Holiday Sparkly Eyes

I picked up a few new shadows to try for the upcoming holiday parties.

I'm feeling sparkly! :)

Hard Candy Kal-eye-descope Baked Shadow Duo

This is my second Hard Candy Baked Duo Shadow purchase.

I LOVE Peace, which has a golden highlight shade and a bronzy brown crease shade.

So I decided to pick up another in High Maintenance.

The lightest shade is a shimmery silver color. It works great as a highlight and inner corner color. I've been wearing it all over the lid. Then I place the darker color, a taupe-ish, purplely grey (how's that for a description) in the outer corner and crease. It makes a very pretty eye look that can be worn with pretty much anything!

These shadows are great quality, while cheap and easily accessible. They are quite shimmery, but i don't mind. I would definitely recommend them!

(In the second picture, Peace is on the left & High Maintenance is on the right.)

Review: Maybelline Fit Me Foundation

I apologize for the lack of posts. It's been a crazy and stressful few weeks. Also, I'm posting on my phone for the first time ever. Hopefully, the format won't turn out to crazy! We shall see.

I've been trying out this foundation for a few weeks. I've heard mixed reviews about it, but most were positive. So I decided to try it out.

I am pleasantly surprised.

This foundation is targeted to match any skin tone, with a wide range of shades and tones available. As the picture below shows, it's supposed to match natural tone and blend seamlessly. I feel that it does a good job at both tasks. Colors come in 3 categories: light, medium and dark (that might not be exactly how they're labeled, but you get the idea). I purchased shade 120 (classic ivory) in the light category. It matches very well and gives me a little color, as to not look drab.

Thirdly, it allows skin to breathe. I agree. It has a very natural finish. You can tell by my pictures that it is a fairly thin liquid. When blended out, it has a dewy finish. With that being said, someone with extremely oily skin might not care for this foundation. But I have combo/oily skin and it works fine for me. By setting it with a powder, I think it provides light to medium build-able coverage and lasts for several hours without needing a touch up.

If you are looking for a long-wearing foundation, this might not be your first pick. But for a foundation with a wide range of colors, natural finish, and decent coverage, it's a great option. And it's one of the cheaper drugstore foundations I've found.

My high end comparison to this foundation would be Merle Norman's AquaBalance Foundation. It's one of my favorites! But Maybelline's Fit Me wears just as well on my skin. And it's a fraction of the price!

Let me know if you have tried it or plan to in the future!

~ Carolyn

Review - Maybelline DREAM LUMI Touch Highlighting Concealor

I have so many concealors.  But this one looked promising.

 Maybelline DREAM LUMI Touch 

Highlighting Concealor

is a pen-type concealor with a brush applicator.

You simply twist the end cap, hear the click, and the product is dispensed through the brush.

Application is nice and easy.  

I haven't had any trouble with the technical side of the concealor

(as I did with the Instant Age Rewind Eraser - which broke after a few uses).

This product comes in several shades, 

but I chose Radiant.

Radiant is a light salmon color.

The reason I purchased this color was for a brightening effect, as well as concealing dark circles.

Salmon colored concealors are great to cancel out the bluish undertones in under eye circles.

Therefore, I can't speak on how well this concealor works for hiding blemishes, since I'm not using it for that purpose.

But I have used it under the eyes, as well as on the bridge of my nose and tops of cheek bones for a highlighted effect.

It has a creamy consistency but is not too heavy.

It also blends nicely.

After blending, it doesn't dramatically reduce the appearance of my dark circles, 

but it does a pretty good job at lightening and brightening that area.

It does stay on the creamy side, so I usually set it with a lightweight powder.

Otherwise, it tends to crease in the little fine lines.

But as a whole, I'm satisfied with this purchase.

Another plus: there aren't too many salmon-toned concealors available in drugstores.

So I'm happy Maybelline decided to make one!

Maybe some other brands with jump on the bandwagon soon.

~ Carolyn

Review - L'Oreal Infallible shadows

I purchased these L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows several months ago after hearing good things about their pigment and staying power.

I picked up the colors Iced Latte and Continuous Cocoa

These shadows come with a "stopper" on top.  It is crucial that you do NOT throw this part away!

And in the picture below, you can see why.

These shadows are almost the consistency of a loose pigment... but creamier.

As I was photographing the Iced Latte, I dropped it.

You can see where it broke in half.  Luckily, the part that fell out stayed "together" for me to place it back in the pot.  But I then had to use the "stopper" to press it back in.

They are so unique.  They wear for an extremely long time.  

And they are highly pigmented.

Iced Latte is extremely shimmery... on the verge of metallic.

Similar to Urban Decay's Sin, which is one of my favorite colors EVER.

And Continuous Cocoa is a deep, dark brown.

A little goes a long way.

I would love to pick up some new colors in the future.

If you've tried any of the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows, let me know what you think.
And if you haven't, I suggest that you pick one up and try it out.
The texture is divine and I'm pretty sure you'll love it!

~ Carolyn

e.l.f. sighting

LOOK what I found at our local Wal-Mart.

 (Sumiton, to be exact)

(don't mind the baby trying to pull everything off the display)

It's a small display in the center aisle... can't miss it!

And actually, they have a good variety of products... more than our local Target store carries.

If you don't know much about e.l.f. products, it stands for eyes lips face.

They carry all types of makeup related products: blush, bronzer, eyeshadow, eyelash curlers, makeup remover wipes, concealor, brushes, etc.  And everything is between $1 and $5.

I'm not absolutely positive, but I'm pretty sure that everything in this display is from the Studio line, meaning they are $3.

Most everything that I've tried has been great quality.

A few of my favorite products are the eyeshadow primer and blush/bronzer duo, as well as several brushes.

I'm super excited about this brand being more accessible!!! 

And since "blush" was on my grocery list, I picked up 2.

Candid Coral and Tickled Pink.

Check it out if you're in my area!

~ Carolyn

Olive Martini - a Fall look and review

This post includes a pretty eye look for Fall, as well as the review of a shadow palette by

Maybelline.

This quad was released recently as part of the Maybelline Eye Studio Limited Edition Fall line.

There was so much buzz on YouTube about this particular palette, Olive Martini. 

I could not wait to get my hands on it!  

But it took me FOREVER.

Here in my little town in Alabama, we are usually the last to get the new goodies.

But I waited patiently and eventually was able to grab it a month ago!

The colors are stunning and great for Fall time.

It comes with a shimmery, creamy white highlight color,

a shimmery light blue,

a very unique, sort of duo-chrome, bluish/brown,

and a deep burgundy.

The shadows are great quality and are very pigmented.

The only color that I'm most disappointed in is the white highlight shade.

It just doesn't have the color payoff that the others have.  

There are several ways you can wear this palette, using just a few colors or ALL of them.

In the photos below, I used them all.

I took inspiration from MakeupbyTiffanyD's tutorial.

I placed the light blue on the inner half of the lid.

I placed the duo-chrome color on the outer half of the lid.

I placed the burgundy shade on the outer corner and slightly through the crease - this color is DARK.  So a little goes a long way.

I then used the white shade as a brow highlight and on the tear duct area and slightly below.

 With this palette, you can create a soft and shimmery look,

or a look that's much deeper and more dramatic for the holiday season!

Let me know if you've tried it out.... or are still trying to get your hands on it!

~ Carolyn