Update on my e.l.f. Cream Liner

So a few months ago I bought the e.l.f. Cream Eyeliner in black and I really liked it. It went on nice and smooth and it didn't end up all smudgy and it was a decent black.
Disclaimer: I purchased this product with my own funds, I am not being paid or compensated by the company in question. My opinions are entirely my own.

The packaging was decent, and I found it to be an overall nice product. However, shortly after I purchased the liner I started having issues. It went on really cakey and seemed kind of flaky. At first I was like okay, maybe the eyeliner brush I was using (also e.l.f.) was kinda crappy, so I busted out my tried and true Sephora eyeliner brush. The results were better, though minimally so. This was when I really started loosing faith in the liner. But I figured maybe if I give my brushes a really good scrubbing it'll work better for me. Not so. The liner has gotten really dry and it comes out in weird little clumps which I then have to smooth out on my brushes so I don't wonky up my eyes. I store my make up properly, up in a cupboard so it's not just baking in the light and I make sure that all my products are closed up tight. So basically, this liner is junk after a few uses.
I understand that this product is dirt cheap, so I can't hate on it too much, but I am still quite disappointed in it's lack of longevity. I've had a black cream liner in my Sephora palette for 6 months and it still works fine, so the fact that this product dried up so quickly seriously bummed me out.
Sorry e.l.f, but I will NOT be repurchasing. I don't find this product to be worth the $3 I paid for it. Maybe I'll go with Maybelline or Revlon next time.

Cute Winter Themed Nails

So even though the snow has stopped out here, I'm totally in the holiday spirit now. I even know that my husband bought me that Sephora palette I want so bad for Christmas. He said that I can open it to review it before Christmas (pretty sure that it LE) and then we'll just wrap it up Christmas Eve for pictures. Yay! I'll be having fun with that one for ages.
But anywho, back to me and my holiday spirit. Today I decided to do a winter themed nail to celebrate the coming festive weather, I'm totally hoping we'll get some decent snow soon! I so want to drag my daughter outside to make snowmen and forts and catch snowflakes and such. Maybe my nails will be a good luck charm?

Basically, I took a sparkly charcoal/black and covered the entire nail, two coats. Then on four of the fingers I made snowflakes.

I just took a white nail art pen and painted two lines perpendicular to each other and then two more perpendicular lines, shorter than the first, through the open spaces in the first pair of lines. I then angled litlle V's through the longer set of perpendicular lines. I added a few little white dots for effect. After the white dried, I added a dot of silver glitter on the ends of the lines and in the center of the snowflakes.

For the snowman, I painted two white dots, one on top of the other making the bottom one about twice as big as the top, and then took two swipes under the dots to give a base for the snowman to sit on. After that dried, I took a black nail art pen and very carefully put two eyes, a little smiley mouth, three buttons, two quick stick arms, and then I outlined the bottom "snow" to give it some dimension. Then I took a pink nail art pen and swooped a scarf on him and a purple nail art pen to make a little hat. A few white dots in the background for some snowfall, and voila! Snowman. Add a layer of top coat over all your nails and you're good to go for the holidays!

Hope this gets the holiday spirit stirring up in some of you! Til next time!

Pretty Winter Blue Eye

Winter has definitely started moving in here in Michigan. Yesterday it started snowing and it hasn't stopped yet, and so I decided to do a pretty winter themed eye.
Okay, so you're gonna want to start with primer or foundation on your eye lids up to the brow so you have a nice even base. Next apply a light blue shadow starting at the inner corner of the eye and working it in to the middle of the eye lid.

Next apply a bright blue starting at the middle of the eye lid to the outside of the lid.

Now it's time to cut the crease. I kept mine close to the natural crease because my brows don't sit very high, but if you do have a higher brow you could cut it higher depending on how dramatic you want the look to be. To cut the crease take a black cream or gel liner and sketch out the crease line, darkening it after you have a desirable shape.

Next buff out the crease line with an angled brush and then blend in a dark blue.

Now apply liquid liner on the upper lash line, winging it out just past the dark blue shadow.

While I wait for the liquid liner to dry a bit, I fill in my brows with a brow pencil and take the same dark blue shadow from my crease and apply it on the lower lash line taking it about half way starting at the end of the eye. I then apply my black cream liner on my water line, curl my lashes and apply one coat of black mascara on the top and bottom lashes.

Use a concealer under the eye to clean things up, and finish the face with foundation, a pink blush (I used Bella Bamba by Benefit) and pink lipstick with gloss and you're good to go. And if you feel like going all out, false lashes are always fun.

Super duck face!!!!

And that's the completed look! Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. Til next time!

Sephora Collection Color Lip Last and My Birthday Gift from Sephora

This post is way overdue, but I have been preoccupied with other things like getting ready for the holidays and such, so I guess better late than never. My birthday is September 22, and a couple weeks before I received a lovely little card from Sephora offering me a free Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Mini Lip Duo with any purchase made 2 weeks before or after my birthday. Being that I love lip balms/lip treatments I had to get something. And what goes better with lip balms/treatments than a good lip color? And being that my birthday is the beginning of autumn I opted for a nice dark fall color. I don't generally do dark lips as I prefer to accent my eyes instead of my lips, but I figured that it was time to branch out, expand my horizons, that kind of thing.
 Disclaimer: I purchased this product with my own funds, I am not being paid or compensated by the company in question. My opinions are entirely my own.

After browsing through Sephora.com and staring at TONS of different lip colors and brands all claiming to be super awesome and I found myself super overwhelmed. So I decided to go the cheaper route and selected a Color Lip Last from the Sephora Collection in Elegant in Brown which is a deep mauve color. It had really positive reviews and was exactly the color I was looking for, plus it's $12(USD) which is a pretty fair price for a good lip color.
I'm going to start with the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Mini Duo. It comes in a cute little cardboard box with a photo of the product on the front.

Awww... Happy Birthday Sugar!

Inside were 2 lip treatments, one clear and one tinted. I would like to say that the containers freakin rock! I think they are totally awesome, they're metal (we think it's pressed tin) with a twist off cap which makes them super durable. My daughter is 2 and she LOVES to steal my lipstick, lipbalm, whatever. She hasn't managed to put a dent in these lip treatments. They also don't come apart if they just get tossed in your purse, which is a huge plus in my book. The containers seriously just scream quality to me. They are small, but they're minis, so that's pretty well what I expected. I think they're about 2 inches high.

The darker tube is the clear balm and the light tube is the tinted. Seemed kind of backwards to me, but whatever.

Clear balm

Tinted balm

Both balms are very shiny but not quite glossy. The tinted balm is a lovely light rose color that really compliments my coloring. It goes on waaaaay lighter than it appears in the tube. And both balms go on nice and creamy and it's like instant moisture. They do have a light scent that I find pleasant, kind of a slightly sweet scent, and they taste sweet but aren't like overpowering or anything. I've been using them fairly regularly since my birthday and there's still a ton left and I really just enjoy them. It's a great product and I will definitely consider buying the full size of these products or maybe check out what else this brand has to offer.

Both glosses

Rose balm on me. Love it for natural looks, just a little pop of color.

Next item on the menu is my Sephora Collection Color Lip Last in Elegant in Brown. It came in standard Sephora packaging, the cap really stays on which is pretty awesome because if this color got loose inside your purse or pocket it would suck to try and get out.

The color is on the top which makes it easier to tell your colors apart.

Sephora's description of this product is "A radiant lipstick that lasts up to10 hours with an incredibly comfortable feel." And I've got to say the description is pretty spot on. The color glides on easily, it's extremely creamy and rich feeling. And while most darker colors tend to dry out my lips this is incredibly comfortable and it never looks cakey even after I've been wearing it a while. And this lipstick does have some serious staying power. I can eat, drink, smooch, pretty well whatever without losing color. However it does leave a mark on anything your lips touch for a while. It's weird because even though it's on the rim of my glass or my little girl's forehead it's still on my lips and seriously doesn't fade. I will definitely be buying more of these colors, you can't beat this for the price.

And the lipstick on me. I LOVE the color!

So I've got to say these made some awesome birthday presents for me. And I've been hinting pretty hard at my husband for this loaded Sephora palette for Christmas, hopefully he takes this hint because it would lead to many many bitchin posts. I guess I better be extra good! Til next time!

Random Anime Eye

So basically I'm saving up for a new car and Christmas so I'm not buying much make up right now. Well nothing major. I did just find an e.l.f kiosk in my local Family Fare and I will probably go and raid some of that stuff in the near future. But being that I'm not getting a lot of new stuff, I'm starting to really play with the stuff that I currently have.
A few nights ago, my cousin and I were really bored and she asked me to "paint" her face and here is the result and a quick how to.

I put no planning into this before I did it, I don't have a good white cream shadow or any type of white eyeliner, so I had to improvise a bit because this what she wanted me to do and frankly, I was bored. I'm just telling you guys how I did it this time.

1. Apply a full coverage foundation all over face and eye area. Make sure you really work it in for a more natural look. I used Sephora Perfecting cover foundation in Light.
2. Take a white cream shadow and apply it all over the lid and up to the brow; or you could layer a white highlight, I used e.l.f. Glow highlight and it took about 3 coats. You just apply a coat, work it in, let it dry, repeat until you get the coverage you want. Afterwards apply a white powder eyeshadow to set, I used the white shadow in the Little Black Beauty Book cool python edition.
3.Use a liner brush and a cream black liner (I used e.l.f. cream eyeliner) to sketch the circle for the iris, "light spots", and the pupil, in that order. Fill the eyebrows with the black cream liner and sketch out the little lashes at the end of the brow to make your new upper lash line. Then take the liner along the lower lash line and draw little lashes on the outside.
4. Fill in the iris with whatever color you want. I just used a bright green from my Sephora Medium Makeup Bag palette (this product is no longer available on Sephora.com, sorry!)
5. Go over the black cream liner with a black liquid liner to make sure that all the lines are crisp and super defined.
6. Clean up under the eyes and apply a concealer that's just a little light to brighten your face and pull the concealer down to the top of the cheekbone. I used my e.l.f. liquid concealer in Fair.
7. Finish the face with a pink blush on the apples of your cheeks, bronzer in the hollows of the cheeks and around the jaw bone, and a translucent loose powder all over the face to set. I used a blush and bronzer from the previously mentioned Sephora Makeup Bag palette, and the powder is CoverGirl professional loose powder in translucent light.
8. Apply a pink lipstick to the lips and you're finished! I used a lipstick from the Sephora palette I mentioned earlier.