NOTD 7-13-11

This is a mani that started as a picture in my mind, but as I was creating it, it strayed far from the picture. In my mind I wanted to create strawberry red nails and put tiny yellow dots (seeds) on them. I started out with Zoya Haley (which is one of my favorite reds, not only because of the name hehe), and over that I put two coats of OPI Rosy Future. When it was dry I liked it so much that I didn't want to cover my nail with dots, so I only did a few on the accent finger with OPI Fiercely Fiona. I love how fun this color and design combination is! 

I make my dots simply with a ball point pen. You can buy a dotting tool, but cleaning off a ball point pen works just as well for me :)

FOTD 7-11-11

I rocked a super simple orange eye with winged liner today. Summery and fresh!

FACE:

Fix & Perfect Primer- Rimmel

Colorstay Foundation in 240 Medium Beige- Revlon

High Definition Powder- e.l.f.

All Over Color Stick in Spotlight- e.l.f.

Cool Bronzer- e.l.f.

Studio Blush in Candid Coral- e.l.f.

Brushes: Powder Brush- e.l.f., Complexion Brush- e.l.f., All Over Face Brush- e.l.f.

EYES:

Eyeshadow Primer- e.l.f.

Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in RSVP- Benefit

Orange shades of eyeshadow from the e.l.f. 100 Eyeshadow Palette

Eye Transformer in Orange hue- e.l.f.

Studio Cream Eyeliner in Black- e.l.f.

Lash Maxxx Mascara- Rimmel

Brushes: Professional Eyeshadow Brush- e.l.f., Sumdge Brush- e.l.f., Professional Blending Brush- e.l.f., Bent Eyeliner Brush- Sonia Kashuk

LIPS:

Just plain ol' lip balm

Whats your summery look?

Gilded Little Blue Nails

Who doesn't love to receive a little blue box with lots and lots of gold inside?! Well this nail-tutorial shows you how to use eyeshadow (..yes eyeshadow!) in your manicure to create an antique gold look.

You will need:
-Dry nails in your choice of color. I used "For Audrey" by China Glaze, a perfect Tiffany's box blue!
-A loose eyeshadow. I used e.l.f.'s mineral eyeshadow in "Golden"
-Any topcoat
-Tape

Start by pressing the tape to the back of your hand to reduce the sticky-ness and to avoid tearing off nail polish when you remove the tape. Place the tape over the area you don't want gold. I decided on a vertical half and half design.

Coat the half thats exposed with clear nail polish. Wait a few seconds for the polish to get tacky.

Press your finger down in the shadow. Sometimes I would need to pick up a little more with my finger and pat it on.

Remove the tape to reveal perfect half-gold nails!

After all your nails are done and dry you can wash them or take a shower to remove all excess shadow and polish. I chose to not put on a topcoat to preserve the satin finish, but it's all personal preference. If you want to use a topcoat make sure that all the excess eyeshadow has been removed, otherwise you will transfer the eyeshadow into the polish and have a forever sparkly topcoat! After two days a lot of the shadow came off because I didn't have a topcoat but I loved it even more that way. It had an antique gold finish that everyone questioned me on how I created!

Let me know if you try this!

Polka Dot Power!

This was the first time I tried doing any dots on my nails. I really like the results! To me it looks a little like reptile scales because of the diamond shape. The base color is Essie's "Sand Tropez" and the dots are "Miami Beet" by OPI.

Are you Absolutely Shore plaid is in?

Well regardless, plaid looks great on your nails to add some subtle interest to your everyday manicure!

I used Essie's "Absolutely Shore" as a base and with the Konad image plate M60 I added some plaid with OPI's "Who the Shrek are You?". For my ring finger I put Silver Shatter over "Who the Shrek are You?". I was going for a summer fun mani, and I definitely found it!

FOTD 7-7-11

Hey everyone! Today I had some time to play with my makeup and create this look before I ran a few errands. This is what I came up with:

To create this look I used the following products and brushes:

A- e.l.f.'s Studio Powder Brush, B- e.l.f.'s Studio Complexion Brush, C- e.l.f.'s Total Face Brush, D- Loew-Cornell Maxine Mop Brush, E- Loew-Cornell Spotter Sable, F- Coastal Scents Eyelash Definer

 1. I applied Cetaphil's face moisturizer all over my face (as you can see I use the bottle to test nail polish swatches on! haha)
2. I then used brush A to apply Maybelline's Pure Stay Powder Foundation in 10 Ivory
3. The concealer I used under my eyes is e.l.f.'s Tone Correcting Concealer in Light Beige
4. Over the concealer I brushed on a little Bare Escentuals Mineral Foundation in Light
5. For bronzer and contour I used Physicians Formula Solar Power Bronzer in 3857 applied with brush C
6. The blush I am wearing is e.l.f.'s Studio Blush in Fuchsia Fusion with Brush B (note that this blush is very pigmented, a little goes a long way)
7. I primed my lids with e.l.f.'s Essential Eyelid Primer. I then used e.l.f.'s Radiance Enhancer in Golden as a base (not pictured)
8. The shadows I used were from the Coastal Scents Metal Mania Palette. The two I used are circled above. I applied the golden one with one side of brush D and picked up some of the green with the other side and blended the two together.
9. My lipstick is Revlon's Wink for Pink
Not pictured:
Eyeliner- e.l.f.'s Studio Cream Eyeliner in Metallic Olive, applied with Brush E
Mascara- L'Oreal Telescopic in Black. I then combed out the clumps with Brush F

I very rarely think to use my 88 Metal Mania palette, but the two random compliments from strangers about how beautiful my eyeshadow looked will remind me reach for it a lot more often!

The Product Less Used - Benetint

Last summer I picked this up because of all the wonderful reviews I heard. For a month or so I wore it every day on my cheeks and lips for that healthy rosy glow. Once I got to school in the fall I stopped using it as much. Whats interesting is that I didn't stop using it because I forgot about it, because as always this product has a spot in my makeup area right in front of everything else in perfect sight every day. I stopped using this because every morning before class I would apply my face lotion and a face powder with slight coverage. After I applied the powder I didn't want to put a liquid product back on my face and deal with streaky-ness, so instead I would reach for powder blushes.  Well recently I've disregarded that whole thought process and I put this on as blush over or under my foundation, primer, powder, you name it! This product has been formulated to work no matter what is on your face (I haven't read that statement anywhere, just a personal assumption). The best part about this is that it will stay on all day, including when the rest of your makeup slowly dissolves in the heat of the summer.
Here are some swatches and how I apply it:

right out of the bottle, no blending

blended into my arm

The product is as liquidy as plain water. it has a tiny applicator like a nail polish brush, so once you unscrew the top you "paint" some on your cheeks and then quickly blend it in.

tribal markings to rosy tint

You can also use this product as a lipstain. Simply apply it to your bare lips and blend it in.

left-bare lip, right-benetint

Would I repurchase this product? Yes. Although it is a bit pricey at $28 it will also last you a lifetime (personally I don't think I will ever have the need to repurchase it!)

Overall I would rate this product a 5 out of 5. If you are looking for a product that gives you a little more color payoff than my swatches show, then this is not for you. But if you are looking for a product that will give you the right amount of rosy glow, then this easy to apply product will be the perfect match!

"The Product Less Used" is a series of blog posts which I review some of the products in my collection which have gone unnoticed for quite some time and I have recently rediscovered. I have a lot of products I purchased and use nonstop and then found a similar product (and sometimes better) which took it's spot. Or sometimes I purchase a product with the best intentions, and then it doesn't quite work out. Sometimes I find another way to use it, and sometimes I just forget about a it! This series will go in dept on certain products and why I recently started using them again, and why I stopped using them in the first place!