[TUTORIAL TIME] D.I.Y. Eyebrows

Let's get down to business, and defeat these brows!

First, let me just say, I had to grow mine out for a good 2.5 weeks to be able to do this tutorial. I hope you guys really enjoy this! I will say one thing, I do NOT use scissors. I have not ever trimmed my own brows before. I'm not THAT confident in myself yet. I have, however, used those mini razors on my brows. Let me tell you, those are amazing! They are very easy to use and are fast!

I tend to do my own brows except for maybe once a year or twice a year where I'll go and get them threaded, but that's about it. By, 'do my own brows', I mean I just tweeze them.

Here's a quick tutorial I put together. Keep in mind, I've decided to give 3 options in terms of what to use to fill in your brows. Pencil, powder and gel.

Let's get started with the tools:

The highlighter crayon is used to sketch where you will be tweezing. You can use anything. I choose this particular crayon because it will also double as my brow highlighter.

The Color Tattoo, Mac shadow (in Brun) and the Sephora Brow Pencil are the 3 products we will use to fill our brows at the end. All the rest of the products you see are the tools we will use to prep our canvas.

Step 1:

I didn't actually mean dirty...I meant unkept..anyhow. If you google 'brow arch' you will find a billion and one search results for different shapes. First, I'd like to apologize for not including my nose (which is oh-so-important when measuring arches). Basically, you want to keep your arch natural. Don't try to change anything outrageous. If you at the left line, I clearly have a LOT of eyebrow hair to the left of that line. Does that mean I should tweeze all of that? NO! The lines are just a guide! However, if you look at the middle line, your highest arch, should align with you outside pupil and the outer nostril. Alright, enough staring at my unkept brow? Let's move along...

Step 2:

Sorry for the blurry picture. Alright, I've marked where I'd like to tweeze. Anything outside the line can be tweezed. Let's go!

Step 3:

MUCH BETTER! Now that you've tweezed everything outside the line, go ahead and clean everything up! After the crayon mark is wiped up, take a closer look. Use the spoolie and brush everything in place and see if you need to tweeze any additional stray hairs. This is also a good time to use the clear brow gel and stick everything in place and double check!

Step 4:

Time to fill it up! Take your favorite product and start filling your brow up! Remember to fill the outside first, then use the mascara spoolie and brush it in and step back and take a look. Don't overfill! Then if need be, fill the insides last. This is done with Mac's eyeshadow in Brun. My hair color is jet black for reference.

Below are some other ways of filling in your brows:

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if there are any other tutorials you'd like to see!

Palette Wars: Lorac Pro -vs- Naked 2

Most of you have heard of the Naked palettes. More specifically, there are 3 Naked palettes: Naked, Naked 2 and Naked Basics. In my humble opinion, there is absolutely no need to own all 3 of the Naked palettes (unless you have money to throw around). Many have said that the first Naked (1, or the original) palette is better suited for those that are more neutral or cool toned and the Naked 2 is more for those that are warm toned and the Naked Basics palette is an all matte neutral small, convenient palette that's easy to carry.

I own the Naked 2 and the Naked Basics palettes. I also own the Lorac Pro palette. 

If you are thinking of only owning (1) ONE universal palette, I'll share with you my comparison of the Naked 2 -vs- the Lorac Pro below and hopefully it will help you decide which is a better choice.

Urban Decay NAKED 2 ($50):

PROS: This is great palette with 12 shades of warms and neutrals that's mixed with shimmers and mattes. The first shade, Foxy is the perfect brow highlight shade and the last shade Blackout is the perfect black to seal your liner with. It's versatile and multifunctional. The case is durable and sturdy, made of a metal tin (beats the cardboard stuff anyday). It comes with a dual ended brush and it also comes with a mini lipgloss. Let's be real, no one is getting the Naked 2 for the gloss or the brush though. It also comes with a HUGE mirror, which is great for travel/on the go. The textures of the shadows are buttery soft and glides on smoothly. 

CONS: To maximize the use of the colors, especially the lighter colors, I would definitely suggest using a primer or a base. The lighter colors does not show up as well without it. I do experience slight fallout with the shadows, this also might have to do with the fact that the shadows are so buttery soft (which is a good thing). I just suggest that you do your eye makeup first. Color variety is lacking for the cost. These are just your basic neutrals and warms. You will not be able to create any colors that are fun and vibrant with the Naked 2.

Lorac Pro ($42)

PROS: This is a great palette with 8 mattes and 8 shimmers (which totals 16 shadows, compared to Naked 2's 12). The price is cheaper than Naked 2 as well. I love the fact that you so many mattes. Matte shadows are hard to find, has anyone noticed that? Also, the color spectrum of the Lorac Pro is amazing. You have your lights and you have your darks. The number/variety of looks you can pull off with the Lorac Pro is probably higher than with the Naked 2. The colors were easier to blend compared to the Naked 2 and the payoff was also better.

CONS: The packaging can be a lot better. I feel as though if I dropped my palette, it will break and shatter into a million pieces. Other than that, really that's the only con I can think of. 

So the winner of the Palette War? LORAC PRO!

If you are in the market for one palette, one palette to rule them all...Lorac Pro is your best bet! Just try not to drop it.

You can find this product at:

Sephora: Naked 2 for $50 or Lorac Pro for $42

I give Naked 2 a 8/10 and Lorac Pro a 8.5/10

YVES SAINT LAURENT

YVES SAINT LAURENT: 

Just saying it makes me feel all fancy! Today's post will be about YSL lipsticks. More specifically, their Rouge Volupte lipsticks and their Volupte Sheer Candy Glossy Balms.

Let's get the obvious out of the way..these cost a pretty little penny. 3400 ($34) pennies for the lipsticks and 3200 ($32) pennies for the balms to be exact. 

I own three (3). I sold blood for them. I might have to sell plasma for the Fall collection. We'll see. 

Here's what I have:

(L) Lipstick in #1 Nude Beige, (M) Balm in #9 Cool Guava, (R) Balm in #4 Grenade Suave

 (L) Lipstick in #1 Nude Beige, (M) Balm in #9 Cool Guava, (R) Balm in #4 Grenade Suave

 Swatched (L) Lipstick in #1 Nude Beige, (M) Balm in #9 Cool Guava, (R) Balm in #4 Grenade Suave

So what do I think of these? I'm glad you asked!

1. I think they smell amazing! I've never smelled such classy lipsticks before. YSL must inject perfume into their lipsticks! Keep in mind, this can also be a HUGE turn off for some folks too. This is also why I put this as my number one. It has a mild (but good, to me) fragrance.
2. All 3 goes on smoothly and glides on like butter.
3. The lipstick (I only have #1 in Nude Beige) is amazing in color, very opaque, which is great...especially if I'm paying $34 for a lipstick, I don't want to be reapplying over and over again!
4. The balms, #9 was really light and the color pay-off was not that great. I feel like I paid a little too much for not a lot of color. However, #4 was uh-may-zing! It is the perfect sheer glossy red!
5. Packaging...I mean, really? How gorgeous are they? I'm not saying go out and buy a $34 lipstick just for the smell and the packaging, but man....

You can find this product at:

Sephora for $32 (balm) and $34 (lipstick)

I give this product a 9/10

Mac Blushes 101

This post will be about Mac blushes. It will only be about the powder blushes. So no cremes, no mineralized, no pro longwear, and no limited editions blushes.

Let's get started. I am breaking the blushes up into 4 sections:

1. Warms/Peaches/Shimmers
2. Pinks
3. Bolds/Pro (you don't need a Pro card to buy Pro items, you can order online or from a Pro store)
4. Others/Contours/Highlights

WARMS/PEACHES/SHIMMERS

All colors are great alone by themselves, descriptions are taken from Mac Cosmetics directly 

 1.  Sunbasque: Peach with pearl (sheertone shimmer)

 2. Ambering Rose: Muted rose (sheertone shimmer)
 3. Margin: Peach with golden shimmer (frost)
 4. Melba: Soft coral peach (matte)
 5. Peaches: Pure peach (sheertone)
 6. Pinch Me: Medium dirty rose coral (sheertone)

PINKS

These colors are great alone as well, but I like to layer colors with these so that they show up more

 1. Well Dressed: Immaculate pink (satin)
 2. Pink Swoon: Clearly pink (sheertone)
 3. Fleur Power: Soft bright pinkish-coral (satin)

BOLDS/PRO

These colors on my NC25 skintone are a bit bold, I like to blend them out with another, less harsh color

 1. Devil (Pro): Bright coral orange (satin)
 2. Apple Red (Pro): Fire engine red (satin)
 3. Rhubarb (Pro): Bright magenta (satin)
 4. Dollymix: Pure candy pink (sheertone shimmer)
 5. Salsarose (Pro): Lightly iridescent coral (satin)
 6. Azalea (Pro): Bright iridescent blue pink (frost)

 OTHERS/CONTOURS/HIGHLIGHTS

For these particular ones, here's how I use them:

 1. Shadowy: Deep brown matte sculpting powder--I use this to contour
 2. Lightsweep: Warm beige with fine pearl shaping powder--I use this to powder
 3. Emphasize: Off white with fine pear shaping powder--I use this to set my under eye
 4. Trace Gold: Gold with shimmer (sheertone shimmer)--I use this as a summer highlight
 5. Cantaloupe: Rich warm cantaloupe (satin)--I use this as a base for my bold blushes sometimes
 6. Blushbaby: Beige-pink (sheertone)--I use this alone as a very subtle blush

I hope this has been helpful to you if you are searching for a Mac blush. Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is just the regular powder blushes. You can buy all of the blushes mentioned on Mac's website. Keep in mind that you have the option of buying them individually in the refill pan's for $17 each here or you can buy them by itself for $21 each normally here.

Lastly, the sculpting and shaping powders are not considered blushes, they are $16.50 each and are Pro items only. Pro items can only be bought via refills only.

Introducing: My Makeup Room

My makeup room was originally a mini walk-in closet. I tore it down. We (my husband and I) had more closets than we needed, so what better than to turn this closet into a makeup room! I still call it a work in progress. We still need to put lighting in it, though, I will say, we have other priorities since moving into our house. Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy with how everything has turned out! Please enjoy:

I  know, the brushes are due for a washing, sorry for the sore eye!

 The blushes and highlighters towards the left are hardly used, that's why they're so far left

 The boxes contain backups, empty makeup bags, cotton rounds, tissues, more lotions, etc.

 Instead of putting foundation on my hand, I use the mixing plate, less wasted product!

 The cart, is rollable, so I sometimes take my makeup and I can roll it away and do it elsewhere

I have wayyy too many samples. This doesn't even include the body samples (shampoos/face washes/body washes)!