Makeup Myth Tested: Does RED LIPSTICK hide Dark Circles?

I recently saw this thing on social media claiming that red lipstick was the magic secret to concealing dark circles. I thought, "no way!".. red lipstick is so bright !! How could that even be possible? I mean how in the heck does that work? How do you go about blending that??!! I was full of questions and full of curiosity, and I had to try it for myself.

I intentionally did not watch or view the initial post as I did not want to be influenced. I wanted to do things my own way & find out if this thing really works not just for me, but for you, and for the average Joe Shmo. I went into this experiment totally blind, having not even the slightest clue as to what I was supposed to do.

Creating Versatility with Bold Pieces

Normally when I look in my closet and "have nothing to wear" (please, we all have PLENTY in there), I will do some online shopping or run down to the mall to get my fix. But, since my boyfriend and I are trying to save money for a house, sacrifices must be made-- those sacrifices being my shopping habits. So, being on a budget really forces me to be creative with my wardrobe.

I love bold pieces because they challenge me artistically. Those pieces that make me say to myself, "I don't really have anything to go with that," are always the first ones in my shopping cart. Daring, I know. Which, that may sound strange to you guys because y'all know I am all about simplicity and versatility. Well, yes, that is still true, but there are 4 basic rules I adhere to when working with bold pieces to make them... simple & versatile.

Ariana Grande | Makeup Tutorial

Okay so I wanted to do a makeup look inspired by Ariana Grande, because lets admit it-- she's flippin adorable! Normally, it seems like she keeps it pretty simple, but there was something about that black lace dress, the red lips, and the bronze eyes that made me go, "Yep!! That's it!!! That's the look!" So need I say more? 

1. After priming, apply a transition shade to the crease--  Peach Smoothie// Makeup Geek
2. Darken the crease with a complimentary shade, and add a bronze shadow or pigment to the lid -- Creme Brûlée// Makeup Geek & Walnut Noix Loose Pearl Pigment// NYX
3. Further darken the crease to add more dimension-- Cinnabar// Mary Kay
** Note: All shades complement the bronze shade, having orange/brassy undertones
4. Add brown eyeliner and create a wing. I also applied more pigment (lightly) and dabbed upward into the crease and blended all together.
5. (Not Shown//See Below)) Smoke out lower lash line using a shimmer shade and take a dark brown into the outer corner of lower lash line-- Brown Sugar// Makeup Geek & Mocha// Makeup Geek. Then, add your highlight in inner corner and brow bone. Shade I used has a soft yellow hue, which complements the bronze shades better than a "white" -- Nylon// MAC

Lipstick & Lashes | Makeup Tutorial

Are you ready for the easiest makeup tutorial of your life? You're about to get it. I'm sure you are aware by now I aim for easy makeup looks. Part of that is contributed to my lack of time and effort (aka laziness), and the other part is due to the fact I just have no where to go to get so glammed up all the damn time. But, when I do, one of my favorite looks is bold lips, simple eyes and big lashes. It's timeless, it's balanced, it's easy, and it has the ability to match everything and everyone.
So here we go!

1. Start by priming the eyes AND adding a base matching the skin tone or brighter.

Ex: MAC Painterly or Soft Ochre Paint Pots, NYX Jumbo Pencil Milk or Milani Shadow Eyez Almond Creme

2. Take a matte mid tone brown and add to the crease
(I like to focus most of my color on the outer corner and work inward)

Ex: MAC Saddle, Texture or Cork, Too Faced Salted Caramel,
Makeup Geek Frappe, Latte or Creme Brulee, Urban Decay Buck or Nooner

3. Add a vanilla shade to the lid and brow bone.

Ex: Makeup Geek Vanilla Bean, MAC Vanilla, Too Faced White Chocolate

4. Pop on a black winged liner and boom you done!
5. Oh. And did I mention the bold lips and big lashes? Here are some of my favs:

January 2015 Favorites

  

Hello there!

Happy February and Happy Groundhog Day! Spring fever has officially kicked in and my boyfriend has been so excited for fishing. Me, I'm just thrilled The Walking Dead returns next week! It's the only thing that has kept me through the winter, which we had a pretty mild one until last week. Damn you January! Even feeling under the weather, I was still able to gather up some products that have got me through the month!

Maybelline "The Nudes" Swatches & Review

I know, I know. I'm a little late jumping on this band wagon, but that's because I was debating on purchasing it ever since it was released last summer. I was instantly drawn to this palette because of the beautiful neutral shades (duh. I love neutrals). However, I felt I already owned shadows comparable to almost all shades in the palette. 

I cannot tell you how many times I picked up this palette, walked around the store, and put it back on the shelf. Well, the other day I had some "extra bucks" from CVS and thought heck, I have no excuse not to buy it now, I got it for a whopping $5!!!  

Much to my surprise, when I got home I was shocked as to how many shades I did not have dupes for. Most of my neutral shades have warm/orange tones, while most of The Nudes palette has cool/grey tones.

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette | Four Looks

I would have to say the Chocolate Bar palette by Too Faced has really become one of my favorite palettes of all time. I reach for this palette for so many different occasions. Featuring both mattes and shimmers, and both colors and neutrals, this palette can be dressed up or dressed down... Not to mention the smell is delectable!  With such a variety of shades I thought this was the perfect palette to do next for my "Four Looks" Series because of its versatility. This palette seriously has endless possibilities and I could probably go on for days, but I'll strain myself and keep it at four (2 glam and 2 simple).

Review | Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser

If I could ever recommend only one skin care product to you, I swear it would be this one. Back when I was receiving my monthly BirchBoxes I was sent this amazing product. You have to understand I literally have an entire drawer full of samples so it took me a while to coming around to trying this. I honestly had no desire to try this product because I thought the whole "hot cloth" thing was kind of weird, and quite frankly I was very content with my daily cleanser. Well, I finally tried it and holy hell it is amazing! 

2014 Beauty Favorites

Trying to compile this list of favorites was probably one the hardest things I've ever done haha just kidding, but it was difficult for such an indecisive person. I have grown to love so many products this year, and experimented with even more. To keep it as simple as possible, I narrowed my list to 13-- one for each month and one to grow on (you should be proud of me). So, without further adieu, I present my favorite beauty products of 2014 (in no particular order of course). 

Holiday 2014 | Makeup Tutorial

Hello everyone! Hope you are all in the holiday spirit!! I know I sure am. As of lately though, my excitement isn't even about receiving gifts, but more so about giving! Crazy how much we grow up in just a few short years. Anywayssss, this look is super super easy and festive for the holidays! I went for a simple, yet fun eye and a bold lip. I wanted it to be universal, because hey, we all know I'm all about neutralism and making things simple. So here we go..

Snakey Business | Fashion Post

I felt like a change up was in order for my blog, so I decided to do a fashion post. Nowadays my closet is almost completely filled with work clothes. The ratio of work and play is like 90:10. That may sound like a drag, and it was at first, but I've compiled a pretty snazzy collection of work wear I've grown pretty fond of. I finally feel like I am getting my "flare" back!

One thing I love about winter is wearing tights. Say what?! I've never actually met anyone other than myself that enjoys wearing tights, but I do! I've always had large calves so wearing tights
(dark ones at least) seem to slenderize the appearance of them. That means I've been going
 nuts wearing and buying pencil skirts lately. And my newest addition... this "Anaconda" print
pencil skirt by none other than Nicki Minaj.

What would you pair with this skirt?

Black Zipper Blouse (Similar here and here)//
Anaconda Skirt (Exact here)//

Chunky Pearl Necklace (Similar here; here; and here)//

Spike Bracelet (Almost Exact here)//

Michael Kors Watch (Exact here)// 

Black Booties (Exact here)//

My Portfolio

Today's post is going to be a short one. I hate being swamped at work, and even worse, taking my work home with me. Why did I have to grow up? Wahhh. On a brighter note, my boyfriend and I are taking the fur children to see Santa Clause tonight hahaha-- this shall be interesting! (Pictures soon to come). But anyway, sometimes I create looks I don't always blog about. If you've been reading my blog you know my favorite posts are tutorials. Makeup artistry is my passion. I'm not a journalist, nor am I writer saavy. I love love love makeup, and even more sharing my passion with others. One day I will get around to doing videos I promise. 

Some of these looks I created are random, some are intentional, and some just happened by mistake! I was cleaning out my phone the other day and did not realize how many looks I've done that I've hardly shared, if ever. What's the fun in that right? So I put a few together for you and plan on updating the page on the reg.

** Link is above in the navigation bar **

I list full product details on all looks. Comment below or on my Portfolio page if you would like to see a tutorial on any of these looks :) Enjoy!

This or That? Maybelline Define a Brow VS Anastasia Brow Wiz

I cannot seem to shake this cold I've had for the past few days. After a night of insomnia, I woke up feeling like death. I have quite a few PTO days left for the year so I decided to take the day off and relax. What a better day to lay in bed during the Law & Order SVU marathon? Oh.. and to blog of course! Anyway,  onto the important stuff...

It's no secret Anastasia Beverly Hills is known for their amazeballs brow products, but how about Maybelline? Does a drugstore pencil add up? Or is the high end pencil even worth the hype? 

I did a comparison based on five categories: Application, Precision, Color, Durability, & Brushes. 

Here's my observation...

6 Easy & Affordable Christmas Gifts for Her

Oh the holidays... Thanksgiving has now passed and I am already up to my knees in stress thinking about buying Christmas gifts for everyone already, how about you?! I envy those who get the majority of their shopping done before Thanksgiving. I will never be one of those people no matter how hard I try. The good news is I have some awesome simple gift ideas for you that will suit all the women in your life! (men on the other hand... good luck!!)

DIY Body Scrubs

Take this idea and run with it. There is nothing women love more than pampering themselves, and more than likely, if they don't.. it's because they don't have the time or products to do so. Gifting her a scrub will give her a reason to treat herself & that's something every woman will be grateful for (and easy on your wallet). Here are a few of my favorite recipes:

9 High End Beauty Products WORTH Buying

Hey guys! This post has been long over due, but highly recommended and very resourceful for y'all. I mean, let's be honest, walking into a Sephora, Ulta or MAC can be highly overwhelming especially looking at the price tag of everything. I get asked soooo often "What's the best of this or that, or is X product worth the hype, etcc...". So here I am to get rid of all that grey noise and let you know which high end products I not only recommend, but are 100% in my opinion worth the money and value. Though if you read my blog frequently enough you probably already know which products I'm going to mention!

NYX Love In Paris "Merci Beaucoup" | Four Looks

One of my biggest pet peeves in the blogger/youtube beauty community is when one eye tutorial is composed of 634824873 different eyeshadows all from different palettes and brands, agreed? Because, let's be honest, we don't have the money to buy a whole new palette for ONE single eyeshadow right? The struggle is so incredibly real. As a result, I would like to start a new series to my blog : One Palette, Four Looks.. making the bang worth your buck! The one I chose to start with is the Love in Paris/ Merci Beaucoup palette from NYX. This baby is $10, available at Ulta, CVS, and probably more drugstores my town doesn't have hahaha.

Anyway, here we go..

Look 1 & 2- Day to Night

Halloween Makeup Tutorial | Avatar

Hello everybody!! I am so happy to be back & blogging again! I missed you guys more than you know! I wanted to come back with a bang so what better way than a crazy fun Halloween tutorial? I was so excited when my friend asked me to paint her as an Avatar. Challenge accepted. And it turned out way better than I had ever anticipated and it honestly was not that difficult at all! I really wanted to take step by step photos (or a video) but I totally forgot until we were already half way in. I was just so in the zone haha. Anyway, if you want to see how I achieved this look, just keep reading! 

Neutral Glam | Makeup Tutorial

Between proms and weddings, I have been extremely busy with my free lancing lately.
If you follow me on instagram, you probably saw one of the beautiful prom faces I had the privilege of painting. If not, you can see her HERE. Anyway, I received sooooo many compliments & thought I would share with you how to achieve this flawless look. This look is not only for prom, but it is a beautiful, neutral, glammed up look for any occasion.

To begin, I primed the lid as always (used Urban Decay Shadow Primer), and the face with L'Oreal Youthcode Pore Vanisher.

Cinco De Mayo | Makeup Tutorial

Okay. Let's be honest. We all use Cinco De Mayo as an excuse to drink an exorbant amount of margaritas until we fall on the floor. So we might as well look beautiful falling riiiighhht? Righht. But no, really, Cinco De Mayo is a wonderful holiday to celebrate joyfully! Anyway....

This look will be created using Maybelline's Eye Studio Quad in Coral Oasis. It's my favorite of the quads and every time I wear it, I get tons of compliments so I thought I would share it! Enjoy!

All About Brushes Part 3 | Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes

So now that you have a basic understanding of brushes, you should know how to clean them. If you haven't read my first two posts about brushes, click HERE and HERE. I am going to be blunt.. your makeup brushes are disgusting. They are filled with old makeup, dirt, DEAD SKIN, and bacteria. Even when your brushes are not touching your face they are still collecting dust and dirt from microscopic particles flying in the air. If you don't wash your brushes, your face may break out, and you can get an infection in your eyes. Not to mention your application will be so much smoother when applying with clean brushes.

But I'm gonna be honest, cleaning my makeup brushes is more of a dreaded task for me than cleaning up cow manure...okay not really, but it's a close call! When I do a nice deep brush cleaning, I do this about once every 2 weeks, give or take. I, however, spot clean my brushes every few days... the brushes I use more frequently that is. 

Can you see why I hate washing all these babies?