Makeup – Page 9 – Blushing in Hollywood

Sephora VIB Sale What to Buy and What to Skip 2015

It’s almost here! Sephora’s biggest sale of the year (20% off all purchases) is the Sephora VIB sale and this year’s taking place Friday November 13-16, 2015 both online and in stores. Be sure to check out last year’s Sephora VIB Sale 2014 post with lot’s of reviews and recommendations of products that are still available. As a refresher in order to be VIB you must spend $500 in a calendar year. The good news is that if you spend more than that then it rolls over towards the next year. To find out your status you can log on to Sephora.com and click “(Your name)’s Account” in the top right corner. If it says “VIB Beauty Insider” you’re in! You can use VIB20 online during the sale and get 20% off your entire purchase. If you don’t have VIB you can ask one of your beauty obsessed friends to add a few things to their basket for you. If you don’t have VIB or even a Sephora account you’re not getting the discount, BUT they always offer the BEST gifts with purchase. This year you can pick 1 of 4, it includes 8 samples and a free clutch, and you only have to make a $25 purchase which is like half of 1 thing at Sephora. You can use the code “partypicks” to get in on that fine deal.

Let’s start off with updated reviews of last year’s purchases because liking a product an entire year later is a real testament to whether a product is truly worthy or not.

Sephora VIB Purchases 2014 by linz8641 featuring Sephora Collection

Continue reading “Sephora VIB Sale What to Buy and What to Skip 2015”

La Sagadra Familia in Barcelona

Welcome back for another post about my European adventures. On our second day we went to Basilica de La Sagadra Familia which was one of my favorite parts of the trip and you’ll see why when you look at the pictures below! You can check out my journey from Barcelona to Sitges and what I did on day one in Sitges in the previous posts. So day 2 I was pretty jet lagged and slept about half the day. When I finally did pull myself out of bed I wandered around town for a little bit on my own while Molly was at her conference and then I came back to the hotel and had a fancy lunch by myself at the Iris Restaurant in the Estela Hotel.

I also started reading my book Rising Strong by Brené Brown who I LOVE. I highly recommend checking out any of her books she is fabulous. This was flat bread with tomato spread and extra virgin olive oil with marinated tuna tataki with soy, honey, aromatics and crispy sesame. YUM. The best part about this trip was that everything I ate was fantastic and if you know me you know that is VERY important to me.

I love the eyes on the doors of the restaurant. This is looking into the lobby of the hotel. That night Molly and I hopped on the bus with the people in her conference and headed into Barcelona for an excursion to La Sagadra Familia.

I’m wearing one of my favorite lippies here Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stain in India Intrigue. Continue reading “La Sagadra Familia in Barcelona”

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

Best Eye Makeup Remover

I have been searching for a long time and I think I have finally found my Holy Grail (HG) eye makeup remover and it is WATER. Let’s back up to the beginning of my makeup removal routine… as soon as I get home from work most days I run to my bathroom to grab a Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Quick Thinking Wipe and take off all of my face makeup. I just hate that feeling of it half melted sitting on top of my skin at the end of the day- ew. And although these wipes say they remove even waterproof mascara that’s a LIE! Sure maybe if I held one on each eye for 90 seconds and then rubbed at my lashes until half of them fell out I might get some mascara off, but that’s not how I’m trying to live my life. The wipes are, however, wonderful at taking off face makeup and are non-irritating and always stay wet until I use the very last one and are affordable. These were in my August 2014 favorites post and they are the only wipes I’ve used for a year now!

boots-no7-quick-thinking-wipes — I buy these bad boys in bulk, but they absolutely do not remove my mascara.

While we’re on makeup wipes I need to let you all know to stay the hell away from these eye and face-stinging monsters. I tried one of my friend’s, regretted it, then tried them again at my sister’s…. like what was I thinking? I’m talking about the Neutrogena Oil-Free Cleansing Wipes: Continue reading “Best Eye Makeup Remover”

Does This Thing Really Work? Ask Beautypedia

With all of the advertising and marketing in the beauty industry it’s very hard to tell what is going to work and what will not. This is so important because who wants to waste $$$ on a product that does not live up to it’s claims? So how do you research a products claims and find out if it contains ingredients that will actually make your skin better? This is where one of my favorite websites Beautypedia comes in. Beautypedia was started by Paula Begoun who is known as the cosmetics cop. For decades now she has been breaking down ingredient lists vs. manufacturer claims to de-mistify the (sometimes) fuzzy beauty science and to educate the masses. Whenever you sign on to Instagram, Youtube, open a magazine, see a commercial, etc. you’re constantly being bombarded with “This is the one! The product that will make you flawless and fix all of your skin’s problems! BUY NOW!!” and Paula helps you separate the BS from the truly beneficial products.

The other thing I like about her site is that you can choose how deeply you want to plunge into the scientific knowledge behind ingredients. You can find out if a product contains sodium hyaluronate acid and what the hell that means, or you can just find out if the MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation lives up to it’s claims or not (PS it does according to beautypedia and now I really want to try it!).

How I use Beautypedia:

Continue reading “Does This Thing Really Work? Ask Beautypedia”

Beauty Trends: Liquid Lipstick Part Two

My Beauty Trends: Liquid Lipsticks post is one of the most popular posts on my blog so with all of that interest I thought it was time to do a Part Two!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipsticks

The last post was sparked by the massive launch of the Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipsticks ($20 each). I swear that woman is a marketing genius sending out free liquid lipsticks to all of the beauty influencers on the internet. Cheapest.PR.EVER. I still have only heard so-so reviews about these! My friend Annabelle (from the infamous Jeremy Piven post) has Pure Hollywood which is a nude shade and she said it’s super drying and crusts around the inner rim of your lips so she is not a fan. Anastasia has, however, come out with some gorgeous new colors my favorite being Unicorn which is described as a “luminescent lavender” and it’s gorgeous: Continue reading “Beauty Trends: Liquid Lipstick Part Two”

Makeup Made in the USA

I recently watched an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about Fashion that focused on where fast fashion aka inexpensive and trendy clothes are made, who makes them, and what kind of conditions they are made in (spoiler alert: they’re mostly made by children in developing countries in terrible and unsafe conditions for little pay). This inspired me to do a post about makeup and beauty products that are made in the USA. It was SO hard to find information about this!!

May Favorites

It’s favorites time again!

revlon-colorburst-matte-lip-balm-showy — Showy

1. Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm in Showy ($6.89 at Target) – This is an oldie, but a goodie. This balm is easy to apply, gives a great color payoff, is comfortable on the lips, has a minty scent/flavor, and doesn’t smear all over my face! This is great to have handy to make any look just a little more glam. It’s a beautiful magenta color and it’s great for summer. Another Revlon I was loving this past month was the Revlon Colorburst Balm Stain in Cherish ($6.09 at Target). This one is (as the name would suggest) more of a lip stain so it’s good for a pretty day time look. It’s a cute, sheer baby pink color with blue undertones. This is great if you find lipstick to be too intense, but aren’t a huge lip gloss fan because it’s somewhere in between. These both twist up and last a long time. I totally got distracted while writing this post and ordered 2 more of these, whoops. Continue reading “May Favorites”

Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes Demo & Review

Today I have a fun new video where I show you some tips on how to put on Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes and give you my take on it! What is Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes you ask? Well, Younique is a direct-sales company (like Avon or Mary Kay) and it’s sold by “Presenters” where they sell the products to their friends and family and get a commission from their sales. Younique is different in that you don’t have to host parties at someone’s house to sell the products, the majority of their “parties” and sales are done online and over social media. My friend Michelle is a Presenter and she offered to buy me their famous mascara to try out and if I liked it then I could blog about it and link everyone to her Facebook page and website so they could check it out themselves. Check out my video to see how this mascara works and what I thought about it!: Continue reading “Younique Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes Demo & Review”

Foundation Routine for Oily Skin and How to Get Rid of Pores

I was struggling SO MUCH with my face turning into a complete oil slick, but I think I’ve finally figured out the magical combination of foundations and powders to keep my face from looking super greasy halfway through the day.

Oily skin can be especially annoying in the summertime so I thought now was the perfect time to share this. I also am sharing in this video the best way that I have found to get rid of pores or make pores appear smaller. It’s a neat little trick that makes pores basically disappear.

Products Mentioned: Continue reading “Foundation Routine for Oily Skin and How to Get Rid of Pores”