Nails of the day - Ulta Professional

I picked up this lovely color from the clearance at Ulta. Whenever I go to the store, that is the first spot I head too.I do not know the name of the color because for same reason there is no name on the bottle.  This color is a gorgeous light pink but it is iridescent when worn. I love this color so much and am sad to say I had a little nail polish disaster not long after purchasing this and the bottle broke :(

So pretty and shiny, I will miss this polish :(

Nails of the Day - ULTA

I recently picked up this polish from Ulta.I got it from the clearance for about $1.99. Ulta polishes usually retail at $5.

As you can see, the color is "Mango". I was actually looking for a Mango color when I came across this,

The polish is a very pretty color yet I found it quite hard to work with. It seemed to be thick and goopy. I have noticed this before with some of the Ulta polishes. The colors seem to be hit and miss even if they are from the same line.

Please ignore the mess, I was in a hurry. The color looks very orange in this picture. Anyways, if you can find Ulta polishes on sale, I would recommend because you may find a new favorite color :) 

4 Piece Bamboo Brush Set by E.L.F

When I saw this brush set, I knew I had to have it. Even though some of the E.L.F brushes have mixed reviews, I still had to try it out.

As you can see, the set comes with four brushes and a bag. The brushes included in the set are a complexion brush,a concealer brush, a blending eye brush and a mini kabuki brush. This set will cost you $10 but remember that these products are not full size, this is a travel brush set. 

I actually like travel sets because sometimes they are easier for me to use but some people do not like them.

The complexion brush is very nice. It is soft and works well for any product. I have used it for powder foundation, powder and even blush and bronzer. This brush is a must. 

Next, is the concealer brush. I am not a big fan of concealer brushes. I honestly find it easier to use my fingers to apply concealer. This brush is decent though. It works as well as any other concealer brush and it is especially good for blending in primer. 

The blending eye brush is a great eye brush. It deposits color nicely without to much fall out. This is my favorite brush out of the set. 

Finally, the brush I was most excited about : the mini kabuki. I love kabuki brushes but am sad to report that this brush is a smidge to small.  Due to the size, it is hard to get enough product onto the brush in order to use. If you like small kabuki brushes, then you will probably like this. I just found it a bit to tiny.

The bag is good for holding all the brushes if you want to carry the set in your purse. Sadly, it is pretty ugly and your brushes may become damaged if you do not put them in carefully.

I have also heard that these brushes are comparable to Eco-tools. 

Overall, I like what I have seen of the new mineral brushes by elf. They are stylish and very soft. I am certainly going to invest in some of the full size brushes in the future. 

E.L.F Small Studio Brush Holder

This is my first official brush holder. In the past, I had never purchased a holder because I could not find one that I liked. Of course, I saw ones that were nice but I wasn't going to shell out a lot of money on one. I found this on the eyeslipsface.com website for only $5 and decided to purchase.

I was unsure about the size because in the picture it only shows five brushes in the holder. Even after opening it, I thought it was too small. Boy, was I wrong! This sleek holder holds all of my brushes and most of my eye-liners (and it isn't even full)

I love this holder so much and I wish that I had brought the larger one as well which is 3x the size but sadly I do not have room for that right now.

So you can see how much it really holds. 

Yellow Eye Tutorial

One thing that I think is really hard for people to get is a yellow eye look due to the fact that yellow's can be so hard to work with. I figured I would do a yellow look to help you out.

What You Will Need

1) Eye Primer

2) Two Shades of Yellow Shadow

3) Brown eye Shadow

4) Lash Primer

5) Mascara

6) Eye liner

How to Get The Look

1) Use primer to prim your eyes by rubbing it onto your lids and up towards your eye brows

2) After your eyes are primed, take the yellow that you want to use as your base yellow and apply it to your eye. You should use your less pigmented yellow for this.

3) Next, you will need to use your more pigmented yellow. Gently PAT this shadow over your yellow base to enhance your color.

4) Finally, apply a nice neutral brown in your crease and gently blend into the yellow. 

5) After you are done with your shadows, prime both your top and bottom eye lashes with lash primer.

6) Apply mascara to your lashes to darken your look.

7) Finally, use a vibrant black eye liner to line your eyes and you are finished! :)

What I Used

I used this Loreal Hip Duo in this look. I used the yellow as my yellow base.

For my darker yellow, I used the yellow on the left. This duo is from Revlon.

For the brown in this look, I used another Loreal Hip Duo, called "Brazen"

The Final Look

This look is much brighter in person but this is the best that I could do with my camera. Please excuse my horrible brows, I was in the process of growing them out. 

E.L.F Eyeliner and Shadow Stick

I figured it would be too hard to try to get a picture of this product so I just took this photo from the website.

As you can see, this is the E.L.F Eyeliner and Shadow stick. I own this product in the "Black/Smoke" duo and I love it.

The eye-liner is very dark and goes on easily. I hate black eyeliner's that don't want to show up. Another plus is that the eyeliner does not smear very much.

The second part of this product is the shadow stick which is also very good when used as a base under dark colors. If you use the shadow stick by itself, it will crease and smear. Instead, use it under dark colors to make your look more intense.

This is part of E.L.F's studio line and will cost you $3. 

This is personally one of my favorite eye-liners (even though I do not use the shadow part of it very often)

I would highly recommended this to anyone looking for a cheap bargain. This product may be found at Target or eyeslipsface.com.

AZIZA

Just thought that I would make a quick post on a VERY affordable brand that I have come across.

This is a pallet that I got from the dollar store, believe it or not! The brand is AZIZA. It is a cheap brand, but it is not a dollar store brand. Never purchase dollar store brands!

Six colors for a dollar? Amazing deal! Six decent colors for a dollar? Even better! 

The colors in this many pallet are versatile I like to use them as base colors or for a "light look" 

Check it out :) 

E.L.F Waterproof Eye-Liner Pen

After seeing that this product was on the "Best Sellers" list on Elf, I decided to order a few.

I purchased Midnight, Plum, Coffee and of course black. I was not interested in the Ash shade.

My pens worked well for a few uses and then began to  disappoint me several times.

After only maybe 2-3 uses, the colors did not appear to be vibrant anymore. The blue doesn't look blue and the purple is not vibrant at all. The black has to be layered on in order to achieve any true darkness. 

In addition to the poor color, my pens dried out very quickly. The pen itself looks dry and damaged even though I did nothing to damage them.

I am not sure why this product is raved about on the site. Maybe I just had bad luck. Or maybe people are just too excited about being able to get a felt tip eye-liner pen (which are usually pricey) for only $1. Either way, I would not recommended this product to anyone. It is absurd to only get a few uses out of a product, no matter what the cost is.

I hope that E.L.F does not disappoint in the future. 

Last Sacrifice

For anyone who likes vampires (like me) and loves to read, I just thought that I would suggest that you read Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead. Last Sacrifice is the sixth book in the popular Vampire Academy Series so of course I would have to say that you need to read the first five books first. Last Sacrifice concludes the story-line for the main characters but will be followed by a new Vampire Academy Series that begins this summer.

Anyways, this is one of my favorite series. If you enjoy young adult vampire series, you should definitely check this out and let me know what you think of it.

I thought i would show some pictures because I love the cover for this book.

Ulta Pallets

As you may know, Ulta offers their own line of makeup which includes large pallets and many mini pallets as well.

Sadly,  I have not had the best of luck with the bigger pallets but I do enjoy the smaller ones which seem to be higher quality. 

This is the first pallet that I have from ulta and I love it. It includes 8 colors which compliment each other very well. The colors have decent pigmentation. They are not matte but they only have a slight shimmer.

This is my second pallet by Ulta. It is bigger than my first pallet. It includes 12 eye shadow shades and 12 lip gloss shades. The sad thing about this pallet is that the glosses are ruined due to fall-out from the shadows. The colors in this pallet are gorgeous as well and I love them.

In my opinion, these Ulta pallets are almost as good as Sephora's brand pallets and they are cheaper. I received these pallets for about $10 a piece which is a good price considering how long the last.

E.L.F 100 Color Pallet Review

I was so excited when I got this pallet. I hate ordering offline but I was able to get this from Target back before Christmas. I had been wanting it for quite some time and it still only cost me $10 in the store.

This is one of the most raved about items on the site so I had to check at out.

This pallet, like any other, has its downfalls. Some of the colors have amazing pigmentation while other's do not.

The greens and blue shades seem to be fine and very pretty. I receive many compliments when I use them. One thing I love about this pallet is the huge selection of neutral colors. I love neutral colors and I use them all the time. Their the first colors that I always run out of so I was happy to see that this pallet contained so many.

The packaging is cute but not the best. I like the sleek design but after having this in my bathroom the outside was all marked up. The packaging doesn't matter that much. It does not affect the product but I just wanted to state the packaging is cheap.

Now lets move on to the colors. I LOVE the colors. This pallet has many matte colors and the colors that aren't matte are nice and shimmer. There is only one shadow that is very glittery which is a green shade. Although I prefer matte shades, the shimmer one's are nice. They are not too over the top and the work very well paired by themselves or with a matte color. The sizes of the shadows are pretty large although I am not sure how deep they are.

Overall, I would recommended this pallet. It has many colors that my other pallets do not contain. The colors are very bright (you can't even tell from this picture.) And even though not all the colors are amazing, you still get many that are good, especially for the price. Sadly, Target no longer carry this item, but you can find it on eyeslipsface.com.

Goodluck! :) 

Twilight Woods

I am in love with Bath and Body Works and one of their new scents which is Twilight Woods. Not only do I love the name of the scent, the smell it's is gorgeous and long lasting. Because of this, I decided to pick up a bottle of room spray in Twilight Woods during the Black Friday.

I have tried many room sprays,candles and even oils but Bath and Body works carries some of the best kinds.

All you need is one tiny spray of this to make an entire room smell amazing.

How to Hide Bad Bangs

If you did not already know this, I am on a very tight budget. Because of this, I cut my own hair. I do this because I hate going to a over priced salon and sometimes not even getting the cut that I wanted.

Sadly, you are bound to mess up occasionally.

I gave myself a bad layer and bad bangs back in December and am now waiting for it to grow it.

If you ever have bad bangs do not cut it shorter to try to make it look better. This will not help. You will have hurt yourself even more because you will have to wait even longer for the hair to grow out. Instead go to a store ( I personally love Claire's) and purchase a few clips. Using the clips to pin the bangs to the side and decorate your hair. It is most likely that people will be too busy complimenting your clips to notice your hair. 

Nail Polishes!

I figured I would show a picture of some of my polishes.

This is only a small amount of what I have. I tend to keep my more expensive/favorites/recently used polishes in this little basket which is super cute. I also threw so many out when I moved which was a huge mistake. I am hoping to get a big collection again

Moonlight Path

I have so many perfumes from many stores and different brands.

There are very few scents that I actually re-purchase time and time again.

Moonlight Path is one of them.

Moonlight Path is a bath and body works scent. I love how you can have a lotion,body butter,shower gel, body spray, perfume,shampoo/conditioner, room spray or even candle in this scent. 

This is one scent that I hope the store will never discontinue.

I picked up this cute little set during the black Friday sell for only $7. It contains a travel size lotion and a small bottle of perfume which will last me forever. Body and body works does not usually sell small bottles usually and their big bottles are too pricey for me so I was very happy to make this purchase.

Nails of the Week by - ORLY

I was so happy when I got a coupon for a free bottle of ORLY polish from Ulta. 

I went to the store as soon as I could to pick up my bottle of free polish.

Sadly, you could only choose from 3 different colors ( a blue, a sliver, or a pink)

When looking at the bottles, I was not amazed by any of the colors but I could not pass up the free polish so I decided to use my coupon to the the blue.

I do not regret the decision at all.

The Color that I choose is shade 40662 known is It's up to blue.

The only reason I did not like the color at first was because of the way that it looked in the bottle. I don't know why, but it just did not appeal to me strongly.

Boy, was I wrong. After using this polish, I would have to say that this is one of my favorite colors ever. I have worn this for the past week and received so many compliments on it at work from both men and women.

When applying the color, the polish goes on very well. Even after one coat, I had a nice vibrant color. The color seems to shimmer in the sunlight and has overall greatly improved my opinion of the ORLY brand. The color also wore very well. I only had some wear on the tips after several days and that is all

You can see how amazing the color looks from this picture.I actually took this one with my cell phone which proves how vibrant the color really is!

True Grit Movie Review

There have been many mixed reviews over this movie by critics and viewers a like.

I was a bit skeptical to see this because of that, but who can say no to a free movie?

I saw this movie with my boyfriend a few days ago.

I am a big movie buff and will watch about any movie there is. I would not usually go to the theater to see a western though. I used to go to the movies once a week but now I just go if there is something I can't live without seeing.

True Grit was a good movie (even for a western.) It was full of action that keep you entertained and I loved the character of Mattie Ross. They kept referring to her as ugly in the movie but I don't think she is ugly at all.

Although this was I movie that I enjoyed, I can understand the mixed reviews. The movie was much different than I expected. The trailer "suggests" certain things that never come to play in the actual film. In addition, this movie ended VERY abruptly (which is another complaint most people have)

Even though this movie has it's downfalls, it was still enjoyable to watch. If you have the money, I would definitly suggest that you can and see it or you can just wait until it is available to rent. Either way, you should still check it out :) 

Favorite Hair Products

I have tried many hair products over the years and over time I have found two products that work really good and are surprisingly very cheap. 

The first product is a great product for everyone, even those with over processed hair. The product is Garnier Fructis: Leave in Conditioning Cream. Not only is this a great leave in conditioner but it also works as a styler as well. Sadly, I have some horrible layers in my hair. I use this to keep them from sticking up by applying a bit to my hands and simply pushing the layers down. I run the product all through my hair to smooth it out and condition it. After applying the product, you can also "tousle" your hair to achieve a cute look.

Another product that works really good is Got2B : Smooth Operator Hairspray. Finally, a hair spray that does not make your hair feel gunky. I spray this on my hair daily to make it shine and control frizz and pesky hairs. I also use this when I pull my hair up for work. 

Both of these products are great for every day use and will not leave your hair gunky at all!

Dark Smoky Eye Tutorial

What You Will Need

1) Eye Primer

2) Black Gel Liner

3) Black Eye Shadow

4) Grey Eye Shadow

5) White Eye Shadow

6) Lash Primer

7) Mascara

8) Eye Liners

How to Get The Look

1) Use primer to prim your eyes by rubbing it onto your lids and up towards your eye brows

2) After your eyes are primed, take a black gel liner and put it onto a eye liner brush. Draw a line across the crease of your eye and cover your lid below the line with the liner.

3) Next, you will need to use a MATTE black eye shadow. To apply your shadow, gently pat it over the gel liner that you just applied using the line you drew as a stopping point.

4) Then take a grey shadow ( it does not have to be matte) and apply it above the line you drew.

5) Then take a white eye shadow and apply it to the corner of your eye in order the make your eyes "pop"

6) After you are done with your shadows, prime both your top and bottom eye lashes with lash primer.

7) Apply mascara to your lashes to darken your look.

8) Finally, use a vibrant black eye liner to line your eyes and you are finished! :)

The Finished Look

Should look something like this 

Christmas Glosses

Sadly, I have the hardest time with lip products mainly because I do not like them. 

I hate the way the majority of lip products feel on my lips.

Instead of lip gloss lip sticks, I usually prefer a chap-stick that has a slight color to it.

Even though I do not like lip glosses, I am constantly purchasing them because there are some that I like.

For Christmas, I got two lip glosses from my grandma that are decent.

I tried them out the other day for work and was happy to discover that they are not THAT sticky and when used together they create a nice natural look. Sadly, they quickly wear off like most lip glosses I come across. I have yet to get a lip primer :-/ 

But as you can see, I got a nice pretty look. Ignore my bad looking skin. The Macro setting on my camera makes my skin look horrid.

If you are looking for these lip glosses, the one on the left can be pictured at Ulta I believe. And of course Burts Bee's is sold at most places.

How To Improve Your Beauty Collection

When it comes to your make up collection, both quality and quantity do matter.

These simple tips will hopefully help you improve on your collection.

1) RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH

- Weather you are interested in a product that just came out or just wanting to try something new, it is very important to research. The easiest ways to research are too look up products on a make-up site (sephora.com or ulta.com) or you can also Google them on you-tube if you wish. I never go to the store to make a purchase without doing my research first.

2) CLEARANCE 

- Even if you aren't on a strict budget, it is also a good idea to check out clearance make-up when at the store. Target usually offers pretty good clearance but I have to say that Ulta has the best clearance selection overall. Stores like Ulta are constantly changing their products and therefore, they are always doing markdowns. I have gotten some of my favorite items from Clearance. When looking in clearance, please try to avoid going crazy like I have done in the past. What I like to do is put everything I like into my basket and then once I am done, I will decide how much I want to buy and sort through my basket to eliminate stuff that isn't all that great.

3) STOCK UP

-Personally I always like to stock up when stores are having sales or a good clearance. Be sure to only stock up on things that you know you will use (foundation,powder,blush, concealer). Products can be several years old and still be okay to be used as long as they are not opened. If you stock up on good deals, you will have more money to buy the products you want to try (eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip gloss, etc) 

4) MAKE FREQUENT PURCHASES

-If you can't tell, I like to purchase a lot of new products. Having a new product that works well can do wonders for your look. You should figure out how often you would like to go shopping. For me, I like to go about 2x-3x a month. I go when I have a Ulta coupon and only end up spending about $8 each time. This may not sound like much but I do get a lot for my money.

5) SAVE!

- I don't care how you do it, but you need to save your money. You can choose to set a side a certain amount a money or just hold on to your loose change like I do. Even saving your pennies adds up (trust me!) For the past week, I made it a goal to save all of my tip/change money just to see how much I got. I had almost $40 which would last me quite some time.

Dieting 101 - 5 Simple Tips to Help YOU Lose

I figure that a lot of people have dieting issues, just like I do and I figured I would share a few simple tips that have worked for me both in the past and present.

1- Eat Healthy

How do you eat healthy?

- Before going to the grocery store, make a list. Make sure you are very detailed in what you will be getting and stick to the list. (If you have trouble with this, I would only suggest bringing a certain amount of money with you) Also, do not over buy. The more food you have, the more you will want to eat. 

What can I eat that is healthy?

-If you like to cook (which I do not), you should buy lots of lean meats/fruits/veggies. If you are a cook, I would suggest purchasing a cook book or looking online for yummy recipes. 

-If you do not like to cook, do what I do. Buy Lean Cuisine or Smart one meals. Fruit, yogurt,veggies, and cereal are also nice to have. Either way you should have lots of protein and try to stay away from bread even though its so yummy.

2 - Set Goals

- In order to lose weight, you need to have goals. You can have a weekly goal or even a long term goal. For example, I have decided that I want to lose AT LEAST 6lbs by March. Having a goal helps you see the progress that you are making ( I have already lost about 1.b lbs in just a few days)

3 - Don't Limit Yourself

- Your diet will never succeed if you limit yourself too much. You will be starved/bored within a week and give up.  I am a junk food addict and what I usually do is buy one unhealthy meal and one unhealthy snack when I go to the store. If, for the week, most of your meals are healthy and well balanced, it is okay to have a unhealthy meal. 

4 - Know Your Limits

- Don't believe the doctor's charts, every body has their own limit. Once you reach your limit, it will be harder and harder for you lose. It is hardest for people who are not fat and only want to lose a few IBS. If you are having trouble losing, try mixing up what you are eating. As your body adjusts and gets used to what you are consuming it'll be harder for you to lose.

5 - DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF! 

- This is the most important role to dieting. You must eat! If you cut back your food too much, you will lose weight but you will never be able to keep it off unless you continue to starve yourself. Even on a diet, you should have three meals a day, plus snacks! Two snacks a day should be sufficient but three is just fine as well.You will feel hungry at first but as long as you are eating, you will be just fine.

** If you can't eat that much a day, don't stress over it. I know I shouldn't say this but I usually do not eat that much a day but that is due to my work schedule. I usually get off at such a time that the meal that I eat is a lunch/dinner and I am not often able to snack at work.**

Rimmel Cosmetics

I must say that Rimmel is one of my favorite brands.

I recently started using their " Fix and Perfect" primer again (pictured left.) I think that this is my second favorite primer next to Smash Box, which is not affordable at all. The only down-side of this foundation is that it only comes in one shade. The shade works fine for me but I am not sure how it would work for those who are lighter skinned.I actually prefer a tinted primer like this because it really helps even out your skin tone.

Next, I finally used my "Stay Matte" foundation. I have had this product for a while but have not used it. I have been trying to use other foundations because I seem to have a million in one that are half empty.

I really like this foundation. It is creamy yet it does help matte the skin. I noticed reduced shine on my forehead and nose. I still have some shine and have to use powder through out the day, but I have yet to find a product that actually does everything it says.

I was very happy that this color (201, Classic Beige) seemed to work really good on me. I always seem to have the hardest time finding the right color. 

I would recommend these both, especially the primer because not many of the cheaper brands carry foundation primer.

*Just a note : I would not suggest using a foundation brush for these products because of their thickness. I would recommended a sponge or just using your fingers! :) *

FLIRT!

I used to work at Kohl's and while working there, I learned some things about their make-up lines. 

First of all, all of the make up carried at Kohl's Beauty Counters are made by the same company that makes Estee Lauder. 

What does this mean?

All of the make-up at Kohl's should be high quality and will cost you way less than Prestige Brands. 

Kohl's has several lines of make-up that they carry but my favorite brand would have to be FLIRT! I enjoy flirt because of the color selections that the brand offers. All of the colors are "hip" and seem to be very pigmented. Also, the products are packaged very nicely.

This is an eyeshadow by FLIRT! All of the pressed eye shadows should look like this and they should be called "Dream Eye-Shadow". The brand also carries "mousse" type eye shadows but I prefer either pressed or loose powder. 

This is what the outside of the shadow looks like. Excuse the dirtiness, I have had this shadow for some time but only really started using it a lot recently because my shirt for work is green.

To open the shadow, you slide it open and this is what you get in the inside. I love the way that it opens and the fact that you get your own little mirror is AMAZING.

As you can see, you get a lot of shadow. It is much bigger than most brands see and it is very reasonable for only $12. Also, if you shop at Kohl's often, you know that they are always doing shopping passes and coupons. 

Revlon Golden Affair Blush

I figured that I would review the blush that I wear almost daily. Most days, I wear Revlon Golden Affair Sculpting Brush in Shade 430 which is "Rose Rapture."

I have had this product for AT LEAST a year and I have no hit bottom yet, which is very good. 

It is a very pretty color and I love the golden circles in it that give you the perfect blush yet bronzed look. 

Unfortunately, the blush is/was limited edition and is no longer in stores. You may purchase it online though through amazon. 

Revlon is more expensive than other "drug-store brands" but many of their products are comparable in quality to Urban Decay, Too Faced, Smash Box, etc.

I hope this helps you out.