Category Archives: Makeup

Mar 28 2012

What’s In My Make-Up Bag – Part 2 (Make-Up Products)

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I always love seeing posts on what’s people’s makeup bags, so I thought I’d do a post myself! Now, I don’t carry much in my makeup bag. Granted I don’t put on my make-up before I go to school or work because I don’t have time. Also, keep in mind I don’t use foundation. This is because I wear contacts and I constantly touch my face. I know if I do, it will easily stain my contacts. I do have dark under eye circles. Regarding eyeshadow, I’m a sucker for sparkley/shimmery eyeshadow. I really this it makes the look. I feel like matte eyeshadow are too boring, and I want to make my eyes pop. I have hazel eyes with gold flecks. Great eyeshadow shades for my eye color are golds, purples, pinks, etc. Here are the things that are currently in my makeup bag:

Laura Mercier’s Secret Concealer in #3 I have very bad dark eye circles. I have tried my fair share of drugstore concealers and none of them have seemed to work for me, besides the Sonia Kashuk Hidden Agenda Concealer Palette. I love that one, but I would use up the darker shade so quickly, and Sonia Kashuk didn’t have that shade in a single pot. So I researched for the best high-end concealer for dark under eye circles that is at a pretty good price. I went to my local Sephora. I was debating between Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier. I talked to one of the employees, and she said that she really likes the Laura Mercier one. She applied this concealer on me, and I immediately saw a difference. Ever since then, I have been using it daily. If you are planning on purchasing it, remember this: A little goes a long way! Just a quick dab on your brush and apply it to your dark eye circles. My shade is #3. It’s a peachy color. This concealer retails for $22 for 0.08 oz. You can purchase it at Sephora or at LauraMercier.com

Urban Decay’s 24/7 Gilde-On Shadow Pencil in Sin I used this as my daily eyeshadow primer. It’s a beautiful champagne shade that goes with any eyeshadow! I have changed primers recently, and I have noticed that this product has had my eyeshadows in longest wear. I have tried the Primer Potion from UD, and the Maybelling Color Tattoo, E.L.F. eyeshadow primer, and nothing compares to this! It’s an underrated product, but I think it’s well worth it! I got the set of 5 for $12 on Hautelook when it’s originally $34  at Urban Decay.  I just checked out the Urban Decay website and the whole set of 5 of these shadow sticks are $12! Each of these sticks individually are $20 a piece. Great deal! If you can check it out now while you can! Unfortunately the set isn’t available at Sephora, but you can buy the individual shades there if the one that you want isn’t in the set.

Laura Mercier Eyeshadow Duo in Plum Spice After I got so excited about the concealer that I got from Laura Mercier, so i started browsing website. As I always do on any makeup site, I browsed the eyeshadows section. I came across the an eyeshadow duo called Plum Spice. It’s originally $22, but it’s on sale for $10. A high-end eyeshadow duo for a drugstore price! My heart leaped! I researched on how the eyeshadow’s pay off is. Is it any good? I scavenged through Temptalia.com and see if it got Christine’s stamp of approval. It did! I looked to see if I could get free shipping with buying just that product, and I did. This may be because this product will be discontinued very soon. If I were you, I would get my hands on it as soon as possible! It’s the best formula of eyeshadows I’ve ever encountered. It’s finish is Sateen, which gives a soft, satin-like finish. It so beautiful and pigmented. You just need to barely touch the eyeshadow with your brush to get the product. The result, fabulous! A must have. You can get it for $10 at LauraMercier.com . If you find that you ahve to pay shipping use the new costumor code: “new2lm” for free shipping! If you try it, let me know if it works out for you! <3

Credit for this photo: BeiArea.com

 

Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Liner in Blackest Black I wanted to try a gel eyeliner, and I heard this is a perfect dupe for for MAC’s Fluidline. I had to try it out! It’s good, nothing that special. I does stay throughout the day and it doesn’t smudge which is an advantage. You can get it at any drugstore: ULTA, Target, CVS, Rite-Aid.

 

 

 

Rimmel London Glam’ Eyes First of all, THE PACKAGING! Isn’t it the cutest packaging you’ve ever seen? The thumb imprint (pick background with crown) helps you hold your mascara brush perfectly. If your were looking at the brush head-on, it would look like a compass: West & East have longer bristles while North and South are stubbier and thicker. I love this mascara. If you are looking for a new one, try this one out! You can get it at any drugstore: ULTA, Target, CVS, Rite-Aid. Mascara is one of the products I feel that you should use only from drugstores. This is because you should change your mascara around every 3 months. I just feel it’s a waste of money to spend on a product when there are perfectly good ones at the drugstore.

 

I noticed in this post that most of my makeup products are high-end. That was unintentional. A few of these products are fairly new. (I like switching around my products from time to time.) Usually all of my products are drugstore. I will to a post on Drugstore Spotlights: My Favorite Makeup Products very soon. So, keep checking in!

What’s in your makeup bag? Leave your answer in the comments below!

 

 

 

 

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Mar 22 2012

What’s in My Make-Up Bag (Part 1 – Brush & Bag Edition)

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My favorite beauty videos to watch are “What’s In My Make-Up Bag” videos. So, I though I’d show what I have in my makeup bag on a daily basis. It’s very rare that I do my makeup at home before I go to school or work. I usually do it when I have arrived at work or school – depending on what day it is. But I keep everything in this bag! Disclaimer, I don’t carry a lot – I don’t use foundation because I feel I don’t particularly need it, and I don’t use blush because the one that I have right now has been breaking me out, so I need to lay off the blush for a while.

This is my makeup bag. It’s around the size of a pencil case. I love the material because it’s so strong a sturdy. The “skin” of the bag is shiny and smooth. Whenever something is subtly shiny, I am quite attracted to it. This makeup bag is from Sonia Kashuk and you can get it from Target (in store or online) for $5.99. Sonia Kashuk Sparkle Soft Cosmetic Case

 

 

Next order of business. Brushes. Now, I know about Sigma brushes and how supposedly they’re amazing, but I really don’t feel safe buying brushes online. I’ve heard great things about the Sonia Kashuk brushes, and I love them!

Sonia Kashuk Synthetic Concealer Brush Amazing brush! I’ve tried a lot of concealer brushes, but nothing can compare to this brush! It blend really nicely and easily buffs the concealer into the skin. What I really like abou this brush is the handle. It has a curved handle to easily hold this brush.It’s $9.99 at Target.

 

 

 

 

Sonis Kashuk Medium Eyeshadow Brush My go-to brush for all-over-the-lid eyeshadow. This brush gets the job done! It goes for $5.99 at Target!

 

 

 

 

 
Sonia Kashuk Large Crease Brush For the longest time i was using a smudge brush. One day I gave in a bought a crease brush. Once I tried this when I got home from Target, I immediately fell in love with it! I don’t know how I applied eyeshadow without it now! It’s amazing! One disadvantage, though, some of the hairs tend to fall out of the brush. But don’t worry, it doesn’t affect the brush’s performance at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Sonia Kashuk Bent Eyeliner Brush A very precise eyeliner brush, bent for a perfect fit on the eyelid. I use this with my gel eyeliner, and it works out perfectly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I was not paid by Sonia Kashuk. I just happen to really love her products.

In a few days I will be posting the rest of my products in my make-up bag. So stay tuned!

So what brushes do you use? Where’s your favorite make-up bag from?

Let me know in the comments below!

Feb 11 2012

TAG: 7 Deadly Sins

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So, there’s this TAG going around the beauty guru world, so I thought I’d join in! Here are my answers:

1. GREED: What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

My most inexpensive beauty item is a blush brush from ELF. It’s from the studio collection and it works really well!

Most of my products are drugstore, but I do have a few high-end products. To date, my most expensive beauty product is my Laura Geller Blush-N-Brighten in Como & the Highlighter in Portofino. It costs around $32. This blush & highlighter is limited edition, and I got it last year, so I believe they don’t have it anymore. I great, because it gives me a pink glow and very nice highlighter. What I love about Laura Geller, is the packaging on her products. If you open up the compact of this blush, Half of the black circle on the lid is a mirror! And that half is all you need! Granted you do need to dust of the powder that occasionally get on there, but it comes off easily!

2. WRATH: What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? What product has been the hardest to get?

If you’re talking about one specific product, I have a love/hate relationship with my Physician Formula Shimmer Strips Eyeshadow Palette. When I started using it, I love it! But once I started hitting pan, I found a different eyeshadow color underneath it. The color below the color I was using merged into the color I wanted to use! It really upset me. I wish PF would use dividers to separate the different eyeshadow colors! Please, Physicians Formula, hear my cry! I really love your products, especially your eyeshadows, but please use dividers when creating palettes!

But, if you’re talking about a beauty product category, I would probably say lipsticks. I was never a fan of lipsticks. They always seem sticky and not that hydrating! Plus I hate when people try to pull of a lipstick color that doesn’t work on them at all! But ever since the Revlon Lip Butters came out, I’ve been loving them! At first, I started out with Peach Parfait, & when I ran out of that, I got the shade Berry Smoothie. It’s a perfect “lips but better” color for me! But I still won’t wear actual lipsticks I’m afraid I’ll smudge it, and it’ll create a big mess!

I think the products that has been the hardest to get are 1st – the Naked 2 palette, & 2nd – the Maybelline Color Tattoos. I tried ordering the Naked 2 palette when the hype was 1st around it, but the site crashed, & I didn’t get it in time. That was when I was shopping on a whim. And then I reasonably said to myself, “Cynthia, where are you going to have room to keep it?” So, I never got it. I like to carry my makeup on the go, and it wouldn’t be practical. Maybelline Color Tattoos – they are the perfect dupe for MAC paint pots. My eyes wanted a change from my Urban Decay primer POtion in Sin, So I grabbed this one in Bold Gold the other day. I absolutely love it! It brings out my eyes! But, whenever I drop by at my local drugstore, I always see a lot of the collection gone! I don’t know if it’s because Maybelline doesn’t know how to calculate the supply, or they are flying off the shelves like hotcakes. But they seem to disappearing like small hairpins in a big bag.

3. GLUTTONY: What are your most delicious beauty products?

I don’t eat any of my beauty products, but the most delicious scent of a beauty product I own, is my R&B leave-in conditioner from LUSH. It smells so incredibly nice! It smells like a cluster of fruity flowers. And what’s great about it, is that you can put it on your hair, it acts like a perfume! Also, it’s scent that everybody loves. I am absolutely in love!

4. SLOTH: What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness?

Exfoliation(er). If that counts as a beauty product. I know you’re supposed to do it every nigh/day, but sometimes I forget, and just don’t do it. I recently started using the Wild Lime exfoliating gel from Nuance (Salma Hayek). It’s quite refreshing to put on, and I have been better about doing it!

5. PRIDE: What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?

For me, it’s concealer. I have really bad, dark circles under my eyes, so if I don’t wear any concealer, I looked tired and my eyes look sunken in. So, concealer really just gives me that confidence boost. I use Sonia Kashuk’s Hidden Agenda Concealer Palette. It’s great for concealing anything!

6. LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?

Okay, so how does this apply to a beauty tag? I don’t get it. Quite random…

I like a guy with a good sense of humor, one that can make me laugh. I like a guy who has confidence. Also I like guys who I get to know before ever asking me out. I would hate to go out with a stranger!

7. ENVY: What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

As a gift, I would love to receive a NARS eyeshadow duo, or any high-end eyeshadow palette. I’m a sucker for eyeshadows! Especially sparkly, shimmery, pearly eyeshadows.

And now I tag….

YOU!

Do the TAG in the comments below, or if you did it in the form of a video leave a link to the video in the comments below. I would love to see them!

Feb 10 2012

Celebration Haul!

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 So I finally finished Biology! So I will now be doing blog post more regularly! Today, I will show you what I got today in celebration of finishing the class that was literally (but-not-so-literally) killing me slowly.

First, I went to LUSH. Can I just say, the people who work there, every time I go, are SUPER nice! Every time I go in that store, I always feel welcome! That is one thing that I find really unique with this store. Other stores I don’t want to be bothered. But the people who work here are super friendly. So off to my haul! 

  

Trichomania Originally I wanted to come into LUSH to get a solid shampoo. I saw online one called New that has scent of cinnamon like the Wiccy Magic Muscle Massage Bar that I love so much. I have dry & curly hair. My hair is damaged because I hated my curly hair in high school, so I straightened it with a straightener all throughout high school. One of the girls that works at LUSH helped me, and showed me the difference between the New solid shampoo & the Trichomania shampoo. It feels so much smoother! And she said this shampoo is great for dry hair. Great for conditioning your hair! Trichomania – LUSH

The 2nd thing I bought at LUSH was the Honey Trap Lip Balm. I needed a new lip balm because the lip balm that I was originally using just ran out! In the store, I 1st tried on the Lip Service lip balm, but it felt so sticky. I didn’t like it at all! The girl who I talked to about my solid shampoo, she asked me if my lips are dry too. I told her that they’re not dry, but I tend to wear chapstick all the time. She said, “So you like to pack on the lip balm, right?” It’s like she got me. “Yes!”, I exclaimed. She said, ” I have the perfect one for you, try this..” She pulled out a clean popsicle stick, scooped up some of the Honey Trap Lip balm and gave the stick for me to try on my lips. Once I tried it, i was so shocked! I could believe how soft & hydrating it was on my lips. I had to have it! Thus started my love affair with LUSH’s Honey Trap. I actually never liked the Honey scent before. I used to have a honey lip balm from Burt’s Bees, but I hated it because it was so sticky on my lips, and extremely hard to apply. This lip balm has changed my world view on Honey lip products thank you LUSH!

Next up, I went to Forever 21. I only usually go there for the earrings or Disney sweatshirts. They have the most amazing designs for their jewelry and at a really cheap price! I got a pair circle dangly earrings with blue lilies inside of the golden circle. There isn’t a picture that i can find online for these, so I will take a picture tomorrow of theses earrings and post it here. In short, they are gorgeous, and unique in every way! The lilies are a pretty blue, which really brings out my eyes.

I tried shopping at Cotton On & Love Culture, but didn’t find anything because it was too hot outside, and I always picture the clothes on me when shopping. I was just not in the mood! But I did stop at CVS to get some makeup products that are long overdue!

Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black I just recently finished up my black pencil liner from Rimmel London, and was in need of a new eyeliner. I’ve heard so many great things about, so I just had to give it a try! I tried it tonight, and it’s great! The brush is a little thick, so i think I’ll stop by Target this weekend to get the bent eyeliner brush from Sonia Kashuk. I’ll be wearing this on a daily basis, so expect a review soon! You can find this at your local Target, CVS, Rite-Aid, basically any drugstore that carries Maybelline.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bold Gold Of course I’ve heard of the raves! How it’s an exact dupe! I thought I’d try it out myself! Because I have hazel eyes, Both gold and purple really bring out my eyes. I will be using this as base on my everyday look. Expect a Look of the Day (LOTD) coming soon! You can find this at your local Target, CVS, Rite-Aid, basically any drugstore that carries Maybelline.

Burt’s Bees Herbal Blemish Stick This is a Holy Grail item in my makeup bag. During the wintertime I get the most blemishes. This really gets rid of the red spots on my face! You can find this at Target, CVS, Rite-Aid, & Whole Foods.

That’s it for my haul! Let me know in the comments below if you would like me to review the LUSH products as well! I have a bunch of blog posts lined up, so keep this site bookmarked!

Jan 20 2012

Project Pan

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So I heard of Project Pan through Amarixe on YouTube. I thought I’d start my own version of Project Pan!

Since I have a quite small collection of makeup, but a lot to me, I need to size down on my make-up. Eyeshadow will not be a part of Project Pan because I feel that it is a necessity to have a variety of colors to do different looks for different occasions and different people. But, all other make-up : i.e. blush, eyeshadow primer, eyeliner, & lipstick.

My version of Project Pan is: once I have run out of all of my products of this category, I can go out and Buy new ones.

But what about my weakness for eyeshadows? I have my eye on MUG eyeshadow Starter Kit – $45. This may be my prize for finishing my winter session on February 9th. If I can last that long without buying any products, that may be my treat!

Are you doing or plan to participate in Project Pan? What are your rules? Let me know in the comments below!