Favorites: August 2011 (Picture Heavy)

Hello, my Pretties!

Every month I say I'm going to do a monthly favorites post and every month I forget. Not this month! I'm so excited to finally be doing one. So, no more talking. Let's get to it. Lots of pictures ahead.

My monthly favorites!
Most used products for August 2011.

You might be able to tell from the pictures that these products have a lot of wear and tear to them. This is basically what you would see in my makeup bag. I use these products almost on a daily basis.

Avon Anew Age-Transforming Pressed Powder
E220 Tan Beige

I love how this looks on my face. It is very smooth in its application and it mattifies my skin very well which I like. As of right now, this is the only pressed powder I use when I wear makeup.

Avon True Color Blush
Classic Aura

I have been wearing this blush so much. I've always veered towards the coral shades over the pinker ones but this one seemed so light and sheer and very wearable. It is very pigmented! It can be very, very pink if applied with a heavy hand. I wear this lightly and it looks great. My favorite pink blush.

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss
160 Tea Rose

And just like blushes, I tend to stay away from pink lipsticks or lip glosses. I think that my color complexion is too dark for pink. But, I have seen on a daily basis on blogs and videos, darker complected girls can wear pink too!

Such a pretty pink!
Smells so good too!

Look at this pink! It is so pretty! I love it so much. This shade looks so vibrant but when applied to the lips, it is actually on the sheer side. 

mark. What a Line Felt Tip Liquid Eye Liner
Wee Hours (Black)

I love liquid eyeliner and a liquid eyeliner with a felt tip applicator is even better. I love felt tips because it gives me more control. It's just like using a marker! This eyeliner glides on easily and without any tugging which is crucial for me since my eyelids are starting to wrinkle!

Swatches.
Top to Bottom:
Wee Hours, Tea Rose, Classic Aura, &
Tan Beige.

Don't the swatches showcase the pretty colors? I am happy with these products. I'm not kidding, this is what my face looks like almost on a daily basis. The only thing that really changes up, is my eyeshadow.

Yes to Cucumbers
Cool Conditioning Hand Cream

I got this hand cream at Target on clearance for $2.98, I believe. And I love it! I always have dry hands. I do a lot of washing dishes and cleaning house and I never wear gloves, which I should. I have old lady, wrinkly hands!! But when I feel my hands dry, I use this and seriously, it's like my body drinking water. I can hear my skin say, "ahhhh...." I use this on my legs, arms, and sometimes my face too. As you can see the bottle is pretty beat up. This baby goes everywhere with me.

Avon Moisture Effective
Eye Makeup Remover Lotion

I have not used a store bought eye makeup remover in years. This eye makeup remover by Avon is the only one I have used for years. I love it. It's like lotion. Although it stings so bad when you get it in your eyes, I think the cleanup aspect of this product, trumps that. Very little of this product goes a very long way. You can't see it in the picture but this bottle is almost all dried up. I had to bang this on the palm of my hand to get a drop out. And now that it is practically finished, I might try one found in drug stores just for a change after all these years.

Left to Right:
Yes to Cumcumbers
Eye Makeup Remover Lotion

As you can see from the swatches, it would be hard to tell which is a hand lotion and which is an eye makeup remover. I think the eye makeup remover is actually thicker than the hand cream.

CVS Pharmacy Chap•Block Lip Balm
Lip Moisturizer
Skin Protectant/Sunscreen

This was a last minute buy as it was sitting by the checkout counter at CVS. I bought it because it was the cheapest lip balm. Yup, that is the frugalista in me! It turned out to be such a good buy. It has no color, no taste, a very light scent. It works wonders for my dry lips.

Left to Right:
Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara  in Black
Dior Diorshow Mascara in Black

These two mascaras are trial sizes that I was gifted by a friend. I would never buy these because they are too expensive. I am a drug store kind of gal. But they are so wonderful! I love them. I might buy the full size of Clinique because it's only $14.50. Not too bad.

Left to Right:
Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara  in Black
Dior Diorshow Mascara in Black

I use these two mascaras together sometimes. The Clinique mascara has a long and thin tapered brush which I love because it gets the tiny lashes and elongates them. This mascara gives me really long lashes!

The Dior mascara has a huge jumbo brush and I don't know why, but I like this one too. This mascara gives me the volume. It makes my eyes look like they have so many lashes. Only downside, aside from the obvious price issue, is that it is so heavily scented. Smells like flowers, or something. Too much for me.

Avon Smooth Minerals Liquid Foundation
Medium Beige

This foundation here is almost empty but I know I can still go a long way with it. Very little of this product is needed to give you a nice canvas to apply your makeup.

Swatches:
Out of the tube and then blended in.

I don't need a heavy foundation. This is very light. The foundation itself is on the runny side. It blends in easily.  It does not leave my skin matte, however. There is a very slight sheen to it. It might be a little "greasy" but for my dry skin, that isn't a problem. I feel and look moisturized when I wear it.

BONUS FAVORITE:
MARGARITAS!!

And just for fun, here is a bonus favorite. Nothing better than a frozen margarita to ward off this ridiculous 100+ degree summer Texas heat. Sheesh, it's been hell down here. But a freezing cold margarita with extra salt around the rim makes everything so much  more bearable!

Shall we do this again come September?

Luv & Luk,
--L.

LFI: Smoke Out

For those of you Pretties who follow my blog, you know I am not very good at doing a smoky eye. But that never stops me from trying to create them. LOL.

Today I bring to you another attempt at my arch nemesis, the smoky eye.

Ingredients:
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk as my base.
E.L.F. Everyday Classics 32 Eyeshadow Palette.
Profusion Brown Eyeliner.
Mark What A Line Liquid Eyeliner in Wee Hours.
Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara in Black.

Grays and browns make up this smoky eye.

1. Matte White on the brow bone.
2. Light Gray on the inner half of lid.
3. Mid Gray on outer half of lid.
4. Dark Gray on the lower lash line.
5. Black on the outer "V" of lid.
6. Bronze on the outer half of crease.
7. Copper on the inner half of crease.

Definitely smoky colors.

Mark What A Line Liquid Eyeliner in Wee Hours (black) along upper lash line. Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara in Black on the top and bottom lashes. Two coats.

My eyes looks so much better with makeup!

There you go, my dears. Hope I have inspired you to try this smoky look out. When I do my eye makeup, I usually do something like light brown with dark brown. Or, black with gray. Never have I done brown with gray. But I like it. If you try it out, link me below so that I can see it!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ All products mentioned in this post were purchased with my own money. ♥♥

Finger Painting: Avon Mirror Shine

Hello, my Pretties!

I have a quick post for you today. It's a nail polish post! Woo hoo!

While looking through my small stash of nail polish the other day, I found this old, and I mean old, nail polish that I bought from Avon years back. YEARS.

I gave it a quick shake and applied it to one nail and, whoa, it applied as if it was brand new! I was impressed. It was not clumpy, goopy, thick, and the color was intact. Seriously, impressive.

Avon Mirror Shine Nail Enamel in Polish.

Here is this very cool polish. It's from Avon and I purchased this ages ago. I cannot tell you exactly how much I paid for this but I am willing to bet my life that it was $1.99. The Avon nail polishes that are packaged in these plastic bottles are always very cheap. I believe that Avon still offers these polishes once in a while, the same colors just in a different bottle. Same look and design to it except that the bottles are now black instead of gray.

Do you see that year? 2002! What??

I was never one to polish my nails on a regular basis so I guess that's why I still have this nail polish from back in 2002. 2002? Is that right?? My nail polish collection is very small and I have a lot of nail polishes I'm sure are just about this old. I would never buy nail polishes and when I did, I rarely used them. This bottle of polish was still fairly full but there was no weird odor to so I used it anyway. Bad idea?

Here are my nails after 2 coats of Polish.

After the first initial application, the color was fully opaque. No need for a second coat at all. But I did apply a second coat out of habit. Like I said, the polish went on smoothly and easily. The only reason why my index finger looks a little wonky is because I had actually shaved off a piece of the top of my nail while cleaning the a/c vents in our apartment. Other than that, I think the finished nails look pretty good. Very smooth finish. The final look of this nail polish after drying is verging on matte. It's not glossy but it's not a completely flat finish either. It is supposed to look like "chrome".

Avon Mirror Shine Nail Enamel in Polish
Wet 'n Wild Nail Color in Sunny Side Up
Wet 'n Wild Nail Color in Lavender Creme

Well, here's an added bonus!

I decided to take a swing at "nail art" and the proof is in the picture that I am not at all good at nail art! I tried. That's all I can say. I didn't even have a design planned out or anything. I was just going through my nail polish box and I found these polishes and figured I could use them.

Here is what I came up with. STOP LAUGHING!

I call this look "Party Clown".

I call this the "Party Clown" because I totally see a clown-y aspect to this. LOL. Hot pink (I have no idea why the polish is named Lavender Creme!) and orange with purple, total clown colors! I just thought that the orange dots looked very much like buttons on a clown suit.

Not even worth being in this post but I figured, I'm going to keep practicing my nail art and I will eventually excel at it so, it would be really funny to post my first attempt at nail art and laugh about it in the future.

As if I'm not laughing at it now!

Thanks, dolls, for stopping by my blog. Take care!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

Collection: E.L.F. Duo Eyeshadow Cream

Yay! Here I am bring you another small collection that is part of my complete makeup collection. Today I have for you the E.L.F. Duo Eyeshadow Creams. I have 8 out of 9 colors they offer. I know the pictures and swatches show 9 but that's because I have a Mocha Swirl and a Mocha Ice. I believe they are the same duo. The one that I am missing according to the website is Berry Mix. Mocha Ice is no longer available. Mocha Swirl is.

These cream eyeshadows sell for $1.00 and you can check them out on the E.L.F. website HERE.

My full collection of E.L.F. Duo Shadow Creams

Top 2: Olive and Mocha Ice
Middle 3: Butter Pecan, Blueberry, and Sugar Cookie
Bottom 4: Coffee & Cream, Eggplant, Mocha Swirl, and Black Licorice

Swatches with flash.

Top: Olive and Mocha Ice
Bottom: Butter Pecan and Blueberry

Swatches without flash.

Top: Olive and Mocha Ice
Bottom: Butter Pecan and Blueberry

Swatches with flash.

Top: Sugar Cookie and Coffee & Cream
Middle: Eggplant and Mocha Swirl
Bottom: Black Licorice

Swatches without flash.

Top: Sugar Cookie and Coffee & Cream
Middle: Eggplant and Mocha Swirl
Bottom: Black Licorice

I used these 3 duos to create my look.
Black Licorice, Sugar Cookie, and Eggplant.

Eggplant on lid (purple) and on lower lash line (green).
Sugar Cookie as my brow high light (gold).
The over all look is very subdued.
Not very bold or eye catching at all on their own.

Black Licorice on my crease (silver) and as my
eyeliner (black).
In the time it took me to finish applying the cream shadows
and go get my camera, I already started to crease.

Cargo Red Lips Green Conscience
Palette

Inside Cargo palette.

Heron applied over Black Licorice silver in crease.

Ivy applied over Eggplant green on lower lash line.
Lily applied over Sugar Cookie gold on brow bone.
Iris applied over Eggplant purple on lid.

Cargo shadows appear more bold with
E.L.F. cream shadows underneath.

Eyeshadow seems to stick on the eye more with
the E.L.F. cream shadows as a base.

I love the feel to these E.L.F. Duo Eyeshadow Creams. They are very creamy, for lack of a better word. They feel like butter. They melt like butter too. In the house we are living in right now, the temperature inside is usually very warm considering the outside temps are around 106 degrees. Today when I took these out to show them to you, I saw that some of them were sweating. A couple of them were too soft and had the consistency of melted chocolate! Crazy, I know.

They apply very easily. Blend in super nicely. If they didn't crease when you wear them alone, I would like to wear them without any shadows on top. Alone, these cream shadows give you a nice wash of sheer color. Some of them, anyway. The dark blue in Blueberry and the black in Black Licorice are super pigmented.

When swatched, all cream shadows appear very pigmented but when you blend them in, they do sheer out drastically. That is what makes them good eyeshadow bases. The little color they leave behind on your skin help the eyeshadow colors to really standout!

For only $1.00, these are good. I do not recommend wearing them alone at all but as a base, these do work. On a side note, all of these cream shadows are shimmery. Some more than others. Some look almost dead on creamy until you see a slight sheen to them. Others have more than shimmer, it's verging on glitter.

Now I really want Berry Mix just because it's the only one I need to complete this collection!

Hope you all enjoyed. Take care, my Pretties!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

Collection: NYC Lipsticks

Back in April, I did a mini haul post of some lipsticks that I bought at Wal-Mart. I purchased 4 NYC lippies and 1 Wet n Wild lippie. And the best thing was that these lipsticks were only $0.93 each!

The original blog entry was posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 and you can check it out HERE. Originally, I had just posted pics of the lipsticks and swatches on my forearm.

But today, to show off my complete collection of NYC lipsticks, which consists of just these 4 lipsticks I purchased at the same time, I am going to show you the swatches on my lips. It's just funner this way.

NYC Ultra Moisture Lip Wear Lipsticks
Net wt 0.11 oz (3.4g)
$0.93
Left to Right:
301 Cafe, 309 Sheer Red, 316 Blossom & 319 Violet Shine

301 Cafe

Cafe is really pretty. It's a very wearable, neutral shade. It is shimmery, though. There are tiny gold reflects all through out this lipstick. I think this would go very well with a smoky eye. It's understated.

309 Sheer Red

Ah, one of my favorites! And I'm not a red lipstick wearer. I did apply this lipstick heavily but you can get a very sexy sheer red, hence the name, out of this one. It's a classic red, perfect for a pin up look. It's creamy and sans shimmer. I love this one. I love it applied lightly too which gives me that sheer look.

316 Blossom

Blossom is hot. It's such a hot pink! This lipstick is so cool because it has purple reflects that sparkle! It's so girly and Barbie like to me.

319 Violet Shine

I would name Violet Shine as my other favorite. It's a more wearable pink than Blossom. It's on the creamy side too. Not too much shimmer here but it does have some. I am new to wearing pink lipstick so I think this one is a good start for me. It's not bold and it's not pale, you can definitely tell you are wearing pink. So pretty.

OK, dollies, this is something new that I thought of doing. Showing you some of my little collections one collection at a time. Did you all like this one?

I have several other small collections I would like to share with you all so if you are interested, let me know!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

LFI: Kaleidoscope

Hello, my Pretties! I have a new post for you today. Yay!

Today's post is one kind of post I haven't done at all lately. Today is a Look For Inspiration! And it's a colorful one too.

Ingredients:
NYX Eyeshadow Base in White
Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara in Black
Avon Color Trend Eyeliner in Midnight Blue

Avon Precision Glimmer Powder Eyeshadow in Limestone
Avon Precision Glimmer Powder Eyeshadow in Classic Fit
Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Sparkling Shadow in Goldblinger
Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Luminous Shadow in Tons o' Plum

Very handy and easy to use applicators built into the wand.

Swatches.

Pretty! Love the finished look.

I applied NYX Eyeshadow Base in White all over from lid to brow bone so I didn't apply a brow high light. I liked the look of the base alone as a high light.

Limestone went on the lid, starting at the inner corner to a little past half way. About 2/3 of the lid was done in Limestone. Classic Fit was then applied to the outer remaining lid, about 1/3 of the lid. The two colors were then blended together with my fingertip to diffuse the harsh line where the two different colors met.

Tons o' Plum graced about 3/4 of the lower lash line. Goldblinger was applied to the inner corner and remaining 1/4 of the lower lash line.

Along the waterline, I applied the Avon Color Trend Eyeliner in Midnight Blue.

I did not use any brushes to create this look...
only my fingertips.

As you can see, I did not apply a liner to the upper lash line. I know it would have looked great with it but I thought the look was complete without it.

The two coats of the Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara was more than enough to make my eyes appear bright and big.

My oh my, what eyeshadow can do for your eyes!

Well, there you go, my dears. I do hope that this is something you like. I, personally, love this look. I was debating what colors to use, I could not think of anything to do. I just went along with my gut. I didn't have anything planned out. It was more of, "Let's see what happens," type of look.

I will say it again, I like it. A lot!

Until next time, my Pretties. Stay beautiful inside and out.

Luv & Luk,
--L.