Yellow Paisley

Today I got two new OPI polishes from the Shrek Collection. Ulta is having a "buy 2 for 10$" deal and I so took advantage! I picked up two that I have wanted since last summer, Funkey Dunkey and Fiercely Fiona. I went summery and chose to use Fiercely Fiona today. Over that I used a paisley-type design from image plate M60 with a mini OPI which for the life of me I cannot find the name of. I got it as a freebie when I purchased a full size nail polish last winter. It came with a dark metallic red/purple, and also a deep metallic red. If anyone knows the mini set please let me know! The one I used is an orange/brown with slight shimmer. I hate the color when used alone, but here I love it!

Review: Almay Smart Shade Concealer

A few months ago I found myself poking around Ulta because was in need of a new concealer. After quite a few minutes contemplating which would be the best, and reading tons of labels, I decided on this one. It was $10, but like always, I used the spend $10 get $3.50 off. What drew me to it was the price, considering most other concealers were around $15, and the fact that it blended perfectly to my shade (although I was quite skeptical). On their website they state "take the guesswork out of finding the right shade of concealer. concealer instantly adjusts to your perfect shade. breakthrough shade-sensing technology starts out white and adjusts to right. conceal minor imperfections on face and dark circles under eyes. antioxidant blend of grape seed, ginseng and ginkgo biloba nurtures your skin. for a beautiful, natural finish every time." Yeah, not quite..   The next day when I used it I realized that it does blend into a differnt color than what first comes out of the tube, but not to your EXACT shade as Almay claims. When I blended it into my under eye area I noticed that right around the edges I would get a very apparent orange ring. My friends would tell me that they could see it even when I blended it to the best of my abilities. I found using a makeup wipe was the only way to remove the orange ring. I'll show you what I mean:

This is what it looks like straight out of the tube. You can see the tiny flecks of what looks almost like cinnamon. Those are the capsules that release pigment with friction.

When you first blend it out you can see a dark liquid which does not mix with the white creamy product. It looks almost like self tanning lotion splattered on regular lotion. You can also see the edges of the product which are very orange.

This is the product completely blended. It is a solid color because it is still very thick. The edges have not been blended out, which you must do when blending in the under eye area.

What do I think of this product? Well as a under eye concealer, I dislike it very much. But! When I want medium coverage I put a little bit in with my lotion and mix it all up on my fingers before I blend it on my face. It creates a very nice tinted moisturizer with no orange bits! I love using it this way, so I do not completely dislike the product.

Have you tried this concealer? Did you like it, or did you have the same results as me? Thanks for reading!

Eyes Lips Face Haul and First Impressions!

Today I received a much anticipated package from ELF! I haven't ordered from ELF in about half a year and I was needing some of their new products. So when they had their 50% off Studio sale I took advantage. Being a makeup-loving-college-student, ELF has become one of my favorite companies. I have only had a few products that were not what I expected, and considering about half of my makeup collection is ELF, that's quite impressive for a company with all their products ranging in price from about 1$-3$. Well, lets get started!

 

Most, if not all, my ELF purchases have come in a padded envelope. Inside is a clear baggie with all your products. Brushes are packaged in clear vinyl-type envelopes (the Studio Line brushes have protective covers but I never choose to use them because they aren't normally a tight fit and fall off easily.) The ELF Essentials eyeshadow quad was my free gift for referring three people to ELF, and I will not be doing a first impressions because I already own one.

The first item I opened was the Complexion Face Brush. I already own a few Studio brushes and knew that the quality would be great! The bristles are super soft and the handle and ferrule are super sturdy. The bristles are slightly longer than I had expected, making them a lot more floppy. I'm not quite sure what this will be my go-to brush for yet. Currently I'm using my ELF Essential Total Face Brush for bronzer, and this may be it's replacement when I do the "E3" technique. 

This is the ELF Essentials Smudge Brush. I do not own a smudge brush and have been using a small pencil brush for applying shadow to my lower lash line. Luckily, this seems like it will make applying and smudging eyeliner and shadow to the lash line much easier. This brush seems to be higher quality than some of the other Essential brushes I own. Some of the ferrules are very weak and I need to re-glue it to the handle, or the bristles will be falling out before I even wash it, but not this one!

The last brush I purchased was the ELF Studio Stipple Brush. It is a duo fiber brush for use applying blushes and highlighters. I have been waiting for ELF to make a brush like this and am so happy they did! I have nothing like it and am very excited to try it because it appears to be very promising. After I took pictures I went to wash my brushes which I highly recommend before using them your first time, especially ELF brushes because they come from China and usually have a milky residue coming out of them when I wash them the first time. Yuck! Nobody wants that on their face!

The Cool Bronzer was a pleasant surprise. Online (the tiny picture of broken bits) the lower left color appears to be a fuchsia-purple. Totally not a bronzing color! Luckily the color in real life is much more of a peachy bronze. All colors are matte which makes it perfect for contouring! Another pro of this is that each section is large enough to dip your brush in just that section making this product not only a bronzer, but a blush, highlighter and contour color all in one. The swatches are on my arm without any base. As you can see, there is great color pay off. The compact features a HUGE mirror which I love when traveling because I can bring just this and use it as my makeup mirror.

The eyeshadow I purchased is Wild Wheat. I own two other studio shadows and love them. This one appears to be no different in quality. It is a lovely shimmery gold with tiny specks of glitter. The swatch has the shadow with the ELF Essential Eyelid primer (left) and with no primer (right). My camera was not picking up just how pretty this eyeshadow is! As always with the Studio Line the packaging is very sleek, and the eyeshadow also has a tiny mirror.

 
 

I got the Matte Lip Color in Coral. When I opened the packaging I was a little scared that the lip product would be the light pink on the bottom of the packaging. It turned out to be very misleading because the true color was, in fact, a coral. As you can see the packaging is twist-up style and it's completely full and contains a lot of product! Kudos to ELF for not jipping us on product! When applied this product is truly matte. There is no smell, or a gross texture. I also have very sensitive lips that get chapped easily, and this does not feel like it will result in any chapping! I didn't like the matte finish so much, so over it I put some ELF Studio Minty Lip Gloss in Chicago which is a golden gloss. It resulted in a perfect summer look! I'm still wearing it so I'll let you guys know how long wearing it is. 

Perhaps my favorite purchases, and the main reason I placed my order, are the Radiance Enhancers. I got it in both Sunrise (pictured above) and Golden (pictured below)

They are tubes with product that are twisted on the bottom which makes the product dispense through the top tiny applicator brush. To get it to dispense you need to twist it quite a few times- so don't be afraid! Golden is, as the name suggests, a golden shimmer with gold highlights (perfect for darker skin tones!). Sunrise is a peachy golden pink shimmer. Online the color seems like a light pink, but in reality it is darker. I like that the packaging has a clear section so you can see the real color of the product, unlike my Coral Matte Lip Color... When going to grab your product you can see exactly what color you're getting instead of memorizing packaging. I believe that these will be a perfect highlight to the cheek bone, bridge of the nose, and top of my lip. I will also try these as eyeshadow bases, and perhaps even as lip shimmer. They appear to be very versatile, and perfect to pop in your purse for touch-ups on the go! The one downside is that when I went to wash my brushes I washed these swatches off too, and they came off very easily. Not quite sure if that means they will wear the same on my face or not, so we shall see!

You can expect reviews of these products in the near future. If there is a product you would really like a review of please let me know and I will review it sooner. 

Thanks for reading!

Subtle Shimmer

This weekend I got a surpsise package from my boyfriend with OPI's "Coney Island Cotton Candy" (a nail polish I have wanted for a very long time)! I immediately painted my nails with it, and for some pizzazz I added a purple/gold shimmer using the argyle design with plate M60. I loved the way it came out, but unfortunately forgot to take pictures :( So today when I went to paint my nails I wanted to see how the manicure worked with a different color! Red! I haven't painted my nails in red probably since Valentines day because I've been having so much fun with fun spring and summer colors! I used OPI's "Vodka & Caviar" as the main color with "A True Ab-Original" for the shimmer. What do you think of my red manicure with subtle shimmer?

Purple and Green!

Sometimes I just can't ignore the bright funky colors in my collection. I used OPI's "Do You Lilac It?", and "Who The Shrek Are You?" for the base colors. For the dots I used China Glaze's "For Audrey" and image plate M60. I love that all colors are creme, so even though its bright and out there, its still wearable.

I Vant to be A-Lone Star!

I picked up this color by a fluke, and I am so happy I did! I had two OPI's and an Essie in my hand when Ulta told me I couldn't combine the brands for the buy 2 get 1 free discount. So I went back and grabbed a similar light sky blue as the one by Essie. Boy am I glad I did! I Vant to be A-Lone Star is part of the Texas Collection. It is a sky blue with a little blue/silver shimmer. I love the way it makes my nails look longer than they are!

But I couldn't stop there! I mean come on, I just got a Konad Stamping System! So thats where OPI's Ski Teal We Drop came in. This was a part of last years Swiss collection, and it was the only one I wanted, and the only one I got. Its a lovely creme dark teal, almost navy.

The end result looks a little like snowflakes, but I like it! And with that in mind, you can be assured I'll be getting a snowflake design and do this exact mani in the winter :)