. But then Halloween came around, and then The Storm That Shant Be Named and I forgot about it.

As I began going through my stack of Get-To things, I ripped open the plastic on some recently received magazines to discover this...

Sweet Baby Jesus what have they done to you Britney?! 

Seeing this in person is far more horrific and traumatic. And I have never really thought of Lucky Mag as one to have bad covers! So where they pulled this defunct Halloween wig from is beyond me! 

I count the days until I can afford wigs and look so forward to having a collection of ridiculous styles I can change up daily, but my biggest fear is having a wig that looks like this monstrosity. 

Lucky Mag actually put out an apology for this, by Twitter no less: 

“Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on our cover! As always, we will share with our team and we’re sorry to have let some of you down.”

It was even worse inside. Yikes. 

I would have got to this sooner but Lucky got creative and sent out the magazine with this temporary cover added on post print.  Saying it was  "A sample of the new Lucky experience on the Windows 8 desktop"

Nice try Lucky.  But no amount of Windows 8 will erase this image from my memory. 

Colorstay

The word Colorstay brings me back to the 90's and you all know why. The Revlon Colorstay Matte Lipsticks that we all just had to have! Of course, in a color called something like Raisin or whatever was completely dark because, well, it was the 90's.  Since then, Revlon has revamped the Colorstay line quite a few times and again recently in the last year. So naturally I had to try it out again because it's one of those things you just have to go back to now and then, like Fun Dip or Roseanne episodes.

Revlon Colorstay 16 Hour Eye Shadow in Serene  $6 

 I don't know why, but I'm forever on the lookout for the right blue eye shadow or blue shadow palette. So I picked this one up with high hopes since the highlight color was a warmer yellow and not a frosty white silver. 

I put these swatches on my hand with the small sponge applicator that makeup companies think is a good idea to include in compacts. I personally think they just create a very bad habit for young girls starting out but hey, if you don't have bad habits to break then you aren't doing it right, right? 

The darkest blue actually has quite a bit of metallic sparkle to it, which you can't quite see in this photo. The slate blue color is a matte, then a frosty light blue and finally the creamy vanilla color. I used the 2 darkest blues and a bit of the vanilla color to make a daytime blue smokey eye over my Urban Decay Primer Potion.  I was really pleased with the application of these, no fall out from the brush and really smooth. I was also really happy with how long they stayed on. I believe it was a full 12 hours before I took it off and it still looked great! 

However,  the colors in this particular palette didn't really quite do it for me. The darkest shade was nice, but had just a bit too much glitter in it for my liking and the next color was just too light on my tan skin and looked kind of garish, though I wore it all day anyways.  Revlon has a good number of palettes and shades in their Colorstay Eye Shadow line, but the problem I find is that I only really like/want one color, from each. In their older packaging I might have brought a few, popped out the tins and made my own palette, but now they've gone and changed the sizes on me and have totally messed me up! It would still be doable, but doesn't quite seem worth the effort and waste. That being said, on fairer skin, most of their colors would work really great and I think their grays, greens and tans are really lovely colors that I would definitely pick up for summer when I'm ok wearing a bit more sparkle on my eyes and also because I really loved how well it stayed on and also the PRICE! For $6 bucks this is a truly great beauty buy.  

 And as usual, Revlon included the standard packaging Paint By Numbers illustration on the back that I don't  think anyone actually uses. In theory, it's correct and sounds great, and even though I know the rules I feel like anytime I follow one of these How-To charts I end up looking like Mimi from the Drew Carey Show.

The Master Class

Since my B.E. September Issue didn't work out, I brought it back to Sephora and did some browsing and came out with the

 Smashbox Master Class Palette $59. 

 For another $19 bucks I went from 8 eye shadows to 28 Eyeshadows, 8 Cream Eyeliners, 2 Blushes, 3 Soft Lights and 4 Lip Glosses.  Nope...you didn't read that wrong...see!!...    

This palette is amazing and I've been in love with it since I got it home. 

Each side is covered with a plastic film that has the name of the color on it and is attached to the palette from the top. Some people find the plastic annoying and in the way, but I love it and I find that it keeps everything nice and neat and clean. No cross coloring or shadow in the gloss and so forth.

On the left:
24 eye shadows + 4 Brow Tech Powders, (which I use as eye shadows just fine.)
The shadows are gorgeous. My camera and computer screen really don't do this palette justice. Each color is highly pigmented so they go on effortlessly and blend so amazingly. I've begun to cultivate my favorite combos already and even blending some to make new colors such as my most perfect deep maroon using Cabernet and Aubergine. Along with amazing colors in neutrals and bold colors, there is also a mix of matte and shimmer colors which I am beyond excited about. So many palettes forget to give you mattes but Smashbox didn't!

Most palettes are limited edition colors, which is great, but once you use them up, then what??
Most of these shadows are actually colors in Smashbox's permanent line Photo Op Trio eye shadows which is why there are white boxes around sets of 3 shadows on the plastic. So if you should happen to run out of a color, you can easily find it in their permanent line. I love that!

I didn't do swatches for you because there are so many that I would have to go all the way up my short arm just to get them all in. But also because they feel so luxurious that I didn't even want to waste them on my hand!

Right side:
8 Cream Liners, which are always a great seller by Smashbox and for good reason. The colors are bold and pigmented and they really last! Normally Smashbox sells a palette of these in 10 colors for $32,so to give us 8 of those in this amazing palette, well that alone is a steal...but there's more!
2 Blushes, that I thought I would hate but turns out I am in love with Warm Apricot and have been wearing it daily since.
The 3 Soft Lights are Smashbox's highlighting powders. In the palette, they don't look like much, but each one has subtle and refined shimmer in undertones of coral, pink and gold. On cheekbones and brow bones these are gorgeous and make me wonder why I never invested in highlighting powder before!
4 Glosses, which I admit I haven't used too much only because I would have to scoop them out into something else to bring with me to reapply later, but I can say that the colors are really great and go on really creamy without that heavy sticky feeling.

The palette itself is made of a hard cardboard with a black patent finish that is closed together with magnets. No fussy snaps or fold over book flaps. It really is meant for the makeup lover who knows what she wants and wants to get in and out fast. However, because the case itself isn't plastic, it is prone to a bit of buckling if left in very moisture ridden areas, as I'm starting to see now, but nothing major and nothing that can't be fixed with some proper storage.  I really love that it's a very thin and sleek palette. I'd much rather pay for good products than fancy packaging. 

If you are a newbie, or oldbie, it comes with a pamphlet of looks and tips etc.  Which I promptly threw to the side so I can begin playing. 

 If this palette were only the eye shadows, I think I would be just as excited as I am now, but Smashbox went above and beyond and put a palette that would normally be only for professionals in the hands of the public.  I am so excited to have something to travel with that has everything I need in one spot but mostly I'm so excited to get so many quality products for such a great price! 

I really don't think I'm going to find value and quality like this again. 

But then I saw this...Studio Pop Ultimate Palette.  You're killing me Smashbox!! Killing me!

September in November

Back in September I picked up Bare Esentuals Ready Eyeshadow 8.0 palette in September Issue $40. At the time I was so pumped for the whole new line of Ready products from B.E. that I just wanted everything!   September Issue seemed like the perfect set for me. Some great neutrals and a pair of great 'color colors' in a small compact that is perfect for travel!

 The palette is in a really nice silver mirror finish and comes with a small pamphlet of tips and a few looks to create with the colors. It's handy, just not necessary, but I appreciate the thought.

 I especially like the back of the palette because it shows each color and the name clearly. If I were to store this and had a ton of palettes this would really help me find what I'm looking for fast. That's key. 

Once I got inside, the colors were there before me, almost too nice for me to dig into. But dig I did! 

I played around for a while with the colors and created a few looks on my eyes, which I never took real photos of. Until now, I've only used the loose shadows by B.E. but have been really pleased with how well they stay and blend. These seemed no different. They went on very easy and blended well to make new colors or just to blend in general. The tiny brush is double ended and felt nice and soft and would be really great for touch ups. I especially liked that one end was a pointed pencil brush to get into the corner of the eye or to do a lower lash line. You don't see that often in compacts.

I really had high hopes for this palette and wanted to love it so badly. The problem however, was that I just didn't. And the only reason I don't love it is because some of the colors just weren't bold enough for me.

• Glitterari is a really nice pink neutral with golf flecks. This I liked. 
• Pret-a-porter is a solid flashy gold! I love this gold but it's far too flashy on my tan skin to really wear in the day but it would be a really great color to blend into things.
• Ensemble I was very excited about and was hoping for it to be a nice deep eggplant on me, but once I got it on, it seemed rather muddled and didn't pick up the deep purples I was hoping for.
• Couture, which seemed like a rich golden chocolate color seemed to be neither here nor there on the color chart for me. Though it has nice golden tones to it, this did nothing for my skin tone and seemed to just wash me out a lot.
• Editor's Pick  is a lovely green teal that I was excited to try. That is, until I got it on me and realized that all the brightness that is in the compact didn't translate to skin at all. Rather than a bold teal, this went on me more like a frosty army green. In itself it's a really nice green that could be worn as a neutral, no problem. But I wanted the bold teal and was really disappointed in this color on my skin.
• Statement was another one that looked wonderfully bold in the palette. A bright orchid color that I was sure was going to be amazing with the dark chocolates in this set. But once I got it on, I laid very flat. The color seemed like a very matte shadow with flecks of metallic sparkle in it. Though it felt great on the skin, the color was just too washed out for me and even with layers, it was hard to build up the color to anything brighter than a pastel. 
• Silhouette and Tres Chic I don't have swatches for, but they are both very matte neutrals mostly for the brow bone and highlighting. 

The packaging is great. Perfect size and great brush included. The product itself is great, goes on smooth, blends well, feels great and lasts a full day (with primer), but the part I'm disappointed in, is the colors in this particular set. Looking back on it, that's something I should have realized before I picked it up. B.E. is not MAC or Make Up Forever. Though they do make some bold colors, their shadows are far more subtle and really focus more on lovely daytime looks and basic nighttime smokey eyes.  I knew all this going in, but like I said, I was so caught up in the Ready movement that I just thought I could will my way into some bold colors in a ready to go palette! 

I've since returned this set because I knew it just wasn't meant to be, but I still go back to the store and the website to check out their new B.E. Ready Eye Palettes and to see what new Limited Edition sets are out, especially now that the holidays are coming up.

I know it didn't work out this time with us, but I'm cyber stalking Bare Esentuals until I decide that I want to give us another chance. It wasn't you Bare Esentuals....it was me. 

Halloween Happened

So yes...it's been a while. Without going into too much detail, it's been a rather hectic and stressful time for my family due to some really unfortunate turns of events in my sister's health. I've spent the end of summer and my fall so far mostly in D.C. with her and her family helping out best I can.  I can't say with total confidence that we're out of the woods just yet, but things are progressing as best they can and my sister remains just truly amazing and is taking this all in stride......and Percocets....which make her hilaaarious!

As planned, I came home late October because I. Love. Halloween.  It's this amazing holiday that adds up everything I love in the world and puts it all into one day! Costumes. Makeup. Candy. Parties. YES PLEASE!!  Normally I spend my summer deciding on my costume, or how to best create it because more than the candy and beer, I love making my costume. This year I had to go with my Plan B Costume. You have to have a Plan B costume, people.

I was Truly Truly Outrageous Jem!

 Holly also had the right idea. I mean, the only thing better than Jem is TWO Jems!

Costume: Simple Dress

                Glued Belt

                Light up earrings from the Bachelorette Party section

                Black pumps painted a million times over

                Purple tights that I wore all day but kept on because it was cold and I'm apparently old now. 

                Problematic wig that sheds more than I do

                Hot pink makeup. That I had on hand.....naturally.

It occurred to me sometime after midnight that I didn't have a makeup photo for you guys. So this was the best I could do.

Makeup:  Milani Eye shadow in Shocking Pink
                Cover Girl Eye Enhancers In Drama Eyes, I used only the white silver
                Bare Essentuals Round The Clock Eyeliner in Midnight
                Cover Girl LashBlast Fusion Mascara in Very Black
                Cover Girl Lipperfection Lipstick in Spellbound
                Urban Decay Primer Potion

The makeup was really simple to do. First I used the Primer Potion all over my lid and under my eye and on my cheekbone as well. On top of that, the Milani shadow went on great. I managed to make the line with only my brush and went in with a q-tip only at the end to clean it up.  On the inside corners of my eye and on the top of my cheekbone, I used the white silver color shadow from the Cover Girl quad to give the pink some pop. Lined my eyes, put on some mascara and another coat of hot pink lipstick (another coat because I had been wearing it all day) and viola! Brown Jem I became!

I wasn't dance battling anyone that night so I can't say the makeup would last through an intense performance, but I never touched my makeup all night and it stayed pretty darn well!

This year however, Halloween felt different.  First, I had to go with Plan B, but then there's the business of Superstorm Sandy.  sigh.  As an East coaster  Stupidstorm Sandy has taken over my life for the past week.  Last year we had snow ON Halloween, this year we had no power. My house was one of the lucky ones and we got our power back on Halloween night, but there are plenty of people out there still in the dark, a full week later.

If you were able to get up this morning and take a  hot shower and get dressed inside a warm home with a roof on it, then you are truly fortunate also. At any time, but especially in times like this, I urge you to donate your time or money to foundations like Red Cross or the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. There are plenty of organizations out there helping out and every bit helps.

I am truly grateful to have our power and luxuries back on. Without them I wouldn't even be able to compete in the War of the Wig Hair.

Seriously wig people. What are you using to keep that plastic hair on?? Spit??

I shall not go down in this war without a fight!