Deep Red Nails

Hello There,

I decided to jump on the fall nail trend.  I don't have a ton of fall / winter shades in my polish collection.  While I love the look of the rich deep colors that come out in the fall months, It's usually the one time of year I don't typically buy nail shades.  I'm hoping this year will be different, but I can't make any promises to myself.

Shame on me, when I found this color in my moms collection I apparently ripped off the label of the brand, but I did leave the color sticker.  It's called black cherry and it's a really pretty color, but in previous years it never really set right on my nails.  This year however it worked perfectly, and it's the perfect deep berry red color that goes with absolutely everything in my fall closet.

What are some of your favorite fall nail color trends?

Current Nail Art

Hello everyone,

I decided that today was the day that I'd finally use some of my nail art stash and share it with all of you. 

 

 

Ta Da!  Mustachios!

I love mustaches.  I have them on Duck Tape, I have jewelry holders, pencils, a tattoo on my finger, t-shirts.  You name it, if it has mustaches on it I want it.  

I started off with a pink base coat.  It's the NYC polish in the shade Prospect Park Bloom.  Then I added these cute little decals to the tips of my nails that I got from Claire's (there would have been one on each nail but both of the ones on my pointers came off in the shower).  Easy peasy.  

I love simple things like this that just add to what would normally just be a plain nail.

What are some of your favorite nail art looks?  Have you ever tried nail decals?

-Care

E-Mail Offers

Hello again everyone,

Through my travels on the interweb, I have signed up with more than one online beauty retailer.  Like anyone who has ever purchased or signed up to be on a beauty site, I get flooded with e-mails telling me of the newest promotions and latest additions to the brands.  Today I thought I would share with you some of the sites I'm subscribed to, and what they're offering.

The Body Shop:  The Body Shop is offering free shipping, for a limited time only, with any HONEYMANIA purchase.  You can take part in this offer by using the promo code Honey when you check out. They are also promoting 25% off sitewide (online only), and 50% off all beautifying oils.

Lucky 21: Lucky 21 is offering 20% off all boots until 10.7.13 with the promo code KICK20.  Seeing as fall is here it is the perfect time to indulge in some boots that you may have been trying to put off buying.

Aeropostale: Aero is offering 50% off sitewide, and if you're a twitter fan you can watch the video and vote on who layered up the best.  This is my favorite place to shop for tanks and polo's.  I haven't branched out to their sweat shirts yet but they do have some very cute staple pieces for fall (if you can get over the little logo on everything).

Benefit: Benefit is offering two free gifts with orders over $60 using the code BROWFALL.  The two gifts are a mini Stay Don't Stray and a mini Creaseless Cream Shadow. Both of the freebies I own and LOVE (the Creaseless Cream Shadow is reviewed in another post I wrote).

Happy Shopping!
-Care

Falsies: What Not To Do

Hello Everyone,

Today I decided to do something a little different with my makeup routine.  On a recent trip to target I saw these false lashes by E.L.F for only a dollar, and thought what the hey, I'll give em a go.

I picked up the full lashes and the individuals.  Silly me forgot to take a picture of them before I put them on, but they come in a little white box and look like any other synthetic eyelashes I've seen in the drugstores.

I put on my makeup as usual and for my last step I grabbed the lashes, slathered glue all over them, blew on them a little, and stuck them on my eyes.  Unbeknownst to me I had put way too much glue on the inner part of the lash, closest to my tearduct, and a little bit got on my eye.  It burned like a son of a gun, let me tell you.  I ripped the lashes off, took out my contact, and used makeup remover to get off any traces of the glue and flushed my eye out with solution.  Not to be dettered I waited a few minutes, trimmed off the inner of the lash to a little less than half way, reapplied my makeup, put a lot less glue on the lash, and stuck them back on.

Even after my previous debacle I love them.  They are huge and over the top and lovely.  I feel like these would be good for going out to dinner, or even just having a fun day out of the house. 

My new goal is to master the false lashes and with Halloween coming up there are bound to be some more fun lashes floating around the local drugstores.  Those and the liner tattoo's.  Those would be fun too don't ya think?

-Care

My Skin Care Stash: Face Masks Pt. 1

Hello Everyone,

I am going to try to fit in a segment every week of products you can find in my skin care stash.  One type of product that completely overwhelms my collection is face masks.  Some for hydrating, some that exfoliate, and some that promise to unclog my pores.  This week's edition of my skin care stash is all about face masks that aim to clear the blemishes from my skin.

Now, keep in mind, these are not all of the masks I have in my collection for this purpose, but these are the ones I find myself reaching for more and more as the season changes.  I just finished up my last packet of one of my favorite masks, the Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Anti-Stress Mud Masque, so I won't be showing it here until I can get myself a few more.  I usually use two of these in succession, after exfoliation, and as my skin is very oily in the T zone and dry-ish on my cheeks, I tend to use one all over and the second on my T zone area to clear out the blackheads.  

H2O Sea Mineral Mud Mask, Formula 10.0.6 Deep down Detox. Formula 10.0.6 No Time To Shine, Formula 10.0.6 Pores Be Pure

Swatched

As you can see the H2O mask is really that bright blue color the tube is.  It has a really nice clean smell, with a hint of "mud", which is very earthy and pleasant.  It is not as thick as a clay mask, and you don't need a lot to cover your face.   It doesn't dry out your skin, and leaves it feeling really soft.  At about $7 it is definitely worth the money if you are looking for a non harsh pore clearing wonder.

The Formula 10.0.6 line is one of my absolute favorites for facial masks. The Deep Down Detox smells like oranges, and applies like a clay mask.  I like to use a brush to smooth it on my face as I feel it gives you mor control than your fingers do. This is normally the first mask I put on when I start to feel my skin having an uproar.  It sucks all the bad stuff out of your pores and leaves you looking smooth and soft and noticeably clearer.  This was about $6 from Ulta.com, which I would highly recommend to people who are still unsure of deep cleaning masks, and don't want to invest in high high priced masks.

The Formula 10.0.6 No Time To Shine mask is one that saved me a lot of hassle in the summer months.  It took that greasy oil slick that tends to crop up in the southern heat and calmed it right down for the rest of the day.  It wasn't huge on clearing out my pores, so if you're looking for something to curb the oil and clear out your pores you might want to look into a two step process, or just a whole different product.  It does contain clay, and applies very smoothly when applied with a brush. Overall the smell wasn't great, and smelled a lot like mud, but worked for its purpose. This was about $6 from Ulta.com.

The Formula 10.0.6 is the first mask I tried from the brand.  It smells like strawberries, and helped my blackhead situation immensely.  It applies like a clay mask, which I like to apply with a brush, and you can feel it working immediately.  This mask does get a little warm so beware if you have very sensitive skin, but I'm left, like with all of the 10.0.6 masks, with clearer smoother happier skin. This was about $6 from Ulta.com, as is the whole line of masks, so for beginners who want immediate results and want to love their skin again, this is a definite go.

What masks do you see yourself reaching for more and more to clear troubled skin?

Guest Post: New products for August & September

New products for August & September!

Since school's started, I've been MIA for quite some time. However, I have managed to rangle up some products; some that I will repurchase and only one I will trash!

First off, I have no idea how Carolyn makes her blog entries so fancy. I will have to have a Skype day with her to figure out how she does it.

Secondly, I feel  like it's a purple kind of day/week, possibly even month. Here's why:

Nail polish!

I was in the beauty supply store yesterday near my college and knew I was looking for a color that I don't normally wear. (My normal colors are reds, blues and black). I saw this color (Orly nail polish in Charged Up) and I fell in love with it. It's a nice, rich, fun purple color but the only downside to it is that it's really, really liquidy. I had to put three coats on some of my nails! Overall, I'm happy with this product and will probably be wearing it for about a week once I added Seche Vite Fast Drying Top Coat (my favorite top coat!).

The other stuff!

Covergirl Flamed Out Mascara in Very Black: I LOVE IT! When my lashes are being cooperative, I love this mascara. The brush is a little different than most brushes but it's got great consistency in the mascara formula and the brush doesn't get clumps on it.

L'oreal leMatte & laLaque Lipcolor: The pink one on the left is in the color 408 She's So Matte and when you open the lip tube, the lipcolor is like a Crayola crayon and once you use it a couple times, the pointy end goes away and you have a hard time perfecting the lines on the outer edges of your lips. Jury's still out on 408, I think I need to get an exfoliant for my lips because they're super chapped and are only gonna get worse the colder it gets. The red one is in 413 Laque-onic (I love it when companies get all creatively stupid cute with the names of their colors) and I LOVE it, of course. But this lip color is different than usual lipsticks. The 408 is obviously matte so it looks like a matte lipstick but the 413 isn't shiny, it's like a thick consistency with some shine but it feels really good on the lips. I had it on for about an hour last night and it didn't dry out and thank god it wasn't sticky either! I'll post an update in a few weeks about this one to see if my opinion changes.

Now onto the hair products!

 ...because I am always trying new hair products. A while back I dyed my hair a few different colors over a couple weeks and I think that damaged my curls so I'm constantly trying to find things that help my curls! Recommended by the mother of one of my other best friend's is the Macadamia Natural Oil Reviving Curl Cream: I used it today and it's definitely helping with the waves at the top and the curls are fine at the bottom like always but it's helped. I will keep using it and see if over time, I'll help more.

Moroccan Argan Oil: if you need help softening your hair because you put heat on it all the time or need to revive it from bleach, this is your product! Over the summer, I bleached over my black hair and the next day my hair was like straw! STRAW! So I went out (on Carolyn's recommendation ) and bought it. Best buy for damaged hair I've ever purchased.

amika Bombshell Blowout Spray: I got this either in ipsy or birchbox and it really helps with the texture. I don't ever blow dry my hair because the little wisps at the top make my hair look super damaged but if I spray this in my hair while it's damp and scrunch it a little bit, it ends up looking really good when it's dry. It's got some volume to it, too, so that's a plus.

And finally something I hate...

Before I completely trash this one, I should warn you: I have really crazy dry skin and that reason might be why I hate this so much. Garnier Skin Renew BB Cream: there's WAY too much pigment in it and the pigment is very orange for being fair to light labeled. I don't have orange skin. Second, it's not moisturizing enough so when I use it, the pigment gets caught in my dry skin and patches up and looks horrible. It's also kind of greasy and rubs off on my fingers when I touched my cheek a few minutes after applying it. I've been waiting to try this product for a really long time and although it's a good price and the packaging it good, I will be trashing this and going back to my Covergirl BB Cream until I can find another one. 

Hope this helps with your decisions on purchasing nail polish, mascara, hair stuff or lipsticks!

-Tay

Going Out to Lunch

Hello Everyone,

Today I went out to lunch with my lovely friend Carmen from my old job.  With only about fifteen minutes to pull myself together I sat in front of my makeup and didn't know where to begin.  I knew I wanted simple, yet pretty, and something befitting of fall.

Here is what I came up with:

Don't mind my forehead.  We are in a constant battle for superiority and it always wins.  Even with bangs.

I used the Philip B. Maui Wowie beach spray I recieved in a Blush Mystery Beauty Bag a month or so ago in my hair to muss it up a bit.  Most of those waves are naturally mine though.  I'm so glad the days of stick straight hair are behind us and the "just rolled out of bed" beachy waves look is in.  Truth be told thats actually just rolled out of bed hair.  (I did say I only had about fifteen minutes right?)

I used the Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation from Benefit in "I'm pure 4 sure" on my face, along with concealer from E.L.F. on those pesky hangover dark circles, and the E.L.F. Blush and Bronzer duo in St. Lucia to add back a bit of the color to my cheeks.

On my eyes I used this cute sample I got from Stila in a GWP from Ulta in the shades Kitten and Sunset.  For the liner it's always a winged look for me.  I've been rocking it since high school and don't intend to give it up anytime soon.  I love how it makes my eyes look and even if there is nothing else on my eyes, there will be winged liner.  I use the Kat Von D. tattoo liner in Trooper which I adore.  It's somewhat waterproof and will last through rain, snow, and tears.  It only really gives way when you shower, and of course wash your face.  I didn't do my eyebrows today, unlike usual, because at this point it was time to rush out the door and drive across town to do some catching up.

I'm a huge E.L.F fan, and they were my first real "haul" when I was still in high school (thank you mom!), so I hope to be doing a post of the products I love and don't love as much sometime in the next week or so.

If there's anything else you guys would like to see put up here, or any suggestions on cameras, lighting, angles, and video please let me know!

Lots of Love,
-Care