Easy, Quick & Neutral Eye Look

I am one of those girls who doesn't look the same two days in a row.  Most likely than not, my hair will be different, and you better believe my makeup doesn't look the same.  I love switching up colors and mixing different eye shadows.  I understand that not every girl is like me.  Not every girl knows how mix colors and knows what looks best with their skin tone or eye color.  This is an eye look that looks good on everyone and most importantly any occasion.  There is 3 colors used and maybe 4 at most. 

First - you'll need to know what colors to use.  I use three different colors. One for the base, one for the crease, and one for the highlight.  The base color will be going all over your lid.  The crease color will be going (you guessed it) in the crease of your eye.  And the highlighter will be on the brow bone. When it comes to choosing colors you should use a neutral color for the base that's on the lighter side ie: light pink, beige, champagne.  I always like using color with a bit of sparkle in, but that's just my personal preference, matte colors look just as good. The crease color should be a light taupe, light/med brown, medium neutral tone.  Just making sure the crease color is darker but not too dark.  You want to add depth to the eye but not too much - this look is too simple for any really dark shadow.  The last, highlighter color should be your lightest color because it will highlight the brow bone and help to frame your face, also creating depth.  The highlight color should be a cream, off white, champagne, very light neutral tone.  You could throw colors together from different individual shadows you have, otherwise I usually end up using a palette.

PRODUCTS USED:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance 
NYX Shadow Trio in Dune 
Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush 
Urban Decay Naked Palette 
E.L.F. Eyelash Curler 
Diorshow Maximizing Lash Plumping Serum 
L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara


STEP 1  Prime your eye using an eye shadow primer.  Usually using smaller than a pea size works and goes a long way.  This step is important as it ensures your shadow will stay put and won't smudge or crease throughout the day.

STEP 2  Taking a fluffy blending brush, put on your base color shadow from the lash line to the crease of your eye.  Make sure to thoroughly get the entire lid. 

STEP 3 Using the fluffy blending brush again, get a little bit of color on your brush and pat it into the crease and blend out the color using back and forth curved motions following the natural curve of your eye from outer corner to a little past the middle of your eye.  Blend out the color really well, you don't want any harsh lines.  I always like to start with only a little bit of color, so the crease doesn't get too dark too fast.  Remember! You can always add more color until you achieve the desired darkness. (I'm using the medium brown color in the palette below.)

STEP 4  Using the same brush take your highlight color and dust it along underneath the brow, focusing on the middle to outer corner.  This will create more contour to your face and depth to your eye.

 

























STEP 5 Finish by curling lashes and using your favorite mascara!  (This is where you could use eyeliner as well if you'd like.)

 You're finished! Final Look!

ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS

E.L.F. Eyelid Primer- $1
Urban Decay Original Eyeshadow Primer- $20 
Maybelline Expert Wear Shadow Quad in 'Mocha Motion' -$6
Cover Girl Eye Enhancers Quad in 'Sheerly Nudes' - $5.50
Sonia Kashuk Large Domed Eyeshadow Brush-$9.60 

Thank you SO much for reading!!

With Love,

Maggie

LUSH Beauty Products - Review

I am one to LOVE trying new beauty products, so naturally when my local mall got a LUSH store I had to check it out.  I've always seen their section they had at Macy's but never went over to look because I figured it was really expensive.  After hearing about people rave how much they love their products - I decided this was my time to explore the store.  Upon my arrival I was approached by store associates that were more than happy to show me around the store and tell me about all their products.  If you've never heard of LUSH before, it's a company that specializes is handmade natural cosmetics, bath products, perfumes, and makeup.  There are vegan options available too, though not everything is vegan/has a vegan option. 

 I was interested in purchasing the lip scrub before I even walked in the store from previous reviews I had seen.  I had the sales girl try the Ocean Salt on my hand.  This is a sea salt scrub that is gentle enough to use on your face but can be used anywhere on the body to buff away dead skin.  I would probably use it for the occasional weekly face scrub, too much scrubbing is harsh on delicate skin, or for places with fast regenerating or rough skin: ankles, feet, elbows.  I LOVED this product, you could see a noticable different between my scrubbed and non scrubbed hand.  It made my skin soft, supple, and bright - but at $20 for the small 4.2 oz container I had to resist buying it with having the responsibility of bills and jobs shifting with the start of beauty school next week.

The second product she tried on me (which I purchased) was the Each Peach Massage Bar.  This product is so amazing, all of their massage bars are.  I actually have been using this every day after I've showered since I got it.  It makes my skin so amazingly soft and smooth.  Even my boyfriend noticed the difference in my skin right away! It contains super hydrating jojoba butter, which makes it "melt" when it glides on your skin.  This product is definitely one of my new favorites and I plan on getting the bar with a hint of sparkle called Shimmy Shimmy, and the massage bar in Hottie that has little massage nubs. Oh, and there are Tins you can buy to keep your loose product in so they're mess free.

My third product I tried, and bought, was the Sweet Lips-Lip Scrub.  The "scrub" ingredient in this is castor sugar and it smells like vanilla and chocolate and boasts it tastes like 'freshly baked chocolate chip cookies'.  Whether I agree with that I'm not sure, I didn't buy this to taste it.  I bought this product becuase I've been searching for a solution to putting my lipstick on and having little flakes on my lips - making my lips look gross and chapped. Which they are totally not! This is my new addition to my morning routine to have fresh, soft, clean lips everyday.  Not to mention winter is around the corner and I want to prevent dry/flaky/chapped lips.  There were two other "flavors" of this lip scrub but this one spoke to me the most...must have been the chocolate smell. 

My favorite part about LUSH products is the fact the ingredients are natural.  The packaing is beautiful and on the back there is an experation date and the name of the person who hand made the product accompanied with a little cartoon photo of them.  It makes the LUSH experience a little more personable and shows the company cares about every one of their employees.  I am so eager to try more products from LUSH because they are high quality and they WORK. 

PRODUCT PRICES

Ocean Salt -> sm-$20 lg-$35

Each Peach (and Two's a Pair) ->$10

Hottie ->$9

Sweet Lips ->$9

Shimmy Shimmy ->$7

Tins ->$4

PRODUCTS I WANT TO TRY

Black Eyeliner in Independent ->$23

Solid Shampoo in NEW! -> $11

Bath Bombs ->$5-$8

Thanks so much for reading!

Much Love,

Maggie

Bye Bye Dark Circles

If you're like me and simply don't have the time to sleep in every day and wake up refreshed and awake, you probably have the same problem I do - dark eye/undereye area.  I find that most people naturally have some darkness around their eyes, no matter how much sleep they get.  I've spent a long time, and money, trying out different concealers trying to find something to hide my undereye darkness and bags.  I'm sooo picky and I think I finally have found my savior products!  Something I just want to note before I show you everything: I love the Kim Kardash look of really bright undereyes.  This opens up your face and helps do some contouring for you, makes you look wide awake too. You have to use a concealer lighter than your skin tone to achieve this.   :)

After I wash my face and moisturize I use:

MAC Studio Finish SPF 35 Concealer in NC20 ->CHECK IT OUT

 

I apply this with with my finger under the eye by patting on the product & putting any extra on my lid. Then I take the same concealer except in a shade darker in NC30 and conceal any spots on my face that need it (blemishes, pimples, redness, etc)

THIS STEP IS MANDATORY:

If I am going out or going to an important event I also use another concealer over this:

Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer in 06-Ivory. ->CHECK IT OUT

I usually apply this with my finger too, or use a small concealer brush like this one ->CHECK IT OUT

And now the final and MOST IMPORTANT part of concealing is setting with a powder, I use:

MAC Prep+Prime Finishing Powder->CHECK IT OUT

 

 

I apply this with a little fluffy brush (LIKE THIS ONE) and pack on powder, tap excess off, and pat over concealed areas pressing powder into the skin.  This will make your concealer stay all day, especially with cream concealers they tend to settle into fine lines if you do not no set it.

Once you're done with this carry on with your usual foundation routine!

I know some of these products are pricey and not everyone can afford them so I am going to list alternative products you can use in all price ranges. 

CONCEALERS:

Eve Pearl Salmon Concealer & Treatment $35 ->click here

Maybelline Instand Age Rewind Eraser $6-7 ->click here

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer $18 ->click here
Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer $25 -> click here

(looking to try new drugstore brands soon!)

SETTING POWDERS:

Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder $35->click here

(LOVE this to set my entire face not just concealer)

ELF Studio  Translucent Matifying Powder $3 ->click here

You could really use any powder but the lighter the powder, the more open and awake your eyes are going to look once you are done and girl, nobody likes to look tired.



P.S. I stopped in at the first LUSH store I've seen yesterday at the mall.....holy AMAZING.  I purchased a lip scrub and a bar lotion (which I've never heard of or tried) so you can expect reviews on those products coming soon!

Thanks so much for reading!

Much Love,

Maggie

Lash & Brow Growth Serums

I've seen so many different lash serum commercials - they all claim to grow you beautiful, long, dark,  plush lashes.  I ignored the idea of a serum really working, I mean let's be honest one of the side effects was permanent eye color change, uhh no thanks!  But after a while of my lashes on occasion coming out when I washed my makeup off, I decided why not give it a try. I had to get some kind of results. Being on Amazon one day I looked up different brands, prices, and customer reviews.  I finally decided and chose to try GrandeLASH MD.  It has 4.5 out of 5 starts and 19 reviews and that's pretty good in my opinion.  I figured it was a bit of a splurge but I'd try it out. 

  $56 

GrandeLASH MD Link

I got this product in a couple days and started using it right away.  At first I started to use it it twice a day - once after I washed my face in the morning, and once at night before bed (only used on my lashes).  I started to notice results in only about two weeks.  The application is really easy, with the thin brush applicator I just did a swipe on the upper lash line only right where your lashes meet your lid.  My lashes got stronger and stopped falling out when I was washing off my makeup.  I honestly really do like this product. My lashes are now very long, and strong.  They are thicker than before and I am happy with my results.  The only downfall I've had with this product is that it gives an redish tint to my lid skin right where it's applied.  I just see this as a little set back with how happy I am with my lashes are now.  I've recently purchased Ardell Lash and Brow Excel which is I'm hoping is a great dupe for GrandLASH and at about $15 I am willing to try it.  I've only had it for a couple days and am using it only on my brows to grow them thicker and less sparse.  I would love to be able to not have to fill in my brows everyday.

 $14.39 W/ Beauty Club Card 

Ardell Lash & Brow Link

I'm really happy I decided to try out lash serums and feel like most of them are probably pretty much all the exact same thing and don't mind using a cheaper version of this product.  If you're thinking of trying one, I highly suggest you just go for it.  These serums DO work, and I bet you're wondering what my lashes look like...check them babies out!

Thanks for spending some of your day with me! Be amazing today beauties!

With Love,

Maggie

First Post Ever!

Hello Dolls!!

First of all, let me start by saying I am so excited to start doing a beauty/fashion/makeup blog.  This is something I have been thinking about for a super long time and I finally have the guts to go through with it.  Putting yourself out there for other to see and judge is not an easy thing to do.  However, I am very confident with who I am and what I'm all about.  Im just here to voice my opinions and give advice to all my other beautiful peers.  I am starting cosmetology school in September so I will be sharing my experience and new tips and tricks I learn!

This Blog is going to be me reviewing products, showing monthly favorite products, hair do's (and dont's), possibly nail art tutorials, OOTD's (Outfit Of The Day), and whatever else I just feel like putting on here.  I love sharing new products/brands that I find with other people, so expect me to tell you when I've found a new love in my life.  I plan on having lots of fun on this new beauty blog....hmmmm what to post about first?


With Love,
Maggie