Wet N Wild Mini Haul: Spoiled Brat, Idol Eyes, Shimmer Eyeliner, and Swatches!

Hello friends!  So it's late and I have to hit the hay soon because I have a big day tomorrow, but I'm not going to forget my daily post, so here you go!  I was at Walgreens the other day when I passed the WnW display and just couldn't take my eyes off a few items.  Needless to say, they ended up coming home with me:

You'll recognize one of them since I did a quick tutorial on it a few days ago, but in case you've forgotten, here is a list of products in order from left to right:

Idol Eyes Creme Eyeshadow Pencils in Distress, Graphite, and Pixie.

Color Icon Shadow Trio in Spoiled Brat

ColorIcon Shimmer Eyeliner Pencils in Blue and Black

And here are the swatches:

From left to right:

ColorIcon Shadow Trio in Spoiled Brat

Idol Eyes Creme Eyeshadow Pencils in Graphite, Distress, and Pixie

ColorIcon Shimmer Eyeliner Pencils in Black and Blue

(yeah, totally out of order from my product list, I know)

I must say, I'm pretty darned impressed by these swatches.  The shadow trio is incredibly pigmented.  I can't wait to do a look with Spoiled Brat.  It's gonna be awesome!  The shadow pencils are really smooth and glide on like butter, I had a pretty good experience with Distress so I'm excited to try Graphite and Pixie.  The shimmer eyeliners applied pretty nicely on my wrist, although my eyelid skin is a lot finer, so we'll see when we do that test.  I can say that the cream formula is pretty dense and pigmented and I can tell that they're going to be long lasting because even after trying to scrub them off with soap and water, there's still some color remaining on my skin.

Woohoo!  I'm really looking forward to putting together some cool looks this weekend.  Wheeee! :D

Early Autumn Walk

Summer comes really late where I am, and just about 2 weeks ago, temperatures began rising above 70 degrees.  The afternoon sun has been particularly lovely so I thought it would be fun to do an outdoor style session while the weather is warm enough for me to wear a dress.  Luckily, my very talented photographer friend, Noel, agreed to do the shoot.  The photos came out beautifully and I thought I'd share a few:

Hat: eBay

Sunglasses: Juicy Couture

Necklace: Lovelina

Dress: Forever 21

Belt: Ruche

Bag: Dior

Shoes: Forever 21

Dior Ethnic Collection, oldie but goodie. :D

You might remember these from an old post.  Not only are they freakin' adorable, but they're super-comfy too!

My long shadow: the only time I'll ever come close to supermodel height, lol.

Hope y'all enjoyed the post!  It's been awhile since I've done a style shoot. :D  Didn't the pics turn out great?  If you get the chance, do check out more of Noel's work at Sunset Girl Media.  Thanks for reading!

Hugs,

Cat

Sneak Peek: Style shoot makeup!

I did a style shoot with a friend of mine today, yay!  I'll post pics next week since it'll take her about a week to process the photos.  In the meantime, I can at least post makeup pics of the look I created for it:

I liked the blue shadow/liner look that I posted yesterday so much I decided to repeat it for today's style shoot.  Here are the details:

Face:
1. CG Smoothers Aqua Tinted Moisturizer in Light to Medium
2. ELF Studio Complete Coverage Concealer Kit in Light
3. ELF Studio Complexion Perfection
3. ELF Studio Translucent Matifying Powder

Eyes:
1. ELF Studio Brow Kit in Dark
2. Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden
3. Wet N Wild Idol Eyes Creme Shadow Pencil in Distress
4. Wet N Wild Color Icon Palette in Blue Had Me At Hello
5. Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof Mascara
6. Daiso Daily Eyelash Style "A"

Cheeks:
1. ELF Studio Bronzer in Cool

Lips:
1. Smashbox Lip Liner in Smashing Muse
2. ELF Essential Hypershine Gloss in Berry Cherry

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac

CVS was having a BOGO half off on Sally Hansen polishes so I decided to pick up a couple of 'em.  I chose Lacy Lilac and White On.  Here's a shot of Lacy Lilac in natural window light:

It's a really pretty, creamy shade of pastel purple without any pearl or shimmer.  Such a feminine and romantic color!  It's similar to the Revlon Scented Polish in Gumdrop that I did a post on a few months ago,  however Lacey Lilac has a little more pink in it.  The formula applies really well and has decent opacity with just one coat, though I'm pictured here wearing 2 coats.  At only $2.99 a bottle and with the addition of the BOGO sale, they're even cheaper than ELF nail polishes.  I love a great bargain! :D

Wet N Wild Idol Eyes Creme Shadow Pencil in Distress

Hi!  So I had class all day today and only had minutes for makeup this morning.  (This is because I always choose sleep over "getting ready" time.)   Thanks to Wet N Wild's new eyeshadow pencil, I was able to muster up this look in mere moments:

I was at Walgreens picking up some toiletries the other day when I spotted this little guy:

How cute and convenient is this?  A chubby little shadow pencil that you can keep in your bag to create evening eyes in just seconds!  It also doubles as shadow AND liner!

I wanted to try it out first before buying all the colors, so I chose the one I thought was prettiest, a color called Distressed.  It's a gorgeous shade of midnight blue with a satiny shimmer finish.  I just went ahead and drew a fat wing on my upper eyelid as well as lining my bottom lash line.

The formula is ultra-creamy and pigmented and glides on like a dream.  I barely had to use any pressure while I was using it.  I could have finished here, but since it was supposed to be about 90 degrees on campus today, I decided to set it with matching-colored shadow as a precaution to prevent any melting or smudging.  Luckily, Wet N Wild's Blue Had Me At Hello palette had the perfect shade:

I just layered it over the Idol Eyes pencil and voila!  One minute makeup, you just gotta love it! :D

I know, it's a little dramatic for 9am class, but I just couldn't wait to use it!  Made me feel pretty all day.  The color did fade ever so slightly, but after 8 hours in extreme heat I wouldn't have expected any eye product to perform any better.  I can't wait to get the rest of the colors!

Gothic Victorian Geisha

Hi!  I thought I'd post an image from a beauty shoot that I did a few years ago.  I was having a super-creative moment and it was something that I just HAD to do.  I really adore the Gothic Victorian look and I've always been captivated by Japanese Geisha, so I figured I'd throw both concepts together and see what I'd come up with.  The results weren't flawless, but overall, I was really happy with the way the shoot turned out.

The model is my beautiful younger sister and the photographer is my uber-talented husband. :)  You can view his photography work here: Tetraeon Light Industries.  I did hair, makeup, styling, and provided all the props/accessories.  The concept was fairly simple, but getting the all-white makeup to be nice and even was a major pain in the butt!  Totally worth it though.

Makeup Details:

Face/body:

1. Pure White Foundation.  I had originally purchased a no-name foundation from an online retailer called Good Goth.  Unfortunately, they no longer sell makeup, but Manic Panic seems to make a good one called Dreamtone in Virgin.

2. Manic Panic Virgin Pressed Powder in White.

Brows:

1. Shiseido Eyebrow and Eyeliner Kit in Deep Brown

Eyes:

1. Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers False Feather Eyelashes

Lips:

1. Red lip liner and matte lipstick.  I really can't remember what I used.  Sorry!

ELF Haul plus Passport Makeup Tutorial

So I got my last ELF haul in a couple of days ago.  Well, it's not the last ELF order ever, just for now.

1. Studio Bronzer in Cool
2. Studio Complete Coverage Concealer in Medium
3. Studio Complexion Perfection
4. Studio Translucent Matifying Powder
5. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Dark
6. Essential Hypershine Gloss in Berry Cherry - Freebie!

Some of these goodies really lend themselves to the tutorial I'll be doing today, neutral and practical "passport" makeup.  You see, I need to renew my driver's license and it's been a long, long time since I l took my last ID photo, so I need to retake it.  As much as I love a bright and colorful face, something tells me that it just wouldn't be a good idea for an image that's going to be used on a legal identification document.  I want to look nice, of course, but I still want to look like myself. Therefore I'm going to create a natural, yet pretty and polished, look that would be perfect for passports, driver's licenses, and other forms of photo identification.

I'm going to start by applying tinted moisturizer to my entire face and concealer to my problem areas.  Then, using my new ELF Studio Complexion Perfection powder, I'm going neutralize the unflattering darkish and reddish areas of my face:

With the ELF Studio Blush brush, I'm going to apply the yellow shade to my under eye areas to neutralize the dark circles:

Next, I'm going to apply some of the green shade to my cheeks and on and around my nose to neutralize the redness:

To finish my foundation, I lightly buff the Studio Translucent Matifying powder over my entire face with the Studio Kabuki brush.  I'm going to skip images for this step because you've all seen it before on previous posts.

Then I'm going to enhance and bring shape to my brows using the Studio Brow Kit in Dark.

I had previously purchased this kit in Medium, but found it to be too light and reddish for my coloring.  To tell you the truth, I wasn't really optimistic about the Dark kit because it looks nearly identical.  However, upon application, I found that it was darker and less red than the Medium kit.  Looks like this one's a keeper!

Ok, on to neutral eye shadow.  As always, I'm going to start with a primed eye:

Next, using my ELF Endless Eyes Pro Eyeshadow Palette, I'm going to apply a matte latte shade to my entire lid and a matte cream shade as a brow arch highlight.

Then I'm going to darken the outer corner of my upper eyelids with a matte medium brown shade:

To deepen the color a little more, I'm going to also blend a matte espresso shade into the outer corners:

Next, using a dark brown eyeliner pencil, I'm going to line my upper and lower lash lines.  You have the choice of tracing your lid lines exactly, but I'm going to add a little pizazz by "winging" the upper lid liner.  I'm sure the DMV won't mind.

Then, with the same espresso shadow I used to deepen my outer corners, I'm going to layer it right over my pencil eyeliner for a softer look and for staying power.

Curl lashes and apply mascara and I'm done with the eyes.

Very simple and neutral, yet still quite attractive.

Now I'm going to use my Studio Bronzer in Cool to contour my cheeks.

I love how each color in this palette is matte, perfect for creating a naturally smooth and sculpted look!  With the aid of my Studio Complexion brush, I'm going to apply the deepest color, located on the upper right-hand corner, to the hollows of my cheeks.  Then I'm going to highlight apples of my cheeks using the rosy shade located on the lower right-hand corner of the palette.

To finish off my face, I'm going to apply Essential Hypershine Gloss in Honey to my lips.

And to complete my overall passport look, I'll style and arrange my hair the way I most commonly wear it:

Yay!  All ready to head over to the DMV to renew my license and to take my photo identification picture!  Hopefully when I have to do this again in another 10 years or so, I'll still look the same!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs,
Cat

Cheese Heaven

So I work three Saturdays out of each month and this Saturday happened to be one of them.  I should have gone home right away and posted my latest tutorial, but hey, it's Saturday!  Instead, I decided to gorge on cheese, wine, cupcakes, and proceeded to sit on the couch for a few hours watching a few episodes of Medium on Netflix.  Every girl deserves a fun, fattening, and lazy evening every so often, so you guys forgive, right? :)

Since I don't have any "style" pics to share today, I thought I'd post some food pics.  But hey, food can be just as stylish as clothes and makeup!  Especially since I went to this trendy little cheese restaurant called Mission Cheese, located in San Francisco.  Hubby and I shared a melty, grilled sandwich, a cheese flight, and raclette.  Super-yummy!  I can't wait to go back.  Then we picked up some chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes on our way home.  Needless to say, I'll be doubling my workout tomorrow morning, but it was soooooooooo worth it!

A glass of zinfandel rose at the bar.

Sandwich, three-cheese tasting, and raclette.

Mini cupcakes!

Happy Saturday...err, I guess at this hour we're technically Sunday.  Lol, oh well!

Hugs,

Cat

Paperself Eyelashes

Ok, so, WOW!  One of my dear blog buddies, Ella, introduced me to these beyond amazing false eyelashes by a brand called Paperself.  Apparently, they're false eyelashes based on the art of ancient Chinese paper cutting.  Each pair is an intricately beautiful work of art.  You have to see them to believe them:

I soooooooooo want!  They're available here at Sephora for $19 a pop.  A little on the steep side for eyelashes, but totally on the cheap side for an unbelievable work of art!  Honestly, if I got a pair, I wouldn't even wear them.  I'd want to arrange them in a shadow box and put them on display on my wall!  Anyways, just thought I'd share.  Thanks Ella! :D

Hugs,
Cat

OPI Skinny Dip'n in Lake Michigan

Hey, sorry friends!  I had a really long day so I'm afraid we'll have to settle for a mini post today!  Just wanted to share one of my favorite nail colors, OPI Skinny Dip'n in Lake Michigan.  Cute, right?

I soooooo love OPI nail polishes, but they're expensive so I have, like, 2.  Their color selection is incredible, the formulas are always super-smooth, and no brush I've encountered so far has applied polish as evenly as OPI's.

Anywho, Skinny Dip'n is a gorgeous shade of warm, peachy-pink nude with ultra-fine subtle sparkle particles.  It's probably the classiest nail color that I own.  I can never go wrong with this shade.  I wear it with everything, from tees and jeans to full-on evening gowns.  Definitely one of my all-time favorites.  Unfortunately, I have less than half a bottle left and it's been discontinued. :(  I think it's still available on Ebay, but I'm currently on a mission to find a suitable dupe.  Wish me luck!

Tutorial: Bright Pink and Purple Smoke

A smokey eye shouldn't be confined to just smokey colors.  I decided to try doing one in bright, fun colors!

It turned out pretty neat so I figured it would make a nice tutorial!  For this lesson, I'm going to use my ELF Studio Endless Eyes Pro Eyeshadow Palette:

1. Bright, sparkly pink base color
2. Deep purple smoke color
3. Matte black outer corner color

So here goes. :D  As always, I start with primed eyelids:

Then I'm going to apply the bright pink shade to my eyelids:

Next, I'm going to thickly line my top and bottom lid lines with my ELF Essential Shimmer Eyeliner in Plum Passion:

Using the deep purple shade from the palette, I'm going to layer and smudge color right over the eyeliner.

Once I've completed that step, I'm going to line the outer corners of my top and bottom lid lines with black eyeliner pencil.  Then, I'm going to layer and smudge matte black shadow over the black eyeliner.

Then I'm going to enhance my top and bottom lid lines with black liquid eyeliner:

Curl lashes and apply mascara to complete my colorful smokey eye:

Since my love for false lashes has recently been re-awakened, I'm going to apply some in order to enhance my puny natural lashes:

To compliment the pink shadow, I'm going to wear a matching pink lip.  This is a perfect opportunity for me to try out a new gloss I got from ELF.  To start, I line and fill my lips with my ELF Studio Lip Liner and Blending Brush in Nude Pink:

Then I grab my new ELF Studio Glossy Gloss in Wild Watermelon:

Wild Watermelon a gorgeous, sheer, bright pink that looks and smells like candy.  It's super-shiny and really adds punch to my pout.

All set and ready to go!

Additional makeup details:

Face:
1. CoverGirl CG Smoothers Aqua Tinted Moisturizer in Light to Medium
2. ELF Studio Complete Coverage Concealer Palette in Light
3. ELF Studio Translucent Matifying Powder

Eyebrows:
1. ELF Studio Eyebrow Kit in Medium

Cheeks:
1. ELF Studio Blush in Pink Passion

Lips:
1. ELF Studio Lip Lock Pencil
2. ELF Studio Lip Liner & Blending Brush in Nude Pink
3. ELF Studio Glossy Gloss in Wild Watermelon