I’m taking my Urban Decay Afterglow Blush in Bittersweet for a test run — it looks great with MAC Up The Amp lipstick!
Urban Decay Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Blush in Bitter Sweet
What are you wearing today?
Makeup of the Day
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Category Archives: Makeup
Makeup of the Day
Eyes: The two coral shades and the golden shimmer from Wet n Wild eyeshadow palette “California Roll”, Wet n Wild MegaLiner liquid eyeliner in Black, Urban Decay Perversion mascara
Lips: EOS Honeydew lip balm
MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in Chatterbox
Yesterday, I brought my 6 items to the local MAC counter to recycle for their Back To MAC program – their recycling program where you can bring or send in 6 plastic, glass, or metal items that are empty for recycling and in exchange, you can chose a lipstick, lipgloss, or small eyeshadow (I think perhaps limited edition items are excluded, but don’t quote me on that). This time I picked out Amplified Creme Lipstick in Chatterbox, as it seems I have really loud lipsticks and nudes, but not much in the way of mid tones. The Amplified Creme formula is my favorite and I have more of these than any other formula: they’re packed with pigment and moisturizing with a little sheen. I love the vibrancy and comfort of the lipsticks in this formula and Chatterbox does not disappoint. What’s odd about this color is that nobody can agree on its undertones! It’s definitely a mid-toned pink, but when I read reviews, I saw it described as everything from yellow based to blue based to everything in between. It does appear that it looks different on everyone, so try this one on before buying if you can!
Here it is swatched on my arm. For reference, I wear an NW10 foundation in MAC, so I’m very pale.
Here I am wearing it today! I have on Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless foundation in porcelain, which is more yellow than my normal MAC NW10 Studio Fix Fluid. I think this pink shade of lipstick is fairly warm, possibly a yellow based pink, at least on me. I’m in love with it!
Here it is with Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Luster on top. Another nice sparkly one to go over this would be Revlon Colorburst lip gloss in Crystal Water.
I love Chatterbox because I think it will be a great shade no matter the time of year and will go with just about any and every eye look. What’s your favorite go-to lipstick?
Makeup of the Day
Eyes: Urban Decay eyeshadows in Kinky, Freestyle, Mushroom and Asphalt, MAC Kohl Power eyeliner in Raven, Urban Decay Perversion mascara
Lips: Rimmel lipstick in 101 (a nude pink)
Makeup of the Day
Eyes: MAC eyeshadows in Nylon and Creme de Violet, Urban Decay eyeshadow in Chopper, Wet n Wild MegaLiner liquid eyeliner in Black, Urban Decay Perversion mascara
Lips: Urban Decay lipliner in Ozone, MAC lipstick in Pink Fusion
Face: MAC MatchMaster Foundation 1.0, NYX HD Finishing Powder, BeneFit Dandelion blush
Fragrance: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab “Nemesis”
I’m wearing my contact lenses today…
…because I can wear my stylin Marc Jacobs aviators and it’s the perfect weather for rocking some sunglasses! And also…
That way my mom and I match — we own the same sunglasses! I spent the afternoon doing some hometown sightseeing on the Seattle waterfront with my mom, brother, sister in law, niece and nephew.
Makeup of the Day
Well, I’m breaking out and I forgot to put my nose ring back in, but gosh darn it, I look cute anyway! (Heehee) I am wearing the Naked2 Basics eyeshadow palette, Hikari blush in Tango, and MAC lipstick in Diva-Ish. I also tried out ELF Gotta Glow blush as a highlighter and it’s gorgeous, but you can’t see it in my pictures – it has a beautiful golden sheen in the sun!
Porcelain Means Porcelain, Dammit — Finding Makeup & Techniques for Pale Skin
Something that drives me nuts is trying to find good tutorials or reviews of makeup for pale skin. And I mean ACTUALLY pale, not “I wear MAC NC25” or your foundation shade contains the word “caramel” or “sand” or “tan”. You might have light-toned skin (in the “light” end of the spectrum, or “lighter than most”), but not pale. Finding a good, true “porcelain” shade is very difficult, and finding good ideas for things like highlighting, bronzing and contouring is even more elusive.
Here’s a great example: When I go to the MAC counter (or, well, many counters, actually!), they always want to match me to NW15, because it’s one of the lightest shades they offer What I’m wearing currently is MatchMaster 1.0, which is much better on me (I wear it daily and it looks very natural on me) – and they still tried to tell me it’s too light! Nope. I am porcelain, with pinky undertones, and the amount of “light” foundations that are far too dark is, well, most of them.
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Check out the difference here — on the right is StudioFix Fluid NW15 and MatchMaster 1.0 on the left. Blended all the way out you can barely see it on my arm, but the SFF is much too dark and yellow! The only time SFF NW15 is even close to matching my skin is when I get home from Burning Man after two weeks in the desert sun, and EVEN THEN it’s BARELY light enough! I do wear SFF in NW15 from time to time, but generally go very, very light with it (sometimes I blend it with moisturizer, it works quite well that way) and always powder over with StudioFix Powder in NW10 to lighten it up.
It’s harder still to find a good shade at the drugstore, but I think I’ve struck gold with Rimmel Stay Matte in Light Porcelain 010. I don’t think I’d go quite as far as to call it a dupe unless you account for it being much more full coverage and slightly less yellow, but both look very natural on me and I’m happy with each! The MatchMaster blends down so naturally that it’s very easy to wear, the Rimmel Stay Matte takes a bit more paying attention so to not look unnatural.
But the search always continues for tutorials and new products, of course!
Have you found any great tutorials for bronzing, contouring, and highlighting truly pale/porcelain skin? What products do you like to use?
Sephora Birthday Goodies!
So, every year I grab an item or two from Sephora around my birthday to treat myself and to get their yearly birthday freebie. This year, it’s this awesome NARS duo of lip crayons:
Sephora Beauty Insider birthday gift, NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella and Satin Lip Pencil in Rkugen
Cannot wait to try this! They look interesting.
I ordered myself two rather luxe items. First, I ordered something I’ve been wanting to try for ages, but I’ve been waiting to use up another product (took me a year to use up my MAC Mineralize Concealer). The object of lust is NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantillty, and oh my gosh…it appears to PERFECTLY match my ridiculously pale skin tone. If it covers and wears well like the reviews say, I’m thinking this is worth the $29.00 for the color match alone!
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Chantilly
Next is something I have lusted after since before it was released (thanks, YouTube), the Urban Decay Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Blush in the shade Bitter Sweet.
Urban Decay Afterglow 8-Hour Powder Blush in Bitter Sweet
Dat packaging tho…
AHHHH GAHD! Can we talk about purple? Let’s just talk about purple. Purple is my favorite color and you can easily find purple eye shadows and lipsticks. Blushes? Not really. You can find the rare lavender, but they usually end up reading as pink on the skin. I can’t tell you how excited I am that UD is bringing back the COLOR with this blush line. Check out the other shades and you’ll see what I mean…not everything is nudes!
SO EXCITE.
Anyway, Sephora was having a deal with a coupon code where you could get 3 deluxe samples, so I jumped on that. Here’s what I got:
Deluxe samples of Fresh Sugar Lip Scrub, Jack Black lip balm, and Dolce and Gabbana Passion Eyes curling mascara
How awesome is that? I usually make my own lip scrub with sugar and coconut oil, so having one from Fresh is always awesome when they have these samples (it’s a very nice product). The Jack Black lip balm has SPF 25, so that’s going right in my purse! I have tried the Dolce and Gabanna Passion Eyes mascara, but not this curling version (I liked it, just not $30 worth, LOL).
Sephora also always offers 3 free samples so I got this Urban Decay card sample of the blush trio in Naked Flushed:
Urban Decay Naked Flushed sample card
I also received a Christian Dior Diorshow mascara sample and a sample of the Kat Von D Lock-It Featherweight Primer (I’m excited to try this, since it’s a water based primer):
Samples of Christian Dior Diorshow mascara and Kat Von D Lock-It Featherweight Primer
All in all, I would say with all the deluxe samples that this order was a great value for the money and made my birthday feel rather special! I cannot wait to share how these things work for me with all of you!
What do you guys do for your birthday? Anything special?
Guys, guys, guys!! NYX is having their Memorial Day sale and the whole site is 30% off!
Look what I got in my email!
Don’t do like me and order $15.00 of stuff because you didn’t realize you get free shipping with $25.00 orders, ok? LOL My total was $20.00 and then I saw the fine print…fail. ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT!
Can’t wait to share my stuff with you! I’m trying the new HD blush in Taupe for contouring, the Porcelain HD concealer, the Wicked Lippie in Betrayal (metallic purple), and the Primal Colors shadow in black.
Two years ago during this sale I got a bunch of the slim lip pencils for around 2 bucks, so it’s a great time to stock up on those – they are awesome!
Makeup of the Day
Eyes: MAC eyeshadows in Satisfy, Platonic and Deep Feelings (Infatuating Rose: 6 Cool Eyes palette), MAC eyeliner pencil in Raven, Urban Decay Perversion mascara
Lips: MAC lipstick in Up The Amp
Face: MAC MatchMaster Foundation 01
A Bad Homance 