MAC Innocence Lipstick

  I picked up MAC Innocence and Beauty from a friend's destashing sale. I promptly gave Beauty to my niece because it made me look like a Jersey Shore reject. All that was missing was a tan and big hair. Yikes.

 Innocence was released in the Glamour Daze collection last month. It is a frost finish. and is described as a soft coral. It wears on my lips more peachy than coral. I really like this color. It is still pretty neutral but a bit more flashy than my normal nude lip that I usually wear. This is a great addition to my tiny MAC lipstick collection!

 Did you pick up any lipsticks from Glamour Daze? If so, which ended up being your favorite?


 Thanks for reading,

I edit all my photo's using PicMonkey! Go check them out!

Update!

 The gift bags went out last week! The holidays have kicked my butt this year!! I have SO much stuff to blog and no time to do it. I will be back into the swing of things after the holiday! I can't wait to show you all the new stuff I have! Below are some more pictures of the gift bag donations, the gift bags going together, finished bags, some of the messages of thanks I have gotten and lastly thanks to the ladies who made this all possible. Please visit their shops or find then on facebook and send your own thanks!!

Hair bows made by me

TONS more pigments from Mon Enniu

Getting started!

Example of what each bag contained

 Gift Bags all done!

 Here are some of the messages and emails I have received from gift bag recipients:

Was surprised to see a gift of goodies! Thanks very much! :D - Ashley

Hi, I received a wonderful package in the mail today. I'm guessing my sister, because she's the only person on my list who likes this page, is the one who was thinking of me. It's great! I needed new makeup and with the holidays and my son being born a month ago everything is so stressful, this was a great surprise. Thank you so much for sending me all these awesome items. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! - Stacey

Just got my bag today Love it and all the makeup to. Thank you i cant wait to use it ♥ - Jennifer

Hi! I had nominated my sister and she received her bag today! She sent me a text and asked me if it was from me and then sent me a picture of all her goodies, she said she was smiling from ear to ear when she saw it, thank you so much for being so kind and doing this ♥ she absolutely loves everything and can't wait to do her makeup! Thank you to those who sent in donations to! - Cassie

Hi Hun, would like to give you a millions thanks and hugs for making my day so much better.. ♥ came home to a package that I wasn't expecting.. I'm not sure who nominated me, but would like to say THANK YOU!!!
Receiving this package made me cry and I realized that there are people out there still that are very generous and still feel compassion for others.
I will posting everything I got on my blog and MUA fan page in the next few days... Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness and if you do this again next year, please keep me posted as I would LOVE TO help you out...
xoxo - Leilani

My husband nominated me, not sure how he found out about it, but it was so sweet! We can not exchange gifts this year due to how tight money is. I want to thank everyone that donated to this amazing goodie bag!!! I cried, it was so sweet of all of you to donate and the amount of work that you, Christina, put into this was so selfless!!! I hope that you and your family and all of te wonderful donaters have a very Blessed holiday, Merry Christmas, and God bless you all!!! Again I can not thank you all enough!!! ♥ - Kelly

You are an angel sent from above.... when I opened my mailbox today was the first true, honest smile I have had all day! Thank you for the holiday cheer... I really needed it. I'm overwhelmed with everything! Love you so very much! - Jesi

 I would like to once again thank everyone who made these gift bags possible. Without your kindness these bags would not have been going out this year!!  Thank you Breana, Elizabeth, Jenn, Nikki, Amp, Rebecca, Kas, Brenda, Maria, Nina, Hailey and Vivi!!

 Merry Christmas!!
Thanks for reading,

Too Faced Shadow Bon Bons Palette

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            I came across this palette last month while browsing Ulta. I went in for a measly NYX Jumbo Pencil but wanted to look around a bit. I instantly fell in love with the look of this palette. I finger swatched a few of the shadows and was just done. I needed it. Of course I was on the strict no buy. I left Ulta without it but decided it would be mine....eventually.

            Well, obviously the eventually happened! A couple of my friends gave me some Sephora gift codes so in the end this palette ended up costing me very little. I ordered this palette and everything pictured below and paid only $52. The palette itself retails for $42 so I totally scored!

  Cut the Cake, Candy Rose and Peach Fuzz are my faves so far. I had this for a few days before I had a chance to play with it. After using it only once I am sort of sad. I suddenly realized that this is a neutral toned palette. Derp, I do not usually wear neutrals. I think I fell more in love with the packaging and the glittery lavender and pink shades. The shadows themselves are gorgeous and this palette offers matte, metallic, shimmer and glitter all in one which is great. I did find the shadows swatched more opaque and bold on my arm than on my lids. . If I wore neutrals more this palette would be the BOMB, but I find nude tones so hard to work with.

 I have only used this palette once so far. I could not get any good pics close up so this is the only one I have. I used a little Vanilla, Cut The Cake, Framboise and Candy Rose. I liked the look but I just have a hard time blending and making nudes look right. I plan on playing with this palette a lot more in the coming weeks. I am glad that I got it because of the range of finishes that it offers. I have a great Ben Nye neutral palette but it is all matte so this palette is a nice addition to my collection. I think this is a fabulous palette if you are looking for neutral shades!

Did you pick up Too Faced Shadow Bon Bons? If so, what did you think?



 Thanks for reading,

Hypercolor by Anastasia Beverly Hills

 What is it?  Instant, intense wipe on-wash off color for your brows and hair.

Description from the Anastasia website:

Wipe on, wash out color. Instant Gratification. Get an intense flash of color without dyeing, bleaching, or spending hours in the salon.
Apply to brows with an angled brush or rub the powder onto the tips of your hair or streak it for outrageously fabulous looks that wash out with ease. Set with hair spray when applying to hair or Brow Gel with applying to the brows. INTENSE color without dyeing or bleaching.
Works on all hair colors.
Most shades perfect for hair and brows.

 How much is it? $12.50 for each color ( This product was sent to me for blogging purposes)

 Handy dandy instructions on how to apply to hair and brows

Where to buy it? http://www.anastasia.net . You can also go here to find local retailers.
 

 What is it supposed to do? Give intense hues on hair and brows without bleaching.
 What does it really do?  This product definitely lives up to it's claims. The  powders were bold and covered nicely when used on my brows. The powder covered my dark brown roots fully and also gave great coverage on my daughters naturally red hair.

Teal Tornado

In The Pink 
(in the pink is not for use around the eye, I am a rebel)

Electric Blue

Megawatt Green

Ultra Violet

Ultra Violet, Electric Blue and In The Pink in my daughters hair

 Overall thoughts? My overall thoughts are that this product is amazing. I am in LOVE with it. I have never found anything except the Violet Klean Color eyeliner that works well on my brows. These powders all worked nicely. I do think that Megawatt Green and In The Pink are a bit light and would look better on someone with lighter colored brows. I think if you started with a white eyeliner pencil on your brows and then did the powder over they would work on dark brows though. I use the powders over some clear brow gel. I also tried the teal with no gel and it was opaque and looked good. It looked more soft and natural when used without gel.
             As for hair powder this product blew me away. I never expected it to work. I tried hair chalking before and figured this would be similar. Not even close. Lately the roots of my hair are not holding the color as well as the rest of my hair. What happens is the teal/purple fades off and leaves me with light brown roots around my face. It looks awful. I was dying the roots once a week which is a pain in the butt. I added the Teal Tornado powder to my hair and it covered the roots AWESOME!! I just spritzed my hair with a little water and then brushed the powder on with a big blush brush. Afterward I added a light spray of hairspray. The powder stayed all day and was still on 24 hours later. I tried the powders on my daughters hair. Her hair is naturally red. I would have figured the colors would be muted because of her hair color but they were very vibrant. She also slept and the color was still vibrant the next morning. One thing I do not love is the shape of the containers. To apply the hair powder you press the whole container against your hair and a slide it down. If the product was a flatter square it would make it easier to apply. All the powders washed out of brows and hair very easily.
         I think this product is ingenious, the quality is great and the pricing is average. I will definitely be using the teal and purple on my hair in between touch ups. The teal has also became my new brow color!

Have you tried Hypercolors by Anastasia Beverly Hills? If so, what did you think?


 Thanks for reading,

Cover Girl Lash Blast Luxe Mascara

What is it? Cover Girl Last Blast Luxe mascara in Black Royale
How much is it? $6.99 ( I had a $2 off coupon so I paid $4.99)
Where to buy it? Target, Wal- Mart, Drug Stores, Grocery Stores, Ulta

 What is it supposed to do? The blackest black LashBlast formula, now tinted with Luxe shimmers. The giant Luxe brush helps blast lashes to their biggest, boldest, and most beautifully shimmering.

Naked Eye

  What does it ACTUALLY do? This mascara did give me bigger and bolder lashes with a hint of shimmer. It applied nicely with out clumping. I applied two coats. You can't see the shimmer very much on the top lashes but it is visible on the lower lashes.

Two coats of Lash Blast Luxe

  Overall thoughts?  I like this mascara. It is probably one of the best I have tried in the last year. I like the big brush spoolie quite a bit. The formula is really nice as well, it doesn't clump and the hint of shimmer is a nice touch. This mascara also washed off very easily using my Neutrogena makeup remover/face wash. It also passed the makeup wipe remover test. I think at $6.99 it is a good buy. I may end up trying some of the other Lash Blast mascaras in the near future.

Have you tried Cover Girl Lash Blast Luxe mascara? If so what did you think?

Thanks for reading,

8 Bit Cosmetics - Everyone's A Hero

 

The lovely Nicole from 8 Bit Cosmetics recently sent some samples of her newest collection, Everyone's A Hero, for the gift bags and a few for me to test out. I chose four that stood out to me. Truthfully I wanted to keep the whole collection. I am going to order the ones I am missing soon. I am in LOVE with this collection. I have not been this excited about a loose pigment collection in some time!!

 I chose The Cat, which is a dark matte purple, Apocalyptic, which is described as teal which shimmer, All American Hero which is described as a true royal blue and Protege, which is described as red with a berry tint. I really like the formula of the matte shades. Above are sample baggies which I potted into my own 3 gram jars. Samples are only $1 and as you can see, you get a lot of product!!

Swatches with flash

Here is a look I did using The Cat and Protege

Here is a look I did last week using Will, Apocalyptic, All American Hero and The Cat

I have tried quite a few different colors from 8 Bit Cosmetics and so far I have been HIGHLY impressed. The colors are gorgeous and the textures have been very easy to work with. All the pigments I have tried have been opaque and very vivid. If you are looking to add some bold color to your collection than check 8 Bit Cosmetics out! Pricing range from $1 samples to $4 jars.  You can see some of my other 8 Bit swatches here and here

Have you tried 8 Bit Cosmetics? If so, what pigments do you have and what are your favorites?

 Thanks for reading,