November 2015 Favorites

This is a long overdue post, about favorites that is.....But I haven't really fallen head over heels in a while.  Until this past month!  I have fallen in love with entirely too many things! Shhh, don't tell my husband (muah!).

First up is this NARS Steven Klein One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette.  This palette comes with 4 blushes, a highlight/contour duo and a bronzer.  Gorgeous packaging, long lasting color and beautiful shades anyone can wear.  Perfect staple for everyday use!!

Paloma contour duo, Laguna bronzer top row, Robotic, Blasphemy, Luster and Dolce Vita blushes bottom row

Courtesy of bubblymichelle.com

Laguna bronzer and Blasphemy blush

Next up is Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation.

My favorite blogger, Stephanie Lange, raves about Chanel foundation so I had to try it myself.  I love it.  It has beige undertones and since I am more neutral, those shades work more with my skin tone. This goes on very light and I find is best applied with a beauty blender to achieve light coverage and a second coat for medium to full coverage.  It does have a very perfumey smell but it did not irritate my skin or make me break out.  It has a hefty price tag but a little goes a long way!!

My next favorite this month is Estee Lauder Double Wear concealer.  To be honest, I can't believe it took me this long to try it.  I fell in love with Double Wear foundation last year and since I am always on the hunt for a heavy duty concealer for my dark under eye circles, this should have been a natural selection for me.  It goes on light but dries to full coverage.  It is offered in a range of shades and I chose light.  It does not crease on me and stays on all day until my makeup remover takes it off!

Next, I tried Benefit Gimme Brow in a Sephora sample pack.  Since my brows are so thin to begin with, I was always nervous to try this product.  Since I have gotten bangs this winter, I have been letting my brows grow (thank god for bangs!!) and this is literally the perfect product to brush my brows in to place and add some color and volume.  It is described as a brow volumizing fiber gel and it does just that and looks so natural!!

Another sample I got from Sephora is the Tarte Lights Camera Lashes mascara.  My short stubby lashes always need a lift (hee hee) and this does the trick!!  It adds nice length and blackens them perfectly with 2 coats.

And my last favorite from this month are my ear jackets from Asos  These are another rec from Stephanie Lange.  They are gorgeous.  I have gotten so many compliments on them and even bought my mother a pair!  Sadly, they are currently sold out since I started this post but hopefully they will stock again soon!

And there ya have it!  My November 2015 favorites.  There have been so many holiday releases as of late and I just recently won an amazing giveaway on Instagram so I will be doing a haul post along with some more reviews soon!  Hopefully I can provide some great gift ideas for you!

And it is also that time of year when the DIY crafts and gifts start so let me know if you have any special requests!!

If you have any favorites from this month or love any of my favorites, let us know in the comments below!!

Have a great day!! xo

DIY Fall Candle Holders using fake (or real) leaves

Hey guys!!  I haven't done a DIY in awhile and I was in a crafting mood this weekend.  Plus I got these supplies last year but with the move, they got lost in all my craft supplies.  So needless to say, with the holiday season soon approaching, more and more DIY's will be coming!

This will be one of the easiest and prettiest crafts you will ever do!!

Get together the following:

• Type of glass (vase, jar, bowl)
• Mod Podge (I used matte finish but you can use shiny too)
• Leaves (fake will be the quickest as real you will need to dry out prior to using)
• Sponge
• Optional: Burlap, Twine, Ribbon

Take your sponge applicator and apply mod podge liberally to the glass.  Wait a few seconds until it gets tacky and then put your leaves on, one by one, and coat liberally with mod podge until the edges stick to the glass.  Keep turning your piece around and around, adding as many or as few leaves as you like.

Let dry at least an hour.

I popped a candle in right away to see how pretty it looked!!

I then added some twine and ribbon for the finishing touches!!

And there ya go! I placed them right on my dining room table as my centerpiece!  You can see the mod podge gives kind of a stained glass effect.  If you don't care for that, then be strategic with your placement of the mod podge so it only covers the leaves.

Easy Peasy!!

Have you done any modpodge crafts lately?  What are your favorite fall DIY's?  Let us know in the comments below!!

Have a great day!! xo

Urban Decay Smoky Palette Review & Eye Look

Let me preface this by saying I apologize for the long delay in posting!  This review should have gone up weeks ago as you can see I didn't even have my bangs cut in the pictures below.  But I wanted to let ya'll know my thoughts about the Urban Decay Smoky Palette.


When I first heard about the smoky palette coming out, I was skeptical.  I thought it would be dark colors that would only be wearable for a smoky eye or night on the town look, so not something that I could wear day to day at work.

I was pleasantly surprised.  The colors were much lighter with a single swipe on the lid than they led me to believe.

Courtesy of peekandponder.com

Some shades perform better than others, I loved Smolder but couldn't always get High to perform as well.

Here is a look that I wore to work and out several times.

Yep, my shirt says Genius!!

In this look, I used Whiskey and Combust as my blending shades above my lid, Smolder on my outer V and DirtySweet on my mobile lid.  This is a lighter version of the look, but adding more color and blending more quickly darkens the look!

Overall, this is a great palette for fall.  Colors are on trend and will go into the winter months well.  If you are a fan of the other Naked palettes then you will love this one.  There were some negative reviews that I came across but as long as you are using a good primer then the staying power of these shadows should be fine.  Also, if you start out with small amounts of color then they should not be muddy when applied.

Great purchase and no regrets here!!

Did you run out and get this?  What are your thoughts?

Stay tuned for my thoughts on the Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation!

Let us know in the comments below!

Have a great day!! xo

Too Faced's Born This Way Foundation Review

As ya'll know my holy grail foundation is Estee Lauder Double Wear.  But since I stopped using silicone primers and use my Clarisonic dupe every day, my skin doesn't always require a full coverage heavy duty foundation.

Welcome, Born This Way Foundation by Too Faced.

This foundation has been described as, "your skin but better foundation" and it's largely because of the ingredients!

I have also been trying new ways of application to withstand my oily tzone throughout the day. Surprisingly enough, using those cheapo triangle makeup sponges in a dabbing motion on my face each day has been working out really well!!  I think the change in the weather here in Chicago is helping too, but it has withstood the hot, humid days as well.  Am I the only one who is trying this method?

Overall I find this foundation to be light to medium, buildable, but not cakey, coverage.  It lasts all day long and brightens my face.  It does not oxidize and it also only takes a little bit to get the job done.

I am using nude which is actually light with pink undertones.  Warm nude pulled too yellow on me, so with my neutral undertones, this is actually the perfect shade!

Here I am in natural lighting, with no filter! Pretty spot on coloring if I do say so myself!

Have you used this foundation yet? What are your thoughts?  Was color selection hard for you?

Let us know in the comments below!

Have a great day!! xo

Sephora Epic Rewards Choice-Smashbox Makeup!!

A few weeks ago, Sephora once again had their epic rewards choices.  Epic meaning 1,000 points and up reward choices.  Some were valued at 10,000 reward points.  I know my chances were slim but I tried nonetheless to get in on the action.

And I was able to choose one!!  I  ended up going with the Smashbox reward.  It was 1,000 points and I knew I would use all of the items, as opposed to some of the other choices, where I already had or wouldn't use some items.

All of the above items came in my reward:

• Smashbox Primer Water
• Smashbox Mascara
• Smashbox Infrared Matte Red Lipstick
• Smashbox Crimson Red Lip Liner
• Smashbox Shape Matters Palette

The approximate value of all items combined is $157.   Not bad!

Now on to the star of my reward choice, the Shape Matters palette.

Look at how gorgeous it is.  I have had my eyes on this palette since I got a sneak peek of it.  

The left side is for brows, the middle is for face and the right is for eyes.  I mean, it really covers everything.  If I could change one thing, it would be to have added a blush in the mix.  They just released a palette full of shadows and blush and I think that one looks beautiful too!

You may remember in my January Favorites blog post, click HERE to reread, I reviewed the Smashbox contour palette and have loved it ever since.  This palette is sturdy and perfect to take on a trip.  The sizes of each pan seem like they will last forever, too.  They are all very pigmented and smooth and the brush that comes in the palette is great quality!

Do you have this palette?  What do you think about it?

Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great night xo

Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Shadow Palette Review

It was with much hesitation that I purchased this palette.  Due to the fact my experience with the contour palette was not the best. Read that review HERE. But I watched a video that Stephanie Lange (vlogger) did and from that moment I knew I had to have it.

I don't even want to say the H word.......hooded eyelids.......I have them and one day, I will overcome them.  But until them I shall work with shade and light to fight the good fight on not accentuating that dreaded hood.

So I broke down and bought the palette......because matte shades are what you should wear with hooded lids.

And so far, I am very pleased with it.  I recreated the Stephanie Lange look, of course, and have worn it every day since I got it!!

The nice thing about this palette is that it is aimed at all skin tones.  Kat Von D wanted everyone to be able to enjoy it.  I say that like I know her......"You know, when Kat and I were hanging out the other day discussing her plans for her new palette"........

The left side is the neutral side, the middle is cool and the right is the warm side.  Though I lean towards warmer tones, the look I am in love with comes from the cool portion of the palette,

You can see how I extend and round off the corners to define the shape of my eye and pull the focus outward rather than upward (towards the hood).

I blew up these pictures so you all could see the placement.  I always put my crease above the hood so that when you are looking at me straight on, the shadow is visible.

Courtesy of vampyvarnish.com

The palette comes with look cards which will be very  helpful if you are trying out new ways to enhance or play with your eyes.

Courtesy of glamourzen.com

For my look I started out with Lazarus directly above my hood, creating my own crease.  That is also my transition shade.  Then I placed Saleos there as well and blended them both out and extended. Liberatus was used next on my mobile lid and inner corner only.  Then I took Solas (from the warm side) and placed at the outer corner of my eye and rounded it up into the other shadows.  Blend, Blend, Blend.

Overall, I am very pleased so far.  There are absolutely so many looks that can be created with this palette,  The price is steep, but not when you think about how much product you get.  The packaging is kind of bulky but all of her palettes are great for travel, I have found, because of that.  And the shadows are great quality.  They blend smoothly and stay on all day.

Click HERE to read the exact color descriptions from Temptalia!

Do you have this palette??  What do you think so far??

Let us know in the comments below!!

Have a great day!! xo

Hourglass Hyaluronic Skin Tint Review

Lately I have been on the search for the perfect BB cream or foundation for summer. I am so pale in the fall and winter months, so when I get tan, I need another product.  One that doesn't cover my tan, but any redness or imperfections I may have.

Introducing Hourglass Hyaluronic Skin Tint!!

This comes in 12 shades for varying skin tones.  I chose Golden Tan.  And the color is exactly that.  It gives me golden tan, which accentuates the tan I already have.

It also minimizes pores and gives me a flawless finish.  The only criticism I have is that I have oily skin, more so in the summer months, so I do use a setting spray or powder to set it, depending on where I am going.  It gives you a natural, fresh faced finish and sinks into the skin so it doesn't look like foundation.  It is named "tint" but I think it provides plenty of coverage.

For application, it suggests using your fingers or the Hourglass Foundation Brush No.2, but since that is $58, I said nope.....I use my stippling brush and it applies seamlessly.

I have yet to be disappointed with the Hourglass brand in general.   It is a little pricey but remember, cheap makeup is not good and good makeup is not cheap!!

I have a few other ones I am reviewing so will keep you posted!

Have you used this before?  What are your thoughts?  What is your go to summer bb cream or foundation?

Let us know in the comments below!!

Have a great day!! xo