FOTD and Blush Business

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This should have been posted yesterday but I was too busy being lazy. Don’t you hate that? I worked on my resume, read, did housework, caught up with my bestie Shan, watched youtube videos, watched tv, chilled with my Sun and daughter…but was too lazy to post a blog, lol. I am wretched, I know. At any rate…

My Sephora blushes arrived yesterday and though initially I was excited about them…now not so much.

 I’m probably jumping the gun here because I haven’t actually put them on my face, I’ve only swatched them. But the swatches….ermm, not impressed. They don’t seem to have a lot of color saturation and I’m afraid the matte pink blush might leave me looking ashy. Here are the swatches…

I'm pretty sure I kept mixing up Abricot Plaisir and Bronze Sensation.

 Again, perhaps I am just jumping the gun here. I’ll test them out on my face later and see what I can see. Does anyone else use Sephora blushes? If so, what shades?  What’s been your experience with them? On to the next…

I did another FOTD with my Stila Color Wheel Eye Shadow Palette that I got from Apothica. This time I opted for what I thought would be a somewhat deeper earthier look. No dice. The look turned out okay, but it wasn’t nearly as deep on me as it looked on the model in the Stila Artistry Lookbook that came with the palette. Here are the pics of the shadows I used and the Artistry Lookbook example…

Now here’s my rendition…

Peach Stila shadow from upper lash line to brow bone, Burnt Sienna Stila shadow in crease and outer v, Brick Red Stila shadow on upper lash line, Brick Red Stila shadow pressed into center of lid, Mabelline Full&Soft mascara in Very Black on lashes, Sephora Flashy liner in Flashy Ultra Brown smudged on waterline & lower lash line, NYX blush in Copper on cheeks and Mabelline ColorSensational Lipstick in Crazy for Coffee topped off with ELF Minty Lipgloss in San Diego on lips.

I didn’t hate this look, I actually liked it. I just wish it had been a little deeper. The colors in this palette, though pretty and good quality, are pale. On my brown skin they look kind of washed out. I still like the shadows though. I'll probably have to start using a base of some sort. My clean up under and around the eyes wasn't so great either...I'll have to do better with that next time. All in all, not bad.

Does anyone else have this palette or any other Stila shadows? Do the colors seem too pale to you? Let a sistah know pretty please :-)

Later doll faces!

XOXO

My first Stila look and my weekend retrospective :-)

Sooo, I didn't do a Stila look over the weekend. Actually, I didn't wear any makeup whatsoever over the weekend. I didn't do my nails, I didn't get fancy and I didn't leave the house. Sound fun? I agree. What I did do was continue to recuperate from this nasty little upper respiratory infection I've had for almost 3 weeks now. Though I'm feeling a lot better, I'm still not 100%. I'm hoping that by the end of this week I'll be back to my old self :-)
I also did a lot of reading, planning and talking to my Sun (I hope something sank in). I also spent too much time worrying about my BFF. He spent  lot of time with me while I was sick doing a little care-taking so I was fearful that he would contract my virus. On Saturday (I think) he told me he felt the beginnings of something (cringe) and that really worried me. That's how it all started for me. I'm hoping and praying that he won't get bogged down the way I was...this virus is no joke. On to the next...




Despite not using my new Stila palette all weekend, I did glance at it lovingly a few times, lol. Because I was all hyped up about my Apothica purchases coming so quickly I did a little shopping so the Stila and the Sheseido would have some new company, lol. Here's what I bought...

More Sephora...

Though I wanted to try out Orgasm by Nars, I just wasn't ready to pay $26 for one blush. Instead, I got this Sephora blush in Bronze Sensation (a shimmery rosey bronze), Abricot Plaisir (a shimmering natural apricot) and Peche Tendre (a matte warm light pink). The names are soooo extra though, I mean really. How am I supposed to pronounce them, lol. Anyway, I'm thinking that I can probably use these blushes to recreate Nars Orgasm. If not, I still have 3 pretty blushes as opposed to 1. I hope the colors look good on me.

Next I bought this Sigma F15 Duo Fibre Face Brush. Since I bought those pretty new blushes I knew I would need a decent blush brush. I actually meant to get the F50 but I'm hoping this brush will be just as good. I already have the Sigma eye brush kit and a small contour brush and am quite pleased with their quality. These brushes were mos def a worthwhile investment.




Last but no least, I bought a lot of stuff from ELF. I won't post pictures because it would take too long so I'll just list what I bought....


7 Luscious Liquid Lipsticks (I love these!) in Pink Lemonade '06, Bark, Maple Sugar, Caramel Candy, Brownie Points, Cherry Tart and Ruby Slipper


Eyelash curler, brow comb/brush and 2 eyelash/brow wands


The blush/bronzer duo that's supposed to be a dupe of Nars Laguna/Orgasm

A blush/highlighter called Gotta Glow


The 100 eyeshadow palette


The ELF Studio Treat&Tame in Dark


2 Mineral Lipsticks in Bare Brown and Prime Plum


And an ELF Essentials Lipstick called Fantasy


I probably don't need all the ELF stuff but I wanted it...so I got it, lol. There's just something so addictive about makeup and makeup tools...it's like...you can never have enough, lol. What say you? At any rate, I can't wait until all my goodies show up so I can play :-)


And now for my FOTD featuring my first Stila look...

1-24-11 FOTD = Stila Pale Pink shadow from upper lash line to browbone, Stila Dusty Rose shadow blended from upper lash line to crease, Stila Aubergine on upper lash line, L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara in Black on lashes, Sephora Flashy Liner in Flashy Ultra Brown smudge on waterline & lower lash line, Milani Blush in Sunset Beach on cheeks and Mabelline ColorSensational Lipstain in Bit of Brown topped with ELF Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Maple Sugar on lips.

That blush application looks really bad to me but oh well...still learning. During the process of creating this look I wasn't sure I could pull it off and I wasn't quite sure I liked it. It's one of the looks from the booklet that came with the palette. All of the models in the booklet are white so I wasn't quite sure how the look I chose (let alone any of the others) would translate on my brown skin. In the end, I thought it was okay. The shadows give great color payoff and were pretty easy to work with. I noticed that the darkest color I used (Aubergine) was very powdery. I guess that's just the case with some shadows whether they're high end or not. All in all, I did okay and the look grew on me as the day went on. 

Here's the look and shadows I used...

You can clearly see which colors I used: Pale Pink, Dusty Rose and Aubergine. I don't really agree with all the names though...they don't always fit the colors.

As an experiment I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance on my right eye and the ELF Mineral Primer on my left eye. I wanted to see if there was really a difference between how well these two primers worked. TFSI is $18 at Sephora ($17.80 at Apothica) and the ELF Mineral Primer is $3 on the ELF website. Here is a picture of the look at around 10 AM...

I'm pointing to the TFSI eye. See how bright and clownish that blush looks? It's actually a combo of Desert Rose by NYX and Sunset Beach by Milani.

And here it is at around 11 PM...

Side by side close up comparison...

So thought there's some color fade, neither eye has obvious creasing. The ELF eye shows a little more wear and the beginnings of some creasing, but not enough to be glaringly obvious. 


Things I like about the ELF Mineral Primer:


It's thicker, blends out easily, works just as well as more expensive primers, long lasting, no drastic creasing even after 12 hours of wear, no smell and not as greasy as some primers I've tried. 


Things I dislike about the ELF Mineral Primer:


The container is cumbersome and will present a problem when trying to get all the product out. Shadow color fades as time goes by.


Things I like about TFSI:


Prevents creasing, comes in different shades and packaging will allow for removal and use of all product.


Things I dislike about TFSI:


The price, greasy feeling, product separates in tube and comes out messy, takes a while to blend out, the smell and color fades.




The $3 primer wins in my book. That's all folks!

Better than good Friday!

This Friday is a great Friday because #1, I'm feeling better! My antibiotics must have decided to kick in because I can breathe through my nose and the solid block of congestion that took up residence in my chest almost three weeks ago is dissipating. I'm so relieved I don't even have the words to articulate it...I'll settle for a nice deep breath *breathing deep*

Thanks Apothica!

#2, I got my Apothica order today! I am really really impressed with how quickly this order arrived...I mean, I just placed the order late Wednesday afternoon. I can't wait to test the Sheseido moisturizer and play with the Stila Color Wheel tomorrow. I'll make sure I do a FOTD post tomorrow using the Stila palette.





The two products actually arrived separately; the Sheseido moisturizer came via UPS (from Cosmetic Mall) and the Stila Color Wheel came via USPS Priority (direct from Apothica). That was kind of disconcerting because had I not been home, the Sheseido product would have been sent back to the UPS sort facility for redelivery. I'm assuming that Apothica may outsource for products they don't have in their warehouse at the time. Though I understand things happen, I'm hoping next time I place an order my products will be shipped via USPS Priority as stated on the Apothica website. Other than that, I have no beef! Both packages were securely shrouded in bubble wrap, arrived undamaged and sooner than I expected.  

In other news....

Two coats of Foxy Lady by Milani

My third Milani of the month didn't turn out so well. I applied it last night and today it looks like this...













The other hand looks even worse. Though I love the colors, the brushes and the smoothness of the formulas, I just can't deal with how long it takes for these polishes to dry. Perhaps this is why they have sat for so long unused on my nail polish rack. I'll either have to learn to be completely still for an hour or two after I do my nails or stop buying Milani polishes. Does anyone else have an issue with Milani polishes?




My other issue is with NYX eye shadows.


*Begin rant*


I haaaaaaaate NYX eye shadows sooooooo much! They are chalky, way too soft and too many of them have horrible color pay off. I have tried with NYX, I really have, but they just can't have anymore of my money (for eye shadows anyway). I bought 43 of their single shadows during a sale they had back in 2008 ($43) and bought their box of shadows a few weeks ago ($35). I wound up giving the singles to my daughter in 2009 because I couldn't do anything with them. She in turn gave them to her cousin because she said the colors didn't look good and barely showed up on her dark skin. I'm not sure what I'll do with the box of shadows because my daughter has enough of my cast off makeup, lol.


You may wonder why I gave NYX more of my money in the first place....well, I thought perhaps my first experience was a fluke. Perhaps those single shadows were sold off cheap because they were part of a bad batch. No dice. They're just crap shadows. Sorry NYX, no bueno. I love NYXblushes and glosses, but their shadows are worse than Coastal Scents if you ask me. 




Despite the poor quality of the shadows, I still created an okay FOTD...

I used three different shades of purple eye shadow for this look. I lined my waterline with Sephora's Flashy Liner in Deep Black and smoked out my lower lashline with the same shade of purple that I lined my upper lashline with. My cheeks were treated with Milani's Mineral Blush in Sunset Beach and my lips were covered with Mabelline ColorSensational Lipstain in Plum Flushed (topped by a Revlon gloss called Bronze Sensation). Even with my Sigma brushes, this was a chore to pull off. Not bad looking though if I do say so myself :-)

That's my Friday thus far....how was yours? Any big plans for the weekend? 

I'll holla ;-)