Racing Green

Hey dolls!

I've received this Barry M nail polish in a swap and finally used it for the first time a week ago and I absolutely love it! I know that it'll be one of my favorite nail polishes in fall and winter :)

Racing Green is a beautiful metallic deep green with a hint of blue and just the right amount of shimmer. This color reminds me of a mermaid for some reason :) Barry M nail polishes come in rectangular glass bottles and they are actually called "Nail Paints", cute! I don't know what Barry M puts in their formula but whatever they do put, they are doing a good job! It has just the right consistency, not too thick or thin; therefore making the application a breeze. I also love the brush even though it's nothing like that of OPI or China Glaze. It's actually quite thinner than both brands' brushes so has less bristles. Amazingly it picks up the nail polish in such way that with only one sweep I can coat my entire nail. Sometimes I even had more nail polish on the brush than I needed, it definitely picks up the right amount, but never less than what you need.

I totally forgot to photograph my nails with only 1 coat. I think one coat of Racing Green did a decent job with only a bit of the white tips showing. I definitely would not call 1 coat of it sheer.With most nail polishes, however, I prefer 2 coats. With some even 3. In this case I applied only 2 coats and look at the results, purdy! FYI: I didn't apply top coat.After applying this nail polish I have done quite a bit of housework and I must say besides me picking some parts of the nail polish, it wore pretty darn good. This formula definitely doesn't come off easily. I would say it lasts 3-4 days without chipping, in my case at least.

What do you guys think of Barry M nail polishes?

Let's do Cha Cha Cha!

Hey loves!

Well this post won't be about dancing but it's about a lip tar from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics called Cha Cha! I just liked how 'Cha cha cha' sounded for a post title! The very first time I heard about OCC was when I watched a video on YouTube containing these lip tars a while ago. I am not sure if there are other companies that make "tars". They are basically a mixture of lipstick and lip-gloss. So what's the big deal? Well, you get the opacity and longevity of a lipstick and the glossiness of a lipgloss! So I headed straight to their website and fell in love with many of the colors. I decided to take the 'plunge' since this was my first time ordering from this company I decided to get one lip tar and see what it's all about! The reason why I picked Cha Cha of all the 27 colors is obvious, I am obsessed with peach/coral and anything and everything in between. Cha Cha fit my obsession.

When I opened the box, I had a hard time finding the product because the box was filled with peanuts (as in the packing peanuts!) It is pretty small weighing at .27fl oz./8 ml. The tube is made from plastic with an angled tip for ease of application and a white cap which twists open. I like that it's small and compact so we never have to part!

Believe it or not, you will never need the amount of product I have on my hand in the picture above. I only squeezed that much out for swatching purposes.

The lip tar is liquid and has a thinner consistency than say a MAC lipglass. It is incredibly pigmented. You need the tiniest amount for full coverage. I suggest you use a lip brush to apply this product. Because of it's thinner consistency, it can easily be overdone and you don't want to waste product or have too much of it on your lips. Application is very smooth and applies evenly in my case. I have not experienced any dryness or chalkiness using Cha Cha however I read on some others' blogs that they have. It doesn't leave lips as moisturized as a regular lipstick would, as it is not a lipstick, but it doesn't dry them up either. After squeezing a huge blob of it on my hand, I picked up just a bit of it with my brush and started applying it on my lips. A very tiny amount dries to a nice satiny finish. If you want more of a glossier look, then keep on building little by little. Obviously there is no such thing as a lip product that lasts forever one one's lips, and this lip tar is no exception. I would say the color stays on for 2-3 hours. It has a nice peppermint-y smell but doesn't have a cooling effect on lips, all OCC lip tars are fragrance-free. Depending on your skin tone, this color may or may not work for you. If you have fair skin, chances are you may not like Cha Cha as it will more than likely show up as orange. However they have a range of colors and I'm sure there is one for everyone! They are $12.50 each. Check them out here.

One thing I wasn't too happy about is that, it does settle in the cracks of my lips. Then again, this is a super close-up shot. When will I ever have a picture taken from this close? Never. lol Plus my lips were not even prepped.

Can you see the cracks?

Have you girls ever tried these lip tars?

Fanfare

Hey lovelies!

Today we're talking lipstick. You may or may not know this about me but when it comes to lipstick, I usually reach for nudes, peaches, and light pinks. I think these colors compliment my skin tone the most and more importantly I feel very comfortable wearing them. I do own brighter lipsticks such as MAC's Vegas Volt, Impassioned and Revlon's Carnation. I love these colors but often feel self-conscious and out of my comfort zone wearing them. Call me crazy but in the rare occasions I wear these out, I feel like people are staring at me. lol Most lipsticks are pretty adjustable, we all know that if you want a brighter lip apply it full force, if you want a hint of color then use a light hand. I've been looking for a color right in between that I can just apply and not think about so much. Something that's obvious but not too over the top, also something versatile. I think Fanfare is just it. I don't know what to quite call this color, it definitely falls in the pink category. Coral-y pink perhaps?

Natural Light

I love it because...

It brightens up my face

Looks beautiful with green eyes (as in my green contacts :)) and brings them out

Versatility; come summer or winter, Fanfare will work! Can be paired with many different types of eye make-up; grays, browns, neutrals or even just mascara and eyeliner

Cremesheen formula is very moisturizing, applies like a dream, has a glossy finish and provides medium to full coverage

Color pay-off & pigmentation

With Flash

Before swatches and even before comparing them side by side in the tubes I thought Fanfare looked a lot like NYX's Tea Rose. They actually don't! I just wanted to swatch them both so you can see the difference between the two.

Fanfare (L) Tea Rose (R)

It's love!

 
Fanfare will surely be a staple in my lipstick collection. Such a shame that it's so underrated!

Neon or Not?

Hey ladies!

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know about this...I went to my tanning salon a while ago and as soon as I walked in, the first thing that caught my eye was the nail polish the girl at the counter was wearing. It was not pink, not red, not orange. I don't even know what to call that color, maybe a mix of the three? All I knew was it was so pretty and I wanted to make it part of my ever-growing nail polish collection. So I right away asked the girl what brand/color it was. Her response was "Ahh it's one of those cheapo brands, I think it's Milani or something". I don't discriminate when it comes to nail polish, I love many cheap-er brands' nail polishes! She said she didn't know the name, but that it was one of those neon ones. So I swung by Target and scoured the Milani rack however I didn't see anything that looked quite like hers. I ended up getting these two instead.

I love Neon colored nail polishes, I am actually drawn to anything that's neon. What can I do, I am an 80s child :)

My thoughts...

First of all, it's kind of hard to tell the true colors of these nail polishes just by looking at the bottles as the bottles are already colored themselves. So what you see isn't necessarily the color in the bottle. This was the case with Awesome Orange. I am very disappointed by Awesome Orange, this color doesn't even look neon to me! It is orange and it is bright but not neon in my book. A total different color comes to my mind when I hear "neon orange". As you can see from my pictures, 1 coat of this color won't do much (1 coat is so lame!) and neither will two coats. Formula of this color is also very runny compared to Pink Hottie which is much more consistent. It goes on quite streaky and I hated that. Even after 2 coats and top coat, it looks like my nails were painted by a 4 year old. It just looks really messy even though I paid extra attention.

1 coat, 2 coats, + Top Coat

Pink Hottie on the other hand is more accurate. Application was smooth for the most part but I did experience some streaking, definitely much less than I did with Awesome Orange. With only 1 coat, white tips of my nails are visible but it's not as bad as the orange one. With 2 coats, whites are invisible. I actually enjoyed this color, it looks pretty with a top coat. Reminds me a bit of China Glaze's Shocking Pink, which I love!

1 coat, 2 coats, + Top Coat

 I don't think I would repurchase these nail polishes. In stead of getting two of these, I would rather get one nail polish from OPI which never disappoints. These Milani polishes are $4.99 at Target in case you'd like to know.

Random Finds

Hey everyone!

I've been having writer's block these days...Actually I have so many ideas in my head that I want to blog about but all this excitement of my upcoming trip to Turkey is consuming all my energy which I don't have too much of since I'm fasting  :) Not to mention, I have zillions of things to do before my trip. Of course there are no obstacles when it comes to shopping ha! I just wanted to share with you guys my recent finds in random places :)

Ever since I first found out that Nicole Richie is getting in the jewelry business, I knew I would fall in love with her creations! I adore her style and sense of fashion, you can't deny that the girl knows her stuff! There are a few different pieces from her House of Harlow 1960 line that I've wanted since the beginning but of course I always chose to invest my money in MAC (let's not even go there!). I finally caved and purchased these beautiful earrings..

 They come in several other colors such as red, green, black, purple and blue :)

I hit up Old Navy for some workout pants, I really love their yoga pants! They are so comfortable and reasonably priced. Right across from the pants were these adorable cardigans so I grabbed one though I wanted one in every color!

While at Target, I spotted this cute iPhone/iPod/digital camera pouch thingie which I thought would help me haul less stuff to the gym. I have this huge problem of toting way too many things around with me. My gym bag is huge, for that reason it's quite tempting to fill it up with unnecessary junk as there is only one reason of going to the gym and that is...to work out! I insist on taking a make-up bag full of cosmetics and much more! With this bag, I will definitely keep it simple. It's cute and small, compatible with iPhone (and I'm sure with anything that's the size of an iPhone or smaller) has a front pocket for ID, cards etc. Then on the side, there is another pocket that could be used for whatever. The brand is 'Golla', it's a Finnish brand and you can find out more about it on their website. The style I bought is called Riley - it's a 'smart bag'.

I also took advantage of the swim sale at Victoria's Secret's website. Don't I already have bathing suits? I do. But who wants to wear the same ones every year? I don't. So I found myself at VS's website. Needless to say, many of the super pretty bathing suits were sold out or they didn't have my size. I always loved polka dots but never bought a bathing suit with that pattern. I also reallllly adore bandeau tops, it's not because I am anti-tan lines I just think there is something glamorous about them. So why not combine both? :) I ordered a bunch more which I'm returning since I didn't like them too much, I'll stick with these! VS photography can be deceiving sometimes, who agrees?

I don't know about you but I am huge on candles. I especially love the ones that burn to a pleasant smell that one can smell a mile from the house. It's hard to find quality candles though. Recently I was at HomeGoods looking for a completely different product. Then I spotted this candle by a company called For Every Body, which I've never heard of before. First of all, let me say that this candle is AMAZING! This particular scent is so yummy! If you like the way a Streusel cake smells or cinnamony goods in general then you will love this candle! It smells just like the real thing, and once it's lit the house smells like you're baking a Streusel cake in the oven. I've always had a positive experience with soy-based candles, they all smell good, burn good, and last a long time! Another soy-based candle brand I love is Archipelago. If you have a candle by this company then you know what I'm talking about! They are freakin' pricey but if there is a day in your life you don't know what to do with an extra $30, I say go buy a candle from them. Especially the Verbena one, it smells out of this world good!

After all these products, you may be thinking 'but I thought this was your make-up bag', I know...I'm branching out a bit here as I haven't really been purchasing much beauty-related products lately. However, I did find a few beauty-related items that I love! Check them out :)

I first saw these eyebrow razors in this eyebrow video by DulceCandy87 . They seemed like a great idea, so I went ahead and placed an order on Amazon. These things are amazing!!! I tweeze both over and under my eyebrows. Under eye-brow area is much easier to clean up but I can't say the same for over. My hair that grows in this area is so stubborn and hard to pluck. These razors seem to do such a good job to remove the unwanted hair/fuzz in that area. I think they could be used pretty much anywhere on the face. Back of the packaging suggests that it could be used in neck and face in general as well. I know some people have unwanted sideburns that they remove using other methods.The razors are really gentle at removing hair. My eye area is one of the most sensitive spots on my face and I did not see a tiny bit of redness or rash using these! Thank you Dulce for sharing this great tool with the rest of us, I'm sure otherwise I would have never found out about them! :) Here is the Amazon seller I purchase these from, there are a few others who sell them as well.

Another product I discovered recently is this body lotion by Johnson & Johnson! Last time I used Johnson and Johnson products was probably 24-25 years ago when I was a baby. I honestly never had a body lotion that I was totally in love with which I would purchase for the rest of my life. Then I was introduced to this lotion by a friend whose friend swore by it. It supposedly has lavender and chamomile in it so you'd think it smells like it. I don't know if I agree, I mean it smells really good but I don't really smell lavender. I am not even really fond of lavender smell so I probably wouldn't love this so much if it did smell like it. I don't know how to describe this scent, if you see it at a drugstore, smell it and you'll know! :) Why do I think it's a great product? Well, besides the smell, the texture is just incredible! It has a thicker consistency, definitely not runny like Victoria's Secret lotions but not so thick as a body butter. It has a whipped feel to it. I love how it leaves my skin soft and smooth and not greasy and sticky like some other lotions. I also love the fact that the scent and hydration stay with me for a good while :)

Today was Muffin's 1st birthday! We got him when he was 2 months old, it's unbelievable how fast time flies!

Go Muffin it's your birthdayyyy!!!

Have a great week everyone! Monday is over, 4 more days until the weekend! :)

Revlon Beyond Natural Cream to Powder Eyeshadow

Hey everyone!

Unfortunately, today I have a negative product review from a company that I usually love! Revlon makes my current HG foundation; PhotoReady, one of my favorite nude lipsticks; Soft Nude and many other products I enjoy using. Of course this doesn't mean everything they make is perfect and will exceed anyone's expectations. Regardless I bought this quad, I admit on a whim, expecting it to deliver because I've never been let down by a single Revlon product! Until now. Actually I don't know if I should blame Revlon for this disappointing product OR Target for not putting out testers. Or is it Revlon's fault again? Are companies the ones who decide whether to have testers at retailers?

I will first judge this lovely (on the out look) quad in terms of packaging. Packaging is pretty nice for a drugstore brand, it's square with a hard and clear lid. There is definitely something about this quad that stood out in the jam-packed beauty aisles of Target. The lid has 'Beyond Natural, Cream to Powder Eye Shadow' written on it. Cream to powder sounded pretty exciting to me, since I haven't used anything like this before. I usually stick to my MAC eye shadows. There are a total of 4 quads in the Beyond Natural collection. Initially I went for the plummy one as I love plums, purples, lilacs when it comes to eye shadows. Then I saw 'Peach' and anything that has peach or coral written on it must be mine! I ended up bringing both of them home. Everything cool until here.

Then I opened the Peach one to see what it was all about and started swatching. First of all, let me clarify one thing. These are not cream to powder AT ALL. I may have never used cream to powder eye shadows before, but I know what cream and powder mean! These are just typical cream eye shadows. They do not change their form or dry completely. Believe me. I was really bummed. Colors do look pretty swatched but once applied on eyelids, except for the brown one, they do not even show up.They sort of look a bit metallic-y in the pan and when swatched there is tiny bits of glitter. These quads may be ideal for a person who likes wearing make-up but doesn't want to look like they are. Or not. I wouldn't even recommend this to a person who uses minimal make-up. I wouldn't want anyone pointing fingers at me and blaming me for major creasing 5 minutes after they apply this. 

Needless to say I disappointingly returned the plum quad. So what will I do with this one? Well, I will most likely use it as an eye shadow base as that seems to work, a bit. I have tried to see the multi usage abilities of these eye shadows. I thought maybe the second color from left (in the swatches) could be used as a base on lips, but it's way too drying and therefore flaking. The lighter color looked like it may be used as highlight but no way. I'm sure someone in this world loves this quad and can make it work. For me, it was a waste of money. Then again, you don't know whether it'll work for you unless you try it! Sorry Revlon, I love and use many of your products, but this product in question needs a major make-over!

Sleek Storm Palette

Hey ladies!

Some of you asked if I could swatch the colors from this palette so I decided to dedicate today's post to the beautiful Sleek Storm palette..
Here we go!

 Storm is a great palette for pretty much anyone. If you love neutral colors but love to mix it up and do wild looks from time to time, you may want to give this a try! This palette has 12 colors in both matte and metallic finishes. It's mostly metallic though as only 3 of them are matte. These shadows are highly pigmented and are incredibly smooth. They are also easy to work with as they blend very easily.

Top row includes these colors you see above, according to my swatches I'd call them..Warm gold (comparable to Woodwinked), White/champagne with hint of gold, Soft beige/taupe, Gold, Pearly pink, Maroon..All the colors besides beige/taupe are metallic.

Bottom row colors are; reddish brown, teal, forest green, navy, muted taupe/brown, black..last two colors are matte and the rest are metallic.

I think these are the most metallic eye shadows I've ever seen in my life. I usually prefer less metallic and more matte-ish colors so it was a different experience to create looks using these at first. Also I've realized that lighting is pretty important while using these eye shadows, because they are so metallic that you may not be able to see how much you actually applied. At least this is what happened in my case, it may be due to the fact that I'm not used to using them. However, they do last forever on my eyelids and definitely do not crease which is a plus in my book!

Have a great week! <3

E.l.f. Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter

Hey ladies!

I had been on the market searching for a concealer for my under eye area. I love my Benefit Erase Paste and think it does a wonderful job in other areas of my face that need concealing. However it does cake up and crease under my eyes and we all know that just isn't a pretty sight. After stalking my Benefit lady at my local Ulta a few times about Boi-ing, I went ahead and purchased it. Then one of my friends said I should try this concealer by elf. So I did! She saved me $15 but also if she didn't tell me about this, I would have probably never thought of buying it :) Yay for good friends!

The packaging is nice for a brand that sells their products for very low prices. I like the matte and frosty kind of look. It really does look better than some of the high-end products out there.

As you can see, the product is double ended and comes with doe foot applicators which make application easier.

The shade I got is Light/Glow. I know it may sound crazy as my skin color is nothing close to fair or light, so why did I get it in this shade? Well, first of all this concealer comes in 3 shades; Fair, Light, Medium. I would definitely not be able to work Fair because it would be way too light and more than likely not conceal like I would want it to. Medium would definitely conceal but I was afraid that it would be pretty close to my skin tone. I really wanted to achieve an obviously lighter under eye area than my normal color, so that's why I went with Light.

Here is how they look blended (Highlighter on left, Concealer on right).

So let's talk about the performance...I have these 2 really fine lines starting close to the inner corners of my under eye area and ending up half way across. I wouldn't say I have bags or anything major to conceal. But of course if I can do something about my flaws, why not? I have found that this concealer does a pretty good job filling those fine lines and creating a smoother and softer look. It is liquid but it takes only a few seconds to blend and it dries to a nice, matte and non-sticky finish. After concealing I go back in with the highlighter end and dab a couple dots. After blending in the highlighter, I get a more awake look. I don't use the highlighter everyday like I do with the concealer. I think highlighter is great if you had little sleep the night before and it totally shows the next day or if you'll be taking pictures as it draws more attention to the eye area. My under eye area doesn't get as oily as other parts of my face such as t-zone or eyelids. However, I did experience creasing with concealers such as Erase Paste. I think that was due to the fact that Erase Paste is a paste like the name says and elf's concealer isn't. So now I know to stay away from concealers that are in solid or paste form for my under eye area. It may also be because elf concealer dries much faster than the Erase paste. I will definitely repurchase this product, it's a total steal with it's $3 price tag!

What is your favorite concealer for the under eye area, if you use one? If not, lucky you!!! :)
Hope everyone has a great week!

July Favorites

Hey everyone!

I'm not even going to say how fast this year is flying by as we all know that! It's kind of a bummer that we're in the last month of summer. I love summers and look forward to it every year (who doesn't, unless you live in a warm climate already!) though I don't really like using so much make-up during these months. Here are the products I reached for the most in July..

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Stereo Rose

Do I even need to say anything?

NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder in Sunny

This is great for my complexion, looks so natural and does not cake. You can see how much I love it by looking at the picture above, I hit pan!!

MAC Lipstick in Jazzed

My favorite pinky coral lipstick these days! I don't find it too bright like some others do. It's not a nude color obviously but in my case and for my skin tone it provides just the right amount of color.

Illamasqua Blush in Lover

It's actually pretty much the same as MAC's Peaches which I also own. The only reason I frequent Lover more is because it's portable and Peaches isn't as I have it in pan form.

Milani Liquif'eye Metallic Eye Liner Pencil & MAC Eye Shadow in Omega

I use this combination quite a lot. Omega is a beautiful taupe/beige color which quickly became one of my favorite neutral eye shadows. I have semi-oily eyelids and I personally hate the oily eyelid look, so to avoid that I use Omega. It's hard to tell whether I have anything on my lids while using Omega, for that reason it can be easily used during daytime if you want a toned down look. Liquif'eye is an amazing drugstore eyeliner that lasts all day! It's a must-have for summer for ladies who cannot live without their black eyeliner such as moi!

Barry M Nail Paint in Pink Flamingo

Pink Flamingo is a gorgeous bright pink nail polish that I love now that I am more tanned. I don't think I've used any other nail polish last month!

elf Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter

Elf continues to amaze me! This concealer works like a charm in my case. It does a wonderful job covering up any flaws under my eyes and if used in conjunction with the highlighter, I get a more rested and awake look that I love. I seriously look forward to using this everyday!

My grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary today!!! Half a century...it's pretty amazing! I love my grandparents to pieces and wish them many more happy and wonderful years together! :)

The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.
- Oscar Wilde