Maybelline Vivids in Brazen Berry + Full Face!

Hey everyone! For some reason, I've been obsessing over purple lipstick lately and I have been looking left and right for the right color for me. I recently tried on MAC Violetta at the store and it was fun but wayyy too purple for my liking.

Thankfully Maybelline came out with their new Vivids line and I must say I am very impressed. I picked up Hot Plum which is a very bright blue-based hot pink and Brazen Berry which is a bright purple but has some pink in it so it looks more wearable and not in your face with purple.

Last night, I wore Brazen Berry for the first time and I really loved it. The color is very rich and pigmented and the texture was creamy and lasted the whole night. I only had to reapply once because I was eating and some of it was smudged but it wasn't obvious. I put it on top of Elf's Lip Lock pencil which is supposed to be a lip liner primer so that may have helped as well.

Now time for some pics! I'll show you a swatch of it on my lips and how it looks on me with a full face look.

Products I used:
Skin Renew Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller
Almay Smart-Shade Anti-Aging Concealer in 010
Bare Escentuals READY Foundation in Light
Revlon ColorStay Mineral Finishing Powder in Brighten
Physicians Formula  How-to-bronze Light Bronzer
e.l.f. Studio Baked Blush in Passion Pink
Physicians Formula Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio for Green Eyes (purple liner only)
Rimmel Scandal Eyes Show Off Mascara in Extreme Black
Maybelline Vivids in Brazen Berry

If you have any questions about my routine or the products I used, please ask! I hope you like the look I put together with the lipstick! Would you wear this color? have you tried any other colors from the Vivids line?

Liquid Jelly Giveaway

Liquid Jelly has an amazing giveaway to celebrate 2 years of having her blog and has 3 prizes to choose from ranging from holographic, glitter, and texture polishes. I don't know about you but I'm drooling over Prize #1! Check out the photos of the prizes and click here to enter! Good luck!

 

 

Monarch Butterfly Wing Nails

Hello everyone :) I finally got to doing a manicure that I've been wanting to try for ages and I finally got to it! I found an awesome tutorial on youtube that shows you how to do it and it's fairly easy if you have a steady hand and you're in a quiet area.

I browsed Google Images and Pinterest for ideas on wing color ideas and I figured I should just go with orange for my first time and maybe do something more funky next time I do this manicure.

For the wing color, I used Bare If You Dare by China Glaze which is an awesome shimmery peachy color. I reviewed it here in the past if you want to check it out. I wanted to make it more interesting so I topped it off with Twisted by Fingerpaints which is my favorite multicolored flaky topcoat. For the black, I used the Kiss Nail Art striper in black obviously and the white is Alpine Snow by OPI and I used a dotting tool to apply the dots.

Now... onto the photos! :)

Here's another pic so you can see the flakes!

And of course I have to include a photo of the inspiration for this look!

I hope you liked it! It took me quite a while to finish the entire thing... maybe 2 hours at the most? If you have the patience and free time for this look, you should go for it! It looks very nice and eyecatching in person!

Hot Pink and Black French Tips

Hey everyone :) I wanted to show you the manicure I've been wearing for the past few days. I usually don't do French tips with my natural nail color showing but I have the perfect topcoat for it!

I used those French manicure nail strip guide things and painted two coats of Zoya's Gilda since it's a little bit sheer. Then, I did one coat of CND's Sapphire Sparkle which is a really nice blue/pink shimmer topcoat. The striping part seems difficult to some but it's actually very easy. I used Kiss Nail Art in black and dragged it across the edge of the pink. If I didn't reach the other side of my nail, I just started from the other side and connected the two lines.

I hope you like this look! It was very easy and didn't take much time at all. I also got a lot of nice compliments on it =P

Direct Sunlight

Indoors

Indoors w/ Flash

Valentine's Day Lip Color Swatches (pic heavy!)

Hello readers :) Valentine's Day is coming up and I thought it would be fun to show off some fun lip colors to wear! I especially love reds and pinks for Valentine's Day but lately I've going crazy for purple so I will be showing you some purple-based lipsticks as well!

My lips are incredibly swollen and sore after swatching and taking all of these photos back to back so I especially hope you enjoy this post and can appreciate the pain I went through for it =P

The colors I'm going to show you are:
-Elf Jumbo Gloss Stick in Flirty & Girly
-L'Oreal H.I.P Shine Struck Liquid Lip Color in Arresting
-L'Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Stick in Violet Chiffon
-L'Oreal Infallible Le Gloss 8 Hour Lipgloss in Pink Topaz
-Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Gloss in Plum Luster
-M.A.C in Sequin
-Milani Lip Flash in In A Flash
-Nyx Round Lipstick in Gardenia
-Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Red Velvet
-Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Lollipop
-Morgana Cryptoria in Fire Brick
-Morgana Cryptoria in Fire Brick with Victoria's Secret Dazzleshine Lip Gloss in Hot Pink

I'll post a photo of each and give a brief description about the color and application.

Elf Jumbo Gloss Stick in Flirty & Girly- I was surprised at how much I actually liked this product. It has a very glossy and creamy texture to it and is a nice light-frosty hot pinky salmony color to it. It's a really nice color that will work for most skin tones while not being crazy in your face.

L'Oreal H.I.P Shine Struck Liquid Lip Color in Arresting- I'm not quite sure what happened to this photo! There are some odd streaks in it so please disregard! I didn't notice it until later. I think this product is actually discontinued now that I think about it. The H.I.P line had these very vivid lip glosses at one point and I haven't seen them in a while. This is one of the more purply/magenta colors and has blue undertones to it! It's very pretty in person!

L'Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Stick in Violet Chiffon- This is one of my new favorite lipsticks! It's very creamy, rich, and moisturizing and doesn't dry out my lips at all. This color is really nice because it gives you a subtle pop of purple but it's not overwhelming where someone would be distracted in a negative way. I would best describe this as a gently muted down hot pink with a lavender punch to it.

L'Oreal Infallible Le Gloss 8 Hour Lipgloss in Pink Topaz- This is one of my favorite lipglosses I own. It's very longlasting and delivers a very rich color. I love that it's a bright pink with a subtle purple shimmer. It's lovely for daytime and night in my opinion!

Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Gloss in Plum Luster- I believe this is one of the newer lipglosses that Maybelline came out with. It delivers a really nice color and the gloss itself is smooth and creamy. It smells nice too! I love this color for daytime and nighttime. It's kinda like a salmony raspberry hot pink color (if that makes any sense) and has a nice shimmer to it.

M.A.C in Sequin-  I love this color soooo much! No, it's not your typical Valentine's Day color but this is one of those colors where you can where both day and night and do a more dramatic eye. This lipstick has enough pink in it that isn't too in your face and allows you to do a more funky Valentine's Day inspired eye with bright pinks and reds. I love it because it's more of a vampy frosted color and would flatter many complexions. I will probably do a full face Valentine's Day look with this color sometime this week and post it.

Milani Lip Flash in In A Flash- Love love love. All I have to say about this one. This is probably one of my favorite purply pink lipglosses. It's a gloss stick that has a really nice texture to it and has a really vivid color. It's a bright, borderline neon pink with this amazing blue/purple glitter. It's a very fun one to wear and would look nice with a simpler eye.

Nyx Round Lipstick in Gardenia- This is one of those lipstick that I actually forgot I had! I went through my stash when I was looking for colors and I came across this one! It's a very nice poppy red with a very subtle frosty sheen to it. This is another one that many people could pull off.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Red Velvet- The Revlon Lip Butter line is one of my favorites. The texture is so amazingly balmy and creamy and they have a nice range of colors to choose from. This is a more sheer red and would work best for those who don't prefer to wear a crazy bold red lip.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Lollipop- Ohhh yes please.... This is probably my go-to hot pink lipstick. I keep this one in my purse in case of emergencies =P Like I said about Red Velvet, it's very balmy and creamy. This one is definitely brighter and more opaque though. It's really nice hot pink with a subtle blue shimmer. So beautiful!

Morgana Cryptoria in Fire Brick- This is definitely my favorite red lipstick ever. This is the kind of red that makes me not want to buy another red lol. It had this thick, pigmented, almost matte, metallic finish to it and sticks to your lips like you wouldn't believe. I like more vampy red like this one so it works perfectly for me. I reviewed this in the past so you can check out my post by clicking here.

Fire Brick with Victoria's Secret Dazzleshine Lip Gloss in Hot Pink- I decided to get a little creative and top off Fire Brick with this amazing hot pink glittery gloss I got from Victoria's Secret. I unfortunately wasn't able to take a good photo of the gloss but I will link you over to Miss Natty's post where I found out about this gloss so you can take a better look at it. For me, I think this color combination takes the cake! I would only wear this for someone very special though =P

WHEW!! That was a crazy long post! I really hope you enjoyed it. This week, I plan on putting together at least a couple full face looks for Valentine's Day and I will use these lip colors as well. Did any of the colors catch your eye? Do you already own any of these and are there any you are drooling over by any chance? =P

I'd also love to hear if anyone has anything really fun planned for Valentine's Day. I unfortunately don't have "that special someone" to spend it with but I plan on doing something fun with my friends! Enjoy your week, and happy early Valentine's Day!

Nails by Kayla Shevonne Giveaway! Layla Hologram Effect Collection!

Hello readers! I came across an awesome giveaway and wanted to inform you all about it :)

Kayla Shevonne is giving away the entire first set of the Layla Hologram Effect collection to her readers! Click here to enter! Also check out her awesome new peacock-inspired blog layout!

Credit: http://www.kaylashevonne.com/

Cheap eBay Find: Pro 88 Warm Eyeshadow Palette

Hello everyone! I recently had the urge to try something cheap from eBay and after browsing the web for some ideas, I decided to try the Pro 88 Warm Eyeshadow Palette. This appeared to be very similar to the Coastal Scents Warm 88 Palette but it was only $13 so I decided to give it a go.

The palette has a ton of neutral colors, as well as some pops of color which include some blue and pink tones. There are many different shades of brown, beige, taupe, and yellow/orange-based nudes. The entire palette measures around  9in. x 6.5 in. and the eyeshadow pots are a little bit larger than a dime. There seem to be a few duplicate colors though so this should last me a while.

As for pigmentation, some colors are definitely more pigmented than others. The texture of these eyeshadows are definitely on the more powdery side. I would best compare them to Wet & Wild eyeshadows which are not my favorite but I think I'll be able to make it work. They would definitely look better over a primer.

And as far as finish goes, there are many shimmer and matte finish eyeshadows for whatever look you are going for. You can create all kinds of daytime and nighttime looks with all the colors available. There are also plenty of highlight shades and darker shades for a more intense look.

Here are a few swatches of the eyeshadows. I used the sponge applicators they provided and swatched them on my forearm with no primer.

I haven't yet used this on my eyes yet but I'll definitely be posting about it and include one of the looks I come up with. So far, I think this may be worth the $13 I paid for it but I'll know better once I put it to use. Have you tried anything on eBay like this?

Color Club Halo Hues- Angel Kiss Swatch & Review!

Hello everyone! We finally got some decent sunshine in my part of California so I thought it was time to finally whip out one of the Color Club Halo Hues holo's that I bought! I have to say... this color is amazing! It's a light seafoamy green with a bluish tint to it. Indoors, it can look anywhere from a pearly finish to a faint holographic finish, but when you take it out in some bright light, you won't believe your eyes!

This polish has such an amazing holographic finish! It's very smooth and vibrant and you won't be able to take your eyes off of it. Applying this wasn't bad at all. The first layer was slightly streaky but if you apply a thin/medium coat and then apply a second thicker coat, you should be fine. My swatches have one coat of Seche Vite base coat, 2 coats plus of Angel Kiss, plus one coat of Seche Vite QD topcoat. The best thing about this polish is that the holo effect doesn't dull after applying topcoat.

It's funny... after I bought this nail polish, I decided to browse through other people's blogs and see what they had to say about it. I came across one user (don't remember who and won't say the name anyways) and she wrote that one of the major cons to this collection is that the holo effect wasn't very strong... Lol what? I'm sorry, I don't know how much more of a holo effect you want lol. This is probably the strongest holographic finish I own! Sorry for the rant, I'm still shaking my head at what I read lol.

Anyways, onto the swatches! Brace yourselves!

Indoors w/ Flash

Indoors w/ Flash

Indoors w/ Flash and Underwater white balance

Bottle shot! Indoors w Flash

Indoors w/o Flash

Indoors w/o Flash in darker lighting

Outdoors w/ direct sunlight

Now tell me, is this the most amazing nail polish or what? I'm so crazy about it and I can't stop staring at my nails! They are very distracting haha! I can't to get some from the Spring 2013 collection. What do you think of this? Do you own any of the polishes from the Halo Hues collection?

First Attempt on Galaxy Nail Art

Hello everyone! I finally decided to give it a go and tried a nail art design that looked like a galaxy in outer space. I used a tutorial by MissJenFABULOUS from PolishAndPearls and used this tutorial she posted on youtube.

It was actually very fun and easy to do! It consisted of sponging on colors over black and putting a couple types of glitter topcoat over it. Before I did the design on myself, I picked out some colors I liked from myself and tested it over the black to make sure it delivered the effect I was looking for. I noticed it's best to use opaque colors, either with a creme finish or with little to no shimmer.

Here's what I used:

Liquid Leather by China Glaze (black)
Splish Splash by China Glaze (shimmery blue)
Pelican Grey by China Glaze(light grey)
Pink Shock by Maybelline (pink with subtle blue shimmer)
Northern Lights (glitter topcoat)
Techno by China Glaze (chunky glitter)

Aaaaaaand this is what I ended up with!

I really loved how it turned out. It definitely looks best when the colors are applied in different parts of the nail. This would definitely look nice with some green and orange in it so I might be attempting that in the future. Also, after I get some practice, I think it would be awesome to throw some spiral galaxies on it as well. I tried that at first and it was an utter fail -___-

Have you tried doing galaxy nails before? I would love to see some of the designs you've tried or came up with :)

Morgana Cryptoria Fire Brick Swatch & Review! Best Metallic Red Lipstick!

Hello again. Today, I'm going to show you my new favorite red lipstick. It's called Fire Brick and it's by a brand called Morgana Cryptoria. I didn't hear of this brand until I browsed through Blix's blog and saw some posts showing off this amazing red lipstick. When I saw it, I fell in love!

Let me start off by saying that I am in love with this color. It's a very vampy deep red with a frosted metallic sheen to it. It is highly pigmented and rich in color. It is opaque and applies very nicely due to the shape of the lipstick, which I will show  towards the end of this post. I haven't had a chance to wear this out yet, but I suspect that it would last a long time. It was definitely more on the difficult side to remove but that is a quality I would need in a red lipstick.

In the photo below, I only have the lipstick applied with no lipliner underneath so I can show you how easy it was to control. It would probably look even better with a lipliner for maximum definition and wear-time.

Taken with flash

Photo of the product to show the shape of the tip

 Overall, I really love this lipstick and can't wait for the right night to wear it out. This is definitely a good quality lipstick and would purchase it again in the future. Have you tried this brand before? Are you brave enough to wear a red like this?

Maybelline Color Whisper Pin Up Peach Swatch and Review!

Hey readers! As an effort to get back into blogging, my goal is to update my blog every day. I have already came up with a list of things I want to blog about in the near future so we'll see how this goes :)

Today, I'm going to show you a lipstick called Pin Up Peach from the Color Whisper line by Maybelline. First of all, I thought the packaging was adorable. Each lipstick had a translucent bright color container and had a shiny silver label. It reminded me of Victoria's Secret for some reason!

I really loved the texture of this lipstick. It's very creamy, balmy and moisturizing. The color itself is buildable and decently pigmented as well. It also has a very nice scent to it. I would best describe it as a light peachy/fruity smell with maybe a hint of vanilla.

The color, Pin Up Peach is something that I thought would be most flattering to my skin tone and I would also be able to add a fun pop of color. I would describe it as a pinky peachy color with a slight hint of shimmer. I love it, I think it would look great on many skin tones.

Now, I'm going to show you an enlarged swatch on my lips, how the color looks in the container, and the packaging. The lipstick swatch was taken in daylight with flash. The picture of the product in the container was taken with no flash.

What do you think? Do you like the color? If anyone has photos of other colors they're tried, I would love to see them. I definitely plan on buying more :)

Happy Belated New Years Nails

Hello readers, it has been a very long time since I posted on here and I feel awful about it. I feel like I lost my mojo and inspiration a few months ago due to a lack of focus but I'm going to try and keep this up like I did in the past.

I know I'm about a week late but I really wanted to show off my New Years nails! I wanted to do something super blingy that standed out so I ended up doing a glittery metallic manicure.

I was originally just going to do silver (favorite metallic color) but I began to envy my sisters gold blingy nails that she did for new years and ended up with a mix of both manicures.

Before I get to the photos, I'm going to list what used and how I did it!

Cheers To You by China Glaze (metallic foil, 2 coats)
Techno by China Glaze (chunky silver holo glitter, 1 coat)
Northern Lights Hologram Topcoat (fine holo glitter topcoat, 1 coat)
Midnight Kiss by China Glaze (gold foil, sponged on tips)
Queen Of Drums by Dare To Wear (chunky gold glitter, sponged on halfway from tips)
Golden Enchantment by China Glaze (fine gold holo glitter topcoat, 1 coat)

I really love how Cheers to you and Midnight Kiss blended so perfectly together, These photos honestly don't do this mani justice and it is crazy how blingy they are in person. PS please ignore the fingernail imprint on my thumbnail... I have no idea how that got there =P

Indoors (With Flash)

Indoors (Indirect Sunlight)

Outdoors (Sun)

Outdoors (Shade)