Project 7 Day Palette: Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows

So I have FINALLY completed my first project 7 day palette.  Holy cheezits it's about time.  Like I said before, I don't wear makeup everyday, so I didn't get this done in a week.  I have taken a crapload of pictures of each look, and I do apologize about the angles being inconsistent for each look.  I'm oftentimes taking pictures in a hurry and by the time I realize that the quality is whacked (when I view them on my computer), I have already removed the makeup.  

In case you have forgotten what the palette looks like, here it is:

1. Absolem, Vorpal, Jabberwocky.  I did this look for my boyfriend's baby sister's prom makeup tutorial.  You can view the post/picture tutuorial/video tutorial here.

2. Drink Me Eat Me, Mushroom.  I wore this look when I was home for the weekend.  When I'm at home I tend to wear lighter makeup because my mother and grandmother are very critical and give me shit for wearing makeup.  

3. Alice, Oraculum, Underland, Curioser, Jabberwocky.  Ah, how I love brights and fun colors!  I wish I could wear makeup like this everyday! The main thing that stops me is time, but I had plenty of that when I did this look.  I ended up just going out to see Pirates of the Carribean with my boyfriend but it was fun wearing this nonetheless :)

4. Absolem, White Rabbit, Underland, Jabberwocky.  Wore this look out shopping :)  Tried on a bunch of lipsticks from MAC at the mall and what you see on my lips is Girl Bout Town.

5. Drink Me Eat Me, Muchness, Mad Hatter.  I'm not too much of a fan of neutrals, so I oomphed up this look with some teal eyeliner.  This was a really fast look that I threw on before a shopping trip.

6. Drink Me Eat Me, Vorpal, Jaberwocky.  Another rushed look =/  Had just a speck of time to throw something on before going out to Old Sacramento.  I decided to wear my contacts that day which was a big mistake because they were driving me nuts.  I took out, cleaned, and popped my lenses back in a couple times and my makeup ended up super smudged.  I touched it up a bit before taking these photos. 

7.  Midnight Tea Party.  So much for wanting to end with a bang.  I threw this on before an 8am class.  The sheer fact that I had time to do makeup is a miracle.  At this point I was getting really sick of this palette and itching to use some of my new stuff.  I know there are many other possibilities I could have done but I'll save those for another time.

Thanks for sticking with me through these 7 FOTDs!  If you've done the same challenge please let me know so I can see your looks!

June 2011 Favorites!

Another month is gone, another bunch of favorites are due, and for yet another month I'm late on doing so.  Pooh.

Well, I'll just jump right into it!

1. Zoya nail polish in Tangy.  What a lovely summer color!  It's bright and fun, but not obnoxiously so.  The best part is the duochromity (is that a word?) and if you tilt your nails ever so slightly, you can see the orange glitter. So pretty :)

2. Diorskin Nude Glow Healthy Glow Summer Powder.  I admit.  I got this cause it was pretty and limited edition.  Of course, if it didn't work well, I would have returned it promptly.  And none of this has to do with why it's a well loved product.  I have been mixing foundations lately because my regular foundation has gotten too light, and I'd rather not go out and buy a darker foundation.  I sometimes end up going too light, and I like to use this product to bronze up a little.  It looks wonderfully naturally, and I think I could find myself using this a lot even when it gets cooler.  This is adds just a perfect all over glow to my face.  I like it so much that the idea of purchasing a backup as crossed my mind....

3. NARS Laguna Bronzer.  Only during the summer would you find a blogger with two bronzing products in a single favorites post.  I have fallen prey to this cult favorite when I decided to finally try the bronzer on at Sephora one day.  I really love how this works wonderfully as a contour color or all over bronzing powder.  I still like my NYC Matte Bronzer but Laguna is just so wonderfully smooth and has that hint of shimmer that I have to lean more towards Laguna.

4. Stila eyeshadow in Kitten.  Ah, another cult favorite.  This is Stila's best selling eyeshadow.  It's a lovely peachy champagne color that is essentially a more refined glitterbomb, as it is super shimmery but is not chunky or frosty.  Last month a wore a lot of smokey brown/taupe looks, and Kitten was absolutely the most perfect inner corner highlight.

5. Sephora eyelash curler.  My last eyelash curler died tragically from overuse.  I ran into Sephora, demanded for their best eyelash curler, and was presented with a Sephora brand eyelash curler.  I was skeptical because that's like telling people you bake the best cookies in town.  But!--This actually works quite nicely!  I have to work really hard to pinch myself, and I can wedge this sucker right to the base of my lashes to really amp up the curls.

6. Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows.  This was a very neglected palette until I decided to take on Project 7 Day Palette with it.  It's funny how creative you can get when you're forced to use one palette for your eye looks.  Not to say I didn't enjoy it, otherwise it wouldn't belong in my favorites.  Like with all Books of Shadows, there is a good variety of colors to choose from.  I'm happy to report that all the eyeshadows except for the chunky glittery ones are just lovely.

7.  MAC Painterly Paintpot. In addition to smokey neutrals, I have been playing a lot with color this month.  I used this product a lot because it's a nice sticky, neutral base.  I can pop any color on top of it and make it look nice and bright!

I like to move it move it x]

[I have nothing to disclose.]

Review: E.L.F. Essentials Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance

Hey ladies and gents~

I'm here with yet another review today! Yay!  This is a product that I have been using quite a bit lately, and it's the Eyes Lips Face (ELF) Luminance Bronzing Powder.  Now, right off the bat, if I were to be reviewing this as a bronzer, it would receive an awful review because this would not work as a bronzer unless you were transparent.  Instead, I will be reviewing it as a highlighter, so that's what I have been using it as :)

What:
The website calls this "a touch of sunshine to warm up every complexion with its soft and silky texture for a beautiful and natural glow."  This could indicate that you could use it as a highlighter but the name sure is misleading!  Currently there are 4 colors available: Sun Kissed, Warm Tan, Luminance, and Matte Bronze.  Today I will be reviewing only Luminance, which seems to be the most popular as it is often out of stock.  I bought this a few years back, when it was the only color available.  You can purchase this product here (eyeslipsface.com).  It will only set you back $1 :)

Packaging:
The packaging looks pretty cheap but it is actually quite sturdy.  As you can see from the pictures, the lettering will fade with more use and time, but that's no biggie.  I can't find how much product is actually in the pan on either the website or the product labeling, but there is a good amount in there.

Luminance

Picture taken outside in natural light.  L - heavy swatch.  R - Blended out.

Recommended Use:

Use this product as you would a highlighter, and brush it over where the sun would naturally hit the high points on your face: on top of your cheeks, bridge of your nose, and cupid's bow.  Feel free to use a brush of your choice (seriously, any brush works) or just your fingers.

Pros:

-Dirt Cheap

-Pigmented

-Not overly shimmery

-Looks natural on the skin (doesn't look chalky as all!)

-Sturdy packaging

Cons:

-Difficult to get your hands on (only available on eyeslipsface.com)

-Very powdery so don't stir the product with your brush

-Lasting powder is so-so.  I notice that the glow is not there any more at the end of the day (approx 8 hours)

Ain't it gorgeous?  For $1 this is a fantastic deal.  It's not stark, white shimmer, but slightly peachy and blends into skin a lot more naturally.  This is currently my favorite highlighter, as it is subtle but certainly adds a glow to my complexion.  

Hm, my review seems a bit short but I think I have covered just about everything.  Let me know if you have any other questions about this product!  Thanks for stopping by!

[I have nothing to disclose.]

P.S.  I added a number of new eye products to my blog sale :)  You can check it out here if you'd like!  Thank you!.

Review: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Before I move on to the review, I just wanted to thank you all for your wonderful and supportive comments on my last post.  I try to be as honest as possible with everything I put out (and sometimes I end up being a little too vulgar/blunt) and I'm glad that has carried across to many of you.  I'm going to keep at it in terms of putting good, useful, and sometimes entertaining information out there.  So again, thank you all for your support, and even just stopping by to give my blog a read :)

Let's get on to the review!

What:
These are one of NYX's most popular products.  They are creamy eyeshadows in pencil form, containing about 5 grams (0.18oz) of product per pencil.  Currently, there are 28 colors available.  Prices differ depending on where you purchase the product but they should be no more than $4.50 each.

Packaging:
For some reason, some of these were sealed and some of these were not when I ordered them from Cherryculture.com.  When I inquired about this, CherryCulture simply said that not all their products are sealed.  I shrugged it off since they can easily be sanitized.  Since these babies are in pencil form, you just have to sharpen these with a fat cosmetic pencil sharpener to get more product.  I find these portable and they can be stored easily if you buy them in the masses.

Uses:
These babies can be used as an eyeshadow base to intensify color, an eyeshadow primer (with limits), or an eyeliner.

I currently own 12 different shades.  A review will come after a photobomb of the products themselves with swatches :)

Swatches over bare skin in day light.  No flash.

Swatches over bare skin in day light.  No flash.

Recommended (and not recommended) Uses:

• For best results, use these with an eyeshadow primer underneath.
• These make great bases for powder eyeshadows, but do make sure you blend out the color with a brush or your finger or you will indeed experience creasing.  
• Once you blend the color out, the original color appears very sheer, so I do not recommend using these alone.  
• If you're in a pinch, these will work as an eyeshdow primer.  On myself, they last around 6 hours before creasing a little, but the color starts fading gradually after about 3 hours of wear.
• These will make lovely eyeliners, but I recommend using an eyeliner brush instead of applying it directly from the product because they are so big and chunky.

Pros:

• Very inexpensive.
• Good selection of colors.
• Very creamy and easy to apply.
• Versatile as they can be used as a primer, base, and eyeliner (with limits).
• Portable and easy to store.

Cons:

• Product will crease on your eyelid unless you blend it out and apply a powder eyeshadow on top.
• An eyeshadow is a must if you want these to be truly long lasting
• When blending the product, the color fades considerably and is no longer as vibrant.

Overall, I really love these jumbo eye pencils.  They're pretty cheap and come in a lot of amazing colors.  They are definitely a wonderful alternative to more expensive cream eyeshadows.  The pros outweigh the cons and I hope to purchase more colors in the future (looking out for the sales!).

[I have nothing to disclose.]

What makes a blogger trustworthy?

This is the million dollar question that I've been pondering this for a while now:

What makes you trust a blogger's opinion, and return to read more about what he/she writes?

 After a long bit of thinking, I have come to the conclusion that in terms of beauty bloggers, it's the content.  Even more refined than that, I think it often comes down to the product reviews.  After reading and watching many reviews, you get a feel of what reviews are the most honest.  Being thorough helps, as does listing pros and cons of the product.  Another big factor is whether or not products have been sent for review consideration.  With that said, I don't think it's wrong for bloggers to review free products, but I like to see a good mix of products that the blogger has personally purchased and products that were sent for review.

And this brings me to the next question:

Would others consider me as a trustworthy blogger?

Of course, I want them to.  But I have been blogging for over a year now and have attracted not too many readers.  I have wondered if I was doing something wrong, or perhaps I was not doing enough, or perhaps I'm too vulgar, or even perhaps I talk too much.  What I ultimately did, however, was put 2 and 2 together and decided to focus a lot more on doing reviews.  Afterall, I personally use bloggers' reviews to evaluate them.

I looked back at my blog and see that I have not done too many reviews.  It's not that I don't like doing them.  I take reviews damn seriously, and try to make them as detailed as possible as to answer any questions that others would have.  They are the most time consuming blogs/videos to create, even over tutorials, and with a tight schedule during the academic year, I favor quantity over quality.  But damn, I want people to know that I can write and I can dish out good material And thus, as summer is upon us and I only have one class, I have been taking advantage of the wonderful sunlight to take pictures.  I have also tried to up the quality of my pictures the best I can with my Canon DS780, so I have also started putting watermarks on my pictures.  This extra bit of work has been extremely time consuming, hence the delay of blog posts.  Hopefully as I do this more, I'll get faster and it'll become more routine.

There's also a slight lack of space in my apartment that I share with 5 other girls and currently my boyfriend as well.  I use my desk for academic work for my blogging as well and....I'll just show you a picture:

Have I mentioned that I am tight on space?

By the way, that is indeed a make shift "light box" using index cards and a makeup palette.  I was take pictures of my jumbo eyeshadow pencils for an upcoming review that you will be seeing shortly.

I'm so tired.  My brain is shutting off in 5...4...3..2..1.........

Mini Canada Haul (June 2011 edition)

Hellooo everyone!

As many of you know, each of our respective countries offer a wide selection of products, some of which is only available in that country.  Living in he U.S., I have access to lots of goodies, but there are lots more that I don't have access to.  My boyfriend is from Quebec, and they have a lot of neat stuff over there that is impossible or difficult to find here.  Brands include Lise Watier, Quo, and Marcelle.  I had my eye on a number of items from the summer collection, and had my boyfriend snag two for me.  One was the Lise Watier Bora Bora Palete, and another was a humongous bronzer from Marcelle.

As you can see, I placed the Marcelle bronzer next to a MAC blush just so you can see the size difference.  I have not had a chance to test out these items yet, but I really should because I believe both are limited edition items, and I don't know if you can get them anymore.  The Lise Watier palette was approximately $40 CAD, and the bronzer ~$17 CAD.

I haven't seen much about these products yet.  Anyone else heard/used these guys yet?