FOTD: Sacred Shroud

Yay! My summer classes are FINALLY done. I didn't attend school in the spring as I was recovering from surgery, so going from doing absolutely nothing to having school every day and being super busy was a bit of a shock. I'm proud of myself for getting through it because it was rough on me. And I made As in everything! YAY! I only attend classes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the fall so it should feel like a break compared to how this was!

Sorry, for the derpy face in the following pic. Don't you hate it when you're going through pics and you look terrible in all of them? It sucks, but I'm not about to let a perfectly good opportunity to post go to waste. Plus I really liked the look, just not the face I put it on, haha.

Eyes:

•  Two Faced Shadow Insurance
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Detrivore Cosmetics Shroud on lid
• Detrivore Cosmetics Sacred in crease and below lower lash line
• Essence White Hype to highlight
• Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker in Ultra Black on upper lash line
• Urban Decay Corrupt eyeliner on waterline
• A mix of CoverGirl Lashblast mascara and Wet n Wild MegaLash Clinical Mascara on lashes
• Physician's Formula Canyon Classic quad matte eyeshadow in brows (darkest shade)

Face:

• Physician's Formula CircleRx concealer in Fair Light under eyes
• Maybelline SuperStay concealer in Ivory also under eyes
• Physician's Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation in Translucent Light

Cheeks

• Milani Baled Blush in Luminoso
• Milani Baked Blush in Terra Sole

Lips

• MAC Ever Hip lipstick
• MAC Evolution Revolution lipglass

So now I'm off to the grocery store (Boo!). When I first moved out of my parents' house I LOVED going grocery shopping. Now I loathe it. I hate it almost as much as washing dishes. Almost.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Physician's Formula Eyeliner Swatches

I have an essay to write and 2 exams to study for. Yikes! And of course I stayed up until 4 am reading (on my new Kindle, yay!). I have only been awake for an hour but I'm pretty sure I need a nap, haha. The days are too short and I have too much to do! Well, at least I'm not bored.

Today I have a few quick swatches of some Physician's Formula eye liners. Swatch all the liners! ;-)

From right to left:

• Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner for Green Eyes
• Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner, Glam Collection for Green Eyes
• Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio for Hazel Eyes 

I love these eyeliners. Both the cream liners and the pencils last all day on me, even without eye primer. The black liners apply the best, but I don't have major issues with any of them, although the two light shades in the middle are a bit sheer. I don't use the brush that came with the cream liners as I could never get it to work for me. And actually that stupid brush was the reason I never would use them. But I got an eyeliner brush I love (Sonia Kashuk's bent eyeliner brush) and I us them all the time now.

I'll talk in detail about each trio under their individual pictures.

Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner for Green Eyes

These are all very pigmented. I've had this set for about 3 years and haven't had any problems with the liners drying out. The only annoying thing about the packaging is that the caps never go on straight. To get them as tight as they need to be, the caps won't line up with the rest of the pot. It makes them really annoying to store.

The purple is one of my favorite eyeliner colors ever. The black is extremely pigmented and applies smoothly. It has a smattering of green sparkles, but they aren't super obvious on the eye. I like the green too, it's completely unlike anything else in my collection.

Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner, Glam Collection for Green Eyes

I don't like this set as much as the one above, but I still use it. I rarely use the metallic lavender pink and silver as eyeliner on the upper lashes, but they actually work really well as cream shadows. It is hard to tell in the picture, but the silver has little gold flakes in it that are really pretty. The black, like the black from the set above, is very pigmented and smooth. Instead of the green sparkles, this one has silver

I also don't have the issue with the lids not lining up with the pots like I do with the first trio.

Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio for Hazel Eyes

I rarely buy the twist-up pencil types of eyeliners, but I'm not sure why. Maybe because they only ever seem to come in boring colors? I don't know. I really like this trio, though. The first shade is a gorgeous darkened taupe and I wear it all the time. I don't own anything else like, everything else is either too brown, too dark, too warm toned, or too gold. The middle color is supposed to be pink. Yeah, it looks purple to me. I'm not a huge fan of this color (the opacity and wear time are good), maybe just because what I really want was an actual pink eyeliner. I still don't have one! The black is a soft black. It's hard to tell but this one is black with pink shimmer, which makes it not as deep. It's really pretty and unique and I wear when I don't need a harsh black.

 

Available:

·         All of the eyeliner trios retail for $10.95 and are available at drugstores and wherever Physician's Formula is sold. $10.95 may seem like a lot for drugstore makeup, but you get three eyeliners in the set, so that works out to less than $4 each.

 

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

FOTD: Nekkid Eyes

Every now and then a I get overcome by an odd feeling- the urge to wear neutral eyeshadow. Every thing else I wear is bland, boring, and dull. Colorful eyeshadow is my one "non-boring" aspect of my appearance. Seriously, I wear jeans, a t shirt, and Converse everyday. I either put my hair in a ponytail or wear it down and straighten it. I don't wear any jewelry or accessories ever.  See what I mean? Boring. I have 4 pairs of shoes- 2 Converse, 1 pair of tennis shoes, and 1 pair of flip flops (chanclas!) and three pair of jeans. I'm happy with this. It's simple and it works for me.

But put me in neutral eyeshadows and I feel naked.  After buying the Naked palette I'm starting to appreciate neutrals more, but I still feel more comfortable in hot pink eyeshadow than taupe.  So it was a little weird when I had the urge to do this look. I also wanted to practice my winged liner skills, but it's pretty obvious I need some more practice!

Eyes:

• Urban Decay Sin on lid
• Urban Decay Sidecar in crease
• Urban Decay Virgin in inner corner of eyes and to highlight
• Physician's Formula black gel liner above lash line and on water line
• A combination of Cover Girl Lash Blast and Wet N Wild MegaLash Clinical Mascara on lashes

Face:

• Physician's Formula CircleRx concealer in Fair Light
• Physician's Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation in Translucent Light

Cheeks

• NYX Cream Blush in Orange

Lips

• Benefit Benetint Lip Balm SPF 15

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Physician's Formula Mineral Glow Pearls in Translucent Pearl Swatches and Review

One thing I don't like about Physician's Formula products- they have ridiculously long names! But besides that, I have been impressed with most everything I have tried from them. I think Physician's Formula is definitely one of the better quality drugstore brands and is a bit underrated.  I wish their products were a little less expensive, but since many of them preform on the same level or better as the more expensive ones I buy from Sephora and such, it isn't that big of an issue. Plus, the brand regularly goes on sale.

I bought this powder several months ago during one such sale.  I rarely use highlighters because I don't care for the way they look on me, but I keep buying them regardless.  I guess I think that if I buy enough of them I'll fall magically in love with them.  But out of the highlighters I have, this one is definitely my favorite and I actually find myself reaching for it.  Yes, it's sparkly, but more refined and not gigantic glitter chunks of sparkle. It's build-able so you can go from a light sheen to full on disco ball cheeks depending on your preference.  The texture is smooth and blends easily. They soft and not chalky in the least.  I don't find that it imparts any color, just sparkle, on my skin, but that may just be because it is close in tone to my skin. It comes with a little brush, which is okay at getting the powder on your face, but as expected isn't that great. I would rather them ditch the brush and reduce the size of the compact.  It's a little bulky and the decorative pearl on top makes it impossible to stack.  The price, $13.95, is pretty high for drugstore makeup, too.

I highly recommend one of these powders if you're looking for a good highlighter from the drugstore. Next time Physician's Formula is on sale I plan on picking up the two blushes of this type (they retail for $10.95, but have less product).

All I'm wearing in this pic on my cheeks is the highlighter. Can you see how my cheeks are naturally kind of pink? It's annoying because it makes all my blushes look the same unless I pile the blush on.

Pros:

• Easy to wear
• Buildable amount of sparkle
• Smooth, soft texture
• Not chalky and blends easily

Cons:

• A little pricey for drugstore makeup
• Packaging is a bit bulky

Available:

• Sold at drugstores and retails for $13.95

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Physician's Formula Canyon Classic Matte Eyeshadows

I originally bought this quad because I was looking for a matte powder to fill my eyebrows with.  It does work really well for that, but I rarely use it mainly because i lazy and also because my eyebrows are in need of some TLC.  They look like light brown furry caterpillars. So it's a good thing I took these pictures before they grew into the wild messes they are currently.

I also don't own too many matte eyeshadows and was looking to expand my collection.  I had a coupon for Physician's Formula so I decided to pick up this quad of neutrals mattes.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting much.  I was expecting hard, shadows with little color payoff.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that these were pretty soft and pigmented.  They were a tad powdery, but nothing that gave me any problems.  I actually haven't worn this quad since I first bought it several months ago because I have been in a colorful, sparkly eyeshadow phase, but seeing the picture makes me want to pull it out again.

Ugh, I hate how CVS puts those ugly stickers on everything.  I wouldn't mind if they were only on the outside packaging, but they try and put them on the products themselves and they're impossible to remove.

I also wearing a mix of the two medium shades on my eyebrow.


Available:

• Sold at most drugstores and retails for $6.75

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

FOTD: Blackened Gold Revolution

Okay, yeah, I know the title of this post doesn't make any sense.  I'm terrible at coming up with names so I decided to just go with a color description of my eyeshadow and a partial name of the lipgloss I was wearing. I guess it sounds better than, "FOTD: Hey, Look At This Look I Did Last Week You Guys!". Hm, now that I think of it, I kind of like that title better, haha.

So yeah, I did this look last week.  I don't go anywhere but to school and I randomly decided I felt like getting all dolled up. I usually put my hair in a bun, throw on some concealer, mascara and a wash of eyeshadow, a tshirt, jeans, and Converse and I'm out the door in 15 minutes.  I still wore jeans and Converse, just nicer hair, makeup and shirt than I usually do. This probably isn't going to happen all that often as I value my sleep more than I do looking pretty. I mean, I do have SOME standards, but any day I'm not scaring small children is one I consider a success.  But I probably would forgo even that for 30 minutes extra sleep.

Woah, almost got some cleavage in the picture!

Eyes:

• MAC Hocus Pocus on lid and below lower lash line
• L'Oreal HIP pigment in Visonary (gold) over Hocua Pocus (because Hocus Pocus wasn't shimmery and gold enough for my tastes)
• MAC Superslick Liquid Eyeliner in Desires & Devices on my upper lash line
• MAC Superslick Liquid Eyeliner in Pure Show below my lower lash line
• Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara

Face:

• Physician's Formula CircleRx concealer in Fair Light
• Physician's Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation in Translucent Light

Cheeks

• Stila Make Me Blush cheek color

Lips

• MAC Evolution Revolution lipglass

Here are a few more pictures just because I couldn't decide which one to choose.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Thin Lines Are Easy With Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker

I'm a terrible klutz with eyeliner.  I'm too afraid to go outside of my normal look of just an even line above the upper lash line.  Well, a semi-even line in my case.  If I'm lucky.  I usually end up having to make the eyeliner thicker and thicker just to even it out and make it not look... bumpy.  My dream is to one day be able to do a winged liner that doesn't look like my hand slipped and I was too lazy to clean it off.  but at least I've managed to get my eyeliner to not be so thick, thanks to Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker. (Side Note: WHY does Physician's Formula insist on have the longest product names ever?!)

I was skeptical of felt tip eyeliners just because it seemed like using a Crayola marker on your face.  And that seemed, well, weird.  But it works oh-so-well for me.  I'm able to get the thinnest lines I've ever achieved. The marker is only available in dark brown, warm black, and ultra black, but they're super pigmented, dry quickly and are water/sweat/pretty much anything proof (but comes off easily with makeup remover).

Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker in Ultra Black

Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker in Ultra Black

Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker in Ultra Black

The thicker part of the marker is very stiff and does thick lines quite well.  The very tip has a tiny bit of give so it isn't poking hard into your eyelid when you apply.  It also helps to make super thin, even lines.

Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker in Ultra Black

Here are lines of various thicknesses to show how versatile the marker really is.

This is an eye look I posted several days ago, but I just wanted to show you what the eye liner looked like on.  I was able to get a super thin line, which I haven't been able to achieve with any other liner.

One thing I really like about the Physician's Formula website is that they post the ingredients for every one of their products.  A lot of companies don't do that.  Here are the ingredients for the eyeliner:

WATER, ACRYLATES COPOLYMER, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, ALCOHOL, SODIUM POLYASPARTATE, ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF EXTRACT, AMINOMETHYL PROPANOL, BEHENET-30, CHAMOMILLA RECUTITA (MATRICARIA) EXTRACT, HYDROLYZED CONCHIOLIN PROTEIN, LAURETH-21, PERILLA OCYMOIDES LEAF EXTRACT, ROSMARINUS OFFICIANALIS (ROSEMARY) LEAF EXTRACT, DISODIUM EDTA, PHENOXYETHANOL, METHYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN, ETHYLPARABEN. MAY CONTAIN: IRON OXIDES, D&C BLACK #2, FERRIC FERROCYANIDE.

Available:

• This retails for $6.99 at drugstores and where ever Physician's Formula is sold.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

I'm Pretty Happy With Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blushes

I have a confession to make- I really like the way these blushes smell.  Sometimes I bust 'em out of my blush drawer just to smell them.  And I usually don't even like scented makeup.  The concept of these Happy Booster blushes is that they apparently have some magical compound or something that is supposed to induce euphoria.  Or something.  I don't really pay attention to marketing mumbo-jumbo.  I wish I would have know all I needed was a scented blush to make me happy 12 years ago.  I could have saved my poor parents tons of money on therapists and medication!

Snark aside, these are super cute blushes.  I love the multi-colored hearts and the metallic hot pink packaging.  I wish I had a nail polish that looked exactly like it.  I know scent is really subjective, but I love it as well.  To me it smells really girly- flowery and soft and slightly powdery.  This is totally not a scent I would personally wear.  But I think I love it so much because it reminds me of the perfume my terribly cool older cousin used to wear.  Scent memory is a powerful thing.

At 0.24 oz these are quite decently sized blushes.  For example, NARS blushes are only 0.16 oz. They are nicely pigmented with the color being buildable.  There are only two colors in this range right now, and to be honest they look pretty similar on my cheeks.  One is a cooler reddish pink and the other a warmer peachy-pink.  The smell fades pretty quickly once you're wearing it and I think if the smell was too strong for you in the pan just letting it sit with the lid open for awhile would help the smell dissipate some.  These are shimmery blushes but not over-the-top.  You aren't going to end up looking like a disco ball.

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blushes

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blushes

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blushes Rose and Natural

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blushes

 The mirror and the brush are housed in a compartment under the brush.  I always hate the brushes that come with drugstore makeup and while this one is slightly better than usual, it still isn't usable to me.

Rose on the left and Natural on the right

The left swatch for each color is shown heavily applied while the right swatch is blended out.

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blush in Rose

Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blush in Natural

Pros:

• Buildable pigmentation
• Not chalky; great texture
• Doesn't look powdery
• Packaging is pretty
• Smells great (to me)

Cons:

• Only 2 colors
• Scent might not be everyone's cup of tea
• Colors look a little too similar on the cheeks
• Not the most inexpensive drugstore blushes

Available:

• Retails for $11.95 at drugstores and all places Physician's Formula is sold

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

My Current Favorite Concealer (And A Scary Naked Eye Pic!)

I first heard about this concealer from G of Nouveau Cheap.  It was back when CVS was having their beauty clearance and she mentioned that it was a pretty good concealer.  I'm always on the look out for drug store concealers that I can use since I am really pale (and cool tones) and I feel like I have a dark eye area that is difficult to cover.  Luckily there was a color light enough and pink enough for me.

Physician's Formula CircleRx concealer in Fair Light

One thing bothers me right away.  Look at the package.  It claims up to 90% visible dark circle reduction after 4 weeks.  Sooo... is that supposed to be while wearing the concealer?  If so, well duh, that typically is one of the uses of concealer- covering dark circles.  If it claims that somehow this concealer is able to lighten dark circles with results visable on the naked eye, I call BS.  Why would that want to get rid of your dark circles (if it were even possible)?  Then they would have no one to sell concealer to.

But, I didn't buy this because I was expecting it to get rid of my dark circles (it doesn't), but because I wanted something to cover them up.  Luckily it does do that.

Physician's Formula CircleRx concealer in Fair Light

The container is squishy plastic with a slant-tip applicator.  I don't have any problems with concealer coming out when I don't want it to.

Here are arm swatches to get an idea of the texture.  The far left is squeezed out directly from the tube, the middle is spread around slightly, and the right (you can barely see it) is blended out even more.  The texture is rather liquidy, but a little bit goes a long way and it layers pretty well.  It also blends out well and isn't so liquid that it sheers out too much.

Nekkid eye

Sorry for no warning, but here is my naked eye.  Eek!  I look tired and have uneven skin tone and a bruised-looking undereye area.  I usually use concealer even on my eyelid and up to my brow bone to even out my skin.

Just wearing the concealer

You can still faintly see a bit of purple below my tear duct, but overall this concealer is one of the best I have used for evening out the skin around my eyes.  This is not set with powder and you can tell it looks a bit "dewy".  I think if I didn't set it with powder it would be more likely to crease just because of how viscous and wet the texture is.  This looks a lot lighter than the naked eye pic, but it actually matches the rest of my skin.  The skin around my eyes is a lot darker compared to the rest of my face.

Concealer set with powder

I probably should have used a translucent powder to set, as you can see this one looks a little too yellow for my skin.  When I wear it set with powder the concealer lasts all day on me.


Pros:

• Color matches my skin (is actually light enough!)
• Lasts all day on me
• Isn't cakey
• Or too liquidy
• Nicely pigmented for a drugstore concealer

Cons:

• Only available in 3 colors
• Did not work to eliminate my dark circles (nor did I expect it to)

Available:

• Retails for $8.95 at drugstores and all places Physician's Formula is sold.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Drugstore Deal of the Century- Physician's Formula at CVS

Okay, I know I said no more hauls.  Well, that lasted about... 2 hours.  But wait, before you judge me, let me explain!  So I knew that Physician's Formula was 40% off this week at CVS.  Physician's Formula is pretty pricey for a drugstore brand so even at 40% off I wasn't going to buy anything.  But then someone left a comment on Nouveau Cheap's post about the weekly drugstore sales that there was a coupon floating around on the internet for $5 off any Physician's Formula.  40% off plus $5 off means you will pay anywhere from nothing to a few bucks per item.  So of course I printed out 50 million coupons (okay, it was 9) and headed over to CVS.  And they took ALL the coupons.  I paid about $15 for $100 worth of makeup.

Oh, before I forget, here is the link to the coupon.

Here is a picture of my receipt (with credit card details blanked out with a noob photoshopper's best friend- clone stamp!)

So these are the 9 items I bought.  4 of the items (the 3 on the right and the eyeshadow) are gifts. I was really hoping to find my favorite drugstore concealer there- Circle Rx Circle Control Concealer, but it was sold out.  Oh well, that just means I get to go buy more stuff at a different CVS!  Oh, and I don't think the concealer makes my dark circles fade at all.  I just love the coverage and the color matches my skin.

So what are you waiting for?  Get thine bum over to CVS NOW!

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!