Makeup of the Day Tutorial & E.L.F. Mineral Eyeshadow Review

Since my posts yesterday involved GOLD, I thought I would follow that theme over in my makeup today.

Being that I love all things glitter (it is a color choice in my book), of course I love shimmery makeup, too :)

Today I am going to show you a gold and purple eye makeup tutorial that I love doing in the summer.  I like golds, teals and corals in the summer especially.  I think they go great with golden tan skin.

I also want to talk about the mineral eye shadow line from E.L.F.  If you aren't familiar with this brand, E.L.F. stands for Eyes, Lips and Face.  It is a wonderful line of makeup that is also the cheapest priced around.  The eyeshadows featured today are only $3 each!

My four favorite colors are Golden, Dreamy, Socialite & Smoldering.

These ones are all shimmery shadows, but they have tons of other color options in matte finishes as well. The staying power on these shadows is incredible.  I know a lot of people don't tend to use eye lid primers, but even if you don't these babies will still have high power color on your lids all day!  They can be worn dry or wet and have Vitamins A,B,C & E in them.  There is a bit of fall out when applying, so I always use a card when I am putting it on to ensure it doesn't get on my face. The coverage is build-able so you can use a little or a lot depending on the look you are going for.  And again they are $3 ladies!!

From bottom to top: Golden, Dreamy, Socialite, Smoldering

You can get them HERE.

Now on to the Makeup of the Day!!

I knew I wanted to go for a gold and purple kind of sunset eye look.

Here are the products that I used:

BH Cosmetics purple eyeshadow from the Hollywood Line
E.L.F. Golden shimmer mineral eyeshadow
E.L.F. Plum Passion shimmer eye liner
Benefit They're Real Mascara
Cover Girl Bombshell Shine Shadow in Gold Goddess

First I want to start out by letting you know I use the CoverGirl Bombshell Shine Shadow as a primer!  I know, crazy, right?  I received this product in Ice Queen in a limited edition Birchbox and I don't normally wear silver eyeshadows.  But I liked the pigmented shine that it gave me so I started using it as a primer on my eye lids and my shadow stays on ALL DAY LONG since I have started using it.

Gorgeous colors!  They can be spread out super, super thin for the slightest shimmer too or you can create a heavy color look.

Remember the post I did about Brush 101?  Well these are the two brushes I used, the highlighting brush and the large eye lid brush.  I used the highlighting brush just for the crease of my eye, so you can also use a c brush or an angled brush.

Here is my sampler pack from BH Cosmetics and the purple eyeshadow.

And of course, Golden by E.L.F.

So here is how the CoverGirl Golden Goddess looks alone on my eyelid.

Shimmery yet a bit wet looking.

Now here is when I put the E.L.F Golden on top of it.

Just lovely!!

Now I will take the purple and with my eyes looking straight ahead, brush the purple into the crease of my eye lid stopping at the center of my eye.

This is how it looks when I am looking straight down.

Then I take my E.L.F. Shimmer eye liner and line my bottom and top lids.

Curl my lashes and two coats of Benefit's They're Real mascara.

TA DA!!

Perfectly golden with purple accents!!

Now of course I will say that I am wearing this look for day time and also to work.  Had I been going out or it was the weekends, I would be a little more heavy handed with the shadow, mascara and eyeliner :)

Overall, I tend to wear colored liners and mascaras.  I also use a cream colored liner on my lower waterline to brighten up my eyes. I think black liners on the lower lid makes the eyes look smaller and darker.  In an upcoming post, I will show you how to do the perfect cat eye, a super simple way!

What are your favorite E.L.F products?

What are your favorite colors to use in the summer?

Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great day!!

Clean Your Brushes & Brush 101

Happy Monday!!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I think something that a lot of us forget to do is clean our makeup brushes.  But even more than that, our hair brushes!!  Both of them accumulate dirt, oil, bacteria and all that fun stuff.  Who wants that on our face and our head??  I know it is time consuming and I keep waiting for Ryan Gosling to come do them, but it has to be done :)

This is just a quick post on cleaning makeup and hair brushes and also going over the different types of makeup brushes that I use.  There are SO many options out there.  I like to think that I use most of the basic brushes but I can always learn more so make sure to let me know if I need to add one to my collection.

I clean my brushes every week.  That, plus eating the right foods, is part of a great foundation for keeping your skin clear.  I mean honestly, I thought by 30 I wouldn't get acne anymore but that is a lie! :)

Okay so here are my brushes, on the way to the bath :)

I include my Beauty Blender in with my weekly cleaning, but sometimes I clean them more often.  I know a lot of people use the fancy Beauty Blender Cleanser, but I don't.  I don't know what half of the ingredients in it are and I think I can do just as good of a job for much cheaper. (PS-I always use the generic beauty blender from Walgreens, but I got these ones with points from one of my monthly beauty subs.)

When I wash my brushes, I use some dish washing liquid and some olive oil.  The olive oil helps give back what oils are stripped from the washing of the brushes.

I just mix a little in the bowl at a time and take my fingers and rub it on the brushes and clean them under the water.

Here is how amazing the beauty blenders look after cleaning.  Just make sure that you squeeze them until all the soap is out.

After they are clean, I lay them out to dry overnight.

Now for the hair brushes.....

First thing you want to do is get all of the hair out.  Pull out what you can with your hands but then take scissors and cut the remaining hair out.

Fill up the sink or a bowl with hot water and shampoo.  I use a clarifying shampoo to do these.  I don't recommend using your expensive shampoo but go for it if ya want :)

Soak them for about 15 minutes in the soapy water.

Rinse them very good with hot water and let them also dry out overnight.

Your hair and your face will thank you for taking the time to do this, I promise!

So now let's get back to some Brush 101.  Most of my brushes are from E.L.F.  They have good, quality brushes for the cheapest prices around.  I have never been disappointed.

Eyeshadow smudge brush:  Blending eyeshadow on your lid
Eyeshadow large eye brush:  Applying one color to your whole lid
Eyeshadow angled brush: Applying a darker color in your crease or just on the outer lid of eye
Eyeshadow highlighting brush: Applying highlighter below brow bone or lighter color on top of lid
Angled eyeliner or eyebrow brush: Applying eyeshadow or doing eyebrows
Eyeshadow "C" brush: Perfect smokey eye brush
Concealer brush: Blending concealer
Fan brush: Applying blush, bronzer or highlighter, very lightly

Angled brush: Applying brush or bronzer targeted for contouring
Eyeliner smudge brush:  Blending eyeliner on your lid
Eyeshadow medium eye brush:  Applying one color to specific part of your lid
Small concealer brush: Applying concealer
Small stipple brush: Applying foundation or BB cream to face
Large face brush:  Applying face powder

Foundation brush: Applying foundation or BB cream to face
Kabuki brush: Apply and blend loose powder to face
Beauty blenders: To apply foundation or BB cream to face or to blend entire face

PHEW!! So after writing this, I think that I need a brush intervention??  And yet in the beginning I asked for your input on what other brushes I should have :)  Well I will just remain in denial :)

What are your go to brushes??

Any tips for application?

How often do you clean your brushes?

What brushes would you like tutorials on?

Please let me know in the comments below!!

Have a great day!!