Summer Must Haves!

It's hot guys, like really hot!  I live in Arizona and it's already in the 100s, and while technically it's not Summer yet, it totally feels like it.  I was doing my makeup earlier and realized that I tend to stick to these items in the summertime.  I can't stand a full face of makeup in the heat, it melts right off!  So here is a list of my Summer Must Haves!

Face:

Smashbox Photofinish Primer- Favorite primer E V E R.  I have tried other primers but I keep coming back to this.  I feel like my makeup stays on longer and goes on better with this on.

Revlon Nearly Naked - I recently purchased this foundation and I love it.  It has medium coverage, which I think is great for hot days.  It doesn't oxidize, like some other foundations I've tried wearing in the Summer.  This foundation will not cover acne marks, but I'm okay with that.  If I feel like I need more coverage I just add another light layer to the trouble spots once it sets and it covers just fine!  Plus it has SPF 20 in it, great for those sunny days!

Rimmel Stay Matte - I use this almost every time I wear makeup, I do wear other setting powders but this is the one that I usually reach for.  As you can see the label is totally worn off, and this has lasted me forever.  It's well over a year old, and still going strong.  I'm gonna definitely repurchase this once I run out.  It's cheap and works great.  I have oily skin and this helps me from looking greasy -- YUCK!

Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray -  This helps me out a lot.  I used to use the ELF one, and it works pretty good, but not as good as this.  If you wanna splurge get this, totally recommend it!  If you're on a budget get the ELF one.

NYC Sunny Bronzer-  Favorite bronzer of all time.  It's the perfect shade for my skin tone.  I also use this as a crease color almost daily.  GET IT!  Its cheap and works great, what more could you want?

Benefit Watt's Up - I got this tiny little guy as part of my Birthday present from Sephora back in April and it's all I've ever used since then!  It's so pretty and stays put on hot days.

I forgot to include a blush! :(  I don't have a specific blush I stick during the summertime, so oh well!

Eyes:

Maybelline Define-A-Brow - I try to keep my eyebrows simple during the day, so I just stick to this.  It's easy to use and stays on all day.

Lorac Behind The Scenes Eye Primer - I got this with my Pro Palette and I was pleasantly surprised.  I didn't have my hopes up when it came to this eye primer, only because I've been so obsessed with Bare Minerals Prime Time, but i actually really like this!

Maybelline Color Tattoo - These are awesome for the summertime, they stay on and are so easy to apply and pretty!  The color that I own is Pomegranate Punk, and I use it alone for some color.  I apply it with my fingers.  I sometimes set it with Alice Copper from the Balm Jovi Palette, it matches it perfectly!

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Zero & Rimmel ScandalEyes in Nude - I don't do much eyeliner during the day, but I do tight line using my UD eyeliner and put a nude liner on my waterline.

L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black  Mascara in Waterproof - I stick to waterproof mascara during the summertime.  My biggest fear is sweating my mascara off! Ahh!  This is my favorite of all time!  And let me tell you, this stuff stays put!  Taking it off kinda sucks.  Unless you use olive oil!  But it's all good, cause it's so good!





So that's it guys!  That felt like a lot.  Hopefully this helped some of you out there that live in super hot states. If it's still nice and cool where you live, well, you suck! Haha, kidding.  I'm totally jelly.

xo

Sephora Birthday Present 2013

Sephora offers a cute little present available to Beauty Insiders 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after their birthday.  No purchase necessary if you're picking it up in stores.  If you are making an online purchase you can add it to your cart at checkout.  Last years gift were a sugar lip balm duo.  It never interested me too much, so i never bothered driving 30 minutes away to my nearest Sephora to pick it up.

This year they had a gift from Benefit!  I LOVE Benefit, so I was super duper excited.  I bought a travel size They're Real mascara in March while in Vegas, and it instantly became my favorite mascara.  It makes it look like I actually have lashes!  I feel like I've been neglecting my other mascaras, but I can't get enough of this.  That alone was totally worth the drive there.  The gift also included Benefit's Watts Up, a champagne colored stick highlighter, that suits my skin tone really really well.  I'm not gonna be opening up the mascara until I finish up the one I bought, but it's always good to have a back up of my favorite mascara.

If you're near a Sephora around the time of your birthday, pick this up!  You'll love it, if you haven't already tried these products.

xo

April 2013 Ipsy Bag

I got this months bag really early.  I usually get it around 17th of every month.  So when it showed up on my mail box on the 9th I was really surprised, happy, but surprised!  This months bag theme is Pretty In Pink.  All the items in the bag were some type of pink, except the hair product.  There were only 4 products in this bag, which was totally fine with me because I was actually really happy with this one!

Now onto the bag.  The outside of the bag is white with a hot pink zipper, the inside is really pretty.  Striped white and pink with "Ipsy... beauty by you" printed inside.  I've noticed that lately they've been doing a lot of bags with a printed lining.  They are usually really pretty, but I really wish they would keep the prints on the outside.  I also think that white is not the best choice for a makeup bag.  It is gonna get dirty quick.  

I have been subscribed to Ipsy for a year now, and this is the first time that I've gotten everything I wanted in my bag.  My bag had a Sation Nail Lacquer in Love At First Byte, Mica Beauty Cosmetics Shimmer Powder in Earth, Big Sexy Hair Powder Play, & Be A Bombshell Cosmetics Blush in Beach Please.

The only somewhat disappointing item in the bag was the nail polish.  It is such a beautiful shade, but even after three coats it was still very sheer.  I'm not sure if I have the patience to put on enough coats for it to look anything like the bottle.  We'll see.

The Mica Beauty Cosmetics Shimmer Powder in Earth is a beautiful highlight color, that I'm sure will work great with many skin tones.  This was an OR item, meaning that you'd either get this or another item.  The other item was an eyeshadow duo, which I wasn't really interested in.  I have plenty of eyeshadows, but I definitely need more highlighters.   I think that this would also look amazing as an eyeshadow, especially in the inner corners.

 

Another OR item in this months bag was two different Sexy Hair products.  I'm not really sure what the other one was, but I was more interested in The Powder Play, which is a volumizing & texturizing powder.  When I touched this I expected it to just be a powder, but once I rubbed it between my fingers it had a really weird texture.  Kind of like a moist feeling, I'm not really sure how to explain it.  I'm really excited to use this!  I have long hair, and a lot of it, but it's flat, so I'm so glad I got this!

The Be A Bombshell Cosmetics Blush in Beach Please is a beautiful blush for springtime.  This months bag offered two different blush shades.  Everyone has been asking Ipsy for a blush for months.  After waiting for a few months they have finally come through!  They did good.  I'm excited to use this for the warmer months.  

Overall this bag was really great.  I was planning on canceling after this month, but after putting together such a great bag I have decided to stay subscribed.  I really hope Ipsy keeps this up.

Thanks for reading.
xo

Blue Smokey Eye Turorial

Step 1:   Apply primer all over the lid.  I used Wet N' Wild's Take On The Day.

Step 2:   Apply a base color.  I used ELF's Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick in Midnight Rendezvous.

Step 3:   Blend that out using your finger.

Step 4:   Apply a brown to the crease.  I used NYC's Sunny Bronzer.

Step 5:   Apply a blue all over the lid.  I used a Wet N' Wild eyeshadow from their LE Holiday Palette.

Step 6:   Blend that into the crease, apply more of the brown shadow to give a gradient effect.

Step 7:   Apply eyeliner to the lower lash line & waterline.  I used UD's 24/7 glide on pencil in Zero.

Step 8:   Smudge the eyeliner on the lower lash line.

Step 9:   Apply blue eyeshadow over the black eyeliner on the lower lash line.  Blend it out.

Step 10: Apply a silver eyeshadow to the inner corner of your eyes.

Step 11: Curl your lashes.

Step 12:  Apply mascara.  I used Neutrogena Healthy Volume.

Step 13: Apply a highlight to your brow bone.  I used Wet N' Wild's Brulee.

Step 14:  Fill in your eyebrows.

And that's it!

Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Wet N' Wild Take On The Day Eyeshadow Primer Review

Today I'm reviewing Wet N' Wild's first eyeshadow primer, which is part of the new Fergie Collection.  I wasn't too interested in this primer when I first saw it, so I actually didn't buy it until about two weeks after I first saw it.  I regret not buying it sooner, because the display had $1 off coupons, when I finally bought it the coupons were gone.  But it's still worth the $4.99 I paid for it.

First lets talk about the packaging, I don't really care for the Fergie Collection packaging.  The colors just seem cheap to me.  I am glad that it is a squeeze tube though, so much product is wasted with primers that have those doe foot applicators.

When you first squeeze it out of the tube it comes out a nude color, and feels a bit like the Smashbox Photo Finish primer, but more watery.  Once you blend it out it is pretty much invisible.  If you use this make sure you let it dry first, or it's kind of icky.  As you can see in the picture above it looks a bit wet once blended, but if you let that dry you should have no problem.

I tested out the primer with Wet N' Wild eyeshadows.  The results are pretty noticeable.  I was so surprised to see the big of a difference with the black eyeshadow.  I know there's a big pigmentation difference between matte and shimmer eyeshadows, especially with Wet N' Wild.  So I used the primer with the Drinking a Glass of Shine pallete.  Swatches are below.

I forgot to swatch these eyeshadows without the primer, but I can guarantee you that there would definitely be a huge difference.  This palette is pretty awesome, but as far as pigmentation goes, not so much.  I'm so glad Wet N' Wild has finally come out with an affordable primer, and even happier to see that it works so good with their eyeshadows.  Other than it being a little runny I have no complaints with this primer, and at $4.99 it is a definite steal.  If you see this at your local drugstore I highly suggest you pick it up!

Wet N' Wild Megalast Liquid Lip Color

I've only tried a few liquid lipsticks, and I think that product is definitely hit or miss.  My favorite are the Covergirl and NYX ones. They don't feel sticky, and dry matte.  I love them.  My least favorite has got to be Revlon's liquid lipstick.  Which really sucks, because I love Revlon.  After trying out the new Wet N' Wild liquid lipsticks I have decided that they are definitely not the worst.

There are 13 shades available, I picked up Rose To The Occasion.  I really wanted Red My Mind, but it was not available.  These can get pretty sticky.  I've noticed that I have to let it completely dry before I put my lips together.  Otherwise it gets pretty gross.  Once they dry I really liked them.  It lasted me the whole night without having to reapply.  I ate and drank and it was still there.  Taking it off though... that really sucked.  I had to scrub it off, like a lot.  My lips hurt so bad afterwards.

As far as packaging goes, I don't really care for the applicator.  It didn't really bother me too much either.  It was just meh.  The color is beautiful though.  Kind of a dusty rose.  No glitter, which I loved.  I noticed that some other ones had glitter in them.  That's not my thing, but if you like that, they had those available.
I didn't notice a scent.  Maybe that's just because I wasn't paying attention.  They do last forever. If you want a long lasting product, this is definitely it.  I think that's one of the things that made them a winner for me, well, ignoring the part where I have to scrub them off at the end of the night.  The price also was a big plus for me.  I got it for $2.99 at K Mart, and it had a $1 off coupon attached.

Will I repurchase these?  Yes, definitely.  I might save them for special occasions, when I really don't want my lipstick to come off.  I don't think I could use them very often, my lips cant go through that much scrubbing so often.

Product Review: NYC Matte Me Crazy Mattifying Top Coat

I've tried plenty of Matte Finish Nail polishes, and a few top coats but this one is by far my favorite.  I bought this bottle at Wal-Mart for $1.72, and It was so totally worth it!!  I used to use the Hard Candy Mattely in Love Top coat, and it worked good, but it was $4.  I just don't feel that it's $4 good.  I saw this and I figured it was cheap enough to try it and not feel bad if it sucked.  So I tried this for the first time today and I LOVED IT... it dries SO FAST.  Like ridiculously fast.  I'm definitive picking up another one when I finish this one.  The matte finish doesn't last forever, but I think that pretty much happens with all matte coats, but it lasts long enough for it to be worth it.  I usually just throw on another coat to mattify it again and that works perfectly fine!  you cand find this baby at Wal-Mart, Target, or wherever NYC products are sold.  I highly recommend it if you're looking for a matte top coat.