MARCH 2016 FAVORITES

Hey guys! It’s time for another monthly favorites post!
(Man, oh man, that was lame! I’ll work on a better intro!)

Anywhoo…I know I said it seemed like February flew by (it’s a short month, so yeah…) but this month is like, dragging it’s ass! Maybe because Mother Nature teased us with spring weather, and now it’s a balmy like, 48 degrees the day before Easter. No really, I took a screenshot – I’m not kidding.

 
I was totally getting into the ‘swing of spring’ and playing with spring colors and then it got cold again. Such is my life.
So while I’m inside, freezing my ass off, and taking a break from stuffing Easter eggs for my son, I was thinking of all the things I’ve been loving this month, and wanted to share them with you!

Let’s get started!

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IT COSMETICS BYE BYE PORES SILK HD ANTI-AGING MICRO POWDER ($24)

I feel like it’s too soon to put this in a monthly favorites because I haven’t even had it an entire month yet, but I am so in love with this powder! I just picked this up a couple weeks ago on the first day of ULTA’s ’21 Days of Beauty Steals’, which means I only paid $12 for it, and let me tell you, I would absolutely pay full price for this product. It’s amazeballs!! It’s a very finely milled setting powder that contains a host of anti-aging ingredients and blurs fine lines and pores. I’ve worn this over a full face of makeup, and today I wore it over a tiny bit of concealer and nothing else, and either way, it makes my skin look incredible! I highly, highly recommend this product!!

MAKEUP GEEK EYESHADOWS ($6/ea)

 

 Another obsession to say the least! I can’t stop using these! They’re so buttery and pigmented and have beautiful finishes and….ahhhh! I love them! Marlena certainly knows what she’s doing!! I’ll be doing a post soon with all my favorite single eyeshadows, and let’s just say there is definitely a majority in Makeup Geek! You guys should really check them out if you haven’t already!! Some go-to’s are Peach Smoothie, Creme Brûlée, Beaches and Cream, and Mirage.

MAKEUP FOREVER MIST & FIX SETTING SPRAY ($30)

 

 I actually ordered the travel size, sample size….the tiny one, for the sake of trying it out. And as a setting spray, it’s alright, but what I really like using it for is misting on my brush before buffing out my foundation, or even spraying on an eyeshadow brush to make the shadow really pop! It helps to give decent staying power, which I appreciate. To actually set my makeup as a whole, like I said, it’s ok. I think it irritates my skin in that manner, but when used how one would use say, a MAC Fix+ to dampen their brush, it works really well! And since I’m not spraying it like, six to eight times to cover my face, one quick spritz on the brush is making the bottle last a really long time!

MAYBELLINE PUMPED UP! COLOSSAL VOLUME MASCARA ($8)

I finally replaced my old, dried up one! When I de-cluttered my mascaras (click here to read that post) I mentioned keeping the old tube of basically nothing to remind me to buy a new one because I love it so much. Then I caught it on sale, and bought two! What I really love about this mascara is not only the length and volume it gives to my lashes, but the regular, washable, non-waterproof formula has the staying power of a waterproof formula! It doesn’t flake, and it doesn’t smudge under my bottom lashes like most mascaras do to me. But for something so solid, when I get it all over my eyes (like we all can tend to do) because well, the brush is gigantic and I can’t apply mascara like a grown woman, it’s super easy to flake off with a Q-tip once it’s dry! You’d never know it was there!

BLOOMING LASH COLLECTION BY KISS ($4)

 

 I found a bunch of these on clearance at my local Walgreens about a month ago, and I have been wearing them non-stop! It doesn’t look like they’re being discontinued, because I still see them on the display for regular price, but hey, who am I to turn down a discount?!
These lashes boast a “multi-layer technology”, which if you look at them sideways, the lash hairs (fibers, whatever they are) are not all in line with each other; some are higher, some are lower, some run a straight line down the middle. Varying lengths and criss-crossing makes this incredibly natural looking, and they have a nearly invisible band that makes them almost undetectable, which I appreciate because I don’t always like to wear a dramatic liner when I wear falsies. Some of my favorite styles are Daisy, Tulip, and Camellia (how cute is it that they’re all named after flowers?). I die!

MAKEUP GEEK CONTOUR POWDERS ($10)

I think this was my very first Makeup Geek purchase; actually, almost as soon as they launched I was committing my credit card to them – and I’ve hardly used anything else to contour with since! There are eight shades, broken into warm and cool skin tones, ranging from porcelain to deep, and they are without a doubt amazing!!! Creamy, pigmented, insanely blendable; ya know, all the qualities of a great product, and what you’d expect from Makeup Geek as a brand. I have two of the eight shades; Infidelity and Breakup (cool porcelain and cool fair) because I prefer a cool-toned contour shade, however I plan to add more to my collection for the purposes of freelancing. They’re even sold in a bundle of all eight shades for $65, which is a steal!

LUCK OF THE IRISH SMOKEY EYE MAKEUP TUTORIAL

“May your troubles be less, and your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door.” – An Irish Blessing

Hey guys! With St. Patrick’s Day almost here, and my husband’s Irish heritage flying high and proud all year ’round, I knew I wanted to create a St. Patty’s inspired look.
This is a look that you can wear out with friends, to a parade, or even to a special St. Patty’s dinner. It’s easy to recreate, anyone can wear it, but especially for my brown-eyed-girls, this is going to make your peepers POP!

If you want to see how I created this look, then just keep reading!

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 When you’re working with dark shadows, and shimmery, glittery shadows, you’re almost guaranteed to have some fallout, so I like to start with my eyes before doing my skin. I primed my eyes using the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in ‘Milk’, which is just a white eye crayon. The white underneath our shadows will help the colors stand out more, and the consistency of the pencil will give the shadows something to grab on to. Just draw it on sloppily, and smooth it out with your finger, all over the lid, up to the brow bone.

 Next I’m going in with ‘Beaches and Cream’ by Makeup Geek. Using a Morphe M441, which is just a fluffy blending brush, I’m taking that all over the lid, crease, and up to the brow. This is just going to help our other shades blend more smoothly. Then, using the same brush, I picked up ‘Peach Smoothie’, also by Makeup Geek, and applied that into the crease, working from outer corner to inner corner, and working just above the crease as the product starts to leave my brush. This warm, peach shade will give a nice contrast, and really compliment the next shades we’ll be using.

 

 Now, I’m picking up any flat, dense shader brush, and working with an Urban Decay Eyeshadow in the shade ‘Mildew’ (which I had a sample of from an ULTA order awhile back), I’m applying that all over the lid. It’s an earthy, shimmery, mossy green color which is the perfect base for a look like this. I started down near the lash line, and worked my way toward the crease, to keep most of the color as low on the lid as possible. Then, go back with your M441, and using no additional product, just buff out the line between the green shade and ‘Peach Smoothie’.

 

 So now we’re going to take the far right shade in the Maybelline EyeStudio Shadow Quad palette in ‘Gutsy Green’, which is a dark, forest green with shimmer, and a pencil brush (I used the Morphe M169) and begin building that up on the outer ‘V’ of the eye. Once you’ve gotten it to your desired intensity, begin moving your brush lightly through the crease, keeping it low, and bring it around to the inner corner of the eye. This will create sort of a ‘halo’ effect on the lid. Don’t worry if you’ve lost some of your brighter green, we’ll get to that. Just lightly blend , making sure all of the harsh edges are gone.

Now, using the far left, bright green shade in that same Maybelline palette, I just used my ring finger to pat a little bit right on the center of my lid. Gently pat it on, keeping it dead center on the lid, and then take your pencil brush, and blend the edges together with the dark shade we used on either side.

 

 Now, take a baby wipe or makeup wipe, and swipe away any fallout. Winged liner is totally optional here, but you know me (or you should by now!) – go big, or go home. Using my e.l.f. Cream Eyeliner in black and a Morphe M160 1/8 brush, I’m just going to apply my winged liner as usual. If you want to check out my tutorial for winged liner, you can do that by clicking here.

 

 Then I’m going to apply a thin coat of Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara, and apply some false lashes. I used Kiss Blooming Lashes in ‘Lily’, which I recently found on clearance at my local Walgreens, and I’m in love with them! They’re beautiful!

Now I’m just going to apply my foundation (L’Oreal Infallible Pro Matte in 101 and 102) and concealer (NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in ‘Vanilla’) as usual, and set my concealer with the Anastasia of Beverly Hills ‘Banana’ Powder and a Morphe M438 brush.

 

 To finish up the eyes (without jumping around on you too much!), I’m going to take a Morphe M432 flat definer brush, and using the dark, shimmery green from the Maybelline palette, I’m going to press that right up underneath my bottom lashes, stopping about halfway in to the corner of my eye. Then using a clean pencil brush, I’m just going to buff that shadow out so it’s a little smokier, and apply some mascara to my lower lashes.
Then I filled in my brows using the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in ‘Chocolate’, and set them with the Anastasia of Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel.

Since the eyes are so bold and smokey and dark, I really wanted to bring some warm, peachy color back to the face. After contouring as usual with Makeup Geek ‘Breakup’ Contour Powder and an e.l.f. Small Tapered Brush, I applied Milani Baked Blush in ‘Luminoso’ to the back of my cheeks with an angled blush brush. Since this blush already has some shimmer to it, I decided to – wait for it – skip highlighter! I KNOW! Did you fall off your chair? Pick yourself up, darling, because we’re not done yet!

  

 Finally, keeping with the same warm, peachy, natural glow we had going for the cheeks, I chose to finish off the look with some NARS Lip Gloss in ‘Dolce Vita’, and a quick spritz of Urban Decay All-Nighter Setting Spray. And we’re all done!!

 

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There you have it! My St. Patty’s Day inspired makeup look! I hope you all have a wonderful, fun, safe St. Patrick’s Day! If you decided to recreate this look, tag me on Instagram!

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