Daily Make-Up Brushes...

I got the whole $3 make up brush set from ELF 

and a travel set from MAC 

and 3 Toki Doki brushes 

and 3 Rock & Republic Cosmetics brushes 

and one Body Shop make up brush 

(I threw away the other two because they were too old and I couldn't clean them up), 

two Smashbox, 

one Tarte make up brush, 

and 2 Sephora brushes, 

and one Physcian's Formula brush 

and one eyeliner brush that came with L'oreal gel eyeliner, 

and two Sam Chapman Real Techniques brushes, 

one Sonia Kashuk blending sponge 

and two Laura Mercier sponges that came with the set, 

but I don't need all of them daily. 

So, I have 18 brushes that I use daily, 

the rest are in the make up brush bag of ELF.

The brushes I use are most ELF. I am using 6 of them actually.  

I am using ELF Complexion Brush, 

2 Blush Brush 

(I use one of them with my ELF Golden Bronzer for contouring my face), 

Concealer Brush, 

Small Smudge Brush 

(to smudge the eyeliner under my eyes), 

and Small Angled Brush for gel eyeliner.

Toki Doki Angled Blush Brush and Fluffy Brush from Pittura Brush Set Collection

Smashbox Travel Smudger Brush

MAC 212 Travel Brush

L'oreal gel eyeliner's brush

The Body Shop Flat Eye Brush

Sephora Short Smudge Brush

Revlon Lip Brush 

I carry it in my handbag

Eco Tools Kabuki Brush that I carry it in my handbag

From left to right

Real Techniques Kabuki Brush, 

ELF Kabuki Brush 

and

Sonia Kashuk Blending Sponge

Just Started Doing Make up and Want to Look Gorgeous?

First of all if you are planning to do a full make up...


--Clean your face and moisturize. 
Don't forget to use an eye cream.


Start with a primer. 


Then tinted moisturizer,foundation or powder/loose powder whatever you prefer


You have acne scars, scars, blemishes, freckles?


Use a pigmented concealer that will match your skin tone and has greens or salmon or purple color in it so it can cover whatever you want to hide.


Then...


Always contour your face with a matte bronzer.


Make a fish face and find your cheek bones and contour under that area.


Then color on top of your cheek bones lightly.


It's up to you what color you want. 


You can use mauve, pink, or coral


Finish with a finishing/setting powder to keep your make up in place during the day in case you sweat or your face gets oily


For you eyes....


Use clear or flesh color primer if you want to hide discoloration and to make your eye shadow stand out.


I never go out with out using eyeliner. 


If you have really dark and full eyelashes you may not need an eyeliner.


If you like color...


Use pigmented eye shadows in a small area.


Do not paint all your eye with one color up to your brow bone as if somebody gave you a blue eye.


Use white, golden or shimmery flesh color under your eyebrows and at the inner corner of your eyes. Your eyes will stand out.


Blend a brown or grey eye shadow in your socket to make your eye area bigger.


End with mascara. 
It's up to you what you want to achieve when choosing your mascara.


Do you want to look natural and have thick lashes or dramatic or just long lashes or curled lashes? 


You will decide...


Then brush your eye brows. 


What I hate the most is people brushing their eye brows down to make it look shaped nice.


It just makes me want to lick my thumb and brush their eye brows myself. 


Plug your eyebrows where it is needed and brush the way hair grows not down!


You may want to use a clear mascara to keep them in place.


If you have light color eyebrows or you have empty parts in your eyebrows use an eyebrow powder or a pencil.


When you are choosing a color for your eyebrows always go for a natural look!


Unless your eye brows are too light, do not choose dark colors!


It will only make you look angry and like some beast from Mars.


and....Viola! Your make up is done and you look perfect!




My personal favorites for full make up is....


Primer: Smashbox primer or L'oreal (As a cheap alternative)


Tinted Moisturizer: Hard Candy  tinted moisturizer 
-OR-
Foundation: Laura Mercier or Amway smart shade foundation (as a cheap alternative)


Concealer: Sonia Kashuk concealer agenda palette


Bronzer: ELF Golden Bronzer


Setting Powder: Tarte Smooth Operator 


Blush: Benefit Coralista Blush or ELF Candid Coral (As a cheap alternative)


Eyeliner: Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner or Physicians Formula (As a cheap alternative)


Eye Base: Mac Paint Pot Painterly or Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark Roller (As a cheap alternative)


Eye Shadow: Hard Candy or MAC or Maybeline or Lorac or R&R


Mascara: Dior Show Mascara or L'oreal Voluminous (As a cheap alternative)


Eyebrows: any clear mascara and NYC 923 Charcoal Brow/Eyeliner Pencil


If you get an eye infection (don't say ewww that would never happen to me, because it can happen even the best of us lol) don't do make up or after your infection is gone clean your eye brushes and throw away your mascara or you will bring back your eye infection!


Don't forget it is important to remove your make up and clean your face everyday in the morning and at night. So you won't get black heads, and it is important to get a facial once a month. If you can't you can do the same thing at home almost for free! :) 


XOXO
Lola

April Favorites...

April Favorites so far are;
No.7 Hot Cloth Cleanser,
No. 7 Toner,
Hello Kitty Apple Balm from Sephora.

When I first tried Hello Kitty Balm I wasn't impressed, 

and I was upset with myself for spending $9+tax on it just because it's Hello Kitty,

but it needed few applications to show its magic.

It's extremely moisturizing, 

the balm itself is soo soft and smooth and has a light flavor.

A little goes a long way and it's really tinted.

As far as foundation....

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation is my new favorite.

I was eyeing it for a while and when I received a %15 off card from Sephora,

I couldn't miss this opportunity.

However, my moisturizer is causing a problem.

Although it's full coverage and oil free,

my moisturizer or because I keep changing moisturizers

my skin can't decide what to do and how to react,

I get oil and shine on my T-zone,

which I wasn't having it before when I used my winter moisturizer, Dermalogica Skin Smoothing Cream,

and I realized I looked chalky when I applied it on Philosophy Supernatural.

I guess you need to apply a small amount of Supernatural to prevent that.

After I apply the foundation,

I just need a little concealer coverage on here and there.

Of course my skin improved a lot since February,

but full coverage also decreases your usage of concealer.

I apply on my foundation with a damp sponge,

so I don't need to use too much product.

I realized I use more when I use my hands to blend it in on my face and neck.

As far eye shadows....

I believe this is also a British brand; Pixi.

I am not sure what is the connection between the Youtube Make up Artist Pixiwoo sisters Sam and Nic

and this brand, but these are the best eye shadows I have ever touched.

It is so moisturizing, so velvety soft, so pigmented,

and it's quite expensive for a drug store product.

It's $14+tax.

You can find this at Target as well,

but even if you are not going to buy it,

just go to the store and touch the sample product at the Pixi counter.

Ahh can't complement this eye shadow enough.

I used drug store products, and high-end products like Dior, and Mac,

but none of these were so velvety soft like Pixi eye shadows.

Unfortunately, they don't have a wide range of color selection,

and all of the eye shadows are shimmery.

Another favorite of April is Vitamin E.

I had the liquid Vitamin E tubes for dark spots,

my mom got me these for the scar on my leg.

(Hot tea can be more painful than you can imagine!)

Personally I don't care about my scar,

so I only used half of a Vit E tube once,

and found it greasy,

and never used it before.

While chatting with my neighbor Mary she told me to use those also on my face,

for acne scars.

At first I was skeptical about it, because basically it's like oil.

Then one day I put it on my acne scars,

then I used it on my whole face,

even on my eyelids.

When I woke up in the morning,

my face was not shiny at all,

but it was sooooo soft.

After that I started using my liquid Vitamin E tubes on my face once a week.

It's quite hydrating as well,

and if my sensitive acne prone combination skin didn't react bad to liquid Vitamin E,

then I don't think it will affect any one.

I am even thinking to add one or two drops of Vitamin E in my Body Shop Strawberry Cream.

I could pick Coconut Body Butter for dry skin,

but I like the Strawberry Scent better, but it's for normal skin,

so it's not moisturizing enough for my legs.

It goes for three weeks maximum and I wait until they have another sale,

to stock on Strawberry Body Butter,

but it totally worth it.

I also got Sensual Amber and Twilight woods body butter, perfume and shower gel from Bath and Body Works.

They had buy 3 get 3 free.

So, I couldn't resist it,

and Twilight Woods is good for days when I don't want sugary or floray scents.

It's light and good for a day out doing errands.

However, it's my Victoria's Secret Tease Noir that gets compliments from every one.

It's so sugary, but elegant at the same time.

Another April purchase is the nail polishes I got from Ulta,

They had ''buy two get one free'' promotion,

and I was eyeing for few nail polishes for a while,

but I was not willing to spend $8 per nail polish.

With this promotion I got 7 nail polishes from Ulta,

one was at clearance,

and got 3 from Target,

they were also at the discount rack.

I must say Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polishes are really thick and the brush is chubby and big.

Overall, it makes the application difficult, and you use too much nail polish which makes you nails look like you have paste on it.

However, I combined my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue Away polish with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blizzard Blue which is a shimmery sheer blue color.

Result?

Shimmery teal color,

which is gorgeous!

Insta-Dri is too thick and Xtreme Wear is too runny. 

I think Sally Hansen has a long way too find the perfect texture for its nail polishes.

Before that,

I tried OPI Princess Rule,

it's a shimmery sheer light buble gum pink,

and it is gorgeous!

The pix will be coming soon,

but I can say that in terms of nail polishes,

I am ready for spring! :)

I got beautiful shades of pinks, blues, purples, and yellows.

MIA No More!

I know I know. I'm MIA for a while, but I didn't realize it until recently. 

Time really flies by! I know I said it before, probably I say it way too many times, but that's the truth.

Any ways I have new goodies to talk about!

I was planning to return a MAC eyeshadow and get something else instead. 

I am such an unsatisfied customer, I keep buying and returning stuff. 

Tara would be ROTFL right now if she was here. 

She knows what kind of a customer I am. 

She takes all the time in the world when she's buying something and in contrast to her most of the time I just buy and leave the store and... come back the next week to exchange it with something else LOL

So, I was wandering around the MAC counter and found the cutest pinkiest lipstick ever! 

i believe it's from their Quite Cute Collection or at least it was on the display with Quite Cute products. 

I wanted to buy it before I tried it because I tried so many blushes, eyebrow colors, eye shadows as eye brow colors that I felt guilty and felt like I gotta buy the next product I try. Lol Luckily the next product I tried was a lipstick and I fell in love with the color! 

It doesn't last on my lips, but I just loved the color and keep it on my desk so when I am working, so I can actually apply it on for the zillionth time. 

The name of the color is lustering. 

You gotta see and try out that color if you are into almost vivid pinks.

My second favorite of this month is my purple eye shadows. 

Lately I am having my purple phase again and these two purple eye shadows just compliment each other perfectly and I got so many compliments from my friends and my neighbor. 

I use Flash from Urban Decay. 

It says, it is a bright iridescent purple sheen color and 

I blend it with MAC Beautiful Iris and apply some Flash on my lower lashes and perfecto!

I received a card from Sephora saying that they will have a 15% discount for one week or so.I thought this is for everyone, but I think it was just for VIBs (Very Important Beauty Insider). 

I was wanting to be a VIB and now I am one! and I had no idea LOL, 

but I am not sure if I can benefit from it, because I don't know where I will be in a month or so. I might go back to Europe. We'll see.

I guess I told you I am taking better care of my skin lately and I am absorbing all the make up and beauty information like a sponge. 

I didn't realize how much little I knew until I improved my knowledge on the subject. 

Now, my skin looks better than ever, and my make up looks more natural than ever and last all day!

So, with my 15% of card I got Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation in the color Medium Ivory. 

I was eyeing this product for a while, but oh boy it's expensive! $42+tax. and 

I also got a 10% off coupon for my next purchase. 

Gotta love being a VIB! ;)

When I bought it on Sunday I had the same Christmas effect on me again. 

Unfortunately, on Monday I had only time to apply a tinted moisturizing primer and my eye liner. 

So, I tried the foundation today for the first time! 

At first I thought it was too yellow and I was unhappy, 

but I think it balances with your skin tone after few minutes, 

because it was looking better and more like my skin but without my acne scars. 

Then on top of it I used my Neutrogena Skin Clearing Blemish Concealer pen. 

(I think this is my 10th pen. I love this product and I hope I can still buy this product when I go back home.) 

The foundation has full coverage which is what I wanted. 

I used the Blending Sponge from Sonia Kashuk  so I didn't need to apply too much product and because of the full coverage and wet sponge application I didn't need to use too much concealer.

The result: Happy Customer, Lola! :)


(Posted on April 20, 2011)