March MyGlam!

Hey y'all, guess what?  I got my March MyGlam bag in!  What a nice surprise. :D  I was expecting it to arrive a little later, but was really pleased with the early delivery date.  Here's what we got:

This month's theme is Repair and Restore.  I guess the whole mentality behind that is, since warmer weather is approaching, we ought to replenish ourselves from the harsh winter to prepare for spring.  No color cosmetics this time around. *sigh*  For some reason, I'm not as disappointed because I really wasn't expecting much anyway.

Our March Glam Bag is a mod-looking, multicolor floral design.  The first thing I checked out was a fluffy eyeshadow brush that seemed a bit small for its pink flap case.  I guess I could fit a number of other brushes in it for travel purposes.

Next is a high SPF (30, in fact) daily moisturizer by Pur-Lisse.  I'm a big fan of sunscreen/moisturizers so I'm excited to try it.  The full-sized bottle retails for a hefty $55 USD.  Let's see if it lives up to its worth.

Then we have Eye Lift Perfector by Murad.  It's described as a concealer/eye cream that hides dark circles while reducing puffiness.  A tube retails for $35 USD at Sephora and it has a 3 out of 5 rating.  I guess I'll have to see for myself how effective it is.

Next is Perfect Cleansing Foam by 3Lab.  At $50 USD for a 4.4oz tube, we received a pretty generous sample size in March's MyGlam bag.  I'd say it more than paid for itself in this respect.  I'm a huge fan of good facial cleansers and will probably try this one tonight.  Well-cleansed skin equates to clear skin for me, so hopefully this does the job!

So far we've got one makeup brush and 3 skincare products.  The last goody in the bag is a dual formula, leave-in hair conditioner by KeraColor called Color Enhancing Leave-In Treatment.  I'm not sure if it's supposed to enhance your natural hair color or preserved color-treated hair.  It does claim to: "add instant shine & moisture, fight environmental stress & free radicals, while providing thermal protection".  As a girl who heat-styles her hair on a daily basis, I'm intrigued.  Can it rival my beloved It's A 10?  We'll see.

Last, but not least, we get a $25 gift card to Dermstore!  The caveat?  You have to purchase at least $50 worth of merchandise before the $25 discount kicks in.  Hey, you can't get something for nothing, right? I've never shopped there before so I'll have a look around and see if there's $50 worth of products I'd like to put in my basket.  If I can't, then I can just share the discount with my 2 sisters.  Splitting the overage 3 ways won't be so bad. :)

Well, I guess that's that.  Not super-exciting, but I found this round of products to be a little more useful to me than February's.  Will post reviews ASAP!

Hugs,
Cat

p.s. Update on X Out Shine Control treatment from my February Glam Bag.  After using this product for about a week and a half, I ended up getting two nasty zits on my nose.  Bottom line: X Out made me break out.  No thanks!

February MyGlam Review Part 2

So I finally got around to trying the masks.  The first one I tested out was the Freeman brand Goji Berry Facial Hydration Mask:

It's a thick, translucent-white, fruity-smelling mask...reminds me a little bit of hair gel in texture, that I thickly applied to my face and allowed to settle for about 10 minutes.  The instructions say to avoid the eye area, so I left a big empty ring around each of my eyes.  Regardless, it seems that the vapors were rather potent and I was teary-eyed for the first 3-4 minutes.  Ouch!  It's meant to "soothe skin" but it certainly doesn't do the same for the eyes.  I'd say your best bet is to have your eyes closed the entire time and let someone else apply it on your face if you've got really sensitive eyes.  After rinsing off, my skin felt soft and cleansed, but it pretty much feels that way after every mask I use, so I'm not sure if it's just an initial sensation after usage or if it makes a difference over a long period of time.  In any case, I'm not sure if I'll be trying this again.

The second mask I tried was from the Dead Sea Premier brand, called Instant Stretching and Revitalizing Mask:

There was a small amount in the little packet, abut 2-3 teaspoons and it was a thick, opaque, sandy-colored paste.  I wasn't prepared to be impressed, but I really loved the scent!  Ladies, there is a discernible difference the fragrances used by drugstore skincare brands versus department store skincare brands.  I mean, I love my Olay, but when I can afford it, I absolutely adore Lancome skincare products. There's a certain texture and scent that department store beauty brands use that are a world of a difference from the common drugstore types.  Maybe it's all in my head, but I felt that the Dead Sea Premier mask had that quality.

I applied the creamy mask and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  No stinging eyes, yay!  After rinsing off with warm water, my skin felt so soft, smooth, and supple and smelled fantastic!  I couldn't stop touching my face!  I didn't even have to apply my usual nighttime moisturizer!  I really felt like it made a difference in the quality of my skin.  I couldn't believe it!  Me, a self-prolaimed mask-disliker, was getting excited to purchase a full-sized jar of this mask!

And then I saw the $150 price tag.  Yikes!  No can do!  Apparently, it's nicknamed the "Cinderella Mask" for it's ability to rejuvenate skin and to ward off aging.  Just out of curiosity, I googled reviews of this mask just to see if it's worth the price and came across this on Amazon:

$17.99 for a $150.00 product?  SAY WHAAAAAT?!  I was so stoked.  I bought it in two clicks!  Gotta love Amazon.  I'm so excited for my mask to come in so I can use it again!  Lol.

So would I say this product is worth buying?  Not for $150, but totally worth the $17.99 I paid (plus $5 shipping)  Ironically, this was my favorite thing from the February GlamBag.  Go figure!

Victoria's Secret Candy Baby Redux!

OMG!  Just finished my latest midterm and I'm pooped!  Too bad I have to head to work in about 20 minutes.  You can see why I haven't been able to post any looks or tutorials regarding my beloved new UD haul. :(

Since I don't have a bunch of time, I just thought I'd re-post my favorite Victoria's Secret beauty products. :D  I ran out awhile ago and recently got a $10 VS coupon in the mail.  So I went on over to my local VS and purchased this 3/$25 trio ($15 after coupon):

My favorite fragrance in the UNIVERSE!  Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm such a sucker for the scent of cotton candy.  VS makes the most accurate version I've ever experienced.  I got the all-in-one shampoo/bubble bath/shower gel, which I use as a shampoo.  I get excited to wake up in the morning because I get to lather it through my hair.  Makes getting up early a little easier.  The body lotion has a long-lasting, sweet scent and the spray, which I think has the strongest burst of cotton candy fragrance, is the cherry-on-top!  I know there are some complaints about an alcohol-type smell when you first spray it, but as a product that has alcohol as an ingredient, it's to be expected.  I find that it evaporates quickly, leaving me pleasantly sugar-scented throughout the day.  LOVE!

Urban Decay Mini Haul!

Thanks to a tip from one of you girls, I recently shopped Urban Decay's sale section (even though I shouldn't be) and purchased a few noteworthy goodies.  Y'all know I can't resist a good sale.  It's my kryptonite.  My shipment came in yesterday.  Check it out!

1. Urban Lash Kit
2. 24/7 Shadow Pencil Stash
3. Ink For Eyes in Binge and Empire
4. Matte Shadow in Chronic

Delinquent, Rehab, Juju, Sin, and Clash.

These swatches and lighting really don't do these shadow pencils justice!  The color glides on effortlessly and is so vibrant that they nearly jump out at you.  I thought my Color Tattoo cream shadows were awesome until I fell in love with these guys.  You get the convenience of cream color with the precision of a pencil.  These are THE BEST!  Now on sale at Urban Decay from $34 to only $12!

Binge and Empire

These cream eyeliners aren't bad.  I love the deep, indigo blue of Binge and the elegant, aubergine hue of Empire.  They can stand to be slightly more opaque (I had to build a few layers for optimal opacity) and can be a little bit softer.  The angled brushes that they came with were high-quality, however were too soft, in my opinion.  I would recommend using a stiffer eyeliner brush, such as the Sonia Kashuk bent eyeliner brush.  I'm glad I paid $7 for these instead of $22!

Chronic

This little guy was on sale for $3.  How could I resist?  Chronic is a soft, earthy shade of green tea that I think is perfect for the transition from winter to spring.  It's applies smooth as silk with pigmentation that packs a punch, a consistent quality of all UD shadows.

I couldn't wait to play with my new makeup!  This is the look I created today using Clash, Rehab, and Binge:

I've been wearing this shadow for 8 hours now with no creasing or fading.  Yay!

I look forward to creating some cool looks and tutorials with these guys. :D  Oh, and of course UD decides to have a sale AFTER I make all my purchases.  I'm out of juice so I won't be shopping anytime soon, but you all can definitely take advantage.  Just enter code: FFSPRING12 for 20% off your next order.  Orders over $50 ship free!  Happy shopping!

Hugs,

Cat

Floral Flats from H&M

I was out yesterday helping a friend update his wardrobe.  It's soooooooooo hard not to want to shop when you're shopping with someone else.  When we walked into H&M, I spotted the most ADORABLE floral flats.  I hugged them and did a little spin.  My friend insisted on purchasing them for me as a thank you gift for my styling help.  Thanks Noel, you made my day! :)

Two-Tone Color Tattoo Tutorial

Remember ages ago when I got a few pots of Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadows?  Well, I never really posted any tutorials on them because I was using them as monochromatic color washes for a quick fix before heading off to work, school, etc.  There was really nothing for me to demonstrate...just swipe on color with finger and go, you know what I mean?  Well, a couple days ago I decided to "go crazy" and use two colors at once.  Lol.  Just thought I'd show you guys what I came up with:

Nothing spectacular.  I just used Tenacious Teal and Bad To The Bronze to create a dual-tone look.  It's almost as easy as just using a monochromatic wash...but that doesn't really make sense because here we have two colors instead of one, so forget that I said that.  It's still easy though.

I'm going to start by applying Tenacious Teal halfway up my top lid and along my bottom lid:

Please excuse the inconsistency in color.  My camera's auto-white balance was going crazy with my lighting.  But you get the idea, right?

Next, using Bad To The Bronze, I'm going to trace around the Tenacious Teal:

You can stop here and add eyeliner if you like, I'm just going to take it one step further which is completely optional.

For added depth, I'm going to use a contour brush to add a bit of dark brown eyeshadow to my crease:

Now I'll just line my eyes as usual:

Curl lashes, apply mascara, and I'm ready to go:

Overall look:

There you go!  Easy-peasy. :D  I thought I was fine with a monochromatic color wash, but the dual tone really adds an extra dimension of depth to the eyes.  I find that the bronze and teal are very complimentary: the teal gives you a pop of color while the bronze brings the whole look down-to-earth, which I think is a fine balance.  Hope you guys enjoyed the the tutorial!  I've worn my eyes this way twice in a row already, love it!

Hugs,
Cat

Tinting Eyeliner

Black has always been the undeniable go-to color for eyeliner.  But, for some of us, everyday black can equal everyday boring.  Ever wanted to wear colored eyeliner but: a) didn't want to pay for it, b) didn't see the point because you're not going to wear it that often anyway, or c) all of the above?  Well, for the frugal and/or the colored liner-shy, I'm going to show you a cheap trick on how you can tint your black eyeliner so that you can wear colored liner as little or as often as you'd like using products you already have so that you don't have to pay an extra penny.

First, I line my eyes as I normally would using black eyeliner.  My eyeliner of choice is gel/cream liner applied with a bent brush, but this will work with pencil or liquid as well:

Next, with a small smudge brush, I'm going to layer eyeshadow over the black eyeliner.  I'm going to use dark blue because I like it.  Also, it's a really great color for those who want to stray from black, but don't want to do so in a less-obvious manner.

Stay within the lines for a clean look, or smudge right outside of the lines for a softer, smoky-esque feel:

All done!  I went from jet-black liner to sapphire blue by just including one simple step and it didn't cost me a thing!  You can do this with pretty much any color in your shadow arsenal.  This would be so pretty with greens, purples, and fuchsias, don't you think?

Hope some of you get a chance to play around with this technique!  Have a great night! :D

Hugs,
Cat

p.s. For bolder colored liner, you can skip the black base and apply your pre-existing shadows wet as eyeliner.  I'll see about doing a tutorial for that one someday. :)