Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hello there!

I rearranged all my freestyle palettes. These are my two favorites.

Hi everyone. Wow, it’s been a while – apparently, I needed a break. And it seems that it’s not just me; I’ve been reading a lot of posts from other bloggers who are kind of burned out and/or shifting what they are choosing to blog about.

My makeup-purchasing habits have changed significantly in the last few months of not-blogging. I have stopped buying makeup just because it’s new, and drastically cut down on my purchases overall. I’m trying to downsize my makeup stash, albeit not very successfully – I keep putting things in a box to give away or sell, then taking them out a week later.  I like this change. I don’t think I’ll ever be a makeup minimalist, but that’s okay – and there’s a lot of space between “minimalist” and “buy ALL the things!”.

I used up a whole bottle of foundation!

 

I am not really sure how often I’ll be blogging, or what I’ll be writing about. I do have some favorite items from the last few months that I hope to post about soon (but no promises).  In the meantime, here are a few recent(ish) pictures.

I’ve been using this Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow in my brows recently. I really like it; it has just the right amount of pigment for my (fairly full) eyebrows, and despite being greenish, it somehow looks very natural.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Deep Forest – left swatch is blended, right swatches are applied with an angled eyebrow brush.

I bought one item from the recent launch of Gucci Beauty – this is Tuscan Storm eyeshadow quad.

Tuscan Storm swatched, no primer.

I was SO EXCITED to see MUA Makeup Academy brand items at CVS, and very disappointed to learn that they’re a completely different line than the same-name UK brand, despite having the same logo. I believe CVS licensed the brand name from the original company.

How have you been lately?

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State of the Blog

Hi all! I haven’t been posting much lately, so I wanted to update you all as to what’s going on and what you can expect over the next few weeks.

There are a two things preventing me from posting more regularly at the moment. One is a that I’ve been quite busy at work, leaving me without much energy to blog. This is hopefully changing soon, so I’ll have more time to post!  Second – and more significant – is that my relationship to makeup is changing.  I no longer want to buy ALL THE NEW THINGS! – instead, I am more selective about what I buy and what I keep. This means that even when I have more time/energy to post, there will be a different balance of reviews vs. other types of posts.

Thank you for bearing with me, and in the meantime please follow me on if you want to see nails, mini-reviews, purchases, cats, and more!

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Weekly Loves #6

Purchased – Affiliate Links

A newly purchased product I am loving

This has been a week of for me, but I haven’t had a chance to properly play with everything yet.  I’m especially excited about the It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty palette (which I haven’t even swatched yet), the Dior Addict Fluid Stick (which I really like so far), and the Tom Ford eyeshadow brushes.

Of the items I have reviewed recently, my recent favorite is definitely L’oreal gel eyeliner in Dark Slate. Check out the review here. Continue reading →

DIY Sheer Tints Nail Polish

Purchased – No Affiliate Links

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of hype around the OPI Sheer Tints polishes and Sally Hansen Palm Beach [super sheer] Jellies.  If you haven’t seen swatches, Frazzle and Aniploish has excellent comparisons of both here.  However, I have heard bad things about the OPI formula and the sheerness of the Sally Hansens, so I though I’d experiment with making my own sheer tints.

DIY Sheer Polish-2-2

The Ingredients

They were very, very simple to make. I used red, yellow, and blue NYC polishes I already had (swatched here).  You can use cremes or jellies, but make sure that they don’t have a strong white base – that won’t work as well.

I wanted to make small bottles, so I bought inexpensive Sally Girl clear polish (you can use any clear polish or top coat, or use suspension base).  I simply poured out enough clear polish so that I could fit 3-4 drops of colored polish in the bottles, added the colored polish drops, shook the bottles, and voilà! Sheer tints!

DIY Sheer Polish-3

DIY Sheer Polishes

They are a touch streaky (which could probably be fixed by mixing them more thoroughly), but work beautifully for nail art, which is why I wanted them in the first place.

DIY Sheer Tint Polish

One coat of each; the red is a little bit more opaque than I intended, and you can see that they’re a bit streaky.

DIY Sheer Polish

Super easy nail art!

Do you ever franken (mix) your own nail polishes?

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Weekly Loves #5

Purchased – Affiliate Links

My Weekly Loves series is a every Sunday(ish) post on some of my loves from the week.

A newly purchased product I am loving

Not makeup, but makeup storage! Yesterday, I bought the acrylic drawers you see in the photo above to hold my brushes, which were previously in unattractive plastic drawers. I like this so much better – much cleaner, aesthetically speaking.  I would actually love to have my brushes standing up in cups, but my make that a bad idea.

A long-time or rediscovered favorite I am loving

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 I’ve had my Dollywink liquid eyeliner for a couple years now, and it’s still going strong – not dried out! I haven’t used it consistently the whole time, but I keep coming back to it for it’s fine, precise lines.  The swatch above is a little blurry, but you can still see how thin the lines are. It’s available online at Amazon (around $22) or on eBay (around $15; AlphaBeautyUK is a reliable seller).

My most-wanted wishlist item

Dior Addict Fluid Sticks have a terrible name, but have been getting rave reviews. They’re supposed to be similar to YSL’s Glossy Stains which I love. Both products sell for $35.

A blog post I especially enjoyed reading

Instead of a blog post, how about a whole blog? I recently discovered Beauty Redefined by Pang – which is not a new blog, just new to me – and I am loving her gorgeous photos and honest reviews.   Lots of drugstore makeup is featured, too!

What are you loving right now?

*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

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Current Discounts & Deals: Nordstrom, Beauty.com, Dermstore

Affiliate Links

nordstrom gwpGood morning! I’ll have a real post up later today, but I wanted to post about some excellent deals that are going on right now. Nordstrom has over 80 gift-with-purchase deals right now.  Their ebates is at 6%, which I believe is as high as it goes. They have a lot of the new spring items up, including exclusive access to YSL’s new Babydoll Kiss & Blush for lips and cheeks.

beauty.com gwpBeauty.com periodically has these designer gift bags filled with samples, and this one seems especially nice – it includes a BareMinerals Ready Bronzer and an Urban Decay 24/7 lip pencil in Naked,

I received my a couple days ago, and it included a card with a code for 20% off + free shipping at Dermstore / Blush / Hairenvy(they are a three sites/ one checkout store). The code is Beauty4U – since it’s obviously not an individualized code, I thought I’d share it! I am not sure when it expires. It looks like Dermstore & Hairenvy are also having a 20% off Friends & Family sale right now, code is SpringSavings and it expires on 3/26.

Also of note: Sephora should be having their yearly spring 15% off sale (Chic Week) some time in the next few weeks; so you may want to hold off on any Sephora purchases for now!

Happy shopping!

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

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