inexpensive makeup pallettes!!!!!

Coastal Scents is a fairly well known cosmetics company that sells inexpensive makeup. They have some 88 pallettes that are amazing for people first starting out. There are 5 pallettes currently for sale on http://www.coastalscents.com/ .... the 88 shimmer, 88 matte, 88 warm, 88 metal and  88 prism. I own the shimmer, matte and warm pallettes and have had them for about two years now. They are highly pigmented and very good quality. They blend very well and have incredible payoff with minimal fall out. There's a little bit of something for everyone. Price ranges from $18.99-$25.99 with the warm pallette being the most expensive. They also have blush and lip pallettes as well as custom pallettes and "hot pots" which are individual shadows. In the 88 pallettes the colors are about dime size put since they are so pigmented, you don't need a lot to make an impact.  Brushes are something else that can be found on the site and they too are of good quality. I was highly impressed with the amount of brushes I could get for the price of one MAC brush. Definitely a good site if you're looking to broaden your collection or just something new to play with without breaking the bank!

random picture.....

got bored on Mardi Gras and this is what I came up with! I wish I'd had plans that night...but sadly I didn't.

CONCEALER!!!!

OMG! I'm so excited! I've never had a concealer that I liked. They are either too cakey and thick or they don't cover the DARK circles I have under my eyes but FINALLY I found one. Sephora is running a little promo pack with Benefit Cosmetics. They have a travel size stay don't stray(eye primer), erase paste(concealer) and a cream shadow all in a box for $10! I gave the eye primer to my aunt so I can't really say much about that, however! The concealer is great! it came in meduim which matches my skin tone perfectly and I use a fluffy brush to apply it. Some concealers get streaky with those synthetic yellow "concealer brushes" and I hate it. The fluffy brushes are normally used in the crease but work perfectly for concealer when applied in circular motions to blend it completely! I'm so in love with this little pot of nude colored goo, it's not even funny. I would highly recommend getting this little box from sephora...I unfortunately demolished the pretty packaging and disposed of it in the mall trash can so there's no pictures this time around!

P.S.- I'm not being paid by benefit for talking about their products so often, I just love them that much...they are truly worth the money they cost.

I found a mascara I LOVE!!!!!

OMG!!!! I'm so in love with this mascara! My mom thought I was wearing fake lashes when she saw me in this the other day! It lengthens, separates and volumizes my lashes without clumping! It's so worth the $8 I spent on it! I think the brush makes all the difference and the denser the bristles of the mascara wand, the clumpier it will be no matter how amazing the formulation of the actual mascara!

foundation routine....FINALLY!

I've been slacking a little lately...I apologize. I said I was gonna do a foundation routine a few weeks ago and am finally making myself sit down and do it. There's two different kinds....the everyday and the day off! I work in a Garden Center, outside, and am constantly moving which means sweating my makeup off so I take it easy on the days I work.

Everyday routine

On days that I have to work I usually keep it very very simple. Just enough to cover flaws and even out discoloration. The products I've been using and loving for a very long time are the smashbox photo finish foundation primer, bare minerals matte foundation and stila sun bronzer. Having oily skin, the primer helps lengthen the staying power of my foundation, the powder will soak up any oil but not add any additional shine that can be mistaken for shine but has SPF 15 built in to protect my skin and the bronzer while not shimmery gives me that hint of sun without the damage.

Full makeup days....

The full makeup only adds concealer and a liquid foundation. The foundation I found is the best one I've ever found because it starts out white and matches your skin tone perfectly. I was incredibly skeptical when I purchased this simply because they never truly match and being a drugstore product I couldn't test it out before I bought it. It works so well but it's a little on the pricey end...it's $13 but can be found on sale at ulta!

There's also a concealer from the exact same line that's really nice. Its again a drugsgtore product that is on the less expensive end and is incredibly moisturizing and gives pretty good coverage. 

Primer-concealer-liquid foundation-powder-bronzer and then blush.  It really isn't that much more than the everyday routine but when you throw that liquid on and add in the sun factor it tends to slup throughout the day. Hopefully this helps give you ideas for new products!

DON'T waste your money!

I'm very disappointed in this product! Never before have I been so excited to try something and been let down so terribly....twice! Normally I love all things Maybelline for drugstore products and was too excited to see another mascara come out. I'm always on the look out for a good mascara that is gonna give me volume as well as length since I have puny little eyelashes. There was a lot of hype around this product especially for the things I wanted. I purchased one tube and somehow it got lost in the dark abyss of my backseat so I bought a second hoping that I would love it and have an extra when the first reappeared. At first I wasn't impressed but rarely am the first use so I gave it another shot and used it for about a week. It flaked, smeared, clumped and wore off incredibly fast, we're talkin record time here. I threw it in the corner somewhere hoping to never see it again. A few weeks go by and I decide to clean my car to find the original tube and magically it was just chillin in plain sight. Tried that one this morning and it's way worse than the first! I'm so disappointed and hope that the next maybelline product I purchase is way better because it breaks my heart to have to bash one of their products...let me know if you have a different experience with it!

more Benefit love...

benetint is a cheek stain and highbeam is a gorgeous highlighter.

Both of these products from benefit are two of my favorites. They're shown in the travel sizes because they were purchased as part of a kit. I've had them both for about six months now and use em a couple times a week. The best part about both of these is they are pigmented enough that you don't have to use a lot to get the desired effect.

I have naturally rosy cheeks, but sometimes like a little more color but don't want a powder. Having oily skin I find it difficult to work with a cream blush because it clogs my pores and ends up looking cakey. With benetint it goes on a little thicker than water but dries smooth without and oily residue. It's not meant to give you a ton of color but can be built up if you want a really dark flush. There is also PosieTint and it's more of a pinky tone.

Highbeam is an amazing highlighter that most people use only under their eyelids, but I've found a couple other uses. You can swipe it under your eyes for a quick brightener under your foundation or powder as well as across the top of the apples of your cheeks and down the center of your nose. It's not a glittery brightener, it just gives a nice sheen that will catch the light giving the illusion of fresh dewy skin.



upcoming blogs....

I'm currently working on a few series if you will. I've got a bunch of drugstore mascaras that I've bought over the last few weeks that I plan to review and my foundation routine that I will do as one big post and then individually review each product. It's taken me a while to get the products down that I like and reach for consistently. Keep an eye out for those to begin within the next few days!!!

My FAVORITE eye primer ever!!!!!

Benefit F.Y.Eye!

I love using the MAC paint pots as a base and sometimes as a primer, but only when I know that it's going to be a light day and my makeup won't have to work. However, on days that I go in to work as a Nursery manager, outside sweating all day....I HAVE to use a real primer. My skin is very oily and without a primer my eye shadow will consistently crease no matter how good of quality the shadows are.  Eye primers absorb any oil on the eyelids and helps control oil so that eyeshadow doesn't crease and lose it's intensity.  I've tried TwoFaced Shadow Insurance and Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP) and they were both ok....but F.Y.Eye works best for me. It matches my skin tone and goes on incredibly light weight so it doesn't feel like I have layers of makeup on my eyelids. There's absolutely no shimmer or sheen like UDPP in Sin so F.Y.Eye won't change the way any eyeshadows are supposed to look. Each person will be different and most people RAVE about UDPP and swear by it and a few others say the same about TwoFaced.

The bad news is....Benefit discontinued this eye primer. The good news is....they replaced it with a similar product called Stay, Don't stray that is supposed to be the same formula. The even better news is the packaging is a pump vs. the pot which makes it easier to use if you have fingernails!!!!! Stay, Don't Stray retails for $24 at sephora....

Smashbox primer

Photo Finish Primer (retails at sephora for $32-$49 depending on size)

I was a little skeptical of this product in the beginning because of the consistency since I have oily skin. It can feel very thick when going on and since I'm acne prone I was afraid it was gonna make me break out! I got this little travel size and tried it out and fell in love. It's a silicone based product and fills in any imperfections from acne scars, large pores, wrinkles and some scars. I let a co-worker try it out because she was very self conscious about her acne scars and could find anything to help. I put the primer on her face and put foundation over it to show her how it worked and when she saw herself she was amazed at what it did. with the primer on, she had no scars and the smooth skin she had been missing for so long. I won't recommend using this if you're going to be out in the sun or sweating a lot because those are the times I have noticed breakouts. There are also colored ones to correct discoloration as well as fill in. There are other primers out there that aren't silicone based if the texture does bother you...Sephora has one that feels more like a lotion as well as Bare Escentuals. In my opinion the silicone based fills better for deeper imperfections but the other two are better for daily use.

(retails for $15 but varies depending on size)

(retails for $21 both at sephora or directly from Bare Escentuals)

color correctors...same pricing as clear one.

MAC pigments

(LtoR) Reflects Rust, Rose, Mega Rich

The three colors with Rubenesque underneath. Primers are a must under any pigment whether it be from MAC or elsewhere.

I chose these three pigments because they are all different types on top of being different colors. Reflects Rust is a gorgeous red but goes on a deeper rust tone. When putting this one on you have to pat it onto the eyelid otherwise it will fallout onto your face leaving no color behind. Rose is a pinky gold color that has so much dimension in any kind of light, because of the depth of the pigment you can wear it alone. When you pick rose up on a brush it's almost as if you're picking up a glitter shadow by appearance but blends beautifully on the lid. Mega Rich is very similar in consistency to any pressed shadow out there. It's a very vibrant gold color that would work very well for a summer/bronze look. Love all three of them.

Pigments are different because they are a loose shadow that can be used in many different ways. You can mix them with water and use them as eyeliner, mix with clear lipgloss and make your own shade or even use them as a blush! They come with a ton of product inside and last forever. They range in price from $15 (at the CCO) to $19.50 (at a MAC counter). The two on the ends were purchased at the CCO and give a little more product whereas the middle one was purchased straight from MAC.

Does your eyeshadow crease?

Have you ever done your makeup first thing in the morning and felt like a million bucks because of how your makeup looked and then check it at lunch and look like the morning after?! Your eyelids produce oil throughout the day causing the shadows to clump and crease. There's tons of primers out there that keep your shadow in place and make the colors more vibrant. MAC has what's called paint pots....

Meet Rubenesque!

The pictures are pretty true to color, coppery bronze with a slight reddish undertone with a trace of shimmer.

Since this one has a color to it instead of being skin toned it enhances the color put on top of it. I use a lot of  similar colored shadows to make my green eyes really pop and it makes the colors stronger and almost glow with the shimmer showing through the shadow. Paint pots retail for $16 at any MAC counter or MAC store and come in a wide range of colors. A following blog post will show the difference in shadows with and without a primer.

swatch of color.

Nars Orgasm Blush

packaging

Orgasm is one of the most popular blushes sold by Nars. It's a pinky peach color with gold shimmer going through it. It gives a gorgeous highlight as well as being the perfect shade for just about any skin tone. This is my go to blush because it blends perfectly with my bronzer and creates a beautiful glow on my cheeks. It retails for $26 at Sephora but really does last a long time. I have had this one in particular for almost a year now and after daily use have barely put a dent in it. Good makeup is an investment but since the payoff is so much greater you don't need as much to get the color you're looking for.

First one out the gate!!

Thanks for stopping by! You're probably a friend or family member, so thank you for supporting me in what I hope will be the beginning of a new venture for me! Soon you'll be able to find reviews of products and pictures to go along. At some point I hope to start filming tutorials to show exactly how to use the makeup I review. As you know makeup has been a huge love of mine for quite some time and I can't wait to share my love with the world. Check back from time to time to see what's changed!