Dewy Summer Dreaming Makeup!

Hi hi hi!!

During the blizzard Windsor is currently experiencing, I'm thanking myself for booking this weekend off of work so I don't have to drive in this garbage. Unfortunately, it's Thursday, and I still have to go to work today. But that's only one trip of back and forth. And the roads I usually take should be cleared by the time I have to leave my house.

With all this glowing white shit falling from the skies, I decided to try to match my face to be on par with the glow. It's damn near impossible because snow is white and I don't want to look like a ghost, but for today's makeup, I went with a super dewy, super glowy 'natural'-ish look. I just wish it were the sun reflecting my glow instead of snow. But Southwestern Ontario is not that kind to me.

These are the products I used to create said dewy look. I went a little ham on the highlight, but whatever. For my shadow, I used the Physician's Formula Butter Bronzer. I also have lashes on, but I didn't take a picture of them before putting them on my face. They are the Stilazzi lashes in the style 962. I got them at IMATS September 2015 for $1!! They retail for $3 on the website, and they're reusable for a few times; if you take care of them properly.

I originally used 2 Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipsticks; in the shades Patina and Bellissima, but I have discovered that I actually hate the formula of them. They're extremely drying and settle into the fine lines of my lips and actually flake within a few minutes of setting. Granted, I don't really exfoliate my lips, but I think in general, I just prefer the feeling of a lipgloss or a satin finish lipstick to something so dry in finish. I press my lips together so often in a day that I can't afford to have to worry about the matte liquid lipstick transferring or flaking off.

And that's it!! It didn't take me as long as it normally does to do my makeup because there's nothing super intricate about it. I was actually inspired because I was watching YouTube videos (as I do every morning when I'm getting ready) of Katy (Lustrelux) during her trip to Hawaii with Tarte Cosmetics (#trippinwithtarte), and the glow on all the beautiful people that were lucky enough to go was divine. Really made me want to go on a trip. Like now. Especially because I'm sitting by the window watching the snow fall as I type this. Bah!

Thanks for reading!!
Bye Bye!

I'm Baaaaaaacccccckkkkkkkk!!!

Yep. It's been a while again. Is there a use in apologizing? Because I feel like I've been doing that quite a bit in my blogging lately because I'M A HORRIBLE BLOGGER!!! And I'm not afraid to admit it.

Yes, I've been working almost 50 hours a week. No, I haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to go shopping for makeup or to do product reviews. My days off are spent doing things I put off for the week so my weekends are usually jam packed with stupid adult things like grocery shopping and cleaning the house and laundry and all that garbage. I just want to play with makeup and express my views of everything and lay in bed with my cats.

But alas, I need to pay bills, so I need to work. But sometimes I have extra money, and I of course spend it on makeup. That obsession hasn't dwindled in the LEAST.

I moved on to my YouTube channel for a while, but I feel like my sister-in-law has gotten super annoyed with my going over once a month to use their iMac to edit my videos. So I haven't uploaded anything in at least 3 weeks, and I can't see another chance any time soon for me to have access to a Mac in order to continue editing. So I have decided that since I still want to share my love of all things beauty, I need to start blogging again. Especially if I want to consider myself a beauty blogger still. So until I save enough money to get my OWN iMac or MacBook, I have decided to return to actually typing about beauty products instead of just talking about them.

So get ready people! I'm back! :)

Talk to you soon!

Maybelline Palettes Review & Swatches

Hello beauties!!! 

Today I'm going to be sharing with you swatches and my thoughts on the Maybelline branded eyeshadow palettes!

I know I'm late to this train but better late than never right? 

I've had these palettes for quite some time, but if you know anything about me, then you know of my almost phobia of using anything brand new in my makeup collection. 

I sometimes feel like I should buy everything after someone else has swatched it (someone I know of course, and subsequently sanitized it), because then I'd be able to use it no problem. It's the initial 'ruining' of the product I'm afraid to do. 

So Maybelline came out with these palettes some time ago, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on all of them. They are: The Nudes, The Smokes, The Brights, and The Blushed Nudes. In my opinion, this is an attempt at trying to keep up with the high end brand Urban Decay. If you know the brand, these four palettes are what I think they're trying to compare Naked, Naked 2, Naked 3, and Electric to. 

For starters, we have The Nudes. 

The packaging leaves some to be desired. It's plastic with a window so you can see all the shadows. The shadows aren't very pigmented. I swatched everything over an eyeshadow base, and a few still aren't pigmented. In the least. On the eye they're a little patchy as well. Some blend better than others; about as well as you'd expect a drugstore brand eyeshadow palette to perform. 

Next, we have The Smokes. 

These are all extremely cool toned shadows. Which is not my forte or most desired type. The pigmentation on these is quite a bit better than that of The Nudes. A couple were patchy but not more than a few. These shadows would be perfect for someone who loves to do a smokey eye look with cool toned shadows or is even just starting out and can't afford a higher end palette. 

Next we have The Brights. 

This one is probably my favourite as pigmentation and colour payoff goes. As I said, all of these are swatched with an eyeshadow base. I didn't use anything special for these, just my Lorac primer, and I only had a pigment issue with one shade (the first one on the top left corner). I love that a couple neutrals were thrown in the mix too. There are enough that if you wanted to do a neutral look with a pop of colour, this would be the only palette you'd need. Or if you want to do a rainbow eye, you can create that as well. 

Lastly, we have The Blushed Nudes. 

This palette is the nicest packaging only because of the colour change. Instead of simple black, it's a beautiful rose tone that has what looks like swirls of different shades of pink and rose throughout it. This is much more reminiscent of the Urban Decay Naked 3 eyeshadow palette with the rosy and romantic tones. There were a few shades in this palette that lacked pigmentation and were patchy during swatching. There's a good mix of warm and cool toned shades, as well as finishes. You may not be able to create that many differing looks with this palette as the majority are very similar. Unless you use the top row of shades one day and the bottom row of shades the next day. 

All in all, these palettes aren't terrible. I like that I have all four of them to create as many looks as I want. They all have varying shades and finishes to be able to achieve a variety of looks that you desire. They're perfect for someone starting out in makeup and can't afford the higher end brands just yet. The price tag on them varies from store to store here, but they're around the $10-$14 range. 

That's all for today!!! Thanks so much for reading and I'll talk to you later!

Xoxo

Shelby :)