Mad For Plaid

I admit, I'm a sucker for plaid.  I especially love those button-downs that they sell at Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch.  I have a ton of them in my closet.  I simply adore the casual fit and feel, yet understatedly stylish look...like you rolled out of bed, pulled it on without thinking, and still ended up looking fabulous anyway.  You know what I mean?  I paired today's orchid and navy plaid, from Hollister, with Stella cropped jeggings from Express, and some cute, open-toed, boucle bow pumps by Madden Girl.  To be honest, this outfit wasn't well thought out at all...I DID roll out of bed and just pulled on whatever was in my suitcase and ended up with this:

For those of you who aren't up to speed, I'm staying at my parents' house for the week since my husband is out of town on business.  I only brought some flip-flops, lol, so I'm really lucky I was able to dig these heels out of the closet from when I used to live at home.  I forgot how cute they were!

Ended up doing up my eyes to match my shirt via my Sleek Ultra Mattes palette:

I must say, I'm a little proud of myself for being able to put together such a cohesive look on the fly!  Hope everyone's having a lovely Wednesday so far!

Hugs,
Cat

EOTD: Deep Teal Smoke

Did a simple, yet dramatic deep teal corner smoke using my Sleek palette:

Hubby's in Seattle for a business trip so I'm crashing at my parents' place for the week.  I only brought my Sleek palette so I've been having fun experimenting with different, versatile looks using the 12 colors included within it.

It's funny.  I have a ridiculous amount of makeup, yet I'm learning that I probably don't need about 90% of it.  But I suppose that's the case with most things...clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.  Ah, what it is to be a girl...

Happy Tuesday everyone and goodnight!

Hugs,
Cat

Smokey Stripey

Painted the town red last night with a half dozen of my girls and thought I'd share my smokey eye look as well as my threads:

I created this look using grey, navy, and black from my Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 palette:

LOVE this palette...so ridiculously pigmented!  And, to match the stormy, charcoal color scheme, I chose one of my favorite dresses from my wardrobe: a little stripey number that I purchased from Metropark way long ago that's always a big hit when I don't have anything else to wear.

Hope everyone's having a lovely Saturday so far.  It's chilly here in the SF bay, at 60 degrees F...brrr!  Some summer, huh?

Hugs,
Cat

Elisha Coy Premium Gold Mineral BB

Since I liked Elisha Coy's Always Nuddy BB 24 so much, I thought I'd try their Premium Gold Mineral BB.  Unlike Always Nuddy, it has the added benefit of high SPF.  What I found from trying it is that Premium Gold offers more opaque coverage than Always Nuddy and I really like that you get good sun protection from it.  What I didn't like was the "whitening" effect, which means that it's at least a shade too light for my skin tone, so I had to set it with a darker-toned mineral setting powder so that my face wouldn't look pasty.  I just think it looks tacky on me when my face doesn't match the rest of the skin on my body.  For that I used ELF Mineral Foundation in Warm.  Unfortunately, stacking two foundations gave me an uber-Photoshopped face.  Fantastic for photos for sure, but unless you want to walk around looking like a mannequin, I don't know if I'd recommend it, lol.

That aside, I got a chance to create another look with my new Sleek palette.  Check it out:

For this look, I used Flesh (orangy-tan), Paper Bag (brown), Noir (dark charcoal), Dune (sandy-beige), and Pillow Talk (white).  I'm so loving my new palette!  I can't wait to try interesting looks with some of the other colors!  Hope you're all having a lovely Saturday so far!

Hugs,
Cat

Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 Palette

Wheeeeeeeee!  I purchased my first Sleek eyeshadow palette recently!  Sleek is a UK cosmetics brand that makes AMAZING makeup.  I know this because all the beautiful bloggers on the other side of the pond have been posting about their products and I've been absolutely DYING to get my hands on some!  I went to the Sleek Makeup website and was super excited about their wares...especially the eyeshadow palettes...especially the matte eyeshadow palettes.  Sadly, it seems that there's an ingredient that they use in their matte shadows that hasn't been FDA approved over here so they cannot be sold to American customers!  Boo hoo!  So I decided to be naughty and go on eBay to get my little paws on their Ultra Mattes V2 Darks palette.  Where there's a will, there's a way!  And the internet makes it so easy...mwahahahaha!

Such an AMAZING palette!  I'm a real sucker for mattes...they're so creamy and photo-friendly.  Here we have a good mix of both practical and pop-py colors.  They're also super-pigmented.  Just the lightest touch of my shadow brush brings a sweep of dense, opaque color.  Here's my first look using Thunder (grey), Ink (navy), and Pillow Talk (white):

The last picture was taken in natural window lighting...looks kinda purple, but you get the gist of the look, right? Lol.  I think my camera's white balance is off too.  Oh well.  Can't wait to play with my palette some more!  Hope you're all enjoying a great Friday so far!

Hugs,
Cat