i love teal!

My love for coloured eyeshadow fluctuates almost daily. Some days I can't get enough purple...others I'm obsessed with neutrals. But I always, always come back to teal eyeshadow. Since my fascination for makeup began, I've stuck with teal. I used to be so afraid of pink & purple...it wasn't until about 3 years ago that I really started to create looks based off those colours as opposed to just plopping them wherever. 

Anyway. Tonight I have a regurgitated makeup look. I've done this style/shape before & wanted to do it again with teal :D I've kinda been in a rut with makeup. I sit at my vanity & just think of what to do & I end up leaving the house with just mascara. YIKES D: I am doing some major MAC-haulage tomorrow, so I hope I can get myself back into doing makeup daily.

Enough blabbering, here's tonights look :)

Photoshopped, obv :P

I just did the one eye tonight, because I was in conversation with my sister while doing this & before we knew it, over an hour had passed....and I just grew way too lazy for a complete look.

Here's the breakdown;

Eyes moisturized with Burt's Bees Radiance eye cream

NYX White eyeshadow base on entire eye area

MAC Brill eyeshadow as a wash

MAC Haunting & Too Dolly eyeshadows on the middle lid

Ben Nye White eyeshadow on the inner & outer lid, outer wing, inner tear duct & right under the brow

Random soft black eyeliner to define/cut the crease, blended out with a pencil brush

Kryolan Sea eyeshadow applied over the crease & outer lower lash line

MAC Jewel Blue eyeshadow applied above crease, lightly pulled upward & also applied on the lower lashline, pulled down/outward

LA Splash Tantrum Teal diamond dust/glitter applied above crease (used wet with Ben Nye LiquiSeal)

Sally Girl Pearly White glitter applied on brow bone (used wet with Ben Nye LiquiSeal)

Ardell #45 lashes (cut to fit)

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes in blackest black

Random white eyeliner on the lower waterline

The lower, inner wing on this was SUPER wonky...so I tried to crop it out of the photos. I made a mistake when I applied the liner...I forgot to blend it out & instead just applied the dark teal right over it. EW @ harsh lines

Hopefully my next post will be a Halloweeeeenie kind. I'm going to try and find an orange glitter tomorrow so I can complete the look I have in mind. I did another Dia De Los Muertos look the other night, but there was sooo much wrong with it that I decided to spare myself & washed it off D: I've been wanting to do another one so bad! I just need the motivation to stay concentrated.

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed the look :) I might post my haul/review/swatches tomorrow the the MAC Holiday collection "A Tartan Tale" /crosses fingers

Showcase: Ben Nye Lumiere Grande Palette

I want to start off by saying that the Ben Nye Lumiere Grande Palette is BY FAR my favourite piece to my makeup collection. I've owned this for almost 3 years & I think my kit would be incomplete without this palette.

The colours in this palette are so versatile, creamy & vibrant. What more could you honestly ask for? You're given a nice range of colours (12 in total) that will help you create & complete your looks. These eyeshadows are HUGE! Especially when compared to MAC;

Their payoff & overall quality cannot be beat. I've always loved Ben Nye cosmetics because they are inexpensive & are way better than your leading high-end brand by a LONG SHOT.

Now, onto the swatches! :)

[OK. Why is it so hard to position your photos on this blog?! YIKES, posting these seriously took 30 minutes because the photos kept moving to wonky positions, ugh :/ I tried putting them in coloured order, but I sincerely failed, hahah.]

Anyway! As you can see, these colours are awesome. I paid $60 +shipping for my palette from eBay. I recommend funhousetheatrical if you choose eBay because they are an authorized Ben Nye retailer (always a plus, you'll know you're getting real Ben Nye makeup) I've read a couple people have been able to score this for cheaper, but I'm unsure of where. I've never seen it in any of my local Halloween shops.

I believe the set of Lumiere Grande eyeshadows is 20 in total. The Grande palette supplies 12 & I also built my own 6 pan with the others I wanted. So here are swatches of those;

/drool

There is also a collection of Lumiere Luxe powders, which is all of the Lumire Grande shadows in loose pigment form. The colours are exactly the same, but you have the benefit of using a loose shadow & when used wet, they are even more ridiculously amazing!

You can find all of the products I mention (plus TONS more Ben Nye) at the FunHouseTheatrical eBay store. I think any makeup artist and makeup junkie NEEEEED the Grande Palette. $60 may sound intimidating, but it is well worth every single penny.

*All items shown in this posting were purchased by me & were not sent complimentary of Ben Nye or F.H.T.*

Eeek! Sorry I haven't posted anything for a week. I've been so ridiculously swamped at work & the time I had off I spent catching up on sleep & gaming (Kingdom Hearts FTW!)

I really also haven't been too motivated to do anything in terms of makeup. So I come to you all asking for inspiration. Post links, pictures or ideas for what inspires you. I took some time surfing YouTube, but really just can't seem to get anything going. I also don't take seasons into consideration & will always rock  hot pink & yellow eyeshadow, even for winter :P

I'm also going to set up a requests email account. I've had a lot of you request a tutorial for the Venomous Villains look I have posted on MUA. I can't do video tutorials yet because my cameras are far from good quality for recording (Canon Vixia, here I come!)

Please help me outta this rut! c:

Vibrant Purple FOTD using LA Splash glitter

Apparently LA Splash is the brand of the week :P I just can't get enough of their awesome glitters.

 I put this together last night after work, so excuse how exhausted I look. 

For this look I used;

NYX jumbo eye pencil in Royal Purple on the entire lid + pulled into the crease

NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk to highlight + pulled down into the crease

MUFE #92 eyeshadow packed on the entire lid

LA Splash Phenomenon glitter packed on the lid (used wet with Ben Nye LiquiSeal)

MAC Vibrant Grape eyeshadow on the crease

MAC Floral Fantasy + Mancatcher eyeshadows applied to the crease, pulled upward

MAC Beautiful Iris eyeshadow to highlight + applied on the inner v

Ben Nye White eyeshadow under brows, pulled down into the highlight

Random Prestige purple eye liner on lower lash line

MUFE #92 applied over lashline

Ben Nye Cosmic Violet applied on the lashline + pulled downward

LA Splash Black liquid eye liner

Ardell #62 lashes

Studio Gear matte foundation

MAC Studio Fix patted down, then brushed all over skin

MAC Bite Of An Apple blush

MAC Her Own Devices beauty powder

MAC EZ Baby tendertone

MAC Close To Real lipstick

Any requests? I'm swamped with work for the rest of the week, but I've got some time off next week to do some requested looks. I'm also going to start customizing & changing the look of the blog.

Continuation of LA Splash swatches

I am so sad that the quality of these photos are not good at all. It was so difficult to photograph these, so I do apologize that they aren't that great. Hopefully they will show up much better in future looks c:

 Snowflake, Lilac Lily, Cotton Candy, Coy, Phenomenon, Empress

Golden Reflection, Pastel Babe, Nude Diamonds, Exquisite, Engaging, Matrix

Glitterliners/Eyeliners

 

Treasure Hunt, Sparkling Oceanspray, Teal Mania, Chameleon, Poison Ivy,  Electric, Fuchsia Fusion, Purple Heart

These are so awesome! The glitter liners can tend to be a little runny, but they do apply easily. & The opaque colour the eye liners give is just awesome. Each swatch was only applied twice. Poison Ivy is by far my favourite....I can't wait to pick up more of these.

 

I used LA Splash Pastel Babe glitter on the lid

Used Phenomenon glitter above the crease!

Hope this was helpful! I love these glitters & will definitely have tons of FOTDS with them soon.

opinions, please!

As I start to progress with this blog, I keep thinking of new things to post.

For sure, I want to showcase one makeup item a week. I want to post photos, swatches, info, a review & an FOTD using that item, or several FOTDS using the item different ways. I know I for sure am going to do the Ben Nye Lumiere Grande palette as well as the Urban Decay Naked palette.

I'd also like to feature a specific brand once a week. I've been in the talks with some smaller cosmetics companies about this. But I'm wondering if this would be too confusing? Having "item of the week" as well as "brand of the week" -thoughts?

I also want to do a "Then & Now" type of post, where I could re-do an old look of mine & thoroughly detail the application process & products used.

SO MANY IDEAS! I would love to hear what you think, your opinions & what you would like to see.

Thank you all so much! I am seriously so excited to get this rollin' c:

ALSO; is there any way to 'cut' a post? (Like an LJ cut) I want to do a post of my old looks, but I fear it would blow up everyones computer to see that much on one page :P Thank you!!

LA Splash Cosmetics - Diamond Dust Review & Swatches

I have been wanting to share this for such a long time. Hurray for blogging!

I was at Ulta a while ago & stumbled across these little pigments by LA Splash. Now, whenever I shop for makeup, I take LOTS of time; I try everything I can, read ingredients & warnings, compare prices/brands & make sure I have as much information I can on the products I plan on purchasing. I noticed these on my way out, so I just quickly grabbed 3 colours (they were on sale, buy 2 get 1 free) & went on my way.

I went back later that day & bought 15 more. A splurge like that isn't too common for me, because I really like to do my research before I buy. But the 3 colours I had previously purchased were so intense & vibrant that I was convinced I needed more. Before I get to a review on these, I'd like to share some swatches :D

 

 Avalanche, Sea Of Gold, Golden Strawberry, Tampered, Majestic Starfish

Accentric, Azure, Rainy Daze, Rich, Serenade

 

Marvel, Fuse, Renaissance, Enchanted Forest

Dragons Lair, Trance, Dragon Dust, Golden Smoke

Look at those glitters! YES! Eye-safe cosmetic glitters. I swatched everything over concealer.

I have about 10 more swatches to post, but the photos did not come out very well. They also have really awesome liquid eye liners & glitter liners. I will post those with the remaining swatches later c:

So to review these; they're great! Plain & simple...they're really great. I would definitely recommend using these wet (especially the glitters) to build a more opaque colour. They are incredibly vibrant & some of these colours are packed with a nice golden or silver glitter. They apply & blend easily. Some colours stain the skin very lightly, so a primer & a coloured base under these would be preferable to prevent that. I would also suggest patting/packing the glitters down as opposed to swiping them over the lid.

These are also fairly inexpensive. I read on MakeupAlley that they are available at Walgreens -? I purchased mine from Ulta & they generally go on sale once or twice a month. I also caught a couple colours on clearance (woah, alliteration!) Here, in Illinois, they retail for $6.99 each. The clearance jars I got were $3.00, and they either go on sale for buy one get one half off, or buy two get one free.

You can also purchase their cosmetics from LASplashCosmetics.com ; where they have their entire collection of products & more information. The pricing on the website seems to be a little higher than what I paid at Ulta, but I will be placing an order soon to try their other items.

I really hope this is helpful! I will be posting the other set of swatches tomorrow once I can re-do them. If anyone would like to see a specific colour under a certain base, please feel free to ask! They are amazing over their respective coloured bases. You will definitely be seeing a lot of EOTDs from me using these products!

starting things off...

with some eyeshadow! huzzah! i'm really just trying to figure this site/blog out, so bare with me the next couple of posts :)

for this look i used;

MAC Sassy Grass eyeshadow on the entire lid, pulled into the crease
LA Splash Serenade pigment on the crease
MAC Aquavert eyeshadow above the crease
Ben Nye White eyeshadow to highlight, pulled down into the crease
MAC Chrystalled Lime glitter packed on the lid (used wet with Ben Nye Liquid Seal)
Ardell London lashes


...testing, testing...1...2...

:D

hello there!

after years of being asked if i had a blog, i finally decided to make one. i'm still in the process of setting everything up, but if all goes well i would like to update this regularly.

a little background on me;

i'm reen. i'm a 23 year old makeup junkie. i've been a freelance artist for approximately 5 years & am on the long & expensive road to obtaining my cosmetics license. i currently reside in the chicagoland area & i am a total city girl. i've always had a huge interest in makeup & i was constantly playing around in my moms cosmetics case. she bought me my first mascara when i was 13 (i begged so hard for that) and from there it really took off.


what you can expect from me;

LOTS of cosmetics related posts including looks i've done, product information, product swatches & reviews.

tutorials, i've always been asked how i do my brows....i just have to get the hang of recording myself doing it :p

beauty finds, amazing deals on cosmetics/beauty products. i'd like to feature a cosmetics company once a month/once a week. i've been asked to work in conjunction with several companies & can't wait to get things started.

giveaways! contests & themes.


as you can see, i have very high hopes for this blog. i do apologize for this incredibly n00b-like post, but within the next few weeks i will be re-vamping everything!

stay tuned c: