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! 

Never Fail

After I found the B.E. Round The Clock liner, it restored my faith in pencil liners. But..... if I could have my way I would add a sharpener, smudging tool and also make it last just a bit longer on my waterline. So my faith may be restored, but so has my mission for the perfect pencil liner.

With that in mind, I picked up the L'Oreal Infallible Never Fail Eyeliner in carbon black $9

First things first, the color. it's a great deep black. When I hear the name Carbon Black I expect something rich and it delivered. It's smudgeable, which is also crucial to me and my run-out-the-door look. The formula is creamy and glides on more like a gel than a regular pencil and on my top lash line, lasts a full day. The package says it last 16 hours and you could probably get that longevity from this if you take the right steps to apply, such as primer, maybe powder etc etc. On a no primer run out the door day, this lasts the day, but I can tell that it starts to smudge onto my eyelid at nighttime, but not completely so I look like someone drew on my eyelid or a fake eyebrow has migrated somehow. 

Basically, this liner comes off as a higher end drugstore purchase of a twist up eyeliner, but it's the tweak of packaging that really made my eyes wide and the corners of my mouth turn up. You see, this liner comes with a sharpener and a smudging tip. But this is no regular tip. This is actually a rubberized nub as opposed to the tiny sponges that usually cap the ends of these drugstore pencils. You know the one. The pointed sponge end that seems perfect at first but really just wipes off whatever you just put on and then gets so built up with product that by the 3rd use is just depositing smudged old liner and wrecking your fresh line. Not to mention the gross germ factor of those sponges. L'Oreal finally figured out a better way.

The tip is angled to give you many sides to work with. It's soft to the touch and is very bendy and malleable so you're not taking a hard piece of something to your eye. But because it's rubber and non porous, it's not wiping off what you've done but just blends or smudges exactly what you're trying to. And the best part is when you're done you can simply wipe or wash it off! Perfect!

There is a cap on the smudge tip and I've found that every time I pull it off the entire end comes off, which is where the sharpener lives. Not ideal, but only a minor nuisance really. I've been using this far more than I thought it would and will probably hold onto this one because it's quick and I love the idea behind it, but it still doesn't stay on my lower waterline for as long as I'd like so I can't say with confidence it's my Holy Grail, but it's pretty close!

So far the Infallible line for L'Oreal is showing to be pretty promising. They have some great products that work well for the experienced makeup hoarder as well as beginners. I suppose if this was a survey I would have to check off  'Would Recommend'.

I Could've Blushed...

Every few years my brain gets this idea that I should try cream blush. This usually happens after a bout of eczema when I'm still annoyed by all the things I have to use to clear it up and just generally annoyed by the existence of it. I start to hate my dry skin and in an angry state I start to create my own brand of science in my head that tells me that cream blush would be better for me because it's a cream!  Right?  Wrong.  So wrong.

This year's cream blush debacle is brought to you by Revlon and their Cream Blush in Berry Flirtatious $9.

The website only shows 2 colors but I know I saw at least 4 shades on the store shelves. However, Revlon has released a new line of cream blushes called Photoready, so I'm unsure if these colors will be faded out of the line or altered at all, I guess I'll find out in a few years when I think this is a good idea again.

The compact itself is simple and sleek. I was wondering what the little button was on the inside when I picked it up and found out at home that it opens up a small hidden mirror on the side! Genius! Except that I never use compact mirrors. But I like knowing it's there. 

The color itself is actually very nice. It's a great rosy berry color in a matte finish, which most cream blushes tend to be. I imagine this would be really lovely on someone fairer than I.

It's not that cream blushes are bad for my skin. It's not that I can't find the right colors, although that's halfway true, my bad relationship with cream and liquid blushes stems from the fact that I can't apply them! Without a brush I am at a total loss and have no idea just how much I should be using. Even after much practice, I just end up using far too much and looking like I've dressed up in a very cheap Rosacea costume. 

It was a nice try Revlon, but it's back to the store for you while I stick to what I know. This time.  

I could still blush. Just not with this one. 

Free Is The Best Price

I don't think there is anything better than free. There can't be. I mean, all the best things are free, ergo, free itself is the best thing, no?? What's even better is when stores give you free stuff for your birthday. Thankfully, Sephora is one of these stores and during a little trip there I was given this lovely Birthday Gift by Fresh.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Mini Lip Duo

These mini lip balms are half the size of a normal chap stick, the perfect size to throw into a pocket or clutch....or to lose in a big bag.  

The duo comes with regular Fresh, which is a clear treatment and Rose, a very lightly tinted rose shade. 

Both lip balms have SPF 15 in them, along with the most wonderful combination of ingredients to make your lips feel immediately soft and smooth, not greasy or heavy, just silky and fully nourished. Also not to be forgotten is Fresh's amazing citrus scent. It smells like a delicious version of Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue Perfume. As a citrus scent lover, this little birthday pack is wonderful!

I feel almost wrong calling these tubes lip balms because they feel far more luxurious than your average lip balm. The way they glide on your lips and how moisturizing they feel without being greasy reminds me of the L'Occitane Lip Balm Stick, which is basically like putting heaven on your lips and surprisingly cheaper than the Fresh Lip Balms, L'occitane being $10 and the Fresh coming in at a whopping $22.50 per full size tube.  I know that seems totally ridiculous for a lip balm, but after using it for a full day, I could absolutely justify that cost. 

Would I buy this on my own? Hm...not totally sure about that. Only because these are so amazing I would feel guilty about cheating on them with some other lip product. And I just can't walk away from my copious amounts of lip products. I can't. I won't. I'm in too deep, man. 

La Vie En Rose

Soo sorry kids! I know my presence has been spotty at best lately, but I haven't given up on this project! Life has just happened to throw some things my family's' way lately, as it tends to do, so I've been spending most of my time in DC helping my sister out with my new niece which has been taking up most of my time and is the reason I'm way behind on my blog here.

But just because the posts paused doesn't mean my love of products has! I've been trying out tons of new things because I'm sooo excited about fall and winter and all the deep and rich colors that come with it.

With that in mind, I decided a few days before my birthday last week that I needed a new color in my hair. Something to ring in my thirty second year and something new for fall. And with that....I went pink!!

Products:

Kaleidocolors Lightener in Blue

Salon Care 20 Volume Cream Developer

Punky Colour in Flamingo Pink and just a tad of Purple mixed in 

I followed the steps I did when I did the teal hair, but this time went far more smoother. 

I LOVE the pink! And I'm excited that it actually came out the color I wanted, which was something of a hot pink, but not flat, more of a true magenta, and that's what I got!  I love it so much that I wish I had bleached more area to have more pink, but I did this the day I got a haircut after 10 months and after losing 2 inches of hair it felt short, so I stayed conservative with the bleach......this time. 

But now I have new hair, a new year and a new season. All things I love! 

I'm Finally Ready!

I think Bare Escentuals has changed my life no less than 5 times this year, and they've done it again with their new launch of Ready Foundation.

Bare Escentuals Ready Foundation $29 and Retractable Precision Face Brush $22

If you've somehow missed the Bare Minerals infomercials or the QVC spots, the regular commercials, online advertising or general mineral makeup take over of the last few years, Bare Escentuals was the first mineral makeup to hit the market with a foundation in a loose powder form. Although the foundation is amazing, and even though they added the click close top to the small pot of foundation, it's still not the easiest thing to pack into a clutch and can be a bit messy when opening the jar after a long flight or bumpy car ride. 

But Bare Escentuals fixed that problem with the new Ready line of foundations created in perfectly sized compacts with no loose powder! 

 Ready Foundation in Golden Tan

I went as soon as I could to my nearest BE Boutique and had the makeup artist there color match my skin tone since not all of the colors in the regular foundation are the same in this line. We found that Golden Tan was the perfect color replacement for my Medium Tan foundation. 

Retractable Precision Face Brush

Along with the new colors they have also gotten rid of the "swirl, tap, buff" and added a new Precision Brush to the line to work with the compact perfectly. Instead of the 'swirl' now you place the flat angle of the brush onto the foundation and gently...wiggle! It picks up the foundation very easily and you find that you don't need very much. With no need to tap and no need to buff, this goes on soo fast with gentle, sweeping strokes and covers just as well as the original foundation.  The brush feels amazingly soft and great on the skin and the angle of it really allows you to use it with precision, like around the eye or nose.  I picked up the retractable one because it closes up so nicely and is perfect for travel.

The original foundation comes in Original, which leaves more of a dewy complexion and a Matte finish,  but this Ready line is something right in between. 

For those who have never tried mineral makeup, this is a perfect starting point but also a great upgrade to those of us who have been in this arena for quite some time. With all the benefits, plus the addition of another 5 more SPF points bumping it up to SPF20, and none of the mess and a easy take with you compact, Bare Escentuals have revitalized the mineral makeup market for sure!

But I think I am going to miss the 'buffing' a little. 

Adult Bonne Bell

Many apologizes for the unannounced hiatus, but I'm back and I have plenty of reviews coming your way!!

Have you ever sat around drinking a beer after your grown up job and think....man...I wish it was socially acceptable to use Bonne Bell Lipsmackers still. And I wish they had some better tints to them. And I wish they sold it in drugstores so I could get it easily and also moisturized my lips as well as any good lip balm?

No? is that just me?  Well, someone was listening because my prayers have been answered by Maybelline!

Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch $3-$4

 I'll start with the best part...the smell!! The one I picked up is Pink Punch and it smells like the best Fruit Punch with a hint of Pink Lemonade I've ever smelled! This needs to be a popsicle flavor. 

Second, this is a great lip balm! The package says it gives 8 hour moisture and has lip renewal. After wearing this for 2 days my lips feel smooth and the moisture did last a very long time.  And if that wasn't enough, this has SPF20! I love SPF! 

And of course, the tint. The Pink Punch has a very sheer light baby pink hint to it that goes on effortless as a lip balm should but isn't so opaque or overpowering on the lips as a color. It's got a nice sheen to it without having a shimmer or frostiness to it like many tinted balms that leave my lips looking like they've arrived from the late 80's. 

The sheer pink tint of Pink Punch

These fun, brightly colored tubes are 4 bucks a pop but sell at Target for $3.  I can't wait to try the other flavors/colors!

Thank you Maybelline!  Finally, an adult lip balm that proves that growing up is totally overrated!