Smashbox Studio Pop Eye Palette

I thought I'd do a review of the Smashbox Studio Pop Eye Palette I recently bought. The set comes with 16 eyeshadows and 4 cream eye liners. 

Eyeshadows (Left to Right, going top to bottom): Nocturnal, Lunar, Emerald, Nude, Vanilla, Obsidian, Champagne, Bark, Cinder, Pastel, Orchid, Flamingo, Smoke, Amethyst, 24k, and Nutmeg. The 4 eye liners are on the bottom row: Bronze, Royal, Picasso, and Nightlife.

The palette also came with four cards with different looks to try. There is an "Easy," "Intermediate," "Advanced," and "Pro" look.

I haven't had a chance to try all four of the looks yet, but I tried the "Pro" one, and  I did not like how it looked against my skin. 

Even though I am not over the moon about the look cards, I am delighted by the eyeshadows and liners. They are very creamy and pigmented. The colors also blend together very well.

(Left to Right): Nocturnal, Lunar, Emerald, Nude, Vanilla, Obsidian, Champagne, Bark, Cinder, Pastel, Orchid, and Flamingo

(Left to Right): Flamingo, Smoke, Amethyst, 24k, Nutmeg, Bronze (Eyeliner), Royal (Eyeliner), Picasso (Eyeliner), and Nightlight (Eyeliner)

Nocturnal is a deep navy blue, Lunar is a shimmery silver, Emerald is a shimmery green, Nude is a matte brown, Vanilla is a matte ivory, and Obsidian is a shimmery slate grey. Champagne is a light shimmery gold, Bark is a shimmery dark brown, Cinder is a shimmery light violet, Pastel is a matte light pink, Orchid is a matte dark purple, and Flamingo is a shimmery coral. Smoke is a matte dark grey, Amethyst is a violet with copper glitter, 24k is a shimmery gold, and Nutmeg is a shimmery bronze. The eyeliners Bronze is bronze, Royal is a deep purple, Picasso is a dark blue, and Nightlife is a shimmery black.

I was initially afraid the lighter colors wouldn't work on my brown skin, but after blending them with something slightly darker, they worked well as a base. For example, I mixed Pastel with Amethyst before using it as a base. I then used Amethyst on my lid and Orchid on the outer corner of my eye. I finished off the look with the purple eyeliner, Royal.

I love Pastel, Amethyst, and Orchid; they make a wonderful purple smokey eye. My favorite eye shadow was Obsidian. I was disappointed in Bark; it looked more black on my skin than it does in the pan. Also, Amethyst is less pigmented than the other eye shadows. For the eyeliners, I love Royal and Picasso. Bronze does not show up on brown skin very well. I'm on the fence about Nightlife: sometimes when I wear it, it looks like a normal grey eyeliner, and other times, it looks "black with multicolored pearl" as the description on Sephora's website says.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this palette. Sephora still has it on sale online for $39 so you should pick it up before it's gone!

Happy New Year everyone!!

-Anna

Holiday Nails!

I received 2 Sally Hansen nail polishes ("Big Money" from the Gems collection and Cinnasnap) as a gift and finally had a chance to use both of them together:

I love both colors, and they look great together. The brush for Cinnasnap was a little wide, which made it hard to paint my nails, but I love the color so much I'm definitely going to continue using it. Dark, vampy reds are in style now, and this one looks great.

I did the gradient using a makeup sponge. For the accent finger, I did one layer of "Big Money," one layer of Milani's "Gems," and another layer of "Big Money." I then did a flower on it in Cinnasnap. Here's another picture where you can see the flower better: 

Happy Holidays, everyone!! Stay Safe! :)

Beige and Gold Nails

My finals are over, and so I'm back! :)

I recently went to a semiformal banquet, and here's how I did my nails. I received the Sally Hansen Gems crush polish "Big Money" as a gift, and so I was excited to use it:

The base color was Julep's Kelly, and the dots were done using OPI Warm & Fozzie. I did these nails to match my dress:

                                                                      Image from Nordstrom.com       

Here's a tutorial:

1. Paint nails with base color. (Here, I used Julep's Kelly.)

2. After letting your nails dry for at least one hour, place tape diagonal on your nails.

3. Paint in your second color. (Here, I used Sally Hansen's Big Money.)

4. Remove the tape after about a minute. Let your nails dry completely.

5. Use a dotting tool (or the end of a bobby pin) to make a series of dots along the line where the two colors meet. The hardest part was making sure I did not overlap the dots too much. You may want to practice on a piece of paper so you know how close to make the dots.

6. Let dry and seal with a top coat!

Just a reminder, we're doing a Post Holiday/New Year's Giveaway of Stila makeup! There is now a picture of the items we are giving away: Stila's "Under the Mistletoe" palette and 2 Stila holiday lip glazes: Jingle, Joy, and Holly. Don't miss out!

Have a great week everyone!

-Anna

Post Holiday/New Year's Giveaway

So Anna recently went to the Stila warehouse sale where she got some awesome stuff for herself, me and several people on her Xmas list including....YOU!!!! That's right guys we have a new giveaway that will end Jan 31st. Enjoy!

The giveaway includes Stila's "Under the Mistletoe" palette with 3 of their holiday lip glazes (Left to right): Jingle, Joy, and Holly. The palette is an $85 value and Stila lip glazes sell for $22 each, so the entire package is valued at over $120!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


XOXO,
Haylee :)

Beauty Bar/Sample Society November 2012 Box

I am very excited to say that today I got my very first BeautyBar.com Sample Society Box! Yay!

A little bit about Beauty Bar, Sample Society, and the box:
As a subscriber, you pay $15 a month to get a year subscription to Allure magazine and a box delivered to your door featuring 5 sample size high end beauty products.

What I got in my box:
A coupon code
Mini Allure magazine with beauty tips
Diptyque eau de toilette in Volutes (0.06 fl oz/2ml valued at $3.11)
L'Occitane en Provence Dry Skin Hand Cream in Shea Butter (0.3 oz/10 ml valued at $1.62)
Dermalogica's Precleanse (1 oz/30 ml valued at $6.86)
Mini (and I mean MINI) lipstick in Satin Pink #29 by Diego Dalla Palma
Bamboo Smooth Kendi Oil Dry Oil Mist by Alterna(1 fl oz/30 ml valued at $5.71)
Total Value (without lipstick): $17.30
What I paid: $15.00----not a super great bargain in this box compared to Julep or some other boxes but they have some nice products and I got a bit more than what I paid for.

Reviews:

Mini Allure magazine-I was really excited about this and it was one of the selling points in the box for me. I like guides and tips on how to use my products and this definitely came through with what it had promised. The only problem I have with this is that the first page talks about the new trend of crimson lips whereas the actual box did not send users a crimson/deep red lipstick sample. The colors found in the boxes were a standard red, orange-pink, and a pale-ish pink. I can understand why Sample Society did this, however; most women might not like the "on trend" lip color especially in deep almost-black red.

Diptyque eau de toilette in Volutes-I LOVE this scent. The name is French and apparently means the smoke from a cigarette. I know that makes the scent sound horrible, but it is meant to evoke images of women on Titanic era ocean liners, elegantly dressed and smoking. The only drawback is that the regular size of this perfume retails at a whooping $120. Actually, make that two drawbacks. I was a bit disappointed that Sample Society would chose to send me a perfume sample that I could jsut as easily pick up at the perfume counter of my local department store. I actually got TWO free samples of this perfume from my local Nordstrom's counter when I asked to smell the perfume.

L'occitane en Provence Hand Cream-This hand cream is apparently a brand bestseller; according to the company, one is sold every 5 seconds somewhere around the world. I was not super thrilled with recieving this product since I could have gotten it for free right now with the company's Facebook promotion. I will not be buying any products from this company right now, however, due to their customer service. I never got my coupon for the Facebook promo even though I applied TWICE. They never responded to me about this problem the first time I asked customer service about it. The second time, they said they ran out of coupons and that I should walk into my local store and just request a sample free of charge. I did walk into my local boutique and--as expected--I did not get a free sample because they did not believe that customer service had told me to just walk into the store and ask for one. Because of this fiasco with L'occitane, I was acutally happy to recieve a sample of the cream in my Sample Society box since I went to a lot of trouble to try the product. I will tell you more about the actual cream itself when I try it out.

Dermalogica Precleanse-Haven't tried the product yet, but I have heard wonderful things about it from other girls and I cannot wait to try it.

Diego Dalla Palma Lipstick in #29 Pink Satin- I am not thrilled at all about the size of this sample. It is only 1.5 inches tall. I do love the color and the consistency of the product. If you want to see what the color looks like on me, you can do so on my Youtube review of this box. The lipstick is very smooth and brings out the natural color of my lips. It stayed on during my ENTIRE dinner and since then has lasted 2 hours and counting. I will be buying more of these. The drawback is that the full product is $34.

Kendi Oil by Alterna-Great sample size of 1 oz. I love spraying this in my hair when my scalp/hair get really dry in the winter months. It helps add and lock in some extra moisture that I would not otherwise have and really keeps my hair from drying out and my scalp from itching/irritating due to large amounts of styling.

XOXO,
Haylee :)

Straw Nails + We're on Pinterest!

Hi all!

I have finals this week, and so I'm really busy. :(

I thought I'd do a quick post of some nails I did a while back using a straw:

The base was OPI Wocka Wocka! with Sephora by OPI Rumba Romance for the circles. After doing the base, I poured out a little bit of Rumba Romance on a piece of paper and dipped the edge of my straw in it. I then dabbed the straw on my finger. I had to rotate my straw and go over each circle I made a few times in order to get a full gold circle on my fingers. I also saw that I would get better circles once there was a dried layer of nail polish caked on the bottom of the straw.

Also, we're now on Pinterest!!! You can browse our nail art and swatches more easily there.

Have a good week! I'll be back with another nail tutorial next week!! :)
-Anna

How to Get Rid of Matte Nail Polish: A Tape Manicure!

So before I went to Vegas with Haylee Ann, I decided to do a tape manicure:

 My first attempts at tape manicures were frustrating; I didn't give my base color enough time to dry. This time, I decided to use a matte polish, China Glaze's Stone Cold, as my base. Matte nail polishes dry fast, and this way, I wouldn't have to worry about my base color coming off with the tape! It's a great way to get rid of matte polishes if you aren't a fan of them; you can just put top coat on top of them, like I did above. The picture above has top coat over it. Here's a picture of my nails before I added top coat:

Another thing that helps is using cheap clear tape (not Scotch tape.) My cheap tape doesn't stick well, and so it came off my nails without chipping my nail polish.

Here's a tutorial:

1. Paint your nails with your base color. (I used China Glaze Stone Cold)
2. Once your nails are dry, cut triangles of tape and stick them on your nail in a starburst pattern.
3. Paint your nail with the color you want your starburst to be. Make sure you paint far enough to cover the edges of your starburst. I used OPI Designer de Better.
4. I waited about 5 minutes before pulling off the tape. You may not have to, but it worked for me. :)
5. Repeat! :)
Since my tape triangles were stuck together, I could just peel the whole thing off my nail and reuse it for my entire hand. However, after I finished my left hand, I realized that the ends of my starburst weren't as pointy because nail polish was collecting on my tape. So I used another set of triangles for my right hand.

Hope this tutorial helps! :)
-Anna