September 2015 Empties

Hello all! Today I have some empties to show you that have just been piling up in my bathroom.  Now you all know the drill by now, but empties are always my favorite posts because I definitely have a good opinion of the products after I have finished them up.  Plus, there’s always the satisfaction of seeing my stash empty by about .05% before I replace it with about 5 more products….now that’s something I need to work on.

Without blabbering on too much, here’s what I have finished recently:

Read on to see more!

It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Celebration Palette FOTD

 I told myself I didn't need the It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Celebration Palette ($42), but alas, I found myself picking this up in ULTA...and not putting it back down again.  The warm neutrals in both warm and cool shades paired with the silky smooth texture had me in love at first swatch.

First, the packaging is absolutely gorgeous. 

And it gets better when you open it.

Empties: December 2014 Edition

I have a confession: these empties have been building up for a long time.  Some of these products are from August or September, and I have just honestly been too lazy to talk about them.  But a perk of being lazy is that I now have lots of empties (including makeup) to show....

FOTD with some new items! Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Gelee

 In the middle of all my essay writing and studying, it is only natural that I would do a little.....okay, a lot of hauling to tide me over.  Unfortunately, as busy as I was, I didn't actually get to wear any of what I bought until this week, making this a very fun week of trying and wearing new products.  It 
has resulted in me wearing possibly every new product I have at once, but at least now my mornings are a little more exciting!

Today, I will be featuring the Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Gelee in Berry Bliss, a deep wine shade that lightly stains the cheeks for an all day wear.  I've had my eye on this product for months now, and I'm so glad I was finally able to pick it up during the sales this year.

I was looking something to make me look flushed, and Berry Bliss looked like the best shade, although some of the other shades looked gorgeous as well.

It looks pretty scary in the pan, but swatched and on the cheeks it is a sheer and natural looking berry shade.  I think even very fair skintones would be able to pull this off because it is so sheer upon first pass, but it is definitely buildable.

Empties: Summer Edition compiled

Every time I tried to write this post, it seems that I've gotten distracted and quickly moved on to more exciting posts.  Not that talking about empties isn't exciting, but when I'm running around to different countries and have shiny new products to play with...well, THAT's exciting.

Because I kept delaying this, the empties that I had started to slowly pile up.  And instead of slowly surrounding myself with empty products, I took pictures of them in installments.  All of this comprises empties from about April through August....and there's a lot so let's get started!

Exploring Art Deco: Eyeshadows, Blush, and FOTD

I first heard about Art Deco a few years ago before I knew anything about German makeup and have been trying to get my hands on it ever since.  For some reason, I really love the idea of being able to build my own palette, and Art Deco has plenty of options for doing so with their assortment of blushes and eyeshadows.

The first time I was in Germany, I picked up a couple of eyeshadows, which I love dearly, but I've found some real winners this time in the collection as well.

Travel Makeup for Long Trips - packing the essentials

What do I do when I have to pack for a 5 week trip with only a 55L backpack and a smaller regular sized backpack?  Pack the essentials, make sure everything is absolutely fool-proof, and use as many space saving solutions as possible. 

For my first packing post, I thought I would show you how I packed my makeup, and how I managed to pare everything down to the bare essentials (sort of) for a 5 week trip.  Except for my lip products...because when I keep my eyes simple I need to have options with my lip products. I'm quite proud of everything else that I packed, as now that I'm back from the trip I can safely say that I used everything, but wasn't lacking anything!

The trick for me was packing as many travel sized/samples of products as possible for me.  I basically amassed everything I could find in a travel size and brought them with me.  This includes travel size brushes, and *shudder*..using sponge-tip applicators as my eye brushes!

How it all fit in my two makeup bags, complete with foundation spills.

Some Favorite Summer Bright Lipsticks

Note: Pre-written post from before I started traveling!  I actually didn’t bring most of these with me for my trip, but they are my favorite bright lipsticks, nonetheless.

After a whole slew of travel-related posts, I've come back to dabble in beauty for this post. It's a bit hard to talk about beauty when I'm traveling with just a little makeup bag, but it is one of my favorite subjects to talk about, so I'm taking a little break from travel for now to talk about my favorite summer shades.

Once upon a time, I was very terrified of bright lipstick.  I look back now and scoff at my hesitancy to wear even muted red shades (remember when MAC’s Viva Glam Cyndi was considered an ‘everyday red’ by many?  Not I).  And my brights were quite limited to reds. I shuddered at the thought of wearing purple, or even a bright fuchsia.  However, over the past year, I have slowly become acquainted with the idea of bright lipsticks, slowly building up my tolerance to the point where nothing is too bright for me anymore.  Orange lipstick?  A gateway bright for me.  I’ve moved on neon purple, no longer reserved for special occasions, but for every day activities. 

I think over the past year, my bright lip stick collection has tripled or quadrupled…which is quite easy to do when I only really have one or two lipsticks before.  However, despite my excitement for bright lipstick at any time, summer is the time when they all really come out to play, desperately calling my name while I happily oblige.  

I’ve pulled out some of my favorite bright lipsticks, ranging from the sheer to the fully opaque. For me, the easiest way to get used to the look of bright lipstick on me was to wear sheerish glosses until I finally got too curious for my own good. 

 Read after the jump to see some swatches >>

New in My Life

It's safe to say that my no-buy is officially over. From January to about the middle of March, I kept myself from buying any makeup to 1.) really use what I had and 2.) make an effort to save some money.  It worked for awhile - I was able to resist all the new products, new releases, and I was perfectly content rediscovering and finding new things in my collection.

However, eventually sales and the new summer products got to me and I had to add some new things to my collection.  Needless to say, my makeup buying is back with a bang, and I'm happily rolling in some new products!

I may or may not have jumbled up all my drugstore, Ulta, and other miscellaneous purchases with my Sephora purchases from dramatic purposes.

Click below to see the details!

January Favorites

Ever on time as always, I present to you my favorite products from January!  

January was a hectic month in terms of real life, but ever since I decided to go on a no-buy, I've definitely been shopping my stash more.  

Beauty-wise, this month has been all about skin!  (hint: many dewy skin products ahead!) When I haven't been in the mood (or had the time) to go all out on my eyes, I focused on having flawless and GLOWY skin.  I know winter is usually the season for mattes, but something about the cold weather makes me want to look as dewy as possible.  

Since I was always rushing, I didn't do much in the way of lips this month, but my Too Faced palette and face products got a fair bit of use...

December Empties

The end of December (and the end of the year) has completely snuck up on me with the craziness of finals and the holidays.  I haven't even had much time to browse around my favorite blogs...yet somehow I've managed to do some serious online shopping.  While another fashion post is in the midst, today I bring to you a satisfying post to write.  

Empties.  I always love writing and reading these because it's a fantastic way to show what products I have liked to actually completely finish using, as well as proof that I am actually using the products I own!  With as much makeup as all us beauty junkies have, using up products is a testament to a good stash rotation ;)

Since I took these photos about a week ago, I had a batch of products that were *almost* done, but I added them in anyway because I didn't want to hold on to them for much longer.

Missing from this picture: another bottle of my Clinique Acne Solutions Toner!  I use this stuff up every few months.

For my skincare and body products, I am actually surprised I managed to use up to bottles of body lotion within 4 months of my previous empties post.  I love the Pacifica body butters, and will definitely be purchasing them again in the future!  I also finally used up the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil, that I wish I still had since it  is still the most effective product for taking off all my makeup with one step.  I'm lazy to order online, especially since more beauty brands are coming out with cleansing oils, but I may be tempted to order this again if I don't find an adequate replacement!  The Suave Everlasting Sunshine Body Wash was pretty good if nothing too special for me.  I loved the fresh floral smell of this the most, but it didn't linger or moisturize my skin to well.  Lastly, I am so so so happy I finished the tiny sample of the Kenzo Flower Perfume.  I know some people love this, but I could not stomach this smell at all.  It's a powdery floral scent, but it is WAY too powdery for me to the point that it was nauseating.  I barely even used this before it actually spilled in one of my bags....making my entire bag smell like this.  Not. Good. :(

I finished up a good amount of makeup products, and as you'll see below, there will be even more in just a few weeks! (days at this point..)  I have 3 lip balms to cross off the list, starting with the Revive side of the Blistex lipbalm duo.  I did not like this nearly as much as the Restore side (which I used up awhile back) since I did not feel that it was nearly as moisturizing, but it isn't the worst balm I've ever tried.  I also used up the Jack Black Grapefruit SPF25 lip balm.  I completely fell into the hype of this and understood why everyone is singing its praises.  I absolutely love this, and will be buying this again when I go through some of my other balms!  And finally, after losing it and then refinding it again this year, I was finally able to finish the Neutrogena Naturals Lip balm.  I don't hear many people talking about this balm, but actually found that it was insanely moisturizing for me.  I used it more at night since it doesn't have SPF, so I will also be buying this in addition to the Jack Black lip balms.

The two little samples on the right side are the now discontinued Smashbox Tinted Moisturizer and the Tarte Recreate Silicone Free Primer.  The tinted moisturizer wasn't anything too life-changing..it was sheer and light, but didn't have any effects that I noticed.  Similarly, while the Tarte primer kept my makeup kept my makeup lasting a littttle bit longer, I didn't find that it did much to help my pores.  I'm glad these are finally out of the way, though!

 The makeup products I finished this time around were a long time coming.  I definitely enjoyed the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer, which seemed never-ending (in a good way!).  It was great for concealing my dark circles, and even acted double duty to help conceal my blemishes.  Again, I have some other concealers to go through, but I will consider buying this in the future.  The Covergirl Lash Exact Waterproof mascara is a good everyay, defining mascara, but I personally like a little bit of drama to my lashes.  It was good for days that I just needed to throw on mascara since it never clumped, but I still prefer my Maybelline Falsies.  Next, I finished up a mini size of the Stila All-Over Luminizer in Kitten.  It was great for traveling and adding a beautiful glow to my skin, since I prefer liquid highlighters to powder highlighters.  I bought this in a trio with the Bronze and Rose Gold shade awhile back, and look forward to using those as well!  In a valiant effort to use up my eyeliners, I finally (finally!) used up the L'oreal Extra Intense Liquid Eye Pencil in Black.  Now, this was never-ending.  It was a great eyeliner in terms of its intensity and creaminess, but it just seemed like I had this forever. I actually prefer the Milani Liquid Eyeliner Pencil since it is even darker than the L'oreal version.  Lastly, I am just about done with the Milani Radiant Bronzer. I'm not even sure if they sell this anymore, but this was a great bronzer for its matte, but not flat finish and a bronzey glow that warmed up my face well.


Finally, here are some products that are just about finished, but aren't quite there yet.  I imagine that by the end of the month (yikes...4 days!), they will be done.

Starting from the left, I have the Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Warm Golden..which I have had for an embarrassingly long time.  Let's just say that although I love this foundation to death, I'm glad I'm finally finishing this bottle.  Next, the Clinique Take the Day Off Balm has lasted me just about a year, doing its faithful duty of shedding off all my makeup at the end of the day.  Although the Shu Uemura oil was more effective, the fact that the Clinique one was a balm made it much more convenient for all the traveling I did this past year. Since its also easier to acquire, I'm more likely to repurchase this. Now I have a lipstick (?!?!) and even a blush (?!?!...cream, but still).  The Maybelline Moisture Extreme Nude Blush lipstick has been long discontinued, and I was so devastated that I stopped using it for about a year.  Now that I think I have enough dupes (not exact, but close..), I had the heart to pull this out again.  I'm just about near the end of it, and although I'm sad to see it go, I'm glad to clear out this lipstick and use my newer ones.  And the unicorn of all makeup empties.  How often do I use up blushes?  Never.  But since I use pretty much the same cream blush everyday under my powder blushes, they go a lot quicker.  This Topshop Cream Blush in Nutmeg was the perfect everyday soft pink cream blush.  It was pigmented, glided on well, and lasted for a decently long time.  I know this shade doesn't exist anymore, but I will be checking out their other shades whenever I get the chance!

I'm certainly happy with the amount of makeup products I finished, but hopefully I will have even more next time to clear out some of my older products!

Hauling All the Way to the Holidays

Its that time of year again....the time of year that my bank account starts to suffer and weep because of all the beauty deals floating around, namely, the Sephora deals.  It's the only time of year they offer a 20% off discount, causing mass hysteria and panic to buy the most coveted limited edition palettes before they sell out.  In recent years, they've limited the sale to VIB members only, but if you're a beauty crazed addict like me, spending $350 is no big deal.  Plus, I justify it by spending about half that money on skincare, which is absolutely essential and more important than any cosmetic product.

After much planning, I've managed to stock up on skincare and scare some of the holiday offerings at Sephora.  Among the most popular items this year were the Hourglass Ambient Light Palette, Laura Mercier Artist's Palette, and the NARS One Night Stand Blush Palette.

I bought the Hourglass Ambient Light Palette when it first came out, and I'm glad I did because it ended up selling out almost immediately once the VIB sale started.  But for the actual VIB sale, here's what I ordered:

I had originally wanted the Laura Mercier Artist's Palette, but wasn't able to catch it in time, but I think I may like the Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things Palette better.  Stay tuned for a review coming up very soon!

 Read after the jump to see some more products I've been acquiring lately...

It's Empties Time Again...

It's that time again! 

I've finished another round of products so of course I have to share everything I used up and what I though of them.

Read on to see what I thought of these products!

Shop Your Stash: August Edition and some FOTD

With a new month comes a whole new round of the Shop Your Stash project with new rediscovered products to try!  As I've mentioned before, I like doing this to really go through items in my collection I might have not used in awhile and to find new ways to use them.  After two months of doing this, I can say that it's going well and I'm definitely finding new products in my collection that I've forgotten about.

For those new to my blog, the Shop Your Stash project has a couple guidelines:

• I pick 20 - 25 face, eye, and lip products that I want to use more often in the month

• I have to use each product at least two times in the month

Without further ado, here are this month's selections!

Keep reading to see more details and swatches of all of the products!

Another collection of FOTD's

I seem to be failing at putting up my faces of the day, but here they are from the past week!

Click for the products used and tons more looks!

The Shop Your Stash Project: July

I have to say, I'm really liking my Shop Your Stash Project idea.  It's encouraging me to not only use products that I either haven't used in awhile or products that haven't been used much at all, but it's also pushing me to be more experimental and creative with my makeup rather than just blindly reaching or the Naked palette or my other neutral shadows.

As a refresher, here's what the whole "Shop Your Stash Project" is all about:

• I pick 20 - 25 face, eye, and lip products that I want to use more often in the month
• I have to use each product at least two times in the month

That's it.  Pretty simple.  If you want to see  the products I chose for June, check it out here!  There were some products that made it into my everyday rotation and that I absolutely LOVE (holler at the ELF Giddy Gold Highlighter and the Vincent Longo Lip and Cheek Gel Stain), and there were products that I really had make an effort to integrate into my routine, such as the Alverde Liquid Eyeliner, and MAC Orange Tempura lipgloss.  But all in all, I was happy about the "new" things I had to use from day to day.

This month, I have a whole new bunch of products to use, 22 items, to be exact.

Here they are in all their glory:

Keep reading to see exactly what these products are and swatches!

Faces of the Day: A Compilation of Looks

Once again, I have fallen behind on my postings.  I like keeping a collection of the looks I do just to see how my tastes change, the products I use, and for inspiration.

Without any babbling this time, here are the most recent faces I've done recently:

Keep reading to see breakdowns and more looks!

SOTD and some unusual combinations

I know you all want to know what's in this:

I didn't have any bananas around so I modified it a little bit, and the result was a great protein packed post-workout smoothie.

You're probably also wondering what silver looks like over brown, and what teal glitter looks like over pink lipstick.

Read on to see what I managed to do! 

Travel Makeup All-Stars

I hate being in one place in too long.  More specifically, I want to be everywhere.  I love traveling, whether it's a two hour drive to another state or across the world.  But this means that I'm always unpacking and repacking, and I don't think I'm actually ever fully unpacked.  I still haven't unpacked from when I moved out from my college room in December, and I'm beginning to pack to move into an apartment next week!  

However, for my vacations and weekend trips,  I always have a pretty good idea of what makeup I bring with me.  Every trip needs slightly different makeup depending on if I'll be in a city, on a beach, or in the mountains, but I always have some necessities.

Since I was going to Maine this time, I knew I would be spending a lot of time outdoors doing something active (biking all day, everyday!), while strolling through town after going to dinner.  This meant I could pair down all the products I brought to the essentials.  I usually end up bringing a huge makeup bag, so it was refreshing to just bring a little actual travel-size bag this time!

A lot of these products are products you see me using in my everyday FOTD's, and they are my favorites, so of course they would make it into my travel bag!  It's also why you see a massive amount of pan in these..

Keep reading to see why these made the cut >>

The 'Shop Your Stash' Project

So, last week I started something new. Although I've been going through my stash and rediscovering new things the past month, I wanted to find a way to use them all on a consistent basis.  This isn't a new concept - taking out a few products that haven't been used very much or in a long time, but it isn't something I've tried in awhile.

Here's what I'm trying to do: I took out 21 products for the month of June and my goal is to use each product at least twice, just so I can get some use out of it and be creative about the way I use it.  I've had this going for about two weeks now and I'm really pleased with how its going.  I certainly am enjoying products that I either haven't used in a long time or haven't used much at all.
I have a total of 5 face products, 7 eye products, and 9 lip products to use before June is over.  Some of these will undoubtedly end up in my June favorites, while others may just be average products - we'll see which ones make the cut!

To see what products I'm using, as well as tons of swatches, keep reading!