Wet n Wild Sparkle 'Til Morning Palette

Part of the most recent limited edition products from Wet n Wild, the Sparkle Til Morning 8-pan eyeshadow palette is one that some people are trying hard to find in their area. I found mine this week at CVS. I already have the matte palette from its previous release, and the other palette just didn't interest me that much based on the swatches I'd seen on blogs. Although the shades in this palette are also not particularly unique, they're all very nice and certainly ones I'll use!

Swatches are done on my arm with sponge-tip applicators over the NYX white eyeshadow base. The top photos are with flash, the bottom without.

What do you think of this palette? Is it one you'll search for or pass on?

Look out soon for a post comparing these shadows to others from previous Wet n Wild palettes!

Face of the Day

Since I'm opening the store where I work most days this week, it sometimes will lead to me not having a lot of time to get ready in the morning! When that happens, I usually end up doing a fairly simple and/or neutral eye look and focusing on the lips as the color of the look, since that doesn't take as much time and patience. This was the case today.

 For photos and a list of all the products and tools used, keep reading!

Face of the Day - Studio Crawl 2012

Today is the first of the two days of the Studio Crawl in Fargo-Moorhead. My mom's studio is in our house, so our family helps out. I figured I'd better look presentable! Of course, my job ended up being to stay upstairs with the dogs, so mostly just the internet gets to see my FOTD today!

It's kind of playing off the dress I'm wearing, which has an interesting pattern made up of several colors, including coral, teal, grey, and mustardy yellow. I chose my favorites from that to put on my face!

Products used:
Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro Primer
Revlon Colorstay Under Eye concealer
Revlon Photoready concealer
Milani Minerals compact makeup
Wet n Wild blush - Pearlescent Pink
Prestige Brow Perfection - Light/Medium
Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara
Covergirl Lip Perfection - Fairytale
MAC Paint Pot - Painterly
Wet n Wild Brulee Eyeshadow
Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette (Left: Browbone, Eyelid, Crease. Right: Crease.)
Wet n Wild Blue Had Me At Hello palette (Right: Eyelid)
Milani Shadow Eyez pencil - Aquatic Style
ELF Jumbo Eye Pencil - French Fries
L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara

September Manicures

These are becoming my favorite posts to put together! It's fun to see all the colors I used throughout the month. I was definitely in fall mode this month! Although For Audrey is always a favorite & I suspect it'll make an appearance most months.

1. Butter London Aston
2. Essie Your Hut Or Mine
3. Finger Paints Go Van Gogh!, OPI Swimsuit...Nailed it!
4. Sonia Kashuk Two Cent
5. Butter London Wallis
6. China Glaze For Audrey
7. Zoya Shawn, China Glaze Zombie Zest
8. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirlwind White, Wet n Wild Through the Grapevine, Revlon Impulsive
9. Butter London The Old Bill
10. L'Oreal Spice Things Up
11. Zoya Caitlin
12. Wet n Wild Wet Cement, OPI The World Is Not Enough
13. China Glaze For Audrey, Milani HD, Milani Gems, Essie Set in Stones, China Glaze Fairy Dust (I did a more specific post on just this manicure here.)

Faces of the Day - Last Week

I sometimes take photos of my makeup for the day and then end up not posting it that day for whatever reason. I found a few from last week that I decided to share with you now! Unfortunately, I usually take the photo of all the products when I'm making the post, so those didn't happen. I probably won't remember most of the products as a result! 

From September 25th. I know I used Wet n Wild Nutty and Envy shadows. I *think* this was Wet n Wild 907C lipstick but I'm not positive.

From September 27th. The star of this look was the Cargo eyeshadow quad in Tahiti, although I did not use the dark green shade, just the other three. I also used Revlon Super Lustrous creme lipstick in Demure. (Not sure why that one gets called a creme - it definitely has shimmer! I wish it didn't but I don't *completely* hate it.)

Face of the Day - Pink Eyeshadow

I'm continuing my mission to prove that eyeshadows like hot pink and red are NOT terrifying! I think they're beautiful and so much fun and more wearable than people seem to think.

Products used:

Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro primer
Revlon Colorstay foundation
Milani HD Advanced concealer
Milani Minerals Compact Makeup
Milani Minerals Blush - Sweet Rose
Prestige Brow Perfection - Light/Medium
Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara
Physicians Formula Glam Hazel Eyes light shimmery purple gel liner (as base)
Physicians Formula Hazel Eyes gel liner trio black liner
Wet n Wild Sweet as Candy - Eyelid shade
Wet n Wild Spoiled Brat - Eyelid Shade
L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick - Airy Fairy

Favorite Lipsticks for Cooler Weather

I've been planning on making this post for awhile but was struggling to narrow down my choices since many of them were fairly similar. Then I figured, why narrow it at all? Some of these colors may be easier to find than others, or the finish is different enough to make it worth it. In general, my favorite formulas are the Revlon Super Lustrous (all the ones I chose from that line are the creme finish, not frost or matte) and MAC.

For swatches - both lip and arm - and a list of all the names, keep reading! It's photo heavy!

August Manicures

Curious about the polishes I used? They're listed under the cut!

Nail Polish Collection - Bottle Photos

I recently took on the project of arranging my polishes by color and swatching them in a small notebook I can easily take with me to ensure new polishes I see in stores are actually unique to my collection, as it's getting to the point where it's easy to have repeats. As a way of cataloging which polishes made which swatch, I took photos of them in the same order I swatched them. I didn't photograph the two Konad polishes or any of my base/topcoats, but this is everything else. As always, click the photos if you want to see them larger, and ask me if you have any more specific questions! 

Photos under the jump since there are six of them and I don't want it to load too slowly!

Blush Collection and Swatches!

Wet n Wild Color Icon blushes
L-R: Pearlescent Pink, Heather Silk, Mellow Wine

Physicians Formula Happy Booster blushes
L-R: Rose, Natural

Cargo blush - Key Largo

Milani Minerals blushes
L-R: Sweet Rose, Sunset Beach, Mai Tai, Luminous

Jordana Powder Blush
L-R: Redwood, Coral Sandy Beach, Tawny Beige

ELF Studio blushes
L-R: Pink Passion, Candid Coral

Milani Baked blushes
L-R: Terra Sole, Red Vino

Cream Blushes
L-R: NYX Hot Pink, Boho Chic, Sally Hansen Bloom

All swatches are done on my bare arm, both blended out and just to show the straight color. If you have any questions about any of these or would like to see them differently, let me know! If I've used it in a FOTD post on here, you should be able to search for it and it will come up.

Except the baked blushes, Cargo blush, Jordana blushes, and the creams, they've all been depotted for ease of storage. I would depot the Jordana blushes but I don't have a good palette for them currently.

Let me know if you'd like swatch posts of any specific brands or products!

Face of the Day

Products:

Urban Decay De Slick spray
Revlon Colorstay foundation
Milani HD Advanced concealer
NYX Cream Blush - Hot Pink
ELF Translucent mattifying powder
Prestige Brow Perfection pencil - Light/Medium
Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara
NYX HD eyeshadow primer
NYX Jumbo eye pencil - Cucumber
Wet n Wild eyeshadow palette - Pride
Milani Liquif'eye twist up eyeliner - blue
Maybelline XXL Pro Extensions (step 2 only)
ELF Luscious Liquid Lipstick - Pink Lemonade

Kmart Haul - Jordana and Wet n Wild

I stopped in Kmart today and saw that Jordana was buy one get one 50% off, so I figured I would see if there was anything I wanted. I've been  hearing a lot of positive things about the Best Lash mascara lately, and I've had good experiences with blushes and single eyeshadows before, so I chose a few colors that looked nice.

L-R: Blush in Redwood, Blush in Tawny Beige, Eyeshadow in A Classic

Best Lash Volumizing Mascara

In addition to the Jordana products, the Wet n Wild section at this Kmart had many more of the Megalast lipsticks than any other stores I've been in lately, so I was able to get a few of the newer lipstick shades I hadn't seen yet.

L-R: Dollhouse Pink, Pinkerbell

I'm really happy with all of these things, especially the Jordana products! The eyeshadow looks like it might be quite similar to MAC's Coppering eyeshadow, which I've been wanting for quite some time - but at just $0.99 after the sale, I'll definitely take this one! 

I noticed a few similarities to products in my collection that I thought I'd share with you as well:

Top: Wet n Wild Megalast - Pinkerbell
Bottom: Covergirl Lip Perfection - Temptress

Left: Jordana - Redwood (blended, then heavier)
Right: Milani Minerals -  Mai Tai (heavier, then blended)

Have you tried any of these products?

What are your favorite Jordana products?

P.S. In case you missed it, check out my previous post, which puts a few of these new things to use!

Gumball/Confetti Dot Manicure

This is one of the most fun manicure's I've done in awhile, but it's also one of  the easiest I've ever done that isn't just a single color! It's so simple - just choose several colors of polish you like together, then get a dotting tool of some kind (or several if you want different sized dots). Choose one color at a time and randomly place dots on your nails, continuing with the other colors until the whole surface is covered with dots! By going with one color over all the nails at once, you can avoid having to wait for the dots to dry since they'll be almost completely dry by the time you start the next color. And there's no need for a base color if you choose polishes that aren't particularly sheer. Also, because only a little bit of each dot overlaps another, the polish doesn't get too thick and start chipping or peeling off quickly as can sometimes happen with thicker manicures. It's lasted several days on me with no chipping whatsoever - and of course it also says something that I've been willing to leave it on that long! I tend to switch manicures more often than this.

The polishes I chose to use this time, L-R:

Zoya - Pippa

China Glaze - Gaga for Green

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!

Wet n Wild Megalast - On A Trip

Essie - Lights

Wet n Wild Megalast - Club Havana

I used the Seche Clear base coat and Seche Vite top coat for this manicure.

Edit: I just noticed this is my 200th post! It doesn't feel like I've done that many!

May Collab - House M.D.-Inspired Manicure

When I saw that it had been determined that May's theme for the Glamazon collaboration would be inspired by a TV show or character, I figured I'd try to do something from one of my all-time favorite shows - House! It's the only show I own on DVD, even though I got into it pretty late in the game, and I'm disappointed it was cancelled, although glad it ended while it was still a good show. (I haven't seen the last half of the season so don't spoil it for me!)

I pulled the colors and design ideas mostly just from the title sequence. In case you haven't seen it before, here is the version from the seventh season:

To start off, I put a base coat of the colors I chose from the title sequence.

L-R: China Glaze - Stone Cold, Zoya - Stella, Zoya - Minka, Revlon - Gold Coin, Zoya - Minka with Wet n Wild - Club Havana sponged lightly over it. I wanted to incorporate an orange, but it was too vibrant on its own. In order to achieve a more toned-down look, I brushed the polish onto a torn cosmetic sponge and applied it that way over the nude color.

For the designs, I used two polishes from Claire's that have both a striping brush and a pen-like applicator option. For the veins though, I used a Sephora by OPI nail design pen since it gave a less opaque effect that seemed more appropriate. 

Here's a more detailed look at the designs - with and without the additional letters.

This was such a fun manicure to do! While I do my nails very often, I don't do much in the way of nail art or themed manicures, so this was a fun way to try something I haven't done before.


Don't forget to check out the other participants' contributions as well!

Emily at Southern Gorgeous - Irene Adler makeup look
Keri at Beauty is My Crush - Sookie Stackhouse makeup look
Laurie Ann at BeautyMakeupAndMore - Nina Dobrev makeup look

Nail Polish Swatches

These are most, if not all, of the nail polishes I've added to my collection over the last two months. 

China Glaze - Stone Cold

Essie - Navigate Her

Essie - Tart Deco

Essie - Turquoise & Caicos 

Revlon - Posh 

Pixi - Paradise Pink 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue 

Illamasqua - Nomad

Brash (Payless) - Turquoise Twist 

L-R: Revlon - Impulse, Revlon - Flirt, SXY (Payless) - Pink Prestige, Essie - Lights

L-R: Wet n Wild megalast - Tropicalia, Club Havana, Through the Grapevine, Pixi -  Coral Cabana

May 18 FOTD - Wet n Wild Fauna eyeshadows, new Maybelline mascara

Face:
Urban Decay De Slick spray
Revlon Colorstay Combo/Oily
Revlon Photoready concealer
L'Oreal True Match powder
Milani Minerals blush - Luminous

Eyes:
MAC paint pot - Painterly
Milani Shadow Eyez - Royal Purple
Urban Decay - Ransom eyeshadow
Wet n Wild - Fauna eyeshadow trio
Physician's Formula Nude Eyes liner trio - black
Maybelline Mega Plush waterproof mascara
Wet n Wild I <3 Matte palette (black over liner, dark brown for brows)
Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara for brows

Lips:
NYX lipstick - Femme

Nail Polish Collection & Swatches - Urban Outfitters, Sonia Kashuk, Wet n Wild

Recent Hauls (with swatches!) - NYX, Wet n Wild, Urban Decay, Coach

Cream eyeshadows in Purple and Pinky Beige, Matte lipstick in Hippie Chic

Coach Poppy rollerball, Shine Killer primer, stay matte but not flat powder

Urban Decay 24/7 concealer

Wet n Wild lipsticks