Sephora VIB Sale Spring 2016 What to Buy and What to Skip

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Sephora VIB sale Spring 2016 is back starting April 7th for VIB Rouge and April 8th for straight VIB through the 13th, 2016. The spring discount is the typical 15% off. The discount works both in store and online (using code VIBNOTE). Also, you can basically get another 4% off taking you to 19% by using Ebates:Ebates Coupons and Cash BackSo let’s get into the purchases that I have made since my Fall Sephora VIB Sale post:

Sephora Purchases Fall 2015

 

Continue reading “Sephora VIB Sale Spring 2016 What to Buy and What to Skip”

Lisa Vanderpump’s Makeup Favorites (with Drugstore Dupes!)

It’s about time I do a follow-up post on this, since it’s consistently one of my most popular posts! There’s a new article up on the Bravo website where Lisa Vanderpump from Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules discusses her 5 essential beauty products and they’re completely different than the last post I made!

Related Post: Lisa Vanderpump’s makeup, hair, skincare, and beauty secrets.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read more about what that means and how it works on my Disclosure page.

Lisa Vanderpump’s Illuminated Pressed Powder

Continue reading “Lisa Vanderpump’s Makeup Favorites (with Drugstore Dupes!)”

Best Products by theBalm on HauteLook

Attention everyone, this is not a test! theBalm is on HauteLook and most of the products are 50% off! This sale ends on 1/20/16 so do not wait!!! Go now!! theBalm is sold at places like Frends Beauty in LA and the big fancy Walgreens on Sunset Blvd, but otherwise it can be somewhat hard to find. I mentioned it in my 2015 Makeup Favorites post because two of my faves came from theBalm and I had some honorable mentions in there as well. theBalm has excellent quality, fantastic pigmentation, and adorable and creative packaging, what else could you need?? Without further ado here’s some recommendations and reviews!

My Favorite Products from theBalm

theBalm Highlighters

How the hell do I use a highlighter? You may be asking yourself. Well friend, using either your finger or a blush start with a small amount because this stuff is PIGMENTED! Put some on the inner corners of your eyes, down the bridge (center going from top to bottom) of your nose and a little extra on the tip of your nose, put some on your brow bone (draw a line following directly beneath your eyebrow), put some on the high points of your cheeks (almost to your temples under your eyes), put some on your cupid’s bow (right along the ridge of your upper lip) and put some on the center of your bottom lip. You don’t have to put it on all of these places, but these are some options that will have you look like a shimmering glowing goddess. You can also just use this like you would an eyeshadow.

Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm

Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm (normally $24 on sale for $12): This stunning highlight shade is a favorite of the beauty community for a reason. It’s a shimmering honey color that can be used as a highlighter or as an eyeshadow. This color looks great on the fairest to medium skin tones.

Mary-Lou Manizer by thebalm
Mary Lou Manizer by theBalm

Cindy-Lou Manizer

Cindy-Lou Manizer by theBalm (normally $24 on sale for $12): This is also a highlighter that looks gorgeous on top of a pink or coral blush. It has more of a pinky-peach duo chrome that looks gorgeous when light hits it. I’ve been wearing Cindy-Lou even more than Mary-lou lately!

Cindy-Lou Manizer by thebalm
Cindy-Lou Manizer from theBalm

theBalm Bronzer/Contour Powder

Bahama Mama Bronzer/Shadow/Contour Powder

Bahama Mama Bronzer/Shadow/Contour Powder by theBalm (Normally $20 on sale for $10): My absolute favorite contour color! This shade has more of a neutral undertone  so it won’t make you look orange! This powder is VERY PIGMENTED so again, start slowly and work up until you get the desired effect. This shade looks great on fair to medium-dark complexions. I also use it all over the lid as a matte-brown eye shadow or sometimes as a crease color. I use it all over the face as a bronzer as well when I want to look DARK!

the-balm-bahama-mama-bronzer
The Balm Bahama Mama Bronzer is a deeper shade that can be used to contour.

theBalm Blush

FratBoy Blush/Shadow

FratBoy Blush/Shadow by theBalm (Normally $21 on sale for $10.50): This is a great peach shade with a hint of pink and subtle shimmer. This shade definitely packs a punch (highly pigmented) and is great for a good glow. I LOVE their packaging “So many men, so little time…” how perfect, right?

FratBoy-Blush-thebalm
FratBoy Blush by theBalm

INSTAIN Blush in Lace

INSTAIN Blush in Lace by theBalm (Normally $22 on sale for $11): Looking for a blush as crazy intense as Lace is this season on the Bachelor? Well look no further! Holy PIGMENT. This blush is BRIGHT as heck so only use it if you’re looking for an intense and long-lasting effect. This blush is for bold girls!

theBalm-blush-instain
Instain blush by theBalm

theBalm Lipstick

theBalm Girls Lipstick in Ima Goodkisser

theBalm Girls Lipstick in Ima Goodkisser (Normally $17 on sale for $8.50): First of all, I love how these lipsticks are a cute little play on Bond girls. This lipstick is moisturizing and has decent pigmentation, but is by no means completely opaque. This color is a nice soft-shimmering coral and has a vanilla-mint scent. I like this lipstick and the color, but I think it tends to get on my teeth more because it’s so moisturizing. Take that info with a grain of salt since I feel like I get lipstick on my teeth 95% of the time that I wear it ha!

thebalm-girls-ima-goodkisser-lipstick
theBalm Girls Ima Goodkisser Lipstick

theBalm Eyeliner

Schwing Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Schwing Liquid Eyeliner in Black by theBalm (Normally $17 on sale for $8.50): My favorite liquid eyeliner! Very pigmented and very black so you won’t have to keep going over and over your line! This is long lasting and fast drying and a matte black color. I highly recommend this!

schwing-liquid-eyeliner-thebalm
Schwing Liquid Eyeliner by theBalm

Products that I didn’t like as much:

Give Crease a Chance – All-Over Eye Shadow/Eye Blending Brush (Normally $26.50 on sale for $13.25): This brush didn’t really wow me especially for the price. The quality wasn’t that great and the brushes are enormous for eyeshadow. I say skip.

give-crease-a-chance-eyeshadow-brush-thebalm

NudeDude Eyeshadow Palette by theBalm (Normally $36 on sale for $18): This palette is very cute, but I rarely find myself reaching for it. I also find that it has a lot of fall out. If I didn’t already have way too many eye shadow palettes, I would get the Meet Matt(e) Nude palette because the beauty community LOVES that one and it has a nice range of shades and great pigmentation.

nude-dude-thebalm-eyeshadow-palette

Products I bought today from theBalm

I picked up BalmShelter Tinted Moisturizer in Light because my skin is THIRSTY! And this one is supposed to be good, a Bahama Mama Bronzer/Contour/Shadow Powder for my sister, CabanaBoy blush which is a plum rose with a subtle shimmer because I just read Dita Von Teese’s book and want to be her, and timeBalm Face Primer because I need a new primer and I like how this one has antioxidants! I was tempted to get Balm Desert bronzer, Overshadow Eye Shadow in No Money, No Honey (but I already have like 12 gold glitters), and Read My Lips in Pop! But I stayed strong and resisted!! Hehe.

Here’s my HauteLook link which will give me a $20 credit if you sign up and make a purchase and will further fuel my makeup addiction 😉 Going through my emails it looks like HauteLook had theBalm today 1/18/16, 9/25/15, 5/1/15, 1/23/15 so every January, May, and September so DON’T MISS THIS 50% OFF THE BALM SALE ON HAUTELOOK YOU WILL REGRET IT!!

Best Makeup of 2015

2015 was a fun year for makeup – we highlighted (and then strobed), we contoured (and cream contoured), we baked, we wore bold liquid lipsticks, our brows were on fleek, many of us looked like drag queens on a regular basis and it was glorious. I’m here to share with you some of my very favorite makeup that I used in 2015. Even though I buy an enormous amount of makeup, I’m a very harsh critic and I’m very skeptical of BS marketing. I’m here to say you absolutely do not need to buy expensive makeup in order to look good, many of these products are from the drugstore! This is also a good place to start if you’re just getting into makeup and don’t know what to buy. Here’s the best makeup of 2015!: Continue reading “Best Makeup of 2015”

My Jessie James Decker Obsession

Who is Jessie James Decker you ask? She is a 27 year old mother of 2, country singer/songwriter, and NFL wife. She also has some serious charisma and personality. She also has unreal crazy huge beautiful mermaid hair and beautiful makeup and outfits. These are a few of the reasons why I have watched her YouTube videos over and over. Here’s a few things I have incorporated into my beauty routine:

Jessie James Decker’s Makeup Tutorial

Continue reading “My Jessie James Decker Obsession”

Amy Schumer’s Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup

Just a quick post to share this amazing video from Inside Amy Schumer. Amy has been killing it lately and I look forward to Tuesday nights for new episodes! Check out this hilarious video:

Porn Star Makeup Tutorial with Tasha Reign

Today I have a fun new video for you and in it I teamed up with one of my good friends Rachel who is better known as the porn star and feminist extraordinaire Tasha Reign. Tasha Reign has been in the adult film business for over 4 years now and one of the things we first bonded about when we met at a dinner party was our love of makeup! I love me some HEAVY glam. You better believe I have told a MAC artist before to make me look like a porn star! When I said that I meant bronzed, smoked out, contoured for the gods, a frosty highlight, and a baby pink lip, but from talking with Tasha Reign I have realized that now there is no such thing as “porn star makeup.” The industry has changed and they have really dialed down the glam and want more natural looking girls and a wider range of looks now. Rachel is still a glam girl at heart so her day to day makeup is pretty, girly, and definitely “made up.” In this video she teaches me (and anyone else who wants to learn!) her usual makeup routine when she’s going for “Natural Glam” step-by-step. She talks about her favorite products as well as tips and tricks she has learned from working with so many professional makeup artists over the years. There’s also tons of cameos by her 6 month old chihuahua poodle mix named Cinderella. Part of Tasha Reign’s job is to interact with her fans via social media so she posts lots of fun selfies daily (follow her on Instagram @mytashareign and on Twitter (NSFW)@tashareign). This also means that she knows how to make makeup look great on camera.

So if you’re curious about her makeup or just want to see us laugh at each other OR if you want to <GASP> see a porn star without makeup(!!!) check out our video!: Continue reading “Porn Star Makeup Tutorial with Tasha Reign”

Beauty Trends – Cream Contour

I have talked before about how I contour and highlight using powders, but right now what’s really hot is cream contour palettes. I recently got the 06CF Cream Foundation/Highlight Palette from Morphe Brushes ($18.99) and I can’t believe that no one has been talking about this palette!! I can’t find many reviews or YouTube videos talking about it AT ALL! This palette contains 6 huge cream pans 5 are foundation/highlight for very light people like myself and 1 is a contouring shade. The contouring shade is still somewhat warm and very intimidating in the palette, but it looks nice blended out. What I did was I took the contouring shade and mixed it with a lighter shade on the back of my hand before applying it. I also used the foundation/creams as concealer as well to really put this palette to the test and while it could definitely cover up darkness and discoloration, it was too creamy to wear under the eyes and would crease up super quickly. I started with a bare face, mapped out where I was going to put my highlight and contour, then blended out the highlight first then the contour using my damp BeautyBlender. After that I applied Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. I set the contour with Bahama Mama by The Balm which is a powder bronzer/contour color and set the highlighted areas with my Ben Nye Luxury Powder in Cameo. I have talked about the Ben Nye Luxury Powder in Banana before as it is super popular because of Kim Kardashian, but Cameo is a great shade for us fair girls so we don’t look like we have jaundice.

Left- Me with the Morphe Cream Contour Palette mapped out Right- Everything blended in
Left- Me with the Morphe Cream Contour Palette mapped out Right- Everything blended in

Continue reading “Beauty Trends – Cream Contour”

Jade Smokey Eye Tutorial Using Lorac Pro Palette 2 & Simplehuman 5X Sensor Vanity Mirror

I received the Lorac Pro Palette 2 for Christmas and have been loving it! Right on Christmas day I even used it to create this Jade Smokey Eye look that I wore for the festivities as well as family portraits that I took for my dad’s present with my new Canon Rebel t3i. This palette is super versatile, can create day or night looks, and has both matte and shimmer shades. I would say the biggest downfall is you can get some serious fall out (when they eyeshadow gets on your cheeks while applying), but that can be avoided by applying dark or dramatic looks before doing your foundation routine like I did during this tutorial.

Continue reading “Jade Smokey Eye Tutorial Using Lorac Pro Palette 2 & Simplehuman 5X Sensor Vanity Mirror”

Glowing Holiday Makeup Tutorial With Video

I’m so proud to announce that I FINALLY have created my first ever HD makeup tutorial! I have been wanting to make YouTube videos since before I started the blog so I’m ecstatic that I finally have all of the equipment and was able to do this. It took about 6 hours to make in total and I had a blast editing it and adding all of the music. I hope you guys like it!

 

 

Products Used/Mentioned:
Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 4.5
Loreal True Match Lumi Foundation
Beauty Blender
NYX HD Concealer in CW02
Benefit Highbeam
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe
Ben Nye Luxury Powder in Cameo
Airspun Loose Face Powder in Luminous Translucent
NYX Matte Bronzer in Light
NARS Guy Bourdin Palette (LE)- Laguna bronzer, Deep Throat blush, Devottee highlighter [similar]
Real Techniques Blush Brush
ELF Fan Brush
Mally Beauty Voluminous Mascara
MAC Vanilla Pigment
MAC Creme Cup Lipstick

EarringsFrancesca’s Collection Christmas Bow Studs in Gold – [similar]

Dress– Go Jane I believe [similar]

Nailpolish– Martha Stewart Smoky Quartz Craft Glitter sprinkled over a gold glitter nailpolish and sealed with a top coat

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from my family to yours!