ELF Angled Eyeliner Brush

Hello there! I am terrible when it comes to lining my eyes. When it comes to lining my upper lash line I make such a mess, and I get impatient with my clumsy hands. Liquid liner looks great, but I just can't use it unless it's in a felt tip pen. I don't like pencil liner on my lids because it gets too smudgy. The perfect formula for my eyes is gel or cream eyeliner. It lasts through heat, glides on my lids easily, and is just overall easier for me to apply. What makes applying gel liner easier is the brush that you choose. I've always used my EcoTools bamboo angles brush. But for some reason, it went all wonky on me! Some of the bristles strayed out of line, so I tried to cut them off, but failed. The brush is still functional, but not as nice as it was. I plan to pick a new one up soon. Until then, I decided to give the Elf Angled eyeliner brush a try. Here's what it looks like:

I feel like the amount of brush from the bend is slightly shorter on this brush than other bent angled brushes I've seen. But for the most part, I feel like I can really control how I line my eyes with this brush. With my EcoTools, I felt like I wasn't controlling the precision of my line as well as the Elf brush. I feel like the Elf brush takes a bit longer to line with, but you get a very precise line.

Here is what my EcoTools brush currently looks like:

You can see the short, chopped off bristles on the top of the brush. I will be repurchasing another one of these brushes for lining my eyes, and I'll use this brush for filling in my eyebrows.

Here are what the brush strokes look like from the brushes:

Physicians Formula Gel Liner Trio for Brown Eyes- Espresso Brown
Left: 2 lines using Elf brush
Right: 1 line using EcoTools brush

As you can see, the Elf brush leaves a less concentrated line, so it's best to go back over it either with more liner, or an eye shadow. Which, I always top my eyeliner with eye shadow anyways to give a less shiny look. The EcoTools brush leaves a wide, messy line.

The gel eyeliner I'm currently using is the Physician's Formula Gel Liner Trio for Brown eyes. It comes with an espresso brown, eggplant purple, and a black with purple glitter. I'm considering purchasing the Maybelline Eye Studio gel liner because I've heard it's comparable to Bobby Brown or Mac eyeliner. 

A Christmas Mani: Rudolph & Candy Cane Nails

Hello, lovelies! I'm very excited to share my Christmas manicure with you! I'm usually very bad at nail art. I don't have steady hands, I get impatient with the drying time, and when I mess up, I just quit. But I managed to do these cute nails the first time! I was inspired by CutePolish on youtube. She did a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer nail tutorial and a candy cane tutorial. I decided to do my own rendition of her designs! I think they turned out super cute! I took so many pictures of them because they are just too cute. Click on the images to enlarge, and if you want to know how I did this, check out CutePolish's youtube channel! I'm bad at explaining things...LOL
(Please excuse my icky cuticles and the messy polish on the sides of my nails...I forgot to clean them up before photographing!)

Here are the products I used to create these cute nails:

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Mocha

Wet N Wild Wild Shine in Red Red and Hallucinate

LA Colors Top/Base coat and Art Deco pens in Black and White

A closer look at Hallucinate

On the rest of my nails, I did red tips w/ glitter.

Rudolph!

Candy Cane!

This look can be done on shorter nails, like mine. But I think it'd be much easier on longer nails. Just do whatever works for you!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Have a very merry Christmas!!

=)

ELF Little Black Beauty Book

Hello, lovelies! I have a bunch of swatches to share with you! I purchased the Elf Little Black Beauty Book Volume I from Target a few months ago. It's originally $5, but I got it for $3...that's a steal! When I bought this, I knew it was risky. Elf products are either really amazing, or incredibly cheap. Luckily, this baby is quite amazing! 

It comes in a leather case, that opens up to reveal 48 gorgeous eyeshadows. My case doesn't fully snap shut, which is a concern for when I travel....but it has held up pretty well so far. The shadows are about the size of a thumb nail, maybe a bit larger.(depending on the thumb!!) This palette is primarily neutral colors with a few vibrant and bright colors. The pigmentation is pretty wonderful. There are different finishes: some are shimmery, satin, matte, and metallic. There are 2 shadows that have actually glitter in them, but it isn't a bothersome kind of glitter, just very sparkly!


Now, bring on the swatches! I hope you can follow this...I swatched each row going down the palette. There are 12 pictures with 4 shadows in each. Click on the pictures to get a closer look! Please note, I did not use any sort of primer...these shadows are that pigmented!

row 1: golden yellow, light bronze, light sand, glittery sand

row 2: light taupe, deep grey sand, cream, bronze brown

row 3: orange, taupe, burnt orange, deep brown

row 4: light orange, bronze, sandy cream, bronze brown

row 5: coppery red, red, light grey, dark charcoal

row 6: white golden shimmer, light taupe, pink, dark berry shimmer

row 7: brown, emerald green, sage green, sandy nude

row 8: light green, turquoise, dark green, greenish brown

row 9: chocolate brown, goldish green, copper, puke green(ew)

row 10: shimmery orange, peach, coral, dark brown

row 11: brown, sandy grey, taupe, cream

row 12: bronze, purple, blue, gold

Hope you enjoyed the swatches! I don't think you'd regret picking this up! Anytime I travel somewhere, I throw this in my makeup bag, and no other shadows. This has all of the eye shadows I'd need.

FX Surf Head Sea Salt Texture Paste

Hello, lovelies. I have a review on one of the items from my haul post. I bought this stuff because over the summer, I watched a bunch of bubzbeauty's hair tutorials on how to get wavy hair and what not. She always used some sort of "Sebastian clay" and said you could use any texture paste to add volume and define waves. Well, I wanted some defined, voluminousness waves!

The first thing I like about this paste is the bright colors. I love bright packaging because it just makes my plain white bathroom slightly prettier! But the overall best thing about this paste.....IT SMELLS AMAZING! I swear, I wish I had a perfume that smelled like this. It smells like a mixture of beachy goodness. The sea salt really gives it a great scent. It isn't too overbearing, but it's just enough for me.

I wasn't entirely sure how to use this. I've only used it for 2 purposes:
-When I put my hair in a top knot, i usually have wispy pieces that hang out on the sides of my face, so I use   this paste to tame the wispies! It does a nice job of keeping them straight and out of the way.
-When I curled my hair (I wanted to create waves, so I wrapped my hair around the barrel of my curling iron, just like a hot wand) I rubbed the paste in my hands and kind of scrunched my hair. I noticed slight definition in my curls. I also noticed a glorious beachy smell when I tousled my hair....

What I didn't like about this paste was that it made my hair feel kind of gross. Maybe it's supposed to do that? I have no clue what a paste is supposed to feel like....but I guess it felt normal for a paste? I think it worked the way it was supposed to, I just wasn't too fond of the feeling of my hair. It made my hair heavier. I only really use this stuff to tame the wispies!

I think this stuff is a great product for styling hair especially if you want a beachy, messy look. It'll really help you achieve that, but beware, your hair will feel icky!

Maybelline Stylish Smokes Eyeshadow Quad in Natural Smokes Eye Look

Hello, Lovelies. I posted a haul blog yesterday, and in it I had many Maybelline products. The first one I'm going to share with you is the eyeshadow quad in Natural Smokes. This quad has a creamy highlight color, shimmery taupe, shimmery bronze, and a dark matte grayish brown color. I've wanted this quad for a while now, but never picked it up because I own so many neutral eyeshadows. I own many colors similar to the ones in this quad, but I don't regret this purchase at all. These are greatly pigmented, gorgeous shades. I did two different eye looks using this quad. They look pretty similar, but one has a more darkened, defined crease. Here are the pictures, sorry they are blurry!

Maybelline Stylish Smokes Quad in Natural Smokes

base, lid, crease, liner

For the first look:

-Elf eye primer

-Cream lid color all over dusting over entire lid and brow area

-Shimmery taupe lid color all through crease

-Coppery crease color blended over taupe lid color.

-Matte grey brown lightly in outer corner & smudged under lower lash line

-White shimmery eyeshadow in inner corner

-Thin black cream liner on upper lash line, and black pencil liner on lower waterline

-2 coats of L'Oreal Voluminous False Fiber mascara and 1 coat on bottom lashes

For the second look:

-Elf eye primer

-Shimmery taupe lid color all over lid and smudged on inner lower lash line

-Coppery crease shade blended through crease

-Matte grey brown shade defined outer V and smudged on lower lash line

-Shimmery taupe lid color blended all colors together

-White shimmery eyeshadow in inner corner

-Thicker line on upper lash line with cream eyeliner and black pencil liner on water line

-2 coats of L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara and 1 coat on bottom lashes

Hope you enjoyed these really simple, natural, slightly smokey eye looks! I know that they look almost the same, but I just wanted to try out different ways to use the quad! =)

A Long, Overdue Haul!

Hello lovelies!(the 7 or so followers that might actually read my blog...) I haven't posted anything in about 4 months, courtesy of school. But here I am with a bunch of pictures of some beauty items I've picked up over the last few weeks. The majority of these items are from Walmart, but some of them I picked up at Target and Walgreens. These are my 3 favorite drugstores, ya know. Well, here are the pictures, and you can expect to see some reviews on them over the next few weeks after I try them out.

Elf Little Black Beauty Book($3), Elf Eyelash Curler($1),
 Elf Angled Eyeliner Brush($3) from Target

L'Oreal Voluminous False Fiber Mascara(free in the mail),
L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara($5.45) at Walmart

Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie($6.45) at Target

(On Right)Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Coral Reef($5.45) at Walmart

Wet N Wild ColorIcon Holiday Nail Polish in Diamond In the Rough($2.99) at Walgreens
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Polish in Strobe Light($2.99) at Walgreens

Maybelline Natural Smokes Quad($4.97), 

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder in Cream($6.94),

Maybelline Mineral Power Powder Foundation($8.94),and

 Maybelline Super Stay Liquid Foundation in Sand Beige($8.94) at Walmart

Ponds Makeup Remover Wipes($4.67) at Walmart

FX Surf Head Sea Salt Texture Paste(about $5.45) at Walmart

FX Moroccan Moisture Miracle Argan Oil($4.47)

Nivea A Kiss of Milk & Honey Lipbalm(about $2.48) at Target

Rave 4x Mega Hairspray by Suave($1.97) at Walmart