Rimmel Clean Finish foundation

I have loved all Rimmel products I have ever tried, except for the Sexy Curves mascara, and this is no different.  I was a little taken aback by the fact that it was a spatula inside to help get the foundation out.  I had no clue how I was supposed to use it, so I got some product onto it and just smeared it on some parts of my face.  It claims to be a 'Poreless' finish so there were holes in the spatula, or at least that's what guess they're there for- pictured below.

I got it in the lightest color they carry in this foundation which is Ivory since I'm a Paley McPaleface.  It lives up to it's poreless claims, as well as a foundation can anyway.  It goes on really nice, and is really lightweight.  It gives medium coverage which I like.  The only thing I don't like about it is the dewy finish, I'm not very much of a dewy finish kind of person.  For the longest time I had really really oily skin, and so anything dewy makes me think of that- but I'm getting better!  But, this is easily remedied by using some powder.

 See how well it matches? 

Do you have any favorite drugstore (or highstreet) foundations that you like? XOXO

To Serve Man

So, besides the nerdy nod to The Twilight Zone in the title, I would really love to know what YOU would like to read about on this blog? What types of makeup, brands, or techniques would you like to see?  I want to help you get the most out of this blog! XOXO

What do you mean I bought another lipstick?

Yes, another lip product- they're my favorite accessory! I bought the L'Oreal Project Runway lipstick in the color The Queen's Kiss.  I've been searching for a berry color that I felt comfortable wearing, and this is a  safe berry color... plus it was on sale.

The Color is a bit more frosted than I would have liked.  I'm actually looking for a dupe for the Kate Moss Rimmel lipstick in 107, but I think I may just buy it off of Asos.com.  I think this is a good 'berry' color to start with and get used to the darker color.  The color of the lipstick didn't show up well in the pictures, but it is a bit more berry tinted than it looks in the tube in the picture.

Have you tried any berry toned lipsticks that you liked?  Especially for pasty pale nerds like me, haha. XOXO

My first Body Shop experience!

For Christmas I got a gift set of The Body Shop products in Coconut.  There is a body butter, a shower cream, and a body scrub.  For being a gift set, the sizes of all of these are really generous and great for every day or travel use.   I have been dying to try items from The Body Shop but haven't really been able to find any, low and behold there is one in our mall, but now this gives me a chance to try their products in travel size before I buy the full size of anything.
I was really surprised when I tried the shower cream, it has no soap in it!  It felt really different on my skin, good, but different.  It also didn't sud up like my other shower gels, which I love foaming shower and bath soaps and gels.  I really liked it though, which surprised me.  It seemed to be more nourishing to my skin than a gel does.  I am excited to try it some more and see if it keeps feeling that way.  I then tried the body scrub. It's a lot creamier than my comforting vanilla dead sea salt and sugar scrub, post here.  The granules are rounder and not as rough and it is also a not too thick, not too thin, cream.  It felt really good rubbing it on my skin, it's definitely better to use during the winter than my other one.  The final thing I tried was the body butter.  I love body butters because they are so cream and hydrate so well, and this is no exception.  The big bonus to all of this is that they smell really nice!  It's not too overpowering and the scent doesn't fade quickly, which means you smell like coconuts for a good while.
Have you ever tried Body Shop products?  What are your favorites? XOXO

Happy Grinchmas!

As I mentioned in my last post, my family and I went to Universal Studios the other day to go and see the celebration.  In honor of this, I did 'Whoville' inspired makeup which involved multiple bright colored eyeliner since one of the first things I think of when I think of Whoville is BRIGHT COLORS.  So here's my face:

And here's a close-up of my eye: 

For my foundation, I used my Pur Minerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Makeup in Light/Fair.  I then used my Holy Grail palette I got from Sephora forever ago for blush and eyes.  I used the pink blush that looks baby doll like and quite frightening in the pan but if put on with a light hand goes on quite nice.  I then highlighted right under my eye up towards my hair and my T-Zone with a very light pink almost pearl like shimmery highlighter in the same palette as the blush and eyeshadow.  I then used two eyeshadows from the palette, one is a grey toned beige with a lot of shimmer and then white shimmer eyeshadow under my brow.  

I used four different eyeliners; green, pink, blue, and gold.  All four colors are from the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil.  They are hands down my favorite eyeliners EVER.  On the inner corner of my eye I used a gold color called El Dorado.  I love to use gold eyeliner or shadow in the inner corner of my eye to help me look more awake.  Then I lined my eye from the inside to the halfway point on top in a teal blue called Electric.  I think it's a really pretty blue that can be very subtle or built up to be a bold color pop on the eye.  Then what I used going from where the blue ends to the end of my eye and a little beyond I used a pink eyeliner called Woodstock.  I know, I know, pink can be a really frightening eye color to wear in eyeliner or shadow form.  That is why I only use this color to line half my eye like I did here or do a subtle double line on top of another eyeliner.  It's a great way to play around with colors.  Finally on my bottom lash line I used a green color called Junkie.  Green a great way for people to experiment with color without going to bold, and is especially great for people with blue, blue/grey, green, and even brown eyes- personally I think it can work with any eye color.

For my lashes I used two different mascaras.  First I used Rimmel's Glam Eyes mascara and then I used Covergirl lashblast fusion over top.  I used to hate filling in my eyebrows because I thought it looked weird but now I can't wear makeup without filling them in.  I use the Napolean Prismatic Eye Quad #4 because two of the colors are a nice matte light brown and dark brown, it also has a matte white and a matte salmon pink.  I mainly use the light brown because it matches my changing hair color the best.

Happy holidays to all of my lovely readers and followers! XOXO

What do you do when you do brightly colored makeup?

LUSH COSMETICS!

After reading blog post after blog post that raved about Lush Cosmetics, I was dying to try them!  I didn't think it was sold in the United States until I got on their website and say that they were, and they had a few stores near my house.  Needless to say, I was beyond excited.  My family and I went to Universal Studios for Grinchmas- the post for that makeup will be done tomorrow, promise- and while we were walking around the City Walk I saw that they had a Lush store, so I immediately ran in.  I was so excited, I felt like a kid in a theoretical candy store.  The first thing I picked up was their famous sugar lip scrub in Mint Julips, they also have the scent Bubblegum and Popcorn.  Then one of the sales ladies who heard it was my very first times in Lush and how excited I was, took me around letting my try and sniff everything I wanted.  I then picked up a 100 mL bottle of their limited edition Twilight body wash, it smelled divine but also really calming.

 As I was checking out, they gave me a pretty good sized chunk of the Snow Cake solid soap.  It's got sort of a citrusy scent but it's also pretty light, which is nice.

  I loved my experience at this store and the best part is that the City Walk doesn't require admission, so you can go there without having to pay to get into the park- if you don't want to, that is!  I have fallen for Lush Cosmetics, and haven't had a chance to try them yet.  Reviews and more information about the store(s) will be coming soon!  Have you ever tried this brand or similar products? XOXO

The Blonde is Back

Last year I entered college and changed my naturally multi-toned blonde to a bright copper red (seen below)

But today I had it dyed back to blonde, or a type of blonde.  The last show we're doing of next semester is Legally Blonde: The Musical, while I'm not totally going for Elle I think it still think it might be a good idea to be blonde.  My natural blonde is multi-toned ranging from a medium dirty blonde on the bottom to natural white highlights in the front.  So today I left the hair dresser with a few pieces of hair a light dirty blonde with the main bulk of my hair being a light blonde/strawberry blonde, honey, and white.  It looks really pretty and I like it, I just got so used to having red hair and loving it that it will take a couple of days to get used to it again.  My hairdresser is just the best, the whole process took close to three and a half hours and she was fantastic throughout.  The best thing is that she doesn't charge an arm and a leg, all of the prices at the salon are really reasonable so I wait to get my hair cut until I get home and refused to dye it blonde until I was here because the salons back at school cost at least $100 for a good haircut and color.  Below are some pictures of my new hair (I'm sorry for the really icky looking face, red eyes, and bags- it's been a long day, haha) and I would love to hear what you think!

Have you ever or would you ever dye your hair? Why or why not? XOXO

Eucalyptus and Spearmint= Great combination!

 One of my favorite things about being home is that I have a bathtub and not just a shower.  I found this Dr. Teal's bath gel sitting with my mom's stuff, and it says it's supposed to help you relax so naturally I had to try it.  It smells amazing, it's not too overpowering which is what I worried about with it being Eucalyptus and Spearmint in one.  I live close to a place where there are a ton of Eucalyptus trees, so I know how overpowering the smell can be.  I've been pretty under the weather for the past week and this really helped to open my head right up.  I've used both as a shower gel and a bubble bath and I love it both ways.  I think I'll probably use it as a bubble bath if I use it again while I'm here just because I have a bathtub at my disposal.  It really helped my muscles to relax and soothe out some minor aches.  I really like this gel and you can get it really cheap at Target.  You can get a bottle two or three times the size of this, which is 16oz, for $5-$6.  You don't need too much to get a nice bubble bath or to get clean in a shower.  It's suds up really well and the Spearmint scent especially leaves you feeling squeaky clean.

Do you prefer showers or baths?

A Polished Body is a Happy Body

During finals week, I decided I had read so many posts about people using body exfoliators, I thought it was time to try it.  So I started by using an acne face exfoliator on my body, which I know wasn't the brightest idea but it worked and I loved how my skin felt.  I was in Target the other day getting my mom's Christmas gift when I found this.  Dead Sea Essentials by AHAVA in Comforting Vanilla.  It's a sugar sea salt scrub, and I love it.  It smells so delicious and does a really good job at removing dead skin and polishing your limbs.  The scrub is a bit gritty, not as fine as sand, so I wouldn't recommend it for sensitive skin or for really harsh winters- temperatures in single digits or below zero and harsh wind and snow- but for my skin, it's perfect.  I leave the shower feeling refreshed, it's goopy but doesn't make your skin feel that way, it rinses off completely.

And the best thing about this? You get an 11.5 oz jar of scrub for around $5- can you say score!? After a couple of uses, I love it, and so far it is definitely something I will buy again.
Do you have any body scrubs or brands that you like to use? XOXO

No more fatigued eyes?

Contrary to what people believe, I have really bad dark circles and puffy eyes nine times out of ten- I'm just really good with cover up!  I was at the store a little while ago and came upon this- the Aveeno Active Naturals Smart Essentials anti fatigue eye treatment.  It costs $10 for an 8mL rollerball, and you can get it at any drugstore or superstore, like Walmart.  It's really easy to apply because it is a rollerball, you just swipe it under your eyes where your dark circles are, no muss no fuss.  I've finally noticed after about a month that my dark circles have lightened from the use of this, and they puffiness has been reduced but not as much as I would have hoped.  I don't think I will be buying this product again.

What do you use to help alleviate dark circles under your eyes? XOXO

The Weekend Post #2

Okay, so this weekend post is going to be fairly short because I'm feeling pretty under the weather.
It's been really chilly in the house since I got home and that causes my skin to be super dry and feel just really icky.  Enter Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar body butter.  I found it in a basket when I got home, most of it's gone but there is still some left for me to use so I've made it my mission during this break to use it up.
It smells super nice and is really creamy, you don't have to work too hard to get it out of the tub or to work it into your skin.  It sinks in really quickly and is fairly hydrating.  Saddly, I can't recall having seen body butters in Bath and Body Works the last time I was in there but I may not have been looking too closely.  The other thing that makes me sad is that I don't think they make this scent anymore.  I have a couple of favorite scents and vanilla is one of them along with Lavendar, Chamomile, Woodstock, Eucalyptis, and Mint.

Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara

I have two brands that I use religiously when it comes to mascara, Rimmel or Covergirl.  All other brands, drugstore at least, that I have tried just don't make me happy.  My eyes either look spidery or clumpy or hard as a rock.  I have used a couple of Rimmel mascaras and I would have to say that this one ranks pretty low.  If I just sweep the brush, like I do with all mascaras, up across my lashes a couple of times it has two effects- it either looks super spidery or you can't tell that I put any on.  I have found that if I roll the brush around as a draw upwards on my lashes they look slightly better, but even after that they still look not so good.  Also, I don't know how you're supposed to get sexy curves in your eyelashes but I definitely don't see that happening with this mascara.  I keep it as my emergency mascara in my book bag or my purse, otherwise I don't use it all that much. The one thing I do like about this mascara is the brush, pictured below; it 'curves' but the bristles are all the same length, which is on the shorter side, but the brushes 'bubbles' out three times so that it looks curvy.

Do you have any mascaras that you don't like but still tolerate them enough to keep as back ups? XOXO

Napolean Made Makeup?!

 This is Napolean Angel Baby Eye Quad.  It's a lot of gold based, neutral tones that have some shimmer.  They are really pigmented, with the left side being better colors for the spring and summer and the colors on the right being better for the fall and winter.They go easily onto a brush or sponge applicator and is really compact so you can throw it into your purse if you need a bit of an eye touch up during the day, or if you're going away for a weekend and can't take many colors with you.  The dark brown, bottom right, and more (for lack of a better term, even though it's super pretty) tarnished gold, top right, can easily help change a daytime look into a nice smokey night time look in a few minutes.  It even comes with a pretty nice mirror which, coincidentally, is where I have my one complaint.  The loose bits of the eyeshadow powder stick to the mirror like nobody's business.  Now, I know you're going to say "well don't most eyeshadows with a mirror on top have that problem too?"  Yes, I will agree that does happen a lot but this is really difficult to get off of the mirror for some reason, more than other eyeshadows with a mirror in the same place.  All in all I would say that I really like this palette.  

As you can see below on the swatches I did on my hand that the colors have really good pigmentation.

 The formulation of the shadows are also really smooth, and go on with out much dropping onto my face or creasing.  It's not creamy just a smooth, finely 'ground', packed powder.

I hope you guys enjoyed this latest post! If you had to leave and travel tomorrow, what would be the one eyeshadow quad you would take and why? XOXO

Hydration While Flying

This is going to be a pretty short post, since I was traveling all day on a plane and am finally getting hit by the fact that I am exhausted from the past couple weeks.  BUT, when you fly the air on an airplane is super dry and can be really uncomfortable- especially with allergies.  To fight this off, I drank a ton of water but the inside of my nose was super dry and I was afraid of getting a nose bleed so to try to keep that at bay I wet my napkin with my water and would hold it up to my nose.  I probably looked a bit crazy but it helped.  Then I of course fell asleep and when I woke up my nose and throat were dry and painful again and before I could do anything- viola!- nose bleed.  It wasn't as bad as it could be because I held the water to my nose.  I know this was a bit of an odd post for my blog but I'll be back to more normal-ish (even though I'm far from normal) posts tomorrow!

What do you do to stay hydrated and to keep from getting sick while traveling? XOXO

It's time to travel!

Since I'm done with finals, it means next on my task list is to pack so I can hop on a plane and go home. But with hopping on that plane, I have to pack which is probably one of my least favorite things in the world to do- especially with my makeup! Today's post will show you what I pack when I'm planning on going away, granted, I'm sure I overpack my makeup a tad too much but, hey, you win some you loose some. A forewarning, this post will have a lot of pictures.

This is what I've got to narrow it down from, two overflowing tackle and makeup boxes, my professional makeup belt, two palettes, and a bunch of loose bits and bobs.

On the left is my brush belt, with all of my brushes, that I received last year for Christmas, it's super nice and I don't know what I would do with all of my brushes if I didn't. On the right is a Sephora makeup palette I had gotten as an early graduation gift from the Sephora when I was in NYC.  For me, this is a holy grail product.  The pigmentation is AMAZING, there is a quad of two blushers, a highlighter, and a bronzer, and in the other pull out tray is a ton of different lip glosses.  This has such a nice range of colors that I use to create subtle, everyday looks to dramatic night out looks.  Both of these automatically go into my suitcase, no matter how long I will be gone.

This is finally all that got packed, including my Exuviance primer, two different foundations, to different powders, a mosaic blusher, eyebrow shadows, three eye shadow palettes and singles, two mascaras, eyelash curler, and way more eye liner than any girl could need for three weeks home.

These foundations are the ones that I use the most- Pur Minerals powder in Light for a light to medium coverage but the other (slightly grayer looking) color is made by Kryolan Ultra Foundation which is mainly used for stage or film because it is VERY heavy but also provides total coverage.  I love it but it is also oily, so not the best for oily skin types, I tend to wear this more on a regular basis during the winter than the summer because in the summer heat- let's just say it's not pretty!

Most of my eyeliners, left picture, are Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencils and they are my favorite! They're also a bit pricey, so I'll get them in the special packs they have at holiday time when you can get a lot of colors for a really good price.  I also have my FAVORITE Milani liquid eyeliner in Jet Black.  It goes on really nice but definitely not a good liquid liner for beginners, the brush can be hard to control at times but my GOD the lasting power is incredible.  Every time I wear it, I have to scrub really hard to get it to come off- I've even gone swimming with it on and it didn't was off!  And then I have two black eyeliners by NYX- their glossy black eyeliner and their satin pencil eyeliner.  I haven't tried the Satin Pencil yet but the Glossy one is nice, but doesn't give the 'glossy' shine it says.  On the right we have my two favorite mascaras- Covergirl's Lash Blast Fusion and Rimmel's Glam Eyes, both in black or jet black.  I always pick between those two to wear even though I have a couple others but I'm not as fond as them, maybe one of these days I'll do a mascara post!

 And finally, my eyeshadows.  There's the Sephora palette which I already yammered on about but I also brought my single color Makeup Forever eyeshadow which is a sparkly purple.  Then I also am bringing my NYX eyeshadow palette, that is basically five different slots of colored glitter that sticks to your eye- it's the best!  Then, an eyelash curler that is so me it's not even funny! The little handles are pink and have pink rhinestones, and it was my first and currently only eyelash curler and I love it!

What do you guys pack when you leave on a holiday? XOXO

Say Yes! ... To Carrots?

Yes, Say Yes to Carrots! My roommate and I exchanged Christmas gifts today and among other things, she gave me so cool beauty and nail things that I'm so excited to try. For nails she gave me Sally Hansen crackle nail polish and then Say Yes to Cucumbers face cleansing wipes and Say yes to Carrots berry lip balm. Be expecting reviews to come as I try these products!

First up to be reviewed is the Say Yes to Carrots berry lip balm. As I said in this post, I really love my Carmex lip balm because it's so heavy and thick, especially during the winter. This lip balm has a really nice berry scent, like strawberries, but it's not too sweet and overpowering like a lot of fruit scented lip balm. It's lighter and has more oil and no petrolium. For me, that automatically puts me off but after putting it on the lasting power was pretty good. It's not something that I would use so much during the winter months but in the spring and summer, I think it will be really nice and not so heavy as my other lip balms. The only qualms that I have about it is that once you get past the very top, which is really smooth, it gets a little gritty and rough on the lips. Otherwise, I am pretty happy with this especially since it's a brand I never thought of trying before. What are some beauty things you hope come in your holiday stocking? XOXO

Drugstore favorites #1

One of my favorite drug store finds was Wet n' Wild lipstick. It's price ranges from $1 to about $4 and for the price you get a pretty good quality product. This is Wet n' Wild mega shield lip color in the color 'It's a Girl!'. It's baby pink in color, with just the tiniest hint of coral. The finish is slightly frosted with a little bit of shine, but not completely over done. This swatch was just one swipe of the color, and you can tell it's a highly pigmented color.

The lipstick has an SPF of 15 which is great for me since I'm so fair, I burn all over even in the winter when it's cloudy! The lasting power of the color is great for the price. I don't need to apply it every fifteen minutes, instead I find myself having to reapply every 2 to 3 hours. After about an hour or so, though, you do have to check your lips to fix the color that has settled in the middle of your lips. I find it's just easiest to rub my lips together for a second when I notice that has happened and viola! it's fixed!

What are some of your favorite drugstore brands or colors? XOXO

The Weekend Post #1

Taking example from Vivianna Does Makeup (who also heavily inspired me to start my own blog) I've decided to do my own Weekend Post every weekend... we'll see how it goes! Go over and check out her blog, I absolutely love it! Anywho... Last week was dead week and this week is finals, which means no sleep and no relaxing but today I decided to take a little time to pamper myself. Now, living in a dorm I can't light candles and can't soak in bubble bath but i think I did pretty good with what I had.

This was my relaxing shower! I put my iDuck which I ordered from the UK through Amazon, and I absolutely LOVE, and found the Christmas radio station and put it on full blast.

I used my Renpure Organics I Love My Hair! Body and Shine shampoo and conditioner because it smells so good! Whenever I use it, I think of the good smelling shampoo they use at the salons! I got this as a gift from my mom last Christmas and I think she found it at Ulta, and I'm so glad she got it. I rotate the shampoo and conditioner I use every few days and this is in my weekly rotation. I found it on drugstore.com for $7 so it doesn't brake the bank and makes my hair feel and smell fantastic!

As for body wash, I used two- the first one I used I got at Bath and Bodyworks over the summer and it's part of their Aromatherapy Collection. It's the scent Sleep- Lavender and Chamomile, it's so soothing and it helps me to be able to relax a little bit more. I followed that with my Dove Nutrium Moisture with Shea Butter in the scent in Warm Vanilla and Brown Sugar. It's really thick and creamy, and helps to add extra moisture to your skin. It's like having a nice vanilla candle in your bath, without the candle! I'd been reading that to get a really smooth shave, you had to exfoliate. I don't own any body exfoliaters (yet) so I used a Neutragena face exfoliater on my legs before I shaved, and boy were all of the blogs right! My legs have never felt so smooth. All of the dead and dry skin from the winter was taken off, and left them softer before I even shaved. I will definitely keep doing this, I am now in love! After I get out of the shower, I put some body oil on. I started doing this about two months ago when my skin started to feel so tight and so dry when I would get out of the shower. Now, I know that there are fancy body oils that people use but I just use the Walmart brand baby oil in the Lavender scent and put it on my legs and arms and my skin feels so much healthier. Especially after the first couple of weeks after I started using this, I noticed a difference in my skin throughout the day- it wasn't drying out as fast.

Then after I leave the shower, I slather some Gold Bond Ultimate Skin Therapy Lotion in Healing with Aloe on my hands, elbows, and feet. It's a heavy cream that comes in a pump bottle and lasts a good while. Online it costs about $9 but in the store for 16 oz it costs about $12, I think, but for how much you get and how good it is I think it's a great price. When I first came out to college, my mom told me to use it especially in the winter because my skin would dry out like no tomorrow because it's not used to the cold winters and it has become my Holy Grail moisturizer. I use nice scented ones from Bath and Bodyworks too, but only during the day and during classes. It's a heavy cream and does take a couple of minutes to absorb but after it has, your skin stays moisturized for a good long while. I always put it on right before I go to bed every night and in the morning before I go to class and it's just my favorite.

As I said, it is finals week so I've been drinking way more tea than usual which I already drink a lot of. I had two cups of Throat Coat, I am a performer so this is a lifesaver, and I also had Easy Now which is supposed to help relieve stress and tension. Both are from a brand called Traditional Medicinals, and I love their tea. They also have one called Nighty Night as well as lavender and other really good flavors, and don't worry, there are your everyday tea flavors too. I get mine in combination boxes when it comes to the Lavender ones but I will also just get a whole box of Throat Coat because I go through it so fast. You can get them at almost any grocery store but I get mine mainly at Walmart when I'm here at school. I ended the night by going to a set of final directing 1 scenes (I go tomorrow) and then to a show called Christmas with the Kernel which was written and directed and acted in my theatre students. It was completely original work, and full of many much needed laughs as well as one very sentimental and sweet moment no one saw coming. I am so super lucky to go to a school and in a program that fosters such creativity. I then came back and kept studying for my finals which are all back to back tomorrow, but after that I'm done. This is mainly why I gave myself a mini pamper break because when studying, you should always take a break to let your mind reset. How do or did you pamper yourself and relax when you were in University? What did you like to use? XOXO