A Little Haul

A Small Sephora Haul

I got a couple of Sephora gift cards for Christmas, and I had been wanting to try a few things, so I went ahead and got them. It shipped within a day or two and it arrived within two days of that - so within about four days of ordering, I had my package, which is really great. It even arrived a day before the earliest estimation of when it would arrive! I'm really excited about everything I got and can't wait to do reviews.

First, I got some okay samples. I only got one of the samples I actually selected, but I got two of it which is cool, and it's really not a huge deal. I've used one of the moisturizer samples already and so far I like it, but the other sample is a men's cologne. I don't really mind that, since I do like how it smells and I'll probably use it anyways because I don't feel like scents should be gendered (if you enjoy a smell, wear it. Smells don't have a gender), but I would have probably preferred a women's perfume. I also got an Origins GinZing eye cream as a 100 point perk, but I forgot to take a picture.

I also got two mini Urban Decay Revolution lip glosses in Liar and Anarchy. They're super pigmented and don't seem too sticky when swatched, but I have yet to actually wear them.

Next I got this Bite Luminous Creme Lipstick Duo in Cafe (left) and Pepper (right). They're a little bit sheer in my opinion, but they're buildable. I've wanted to try out Bite lipsticks for a while now, so I'm happy to have gotten this.

I've wanted to try out a cleansing/micellar water lately, so I decided on this one. My hope is that it will get my mascara off more easily than a makeup wipe, because my eyes have been getting really irritated when I try to take off mascara lately.

Last but not least, the thing I'm the most excited about - a Vita Liberata Rapid Tan Mousse. It came in a set with the big tanning mitt, and the smaller mitt came in the box that held the bottle. I tried leaving it on for one hour to get a light tan as I'm very pale, and it did nothing, so I'm going to try again and leave it on for longer.

Super Bright Eye Look

A Super Bright Electric Eye Look

I wanted to do a super bright eye look today, so I used the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and the Urban Decay Electric palette to create this look.

I started off by putting the shade Salted Caramel from the Too Faced palette in my crease as somewhat of a transition shade.

Next I applied a white base all over my lid so that my lid colors would really pop.

Apply the shade Jilted from the Urban Decay palette all over the lid.

Put the shade Urban from the Urban Decay palette on the outer half of your lid, blending it into Jilted well.

Use the shade Champagne Truffle from the Too Faced palette as a browbone and inner corner highlight.

Blend, blend, blend! This step really pulls the look together.

Put on liner and mascara and you're done! If you want to use a color on the lower lashline as well, go for it.

I paired this eye look with the Wet' n' Wild MegaLast lipstick in Mauve Outta Here. I think it matches the eye look pretty well without distracting from it.

December Favorites 2015

December Favorites 2015

I'm writing this on December 30th 2015, and the date that Blogger/Blogspot will say it was published on will probably say that, but I'm not actually putting it up until January 2016 since I've prewritten a few posts. Due to how Blogger/Blogspot works, I have to publish things in the same order I prewrite them in, as they display in the order they were written regardless of what order you publish them in. So this post will be a bit late, but I wanted to put it up anyways. I had two weeks off for Christmas, so I was home and not wearing makeup much, which means this favorites is a bit short.

I may have featured this in a favorites before, but I still love it so I'm including it anyways. This lotion is fantastic and smells fantastic too! I get to walk around smelling like a giant candy apple, and it's great.

This is empty now, but I really enjoyed this Moringa body butter. I'm not usually into floral scents as much as fruity or musky ones, but this smelled really nice. I'm planning to try fake tanning soon, so I'm moisturizing a lot, and this was a great product for that.

I got this little tin of Nivea Creme at the dollar store, and sadly it's nearly empty. I get super dry hands sometimes, and this has been really good for soothing that dryness. I'll probably purchase the full size once this fully runs out.

This is the Makeup Eraser, which I got for Christmas. Although I haven't been using it all month, I still wanted to include it because it's absolutely AMAZING. Although I haven't tested if it truly removes waterproof makeup with just water like it claims to, it definitely removes normal makeup with just water, and I rarely wear waterproof makeup anyways. It's much gentler on my eyes than a makeup remover wipe and works just as well, if not better. I generally hand-wash it because it tends to need to be washed more than I need to do laundry, but a few squirts of baby shampoo and a thorough rinse in warm water seems to clean it well enough. Even though $20.00 USD may seem like a steep price for what appears to be a washcloth, it works so much better than a normal washcloth, and you can use it over and over again, unlike makeup wipes. So over time, you're saving money, and I love it.

Another thing I got for Christmas that I'm including anyways is the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette. I've fallen in love with this palette! I love every single color and I've already played with it a ton. I don't know about wear time, but every other aspect of these shadows is practically flawless. They're smooth, buttery, pigmented, and have very little fallout if there's any at all. This is my first palette from the Naked range and I would gladly spend $54.00 USD for another one if I were to run out of all the shades in this one.

I'm running out of this, which sucks because it's become one of my favorite lip balms. It's the medicated tangerine EOS. Other EOS lip balms just moisturize my lips, but this one helps heal them when they're chapped as well. I do still like other EOS, but this one is my favorite.

This is the NYX HD Concealer in CW01 Porcelain. This is the first concealer I've ever found that is light enough to highlight under my eyes. Most concealers are just too dark to highlight with, and the majority are too dark to even use to conceal pimples. Not only does the color actually work for me, it's a good quality concealer as well.

My new absolute favorite mascara is the ModelCo VolumEyes Extreme Black mascara. I prefer voluminous lashes, and oh my gosh, does this ever give your lashes volume. I got this as a gift, but I would still pay for it at it's full price, which is $22.00 USD. The CoverGirl SuperSizer is similar, but it's not quite as black, and this one gives even better volume without any clumping whatsoever, whereas the SuperSizer does have a bit of clumping. So if you like volume and you want to splurge on a mascara, this is the one to get.

Last but not least is this Essence brow pencil in Blonde. This makes my brows look so much better with very little effort. All I do is outline them and fill them in using small, short strokes and bam, perfect brows.

Chocolate Bar Palette Look

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette Eye Look

Use the shade Salter Caramel in the crease, bot bothering to blend it out yet.

Apply a white cream base to the entire lid. I used the LA Colors Jumbo Eye Pencil in Sea Shells.

Put the shade Strawberry Bon Bon on the lid, all over the white base and blended slightly into the crease.

Use the shade White Chocolate as a browbone and inner corner highlight.

Blend everything together until there are no harsh lines.

Apply liner and mascara, trying not to get mascara all over your eyelid like I did.

I paired this eye look with the Wet' n' Wild MegaLast Lipstick in Just Peachy. I wanted this to be a simple, natural look, so I thought that pairing it with a nude lip would look nice.

Naked Smoky Look

Naked Smoky Palette Eyeshadow Tutorial

Put the shade Password in the crease. Don't worry about blending it out yet, we'll do that at the end.

Apply the shade Dirtysweet all over the lid. This is one of my favorite shades in the palette.

Use the shade Smolder on the outer half of the lid, blending it into the outer v as well.

Apply the shade Black Market to the outer v to deepen the look.

Blend everything together and clean up the edge of the shadow.

Apply liner and mascara. I used two or three coats of mascara since this is quite a dramatic look.

Here is the eye look paired with Too Faced's Melted Berry. I think they go pretty well together, although a nude lipstick would look good as well.

Lip Gloss First Impression

Fusion Beauty Lip Fusion Infatuation Lip Gloss First Impression

I got these three lip glosses in a set for Christmas, and although I can't find the set anywhere online, they are all full size and you can buy them all separately on the Fusion Beauty website. They cost $29.00 USD each, which I personally don't think is a fair price. I haven't worn them for long, but they're quite sticky and although I like them, I would not pay more than $10.00 USD for them. Since I received them as a gift and I do really like them, I'm sure I'll use them all up at some point, but I most likely will not repurchase them. They tingle a bit on the lips. I got the colors In The Flesh, Pucker Up, and Full Frontal.

This is the shade In The Flesh on my lips. It's the most sheer of the three, even when you apply quite a bit.

This is the shade Pucker Up, which is the most pigmented of the three. Although I would assume it doesn't last as long as a lipstick since it's a gloss, it's definitely as pigmented as one.

This is Full Frontal, which is my favorite one. It has just as much opacity as I want in a gloss - not too little, not too much.

Melted French Kisses Swatches

Too Faced Melted French Kisses Holiday Set Swatches and First Impression

I was really lucky and received this set for Christmas this year, and I wanted to feature it here and tell you my thoughts on it. I love the packaging - I used to be absolutely obsessed with Paris, and I want to go there someday. This set costs $25.00 USD, which I think is worth it. You get four deluxe-sized samples of Too Faced's Melted Liqufied Lipsticks, two normal and two metallic. You get the shades Melted Metallic Peony, Melted Chihuahua, Melted Metallic Macaron, and Melted Berry. The metallic shades are a lot more sheer than the normal shades, but they still have a decent color payoff. My first impression is that these are great lipsticks, but I have to wear them some more to be sure.

This is Melted Metallic Peony. You can still see a bit of my natural lip color peeking through, but it's a very pretty color. It has a ton of shimmer in it, but it's not gritty or unpleasant.

Here is my favorite of the set - Melted Chihuahua. It's a nice brown nude that I think would look good on almost any skin color. This one has no shimmer whatsoever.

This is Melted Metallic Macaron. It takes a couple of layers to get it this opaque, but it's pretty color either way. The finish is very shiny, but I can't tell if it's just shiny or if it has tiny shimmers.

The last color is Melted Berry, and the color is just that - a berry color. I'm not a huge fan of darker colors as I don't think they look very good on my super pale skin, but I do still like this color.

New Year's Eve Eyes

New Year's Eve Eye Makeup Tutorial

I wanted to do a New Year's Eve eye look using just one palette, but none of my palettes had all the colors I wanted to use, so I ended up using two, the Urban Decay Electric and the Too Faced Chocolate Bar.

Apply the shade Salted Caramel from the Too Faced palette to the crease. This will make the end result look softer.

Apply a white base to the lid. I couldn't find my white eye crayon so I just used a white eyeliner.

Apply the shade Revolt from the Urban Decay palette all over the lid and blend up into the crease. New Year's Eve means glitter to me, so I chose this glittery shade.

Apply the shade Chaos from the Urbam Decay palette as liner. I think this makes the look more fun, but you could easily use another color or black or even skip liner altogether.

Blend everything together so the look is less harsh.

Curl your lashes and apply a few coats of mascara. I used the ModelCo VulumEyes mascara, which gives great volume.

I think this look goes well with berry or red lips, so I used the Tarte LipSurgence Power Pigment in Flush, which is in between a berry and a red. Paired with a flawless-looking foundation, this is a great simple look for New Year's Eve.