Halloween Series: Candy Corn Cutie!

Ohhhh yeeaahhh! First Halloween look of the season here on Spice Drop! I wanted something really festive and cute to start things out with. So I chose a Halloween classic for my inspiration, candy corn! Love it or hate it, candy corn is a Halloween Staple and would be a easy cute costume. I'm using mostly Sugarpill eyeshadows for this, use what ever you have but make sure it's matte!

So I started by applying a eyeshadow base all over my eye and  blending a white cream base all over my lids and brow bone. This'll make an even base for the eyeshadow as well as making the colors pop more. My eyebrows already have natural arch so that's where I'm putting the tip of my candy corn. If yours don't, use this time to figure out where you want the point to be. I also but a bit of the white underneath my eyes. With a flat brush and a matte yellow eyeshadow I placed the first layer of her candy corn all over my lids and out, to creat trapazoid shape. (If you have a big lid space you might want to section the layers off more) You want colors to be as bright as possible, so really pack the color on. The yellow was the easy part, as you up you're going to need it to make it a triangle shape and so you need to be careful where you place your color. To make a cleaner line you could use the tape method, but I thought that would look too harsh for this. Instead I took the edge of a paper as my guider. The next layer is orange, so I made a similar layer as the yellow but smaller. This layer also has my crease, so I had to bend the orange in with out getting it in the yellow. Don't sweat the colors mixing too much though, it happens on the candy itself! Then at the top goes the white, make sure it's very very white it needs to stand out. To clean and make the edge stand out more take a eyeshadow in the same tone as your skin (or a face powder) and cover whats left of the white base. I then applied a black gel eyeliner thinly along my lash line, and continued straight out a little ways. I filled in my eyebrows with a colored powder normally, if you want to create a faux pointed arch that'd be cool. I then applied a quick coat of black mascara then put on some flasies, but thats completely optional.

I applied some pretty standard foundation and concealer, nothing too interesting there. I then added some orange blush to warm up my complexion and continue the orange tone throughoLumut the look. For the lips I made a custom red-orange shade. And that's pretty much it!

Products Used:

(In order of Application)

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk, Sugarpill Buttercupcake Eyeshadow, Sugarpill Flamepoint Eyeshadow, Sugarpill Tako Eyeshadow, Urban Decay Kinky and Freestyle Eyeshadows (Blended), MAC Blacktrack Eyeshadow, Maybelline Full n Soft Mascara, Jcat EL20 lashes.

Face: Rimmel Long Lasting Foundation in 100 Ivory, Bare Minerals Stroke of Light Concealer in Luminous 2, MAC Honey Jasmine Blush.

Lips: OCC Lips Tars in NSFW and Traffic.

Hope you enjoyed my first Halloween look for this year! Looking for more inspiration? Check out my other Halloween looks and my fairytale series! Don't see what you're looking for? Request a look in the comments below!

Top 5 Cold Season Must Haves!

So I've been a bit of a slacker lately, sorry about that. Part of the reason I've been so lazy lately is that I've constant bouts of allergies and colds. :( But it's inspired my latest post, my top five must haves for cold season!

1.) Tazo Green Ginger Tea. The kind of tea isn't really that important, I've just been digging this one lately. The combination of heat and tannins is exactly what you need when you're feeling crappy. I also really like Tazo Zen tea (green tea with spearmint and lemongrass), and Celestial Seasoning's Peppermint Tea. Extra points if you add honey which I'll talk about more in 3!

2.) Emergen-C in Tangerine. This stuff is a life saver! Especially if you feel like you're about to get sick, or are concerned about getting infected by those around you. This gives you a quick direct dose of vitamin C, which does wonders for your immune system. Oh but personal preference, I only like the Tangerine flavor (NOT super orange) the others are sort of disgusting. But yay tangerine!

3.) THIS STUFF! I originally was recommended this by my aunt via Pintrest. It is a sore throat game changer. Step aside lemon honey cough drops, this Lemon Honey Ginger tea base is a million times better. It's tasty and cost effective, definitely check out the link.

4.) Kleenex Go Packs. You can usually find these in the check out aisle of target in packs of three. If you have allergies like I do, you know the importance of always having tissues with you. These are the perfect size for your purse or backpack, and are resealable.

5.) Bath and Body Works PocketBac hand sanitizer. I work with people, and money. I take the bus and rail. I share a house with children. These all mean that regular sanitation is my only hope for not being constantly sick. These are cheap and come in a variety of scents. My favorites are the fresh lavender, and Warm Vanilla Sugar, but seasonal ones like this Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin are fun. (Also twisted peppermint! My absolute favorite!)

May the sickness odds ever be in your favor lovely readers! What's your go to when you're feeling ill?

Bronzy Look and Henna

So today I wanted to do a look using my newest eyeshadow, MAC's Woodwinked along with some other new-ish stuff. Also I got to be a henna guinea pig for my friends mother, so I thought I'd show you guys.

So I started off my and eyeshadow primer all over my eye and brows, then I put a little bit of white cream eyeshadow as a base in my inner corner. After that I loaded up my my brush with a light bronzy gold color and applied it all over my lid, save where I put the white. Next I took a much darker bronze color and applied that to the outer corner of my eye and blended it into the crease. Then using a smudge brush I applied the bronzy gold color about three fourths the way in on my lower lash line, after that I went back with the darker bronze and smudged that in the outer most quater of my lash line. Over the white on the inner corner I applied a golden white color to warm it up a littler. Then I used a black eye pencil and lined my lids about half way across and smudged it out to make it softer. After I just applied a quick coat of mascara.

Afterwards I put on my normal foundation and then applied a warm reddish brown blush under my cheekbones and then lightly buffed around the edges of my face. I deepened the contour under my cheeks a tiny bit with bronzer. Then I lightly dust highlighter along my cheekbones.

For my lips I put on a warm berry lipstick and a lipgloss with a pretty shimmer.

Pretty Henna time!

Products Used:

(In order of use.)

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Nyx Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk, MAC Eyeshadow in Woodwinked, Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Barlust, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer, Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in Perversion, Maybelline Full'n Soft Waterproof Mascara.

Face: Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation in 100 Ivory, E.L.F Baked Blush in Rich Rose, Hard Candy Baked Blush in Pin Up, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer Luminizer.

Lips: Covergirl Lip Perfection Lipstick in Enthrall, Hard Candy Glossoholic Lipgloss in Rise & Shine.

Favorite Fall Nail Polish

So I decided to do a round up of my favorite fall nail polishes, but first I have a little confession to make... I suck at photographing nail polish! Its so hard to get it right. Anyone with a nail polish blog, I commend you. So I'm just going to show you there bottles and describe them. But anyway here are my six favorite nail polishes for fall, and a couple I'm still dying for!

Fall Rainbow! 

(OPI Just a Little Rosti at This, Spoiled I Don't Drink Cheap Wine, China Glaze Jungle Queen, Orly Buried Alive, China Glaze Agro, Sinful Colors San Francisco)

OPI Just a Little Rosti at This: I really love this color. Its a midtone berry color (showing up a bit redder here) with a creamy finish. I also really like the way it looks on my toes. Takes about two coats for full coverage.

Spoiled I Don't Drink Cheap Wine: This color is so pretty! Its also a lot more purple in person but its a shimmering berry-plum color. Not my favorite formula, takes about three coats and sorta thin but worth it.

China Glaze Jungle Queen: Its a grayed lavender color with purple shimmer in certain lighting. It has a cool sort of dusty quality. I usually do two to three coats depending on my mood.

Orly Buried Alive: I want to start by saying that I really don't like brown nail polish, on me that is. I always liked it on other people but never found one that suited me. Well this was the one! Its a bronze with lots of sparkle, I really like this one.

China Glaze Agro: THIS POLISH IS FANTASTIC. Sorry had to get that out of my system, it really is though. Its a beautiful olive-y green polish with lots of fine green, yellow, and orange shimmer. Its one of the best formulas I have, it thick but very smooth and easy to work with. Almost a one coater.

Sinful Colors San Francisco: I'm actually wearing this right now. Its not as dark as it seem in the bottle, its a bright emerald green that really catches attention against my dark fall clothes. Its a little on the thin streaky side unfortunately, it needs about three coats.

These are the colors I've been loving for fall. There are two others that I'm lusting after though, Rescue Beauty Lounge's Anne (So pretty! So expensive....) and Opi for Sephora's I Think I Cayenne.

Well thats all but I'd love to here what some of your fall favorites are! Also don't forget to vote on what Halloween look to do next in my series!

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)