Last month when I was in Florida for the holidays I hit up the incredibly epic Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise (near Miami). If you’ve never been to Sawgrass Mills it’s an enormous super high end mall PLUS outlet mall with stores like Tory Burch, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth, etc. etc. It’s always swamped with people from all over the world all brought together by the shared love of finding a great deal. I was at Sawgrass for HOURS in a trance-like zombie shopping state when all of a sudden I realized “holy shit…I’m in a CCO.”
So what the hell is a CCO anyway? CCO stands for Cosmetic Company Outlet or it’s also known as CCS which is The Cosmetics Company Store. A CCO is the one magical, mystical place that you can find MAC ON SALE. And not just MAC, but Origins, Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Smashbox, Urban Decay, and more. They have current and past/discontinued products, limited edition products, gift sets, and products that are in the older packaging and therefore are no longer sold at the store. The products are authentic and usually sold at 30% off retail price. The stores are open to the public so you don’t have to be a makeup artist or in the industry to go to one. How is this possible? Continue reading “What is a CCO?”
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.
Lauren Curtis, a makeup artist and YouTube beauty guru, recently posted a video this week about how to remove makeup in front of boys that turned out to be a bit controversial:
Today marks the release of another Anastasia Beverly Hills product that I think is going to be super hot- her liquid lipsticks. Liquid lipsticks have gained in popularity over the past few months and the formulas are just getting better and better. Liquid lipsticks are great because they can be easily painted onto the lips sans liner like a gloss and then dry to a nice matte finish and are usually super long lasting. They can also be layered with lipsticks or glosses to help the lips stay more moisturized. I have 2 of the Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipsticks and have been loving them:
Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso
Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Bellissima
Here’s the 20 brand new Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipsticks:
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
So now that I’ve had a chance to use my purchases from the 2014 Sephora VIB sale I wanted to give a quick review on them and let you know what I think. I especially wanted to get this up because Sephora sent out another perk for VIB members which is $20 off your purchase of $50 or more and the holidays are coming up so I’m sure you want to know what gifts are worth it.
1. Smashbox Photo Finish Pore Minimizing Foundation Primer ($39) – So far I’m happy with this little guy. The product is a little thick so you have to warm it up on your finger tips before you apply it. You then want to kind of push and roll your fingers into your skin to best cover your pores. When I’ve applied it and look in the mirror there’s no huge “WOW where have my pores gone!?” reaction, but it feels silicon-ey and smooth and blurs your face a tiny bit. The main thing I like about it is that I think it controls my oily skin without making my face too dry which is a delicate balance. My foundation maybe looks slightly better on top of this vs. without it, but it’s not anything that a slower more intentional application of the foundation couldn’t replicate or beat. It maybe keeps my makeup on a tiny bit longer as well, but again no huge day and night transformation. It’s supposed to last for up to eight hours, but I usually have my makeup on for about 12-14 hours per day. Overall I’d recommend this if you’re oily, if you’ve liked Smashbox primers in the past, and if you aren’t counting on it to change your life. It would also be good if you’re sweating or somewhere that’s humid because it’s supposed to be resistant to those things.
2. Sephora Cream Lip Stain in 07 Dark Berry ($13) – I got this because I want to be Samantha aka ssssamanthaa on Instagram from Batalash (see video below), but instead I look like I’m failing miserably at trying to look like Lorde. I’ve only worn this around the house to try it because it is BOLD as hale. It smells really nice like the Stila Stay All Day Lip Colors a nice cake scent. It stayed pretty well and I don’t remember my lips feeling too dry and crispy. I hope I’m brave enough to wear it out into the world one day, but we’ll see. The color is really cool and I’d recommend it if you want to try something new and fun I just don’t know if I’m cool enough to rock it yet.
3. L’Occitane Voyage En Provence Set ($39) – Ugh I haven’t used all of the products in this set so far, but so far I’m super disappointed. I had very high expectations for this especially for the famous She Butter Ultra Rich Body Lotion and it was nothing special. The scent was whatever and it’s not super thick or long lasting or curative to very dry skin or anything like I was expecting. I would not recommend this and I’m wary of buying more products from L’Occitane now even though so many people are obsessed! I’d recommend this to no one because I hate it and I’m pissed. The more I think about it and write about it the more I think wow why am I not returning this to Sephora I don’t need products to travel with so desperately that I need to keep this $39 set!
4. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup in color 2.0 ($39) – I knew this guy was not going to be the perfect fit because it’s a luminous light weight virtually invisible foundation and deep down I’m a full coverage kind of girl. It’s very thin and fluid-like and reminds me of the bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation in that it’s luminous and nice for a day that you want to look natural and take a break from full cake face mode. This would probably work better for me at night because when I wear these luminous foundations during the day I get oily and then they’re a mess, but the problem is that I want full coverage when I go out at night. This does have build able coverage though which is good. I need to experiment with it a bit more to figure out how it can work best for me. I wish it had sunscreen in it. I’d recommend this to someone that wants to look younger (a more sheer, luminous foundation will make you look younger than a matte full coverage one), someone that already has pretty good skin and doesn’t need a ton of coverage, and someone with dry, normal, or combo skin.
5. Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush ($25) – This is a vegan brush that was developed to work with the Naked Skin foundation and overall I like it a lot. It blends out the makeup quickly and evenly. I have used it with both the super thin Naked Skin foundation and the super thick BECCA foundation. I’m back to using my tried and true Beauty Blender, but when I mix it up I love using this guy. I’d recommend it to someone looking for a good foundation brush to use with liquid foundation. I think the price point on this is great and very reasonable for the quality.
6. BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme in Buff ($44) – YASSSSSSS hunny. I am absolutely loving this foundation and I’m using it everyday and at night for going out as well. It is super full coverage and gives you a very flawless finish. I normally use a generous amount of foundation so when I accidentally put two whole pumps on my beauty blender and then went to blend it out and I was wearing a serious mask (which was fine for that day, but meant I don’t need to use as much in the future because it’s so pigmented). This foundation is easy to blend but the only thing you have to look out for is once it dries (relatively quickly in 1-3 minutes) it is DRY and SET so don’t try to blend it out again because you will just mess it up. This foundation lasts me all day and/or night long and keeps me relatively matte without drying me out too much. Once it’s on it doesn’t feel super heavy or cakey which is nice for how full coverage and pigmented it is. I spent at least an hour trying to figure out online which color to get in this and while I like to think I picked the best match I do definitely have to blend it very well down my neck and blend very very well if I’m wearing my hair up. This foundation color is also super yellow which I like because I think it balances out my redness, but I know not everyone likes super yellow foundation. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a full coverage foundation with great coverage and staying power who has normal to oily skin. This is my favorite thing I bought. This price tag is a little high, but I’m hoping that since it’s so pigmented that I will use less and it will last me longer (fingers crossed!) Here’s a pic of me wearing it:
Pic I posted on Insty of me wearing BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme www.blushinginhollywood.com
I don’t know about you, but this time of year I cannot.stop.shopping. The deals are just so good it’s like I would be losing money if I DIDN’T spend it all on these things, right?? So let’s start off this post with how to save some money honey so we can trick ourselves into spending more.
Ebates
If you shop online you need Ebates. They have been around for nearly 20 years and you only need a good memory or to install the Ebates Cash Back Button and it will alert you what % cash back your favorite stores are offering at that time. Ebates is free to sign up for and how it works is your favorite stores (Amazon, Ulta, Sephora, Nordstrom, etc.) pay Ebates a fee when you shop through an Ebates link or when the Cash Back Button is activated. Ebates then sends you cash back payment every 3 months as long as you have earned at least $5.01. You can get the money in the form of a check in the mail, deposited into your PayPal account, or send it to your favorite charity. That $$ can add up fast especially if you do most of your holiday shopping online which is why now is the best time to sign up. It’s fast, easy, safe, and can earn you a few bucks. You can use my referral link to sign up and then I’ll get some cash to buy even more stuff! To break it down further here’s how I do it:
1. Go to desired website and add items to cart while logged in. Today I was shopping online at Ulta so of course I have an account with them. I logged in and added the stuff I was going to buy to my cart. Then close this window.
2. Go to Ebates and search for the store I’m shopping at. Click their link to go to the website. Today it was Ulta which was offering 8% cash back.
3. Check out per usual. Go to Ebates and make sure it worked. Today I got $2.96 back from my purchase and all I had to do was make sure I checked if Ulta had an Ebates deal!
If you need a picture:
I know it sounds weird and pyramid scheme-y, but it’s not so go get some $!
Black Friday Deals
There’s a deal so good on Ulta.com right now that I already bought it and I wanted to make a post about it so I could tell everyone. Stila has a set of eyeshadow palettes that put the Urban Decay Naked palettes to shame. A few years ago I was looking for a present for a friend and was thinking about getting her a Naked palette and a delightful gay man explained to me “it’s called Naked because you can barely see it” and “it’s good for like… my mom or a mom”. He did a few swatches on his hand and sure enough the Stila palette is WAY more pigmented. The Stila palette is also $39 vs. $54 for Naked. Well it’s $39 usually, but right now all 3 of them are on sale for $20!! Plus if you spend $25 you get free shipping! Let’s take a look at these beauties:
Welcome to another installment of the Sexy Series today I’m going to talk about something very important- how to smell sexy. Now for some this may seem like common sense, but even I have had to search a bit to find perfumes, lotions, etc. that smell sexy.
Make Your Skin and Hair Smell Sexy
You want to start at the same place we started when making our homes sexy– cleaning. Guys you should be showering before a date because it takes you about 3 seconds. Ladies you don’t have to wash your hair before every date (who has time for that??), but if your date does fall on a day that you will be lathering up some sexy smelling drugstore shampoo I recommend isJohn Frieda Full Repair (this also has great reviews BTW). Victoria Secret used to have a line of hair care products called So Sexy that did in fact smell incredibly sexy and elicited many compliments, but unfortunately it’s not available anymore (except for on Amazon and Ebay).
An unexpected place to find sexy scents- Bath and Body Works. Ok don’t laugh I swear this is some of the best stuff for smelling sexy! You may not have stepped into Bath and Body Works since middle school, but they really have some great products that you need to rediscover. One that my BFF introduced me to was the scent Twilight Woods. One the website they describe the scent as “The warmth and mystery of enchanted woods with an enticing blend of apricot nectar, mimosa petals & Tuscan cypress” and I would agree and say it smells warm, sweet, and sultry. I have most of the products available in this scent (body wash, body scrub, body spray, candle), but I especially make sure to use the lotion before a date because it’s super moisturizing, the scent is strong enough that you can actually smell it, and it pairs well with most of my perfumes.
Bath and Body Works also has excellent candles and if you love cologne-type smells or if you’re a man and want your home to smell nice and masculine check out “Mahogany Teakwood“. Even that name makes me think of a lumberjack with a beard. I love this scent so much I have it in my room and car as well. Continue reading “How To Smell Sexy”
Ok so when you give a gift you probably don’t want people thinking it’s “cheap”, but I guarantee any beauty enthusiast would be super excited to receive one or a few of these very inexpensive products. First of all they are trendy- Morphe brushes, Maybelline Divine Wine Lipstick, Colour Pop lippies, and NYX Soft Matte Lip Creme in Copenhagen are all very popular items right now. They’re practical- who doesn’t need another makeup brush holder, a travel makeup bag, a compact mirror, or an extra set of wispy false eyelashes? And they sparkle because gifts should be fun. I will be posting a few more of these so let me know if you have any requests for gift guides! Continue reading “Cheap Holiday Gifts For Makeup Lovers”
