Mini ELF Review!

Hey guys, the other day I went to Target and I picked up a couple items from ELF cosmetics. So I thought I'd do a little review for you!

First we have the ELF flat topped Powder Brush. This is a second of these brushes I've purchased, and my previous one lasted a while before it met it's demise. (Wet paint) This brush is advertised as a powder brush, but I actually love this for blending in cream and liquid foundations. I generally put a bit of foundation on my face, and then use this to buff it in to the skin. It gives a great finish, and gives you a lot of control with the product. This has been my preferred foundation application technique for awhile, and definitely recommend you give it a shot.

Sorry, other brush is dirty. XD

Next we have the small stippling brush. I already have the regular size stippling brush from ELF, and while it's good for applying cream brush lightly, it's not my favorite. The regular stippling brush is very loose and sort of flimsy, so I was pleased to see that the small stippling brush is much denser. I love using this for cream highlighter, its the perfect size for on top of your cheek bones.

And finally we have ELF Studio Makeup Remover Wipes. I hadn't tried these before, but I thought for three dollars, it was worth a shot. These did not disappoint. They take off makeup effectively (including eye makeup), don't dry out the skin, and don't have an annoying scent. I don't believe in spending good money on makeup wipes, so these were a good find.

Have you guys tried any of ELF's products? Let me know in the comments below!

Review: Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette + 2 Looks!

So today I popped down to CVS and got something I've been wanting for quite awhile, Wet n Wild's 8 pan Comfort Zone Palette. I'm a huge fan of Wet n Wild's eyeshadows and this is no exception! At $4.99 USD this is such a steal, and is really well rounded. Let's take a look, shall we?

 

On the left half of the palette are four neutrals. The first shade is a warm white gold with a slightly frosty finish (Not in a bad way!). Next we have a medium peachy pink with a gold sheen, this one has almost metallic finish. The third shade or the 'crease' color is a medium warm brown with a bit of a bronze sheen, also satin. And finally a dark red brown with fine burgundy glitter. All of these are very soft and easy to work with; the second shade is my favorite it's very smooth and pigmented.

The other half has some nice shimmery shades, and a pretty pretty duochrome. The first shade is a metallic silver taupe, not nearly as green as it looks here. The eyelid shade is very green though! Its a bright olive with golden shimmer, another satin. The next shade is a blackened green with multi-colored  fine glitter. Finally possibly the most interesting shade in the palette, a beautiful red-purple/ turquoise duochrome. I'm not very good with duochromes, they never seem to look right on me... but this one is stunning! 

Now I did two looks with this palette, pretty much as directed. The only things I changed were I used the top left shade in my inner corners for both looks. Also I mixed the some in with the top right shade for my brow bone for the second look, the taupe is just too dark to look good a highlight on me. (Still pretty though!) 

So what do you think, five bucks worth of fun? I'll say. I already knew how great WnW's eyeshadows were, and I was still impressed! 5/5 for this one!
 What do you guys think?

Review: Que Bella Deep Cleansing Aloe Vera Mask

Hey everyone! I hope you're having a good weekend. Today I'm reviewing a face mask from Que Bella. I noticed these in the natural beauty isle while I was at Target, they had three or four of the masks and then pouches of bubble bath.

I normally post a picture of the face mask on, but this one is actually clear so the pictures just looked weird. I suppose this makes sense because its aloe based. This one claims to 'cleanse ance prone skin, keeping it in check, and helping to nourish and rejuvenate." I thought this one would be perfect because now that its winter I still break out, but my skin gets much drier.

Its smells very strongly of lemon, and tree tree oil, which are also two of main ingredients. It wasn't strong enough to bother me, but if you're sensitive to scent it might. It comes out as a clearish gel/cream. And theres quite a lot in the package. Probably enough for two applications, but I used most of it. 

Initially it was very very tingly. Almost to the point of being uncomfortable. After a minute or so the tingling stopped, but my face felt a bit tight. After the recommended 15 minutes, I washed off my face with warm water and a wash cloth. My skin did not feel moisturized, I had to add moisturizer after because my face definitely felt dry. The next day I really didn't see any improvement with my skin, so I'm not a huge fan. =( However, I will be checking out they're bubble bath!

(P.S: This mask isn't listed on their website... I find that weird.)

$1.99 for 14ml Target Stores

Holiday Gift Guide! Under $25

Hello everybody! With the holidays here I thought I'd do a last minute gift guide. I tried to do gifts that would fit into most people's budgets, and can be purchased easily at most malls.

#1 The first item on our list is 3 wick Candles at Bath and Body Works. I'm a big fan of these, I personally think their scent throw tops most other candles. They also come in tons of fantastic scents. These are perfect for girlfriends that could use some relaxation in their life.
$20 at Bath and Body Works (I think they're on sale 2 for 20 right now though!)

#2 Tarte Beauty & the Box eyeshadow quad. These are a happy bundle of pigmentation and joy, all inside beautiful boxes. This one is in Brewed Awaking and is a good selection of neutrals but it comes in three other options if these don't float your boat. This is great for eco conscious friends.
$22 at Sephora

#3 If you want a gift that seems luxe but wont break the bank bet on Stila's All is Bright Lip Glaze Set. It comes with eight of Stila's lip glaze's in a variety of colors and finishes. I think this would be good for someone who likes to change up their makeup a lot.
$25 at Sephora

#4 I thought this was truly adorable! This Body Butter Lollipop is from the Body Shop and comes with five small sized body butters in this set (Coconut, Shea, Moringa, Strawberry, and Satsuma) which I'm a big fan of. If I could only have one body lotion it'd probably be Satsuma Body Butter. This is perfect for any one you want to pamper a little, and the small sized jars are perfect for purses.
$20 at The Body Shop

#5 Lush Fun. This stuff is SO COOL. Its fantastic in fact, its a bubble bath, shampoo, and soap all in one but the best part is that its bath playdough! And to top it off part of the procedes go to creating safe outdoor play places for children in Fukushima. This is great for the kids in your life, as well as people who are kids at heart. =)
$6.95 for a tube at Lush

Happy holidays everyone! Lots of love, A.

Darling Girl Cosmetics Review

So I just got my first ever order from Darling Girl Cosmetics, a small indie makeup company based in Texas. I have a small budget as always but their stuff is very high quality and affordable; they also don't test on animals which I know is peace of mind for many of us.

In all I got four lip glosses and a mini eyeshadow for around twenty bucks with shipping, thats pretty impressive on its own. I'm very happy with all of them.

L to R: Fenix (Liquid Kiss Luxe), Graveyard Betty, Jasmine Boneforhands, and Hellspawn. (Zombie Apoca-Lips )

This is going to sound silly, but these are the first indie lip products I've purchased. I normally normally only buy eyeshadow, but Darling Girl has so many beautiful colors and formulas that I had to try some! They come in click pen style tubes with brush applicators- admittedly not my favorite. But the formula is fantastic, smooth, pigmented, and non sticky.

.

Fenix: 'A gorgeous berry mauve with a green shift' I'd say thats about right, I'd describe it as a deep natural berry with a slight green shift. I was hoping the green shift would show up a little more, but alas only in certain lights. It really is beautiful though, its not as dark as it is in the tube or swatch. Its one of those mythical work appropriate but not boring colors. This is part of their permanent Liquid Kiss Luxe line.

Graveyard Betty: 'A sheer milky white with a pink/red shift infused with a green flakie' These are designed to go over darker lipsticks. I've been having soooo much fun with these! The green flakie is a little larger then the other glitters but its still pretty smooth. Part of their Zombie Apoca-lips line, not sure if these will be limited for Halloween or permanent.

Jasmine Boneforhands: 'Sheer milky white with a purple shift, infused with a gold flakie' I havent really noticed gold shimmer at all, but this one is a lot of fun to layer with. I wore it the other day over a cooler berry red and it turned it into a bright fuchsia with purple sparkle. Part of Zombie if you didn't guess.

Hellspawn: 'Sheer burnt orange with color shifting mica' One of my favorites, its a orange lipgloss with a pretty gold flash. Its more opaque then the other Apoca-Lips glosses and I like it by itself as well as other red lipstick. 

Inferno Room Eyeshadow: 'Bright true red with a metallic undertone and fine gold and copper shimmer' I'd say this leans a little bit warm, but that could just be the warm shimmer. Very pretty dry, and I can't wait to foil it. This is also from a Halloween collection 'The Ghost with the Most' which is Beetlejuice themed (Squee!) 

I'm very very happy with my new toys, and encourage you to place an order yourself. As I said very reasonably priced, my only annoyance was shipping time but they do tell you what to expect so I can't really fault them. You guys can definitely look forward for more reviews of them by me. =D

These can be found on Darling Girl Cosmetics Website!

E.L.F HD Blush Review!

So this is an update from a few days ago when I got my E.L.F Studio HD blushes. And all the things I suspected from the swatches turned out to be true. Sorry for the poor picture quality on these, I could not get good lighting to save my life! =(

Superstar

Superstar is a bright peachy pink, that decided not to show up very well in photographs, but trust me its much more pronounced in person. I started out with just a tiny drop of the product and blended it in: however this one is a lot less scary, and considerable more buildable.

Showstopper

Showstopper was terrifying to use! But I actually kind of like it. Its a dark plum in the bottle, and I got it blended down to a plummy rouge. It is a tad purpler then it looks in this light, its not a very natural color on me but I'm weirdly dedicated to making it work! You might get an update later on that... But anyway I used about half of the tiniest drop you can think of for this, and then blended like a mad woman. I would never tell anyone that they can't work a certain color, that being said I think this will be more easily wearable for darker women.

Encore

Finally we get to Encore, which is the random one in the bunch. Encore is exactly the same on me as it is in the bottle, a really bright raspberry. If you like really bright pinks, like Mac's Her Blooming Cheek, this is similar if a bit redder.

All in all these are pretty fun and I like them. They take a little bit of practice, but with the amount you need to use, you'll never run out! I used a couple different methods to apply these, E.L.F recommends using their stippling brush- so I tried that, but it deposited waaaaay too much color. Using your fingers works well, but the darker colors are quite staining, so thats a little messy. I'd recommend trying cosmetic sponges, or maybe applying a tiny dot to your face and then buffing it out with a brush, although that still might stain your fingertips. I hope you enjoyed this, what color would you like to see E.L.F make in this line?

Fall Makeup Looks: Steep vs. Cheap

So this is sort of back to school related as well, but more like back to fall. Which you can probably tell I'm pretty excited for by now! So I put together five great high end product that'd be perfect for this fall's trends, and then put together some comparable cheaper products... ninety seven dollars cheaper to be exact!

 Steep Products:

1: Matte RED lips with not much else is looking to be very popular this fall, so we have a classic...

MAC's Ruby Woo- $15.00

2: A sexy red berry flush is almost always in style for fall, but its been showing up even more on fall runways. This'll stay all day, but at a price.

tarte's Natural Beauty Cheek Stain- $30.00

3. Mmm jewel tone smokey eyes are beautiful, and this palette is damn near perfect. 

Urban Decay's Smoked Palette- $49.00

4. Okay so if you get the UD smoked it comes with their other black liner Perversion, but this needed to make an appearance. Both smudged and super precise graphic liner are super popular.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero- $18.00

5. Glossy berry tones on lips add balance to the super matte reds being termed 'mulberry mouths' dark berry to plum shades add an instant little high fashion punch well still being wearable.

Stila Lip & Cheek Stain in Acai Crush- $24.00

All great product with beautiful fall colors, but $137.00 seems like a lot, especially if you don't plan to wear them past this fall. (Which is silly for the record, but carry on.) Also as a student myself, there is no way in hell I could ever afford this. Shall we see some cheaper alternatives? I think yes. =)

Cheap Products:

Matte red? Check. Nyx offers a couple matte red's from bright to fairly deep in color. And these seem to have about the same amount of product as MAC lipsticks do too. (Also they're completely cruelty free, unlike MAC.)

Nyx Matte Lipstick in Pure Red- $6.00

Very different texture but surprisingly similar color wise. Maybelline has our backs with this berry cream blush. The tarte stain is going to last you a loooong time though so consider it.

Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Plum Wine- $7.99

Okay so this isn't one palette like the UD one is but it has some similar jewel tone colors. As for quality,  these aren't as good but Wet 'n Wild's eyeshadows are pretty good over a semi decent primer. Note: These two actually have more colors the UD smoked palette if that helps. =)

Wet n Wild Color Icon Palette's in Petal Pusher and Comfort Zone- About $10.00 for two

Brand repeat again! I'm bad about that, but NYX is a great cheap brand. This liner can help you achieve the same liner looks, with less than half the price tag.

Nyx Glide on Liner in Jet Black

Finally our glossy berry lip shade. Honestly this is the easiest one. There are a huge range of berry to plum glosses, stains, and lipsticks out there. I choose this one because they're not sticky which I love.

Milani HD Advanced Lipcolor in Premier Plum 

My makeup strategy for back to school is to get one splurge that I really want, (I'm talking straight up obsessed with it. Not just on a whim.) and make sure it's worth it. And then a couple cheaper products on the side. This year the UD smoked palette is my big buy, and I'll probably pick up some smaller Nyx products next time I'm at Ulta to tide me over. Happy shopping!

Back to School Looks: Part II

Now yesterday I did a cheap easy tutorial with beginners starting school in mind. Today I'm continuing on that idea. Or should I say on top of that idea. You see I know that lots of girls want to play with fun bursts of color, but they still want it to be easy and quick. So lets move on!

Look 2:

So for this look you do the exact same thing as look one. Its nothing crazy, but it adds a little color on to  your base makeup. Do the face steps and the eyes, but then stop before mascara. Thats where we begin.

Eyes: Taking a purple pencil eyeliner or purple eyeshadow on a liner brush and gently line under your lower lashline. If your using a pencil and feel comfortable with that, you can then do your waterline (that little pink line between your eyeball ans your lashes) but be careful please! Then using the same brush you used for the brown in look one, take a little bit of purple shadow and blend that into the brown part on your lid. Then add macara on your upper lashes only.

I kept the rest of my makeup the same but feel free to expriment with other combinations.

Products Used:

Eyes: (look one products), then Jordana easyliner for eyes in Purple Fusion ($2), and Sleek purple shadow from the original palette*.

Brushes Used:

e.l.f angled brush

Product Replacements: *

Sleek purple eyeshadow: To be fair this is actually ten dollars, however you have to ship it here so its more around fifteen. A cheap purple is the bottom color in the Wet n Wild Eyeshadow Trio in I'm feeling retro ($3)

Back To School Looks: Part I

Back to school is undeniably exciting, even if you aren't/ were never excited for the actual work part getting new clothes, books, and picking new classes always thrilling. Back to school gives you the chance to try new styles. Also I find office/ school supplies really fun, but that might just be me. XD
So the other day I was thinking about the first time I got actual makeup for myself for back to school. It was in sixth grade and I felt  very grown up and also very confused. I'm the eldest of my three siblings so unlike my younger sister I didn't really have some one to help me out.

So I made this tutorial for absolute beginners in mind. Girls who want to want to start using makeup, but don't want look overdone or be teased for wearing too much makeup. I did one completely natural look, and then one using color based on the first look to make it nice and easy. Also I tried to make this as cheap as I possibly could. There are a couple higher end/ non drugstore products in this, but any product over ten dollars I'll astrick* and they will be listed at the bottom and have cheaper recommendations.

Look 1:

(Please pardon my scary eyebrows.)

I think this makeup looks very youthful and natural, it boarders a no makeup look but is a little more polished. This is also good if you're school has a dress code with makeup limitations.

Face: Use a liquid foundation to create a smooth canvas. If you aren't comfortable with brushes yet I definitely recommend cosmetic sponges or your hands. (Just wash them before you start!) If you have oily skin I suggest you set this foundation with a powder, but don't powder all over. Just your t zone where you'll get the oiliest. Otherwise it might look really fake. 

Eyes: I started out with a primer (optional) spread all over my lids, and the with a fluffy brush I blended a shimmering nude color all over my lid. Then on a denser brush take a medium brown color and blend that lightly in the outer corners of your eyes, and through the crease, but not all the way only about half way and the blend slightly. (As you can see I have deep set eyes with a very defined crease, if you don't have a defined crease theres a fast way of learning where to shade: close your eye, and gently feel the upper curve of your eyeball with your finger. Thats where you shade.)  After this take a highlighting shade with that same fluffy brush and dust it across your brow bone. With a small brush (or your finger) gently place a shimmering white right in your inner corner to brighten your eyes. Then apply mascara to your upper and lower lashes.

Cheeks: One of my favorite tricks is to apply cream highlighter before adding powder blush. Just take a little on your (clean!) fingers and apply along your cheekbones. Then take the blush of your choice and apply it along the sides of the apples of your cheeks. I used a berry blush, which is recommend for this look. It'll set you apart as ready for fall with a cute flush. 

Lips: Use a natural looking pink lipstick. This will mean different things to different people depending on your coloring, so expriment. For example, my 'natural' are quite a bit darker/brighter then most pale girls because my lips are naturally very pigmented. So don't get caught up in the 'nude' of light pink trends if they don't look good on you! (Words of wisdom.)

Products Used:

(In order of application, and price)

Face: Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation ($5), theBalm sexy mama pressed powder* ($19)

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance* ($18), Nyx TS3 trio Nude and Brown colors ($7), Ulta Eyeshadow in Silk ($8), Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara ($6)

Cheeks: Mac Cream Color Base in Hush* ($17), Milani Red Vino Blush ($8)

Lips: E.l.f Lipstick in Seductive ($3)

Brushes Used:

(All the brushes I used are $3 e.l.f brushes.)

Kabuki brush, 'C' brush, Angled contour brush, Angled Blush brush. I also used a face secret cosmetic sponge for my foundation they're 80 for $6 at Sally beauty supply. 

Expensive Products Replacements:*

Powder: Hard Candy Welcome Matte ($6) or e.l.f Clarifying Powder ($1)

Primer: Nyx Eyeshadow Base ($7) or e.l.f Primer ($1)

Cream highlighters: e.l.f Shimmering Facial whip in Lilac Petal ($1) or Nyx Tango with Highlight Stick ($8.50)

Review: Elf Baked Blush In Rich Rose

 

I'm a big fan of e.l.f cosmetics, they're super cheap and cruelty free. So when I saw their new baked blushes I was intrigued. I was only able to get this one, because the others were already sold out. The other colors I've described below:

Peachy- Cheeky: A light peachy pink color, with bronze veining.

Pinktastic: A very light shimmering pink with bright pink veining. (Reminds me a lot of Hard Candy's Honeymoon Blush.)

Pink Passion: A midtone pink with hot pink veining.

And finally the one I scooped up, Rich Rose a bronzy red color with coral veining. Swirled together it makes a really pretty wearable terracotta color. On me it doubles as blush and a bronzer, great for a little natural contour. Its a little on the sheer side but builds up nicely.

$3.00 here or in target stores

Fridays under Fifteen: Hardy Candy Rise & Shine

Let me preface this post with a fun fact about me: I love glitter, it is fun and sparkly and if you don't like glitter you wouldn't like this lipgloss.

There now lets move on! I've been obsessed with this lipgloss this last week, it is so much fun! Its called Hard Candy Glossaholic Lipgloss in Rise in Shine, and at $6.00 its well within our fifteen dollar budget. Its a beautiful lipgloss with a clear base and tons of glitter that shifts from orange to gold to green. Although I notice the green way more in the tube then on the lips.

Now unfortunately this lipgloss just did not want to be photographed on my lips the camera had to be slightly out of focus to see the glitter at all. However I assure you that swatch on my hand is what it looks like in person, especially in sunlight.

The glitter isn't gritty at all, and its not sticky which is nice, that being said, the wand is gigantic! With its size, and a indentation in the applicator tip to catch gloss, this can apply way to much gloss if you aren't careful.  But speaking of huge this is quite a bit of lipgloss for reference it has more then twice the amount in a lipglass.

The only weird thing about this is it has a pretty odd claim. It says its 'infused with mood altering elixir' and claims to wake you up, hence the name. It is coffee flavored, which I find quite yummy, but I think its more likely that the sweet flavor and pretty sparkle are the ones altering my mood for the better!

The reason this is this friday's under fifteen super star is because of how much it reminds me of MAC's dazzleglass. Especially some of the Glitter and Ice dazzleglass, with their clear bases and crazy sparkle. if you liked those but they very too expensive, or too cool toned, or too sticky you might love this.

Hard Candy Glossaholic Lipgloss in Rise in Shine is $6.00* for 10.8g and can be found in walmart stores and on walmarts website.
*prices may vary in store.

Foundation Review! Rimmel Lasting Finish.

A little pondering before I begin this review, I've been thinking of starting some sort of series where I find a decent cheap product every week and review it. Perhaps on fridays, but my real problem is where to set the price point. I've seen bloggers who do under ten, but thats a tad limiting. I was thinking fifteen, but the thing is 'cheap' and 'bargain' means different things to different people. So if you have any thoughts, leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you think.

Anyway, on to the review! After upgrading my skincare routine (more on that some other time) all of the bump that were normally under my skin came to the surface. So I wanted a foundation with a little bit more coverage. I'd seen some good reviews for this so while I was at target I decided to pick this little beauty.

At around five dollars this is a steal, especially when you consider it has just as much foundation as MAC's studio finish. It offers medium to full buildable coverage. It currently comes in ten shades, and that was really my only problem with this foundation, finding a good match. I looked at two shades, Ivory and Warm Ivory. Ironically 'Ivory' seemed a little darker and warmer. If you have a very cool skintone you might have problems trying to find a good match, they all seem a bit more on the warm side.

As you can see from this super flattering picture of me pre-foundation, I've got a couple spots, some large pores and dark circles to cover. To top it off I didn't sleep too well last night. Thats a lot for just foundation to cover, lets see how it did.

 

It did pretty well! Nothing supernatural, but it even my skintone nicely and covered every thing that needed covering. On the right I've added a little powder to set the foundation and some basic makeup, this foundation looks very natural.

So does it hold up to its claims?

Q: Lasts 25 hours?  

A: Hardly. With out setting powder, it lasts almost perfect for about five hours. With powder around twelve. (However I have very oily skin.)

Q: Sweat, heat, and humidity proof?

A: Mostly, but again if you have oily skin I recommend setting it.

Q: Skin feels hydrated all day?

A: Well it doesn't feel sickly or dry. It isn't the lightest foundation ever though.

So there you go. All and all I'm very impressed, if you have a limited budget and don't want to sacrifice coverage this is perfect for you. Just make sure to swatch colors to get a good match.

This was purchased with my own money, product picture is from the company.