I’m Sorry! | 2016

Hey everyone, I am so sorry it has been so so long that I have posted. I’ve been having the craziest last few months that I haven’t had much time to be posting as much as I would like to. I lost my job, and am in the process of registering for college, so to be honest I haven’t been thinking about makeup a lot, and not even wearing it either! When I do, I’ve been sticking to the same basic look mostly, but I do have lots of new goodies to share. I just got a new laptop so I’m feeling a little more motivated to get myself back in the blogging game. Hopefully I’ll have a post up in the next few days 🙂

xoxo

Lauren

November Favorites | 2015

Hi everyone! Sorry I’m so late with my November favorites, so much craziness in my life right now. I might as well get right to the point, hope you enjoy! (Lots of these items are repeats from last months so I won’t go into detail on all of them)

Concealer: Maybelline Superstay Better Skin Concealer. This is a repeat from last month and I’m still loving it, can’t seem to put it down! 

Bronzer: Benefit Hoolah Bronzer. I only own a handful of bronzes, but this is definetly my favorite and what I always go back to. I’ve been really into warming up the skin, not much of a contour, and keeping everything matte, besides my highlight of course;-). 

Blush: Maybelline Fit me! Blush in Medium Pink.  I’ve owned this blush for ever now, and not sure why I don’t use it as much as I should! It’s the best, natural pink that gives a beautiful glow. Although I don’t own it, this reminds me ALOT of NARS Orgasm blush. If you’re looking for a similar blush, I’d give this maybelline one a try! 

Highlighter: Elf Baked blush in Pinktastic. This “blush” is pretty famous in the drugstore beauty world, and I can see why! I just returned from a trip to New York City, and didn’t want to bring one of my expensive highlighters so I tossed this in my makeup bag and was happy I did! I was glowing ALL DAY LONG, and the color of it is beautiful! 

Brushes/Application: Beauty Blender, Sephora Powder Brush, Real Techniques Setting Brush. These 3 have been my must haves of November. I’m new to the Beauty Blender bandwagon, and wish I joined sooner. I love how easy it is to blend out my concealer and the finish it gives. It has to be damp for me to like it though, or else it just soaks up my concealer. My Sephora Powder Brush was the first brush I ever owned. I’m not even sure if they sell it or it has the same name anymore but there’s so many similar to it. I’ve been loving using this to bronze my skin, it’s so easy to blend out with, and so so soft. Lastly, I just recently picked up the Real Techniques Setting Brush and I’m obsessed. This is GREAT for setting under the eyes but I love it even more for highlighting. It hits the cheekbones perfectly with the right amount and I’ve noticed a huge difference since using this blush to apply highlighter! 

Mascara: Maybelline Super Sizer Mascara. This is another repeat, I just can’t put it down. I’ve been playing around with my other marcsras but can’t seem to find anything I like more than this one! I highly reccomend. 

Eyeshadow: Lorac Pro Palette. This is what I brought with me on my trip to New York, it’s so easy to use! These are definetly some of the best eyeshadows I own. It’s such an easy, neutral palette, but with a few pops of beautiful color, it’s a must have for any makeup lovers collection! 

Lips: Colourpop Liquid Lipstick in Bianca. I just got this a few days ago, but I’m already obsessed. I’ve been wearing it every day since I got it! It’s just my perfect nude and if you can get your hands on the Colorpop Holiday Liquid Lip Sets I totally would! 
Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays! 
xoxo

Lauren

Mini Colourpop Haul | 2015

Hellooo girls, I did a little shopping which I planned to be for friends but ended up being for me, oops. I can’t hold myself back when I go on Colourpops website, it’s just too pretty. First thing I bought is a matte Lippie Stix in the shade Silk. Silk is BEAUTIFUL and perfect for winter. It’s a gorgeous deep, burgendy, berry red.  

 
Next I got a little holiday liquid lipstick set, which is the “Kitten” set. This I originally purchased to give away the little lipsticks to my friends, but I swatched them, and love them way too much. Here’s my swatch (ignore silk on the bottom): 

 L to R: Glitter, Be Merry, Last Dance, Times Square, and Bianca.  
These are amazing, as all my other colourpop liquid lipsticks are! I might be still giving away the light pink, only because it’s not my color, but they’re all stunning and seasonal appropriate! The bottles are definetly a lot tinier than I expected though which is dissapointing.  

 
These colors are limited edition but I’m hoping they’ll come out with them in full size! Hope you guys enjoy, and I would definetly reccomend this for a gift this year! it’d be the best little stocking stuffer. 
xoxo

Lauren

Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette | 2015

Hey everyone! I’m sorry I haven’t posted in so long, I’ve been busy with job interviews, holidays, and starting my new job (yay!!). Through all of this of course I’ve been continuing to try out new makeup products and discovering things I love. My most recent present I received via FedEx was the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette. This was announced I wanna say around a month ago, and was released on urban decays website on November 22nd. Based on the pictures and videos I’d seen of this palette I knew I wanted to get it. Here are some pictures and swatches. 

  
   
 
Top Row 

BTW sorry my swatches are backward!

L to R: Punk, Steady, Skimp, Bathwater, Blonde.    

Second Row

 L to R: Serious, Zone, Stark, Anaheim, Baby.   

Bottom Row

L to R: Blackout, 1987, Danger, Harajuku, Pop.    
   
FIRST IMPRESSION: eh. 

don’t get me wrong, this palette is BEAUTIFUL, but these shadows just don’t feel as nice as some other shadows I own for a fraction of the price. This palette is $58. I did wear this palette yesterday, (sorry I don’t have a picture) and I did love the way it came out, and it lasted, but I think these colors are all so similar to each other besides the jewel tones. Right now, I’m not so impressed but I am still going to play with it! I would reccomend this to someone who really loves their neutrals, and I mean REALLY. I must say though the blue and yellow colors are AMAZING and swatched the best of all the colors. Let me know what you guys think if you got this palette too!

It also came with these two whic I’m happy about!

   
   
Xoxo

Lauren

Light and Easy Naked2 Palette Makeup | 2015

Hey guys, I’ve been going through my makeup collection and selling some things on my poshmark app and came across my Naked2. I don’t use this as much as I planned and decided to give it a trial week to see if I wanted to keep it or not. Let me know what you guys think if I should keep it or not! BTW I had my wisdom teeth out last week, so I don’t know if you can tell but my face is a little bit swollen :-(. Here’s what I got when I played around!

   
 
Foundation- Elf Acne Fighting Foundation. I’ve really been enjoying this foundation. I applied it to my face with a flat foundation brush and painted it on in a downward motion to make sure the peachfuzzy hairs on my face weren’t sticking up, then I blended it in with a damp beauty blender. I also made sure to blend it onto my ears and neck because it wasn’t a perfect match(which I can never find).

Concealer- Maybelline Better Skin Concealer. I applied this to all the spots I wanted to highlight; chin, nose, above the lip, in between my brows, and under my eyes. I also applied this to my eyelids to use as a primer and cancel out any veins I have showing. 

Powder: To set my undereyes I used my ELF HD Setting powder, and to set the rest of my fave I used my Loreal True Match Powder. The Loreal powder definetly helped with the foundation that didn’t match me so well, it lightened it up just enough. 

Contour/Bronze- To contour I used my Benefit Hoola Bronzer on my cheekbones, forehead, nose, jawline and a little down the neck. To blend out the contour and get a nice bronzey glow going I used my Wet n Wild Coloricon bronzer in Ticket to Brazil. I use this everyday to warm up my skin, it works amazingly on my fair skin and it has shimmer in it that gives you a beautiful sheen! 

Blush- NYX Blush in the shade Mocha. This blush is one of my everyday blushes all year round, I love it!
Highlight- MaryLou-Manizer. I applied this to my cheekbones, center of the nose, Cupid’s bow, and a little on the center of the forehead. Like I’ve mentioned before, I can’t get enough of this highlight, I’m obsessed with it! 

Eyeshadow-Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette. To start I applied Foxy all over my lid and up into my crease with a flat shader brush. For my crease I used the matte shade Nooner. I applied this with a dense crease brush and applied it to the amount I wanted, then blended with a super fluffy crease brush. For the lid I used the shade Half Baked. I applied it with my finger and this color really surprised me! It went on so smoothly and evenly, and the color is beautiful. For my brow highlight and inner corner I used Bootycall which is definetly one of my favorite colors in this palette. On the outer third of my lower lash line I smudged Nooner and all over my lower lash line I used Half Baked. I’m really happy with how this turned out and I will be wearing this again! 

Mascara- CoverGirl SuperSizer. LOVE THIS MASCARA

Lips- First, city color lipstick in the shade One Night Stand, and over top to light it up and make it a little more nude I used my NYX Butter Lipstick in Funsize. Funsize is my go-to nude color to lighten up any lipstick! 

  
I hope you guys enjoy this look! I’m staring to really enjoy using my naked2 palette! I also created this look: 

  
(please ignore my boyfriend) but I might put up a post on this look too! Let me know what you think!
xoxo

Lauren

Opinons???

Hi girls and guys if any! I’ve come to you for help. I know recently I posted about my Christmas wish list and said I wanted the Kat Von D Shade & Light contour palette, but I’m stuck. Would you guys reccomend this one or the Anastasia Contour kit? I feel like I see or hear just about half and half with the reviews on these two! They’re both so gorgeous I’m just having a hard time deciding! I think I hear more positive views on the KVD but I love the aspect of being able to change out your shades with the ABH. I’m definetly more on the cool-neutral side and I’m fair to light colored. Let me know what you guys think in the comments or if you have any other reccomendations! Thanks so much 🙂

  
  
xoxox

Lauren

November Birchbox | 2015

Hey guys! When I was on my way out the door for work yesterday morning I saw the little pink box that I’m always excited to see in my mail, my Birchbox! I subscribed to this after months and months of watching unboxings on YouTube and thinking how amazing they look, and I haven’t been as happy as I thought I would be with it, but it’s still well worth the price of only 10$ a month! Here’s what I got this month: 

BTW: This months box is SO CUTE! I love the packaging and always save these little boxes for Christmas and birthdays!

  

   
 
 •theBalm Cosmetics Frat Boy shadow/blush– full size $21

I was really happy to see this in my box! I’m a huge fan of the balm, their MaryLou-Manizer being my favorite highlight of all time now, I’m excited to try out this product! Off the bat the only issue I had is how small the little compact they give you is, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get any product with a blush brush, but I will try my best! It’s a gorgeous pale peachy pink that looks matte but I think has a slight sheen to it. This looks like it’ll make a great eyeshadow as well.

   
 •Dr. Lipp Miracle Balm– full size 16.50

I am really excited to try this product. On the card Birchbox sends you it says, “100% natural formula rehydrates skin. It can also soothe sunburns, tame unruly brows, and nourish cuticles”. Off that bat I know this is something I’ll try out, and then I read the back of the bottle too which was even better. It claims to treat dry lips, dry skin, prime your lips for lipstick, add shine to your cheeks, gloss for your eyes, a glue for eye glitter and a base for mixing pigments! This sounds amazing and I cannot wait to try it!

  
•RUSK Texture Spray – full size $18

I love receiving any type of hair spray. This is a dry finishing spray with medium hold that, “gives any hair volume and shape while keeping its natural bounce”. I’m all for volume spray so I’m excited to try this out. I also am not a fan of strong hold hairsprays and can’t seem to find a perfect hairspray for my preference, this just might be the one! 

  
•Temple Spa La La Lagoon Aromic Bath & Shower Gel- full size $18

Oddly enough, a few nights ago I was thinking about how a nice hot bath some with candles and music would be amazing right now. Perfect timing for me to get this in the mail! It’s infused with mint, peppermint, and basil. It says apply to wet skin or into a running hot bath for a’ “wonderfully frothy soak”. Can’t wait to give this a try! 

  
•Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare Complete Clarity Daily Facial Exfoliatinng Polish- full size $24

This is a daily scrub to exfoliate your skin. It claims to be gentle and for all skin types, but gives strong exfoliation. I love love love exfoliating my skin, it always makes me feel so great so I’m always excited to get one! The smell of this isn’t really pleasant but that doesn’t bother me. It also definetly is not filled in the bottle, I really had to push to get some out so that kind of sucks but I’m perfectly fine with it!

  

Overall I’m really happy with this box! The only thing I don’t enjoy too much is I’m a makeup junkie, and not a skincare, hair or body junkie, which is what I mostly got. I always hope for more makeup in my next one and always review my boxes online! Hope you enjoy and hope to hear some opinions on these products or your box! 
xoxo

Lauren

My Favorite drugstore eyeshadows | Loreal Infalliable 24 Hour Eyeshadows | 2015

I love discovering new beauty that I’ve never heard of before, so I wanted to share with you guys one of my hidden gems, the Loreal Infalliable 24 Hour Eyeshadows. These things are freaking AMAZING! The texture of these is insane, it’s powder but SO smooth and buttery and soft. I own multiple high end shadows and palettes, and the texture and pigmentation of these is incomparable. I personally only own shimmer formulas, but I do know they have some matte ones, and I’m guessing satin as well. These are definetly best applied with your finger, (or at least the ones in the shimmer finishes), the warmth of your finger works wonderfully. They do blend nicely with a brush though! I would not say they actually last 24 hours, obviously, but they do last pretty long, and theyre easy to touch up! The 3 colors I own are Iced Latte, Amber Rush, and Golden Sage. 

•Iced Latte  

   
I would describe this as a white-champamge gold. This is an ideal center of the lid shad or inner tear duct highlight, it’s striking! I’ve never used this as an all over lid color but now thinking of it I’ll have to try because it sounds lovely. This was my first purchase of these shadows and when I first put my finger into it I literally gasped! I can’t describe how amazing these are! 

•Amber Rush

   

   
Amber rush is my favorite of the bunch. This is pretty well known in the beauty world, or at least from what I’ve seen/heard. It’s a warm copper/rose gold. This seems to change colors in various different lightings but is always beautiful. I love to use this color all over the lid. Rose gold is so on trend right now and I think is perfect for fall time! It really makes your eyes pop. This swatched the best out of the ones I own as well. 
•Golden Sage

   

   
Golden sage is a shadow out of my comfort zone, but I couldn’t keep my hands off it. It’s an army/forest green with gold reflects in it. I have to admit, I haven’t even worn this color on my lids yet, but probably swatched it on my hands a million times. This would look AMAZING all over the lid for a dark smokey eye. 
  
These shadows are just all around amazing and if I were you I’d try one out for yourself! If I had to choose one for you just to try out, I’d say Amber Rush, it’s very versatile! I hope you enjoyed this post and hope to hear back from some of you on your opinions on these shadows! 
xoxo 

Lauren 

October Favorites | 2015

Hey girls, I’ve been resting at home all week due to getting my wisdom teeth and I’m so tempted to be doing all this online shopping for makeup but I’m gonna try to hold it back and make a few blog posts ;). But first it’s time for my October Favorites! Time has flown by!! 

•Maybelline Superstay Better Skin Concealer, I LOVE this concealer! I have it in the shade Ivory. The whole concept behind it is that it has salacylic acid in it, which helps fight breakouts. I’m all for anything that is fighting some black heads, and I love the coverage and finish of it! I’ve heard lots of people compare this to the NARS concealer. Definetly try it out! Only bad thing I’ve noticed is when you apply around the eyes it does get a little tingly and sensitive but nothing I can’t handle! 

   

•Wet n Wild Coloricon bronzer with SPF 15

This bronzer is great for warming up the skin! Mine is in the shade Ticket to Brazil. I don’t use this to contour, lately I’ve mostly been into just warming up the skin and I’m constantly reaching for this. I’m very fair these months and this is light enough to look natural and has a gorgeous sheen to it as well.  

   

•Benefit’s Bella Bamba Blush, I got this blushe ages ago and just recently rediscovered it and can’t put it down. It looks SO natural on me. It’s an extremely universal color and is the perfect natural pink flush to your cheeks. Although I don’t own it, I feel like this is comparable to the famous NARS orgasm blush. 

   

•The Balm Mary-Loumanizer, I ordered this off hautelook and it was delivered in September. This has completely taken over 1st place from Becca’s Opal. They’re extremely similar but the Balm’s is more of a sheen as opposed to glitters and sparkles in Opal. It looks so natural and beautiful and I would highly reccomend this if you are trying to decide between this and Opal. 

   

 

•Morphe Angled Contour Brush, I got this brush in a set I mentioned in a previous online haul post. I couldn’t find any specific names for it so if anyone happens to know please leave it in the comments! I use this to apply my bronzer and it works beautifully. It picks up just the right amount of product and blends amazingly.Its great quality and is SOO soft! I will most likely be buying more brushes from Morphe sometime soon!   

  
•Elf Fan Brush, this elf brush was $3 and well worth it! I was never a fan of these types of brushes but wanted to give one a try so I went with my best option, and love it! It’s fool proof for applying highlighter, it puts it right where it needs to go and doesn’t pick up too much product. If you want to try out a fan brush, try this one! It’s only 3 dollars so if you don’t like it, you won’t feel too guilty ;). 

  
MAC Matte Lipstick in D For Danger, a few weeks ago my boyfriend let me pick out a lipstick to buy at MAC and this one was jumping out at me. This is my perfect Fall/Winter wearable red. I would describe it as a deep raspberry red. It’s so flattering and it lasts forever.  

    
 
•MAC Whirl Lip Pencil and Maybelline creamy matte lipstick in Daringly Nude, this has been my favorite nude lip combo for October. I just recently bought Whirl and am really enjoying it! I’ve had daringly nude for ever and never wore it because it washed me out to much, but this combination is perfect for me. The swatch is Whirl by itself, Daringly nude by itself, then both blended together.  

   
•Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette, I have a repeat from last month! I can’t get enough of this lately. For fall I’ve really been into neutral looks and this is the perfect palette for it. It’s a great palette for beginners too! I’ve also been working a lot and haven’t had much time to play around with my other palettes and eyeshadows, but hopefully I will in November!

   
 
•CoverGirl SuperSizer Mascara, this mascara is a game changer. I have NEVER been a fan of CoverGirl hence why it took me so long to buy this mascara but I am SO happy I did! Everything i want from a mascara, this does; curl, lengthen and volume (and cheap!). I highly reccomend this!  

   

Top 5 MAC Blushes & Giveaway!