i finally grabbed a sample of ole henriksens walnut complexion scrub. i had tried it one day while strolling through the aisles and it had amazing results on a small part of my hand, so i was excited to try it all over my face. its a very smooth lotion-like cream with bits of walnut shell. with just a little bit of water the lotion-like cream changed into a foam. it only took about 1/8th of a tsp to cover my face. i massaged into my face and ahhhhhh-mazing. my face had smaller pores when i was done, my skin was baby butt smooth, but as expected my face its red and splotchy. hopefully this wont continue tomorrow..

i got new makeup today! :D i got benefits new concealer/primer "stay dont stray." also benefits new blush "sugarbomb" and cliniques new mascara, "high lenghts" ill try all three tomorrow & let you know the reviews, but just from looking cliniques mascara looks so neat! the brush is unlike anything ive ever seen! the brush is a one sided brush with a curve. im super excited to try it tomorrow!

i also started the miracle worker retinoid pads but i doubt ill see anything to report for a few weeks. if & when i do, ill let you know. im so excited for the sugarbomb. ive needed a new blush for awhile, but as always, i was too cheap to buy one & instead just waited for a new one to be released i guess my cheap-ness paid off. i didnt do anything fun with my makeup today, because i didnt think i had to work. little did i know my manager had switched the schedule, and as i was on the way out the door with my bf who was treating my to mani & pedis followed by house hunting i was called & told that i was needed at work :( normally i love my job but real estate & pedi's vs working with no customers for 4 hours... yeah lets just say i was not happy to be at work.

any other news? kim kardashians perfume came out. whats it smell like you ask? gardenias. thats pretty much it. if youve ever smelled michael kors orignal scent than youve smelled this. its pretty much the same perfume only kors doesnt have the end fruity note. very disappointed. was i more than a little disappointed that this "voluptuous" fragrances photo shoot ended with extremely airbrushed thighs? perhaps. ah c'est la vie. ill update tomorrow on the new products.



:)

ive been sticking to my spot treatment, and to be honest at first i saw a small reduction of size & redness but after 4 days i still have the pimples, and ive noticed a few more pop up near the others. bah-hum bug.

that issue is a little raw, so we'll focus on my shadows for the night. of course im still experimenting with urban decays' alice in wonderland palette. today i started with 24/7 black eyeliner, than i used queen (last call*) in the outer corner, then midnight tea party (midnight cowboy rides again*) and a little bit of white rabbit (polyester bride*) on the brow bone.

 

 

hello all!

pores no more!

its a beautiful day sexys.

as excited as i was for the spot treatment, this morning when i applied it to the blemish on my cheek a bright red circle appeared around it! i faintly remembering a little red showing up yesterday, but i dismissed it as, "oh i must have set my hand there when i was applying my makeup," then when it happened again today i knew it must be the spot treatment. the strange part was that it only happened to only happened to the two zits on my cheek! because the product still did (and it doing) its job its not a deal breaker, i just wouldnt use it during the day before you go to work or school (unless you want to spend 10 mins using concealer on an already broken out area.) i also wanted to mention that this product had a nice smell to it, like a really clean grape! its unexpected, especially because most acne products stink to high heavens.

as for my eyes today i tried a more relaxing day look, as opposed to yesterdays crazy black & green. still using my wonderland palette, i used drink me, eat me (sin*) mushroom (mushroom*) wonderland (maui wowie*) and just a little bit of white rabbit (polyester bride*) on the brow bone. using the same method as i have in the past, i used the medium color, or drink me, eat me, in this case, over the whole lid, then using a darker shade (mushroom) in the outer corner then combining the two with a highlighting neutral shade in the middle (wonderland). the last step is to highlight the brow bone as to, in theory, not lose the eye with all the depth from the darkest color, but you cant see it too much in this photo.

 

when i was done i was left with a look i really liked for an everyday face. i finished off with a great babydoll pink lipstick & oodles of lipgloss (my biggest addiction. i. love. lipgloss. i mean have you ever noticed that lipgloss takes an good looking, almost finished face, to a KA-POW sexy face. loves it<3)

and onto skincare my dears! oh pores. large pores were something i didnt even know i had, till i started noticing that 9 out of 10 skincare lines had a cream, serum, or lotion that was made just for making your pores look small! i started looking in the mirror. pores. pOres. then i became a woman obsessed. i dabbled into several drugstore brands, none of which did anything for me, except for on occasion they would reek havoc on my skin. than a few weeks ago i discovered dr. brandts 'pores no more' line. with positive reinforcement from my coworkers i decided to grab a couple samples of this line; the pores no more cleaner & the pores no more vacuum cleaner blackhead extractor.

now i only grabbed the cleanser in addition to the blackhead extractor because i wanted to use the two together to get the best results from the vacuum cleaner. if you want to see results from any cleaner i think you have to use them for at least two weeks to see a reduction of new pimples or more even looking skin. actually if i remember hearing correctly to see a real change in your skin you should use an skin product everyday for 30 days in order to see he full results on your skin, because it takes 30 days for cell turnover.

I wash my face with the pores no more cleaner (its a good clean, but nothing to wow about... but like i said before anything with amazing results would probably be seen after a few weeks of use) and then i put on the blackhead extractor. the directions say "apply a thin layer..." which with most products would be easy, but it actually took a lot of product to apply such a thin layer. probably a full tablespoon and all i applied it to was my T zone where blackheads are more prevalent and within about 5 mins the mask went from clear to white. i could feel the product start to dry on my face, it tightened up slowly and took about 15 mins for the whole thing to dry. the whole time i could feel it on my face... its hard to explain the sensation, but a vacuum wouldnt be exactly right. it didnt feel as though anything was being sucked out, rather that it was being pulled back, tighter over my whole face, each minute it got a little bit tighter. after i took it off i didnt see a huge difference, but as with most masks the true test is what you look like when you wake up the next day... time will tell :) ill give it a grade tomorrow.

on to tomorrow! i have been waiting for tomorrow for so long! tomorrow morning the laura mercier representative is coming in to train us on their new products. im so excited to be formally trained on the mercier line, i love the tinted moisturizer (even though i cant use it on a regular basis) i love the translucent setting powder, the foundation and her holiday eyeshadow palette was a-maz-ing. i pretty much love everything in the line. ill let you guys know tomorrow how everything went new information/ new products i got. until then,

"the best thing is to look natural, but it takes makeup to look natural"- calvin klein

day two

hello my fellow beauty gurus! feeling fabulous i hope.

a quick wrap up from last nights trials:
today i saw no difference from ole's mask today. when i woke up i saw no extra firmness, no extra glow, nothing out of the ordinary! what a disappointment it was, i had hoped it would work as great as it had smelled :) over all ole henriksens' firm action mask smells amazing, but thats pretty much all it did for me.

on a more positive note the DERMAdoctors aint misbehavin medicated emergency acne spot treatment has worked quite well. i put it on 4 different pimples. one large, one medium and two small. the two small are back to being flush with my skin and just a little red still. the medium is just barely raised and the whitehead is gone, and the large one is just a little less red but still a big gross pimple. im putting it on 3 times a day, i rub it into the zit then leave an extra dab on top for good measure. ill update tomorrow on how everything is looking.

and on to my new obsession! ms. makeup in wonderland, ive already fallen in love with these shadows. there's the grays & black for the smokey eye, the natural browns & creams for that basic daytime look, and then its got the crazy purples, blues, and greens for those 'im feelin kinda crazy' days. this is what i wore on my 2nd day of my uber exciting alice palette! today i was feelin green. supa green. (bonus point for anyone who gets that reference) so i tried out absolem (homegrown,*) midnight tea party (midnight cowboy rides again*) and jabberwocky (oil slick*) i used the same method as yesterday, starting by patting absolem over the whole lid, then patting jabberwocky in the outer corner. for something a little different i dabbed midnight tea party in the middle of my lid as a translational color. the result was a rockin nighttime look! it was a little too crazy for an everyday look, but something i would definitely enjoy for a night out, especially in the summertime.

 

(i look a little crossed eyed here.. its hard to take a picture of your own eyes!)

other than cleaning my face with a salicylic acid pad and a make up removing sheet im not going to try anything tonight except my spot treatment. my skin has always been fickle and i dont want to dry it out by doing to many treatments in a row... so until tomorrow lovelies, 

"remember ginger rogers did everything fred astaire did, but backwards and in high heels"-faith whittlesey

day one!

hello lovelies!

today i tried out my new eyeshadow palette urban decays 'alice in wonderland' and oh how absolutely wonderful urban decays shadows are! they're smooth, easy to apply, and highly pigmented. i tested their lasing abilities for 10 hours, i think they could have gone longer (i was so excited to try the mask that i took off my make up as soon as i got home.) they were everything ive heard they would be, and more. i used the shades curiouser (grifter*) & white rabbit (polyester bride.*). before applying the shadows, i used urban decays eyeshadow primer potion, and holy pickles what a difference its made. when i put on the shadow, it actually stayed where i applied it. it didnt smudge, fall off, or lose pigment as the day progressed, i looked exactly as i did when i got home as when i left this morning, (well maybe a little more tired and ready for a nap, but it was a sunday after all) i started with the 'curiouser' in the outer corner and worked my way in with the white rabbit to the inner corner and under the brow. while watching a fellow color artist at work i was told that you should pat your eye shadow brush on your eyelid when you apply it instead of using only strokes, it tends to have better staying power & it doesnt brush the excess dust under your eye or to other places you dont want it. i tried this for the first time today and i was excited that for the first time i didnt have to grab a makeup removed sheet and/or a wet cotton swab to fix all the shadow that went where it wasnt supposed to. sch-wing.
(please excuse my stray eyebrow hairs... we'll take care of it all in a days post :D)

so once i removed all my trippy makeup,  i was so excited to try ole henriksens' firm action mask. i had taken off my makeup within minutes after letting my dogs outside & changed into my "thank goodness im home" sweatpants. after pulling up my hair and securing it with a headband, i put on the firming mask. as soon as i opened the top the smell danced to my nose. it was intoxicating. soft lavender, perhaps? oh how relaxing it was, the first thought that popped into my head was, "this is the perfect 'before bed' mask. give me this, a bubble bath & a glass of wine, there is my friday night." i needed close to a tablespoon to cover my face with a light layer. like with most masks as soon as i put it on the cooling effect of the clay felt amazing, and combined with the smell? oh heaven : ) within about 5 minutes i felt it start to tighten as the mask dried, which in full took about 15-20 mins.
after washing it off i still could smell that fabulous scent of lavender lingering, but after about 10 more minutes the smell was gone as was the clean, just washed feeling. although my skin still feels smooth, it feels a bit greasy. we'll see tomorrow how firm my skin looks.

as if it was fate, before work today my excitement for my new palette was diminished by the sight of 3 extra large pimples who were rebelling against my normally fairly clear skin. what a perfect way to try out an on the spot acne treatment! now these were probably a result of going out last weekend and falling asleep with my makeup on. normally try not to do this (lol who does?) but between laser tag & whirlyball i was wipped out!

so in addition to trying out the firm action mask, i also am trying the DERMAdoctors aint misbehavin medicated emergency acne spot treatment. i put it on about 2 hours ago and i already see a small reduction in redness & swelling but im never see a spot treatment really do anything so ill let you know tomorrow when i recap on the firming mask. (next time ill take before & after pictures)

since i have a love for quotes, i figured id leave you each night with a quote i found inspiring, exciting, beautiful, or just plain fabulous. speaking of fabulous... ill start out with one of my favorites.

“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” -coco chanel

goodnight <3

*the normal name of the urban decay color eye shadow

mission statement

After years of clown-like cheeks & eyebrow high blue mishaps, i found myself fed up with trying to look couture. although ive always had a passion for any artistic expression, especially those dealing with ones appearance, makeup didnt seem come to me quite as naturally as pen & paper or paint with oils had. after a few years of trying, and failing, i decided to stick to eye liner & some mascara.

recently i was given the opportunity to work for a leading company in the cosmetic market. slowly but surely im trying to train myself the right way to apply make up starting from a cleaning & moisturizing regimen to chic day & night looks. and being that ive been given the industry at my finger tips i figured i would share my personal opinions & adventures.