Happy Halloween! Sugar Skull makeup

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because it allows me to dress up, even as an adult and give out candy to the little kids who come by. The past few years I have gotten into dressing up more and more and each year my choice of attire has gotten more and more creative.

Admittedly this year I wasn’t sure what I wanted to dress up as – if anything at all. I wasn’t feeling inspired and about 2 ½ weeks ago I was struck with inspiration, so before that inspiration had a chance to dwindle away, I picked up a few face paints at Walmart and some flowers at the dollar store.

I was inspired to paint my face in full Sugar Skull fashion while recycling a gothic black and lace dress I had picked up last year.  I did my makeup with a rather following the inspiration as it came.  I used white face paint, black face pain, colored wax pencils, face primer, translucent powder, black eye shadow and black eye liner.  I primed my face and when it dried I applied the white face paint. Before I got near my eyes I drew out the circles around my eyes and around my nose with eyeliner, then filled in the remainder of my face with the white paint. I then used a cheap makeup brush from the dollar store to blot on the translucent powder to keep the white paint from going anywhere.  I then used a foam tip applicator and began to pat the black face paint onto my nose and eyes.  After this I patted black eye shadow on top of the black face paint to set it in place. I then used the eyeliner and wax pencils to begin drawing on my face with whatever I felt inspired to draw – spider web, upside down heart, spirals, a flowery looking design, etc.

To tie it all together I cut up some fake flowers and tucked them into my air, holding them in place with a headband.  Overall I am quite pleased with how my makeup turned out.

Sadly, it started to rain a little while before trick-or-treating began … so we didn’t get nearly as many kids as we normally get. So that leaves one question: what do we do with all this candy?!

QUESTION:

Did you dress up for Halloween?

Milani Shadow Eyez Prize

I signed up on the Milani Facebook page about a month back because they were offering up giveaways over a couple week period. I entered my information and didn’t hear anything back so I assumed I didn’t win anything. So needless to say, I was quite surprised when I received a small manila bubble envelope in the mail. Upon opening it I found two Shadow Eyez, surprisingly in one of the shades I was interested in trying out. So yay!  Here’s what I received:

-          Milani Shadow Eyez in Winter White

-          Milani Shadow Eyez in Champagne Toast

QUESTION:

Have you tried any of the Milani Shadow Eyez? If so, what were your thoughts?

Haul: Wet n Wild - Going in the Wild Palette

I was browsing Instagram and Facebook a few weeks ago and saw a blogger posted a photo of a nude Wet n Wild eyeshadow palette.  Staring at my phone, I literally said “Whaaaat?”  I ended up googling the palette name and found out it was a limited edition spring palette – which apparently is very hard to find in stores.  My local pharmacies haven’t gotten them yet, but after going onto Nouveau Cheap’s blog I found a sighting map.  A lot of the sightings happened at grocery chains not in my area – but I noticed a few people had mentioned their local Christmas Tree Shop had the palette.

That put the hunt on – I started calling all pharmacies and Christmas Tree Shops in my area.  Every single one of them for days said they did not have the limited edition palettes.  Then on a whim a week later I decided to go shopping and I had to get a few things near the Christmas Tree Shop so I decided to take a peak.  After browsing where the limited edition displays would be, I was bummed – then walked down the Wet n Wild product aisle and nearly squeed.  There, sitting on the shelf was a single Going in the Wild palette.  Into my cart it went and off to the check out I went with all my purchases.

Now if I could only get my hands on the nude palette my life (haha) would be complete!

QUESTION:

Have you spotted the new Wet n Wild limited edition Spring Forward palettes in stores?

Swatches: Wet n Wild Shimmer the Night Away

This is Wet n Wild’s limited edition 8-pan palette Shimmer the Night Away.  This is one of the 3 new limited edition palettes (well, really 2 new since one is a re-release under a new name).  This is the purple palette.  I admit I was hesitant to purchase because purples aren’t really my favorite shadows – they usually contrast against my skin tone and make me look like I have a black eye.  I did pick it up because my Walgreen’s was having all Wet n Wild products on sale with a buy one get one 50% off deal.  So of course, I bought the first palette for $4.99 and got this one for $2.50.  I felt the price was justifiable to pick it up.

I will say I was not particularly wowed by the color payoff on this palette.  Sparkle ‘Til Morning is SO gorgeous, pigmented and wearable that this just fell flat for me on the love-o-meter. The darker shades pop more whereas the purple – even the blue tend to fall a little flat.  Sorry to say – but I’m not a terribly big fan of this palette.

Swatches: Wet n Wild Sparkle ‘Til Morning

This is Wet n Wild’s limited edition 8-pan palette Sparkle ‘Til Morning.  I have to say out of the limited edition palettes that came out this year; this has to be my absolute FAVORITE!  It’s so gorgeous, pigmented and such fun sparkly colors that can be worn all year long.  These retail for $4.99 but are usually on sale buy one get one 50% off at Walgreens.  I BELIEVE these limited edition 8-pan palettes are only available at Walgreens – but don’t quote me on that because my CVS does not sell Wet n Wild (tear).   Do note these swatches are without a primer.

If you are not familiar, the palette includes two separate “instructional” shades but you can switch it up if you’re feeling fancy.  As with most Wet n Wild 8-pan palettes one side is more colorful while the other is more of a neutral look.  Personally I completely LOVE this palette it’s just perfection.

Shannon’s Walgreen’s Beauty Haul!

This was not an expected haul – but I was going into Walgreen’s to pick up a carpal tunnel wrist support (its fabulous getting “old” LOL).  I was also slightly agitated because my boyfriend had gotten into an accident in my car earlier in the evening and my car was looking hurt.  So I went shopping to feel better.  I spotted the limited edition Wet n Wild display with the 8-pan palettes so I grabbed the two palettes that stuck out to me the most.  One was more intriguing to own than the other but since it was buy one get one 50% off I felt it would be stupid to not pick them both up.  I also grabbed some of the Wet n Wild lippies because they are such fabulously pigmented lipsticks for such a great price -- $1.99 each, plus they were on sale buy one get one 50% off.

Here’s what I picked up:

-    Wet n Wild – Sparkle ‘Til Morning (Limited Edition)
-    Wet n Wild – Shimmer the Night Away (Limited Edition)
-    Wet n Wild – Cherry Bomb
-    Wet n Wild – Mocha-licious
-    Sinful Colors - Faceted

NYC Individual Eyes - Dark Shadows (Swatches & Mini-Review)

I received this NYC (New York Color) Individual Eyes in the shade Dark Shadows from Influenster in part of their Beauty Blogger Voxbox.

These complete palettes come with a cream primer and illuminator as well as four complimentary shadows.  To help the user create the “perfect” eye look there is a diagram on the back of the palette explaining where to put each shadow, while the plastic insert over the shadows advise as to where they go as well.  It’s a perfect all-in-one palette for a beginner or even someone who’s either on a budget or wants a palette that has everything together for easy travel.

This particular Dark Shadows palette has the following shades available: white, silver, gunmetal grey and black.  There’s also a cream illuminator (white) and a primer base (nude).  The shadows have a bit of glittery shimmer to them, but it’s no where near overwhelming or even moderately overwhelming.   I would say the color pay off is pretty stellar for a product that retails for $4.99.  I own the palette which is geared toward brown eyes (it has a cranberry/plum shade in it – gorgeous!) and I’ve used that many-a-time when I don’t want to have to go through what I have and want something that’s almost “fool proof”.

I would say the Dark Shadows palette isn’t for everyone.  Some just don’t look great with silvers, while others aren’t comfortable with such “bold” eye looks (particularly if you’re more of a neutral kinda gal).  Overall, I would say if you’re in the market for an all-in-one palette check out what NYC has to offer – they offer some pretty standup products for the price.

Shannon’s Target Haul – hit that Clearance rack hard!

This is my haul from Target last week, perhaps even the week before?  I can’t quite remember but I do remember I went to Target to get household items and ended up with over $100 worth of randomness in my cart.  Yowzah!  I always go down the back of the aisles because that’s where the clearance sections are usually set up in my local Targets.  I tend to like to peek through what’s on clearance because sometimes Target drops their prices significantly for no apparent reason, so might as well get a good deal when the timings right, right?  I got some pretty great deals on the pictured items because I had high value coupons for the shaving items and the deodorant.  Got to love coupons!

Here’s what I picked up:

-          St. Ives Apricot Scrub Value Pack (Both were $3.40) which I believe was less than the price of one single bottle.

-          Dove Deodorant – double pack

-          Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler Kit

-          Secret Clinical Strength Deodorant pack

-          Gillette Venus & Olay razor w/ mini shaving cream

-          Revlon Colorstay Smoky Shadow Stick – Atomic (this actually wasn’t ringing up so the girl just sold it to me for $2)

-          Elf Shine Eraser sheets

Lacura Eye Shadow & Foundation Haul!

We recently got a grocery chain here on the East coast named ALDI. I go there once in a while to pick up some items for the house and milk since it’s the cheapest around. While browsing around I noticed they had a cosmetics section. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to try it, but I decided to just go ahead and pick up 2 eye shadows and a foundation. The greatest part of this? ALL of these items are only 99 cents! Why are they 99 cents? That’s just the pricing structure for them BUT I do want to note these products are being discontinued from US-based stores, but from what I understand they will continue to sell them overseas. I had swatched the eye shadows on my hand at least a month ago and was like “Oh wow these are pigmented!” and my BF was looking at me like I was crazy because I was fawning over makeup AGAIN. So I left them there telling myself I didn’t need anything else. But I went back and after picking up some items for the house I decided to splurge a little and get some makeup. Figuring for a dollar if it’s garbage, oh well. Sadly they only had 2 color shades of eye shadows available and foundation, the other eye shadows are gone – which means I probably won’t find them unless I start calling the other ALDI’s in my area and traveling out to them which probably won’t happen.

Here’s a little background information on the Lacura brand from the ALDI website which is associated with the Lacura brand. The brand is:

• Critically acclaimed & award winning
• It’s made from natural ingredients like candelilla wax & avocado oil
• Contains the same ingredients that are in the expensive cosmetic brands
• Costs up to 95-percent less than name brands
• Dermatologist tested
• Products are not tested on animals
• Fragrance free

The packaging is pretty standup and wasn’t what I expected. I was expecting some cheap, plastic, but it’s pretty sturdy and a glassy metal case.

The three products I picked up and paid 99 cents for are as follows:

- Foundation – 40 Bronze. This is a great match for my skin tone, it the slight sheen it gives reminds me of Garnier’s BB cream. The box claims the following: “The soft and pleasant texture of LACURA foundation leaves your skin silky smooth and shin-efree while providing optimum coverage power. The formula with aloe vera and shea butter contains no perfumes, moisturizing the skin and leaving it feeling wonderfully soft.”

- 302 Lilac Eye Shadow Duo (for some reason my camera is photographing the up close shot more grey and white than lilac and purple - but you can see the true color in the 1st photo). This comes with a very light lilac shade and a deeper purple. The box claims the following: LACURA Duo Eyeshadow in perfectly coordinated color combinations for perfect eye make up. Finely textured LACURA Dup Eyeshadow is easy to apply and long lasting. LACURA Duo Eyeshadow fits perfectly in any handbag and has a mirror and applicator inside.

- 101 Cocoa Eyeshadow Duo. This comes with a darker brown and a lighter yellow/tan shade.

QUESTIONS:
Do you have an ALDI store nearby?
Have you ever tried the LACURA brand?

Images are mine do not take or use. Thank you.

theBalm Nude ‘Tude Eyeshadow Palette Haul!

A couple weeks ago HauteLook was having another sale on theBalm products and the Nude ‘Tude palette was one of the palettes offered up in the sale! The last time HauteLook had the sale, I missed out on it because I realized items were on sale the day after and the Nude ‘Tude palette was already sold out. This time around, I was lucky enough to know about the sale in advance and even though I was at a doctor’s appointment, I was able to order the palette through the HauteLook mobile app! Hooray for technology!

The palette was on sale for $18 compared to the $36 it costs on theBalm’s website! GREAT savings! I didn’t mind paying the standard $4.95 to ship, which brought my out of pocket total up to $22.95.

Since I do not own UD’s Naked palette (I swear I’m the only one on the planet at this point) I wanted to get this as an equal substitute. Nude ‘Tude comes with 12 eye shadow shades which range from highlight colors to bold yet beautiful colors. The 12 shades provided are:

- Sassy
- Stubborn
- Selfish
- Sophisticated
- Sexy
- Serious
- Snobby
- Stand-offish
- Sultry
- Seductive
- Silly
- Sleek

QUESTIONS:

Do you own theBalm’s Nude ‘Tude palette?
What is your favorite theBalm product?
Have you ordered anything from HauteLook?

Images are mine do not take or use. Thank you.