EOTD | New Year's Eve

Wow! This year has just flown by! So many great things have happened this year that I am so grateful for. Can't wait for 2014!

For today/tonight's look, I will be sporting a gray and gold eye. 

I used my Too Faced Naked Eye palette, Tarte Aqualillies clay eyeliner, NYX Liquid Crystal Liner, and Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes mascara.

 Base: Jordana 12 Hr Made to Last Eyeshadow pencil in Eternal White

Lid: Pillow Talk and Birthday Suit

Crease: Lap Dance

Contour in outer corner: Stiletto and Unmentionables

Under brow and inner eye corner: In the Buff and Pink Cheeks

Eye liner: Tarte Aqualillies clay liner in Black and NYX Liquid Crystal Liner in Crystal Gold

Bottom lash line: Whatever was left over from Stiletto and Unmentionables on brush and NYX Crystal Gold on the inner corners

Mascara: Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes statement mascara

For lips, I used L'Oreal Fairly Nude lipstick with Victoria's Secret Lip Gloss in Wet.

Have a Happy New Year! Welcome 2014!

Don't forget to check out my Tarte Thoughtful Treasure's giveaway here.

Mani Mondays | Happy New Year

Happy Monday! The year is almost over! I went to a nail salon and got my nails done with CND Shellac. This is my second time dealing with gel nail polish. The first time was in October for a wedding I went to. (You can view the nails here). 

The color I chose to do was CND Shellac Dark Dahlia. It almost looks black but leans purple and looks great! The nail tech added gold OPI glitter onto my index and ring finger to be festive. 

I find that with Shellac, it tends to look like normal polish and not come out as thick as my previous experience with gel polish. For me, this is both good and bad. With the other gel polish, my nails felt thick and strong. Right now, since it is a bit thinner, I'm afraid my nails will break. Hopefully not though! But at least, the nail polish looks more natural.

How will you do your nails for New Years?

MAC Patisserie

MAC Patisserie was my first MAC product ever. I had seen this lipstick on someone and it looked beautiful. Finally, I caved in and bought this beautiful lipstick for $15.

Patisserie is described as a sheer creamy neutral pink. It is a lustre finish so it has a bit of glitter in it, but it is barely detectable on the lips, thank goodness. MAC lipsticks have a distinct scent to them. Many people have said it smells like vanilla, but I can't seem to smell it. It does have a sweet scent, but wouldn't say it is vanilla.

I find this shade to be a beautiful lipstick that can be worn with anything, fancy or casual. Simply gorgeous. I would repurchase this one whenever I run out, because I just have to have it in my collection!

2013 Yearly Favorites

I know I haven't done many monthly favorites this year. SO, I figured I would do a YEARLY favorites instead! This pretty much sums up the products I have been loving this year. (I also have others that were not shown in the picture, I don't have enough arms to hold them all). 

Coincidentally, I have 12 favorite products of this year (almost like for the 12 months of the year haha). Here they are listed below:

- Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation

- Anastasia Clear Brow Gel

- Tarte Lipsurgence in Joy

- Tarte Clean Slate Poreless primer

- Nars Amour blush

- Tarte Amazonian clay liner

- MAC Plumful lipstick

- Urban Decay Naked palette

- Jordana 12 hr Made to Last Eyeshadow pencil 

- Origins Clear Improvement charcoal mask

- Murad Oil-Control Mattifier

- Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel

What were your favorite products this year?

How To: Use a Votive as a Tart

I love my fragrances! This year in particular I have started buying a lot more candles. For Christmas, I got a cupcake tart warmer from Yankee Candle. I hadn't dabbled in the tart warmer idea since I had so many candles. Regardless, I gave it a shot and fell in love. 

I have plenty of votives hanging around in my candle drawer, and finally found a use for them: convert them into tarts! Now this idea came about after seeing a YouTube video about how they changed the votive into a tart. 

Interestingly enough, both tarts and votives at Yankee Candle are priced the same, $1.99, and sometimes on sale for $0.99. However, the tart is half the weighted amount of the votive. After discovering this technique I'm about to show you, I will happily purchase my votives over the tarts!

This is the traditional way of burning a votive, but not all the candle is used up as some gets stuck on the sides of the container. 

Here is a pictorial step by step on what needs to be done. Down below is a YouTube video I did on how to do it.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas | Gold and Emerald

Merry Christmas to all! Hope your day was lovely! I enjoyed my time with family and friends. I got lots of great gifts (i.e. workout clothes yay!, bath stuff, Baby-Gshock, etc.).

For today's makeup, I went with an emerald gold eye. I love the combo together and decided today was the perfect day for it. Emerald is one of my favorite gemstones because it is the birthstone of May, which is my birthday lol. It is a gorgeous rich looking green that I have fallen in love with over the years.

Here are the products I used: 

I took the Jordana 12 Hr Made to Last Eye Pencil in Eternal White and used that as my primer. Next, I used my UD Naked Palette and mixed Half-Baked and Sidecar together and applied that to my lids. I used Naked and Smog as my blending/crease shade. Underneath my eyebrow and the inner corner of my eye, I used Sin and Virgin. Again, I took Half-Baked and applied that underneath my lower eyelashes. I lined my upper lashes with Jordana 12 Hr Made to Last Eye Pencil in Endless Emerald. Using Endless Emerald, I took a smudge brush and made an outer "C" from the upper lash line into my crease and blended it all together. I lined my lower water line with the Rimmel ScandalEyes in Nude. Finally, I used the Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes statement mascara.

To complete the look, I used Sleek MakeUP Blush by 3 in Flame on the cheeks, and applied Tarte Lipsurgence in Enamored on my lips with a brush. 

Mani Mondays | Nails Inc, The Boltons

Its almost Christmas! This Nails Inc, The Boltons nail shade reminds me of the holidays. It is a metallic red that just looks lovely. Sephora had this shade last year, when I bought it, but have not seen it this year. 

The formula is great and applies smoothly, but chipped very easily. It is possible that my nails chipped quickly because I was opening and breaking down boxes at work. But metallic shades seem to chip easily anyways. So it could have been a combination of both elements. Either way, I love seeing this shade during the Christmas holidays.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes! Mascara

Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes statement mascara is a new addition to the mascara family. Tarte makes great mascara's so my hopes for this were really high. I had seen this mascara being used on the Tartelettes on QVC, and their lashes turned out amazingly! This deluxe size mascara came with the Tarte Best for Lash 4 piece deluxe eye set.

I just love the gold packaging of this mascara! The full size looks similar to the original Lights Camera Lashes mascara, but obviously in gold. Its so shiny!

The brush is a little different and is difficult to work with at first until you figure it out. It has two different sides to the brush: a shorter denser side and a longer firmer side and each has a separate job. The short, denser side delivers the optimal amount of mascara to volumize the lashes. The longer, firmer side lengthens and separates lashes. Both sides of the brush have plastic bristles.

Personally, it is hard for me to distinguish between the two sides. Visibly, it is able to distinguish, but I loose the sight once it goes to my lashes. On the plus side, once I apply the brush, it makes my eyelashes look amazing. 

The mascara definitely lengthens and volumizes. Some days, my lashes separate better than others, and it is usually due to me applying the mascara. 

2 Coats of Lights, Camera, Flashes

As of now, I don't know if I will purchase the full size of this mascara as I still have a plethora of mascaras to go through. Also, I still love the original Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara. So I might go back to that one. We shall see in the months to come!

 Check out my Tarte Thoughtful Treasures giveaway! Click here to find out more.

Sleek MakeUP Blush by 3 | Flame

Sleek MakeUP is a makeup company found in UK and Ireland. I am not sure if it is available in the USA, because I purchased it on Sleek's website.

I love the packaging of the blush palette. It has a nice sized mirror, and snaps securely. The palette is made out of a sturdy plastic, but it does seem to get dirty easily as seen in the photo above.

Molton ~ Bon Fire ~ Furnace

The Blush by 3 is a blush palette that includes three blushes with similar color range or blushes that can work together. I purchased the one in Flame because I was looking for a good, affordable red blush. I loved the "Snow White" cheeks that red blush gave. I had looked into MAC's Frankly Scarlet and Tarte's Natural Beauty, but were too expensive at the moment. I found this baby for $12.49.

Molton ~ Bon Fire ~ Furnace

Although not visible in the swatches above, Molton has a slight shimmer and is more on the reddish brown side. Bon Fire is a matte red shade, and Furnace is the most shimmery blush. It looks similar to Bon Fire, but is a bit more subdued.

In the picture above, I am wearing all three blushes together. I figure I might as well mix all three together and get all aspects of it. They are HIGHLY pigmented, so you only need to tap the brush in the pan once. If not, you will look like a sunburned tourist. They do not kick back a lot of powder when you run the brush through it, which is a good thing, as this will last you a long time.

The only problem I have with this blush, is that after a few hours wear, it turns somewhat blotchy when it mixes with my natural oils (ew gross, I know), but its something I unfortunately can not avoid. 

Even though red blush is a bit tricky to master, (you can end up looking like a tomato), I find it gives a lovely touch to any makeup.

Don't forget to check out my Tarte Thoughtful Treasures giveaway! Click here.

Tarte Thoughtful Treasures | Giveaway!

Hey everyone! I have some exciting news for you today. Since it is Christmas and my One Year Blogiversary is on January 14, I wanted to give you something for being interested in reading my little blog! 

I am so grateful for each and every one of you and I love reading your comments and interacting with you all. It really means a lot; and not to sound cliché but I did not think anyone would read my blog haha. 

This past year has definitely been interesting being in the beauty world. I love having a corner of the web as part of my hobby and am so glad to have fellow beauty bloggers to chit chat with <3

Enough about all that, lets get to what you REALLY wanted to read about, lol! 

I will be giving away an item from one of my all time favorite makeup brands, Tarte Cosmetics! Tarte specializes in good-for-you beauty products that are eco-friendly and cruelty-free. They are based solely in the USA. 

I especially love Tarte's Amazonian clay blushes and Lipsurgences and wanted a way to combine both together in a set. Well, I found that answer as I browsed the Tarte counter and bought (with my own hard earned money) this gem for one of you.

Here is what's inside Tarte Thoughtful Treasures best-sellers kit:

1) Pure Maracuja Oil

2) Amazonian clay 12-hour blush in Thankful

3) LipSurgence skintuitive lip tint in Energy

I understand that many of my readers are not from the US, and don't have access to Tarte Cosmetics, so the giveaway will be open INTERNATIONALLY and will end on Monday, January 13 at 11:59pm. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, January 15th. I will contact the winner via email. They have 48 hours to get back to me, if not, I will choose another winner. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holiday Makeup Look

Nothing screams holidays are here like a good red lippie. No matter what the makeup looks like, it seems like a red lip brings the look to life.

Products I used: 

- Esteé Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 1N1

- Smashbox Second Skin Concealer

- Maybelline Dark Circles Eraser concealer

- Rimmel Stay Matte powder

- Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer

- Lorac Spotlight

- Tarte Cosmetics Exposed blush

- UD Primer Potion

- Too Faced Naked Eye palette

- Tarte Amazonian clay liner

- Tarte Inner Rim liner

- Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes! mascara

- Anastasia Brow Powder in Medium Brown

- Anastasia Clear Brow Gel

- Tarte Lipsurgence in Enamored

Oh Highlighter, Where Art Thou?

I love having matte skin, but lately, I've been craving a natural glow while keeping my oils controlled. I use to hate the idea of a highlighter because I did not want to look like a disco ball. Although I still want to avoid that look, I have learned that not all highlighters are like that.

What am I looking for then? Well, I want something that does not have actual glitter or sparkles. I do not want to look like a disco ball and I don't want it to be like "Oh that girl has on WAYYY to much highlighter". And finally, I do not want something to gold. I want a natural, glow from within type of look. 

Contestants, please line up. 

1. Too Faced Candlelight Glow

2. Hourglass Ambient Lighting - I know this one has mixed reviews, and I understand that this is not a highlighter, but more of a finishing powder. I like the idea of this one because it seems like it will give that natural glow from within look and luminosity.

3. Guerlain Meteorites Teint Rose - This one is also one of those "not highlighter but glow from within products".

4. Too Faced Absolutely Invisible Candlelight

5. Kevyn Aucoin Candlelight - (Seems like so many people want that "candlelight glow" haha). I thought of this one because I heard that this was like a subtle, sophisticated "adult-like" highlighter, not a young type like MAC or Too Faced product. 

So as you can see, I have five options and need so much help. Do you recommend any of these products? Do you have a love hate relationship with these. Please give me your thoughts! And if you have any other options, let me know as well!

Essie Nail Polish + Dupes

I don't know about you, but I just love mini nail polish. They just make me so happy. So once I saw these 6 polishes on Ebay for $2.95 altogether, it was an offer I could not pass up. It's a good thing I bought it last month for Christmas gifts, because this month, it is $8.95. (Link to it if you are interested, Ebay)

Wicked                                                Chinchilly

Ballet Slippers                                    Smooth Sailing

      Bossa Nova                               Forever Yummy

Dupe Time!

While looking at a few of the shades, I dug into my nail polish pile to see if anything I had was similar. 

Nails Inc. Porchester Ave and Essie Chinchilly

Butter London La Moss and Essie Wicked

Estee Lauder Berry Hot and Essie Bossa Nova

Time to put it to the test! 

L-R: Chinchilly and Porchester Ave

Chinchilly is definitely alot darker then Porchester Ave. It is a bit more brown too, not so grey looking. Close, but no cigar.

L-R: Wicked and La Moss

Wicked is darker and blacker then La Moss, which is on the redder side. But honestly, if you only had one on, you could not tell the difference. I wouldn't say these are full on dupes, but they are cousins.

L-R: Bossa Nova and Berry Hot

Both Bossa Nova and Berry Hot look identical. The shadow makes Bossa Nova look darker, but both are dupes of each other and even have the same bluish/purple iridescence in it. 

I did not include Forever Yummy in this as a red creme can be found pretty much in any line of nail polish. Ballet Slippers is also another one of those nail polish shades that could result in a bunch of dupes.