Neutral Brown Look using MAC

Hey glamour girls!!

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, I've been under a lot of stress. There's a lot going on in my life right now. I don't know if I'll be able to post as often as I did before, but I will certainly try. I start work tomorrow and I start school on Wednesday, both fulltime. That means I won't have a lot of time to myself. I really want to try to put out 2 posts a week. I'll aim for that right now, and I'll change it later according to how it goes.

So as I've mentioned previously, I got a ton of stuff at MAC and Sephora. This past week, Sephora was giving 4X the points for VIB Rouge members (me!) so I racked up quite a lot of points. They are also giving out a bag with 9 samples. I should be getting mine in the mail soon as I made an online purchase. I finally got the VIB Rouge card. You basically get a cute little box and inside it you get 2 cards, one of them is your VIB Rouge membership card and the other card is your free makeover card that you show them anytime you want a free makeover. VIB Rouges get free makeovers anytime they want.

Today's look is slightly more natural than my usual bright and bold looks. This is a great school or work makeup look. I can say that I will probably wear something similar tomorrow, but since we don't really have a dress code when it comes to makeup, I like to change up my look everyday. Sometimes I'll do my makeup bold and smokey, other times it'll be pastels, and if I'm feeling very studious I'll go with neutrals. I guess it just depends on my mood that day.

Today I'm wearing light neutral browns on my eyes with grey eyeliner. I kept the contouring soft but still visible. The blush is a light pink that livens up the face but isn't overbearing and I used MAC Shroom eyeshadow as a luminizer on my face as an experiment. And it really looks nice. I'm not just saying that, Shroom makes a GREAT luminizer. I've always wanted to try Too Faced Candlelight but this definitely works fantastic in the mean time. On my lips I'm wearing a yellow-pink to complete the look and to add a little bit of "oomph" to the whole look. It's called Pink Pearl Pop (by MAC) and the color kind of reminds me of Too Faced Marshmallow Bunny La Creme Lipstick. I'm really liking this lipstick. It caught my attention out of nowhere and it's the perfect color to match with my blush.

I tried out the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara and I gotta say, I like it. It added volume to my lashes and made them look dramatic. It also made them look longer but most decent mascaras do that. Overall, I think it was a great mascara. It's up there with their Lashgasm Mascara, though Lashgasm is still my #1 mascara pick. If you're looking for a new mascara or you just really want to try this one, I would recommend this mascara. While I don't think it is actually better than sex, it is a damn good mascara.

Another thing I tried out is brushes. Specifically, MAC Brushes 130 and 168. The 130 is the Short Duo Fibre Brush. I use this brush for cream blushes and it is perfect for that. I use the brush in a stippling motion on my cheek and that allows me to control the amount of product that I'm putting on my face. I also use less product this way. The brush is very precise and it allows you to put the blush exactly where you want. It also gives an amazing finish, so it doesn't end up looking like you schlepped the cream blush and foundation together. It also allows you to blend out the color so you don't get any harsh lines. I really love this brush. The other brush I got is the 168, which is the Large Angled Contour Brush. Don't be afraid of its name (I know I was), it isn't actually large at all. It's fairly small in fact. It fits perfectly into my cheekbone so I'm able to get a flawless contour line. It's also great for getting the temples and the perimeter of the face. It's also good to blend out the contour color and getting rid of any lines. It makes contouring so easy and so fun! Finally the contour on my forehead looks like a gradation instead of a line. I also use it to put bronzer on the sides of my nose. If you go over the sides ever so lightly you can get it to contour wonderfully. I honestly really love this brush and how the hell did I live without it. I definitely definitely recommend both of these brushes. They are both truly amazing and they serve their purpose like no other brush I've ever had!!


Neutral Brown Look using MAC

Prime your eyes using Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer. Take a medium shadow brush (Sephora PRO Medium Shadow Brush) and apply MAC Quarry to your eyelid. Next take a crease or blending brush (MAC 217 Blending Brush) and apply MAC Satin Taupe to your crease and outer V. Next take another blending brush and apply MAC Naked Lunch anywhere where this isn't already color, like above your crease. Blend out the browns using Naked Lunch. Reapply color to your crease if necessary. Next take a grey liner like Urban Decay Smoke. Apply it to your top and bottom lash lines. Then take a black liner like Urban Decay Zero and fill in your top and bottom waterlines. Lastly, apply a mascara like Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. Fill in your brows using Benefit Instant Brow Pencil. The eyes are done, let's finish off the rest of the look!

Apply a face primer like Too Faced Primed and Poreless. Conceal any under eye circles using MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer and by using a concealer brush (Sephora PRO Concealer Brush) to get into little spaces. Then apply MUFE HD Foundation using a stippling brush (Sephora PRO Stippling Brush) onto your entire face. If there is any redness or acne still showing through, use MAC Studio Finish Concealer to cover it. Next apply a setting powder like MUFE HD Powder to set your foundation and concealer. Use a kabuki brush (MUFE HD Kabuki Brush) for this and lightly tap it onto your face. To contour, use Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless and apply it using a contour brush (MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush). You want to suck in your cheeks and fill the line starting from the top of your ears all the way down towards the corner of your upper lip. You also want to contour your temples, perimeter of the face, and down the sides of the nose. Next you want to apply a light pink blush like MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy using an appropriate brush (MAC 130 Short Duo Fibre Brush), stipple it onto your cheeks. Then take MAC Eyeshadow in Shroom and a crease brush (Sephora PRO Crease Brush) and using it as a highlighter, apply it to the tops of your cheek bone and make a "C" shape around your outer eyes. Also go down your  nose, your forehead, chin, and cupid's bow. The last step is to apply a yellow-pink lipstick, MAC Lipstick in Pink Pearl Pop. This is the stand-out color of the look. Now the look is complete, so enjoy it :)

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Eyeshadow in Quarry
MAC Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe
MAC Eyeshadow in Naked Lunch
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Smoke
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

Brows

Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Medium

Face:

Too Faced Primed and Poreless
MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer in NW20
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20
MUFE HD Foundation in 110
MUFE HD Powder
MAC Eyeshadow in Shroom (as luminizer)
MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Lips:

MAC Lipstick in Pink Pearl Pop

Products Used:

MAC Eyeshadows (12$CAD for pro palette refill) in:
Naked Lunch
Quarry
Satin Taupe

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Smoke - mini shown, fullsize is 23$CAD

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero - mini shown, fullsize is 23$CAD

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara - 30$CAD

Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Medium - 25$CAD

MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy

MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy - 25$CAD

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless - 38$CAD

MAC Lipstick in Pink Pearl Pop - 18$CAD

Swatches from left to right:
MAC Eyeshadow in Naked Lunch
MAC Eyeshadow in Quarry
MAC Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Smoke
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero
MAC Eyeshadow in Shroom
MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless
MAC Lipstick in Pink Pearl Pop

Thanks for reading my blog. It means a lot to me. I hope that today's post was enjoyable. School and work starts this week so it means less time for this blog. I really want to put out at least 2 posts a week so I will try my very hardest to get it done. My next post is very likely to be a back to school/work makeup post and hopefully it'll give you some tips for the big day (if it hasn't already passed)! But til then, how did you like today's post? Did you ever think of matching MAC Quarry with MAC Satin Taupe? N do you like it? I think the 2 colors look great together! And what do you think of the dark grey eyeliner I used? I'm not too sure about it, only because I'm so used to using black all the time. Have you tried Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara? Did you think it was better than sex? Tell me about it :P  N lastly, which are your TOP5 MAC MAKEUP BRUSHES??? I don't even have 5 so I can't make a post about this yet hahaha. I look forward to hearing from you all  :]

Have a great first day back at school!!

Steph xo.

French Manicure Tutorial

Hey ladies!

Here's my once in a blue moon nails post! I did a french manicure on myself and it turned out amazing. I have a few tips for making sure you get that perfect white line on the tips and some badass looking nails. I did my manicure about 3 days ago and they still look absolutely perfect, no chips or dents!

I use my own nails, I never use fake nails and I never get them done at a salon, either. I do them myself at home. I've been having a bit of trouble lately with my nails being super brittle after I take off the old nail polish. I've used Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment once so far and it's actually made a pretty big difference on my nails. I waited over a week before I finally did them, and usually they would chip and tear pretty badly but that didn't happen this time after I used this product for the first time! I just hope that it works great in the long run. I'll update you as time goes on, but right now, I really like this product. I use it as a base coat only.

I use Rimmel's French Manicure Pro products. They aren't the most expensive nail polishes out there, but I find that they do the best job so far out of the products I've tried. I was not a fan of Sally Hansen's french manicure sets. I thought they were sub-par quality. The Rimmel nail polishes are really good and they last a long time. They have 2 different colors for the pink so you can choose between a more natural pink, or a more obvious pink. Each bottle is around 6$CAD.

I used Ciate's Speed Coat to seal in the polish. It was my first time using it and I'm very impressed that it dried my nails in only a few minutes, and that they were rock hard! I don't know how I lived without this before, but this is quickly becoming my favorite top coat.

Keep reading for the tutorial, a list of products used, and of course, pictures of my nails.


French Manicure Tutorial

Before starting, make sure you have done all your prep work, like nail filing, cuticle pushing, removing old polish, etc. If you have brittle nails, like, use Sally Hansen's Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment as a base coat. If your nails are fine, use Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro (I used to use this, but had to switch because the condition of my nails just kept deteriorating). Once they are dry, it is time to apply the white strip using Rimmel 110 French White Tip Pro. The trick to having a perfect line is to do the line all in one smooth stroke. Since the brush is tiny, I have to go back in and make sure the edge has polish. That will not affect your line, as long as you do it first in one long continuous stroke. That is the secret to having a perfect white tip. After they've dried, apply 2 coats of Rimmel French Manicure Pro in 130 French Lingerie. If you want a pinker nail, try 140 French Rose. After your last coat has dried, apply Ciate Speed Coat if you want your nails to dry fast and be rock hard. I used this and I'm in love. I can go to bed and not worry about my nails smudging! If you don't want to use a fast drying to coat, use Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro. So that's it, you should now have a perfect (or close to perfect) french manicure!




Products Used:

Sally Hansen Complete Care Extra Moisturizing 4-in-1 Nail Treatment

Rimmel French White Tip Pro in 110

Rimmel French Manicure Pro in 130 French Lingerie

Ciate Speed Coat

Other Products Mentioned:

Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro

Rimmel French Manicure Pro in 140 French Rose

The Manicure:

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed today's nail post. I find that the French Manicure is timeless. It looks good in any decade, any season. I like it because it makes my nails look nice and groomed, especially now that I've mastered the tricks. I do like Rimmel's nail products very much, but I bought some Essie nail polishes in their french manicure shades. I bought a whole bunch actually lol. I'm going to try out the Essie polishes the next time I do my nails and I'll compare the 2 manicures. I always hear great things about Essie nail polishes and I wanted to finally get on the bandwagon.

So what did you think of my nails? I'm so happy I finally got the hang of it. This is the first time I've had such picture perfect nails! What do you think of the Rimmel French Manicure polishes? Are you a fan of them or do you prefer Essie or OPI?? Let me know what your favorite shades for french manicures are in Essie polishes.

Tomorrow I might post my latest haul, but I don't want it to be show-off-y. I might only do just a tutorial instead using more new products.

Steph xo.

NARS Eye Look using new Fairy's Kiss Palette

Hey there glamour girlies!!

Today's makeup look is a good one. I got my first ever NARS eyeshadow palette, called Fairy's Kiss, and I was so excited to try it. I finally tried it today and I just had to include each and every color in my look. I wanted to try them all out!! I really like this palette. It's so versatile, you can easily do day makeup with it and you can also do evening makeup. They have a good shade range so it's easy to switch from day to night, which I really like about it. Plus all the colors are great, when I first looked at this palette I didn't dislike any shade. Usually when I look at palettes, I always have one or two shades that I don't like. So when I like all the shades in a palette, I know I should be buying it. This palette is great for people that are light to medium skin toned. If you are medium to dark, I would suggest the other palette that they have launched at the same time as this one, Ride Up To The Moon. That one has browns and a green, among others. Fairy's Kiss is also great for cool-toned women because it has a lot of purples. I'm cool-toned and I thought the palette looked great on me. I really liked it and it's something that I would recommend to you to buy.

I also went shopping today and bought a ton of stuff. You'll be seeing a lot of new products soon! I picked up Too Faced's new Better Than Sex mascara (I haven't tried it yet!) and a Lip Injection Color Bomb in Candy Burst. I found that one was the only good color for me. I checked the ratings and after trying it on, I understand why it got only 3 out of 5 stars on sephora's site. I was hoping the tingling wouldn't be as intense as their regular lip injection but woah it's still pretty crazy. It only lasts for not even 5 mins plus you get huge lips. I thought the color is great and I'm using that in today's tutorial! I would recommend it if your lips aren't sensitive to the tingly feeling. If you're not sure, I recommend trying it at the store prior to buying it. I also picked up an Urban Decay lipstick and lip liner from their new launch. You'll be seeing it soon! I also got another blush from Illamasqua, 6 shadows from MAC, finally a contour brush!!! from MAC and I grabbed some samples of pigments from MAC as well. I've never used pigments before so that'll be interesting! I've got a ton of stuff to try out and review for you  :)

I also have a post on my French Manicure coming up so don't miss that because I'm also giving tips on how to do the best manicure you can on yourself. Ever wonder how they get that white line so perfect?


NARS Eye Look using new Fairy's Kiss Palette

Start by priming your eyes with NARS Pro-Prime Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base. Next take out your NARS Fairy's Kiss Palette. To make it easy, I will refer to the first row as "1,2,3" from left to right and the bottom row as "4,5,6" from left to right. Take a small or medium shadow brush (Sephora PRO Medium Shadow Brush) and apply "4" to your lid. Then take "3" and apply it to your crease using a blending brush (MAC 217 Brush) or even a pencil brush. You only want to put color onto the crease. Take another blending brush and apply "2" above the crease color to blend it out. Then take a small shadow brush and apply "1" as a highlight and apply it anywhere else where there is no color. Take an angled liner brush (Sephora PRO Angled Liner Brush) and apply "6" to the upper lashline in a cat eye fashion. Wing it up at the ends. Take a pencil brush or smokey eye brush (Sephora PRO Smokey Eye Brush) and apply "5" to the lower lash line. You want to smudge it out so it doesn't look like a perfect line. Take a black eyeliner like MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved and apply it to both your upper and lower waterlines. Then apply mascara, like Too Faced Lashgasm Mascara. The last step is the brows. Fill them in with Benefit Brow Zings. The eyes are done, let's complete the rest of the look.

Start by priming your face with Too Faced Primed and Poreless. Next take a concealer brush (Sephora PRO Concealer Brush) and MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer and cover up your under-eye circles. Then take a stippling brush (Sephora PRO Stippling Brush) and MUFE HD Foundation and apply it to your entire face. If there is still any redness or acne showing, use MAC Studio Finish to cover it up. Next take MUFE HD Powder and kabuki brush (MUFE HD Kabuki Brush) to set the concealer and foundation. Now take a contour brush or squished powder brush (Sephora Collection Powder Brush) and apply Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless. Suck in your cheeks and use that as a guide to contour your cheeks. You also want to apply bronzer to your temples, and perimeter of the face. Next apply MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy. You can use a small stippling brush but I used my fingers to apply it. Apply it to the apples of the cheeks and blend outward and down into the contour. The last step is to apply Too Faced Lip Injection Color Bomb in Candy Burst. The look is now complete! Enjoy.

Eyes:

NARS Pro-Prime Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base
NARS Fairy's Kiss Palette
MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil
Too Faced Lashgasm Mascara

Brows:

Benefit Brow Zings in Light

Face:

Too Faced Primed and Poreless
MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer in NW20
MAC Studio Finish in NW20
MUFE HD Foundation in 110
MUFE HD Powder
MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Lips:

Too Faced Lip Injection Color Bomb in Candy Burst

If you want a softer color for a day look, try:
NARS Larger Than Life Lipgloss in International Velvet

Products Used:

NARS Fairy's Kiss Palette - 50$CAD

MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved - 19$CAD

Too Faced Lashgasm Mascara - 28$CAD

Benefit Brow Zings in Light

Benefit Brow Zings in Light - 36$CAD

MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy

MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy - 25$CAD

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless - 38$CAD

Too Faced Lip Injection Color Bomb in Candy Burst - 25$CAD

Swatches of NARS Fairy's Kiss Palette

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed today's look and mini review! I really liked the NARS eyeshadow palette. I thought it was just great. The colors were perfectly coordinated and you can easily take your look from day to night. I'm really happy I got this palette. I def recommend you guys to try it out. As for the color bomb lipgloss, I recommend it if your lips are not sensitive to the tingly feeling. While it's not as tingly as the regular lip injection, it still isn't a great feeling lol. I like the color I got though. I'm also a tad bit curious, what did you think of the NARS Fairy's Kiss palette? Love it or leave it? And also what did you think of the Too Faced Lip Injection Color Bombs? Love it or leave it and if you loved it, what is your favorite color?

I've got a French Manicure post coming up tomorrow  :)  It has some great tips on achieving the perfect line and other stuff.

I also bought a bunch of new stuff today like I mentioned above, Better Than Sex Mascara, the Urban Decay lipstick and lip liner, Illamasqua Blush, bunch of MAC goodies, Chanel lipgloss, buncha MAC pigments to try out for the first time ever. So be prepared for lots of reviews.

Steph xo.