Out 'n About Summer Look

                              

Now that summer is here and school is out many people are spending their time having fun outside. Now the only downside about being outside in the hot air is that it will melt off your makeup! It's currently 84 F here in Chicago and it is still climbing and I will be out all day for a soccer game, so I want to put on makeup but I also don't want so much that my face is going to sweat it all off and look disgusting by the end of the day.

Foundation

Now I'm not going to start out with putting my whole foundation routine on. Instead, I will be using my Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation and that's about it. If your under eye circles are purple or you want to get rid of unwanted color you can use a bit of your favorite concealer to hide them, but today I do not feel the need to. The great thing about this foundation is that it has SPF built in, and that is crucial for summer. You want to make sure you at least have some sort of SPF on your face, ears, and shoulders (that's at least, but you always want SPF everywhere that your skin is exposed) to prevent yourself from burning or even worse.

After I applied my foundation I took my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder and with my Real Techniques Powder brush I pressed that into my skin. You want to make sure that you are pressing the powder into your skin because this way it will prevent the foundation from moving and making you more oily. 

Eyebrows

Next I am going to go in with my Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil and just fill in my eyebrows. This is totally optional, I have very sparse eyebrows and I just want to fill them in so they aren't so plain looking, but if you don't want to that's totally up to you! You should keep in mind though that the sweat built up on your forehead will tend to move around the color and it could turn ugly. Then after I do that I'm just going to go in and set it Maybelline Great Lash Mascara in clear so it will be less likely to move on me.

If you don't want to fill in your brows but you do want to add some color to enhance them I recommend Benefit's Gimme Brow, it will make your eyebrows seem fuller without much.

Eyes

 After doing my eyebrows and setting them, I put on my ELF eyeshadow primer. Normally I wouldn't wear eyeshadow to go out in the hot air, but today I was feeling it. So I stayed as neutral and minimal as possible. All my shades came from the Urban Decay Naked palette.

I took the color Sin and pressed that all over my eyelid. 

Then taking a blending brush I took Smog and lightly brushed it into my crease using windshield wiper motions. You want to make sure that it is completely blended in so it doesn't look smokey or too harsh.

Then with a small tapered brush I took Darkhorse and put that on my lower lash line to create some dimension because I am not using any eyeliner for this look. 

Now going back to Sin I took another smaller blending brush and put that color in my inner corner and toward the Darkhorse color I put in. I want to blend Sin into that to create a lighter to darker look so it looks more natural. 

To finish off the look I curled my lashes and used the new Maybelline Falsies Big Eyes. This is great because it has a brush for the upper lashes and another one for the lower lashes. It's great for giving you the appearance of longer lashes and it is very good at separating them too. 

Face

I didn't contour or use blush on my face. But what I did do was take my bronzer and put that on the ends of my cheeks closer to the ears to give me a little bit of color and dimension. 

To make everything stay in place in this heat I used the Urban Decay De Slick setting spray all over my face. 

Lips

I didn't want to use any lip gloss or stick so I just used my EOS lip balm to protect my lips from the sun and it smells amazing. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if there is any other tutorials or posts you want to see. 

Thanks for reading!

Golden Summer Look

                     

Products I Used

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! Today I am going out to a birthday party, so before I leave I deiced to show you all what I used and how to achieve this look. It is perfect for summer, and very easy to achieve. This look is also very versatile and can be used as a day or night look. I chose to use more of golden colors and glitter to give my eyes some pop today. Normally, I tend to stick to neutral based eye shadows, and even though these aren't crazy out there colors it still gives me a little bit of fun to work with. I think this look would be great on any eye color and skin tone, because it still has a natural base but will enhance any person's wonderful features, without stepping out of your comfort zone. 

Foundation and Concealer 

Today I started off using my Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage Foundation with SPF 15 in the color Light Sand, because it is bright and sunny outside. I put small dabs all over my face using my fingers and then blended it all together using my Flat Top Foundation Brush by Crown Brush. I normally don't use a foundation brush when I am in a hurry, but today I had plenty of time to do my makeup so I wanted that clean airbrushed finish that this brush gives you. 

Then I took this 15 Color Camouflage Concealer Palette that I got off of TopHatter, but you can find on eBay for a relatively cheap prices. I used the yellow shade (second row from left, very top) to conceal my under eyes and make them appear lighter. Then I used the shade on the right of that color to go over any redness or blemishes. I used my Stippling Brush from Real Techniques to blend the concealer into my foundation. 

Powder and Bronzer

After I put on my foundation and concealer I went in with my NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat Powder Foundation in the color 02 Nude and my Powder Brush from Real Techniques to set my foundation to make sure that it doesn't move throughout the day. I really like this powder because it doesn't leave you feeling cakey and it is a great price for a powder. 

After I set my foundation I always go in with bronzer and contour my face. I start out using my Angled Brush from Crown Brush and take my Wet 'n Wild Bronzer in the shade 739 Ticket to Brazil and go in and contour the hollows of my cheeks, my nose, my forehead down to my temples, and my jaw line. Using just the Angled Brush doesn't blend in the bronzer very well so I go in again with my Real Techniques Powder Brush and blend everything out so there is absolutely no harsh lines. I have not seen this bronzer in stores for a long time, so I am pretty sure it is discontinued, I have had this bronzer forever and I just recently hit pan on it. 

Brows

After I get done putting on my foundation and powders I go ahead and do my eyebrows. I use the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in the color Medium Brown and I just go over the natural shape of my eyebrows and bring out the end so that my eyebrows are a little longer. I start in the middle of my eyebrows and then go in using lighter and gentler strokes toward the front of them. You want your eyebrows to transition lighter to darker. Lighter being in the front. I do this to fill in the sparse hairs in my brows and to make them longer because my eyebrows are pretty short. I love this brow pencil, it glides on very nicely and it is thin enough to not make any mistakes. I then use the spooly brush at the end of my pencil to go in and blend any harsh lines there could have been. I then go in with Maybelline Great Lash in the color Clear to just set my eyebrows in place. 

Eyes

Today, since I wanted the colors to really stand out, I used Rimmel  London's Scandal Eyes Eyeshadow Stick in the color 002 BulletProof Beige, instead of a primer. This gave my eyeshadow a nice base to stick to and since it was gold it made the color even brighter. I just rubbed this crayon all over the top of my eyelid and lined my bottom eyelid with it as well. 

I first went in with Smog from the Urban Decay Naked Palette with my Thin Eyeshadow Brush from Crown Brush and put that only on the outer quarter of my eye.

Then taking Half Baked from the Urban Decay Naked Palette and my Sonia Kashuk Eyeshadow Brush I dabbed this color careful on top of my lid and going slightly over the Smog I put on earlier so it transitioned from lighter to darker. You want to use dabbing motions when using glitter to prevent fall out. 

Then taking my Soft Blending Brush that I got from Target I took a little of that Smog color and when in my crease with it using windshield wiper motions. 

Having Smog on my crease made it really smokey, and since this was a daytime party I wanted my look to be more toned down. So I took my Angled Blending Brush from Crown Brush and took  Bootycall from Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette and went over the edges of smog that was in my crease to soften the color.

Now to make the eye look more brighter I took my Small Tapered Eyeshadow Brush from Crown Brush and I took Virgin from the Urban Decay Naked Palette and placed that on my brow bone and the inner tear duct of my eye.

Then going in with that same Tapered Brush I took more of Half Baked and lined my lower eyelid with it where I put the eyeshadow crayon earlier. 

I used my E.L.F Liquid Liner in Black to line my upper eyelid and winged it out. 

To finish off the eyes I curled my eyelashes and then went in with my L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara. 

Blush 

To complete the look I used Maybelline Fit Me Blush in Medium Coral to just give a little bit of color to my cheeks. I didn't want to use anything pink or red because I really wanted my eyes to have the most attention when it came to color. So I just lightly put this on the apples of my cheeks. 

Reader's Review | Divergent

Okay so I know I'm late on the bandwagon, but who cares! I just finished reading Divergent by Veronica Roth last night and let me tell you it was intense. This review may have some spoilers so you are warned. Skip the part where I start out talking about the characters if you don't want to get spoiled ; ).

If you don't already know Divergent is one of the most popular books amongst the teens now a days and they already have a movie out. I haven't seen the movie yet because I really wanted to have the story line behind me when I go in it. 

This book closely resembled to Hunger Games, which I loved, but also has very different points. Both books take place in the future and has an uprising against the government story line. However, I felt Divergent was more intense and easier to relate to which made it scary. 

I loved the book! There's no other way of saying it. It was written perfectly and it just kept sucking you in. It was so hard to put it down. I also loved that there was a romantic plot in it as well. Who doesn't love romance when you know one of them can easily be killed off any second? I know I do. 

There is suspense in every page you read. You never know what is going to end up happening. Towards the end of the book I was completely shocked with what happened and now I'm dying to find out what continues. 

As for the characters, they are amazing. I feel like they all are my friends. Tris, the main character, is probably almost as cool as Katniss (I'm sorry but Katniss will always be the best and most fierce). But Tris is tough. She went through a lot during her initiation and still ended up overpowering everyone. Well it also helps that she is Divergent, so she can't be easily taken down by people's attempts. Then there's Four. He is also Divergent and the love interest of Tris., and to anyone who reads the book. He is the definition of the perfect guy! Strong, tough, smart, and very caring and protective. I also love that he has an interesting back story. It makes him way more human and relatable. 

Now I don't want to give away too much, but if you've read Hunger Games and enjoyed it this is definitely a must read. Also if you like plots that are dark but still romantic, seriously give this a go. It absorbs you and holds on to you til the end. I'm starting the second book in the series Insurgent tonight, so check back soon for another review. 

Thanks for reading! 

May Birchbox

It's that time of the month again. And I don't mean THAT time of the month. No it's the one where I check the mail 5 times a day to see if my Birchbox has arrived, and it finally has.

However, I am pretty disappointed with the stuff I have received in this box and last month's box. I didn't write a post about what I got in my April Birchbox, because I forgot to take pictures of what was inside, but it did contain an eyeliner, a nail polish, a hair softner, BB cream, and some granola. It wasn't horrible, there was quite a few things I have used in last month's box that I really did end up liking. This box however contained nothing I was interested in.

First thing I got was the CoTZ facial sunscreen in natural tone and SPF 40. I do understand why they would have included this in this month's box, because of the fact that it is getting warmer out, and you need to protect your skin, especially your face, from the harmful sun rays. But, I was not impressed. I have many face mostuirzers and even some foundations that have an SPF to it, and normally if I plan on being outside all day I don't put any makeup on and use only sunscreen in the highest SPF I can find. So this wasn't all that great.

Next, I got the Number 4 High Performance Hair Care Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner. It is a sulfate-free, botanical-rich cleanser that is supposed to give you voluminous hair. Now I love volumizing shampoos as much as the next person, I am always looking for something to give me more height to my hair. But really? The shampoo comes in a travel size bottle, which I'm okay with, but the conditioner comes in a foil packet! Why?! Is it really that hard to give us another travel sized bottle? I don't know about you but I like using the same conditioner that correlates with my shampoo. I don't know why, but I do, and this foil packet is a one time thing, and I can get at least 5 uses out of the travel sized bottle.

Next, I got the Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream in Acai Grapefruit. This is a very small bottle for a sample, in my opinion. But the packaging is cute and it does smell really nice. I haven't tried it yet, but it's one of the better things I got this month.

Then I got SmartyPants All-in-One Gummy Vitamins for Adults. I was fine with granola last month, I actually really liked it but vitamins, really? C'mon! Not only that but there were only two in the package! I don't understand why I got this. I was so utterly disappointed by this the most. I'm sorry but I don't want to sample vitamins. I already take my multi-vitamins every morning, and to me a vitamin is a vitamin, I'm not picky! This was also the only thing I sampled so far, and they didn't even taste good. Yeah, not happy at all.

Lastly, and probably the only thing I am excited to try is the LAQA & Co. Sheer Lip Lube Pencil in Purple. This is a stick lip color and it's supposed to be very smooth and very glossy. I do like my purple colors too, I this was the only saving grace for this month's box. The packaging of this was also really nice. I haven't swatched this color on yet, so hopefully it is as nice as it seems.

As you can probably tell I am very upset with this box. It's just not what I was hoping for. I do not feel like I got my $10 worth in my Birchbox. They need to step up their game and send a little more. Honestly if I got more makeup and less hair care products I'd be happy. I signed up for this subscription to try out products I normally wouldn't have. And yeah I wouldn't have tried this products because its not worth it. Hopefully next month will be better, but if not it seems like I'll be hoping on the Ipsy bandwagon soon enough.

Thanks for reading,

Review | Tarte Amazonian Clay 12hr Foundation

Hello lovies! It has been so long since I have written a blog post. With final season quickly approaching and battling the flu for the past few days, I have literally done nothing but sleep in my free time. However, I did have a chance to stop by and pick up a new foundation at Sephora last weekend!

I decided to try Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-hour full coverage foundation, with SPF 15. I have always used a drug store foundation, and I just wasn't happy with the coverage it gave me. Either you had descent coverage or you did get full coverage but it left you feeling very oily throughout the day. I really wanted something that would cover up my acne scaring and under eye bags as well as possible, and I think I have found that product.

I stumbled across this product while watching YouTube videos, what's new, but so many people raved about this product. Now, it's not like this product is completely new to me. I have heard about it before, but I never really wanted to try a higher-end foundation, especially since my skin isn't very acne prone, but I have a lot of scaring because I do pick at my acne when I do get them.

Now, even though this product retails for $38 it seems like it wouldn't be worth it. Wrong! A little goes a looooong way! I noticed that right away when I was testing out the product at Sephora. It is very easy to get too much of this product on you, I found working in small dabs works best for applying this. But this product blends so smoothly and so evenly it's like magic. It is very light weight, and does it's job perfectly. This foundation nearly gets rid of all my acne scaring, but not only that, it also makes it look like my pores have disappeared, that there is no dot of black heads on me, and covers up my veiny purple eyes with no problems. I obviously use a light concealer before applying this product, and a matte finishing powder just to add the perfect seal to it. I would say this product does in fact last for 12 hours, and does what it says it claims. My skin has never looked so good with a foundation, and so far no breakouts or oiliness!

Left is without and right is with foundation, concealer, and powder

Would I say that this product completely makes your skin flawless? No, I don't believe any product would do that, but I don't want flawless skin. I just want a foundation to clean up the nasty creatures on my skin, and make me look alive and healthy. I do have freckles, and they do peek through the foundation, which I love! I don't like a perfectly spotless face, I like my freckles and marks. So would I recommend this product? Absolutely. If you are in the market for a foundation that will give you're complexion a nice even look, this is it. It makes you're skin look smooth, while still making you look like you. This company is also against animal cruelty, which of course is always a bonus in my book! And this product is a vegan product, which means all natural baby! I couldn't be more happier with this foundation, and definitely will stay in my collection for quite sometime.

Thanks for reading!

Lippie Review | Lime Crime Lipstick (Geradium)

Hello lovies! Hope you all had a good weekend! Today, I am writing my first ever Lippie Review! I decided to do this one on one of my most favorite lipsticks in my collection.

I bought this lipstick a little over a month ago, pretty much because everyone else on the planet has one so I wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Now this is a really big talked about company, Lime Crime. If you don't know about this company, they sell amazingly colored lipsticks. And when I mean amazing I mean they are crazy opaque colors. And not just your simple everyday lipstick colors. These are bright, fun, crazy colors. Some of them are so crazy, that it is very hard to see yourself wearing them out of the house. However, the one I ordered was one of the more wearable shades they offer.

I got the lipstick color Geradium and it is the perfect Barbie pink lipstick. The color glides on so smoothly and you only need a few swipes of it to really build up the color. However, I do recommend to really scrub you lips with a sugar scrub (I use lush sugar lip scrubs) and use a good chapstick to build a good canvas for your color to stick to. I recommend doing this with any lipsticks really, just to avoid any flakiness that may happen. Also, it helps the color to apply onto your lips more evenly.

The Lime Crime lipsticks are only sold online. I bought mine through eBay but they do have a website as well. The lipsticks are $18 each (not including shipping and taxes), and their popular shades do sell out quick and are usually not in stock when I try to order them. Now $18 for a lipstick may seem like a lot, but the thing with Lime Crime is that their lipsticks are vegan and cruelty free, which means there are no chemicals in their products and they are NOT tested on animals. I really appreciate that in a company, so to me $18 is a very reasonable price. 

 

So would I recommend this product to anyone? Yes I would. First of all the packaging is so cute!!! Who wouldn't want to have one of these in their collection. That was the main selling point for me. Secondly, the color is amazing and bright, and it is such a smooth consistency. And lastly, they are just so fun to play around. I am definitely ordering some more myself in the future to add to my collection. But if you are looking for a fun bright lipstick, this one is for you. And hats off to anyone who would wear the blue, yellow, or green shades out of the house!

Thanks for reading, and let me know if there is anything you want me to write about on my next post!