ELF Beautybooks : Smoky Eye and Bright Eye Editions

These are really great quality! Amazing color payoff on all the ones I've used so far. Both sets are very versatile, combining neutrals and more vibrant and darker shades! I found mine at Target. I would recommend these! They are much, much better quality shadows than those in the $1quads and the studio singles! Plus at $5 each they are a much better deal than both. If you can find these I would really recommend trying them out.

My mom's Mother's Day gift

Along with a hoodie from my college, I sent my mom a few beauty items from CVS for Mother's Day this year.

EOS lip balm in Lemon Drop, Milani blush in Mai Tai, Wet n Wild trio in Sweet as Candy, Wet n Wild nail polishes in  Tropical and Undercover.

Sweet as Candy trio

Left: Undercover, Right: Tropical

Jordana Haul and Swatches

I picked up a few Jordana products from Walgreens last month out of curiosity.

L-R: Fabuliner liquid eyeliner (marker style) in black, Pretty Shine lipgloss in Dazzling and Darling, Squeeze n Shine gloss (in clear...don't know if it has a name), Lipshine (brush style) in Watermelon

I'm not very impressed with the eyeliner. It's not very black and it seems to pick the color back up if you go over the same area too many times. Because the tip is felt tip and therefore pretty stiff, it's also hard to get a smooth line. The Pretty Shine glosses are nice. The gloss in the tube apparently had a slice in the package that I didn't notice, which then got ALL OVER my school bag and its contents. It's also a very sticky gloss. The lipshine is really nice - I love glosses that have a brush; I feel like it gives much more control in the placement. It's a really nice color, too. I really wish it didn't smell like watermelon, though...

Spring Nail Haul and Swatches

These are the nail polishes I've gotten over the past few months!

L-R: Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac, Sinful Colors - Soul Mate, Maybelline - Timely Turquoise

Top, L-R: China Glaze - Electric Pineapple* (Island Escape Collection), China Glaze - For Audrey, China Glaze - Dorothy Who?, Finger Paints - Laugh My Art Off, Sinful Colors - Hazard, Maybelline Orange Blazes (LE)
Bottom, L-R: Revlon Matte Suede - Powder Puff, Revlon - Frankly Scarlet, OPI - Black Shatter, Urban Outfitters - Afterhours

*There are two swatches of Electric Pineapple because I could NOT get it to photograph as it looks in real life! The real color is more of a combination of the two swatches.

Top 10: Lipglosses

L-R: Revlon Super Lustrous - Coral Reef, Pink Pop, L'Oreal HIP Shine Struck Liquid Lipcolor - Euphoric, MAC Lipglass - Russian Red, NYX Megashine - La-La, ELF Luscious Liquid Lipstick - Pink Lemonade, Strawberry, Express lipgloss - Black Cherry, Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lipgloss - Minty, Bath and Body Works Liplicious - Lemon Signature Vanillas

Bare lips, for reference.

Revlon Super Lustrous
Coral Reef

Revlon Super Lustrous
Pink Pop

L'Oreal HIP Shine Struck Liquid Lipcolor
Euphoric

MAC Lipglass
Russian Red

NYX Megashine
La-La

ELF Luscious Liquid Lipstick
Pink Lemonade

ELF Luscious Liquid Lipstick
Strawberry

Express lipgloss
 Black Cherry

Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lipgloss
Minty

Bath and Body Works Liplicious
Lemon Signature Vanillas

What's in my travel bag?

As I was thinking about packing for a week long trip, I asked the lovely people of the Beauty Broadcast Facebook page if anyone would be interested in knowing what I'm packing. Since I got quite a few who said they would be, I made a video of the products I have packed.

I recorded this video at about 2:30 AM so I'm pretty tired in it...and the lighting is really not good, but you can still get the point.

If you want to check out my video on my travel makeup bag, I'd love to know what you think and what you usually bring when you're travelling!

Look of the day: Rainbow eyes!

 I forgot to write down the products I used on my face! I'm pretty sure I used the ELF Studio blush in Pink Passion, and I know that I used NYX Megashine lipgloss in La-La.

For this look, I started with Palladio eye primer, then put on NYX jumbo eye pencil in Yellow on the inner 1/3 of my lid and the jumbo eye pencil in Cherry on the rest of the lid. Next, I used NYX single eyeshadow in Yellow Funk on the inner 1/2 and NYX single eyeshadow in Cherry on the outer 1/2. I went over the line where they met with Jordana single eyeshadow in Luv2Shop.

For the bottom, I lined the inner 1/2 with NYX eyeliner in Acid Green and the outer 1/2 with the purple from the Physician's Formula gel creamliner trio for green eyes. I went over the green with the Covergirl single in Kelly Green and the purple is a shadow I got a few years ago from Merle Norman. It was part of a line called Luxiva. I have no idea what it's called or if it's still available. It's basically a shimmery lilac shade.

The blue eyeliner is the Milani Infinite liquid liner in Infinite. 

I used L'Oreal Telescopic mascara in Carbon Black on my top and bottom lashes.

In order to clean up the outer edge, I wiped away the excess red with an Almay eye makeup remover pad that I folded in half to make a flat edge. 

Konad - m60 plate

Here are some of the manicures I've done with the Konad m60 plate. The white is the Konad special polish.

Base: Maybelline - Orange Blazes

Base: China Glaze - Something Sweet
Stamp: Sparkly purple from Sonia Kashuk 'lend a hand' trio

Base: Revlon Top Speed - Violet

Sunglasses - H&M

Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette: Right Side

 Face products:
Palladio primer
L'Oreal True Match liquid in C1
NYX concealer in a jar in Fair
Milani blush in Mai Tai

Eye products:

Palladio eye primer

Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette - 4 shadows on the right side (used for the purpose stamped in the shadow)

L'Oreal Voluminous mascara in Carbon Black

 Lip products:
NYX lipstick - Tea Rose
Jordana lipgloss - Darling

Nails of the Day: Pink and White (Plus Revlon Powder Puff review)

Last week at CVS I spotted a Revlon matte suede nail polish called Powder Puff that looked really interesting. It is a white base with a subtle blue duochrome glitter in it. With the glitter and the finish, I thought it would be a really unique polish. However, the blue duochrome isn't visible at all and it takes 3 or 4 coats before it gets to a decent level of color, but even then I could still kind of see the line of the white part of the nail through the polish. Basically it's just a matte white that takes a lot of layers to be opaque. I'm so disappointed! If I can find the receipt I may end up returning it.

Since I really didn't like the look but didn't want to remove all the layers of polish I just put on, I instead topped it off with a coat of China Glaze crackle polish in Broken Hearted. I've used it before, but never realized how bright it could be until I put it over a white! While it's fun to combine crackle polishes with interesting colors underneath, sometimes it's fun to let the crackle shine!

Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette: Left Side

Besides primer and mascara, this eye look is entirely from the four shadows on the left side of the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette. I used them for the purpose that is stamped into each shadow, with the one labeled "Definer" as liner. 

I used Palladio herbal eyeshadow primer and Maybelline The Colossal mascara in Glam Black.

I picked up the NYX Jumbo lip pencil in Soft Fuchsia on clearance at Urban Outfitters for $1.99 this week as well. I thought I would try it with this neutral look, but I just don't think it flatters my skin. I'll try using it with other products or looks because the product itself is really nice - it goes on so easily, very opaque, and feels really soft and moisturizing on the lips.

Nails of the Day: OPI Black Shatter and Urban Outfitters Afterhours

Okay, I am obsessed with this insane holographic glitter polish I came across at Urban Outfitters this week! It is AMAZING! I was so happy it looks as cool on the nails as it does in the bottle. I also finally got the OPI Black Shatter this week, so I decided to try them together. I really like the effect!

The Urban Outfitters nail polish was $5 for .5oz, and OPI Black Shatter was (I think) $8.50 on drugstore.com.

20 Followers!!

I noticed today when checking up on my blog subscriptions that I'm up to twenty followers!! I am so, so happy about this. I really just started blogging since I took a lot of photos of my makeup and nails and figures I should put them somewhere.

I just wanted to make this post to thank all of you lovely people for taking the time to stop by and follow my little blog.

Also, I'm finishing up my last (stressful) week of the semester, so hopefully after this I'll be better at posting on here at regular intervals! If there are any specific posts/types of posts you'd like to see, let me know!

I've also started doing videos on YouTube this past week. While the quality isn't good enough for tutorials, I'll try to do some other type of videos. If you have any requests, tips, or anything else to offer, let me know!
www.youtube.com/yeahhildekase

Thanks again, followers. You rock. :D

-Maggie

Nails of the Day: Cracked Concrete

Today's manicure used Sinful Colors in Hazard as the base, and China Glaze crackle polish in Cracked Concrete. The orange/coral shade is brighter in real life, more like the top picture than the bottom picture. It's a bit easier to see the difference if you click to enlarge the photo.

I used Orly Top 2 Bottom as the base coat and two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for the top coat.

Personal Blog

In case any of you are interested, I also have a personal blog, which I don't update as often as I mean to.
I recorded a speech/dialect tag video and posted it over there today, which is exciting because I figured out that I can record videos with my webcam straight to YouTube!! So, yeah...if you're interested, go check out that blog, too.

www.mascaralattes.blogspot.com

Look of the Day: 5/7/11

Crazy eyes! Took one with my lifting my eyebrows since it was the only way I could get the colors to really show with my eyes open.

Products used:
Face:
Palladio Primer
L'Oreal True Match Liquid
NYX Concealer in  a jar
Rimmel Stay Matte powder
ELF Studio blush - Candid Coral

Eyes:
Palladio Eye Primer
NYX jumbo pencil - French Fries
ELF Beautybook - Bright Eyes

• Second from left in the middle - base
• Farthest right in the middle - crease
• Farthest left in the middle - inner corner & brow highlight

Physician's Formula Gel Creamliner - Glam Green Eyes - Black
Maybelline The Colossal Mascara - Glam Black

Lips:
ULTA Lipliner - Beet
Maurice's lip gloss (The packaging is all worn off since it's a few years old, so I have no idea the name or if these are even made any more. It's basically your generic slightly pink clear sparkly gloss)

Bright Pink Lipsticks: Drugstore Comparison with MAC Candy Yum Yum

Today when I stopped in CVS I spotted several lipsticks that were very bright pink in the tube and was wondering how they compared with MAC's Candy Yum Yum (one of my favorites!)

L-R: MAC Candy Yum Yum, Milani Rose Hip, Revlon Super Lustrous Matte - 011 Stormy Pink,  Wet n Wild 511B

Same order as the tubes. Top picture is with flash, bottom is without.
As you can probably tell, none of these are actually dupes for Candy Yum Yum, but the Milani and the Wet n Wild aren't too far off in color. They're both a creme finish whereas the MAC and Revlon are matte. The Revlon is definitely the most disappointing. It was the most expensive of the three I picked up today, and it looked gorgeous in the tube, but it just applies so sheerly! It still has a really nice texture and it is a pretty color, so it would probably be perfect for those who like the idea behind Candy Yum Yum but aren't comfortable wearing really bright lipsticks.
The Wet n Wild is also pretty sheer, but it's also still bright. I was really surprised at how nicely pigmented it was, considering the price.
Of the three, Milani Rose Hip is definitely my favorite. It has a really nice texture and it lasts really well, especially for such an affordable product. The only downside to it, for me, is the smell! It's really strong and I can still smell it once it's on my lips. I can't put my finger on the smell, but it's either fruity or sweet..either way, I am not a fan! I can probably get over it, though, since otherwise the product is great.

Milani Rose Hip

Top 5: Blushes

I have more blushes than these five, but I really only use these on a regular basis. 

Top Row, L-R: Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blush - Rose, Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blush - Natural, Milani Mineral Blush - Mai Tai
Bottom Row, L-R: ELF Studio Blush - Pink Passion, ELF Studio Blush - Candid Coral

Same order as above photo. L-R Rose, Natural, Mai Tai, Pink Passion, Candid Coral

I really like all of these and use them often. I've had Candid Coral the longest out of these five, so I've hit pan on it. I really like matte products in general, and blushes are no exception. I love both of the matte blushes I have (Mai Tai and Pink Passion). I think out of these blushes, Mai Tai and Natural are my most reached-for, depending on whether I want shimmer or not! I would recommend all these shades, however - great pigmentation on all of them, and they can all be applied with a light hand or heavier depending on how much color you want to show up on your face.