Brush Up On It!! - My 4 Current Faves

Hey there!

I had three teeth pulled. I was fortunate to be put to sleep while it happened. You should be put to sleep before all dental work in my opinion. Anywho, I was on the good stuff for pain so today is my first coherent day in a while. 

Kinda. 

When I cared about makeup and looking pretty, I took a look at which brushes I was using to apply my makeup. I showed my most recent e.l.f. Studio Brush Purchases and while they are good, I still have my 4 top used brushes and yes, 2 of them are e.l.f. brand brushes. 

I haven't been highlighting a lot lately but when I do, my e.l.f. blush brush kicks butt! The bristles are light and fluffy and put the highlight exactly where you want it. It works beautifully with my bareMinerals READY Luminizer. I just swirl my e.l.f. blush brush into both colors (The Live Affair and The Shinning Moment) and sweep magic above my cheeks. I think angels sing when it happens. 

I liked the contour brush that I just ordered but it doesn't beat my Eco Tools brush. I love that brush for contouring. It puts my bronzer in the correct places and blends like a dream. Right now I've been using my 

e.l.f. Contouring Bronzer from the St. Lucia kit. My tan is going away so this shade is perfect for a natural look. 

Everyone knows how I feel about my Claire's kabuki brush. I use my powder foundation as my all over foundation instead of liquid and this brush works well to spread the color evenly. I've tried other brushes but so far this is my number one. This one does a great job. 

My e.l.f. Concealer Brush is perfect for under eye powders. It is the best shape and distributes the powder thinly but evenly. I use my e.l.f. Eye Brightener and then my e.l.f. High Definition Undereye Setting Powder to finish. Tada! It looks like I got 8 hours of sleep instead of 4 or 5. 

I won't need my eye powders for a while right now. My after procedure drugs are perfect for putting a girl to sleep. I stayed up long enough to write this post. When I wake up I'll review it. 

Cause all we need are too many drug induced mistakes!

What brushes are you loving right now? Are they high end, drugstore or dollar store? I'm currently looking for a better blush brush. What are your suggestions?

Tag! What's In My Makeup Bag?

Hey There!

I went to a women's conference a few weeks ago and as I was packing I kept thinking about the other bloggers and vloggers that have done the "What's In My Makeup Bag" tag and I decided to do my own. I've been home for 2 weeks and I finally have time to go over everything.

No matter where you go, you have to pack a skin cleanser and moisturizer. Because I'd be wearing light makeup I didn't want to lug around heavy cleanser. I decided to take my new found love (which are currently in my drawer at work)-- my Wet n Wild Under The Sheets makeup wipes. A lot of folks don't like them because they are foamy and wet but I like them for travel because of that. I don't like to put hotel towels on my face so this gets my face clean enough that I don't have to. I also make sure to bring my Clinique All About Eyes Rich eye cream and my Neutrogena Oil-free Sensitive Skin moisturizer. I make sure that both of these are ALWAYS used twice a day.

I knew that I'd be sitting in a room full of women most of the two days so I didn't need to pack the big guns. We were going to have a formal dinner but again, all women and more "shop talk" than anything else. I was tempted not to pack any makeup but a good friend of mine that went to the conference with me always says you should try to add a little color to your face for you, not others, so I certainly wanted to pack a little bit of color.

I love my MAC  Studio Fix (NC 42). It adds the tiniest bit of color and does a great job of evening out my skin tone. To add a little contour and the slightest bit of color, I packed my Tarte Park Avenue Princess bronzer. It's not a deep bronzer -- it's a splash of life bronzer. It makes me look as though I have a healthy glow. To top it off, I didn't want to lug a highlighter and a blush so I packed my Maybelline Master Highlighting Blush in Mauve. I tipped my brush in the lightest shade and used it as a touch of highlight and then swirled over the rest of the cheek area for a glowing blush. Again, not a "night out on the town" blush but a "I might have had 8 hours of sleep and a good breakfast" blush.

I only took 2 makeup brushes with me. There wasn't any room for my whole makeup jar full of daily brushes. I brought my Claire's Kabuki brush and my e.l.f. Angled Blush Brush. I always say that when I bought my Claire's Kabuki brush I didn't expect it to be my number one, everyday brush. It is. I use it every day to apply my face powder. I can apply it heavily if I need to or lightly. It's the best $7.50 (I think) that I've ever spent. And, my second love is my e.l.f. Angled Blush Brush. I have two of these bad boys. I can use it to disperse my bronzer and blush. The size is great and the amount of product that it picks up is the correct amount. I have tried other bronzing brushes and blush brushes but none of them have matched this one.

I pulled out my Ipsy bag to carry my brushes in. This particular month's bag was perfect. The brushes fit very nicely into it and because it's plastic, I can wipe it off and disinfect it (inside and out) when needed.

One of my favorite lippies right now is my Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in Lovecraft. It's such a pretty mauvey pink. I love it. I also added 2 Rimmel London Full Color lip liners; one was to lighten the lipstick (Eastend Snob) and one was to darken it for my evening dinner event (Ravish). Both of them pair so well with the KVD lippie.

And that's it! No setting powder, no face primer, no finishing spray, nothing. I only brought the barest of essentials. Now, had it been a larger evening event, I'd have brought an eye pallet but that would have meant eye primer and different eye makeup remover and bringing my own face towels and... I decided that I didn't need to do that. That would have meant a second makeup bag to carry.

What do you take with you on overnight trips? Are you a minimalist or do to swipe the whole makeup counter into your bag? What can't you live without and what do you do without when you travel?

Summer Highlighter - Maybelline New York Master Highlight in Mauve

I hated messing up the pretty pattern in this pan!

Hey There!

I've been playing with all types of new goodies this summer and I can't wait to tell you about them. But, I still have to give love to some of the oldies that have really done a great job for me. Some of these just might go down in my Summer Favorites!

One of those items has been my Maybelline New York Master Highlighter in Mauve. It is a brilliant highlighter that also gives a bit of cheek color. In addition to Mauve, they offer Nude, Pink Rose, Coral, Light Bronze and Deep Bronze. After reviewing websites like crazy, I decided to try the Mauve. I use my standard e.l.f. blush brush to add this to the tops of my cheeks to the apples of my cheek.

 

At the very top is the blended color I getting using my e.l.f. blush brush
and at the bottom is a swatch.

I tried this out exclusively for 3 days. At the end of each day, I'd stare at the tops of my cheeks in the mirror. The dewy, supple shine at the top was still there! How fantastic is that?! If I wore primer, most of the plumy cheek color was still there too. It really is a great "Hi-Lighting Blush".

I know that I purchased mine at CVS during a BOGO half off sale with all types of coupons and specials. That's just the way I roll. That being said, I honestly do think that this is worth the $9.99 that it advertises for.

e.l.f . Package Review - Eye Products

Hey there!

About a month ago I got an eyeslipsface box of goodies. I ordered a few things that I had been eyeing online but couldn't find at my local Wal-mart or Target stores. I always take forever when I'm ordering things on line. I feel that I need to touch and really view the things I buy. I want to make sure the color is right or the size is enough. I had items in my e.l.f. shopping cart for months before I made this purchase.

I have to admit that the shipping was quick, my box was packed well and because I waited for a sale, the prices were right. I absolutely plan to make other purchases from e.l.f. Now that I know I can trust the shipping and handling, I'll trust the website descriptions.

The two eye products that I had my eye on (wow, how pun-ny was that? ok, not) were the Eye Refresh ($3) and the High Definition Undereye Setting Powder ($3). I wanted to try the High Definition Undereye Setting Powder because several bloggers and beauty gurus mentioned how great it was. I wanted to try the Eye Refresh because, well, it looked neato.

The Eye Refresh is a wet, cool roller ball that is supposed to alleviate under eye puffiness and dark circles. Honestly, I don't know if it really does that but man does it feel good under the eyes. The roller ball fluid is infused with pomegranate, rosemary, green tea, cucumber and grape (none of which I am allergic to- yay!). I know cucumbers are always laid over your eyes in spas so... Yes, I felt the product was worth the $3. Would I buy it again? I dunno, maybe. It wasn't bad or good..it just felt nice.

The High Definition Undereye Setting Powder comes in a little, tiny container with a little tiny brush. I don't know where that brush is. I actually use my e.l.f. blush brush to swipe a bit under my eye. The powder is light-diffusing so it refracts the light that comes to the eye...well, it does something and allegedly causes dark circles to vanish. I don't have dark circles (not really) but I use my BareMinerals Well Rested and I wanted to see if this product could replace it. Nope, it cannot. It's a thin, glittery powder that does almost nothing to hide dark circles. I did try placing it on top of my Well Rested and it works okay. It does reflect light and makes the area under my eyes look brighter. It was nice (when used with the Well Rested) but I don't think I'd purchase it again. I already have something that I use to do what it claims to do...and what I have works better.

So my review is one eye open and one eye closed (ha!). My magical roller ball is nice but my sparkly eye powder is mediocre. That doesn't take away from the other e.l.f. products though. It does keep my 50/50 ratio on tap. So far about half of my e.l.f. products work well. The other half should be in the trash.

I know what you're thinking. The blush brush should be the tie breaker. I use that blush brush every day. BUT, I don't use it for blush. I think it sucks as far as blush is concerned. I think it is good for under the eye.

So, we're still at 50/50. You know, until the next order comes in.