Pretty Peepers: Smashbox Eyes Have It!

Hey Beauties!

This week I've been playing with my Smashbox toys for eyes and I've found some brand new keepers and a couple of items with the potential to line the trash can if they don't pass some new trial runs. I have to apologize for the lack of pictures...I took pictures, but technical difficulties have gotten the best of me this week. :-(

Photo Finish Lid Primer - This little tube has me questioning my loyalty to Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer Potion...Gasp!! What it has that the UDESPP doesn't have is that it acts as a sort of concealer for the eyelid. It dries more completely and manages to cover any visible veins and darkness on my lids. I was able to blend eye shadows more smoothly and they stayed put all day. I think I may have a new fav! A+

Eye Beam Double-Ended Brightener - When I first looked at this double-ended pencil, I wasn't sure it was something I'd be using. I have the Photo Op Under-eye Brightener, and highlighters for the brow area, so why do I need this? WELL, the beauty of this handy little tool is the point of the pencil makes it very easy to precisely highlight the inner corner of the eye without getting the rest of the area messy. It also allows a precise application just the under brow. The "eye" end of the pencil is a slightly pink shimmer and the "brow" end is a pale gold shimmer. After practicing a few times, at least the brow end is quite useful. My only issue with the eye end is the shimmer...fine lines abound in my inner eye area...not a great look. I like to use a pale matte eye shadow in that area but younger eyes may like the shimmer better. B-

Cream Eyeliner in Black Plum - I really like the soft but not too soft texture of this eyeliner. It went on smoothly, even underneath my upper lashes, and stayed on all day. I love the Black Plum color also...purple, but dark enough to be grown up and not too flashy. And the bonus is, I haven't had a good purple/plum liner because I hadn't found one I liked...now I have one! A

Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner in Midnight Purple - I really, really wanted to love this liner. The color is great and it is waterproof! The first day I put it on, I used it under my upper lashes with a touch of pale eye shadow for a casual day. Within about an hour, it started flaking off into my eyes and it continued the whole day! I was miserable! The second time I used it, I put it on the top side of my upper lashes (with the cream liner underneath!) and it was just fine. The texture of this liner is very firm and sort of dry...been in the warehouse too long?? As long as I use a larger brush (MAC 209) to apply it, it is workable, but the small liner brush (MAC 208) just can't pick up any product. If I can't make this work, I'll stick with the creme liner. C+

Waterproof Shadow Liner Duo in Ideal Eyes - I wasn't quite sure what to do with this stuff when I got it. It is in a little compact, but it has a small plastic cover over the product inside. One side is a creamy pale gold, the other is an ashy brown. A liner/shadow brush was included in the set to use with this product, but it was a bit large and not pointy enough for the liner and shaped funny for shadow: I have other plans for this brush. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with cream shadow anyway, so my less than glowing experience just means I haven't messed with it enough. This product comes in other colors that may seem more useful to me...maybe I'll try one of those, but I'm keeping my mind open on this one. B

Glamoureyes Hazel Eye Shadow Quad - This is one of those products that only comes in a set and it comes in several eye colors: blue, brown, green, and this one, hazel. The hazel version includes a pale gold satin, a lavender taupe matte, an olive green shimmer and a very dark slightly shimmered dirty plum. I have been using the pale gold quite a lot and the green is very nice with it. I like the lavender taupe with the dark plum, but the plum is a little bit hard to blend compared to the other colors. Depending on the shade of hazel your eyes are, either the cooler purples or the warmer gold/green will make your eye color pop...mine look great with the purples because they are a greenish blue with a little dark gold around the iris. My sister has yellow green hazel eyes and the gold/green combo is striking. A-

And last but not least, my favorite and oddly enough the only real freebie in the bunch:

Eye Shadow Trio in Head Shot - These are my new favorite shadows for everyday or casual wear! Pale gold and beigey-pink shimmers and a velvety chocolate brown matte make for a nice natural, easy wearing combination. These shadows are extremely long wearing and stay true all day. Ding, ding, ding! I think we have a winner!! A+

Coming up: Mascara Madness!

Until next time, Stay Beautiful!

Suz

FOTD: A Few of My Favorite Things!!

Hey Beauties!

I hope everyone had a restful holiday weekend!

I was rummaging through my makeup drawer and decided to do a blog about my favorite products. These aren't current favorites (those can change daily!!), they are more like all time favs. They aren't in any particular order, so let's take a look!

Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer Potion - This stuff is worth it's weight in gold! A swipe on each eyelid, spread around with a fingertip, apply your shadow and it won't budge for the whole day (and night if you don't wash it off!). It comes in two versions, the original, sort of a transparent off white that pretty much disappears on your lid, and the newest version, Sin, a shimmery pale gold-beige (same as eyeshadow with same name) to use as a base color. The cute little genie bottle has been accused of making it difficult to get the stuff out after a while...here's a hint: when it seems like it is almost gone, take out the swiping stopper thingy. There is A LOT more in there!! Wouldn't do my eyes without this stuff! The price is right for making eye makeup stay on...$17 at Sephora.

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm - Best lip balm I've ever used. Period. It goes on smoother than ChapStick and smells like peppermint. In the winter, when my lips get so dried out, this is the only thing that will heal them. I wear it to bed every night and use it under lip gloss, lipstick, etc. and on its own. I love that it has coconut oil, peppermint oil and vitamin E and costs about $3 at drugstores and discount stores.

MAC Eye Shadows - Yes, all of them. They are very highly pigmented resulting in excellent color payoff. The range of colors and finishes is just amazing for $14.50 at MAC stores and counters or maccosmetics.com. I have more MAC shadows than all the others put together...probably because they were the first ones I started to collect!

Bobbi Brown Corrector and Concealer - I have the darkest most permanent circles under and around my eyes, due only to heredity...mom, dad and sis all have them too. I feel like I have tried every concealer out there (not true, but I have a drawerful that might appear so), so when I took the plunge and tried the BB Corrector, recommended for really dark circles, with the Concealer, I found my Holy Grail concealers. Granted they are expensive by my standards at $22 for each one at bobbibrowncosmetics.com, but I tried others when my first containers ran out, and probably spent 3 times that on concealers that didn't even come close. So I caved and got the best. Never. Going. Back.

Bare Escentuals Brow Color - My eyebrows aren't that bad...maybe a little sparse, but I've spent the last couple of years getting them to the shape I want. I use different brow products here and there, but my every day go-to product is this brow powder. It is fast, fills in and still manages to look natural. AND, it is very reasonably priced at $11 at Sephora.

NARS Blush - It sounds like such a cliche, but really, this is the best blush!! It isn't all flyaway powdery, and it goes on like silk. It lasts forever, and has such awesome colors, like the iconic Orgasm. My personal fave is Deep Throat. Time to empty the piggy bank to shell out the $25 for it at Sephora!!

Smashbox Artificial Light Luminizing Lotion - My skin used to be all peaches and cream when I was growing up (yeah, I was one of those). But after 40, it started looking dull and kinda dead. That's where this luminizing lotion makes a difference. Sometimes I like to mix it with my primer and put the foundation on top, but I've also mixed it into my liquid foundation for nighttime looks. I've found it works to put it on before mineral powder foundations too. So if you are in that 40-something or older group and your skin is looking tired...try this stuff: $24 at Sephora.

These are really the only things I could come up with that I hadn't changed in a long time! I love trying new products, so if you have any suggestions, add your comments below!

Until next time, Stay Beautiful!!

Suz

MAC Fall 2009 Collection

I had the opportunity this weekend to have my makeup done by a makeup artist at our local MAC counter using the new Fall '09 collection, MAC Makeup Art Cosmetics (maccosmetics.com). It was such fun! I really like all of the makeup artists at our counter. We had fun rocking to the Black Eyed Peas while Jen did my face.

This is one of the more versatile collections I've seen in a while. The collection is in three parts, each with it's own artwork by a separate artist (check out the website above to view the videos of each artist and how they interpreted their part of the collection).

The first artist (and my personal fav!) is Richard Phillips. Here are the products in his group:

Notoriety: Skintone 1-Light White Pink, Skintone 2-Dirty gold, Notoriety-Dirty Brown with Gold Pearl, Rich and Earthy-Rich Coral Bronze (bought this one!) Notoriety looks almost matte in this picture, but it is definitely not...it has a nice gold pearl in it. This whole quad is pretty sparkly. I probably won't wear them all together, but mixed in with some matte textures. The Rich and Earthy color goes really well with Beauty Burst from the MAC Loves Barbie collection a few years ago.
Photo Realism: Photo Realism-Gold Shimmer with Gold Pearl, Fresh Approach-Cool Mint Green, Image Maker-Dirty Grey Green, Grey Range-Deep Blue Green (bought this one too!) I totally love this quad. I don't even wear much green, but these colors are so soothing and beautiful together that I just had to try them. This is the quad used in my makeover. Stunning.

My eyes done with this quad:

In the Gallery: Lightfall-Pale Pink, Look at the Eyes-Light Violet, In the Gallery-Dirty Blue Pink, Private Viewing-Deep Brown Plum. These colors are very pretty and I love purples because they make my eyes look really green, but I didn't buy it because the cool palette I got from last Christmas's collection is all pinks and purples too and I thought I had enough of those!(for now)

Lipglass: Young Thing, New Spirit, On Display, Personal Taste. Didn't buy any of these, but they are all simply gorgeous and have that yummy vanilla scent!

Lipsticks: Front Lit, Full Body, High Strung (bought this too!) , Hold the Pose, Lovin It. I don't usually go for light, frosty lipsticks, but when I use High Strung with a pale pink lip liner underneath, it is wonderful and goes so well with the smokey green eyes from the makeover!

Powder Blush: The Perfect Cheek (It is! Of course I bought it too!), Notable. MAC blushes are just luscious. This one, The Perfect Cheek, is a matte and goes on like silk. And it creates the perfect cheek!

Mascara: Plush Lash

The second artist is Maira Kalman. I didn't try any of these because I wasn't in the market for the bright colors...but the yellow (Crest the Wave) eyeshadow did catch my eye! The products this group are bright clear colors:

Eye Shadows: Crest the Wave, Maira's Mood, Violet Trance, Purple Shower, Off the Page, Haunting. These colors are so pretty! Of course you wouldn't wear them all at the same time (geez I hope not!) but they would be very nice as an accent color or a sheer wash of color. I have the Haunting color from the Alexander McQueen collection from last year.

Technakohl Liners: Artistic License, Graphblack, Full of Fuchsia, Obviously Orange, Colour Matters. I love Technakohl liners, but I've never really gotten into bright colored liners (maybe I should try it!). I think these would create some fun faces for Halloween maybe?

The third artist is Marilyn Minter. I do like pigments and have several, including the Cocomotion in this group. You know how I feel about glitter! 'Nuff said! The pigments and glitters in this group are:

Pigments: Brash & Bold, Push the Edge, Cocomotion, Heritage Rouge

Glitters: Gold, Reflects Copper, Reflects Rust, Fuchsia

Clear Gloss: I think the artist used this with the glitters in this group, but this stuff is great by itself!

My new picture is me with the Photo Realism quad, The Perfect Cheek blush, Blacktrack Fluidline, Very Black Cover Girl Lash Blast mascara (that's a review for another day) and a mauve lip liner with High Strung on top, all of it done by me. When my mom saw me after I had my makeup done, she said, "They didn't do it any better than you do!" Thanks Mom!!

Coming up next week: Arbonne cosmetics! I love their products but have never tried the makeup. I'm going to try their powder mineral makeup!