Get to Know Me Tag

Ali from the Cute Little Beauty Blog recently did a post about the Get to Know Me Tag, and I thought it was fun!

Is your hair naturally curly or straight? My hair is naturally straight but pretty frizzy sometimes

Do you wear the same style every day, or do you change it? If this is about hair, I normally do a side pony or a bun, but sometimes I wear my hair straight down. If this is about fashion, I wear business casual every day for work and then usually jeans or yoga pants with a t-shirt on the weekends.

How often do you change your nail polish? I usually change my nail polish up once or twice a week.

How long does it take for you to put on makeup? It usually takes me about 20 minutes or so, sometimes longer or shorter depending on how much extra time I have in the mornings.

What do you do first? Face or eyes? I usually do my eyes first, so if there’s any fallout from my eye shadows, then I can clean it up without taking off any foundation or concealer.

How often do you wear false eyelashes? I’ve never worn them before actually, but I have gotten two pairs in some of my Ipsy bags.

Do you do a full face of makeup every day? Typically, yes, although sometimes I’ll just grab powder, mascara and some blush on the weekends.

Do you wear makeup when you’re home alone or with family? It depends, sometimes yes and sometimes no!

How many high-end products do you have? I have mostly drugstore products, but most of my palettes are high-end.

How often do you change your handbag? Hmm maybe once a year, maybe less often.

What time do you wake up and go to sleep? I usually go to sleep around 10 or 11 and I wake up around 6:30 during the week to get ready for work.

Left handed or right handed? I’m right-handed.

How tall are you? I think I’m about 5’4″, maybe a little less

How many pets do you have? I have one dog, who’s super adorable

How do you blog? I just write about things that are interesting to me or about products that I’ve tried out so I can share my opinions with other people!

Do you read comments posted on blogs? Yep!

How did you come up with your blog name? I wanted something about beauty and how that idea is unique for each person, and I also wanted something with the word beautiful in it. My mom designed the logo for me, too, which was pretty cool!

What kind of camera do you use for your photographs? I use my iPhone 4S. I also have a Sony Cybershot Camera, but I haven’t  been using that much lately.

What’s your favourite colour? I love pink the most, but I also just love any bright colors

Thanks for reading, and I ope you enjoyed this tag!

April Favorites

It’s time for monthly favorites, so here we go!

Disney by Sephora Collection Cinderella Storybook Eye Shadow Palette

I know this was limited edition from last year, but I rediscovered it this month and I used it for about two weeks straight. The colors are just beautiful and I love it, even though there are no matte shades. They’re all glittery or shimmery, at least a little bit, but everything is of such great quality that I can’t help but love it.

Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy Total Care Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner

I found little trial sizes of these in Target last month, and I loved them so much that I bought them both in the full sizes. It just makes my scalp and hair feel so clean, as well as silky smooth. I’d highly recommend giving these a try!

Rimmel Stay Matte Primer and Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation in the shade Light Ivory

I’ve been loving the combination of these two products this month. I got the primer a few months ago and forgot about it, so I figured I could use it more now that my skin will be more prone to oil. I also tried out Rimmel’s matte foundation, and I really like it! It has a thicker mousse consistency, which normally I don’t like, but it blends really nicely into my skin and it looks matte but still natural.

Mary Kay At Play Baked Eye Trio in the shade Electric Spring

I recently did a post about a fun spring look using this trio, and I’ve just really been loving it this month. These colors are all shimmery, but they blend really nicely on my eyelids.

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

I’m almost done using this up, and I’ve been loving how it makes my lashes look, which is very black and dramatic with lots of volume. I’ve talked about this before, so I’ll just leave it at that.

L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color in the shade Dancing Rose

I normally don’t like buying lip glosses because they tend to be so sticky, but this stuff is amazing. It gives amazing color payoff and shine without being sticky or goopy. It comes in a wide variety of shades too, so I think a lot of people would be able to find a shade (or two!) that would work well for them.

Badger Highland Mint Lip Balm

I got this from my partner in the bbasket swap a few weeks ago, and I really like it! I have a few other chapsticks, but I’ve only been reaching for this one since I got it. It has a nice, light scent and it moisturizes my lips immediately after applying it.

Dove’s Beauty Patch

I thought I would mix up my posts a little bit today and discuss something that’s been making the rounds on social media lately. I’m sure by now you’ve all seen the video Dove came out with recently featuring a video about Beauty Patches. Here’s an article from Forbes that shows the video and provides some interesting viewpoints.

Here was the premise, according to an article from Marketplace.org: “In Dove’s latest advertisement, “Patches,” a scientist prescribes a “beauty patch” to women suffering from low self esteem. Over the course of four minutes, the patch-wearing “patients” move from lines like “If I were more confident, I’d have the confidence to approach a guy, maybe,” to “I’ve definitely opened up something inside of me to make me feel more… great.”

So basically women who have low self-esteem visit to a doctor and talk to her for a bit. Then the doctor prescribes a beauty patch that’s supposed to help them. Then she instructs the women to wear it for a while and record a video diary every night with their thoughts, feelings and the progress they’re making. After a few weeks, the women report back to the doctor for an update, and they ask what the ingredients were. Then they were shocked to discover that…there were no ingredients! Badum-ch.

Dove has been no stranger to making videos that catch people’s attention and make them challenge assumptions about beauty. They previously released a video featuring sketches of one woman as perceived by herself and perceived by others. For some reason that video didn’t bother me as much as this one did.

It’s good to discuss the importance of inner beauty and loving ourselves and everything, but I just have mixed feelings about this ad, as that’s really what it is. If nothing else, the ad certainly gets you thinking. All we need for higher self-esteem is ourselves: no makeup, no pills, no magic cure. What do you guys think? Do you think the ad was successful? Did you like it? Why or why not?

 

April Empties

This month I used up a lot of products because I discovered a bag of sample-size products I’ve gotten over the past six months that I had forgotten about.

Que Bella Relaxing Aromatherapy Lavender Clay Mask

This mask is awesome! It’s a creamy gray colored clay mask that takes about 10 or 15 minutes to dry. It took some scrubbing with my yellow face sponge and warm water to take it all off, but once it was off my face felt super soft and looked great. It didn’t have much scent to it, which is fine, but I thought it would have been more noticeable since it said aromatherapy on the packaging. Overall I really liked it, and I think it’s only $2, maybe less, at Target, so it’s a great deal. I’d definitely look at buying it again sometime in the future.

Fresh Soy Face Cleanser

This was a gel cleanser, which took a minute to get used to the consistency, but I loved it. Despite being gel, it was still thin in consistency and it just felt nice on my face. Once I rinsed it off, my face felt and looked nice. There wasn’t any fragrance to it, and it was just a plain nice cleanser. If I didn’t have a cleanser I loved at the moment, I’d look into buying this one.

Klorance Smoothing and Relaxing Patches

I used up both of the packages of these patches from my March Ipsy bag. Each patch was shaped so it would fit nicely under your eyes, and they went on very nicely. I left them on for about 20 minutes, like the packaging said, and then slowly peeled them off. I didn’t notice a difference with these right away, but after about an hour or so I noticed my undereye area looked more refreshed and smooth. Overall I liked these, but I probably wouldn’t look at purchasing them.

Dr. Dennis Gross Ferulic + Retinol Fibroblast Anti-Aging Moisturizer

This stuff is amazing, so I’m guessing it’s probably really expensive.  It had a nice, light scent to it, and it practically glided across my skin. It took a little while to soak in, but it was so nice. That’s all I really have to say about it. I’d love to purchase it, but I’m guessing it’s a pretty expensive product, so I’ll just stick with the moisturizers I have for now.

Not Your Mother’s She’s a Tease Volumizing Hairspray

I got this sample size when I bought something else from Not Your Mother’s, and I’d definitely look at purchasing the full size of this hairspray. It smells really nice, and it does a really nice job of volumizing your hair and keeping everything in place. When I wear my hair down, I lift a layer and spray a bit of this underneath and then tease it a bit with my fingers. It works great!

Dior Hydra Life Skin Perfect Pore and Line Perfecting Moisturizer

This stuff was amazing, obviously, since it’s from Dior and thus is probably very expensive. I only used it once, so I can’t speak to whether it really does perfect pores and wrinkles, but it did moisturize my face very well. It was very lightweight and absorbed into my skin very easily.

Smashbox Photo Op Eye Shadow Trio in the shade Filter

I’ve liked the few Smashbox products I’ve tried, but I wasn’t very impressed with this trio. I thought these colors would be nice for a neutral eyelook for work, but the colors didn’t show up very well on my eyelid. I used the NYX eye primer that I use every day, but these colors had kind of blended into one shade by the end of the day on my eye. I also felt like the pigmentation wasn’t that great, so I had to keep applying shadow to even see it on my lid. Maybe it’d be different in the full-size product versus this little sample, but I’m not dying to go pick it up.

J’Adore by Dior Perfume

This stuff is awesome. I’ve talked about it before, but basically it’s a very nice, but slightly strong perfume that’s unlike other scents I currently own. It just makes me feel a little fancier or more grown up when I use it, but maybe that’s just me being weird 😉

Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy Total Care Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner

I got these little travel sizes for $1 a piece at Target, and I’m so glad I did! I really love this stuff because my hair and scalp just feel so much better after washing my hair. My hair just feels more repaired and healthy, so I bought the full sizes of both last week. I’d highly recommend this to anyone looking for a new shampoo or conditioner. It makes my hair so soft and silky too! I haven’t found anything negative about these yet, and hopefully I never will!

Fun Makeup Look for Spring

I came up with a fun, bright look this past weekend, and I think I’ll definitely do this a lot more throughout the spring.

Closeup view of my eye. I’m not the best with liquid liner, sorry!

Here are all the products I used to achieve this look:

 

NYX Matte Finish Long Lasting Setting Spray

Rimmel Stay Matte Long Liquid Mousse Foundation in the shade Light Ivory

Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder in the shade Translucent

Pixi Beauty Bronzer in the shade Subtly Suntouched

NYX Powder Blush in the shade Summer Peach

This is a perfect blush for spring and summer. End of story.

NYX HD High Definition Eye Shadow Base

Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal 24 hr Eyeshadow in the shade Inked in Pink

Mary Kay at Play Baked Eye Trio in the shade Electric Spring

This trio is obviously the star of the look, and I absolutely love it! It probably works well to use a brush with this, but I just used my fingers since all my eye brushes were dirty at the time 🙂 I put the white color in the inner corner, blue in the middle and purple in the outer V of my eye. These colors blend beautifully, so while they look intense in the packaging, they can be dulled down a bit from blending. They’re all a bit shimmery, just a heads up, but I think that works really well for this look, especially since the Color Tattoo has a bit of shimmer in it as well.

NYX Collection Noir Liquid Black Liner

I really wanted an intense black liner to accompany this look, so I broke out my liquid liner. I’m not very good at using this, but I did my best for a winged look!

 

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

This mascara gives great volume, length and curl, and it’s jet black, so it’s perfect for this look.

If you guys want a more in-depth tutorial, just let me know! I haven’t done many posts like this before, so I’m definitely open to constructive criticism 🙂

Blogger Basket Swap!

I just participated in my very first activity with other bloggers, and it was a Basket Swap. It was so much fun! I was paired up with two people, one of whom sent me a basket and one of whom I sent a basket to. Here is the basket I received from Bekah Walsh at Bekah’s Resolve! She gave me so many amazing beauty products (and chocolate!), and I can’t wait to try all of these out. I got excited so I took everything out of the box before I took a picture, sorry about that, but anyway here we go!

All of the wonderful items in my basket!

Homemade Card

 

Method Mimosa Sun Naturally Derived Hand Wash

 

Cadbury Caramel Eggs

Arbonne Aromassentials Awaken Body Lotion

Selena Gomez–Nicole by OPI Nail Polish in the shade Scarlett

 

Mini Nicole by OPI Sparkly Silver Nail Polish

Arbonne Calm Facial Set

 

Highland Mint Badger Lip Balm

I can’t wait to try out all of these products! I haven’t tried anything that she sent me before, so it’s going to be super fun to experiment with some new products. Thanks so much, Bekah, for sending me such a great basket! I had a great time participating in this swap, and I definitely look forward to doing this again in the future 🙂

Beauty Scenario Tag

Sorry if it seems like I’m doing a lot of tags lately, but there are a lot floating around at the moment! This one appealed to me because the questions are just different and fun. I saw this tag on Marina Martin‘s YouTube channel, and I thought her answers were really interesting so I decided to fill out the questions as well. Here we go!

1. You have to get rid of all your foundations and you can only keep one high end and one drugstore, which do you keep? Right now I’m loving the Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation, and I plan to do a post on that soon so I won’t say much else besides I really like it right now. As for high end, I don’t have any at the moment, but I’ve sampled the Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation before, and I loved the coverage and how it felt, so I guess I’d say that one.

2. You go for an interview and the lady interviewing you has lipstick on her teeth. Do you approach the subject or ignore it completely? Oh that’s tricky! I think if I was in an interview, I’d want to know if something was on my teeth, so I’d like to think I’d say something. You’d obviously have to bring it up carefully, but I think saying something, while it might be awkward, would be better than pretending you don’t see it.

3. You’re not feeling yourself and need a pick me up. Which lipstick do you put on to make yourself feel beautiful? Right now I’m really loving the Revlon Lip Butters, and I really like the shade Lollipop because it’s mostly dark pink with hints of purple, which is perfect for this time of year. Plus they’re moisturizing, so that’s an added bonus, and they feel so luxurious on my lips.

4. You go back in time for a day to your teenage years, how would you do your hair and makeup differently? I would stop layering on black eyeliner on my top and bottom lashes! No one likes to look like a raccoon. 

5. You ask your hairdresser for a shoulder length Pixie Lott hair cut, but they hear wrong and give you a pixi cut. Do you a) Smile, say thank you, leave and call your mum hysterically, b) Cry in the chair and things get awkward or c) Complain to the manager and demand a refund? Hopefully I’d notice if the hairdresser was cutting my hair much shorter than I want right away, but if for some reason I got distracted or something and she started chopping away, I would probably freak out (at least a little bit, let’s be real) and then ask if there’s someway she could fix it without making it look bad on me. I mean really, it’s hair, it’ll grow back. As long as it doesn’t look horrendous, short hair wouldn’t be so bad for a little while.

6. Your friend surprises you with a 4-day break and you have 1 hour to pack. Which ‘do it all’ palette do you pack in your makeup bag? Probably my Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things palette because there are a ton of eyeshadows, as well as two blushes and two bronzers, so I’d pretty much be good to go with that.

7. Your house has been robbed, and don’t worry everyone is safe, but your beauty stash has been raided. What’s the product you really hope is safe? Well I feel like makeup would be my last concern, but if I had to pick something, I’d say my Urban Decay Vice 2 palette. I just love the colors, and I think they all look great with my light skintone.

8. Your friend borrows your makeup and returns it in awful condition. Do you a) Just pretend you haven’t noticed, b) Ask them to repurchase it or c) Secretly do the same to something of theirs? I’d probably ask them what happened and then get over it. It’s just makeup! Most of the stuff I have is drugstore anyway, so it’d be quick, easy and cheap to replace if I felt so inclined to do so.

I tag all of you reading this as well to fill out this tag and let me know your answers. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Nail Polish of the Week – April 19

Hi guys! Hope you’re having a nice Easter weekend so far. I’ve been loving bright, intense polishes lately. And I apologize, but I forgot to take a photo of the second polish on my nails. I’ll do better next week! 🙂

 

Essie Nail Polish in Madison Ave-Hue

I’ve been loving this nail polish lately! It’s light a bright Barbie pink with just a hint of shimmer that’s barely noticeable. At a distance it also looks like it has slight purple, radiant orchid undertones to it. This would be a beautiful color on so many people!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fasy Dry Nail Color in the shade I-rush Luck

This is a great dark green that would work well for St. Patrick’s Day, but I think people could rock this all year round. It would look nice with a pink or gold accent nail, but I just painted this on all my nails by itself. I think it would also look nice with a matte top coat.

Also, on an unrelated note, I have a question for you guys! What kind of posts would you like to see here on my blog? More reviews? Should I start doing tutorials? Would you be interested in me doing a Q&A? Let me know what you’d be interested in reading in the comments below, and I’ll make it happen. Thanks, guys! 🙂

March Ipsy Bag Review

Since I got my April Ipsy bag, I figured it was time to do a review of last month’s bag, so here we go!

be a…bombshell Eye Shadow Quad in the shade Bora Bora

These colors are very nice and they blend easily, but it’s difficult to make a look using all four shadows, which is a big disappointing. I used a primer before applying the brown, pink and light brown colors, but they still didn’t last all day. By the end of the afternoon they kind of faded into one color. Maybe if I use a Maybelline Color Tattoo underneath, then the shadows would be more long lasting. I’ll definitely keep using these shadows, though, to achieve different looks.

Nicole by OPI Roughles Nail Polish in the shade On What Grounds?

Wah-wah. This was a big disappointment to me. The color looks very beautiful in the bottle, but I hated it as soon as I applied it to my fingernails. It has a rough texture to it, but it was more rough than I was anticipating. I have an OPI Liquid Sand polish that is a similar formula, but it’s way better. This was just a fail.

 

Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in the shade Get Ready

This lipstick is beautiful, and if I was on the market for a new lipstick, I’d definitely pick up the full size. It’s a perfect shade for lighter skin tones, and it’s also very nice for spring and summer.

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Klorane Eye Contour Smoothing and Relaxing Patches

These were nice, but I could live without them. I used these patches a week apart, and they felt kind of weird on my face. It’s a boomerang shaped patch you place just under your eyes for about 20 minutes and then you slowly peel them off. I didn’t notice anything right away, but after about an hour or so I felt puffiness had decreased. These felt nice, like I said, but they weren’t that great so I don’t think I’ll be purchasing them in the future.

Also, on an unrelated note, I have a question for you guys! What kind of posts would you like to see here on my blog? More reviews? Should I start doing tutorials? Would you be interested in me doing a Q&A? Let me know what you’d be interested in reading in the comments below, and I’ll make it happen. Thanks, guys! 🙂

Spring Tag

I saw Tarika from cherryblossom15 did a post with the Spring Tag, and I thought it was fun so I decided to do it as well. Here we go!

1. What eye palette will you use most this Spring?

Hm I think most of the palettes I have include a lot of bright, fun colors for spring, but I’ll say my Too Faced A Few of my Favorite Things palette because the colors are beautiful and most are named after things mentioned in the song of the same name from The Sound of Music.

2. What blush in your collection is a spring must? And what lipstick?

The two blushes in that same Too Faced palette are perfect blended together for a fresh look for spring. As for lip products, check out a post I did here!

3. What nail polish do you love to wear in spring?

So many! Check out my post here about it. Right now I’ve also been loving Essie’s Madison Ave-Hue, which is a bright Barbie pink with just a little bit of shimmer.

4. What is on your spring break agenda?

Probably just working! Haha. And reading as many books as I can on the weekends.

5. What trends are you looking forward to – fashion, nail polish, makeup etc?

I love any bright colors anywhere, but right now I’m really loving pops of color, whether it’s a subtle outfit with dramatic eyes or bright nails or a simple makeup look with a bright tank top under a black cardigan.

6. What is your signature spring scent?

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh

7. Do you have a spring skincare regime?

It’s very similar to my winter skincare routine, actually, but I look for more products that have sunscreen in them for use during the day.

8. What is spring like where you live?

It depends on the day! Haha. Some days are beautiful and in the 70s with very little wind. Other days it’s windy and rainy and around 30 degrees or less.

9. Florals: got to have them or make them stop?

Got to have them! Flowers are just so pretty, and I love how they smell. A lot of the fragrances I’ve had in the past, and currently, have had some sort of floral undertone to them.

10. Favorite activity to do in spring?

I really love mini golfing and riding go karts outside, weather pending, as well as swimming. I also really enjoy sitting outside in a lounge chair, reading a book. Some days I swear there’s nothing better than that.

Well there we go! Just a short, sweet post. I hope you like my answers! If you’re reading this, I tag you to finish this out as well. Happy spring! 🙂