Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Quick Post: NOTD

Hi all! Just a quick post to show my nails. I used to paint my nails once a week, but they started turning yellow (even with a base coat) so I stopped to let them breathe. I still paint my nails once in a while, but not as much as I used to. Lately, I've just been using a treatment to make my nails stronger. I've always had weak, brittle nails. I subsribed to Julep Maven a few months ago. If you don't know what it is, it's a monthly subscription and they send you a box every month with at least 2 polishes and hand cream, body scrub, etc. You go to their website and take a style quiz. Based on your results, they send you nail polishes that match your style. My style is American Beauty. I've been receiving a lot of purple, hot pinks, and darker, vampy colors. Around Christmas time I got a box that had a jar of holographic star decals. You apply the stars when your polish is wet and apply a topcoat on them. Anyway, I decided to use the stars last night on my manicure. I got bored and decided to do my nails while I was watching The Bachelor. Does anyone watch that show? Ok, enough rambling. Here is my manicure. Please excuse the mess and my cuticles. I took the pictures before I cleaned up.


The color used, as you can see, was Wet'n'Wild Blue Moon. It is a gorgeous, dark blue with aqua sparkles/shimmer in it. The stars are the ones from Julep that I was talking about. I used Seche Vite as a topcoat. This is the first time, in a long time, that I've painted my nails. I have so much nail polish it's ridonkulous!

Hopefully I'll have a makeup look posted soon. I have been crazy uninspired lately. I haven't worn makeup in days. I hope I'll get my inspiration back soon! I'll be working on my next look for my tropical bird series either tonight or tomorrow. Maybe that will help. Well, so much for a quick post, right? Haha.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Meet Roza!

Last weekend my husband and I went to a friend's house to hang out. Our friend Roza has been wanting me to do her makeup for her for a while now. She has also agreed to be my model for upcoming shoots with photographers that I have been speaking with. I love the shape of her eyes. She has the perfect almond shape to them. She wanted a dark, smokey type eye so that's what I did. She doesn't wear much makeup at all; especially eye makeup. She usually wears mascara, eyeliner, foundation, and lipstick. This was different for her but she loved it! At first I was worried about her eye shape because I've never worked on anyone with the shape of her eyes. I found her eye shape to be one of the easiest to work on. I can't wait to do other looks on her. So, without further ado.... meet Roza.

This is how she normally does her makeup
This is after

I don't have a before picture of her. She didn't want me to take her picture with no makeup on. I used her foundation, her concealer, and a makeup palette she has from Victoria Secrets. She has the type of skin that is very sensitive and breaks out easily, so that's why we used her foundation and concealer. After using her foundation I think I may have to check it out. It's from Origins. It applied so smooth and did not streak at all. Although the colors of the eyeshadow were gorgeous, that palette had so much fallout and I regret using it. But her makeup turned out lovely, and she loved it so much. She said it made her want to get all dressed up and go somewhere. That definitely made me feel good!

Well, I hope you like the look. Definitely expect more looks with Roza!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

*Tropical Bird Series* Sun Conure

Here's the second look in my tropical bird series. This look is based off of Tequila, a sun conure. She is also one of my mother-in-law's birds. I have nicknamed her diva because of her attitude. If she is not the first one you give attention to when you walk in the house she turns her back to you and "yells" at you. She is definitely a sweetheart, but has a killer attitude. I love her and her colors. I made this look a little more wearable than my last look in the series. Some may not wear this out because of the colors, but I definitely would. Please excuse the eyeliner. My gel liner is starting to dry out so it doesn't glide on as easily as it used to. Speaking of. Would anyone like to recommend a gel liner? I've used MAC blacktrack fluidline, Wet'n'Wild gel liner, Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner, and Physician's Formula gel liner. The one I'm using now is the Maybelline. I'm open to any price range. I just need to find a good one that doesn't dry out after a few months and glides on smooth.

This is Tequila

Products Used:
Sugarpill Burning Heart quad (Butter Cupcake, Flamepoint, Love +)
MAC Soft Brown
MAC Solar White
NYX Mermaid Green
Revlon Matte Vintage Lace
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Covet
Wet'n'Wild Blue Had Me at Hello palette (for blue in water line)
Maybelline Great Lash mascara in Blue
Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner in black

~Kiss Me~

I know I've been a bad blogger! These past couple weeks have been rough. But anyway. Here's a look I came up with yesterday. My day started out with minimal makeup. I just had on mascara, foundation, blush, and lipstick. I got bored and decided to play, and this is what I came up with.... Let me know what you think of the shape I made.

Please excuse my chapped, flakey lips


Products Used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Painterly Paintpot
Truth or Dare Cosmetics Kiss Me (lid)
Truth or Dare Cosmetics Girls Night (crease)
Truth or Dare Cosmetics Snow (highlight)
Sugarpill Poison Plum (in brows)
Wet'n'Wild Ultimate Brow Kit
Maybelline Eyestudio Gel liner in Black
L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes in Black

Face:
Neutrogena Healthy Skin Foundation in Soft Beige
MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light
NYX Peach blush
MAC Vanilla pigment

Lips:
NYX Pinky lip liner
Covergirl Lip Perfection lipstick in Siren

Blogger! WTH?

I'm having a LOT of trouble with blogger lately. I'm having trouble looking at certain blogs, and I just tried to do a post and I can't upload pictures. WTH? I had my entire post written, and then blogger said "eff you, Toshia!" Oh well. I'll try again later..... I sure hope it's working later because I have the next in my tropical bird series to show you guys/gals. I also have a look I did yesterday, and a make over I did on a friend.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Naked with a Twist

Today I went back to my neutral look since I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do. I decided to add a pop of color to give it a lil something extra. No pictures of my face because it's very dry and irritated right now. This weather is crazy! Anyway, I hope you like and thanks for looking! Oh, I will be continuing my tropical bird series tonight.








Products Used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Naked Palette (original)- Sidecar, Naked, Hustle, and Virgin
Truth or Dare Cosmetics- Snoop
Milani Liquif'eye pencil in black
Urban Decay 24/7 eye liner in Flipside
Maybelline One by One mascara

Lips:
Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Fierce Cut Crease

Hi all,

I was playing around today and decided to try the cut crease.....again. I usually don't have much luck at it because my hands aren't steady at all. I feel I was pretty successful with this look. I was in the mood for something more dramatic than what I usually wear during the day (although I don't limit myself to certain looks). Hope you like and thanks for looking! SONJA!!! - I got more lip butters haha.


Products Used:

Eyes:
Truth or Dare Cosmetics "Fierce"
Wet'n'Wild Black from Greed palette
Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner Blackest Black
Revlon Matte Vintage Lace
L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

Face:
MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light
MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips:
EOS Strawberry Sorbet lip balm :)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

*Tropical Bird Series* Macaw

Finally! I am starting my tropical bird series. There will be a total of 9 birds in the series, so 9 looks you will get! My mother-in-law has a Macaw that she rescued about a month or so ago. Her name is Lulu. She is completely gorgeous and HUGE! As soon as I saw her I knew I wanted to do makeup inspired by her. So, here is my interpretation of Lulu.

This is Lulu.


Yes, I only did one eye. The black lines in the inner corner represent the black feathers that are on her face. They almost look like zebra stripes on her. She has a lot of color, so I just went for it haha. I did not have any plans at all when I started this. I just started adding colors and this is how it turned out. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I don't hate it so that's good. Anyway, I hope you like.

Products Used:
Truth or Dare Cosmetics Lime-Aid
Truth or Dare Cosmetics Oops
MAC Chrome Yellow
Makeup Geek Peacock
Sugarpill Love +
Sugarpill Flamepoint
NYX White

Truth or Dare Cosmetics Review + Look

Yesterday I received the indie pigment order that I've been waiting on. This brand is called Truth or Dare Cosmetics. I found this brand on facebook. Jennifer makes the pigments, jars them, and ships them all on her own. She is a very sweet girl with excellent communication. If you like what you see you can check her out at TOD Cosmetics . Her store is reachable through her facebook fan page. She has a ton of colors that range from neutrals to brights, and she is adding glitters. I already have my eye on one of the glitters because it reminds me of MAC 3D Silver, which I LOVE! Anyway, her prices are about the same as other indie companies. Her full jars are $6, and you get a LOT of product in them. She also has a deal where you can try before you buy and all you pay is $1 for shipping. She will send you 5 random colors to try. She also has sales/deals. That's when I purchased mine. She was having a half off sale. So, I got all of my jars for $3 a piece. I haven't played around with these a whole lot, but from what I have, I love them. *NOTE* if you do not like glitter/shimmer then you may want to skip this. She does have mattes, but her colors mainly have very fine glitter/shimmer in them. With that out of the way, here are the swatches and the look I did.

You will see three layers in the swatches. The top is bare skin, the middle is MAC Painterly paintpot, and the bottom is NYX JEP in Milk.

These were my "try before you buy" samples. From L-R: In Flames, Brown Sugar, Haptic, Fierce, and Snoop
As you can see, the JEP really brings out the colors of these.

L-R: Scandal, Oh No!, Lime-Aid, Spook, Bright Eyes, and Wander
I also put Spook and Wander over NYX JEP in Black Bean. It really brought out the undertones of them! Check it out.
This is Spook
This is Wander
L-R: Brew Haha, Swamp Thing, Oops, Love, and Sweetness
As you can see from this picture, Sweetness is pretty sheer until you put it over something like the JEP in Milk. I bet this one would be amazing foiled! I also tried swap thing over Black Bean.

The glitters in these pigments are absolutely amazing, and I am so upset that I could not capture them the way they needed to be captured. However, if you check out her page she has plenty pictures that do capture the glitters in these. I must say that I am quite surprised with these pigments. Usually when pigments have fine glitter in them the glitter goes away as soon as you apply it to your eye, or it falls off immediately. That's not the case with these. I had absolutely no fall-out with these, nor did I have glitter fly everywhere and leave the pigments. I have a feeling that this company will become one of my favorite companies for buying pigments. If you would like to see one of the colors up close, please let me know. Now, on to the look.

It is cold and rainy here today, so I decided to do something bright.


Products Used:

Eyes:
TOD Bright Eyes (inner half of lid)
TOD Lime-Aid (outter half of lid)
TOD Wander (crease up to brow bone)
TOD Swamp Thing (lower lash line)
Revlon Matte Vintage Lace (highlight)
Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner in Blackest Black
L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

Face:
MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light
NARS Deep Throat blush
MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips:
Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop

Monday, January 9, 2012

GIVEAWAY ALERT! Win Anastasia Beverly Hills Products!

Hi all! Meredith Jessica over at pigments and palettes is having an awesome giveaway. She teamed up with Anastasia Beverly Hills and is giving away $400 worth of products! Hurry! Go! Check it out! You could win one of four prizes!

Makeupgeek Eyeshadow Review + Look (Pic Chunky)

I received my makeupgeek eyeshadows that I ordered. I have read a lot of good reviews about them, but why wouldn't they be good? Marlena is amazing! I am happy to support her. Anyway, I ordered seven of the shadows. I went for more colors than I did neutrals. I have a TON of neutrals that include the 28 neutral palette, the Naked palette, and 1.5 MAC palettes full of neutrals. So, without further ado, here are the makeupgeek shadows.

They come in little sleeves like the MAC pan refills
Vanilla Bean
Cocoa Bear
Dirty Martini
Fairytale
Wisteria
Poolside
Peacock
Top: Vanilla Bean, Cocoa Bear, Wisteria
Bottom: Fairytale, Poolside, Peacock, Dirty Martini
My Thoughts:
The feel of these shadows are amazing. They are so soft and feel like velvet. The swatches were 2 swipes on the shadows. Cocoa Bear wasn't as pigmented as I expected, but the rest were. These are the same size as a MAC eyeshadow and cost much less! You can get a MAC refill for $11 USD and these are $5.99 a piece. In my opinion they are worth it. I have never had a shadow that was as silky as these are. Look how pigmented Poolside and Peacock are! Um. Gorgeous. Will I buy again? Most definitely. I will be buying a lot more of these! If you are looking for a cheap alternative to MAC eyeshadows that have the same, if not more, pigmentation then check out makeupgeek's. You will not be disappointed. Now, on to the look.



Products Used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
NYX JEP Black Bean
Makeupgeek in Dirty Martini
Makeupgeek in Vanilla Bean
MAC Soft Brown
MAC Carbon
Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner in Blackest Black
L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

Face:
Neutrogena Healthy Skin Foundation in Soft Beige
MAC MSF Natural in Medium
Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light
NYX Peach Blush
MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips:
Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti