New for me Polishes!

Well... these have been out for a while, so they're not new.  But I was in the process of moving, so I didn't order them when they came out.  Now I just found out I am moving again arrrggghhh!!!  But I will take them with me hehe.

I got China Glaze Electric Pineapple (eew), Papaya Punch (fave of the bunch), Hey Sailor, Trophy Wife, and since I never tried Color Club (and it doesn't appear I was missing much but I could be wrong), I got High Society and Ooooh La La.

And I also want to say a quick thank you to everyone who left feedback on the giveaway post- I really appreciate that, and I took it all to heart.  It is so encouraging to me that people still read, and even though I might not follow a particular format, it is true that I love readers and my blog itself, and I am happy I get to share these tidbits!  

Polishes of the Day

My nails have improved much since the problems I had last week.  The dotted nails come to an end and today I did them in OPI Flower to Flower.  I did my toes in China Glaze Orange Knockout, and I say never again with that.  Horrible to need 3+ coats on my toes, and just an awful formula.  It is also really bad to photograph because it is so neon.  Here it looks orange but this is like traffic cone orange. 

 

Wet n Wild Natural Blend Pressed Powder Review

I purchased this recently, for no particular reason except wanting a product to review- which I am reluctant to even admit, because I really don't usually do that.  I've started to recently though, because there seems to be a slim selection of products I haven't tried, or that I am interested in I suppose. 

The packaging is a recycled cardboard.  Unfortunately, that's what the product feels like as well.  It smells so bad, like clay, but really strong like I am ingesting it or something.  Ok, I am being generous.  It smells like dirt. I thought the smell would dissipate once on my face, but it took about 3 hours to do so. 

Here are the ingredients:

I really should have read the ingredients before I purchased.  Mica and calcium carbonate are oil absorbing minerals derived from rocks- and very drying if you do not have oily skin.  I would not deliberately put corn starch on my face either.  I was itching both figuratively and literally to get it off my face.  It also felt so, so dry- very chalky.  If you have oilier skin it may be helpful because it does mattify, but I feel there are much softer, smoother powders, even for oilier skin, that would give you a smoother appearance. 

It did give me a matte finish, but so extremely dry I could not possibly recommend this product.  

Independence Day Giveaway!!

Happy 4th of July!!

Wonder Wom-aaaan!! 

Let's celebrate with a small giveaway!

Here is the prize:

Inglot round palette with 3 concealers and two lipsticks!

All followers welcome!  All you have to do is comment below with your GFC name and email, and tell me what is the worst product you've ever tried. 

Open until July 21st!  Winner will be announced July 22. 

If anyone has any feedback regarding if I should do "extra entries" next time, I would appreciate that as well!  Myself, I don't like feeling as if I am forcing people to do things, and I would like things to be less complicated on my blog as well, but I will gladly take feedback into consideration.  Thanks to everyone who reads, and good luck with the giveaway!

Clinique Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser

Up until early last year, I had been using Clinique products all of my adult life.  I thought I needed a change, but this was right after I had my baby, so I think I made the changes mistakenly now.

This was one of the few products I had left.



So, I have been using Philosophy for this entire time, and I don't notice any problematic areas of my skin, but my face also never feels "scrubbed".  It bothers me sometimes, especially on hot days or when I use a lot of products.

The texture is so smooth, thick, and creamy.

The most important thing about this cleanser: you only need a LITTLE bit.  When I used this before, I was cleansing my face by hand and I would use about a dime size.  Now I am using the Clarisonic and I use about a quarter size of Purity, so when I used too much of this, I could probably use it on my entire body there was so much.  It lathers like shaving foam, but it is really lathery.  But it does what it says- it rinses right off!

This cleanser gave my face that sqeaky-clean (yes, I tested that lol) feeling, and I did experience some tightening feeling as well.  I love this cleanser, but I would probably only use it once a week since it does have a tendency to dry out my skin.  I can see it being beneficial for any skin type, really, and I would totally recommend any of Clinque's skincare.  I actually miss my 3-steps, so I am going to go back to those as soon as I get an order in.  

Huda's Beauty Blog Sigma Brush Giveaway

The lovely Huda's Beauty Blog is hosting a giveaway for a Sigma F80 brush!

Yay!  You can read more and enter HERE. 

Blog Award!

Thank you so much Ashii at Beauty For Thought for this super cute award!

The rules are link back to the person who gave you, list 7 random things about yourself  (did that here) , award 15 blogs, and answer these questions:

Favourite colour:  PINK

Favourite song: not sure... Wenn Ein Lied or Hey There Delilah

Favourite dessert: ice cream atm (the "light" kind!)

What is pissing you off: when my son rummages through cabinets, like he is doing now!!!!

When you're upset, you.... take a break

Favourite pet: I dont have any pets

Black or white?  black.  for sure.

Your biggest fear?  probably dying alone.

My best feature is... physical feature- eyes.  personality feature- ability to express myself.

Everyday attitude: busy, trying to be productive.

What is perfection... seeing my baby for the first time

Guilty pleasure?  cookie dough

And I would like to pass this award to

Discovering Beauty

D.G.S. Beauty

Glitter and Unicorns

Huda's Beauty Blog

J's Little Place of Girly Heaven

Pigments and Palettes

Fix Your Face by Maryam Maquillage

Foxy Aries Beauty Blog

Makeup and Meme

All Things Beautiful

Thanks so much!

LOTD and Hauls!

This was unfortunately how I started my day:

My "Depressed" shirt lol

I have been feeling so down lately because there aren't a lot of options where I live for dining, shopping, and activities.  My uncle called me Friday night to "check on me" and I was pretty much crying, but trying not to complain.  He offered to pick me up and take me out to lunch Saturday, and I was like, sure, because I assumed he was just trying to cheer me up- he lives two hours away.  But he really showed up- he called and was like, what's this plastic bag in your yard, I was so shocked!  I was so happy to see him even though it's only been a month or so. 

I got dressed and was ready to go!  We went to Target- which, surprisingly, was less than an hour away- woo hoo!!  But that place was jam packed, my son could hardly stand it.  I ended up with some really great goodies though:

I got Boots no7 Stay Perfect foundation (a little disappointed when I opened it to discover someone used it as a tester, but oh well), NP Set Pore Perfecting Primer and Concealer and Foundation Pot, Revlon Smoothing Primer and Black Envy nail polish.  I also got some tweezers (backups lol), a flat top brush (another backup), a super cute butterfly cup for dirty brushes, and some cute (and cheap!) earrings. 

The earrrings:

They were out of some tooth stuff he needed omg it was hilarious he's all pissed about this whatever mouthwash but he has really good teeth.  So we ended up going to Walgreens too. 

I got these!

So there we have it- Milani is at Walgreens!!  And I am sorry, but their eyeliner is waaaay better than Urban Decay for my waterline, way!! I got purple and blue this time since I only have tried black.  And Wet n Wild, I am so over you and your hideous packaging which is to be expected from a cheap product, but still.  This one isn't so bad- it's almost Stila-esque, so I will try it. 

So, that's it for now- I've been doing a lot of shopping online but I had soooo much fun!!!

Man those purples were frustrating, to say the least!!!  I had to use like four shadows just to get a decent eye. 

Have a great weekend everyone!  Stay tuned tomorrow *hint hint*!!



Make Up For Ever HD Microperfecting Primer

I never knew about any makeup community, especially online, until last year.  Shocking but true!  I didn't use the internet very much either at that time.  I went into Sephora for only my second or third time, after almost exclusively Dior and Chanel counters my entire life, for a NARS foundation that they didn't have, and the employee ended up selling me MUFE HD.  Now, I know a lot of people love it, but I personally did not.  So I went on Sephora.com to order the NARS- this was the first time I ordered online, too, because they gave me a ship code to buy the foundation (which I didn't even need lol) and after that, I was in another world.  I read the reviews for the MUFE and one of the reviews linked Marlena from Makeup Geek's You Tube channel.  I never watched a You Tube either.  Shocking, I know.  On the side of her video it had other people's videos about MUFE, I was watching those videos all night.  I watched Marlena's channel for hours... then days...then I joined the MUG forum.. now I'm here! 

I tried to apply the MUFE just like the videos said, because it looked so bad on me, cakey, dry, horribly sinking into my skin... I didn't know what I was doing wrong, because I never experienced that before.  I've had makeup artists apply foundations from various lines on me, but I had only used Dior and NARS foundations on myself, so I figured the MUFE must have some special tricks.  Nope, it just seriously didn't work out for me. 

So that's my loooong segway into this review. 

Unfortunately, I no longer have the MUFE foundation, but I have used this primer with both MUFE and other brands, and here is my personal experience with it. 

The texture is kind of serum-like, which was fine.  It was very similar to (forgive me I really forgot the brand!) a primer I've used, seems like ages ago, called Spackle. 

This primer was good for me in terms of prolonging my foundation, but I did not like the highly tacky, sticky feeling it left on my face.  That also made it more difficult to blend.  I had some areas on my face where the foundation would after a while, around my nose and chin is what I noticed the most. 

Face products are so different from one person to the next, and this is only my personal experience with the product. 

Too Faced Galaxy Glam Eyeshadow: Cocoa Comet

I can't think of an intro for this, so onto the pics:

Worst packaging.  Flimsy cheap plastic.  Am I opening batteries here? 

The product is not bad, it's dense with a smooth texture and I would say medium pigmentation.  

It really looks a lot better wet: 

Left is wet- it's a huge difference!  

Here is how it turned out, and yes, I did toss that eyeliner:

I did have a big problem with longevity though, and it didn't maintain the appearance in the swatch once on my lids either.  

It's ok, but I really have no use for an "ok" shadow, and definitely not a brown one. 

LORAC Baked Matte Satin Blush: Flaunt

I've had this sitting around for quite a while.  I distinctly remember a Sephora employee suggesting it (forcing it on me I really mean) when I went in to get NARS Mata Hari, which they did not have.

This is what it looks like:

Wait, I'm confused... what is Matte Satin???  Is it matte or is it satin?  As far as I know the two don't make a good hybrid. 

I also don't like the packaging.  The clear top is thin, and this almost reminds me of Revlon's MSFs (Sorry, I cant think of their official names atm!) except its not square.  

It is $24 for .17 ounces.  Way overpriced imo but what can you do if you don't look at the receipts until six months later. 

Here is how it turns out: 

It is a pretty, shimmery, light pink.  It's a finely milled, lightweight product with decent pigmentation.  It has a similar feel as MAC's mineralized blushes.  

I feel this shade is very similar to a highlighter, which I tend to stay away from because of the pore accentuation problems I experience with those.  It does create a nice pinky glow, with a bit of a luminizing effect.  

This is how it turned out on my cheek: 

Hideous.  Even for a doll cheek look I would have preferred anything with less shimmer.  This blush unfortunately is not for me, but I don't think it's a particularly bad product.  I do, however, feel they should rethink the name. 

Giveaway Alert!

Kristina at Beauty Expressions: Be Your Own Beauty is hosting a fabulous giveaway for Madd Style Cosmetic pigments!

These are what they look like:

Ooooh, nice! 

You can read more and enter using this link:

http://beingyourownbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-drop-dead-fred-collection-by-msc.html

Makeup Inventory Complete!

This post is very pic heavy!!  Also, if there is any product anyone is curious about please leave a comment!  I am sooo happy now I cleared all that stuff out now I have room to focus and do what I love-what we all love- makeup, without having the stress of accumulated products.

I really didn't know I would be done that fast!  It just got to the point where I had to clear this stuff out, it was getting overwhelming and a bit depressing.  It was 41 products and some other stuff I tossed, so that's a huge step for me!!

First, I now have this:

YES!  Empty spaces!!  You would not believe how ecstatic I was when I realised just how much I got rid of. 

Now I will post pictures of the remaining usable products, not the collections which I have wrapped up.

First, lip products.

1.  Potted lip products- hurray!!  I only have 5: 

2.  43 lipsticks:

38 Lip glosses:

Next, eye products. 

8 pigments/loose shadows: 

Oops, not Bare minerals.... Melon pigment lol. 

30 single or small shadows:

9 Eye primers/shadow bases: 

Small palettes:

I don't know why I classified that DIY palette of MAC shadows as usable, I haven't touched any of them in years!! 

Now, on to the face products.  Very slim here since I don't use much.  

Concealers: 

Face primers: 

I have tried dozens of face primers, but these two are seriously the only ones I like.  I might try Urban Decay's new one, but I am not completely sold on it yet.  

Foundations: 

Ridiculous I even have any of those- obviously they don't match- but no worries, I just placed a decent Sephora order. 

Powders: 

Highlighters: 

I was confused why two Skinflash?  Then I saw, they are two different shades.  I love Rose Shimmer!

Bronzers: 

I use Sugar & Spice as a bronzer so I put it in with these.  Ummm, what the H is this Covergirl loose bronzer thing?? I know I didn't buy it lol.  

Whew, that's it!!  If I didn't put you to sleep already, here is how I organised everything.  I put most of it in the big black case.  The heart tubs have nail polish in them- maybe a different post?  j/k!! 

Note the huge empty space on the bottom!! 

Thank you for reading!!!

EDIT:  OMG YES!!! I still have my Inglot palettes lol.  They are right beside the white drawers... I am not at home now so I cant take pics of them.  But here is an old post I did of some (yes, I have twice that many now lol):

http://amaliasdior.blogspot.com/2011/05/inglot-palette-project-complete.html