5 Essential Beauty Tools

Hi All,

The holidays are coming up and if your family is like mine, they are asking for your list.

Brushes can get a little pricy, so why not ask for them as gifts!

Here are 5 brushes anyone that wears makeup should have in their possession.

Face:

http://www.sephora.com/beautyblender-P228913?skuId=1151869

Beauty Blender

Use when wet to blend in liquid foundation, concealer, liquid highlighter... basically flawlessly blends in any liquid product. I personally dab on my foundation then blend it out with this baby using the rounded end. Then I flip it and blend out my under eye concealer with the pointy end. Because you use it wet, you have better control over how much product goes on your face. When the liquid makeup combines with the moisture in the sponge it dilutes it slightly, allowing less product to go further. You can also build coverage in the areas you want to be more covered up.

http://www.sigmabeauty.com/Large_Powder_F30_p/f30.htm

Large powder brush

... need I say more? I like to set the oily areas of my face with a powder, just in case. The large powder brush picks up enough product to make a difference, but not so much you look caked. Can be used for face powder, blush, bronzer, luminizer etc. You can even pinch the bristles together to contour. Very versatile, very necessary.

Eyes:

http://www.coastalscents.com/brushes/eyeshadow-brushes/br-250.html

Pro Blending Fluff

The most versatile brush you will ever own for your eyes. You can use it to sweep an all over color over your lid. Or for precise blending in the crease. This is comparable to the brushes at MAC or Sigma, but its less then $5.

MUFE medium precision smudger blending brush.

http://www.sephora.com/212-medium-precision-smudger-brush-P382439?skuId=1536721

I love to use this to smudge color under my bottom lashes and blend out the color to give my bottom lashes definition with out looking too heavy. It can also be used to apply highlight to the inner corner of the eye. Or even to blend darker colors into the outer V of the eyelids.

Finally:

Cuticle scissors.

Can be found at any local drugstore.

These may not be a "brush" but they will be the most handy thing to keep in your beauty area. I use mine to trim my eyebrows, scraggly hairs from my makeup brushes, split ends, tags from new clothes... and sometimes my cuticles too. Tweezers are just as important, but don't have as many uses.

Those would be my top 5 basic beauty must have tools. It was a lot harder to decide what my top tools would be then I thought. Each brush has a different purpose and different ways they can be utilized. These I figure are the most basic and versatile of the brushes I have. Is there anything you would add to this list?

Lots of love

Alyssa

A Little Beauty Haul

Okay, I'm admitting that I am a terrible blogger... 

It seems that every time I start a new post it begins with "so it's been awhile".

Sometimes I just feel that I don't have anything new or revolutionary to talk about. Nothing that is important enough to share with the world.

But all of that aside I figured I could spare some time to share some of my recent purchases from Sephora.

Once a year Sephora has a 20% off code that they share with their VIB's (Very Important Beauty insider) so I decided to splurge a little and try out some products I've wanted but seem to always talk myself out of.

First being MUFE Mat Velvet +

I have combination skin that is relatively sensitive to new products. My forehead nose and chin are pretty oily and my cheeks and jawline tend to be more dry... Unfortunately, all areas are acne prone. I always use MUFE HD primer in 0 under any foundation I use (I am a firm believer in primers). I am excited to try this because it has coverage enough to cover any breakouts or dark marks I have, but light enough to look natural and not overdone. I have only ever used drugstore foundation before, I have high hopes that this formulation will help with preventing breakouts and will be kind to my sensitive skin.

Next is a product I've used before and absolutely love.

Origins is a brand I have come to adore. It is pretty affordable, all natural, no parabens and actually deliver on the claims they make about their products. Their VitaZing energy boosting moisturizer is wonderful. It is similar to bb creams, without the weight of feeling like I have put makeup on. It is a white moisturizer with small beads that deliver a slight glow of color to the skin. I like to wear this by itself to give my skin a healthy glow in the morning, rather than look pale, sickly and like I just woke up. When I wear makeup over it I've noticed that I look glow-y if not down right radiant. As if I just returned from a two week vacation spent on some remote beach. 

St Tropez Bronzing mousse is a product I cannot rave enough about.

LOVE... love. love. love this product, I've talked about it before and it is still true today. I avoid tanning beds like the plague, but I also like to avoid looking like a sickly ghost in the winter. St Tropez is my best friend when my summer tan fades away. It is the only self tanner I will use. I always apply it with the mitt that can by purchased along side it. So orange hands don't give me away. It is so easy to apply and because it is a mousse it is streak free as well.

This was my real splurge lately.

Normally, I stick to drugstore mascara. But I just find that they dry out quickly and there isn't very much product in their brightly colored tubes. In the past I have used Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume building mascara, which is still a personal favorite. I wanted to try out the product Sephora claims is a "cult favorite of over 10 years", you have to admit that has its appeal. I don't typically treat myself to luxury brands. I believe you are usually buying the name more so than the actual product.

Lastly, I have (relatively) recently purchased a new face lotion that works wonders.

I had a very bad breakout a month or so ago and it left in its wake the terrible aftermath of dark marks. I wandered into LUSH hoping the knowledgeable staff would be able to help me find a miracle, and I was not let down. I have always loved their face masks and try a new one every time I am there. This time I bought both Cosmetic Warrior and Catastrophe Cosmetic. When these are paired with Vanishing Cream, my skin has never cleared up so quickly. It normally takes a few weeks for acne flares to calm down and a few months for the dark marks to fade away. Cosmetic Warrior helped to make the breakouts calm down and disappear. Now I am using Catastrophe Cosmetic to keep any new breakouts at bay. I used vanishing cream along side each mask and I believe it has helped to prevent any new dark marks. The ones that I had already are almost gone and its only been 2-3 weeks.

Well, that's all for now.

I promise I will try to make my posts a more regular occurrence.

Lots of Love,

Alyssa

Egg Hair Mask

Well hello again,

Once again time got away from me and it has been awhile since my last post. School and work really finds a way to eat up all of my time.

 

Anyways, I wanted to tell you guys about a mask I have tried a few times over the past couple of weeks. It is a bit of a DIY sort of thing.

I have really dry and damaged hair from coloring it for too long. It is slow to grow, thin and fine... everything is working against me in my fight to grow my hair out. So I have decided to really take an effort in taking care of my hair. I have been taking my vitamins, avoiding using heat and using a very moisturizing conditioner followed by a hair serum.

Well, even all of that doesn't quite do the trick for me. Recently, I tried a home made hair mask made of two eggs beat into my normal deep conditioner, then letting the concoction soak into my hair and scalp for 20-30 minutes.

This is what it looks like all mixed in. You guys may want to use more since my hair is pretty thin. After soaking, I wash and dry as normal and my hair feels much better after the mask. It is smooth, the fly aways are calming down, even my split ends are trying to behave.

I try to use it 2-3 times a week. But I think I am going to cut it down to once a week if it becomes too much.

 

 

If anyone else has a great hair mask, by all means share it with me! haha

 Lots of Love,

Alyssa

Beauty Gift Guide

Hello loves,

It has been awhile since i last posted on my blog. Oops :/

Well, seeing as the holidays are literally right around the corner, I figured a gift guide would be a good re-entrance into my blogging scene.

Most of the stuff will be female oriented. Maybe I can help someone out there with ideas for their mom, sister, grandma, girlfriend or even themselves :)

 

Ill start off by listing off some of the things that I have had for awhile and have become essential to my everyday life. (well maybe not EVERY day, but you get it.)

 

First off is a product I mentioned a while ago, but I still love

 

ST TROPEZ Bronzing Mousse

As of late, I have become obsessed with protecting my skin. So needless to say I have been avoiding tanning beds like the plague. But my love of being bronzed hasn't faded with a little help from this baby. I got mine from sephora.com and it runs about $40. In the summer I would use it about once a week to maintain a nice glow. Now that the winter months are upon us, I am attempting to come to terms with my natural paleness. But this guy has helped me on those days that I'm feeling less than glowing. Plus when class resumes in January I can just slap some of this on and fool all of my new classmates into thinking I went somewhere exotic over break ;)

 

Speaking of skincare...

 

Origins makes a very nice moisturizer called

VitaZing with SPF 15

 

I liked it because it has SPF, I LOVE it because it is slightly tinted. But it isn't a tinted moisturizer. It is supposed to adjust to almost any skin tone with little micro beads infused into the moisturizer itself. I have very acne prone skin, and to make it even more difficult to maintain, my skin is combination dry and oily. But this moisturizer doesn't leave my skin feeling too greasy or too dry. And as an added bonus, the slight tint helps hide all of the dark marks my acne leaves behind.

 

I also have very fine hair that is also pretty dry (because I bleach the you-know-what out of it) so I tend to use a pretty heavy conditioner. Which can weigh my hair down making me look like a little kid that just crawled out of the swimming pool. So it should come as no surprise that Big Sexy Hair is one of my favorite brands. I have used a few of their root lifters but I have a new favorite.

BIG SEXY HAIR Blow Dry Volumizing Gel

 

 

As you can see, my little sample is all used up, but I have already asked for the bigger one for Christmas :) Thanks Mom!

 

As for make up, I have found two brands I LOVE.

 

First is Laura Mercier. This woman can do no wrong in my eyes. I have tried her eyeshadow, concealer, mascara, tinted moisturizer and I want to try more. But so far, my favorites are...

the Secret Concealer (in #2)

and the Full Blown Volume Lash Building Mascara

 

As I said earlier, I am acne prone and Laura formulated her concealer to hide just about any blemish. I haven't found another concealer with a similar consistency. It may sound weird, but it is almost gummy. It isn't liquid but it isn't solid but it covers and blends phenomenally. The mascara I cant say enough good things about. I already have relatively long dark lashes, but when I treat myself to wearing this, it feels like I am wearing false lashes instead of just mascara. Simply wonderful.

 

The next brand is NARS.

Again I have tried a lot of different products from this line. I know the lip gloss isn't every ones cup of tea because it is sticky and tastes plastic-y but I like it. However, I loveeeeee the bronzer and blush.

My favorites being

NARS Laguna bronzer and

NARS Orgasm blush

 

As you can see, my bronzer is especially well loved. These two together give such an amazing glow. The bronzer creates a natural shadow where I contour and the blush is a very natural color on the skin. I read on their website that the blush is supposed to mimic the glow you can only get in the *ahem* bedroom, hence the name Orgasm.

 

Now some things that are on my own wish list.

 

First of all, I have a new love of taking luxurious baths. So anything from LUSH would be a safe gift for me (hint hint). Lush products are all handmade, many are animal friendly and some are even vegan friendly. Using all natural products to make bath time extra nice.

Bath bombs fizz in the tub, leave your bath water whatever color the bomb is, send out a very fragrant aroma of your choice and moisturize while you soak.

This is the dragon egg bath bomb

Bubble bars are amazeeeeing too. You run them under the faucet and it leaves a very fine bubble in your bath, tints the water and is super moisturizing.

 

 

The French kiss bubble bar

 

 

This last product is something I have heard rave reviews about, but just cant bite the bullet to buy for myself.

The YSL Touche Eclat radiant touch.

 

I have always felt that I have dark under eye circles and this product is supposed to perform miracles. It is supposed to cover and highlight your under eye area. I currently use Maybelline instant age rewind dark circle eraser. It works well enough, it is supposed to be the dupe for this YSL one...but I would still like the touche eclat.

 

Hopefully I gave someone out there an idea of something to get that special person out there.

 

Happy Holidays!!

Lots of love from my computer to yours.

 

Alyssa

Happy Friday! And a little accessory that has stolen my heart

As of late, I have become slightly obsessed with ear cuffs. I haven't bought one yet, but I fell in L.O.V.E. with one I found on etsy.com (I'll put all links below). Maybe it's just because I live close to the Puget Sound, but theres just something about this octopus that sparks my interest.

This little beauty has captured my heart

GAH! I think it is just fabulous! I love how it looks like it is slowly slithering down her ear. The ends of the tentacles curling up at the ends to give it a delicate touch. I wish it could just magically appear in my jewelry box :)

A great thing about these cuffs are that you don't have to have the middle cartilage pierced! Just the lobe of your ear. By the looks of it you just pinch the cuff to fit your ear.

I looked around a bit and found a few that are more in my price range.

I really like the edgy vibe that this spiked ear cuff gave. This is $18. I also like all the chains it has draped from the cuff to the stud.

Finally, a metal feather ear cuff. There is just something I really enjoy about the idea of a weightless feather made of heavy metal. The cool thing about this one is that if you do have your cartilage pierced, there is an option for using a stud.

Here is where you can find these beauties or contact their makers :)

Octopus ear cuff : http://www.etsy.com/listing/86642795/bronze-octopus-ear-cuff?ref=cat3_gallery_19

Spike ear cuff: http://www.etsy.com/listing/89385500/silver-spike-chain-ear-cuff?ref=cat3_gallery_5

Feather ear cuff: http://www.etsy.com/listing/91663659/single-feather-chain-with-double?ref=cat3_gallery_13

What do you guys think about this earring fad?

Cuff love,

Alyssa

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines day!!! Yes everyone, it is February 14th. Or as some of us know it as.... the day before the best candy sales day of the year. I think tomorrow I'll go buy myself a bouquet of flowers for half off haha. Well today has been rather uneventful, I never have very high expectations for Valentines day. Brooks (my boyfriend) was very thoughtful this morning and brought me breakfast in bed :) It was a breakfast burrito, some orange juice and coffee. He knows me all too well. I gobbled it up before I even thought to take a picture to share.

Even though I am not going out for V-day since I work this evening, I decided to share the look I would have done if we were going out.

I decided to go with a soft neutral eye with glowy cheeks and a pretty pink lip.

For my face I used:
Too Faced Primed and Poreless primer
Neutrogena Healthy skin liquid foundation in 40/nude
Laura Mercier secret concealer in #3 (for blemishes)
MAC mineralize skinfinish natural in light plus
Maybelline instant age rewind eraser dark circles in 20/ light pale (under eye circles)
bareminerals mineral veil (to set under eyes)

For my cheeks I used:
NARS Orgasm blush
NARS Laguna bronzer

For my eyes I used:
MAC Painterly paint pot (as a base)
Sin and Virgin in the Naked palette
Stila kitten
MAC satin taupe
MAC brule
MAC cream color base in Pearl (brow bone & cheek highlight)
MAC eyeliner in smoulder
MAC typographic (pat on top of eyeliner)
Maybelline The Falsies Flared Volum' Express in very black
and I forgot to picture what I fill my eye brow with... (its a glominerals by bareminerals eyeshadow trio in sand stone, I use the darkest brown in the trio) I also added some false lashes, but you don't have to do that.

For my lips I used:
Rimmel London long lasting finish lip pencil in 049/natural
Maybelline lip stick in 20/ pink and proper
Mentha lip tint (from bath and body works) lip gloss in pink shimmer (only in the middle of my lips)

I wanted to go with something simple and classic for my outfit.

I chose a white button up shirt from forever 21

a simple black tank underneath

Skinny jeans from American Eagle

Brown boots with a 2 1/2 inch heel from DSW

My gold Marc by Marc Jacobs watch and a small charm necklace from forever 21

Since it has been snowing lightly on and off today I would probably add a simple black pea coat over top.

I am writing this as I run out the door for work! So I apologize for any errors.

XOXO

Alyssa

A few words for thought

So last night I was wandering the internet in a little late night procrastination and I stumbled upon this little gem.

It is scary to begin a journey that you know will lead down a difficult path. Especially, if there are those that don't believe it can happen.

It took me months to gather up the courage to begin this blog. I felt as though I wasn't worthy because I have no formal training. Or possibly, I have no idea what I'm talking about and will look silly. But on a whim, I put all of those negative thoughts and feelings aside. I have begun my journey and will not look back.

My plans are to graduate from college with my bachelors in psychology, then attend a cosmetology school. I have already have a few makeup techniques that I learned from watching YouTube videos. But I feel that I will be more confident in my future work if I have some sort of formal training.

It is scary for me to express myself to an audience, but if I never try I will never succeed. I encourage anyone reading this to do the same! Whatever you feel passionate for, go after it! It can be scary and intimidating, but anything worth achieving will be difficult.

Lots of love from my computer to yours,

Alyssa

My debut to the blogging world

Hello everyone!

My name is Alyssa, and I am brand new to the blogging world.

This is me :)

I am a College student who has a passion for anything beautiful. The pursuit of this passion is relatively new though. I could never afford to splurge on what I lusted after. There were always more important things to pay for, such as rent and food (haha). Now that I find myself with a new job, I can afford to give in to my indulgences now and then. Since this is my first ever blog post I may as well jump in with both feet.

I live in an area where getting to a mall is no easy feat. The closest thing to a mall is about 45 minutes away from my house. And that is on a good day without any weather hazards. So needless to say, I do almost all of my shopping online. When I was browsing through the Sephora website I noticed a new Too Faced palette that I had to check out. It is called Natural at Night. It is a beautiful array of champagne looking colors mixed with browns to give any look depth. I ordered it from Ulta and I will have to do a review on that later. What made me interested in the first place is that I already have the Too Faced Natural Eye palette.

Too Faced Natural Eye:

Heaven-matte vanilla

Silk Teddy- shimmer pink champagne

Nude Beach- gold glitter pink champagne

Velvet Revolver- matte tawny

Push up- shimmer gold/brown

Honey Pot- shimmer gold

Sexpresso- matte dark brown

Erotica- dark brown with gold shimmer

Cocoa Puff- brown with gold shimmer

It also contains three how-to cards for creating day, classic and fashion inspired looks.

What I noticed about this palette is that it, and the Urban Decay Naked palette are strikingly similar.

Urban Decay Naked palette

Virgin-frosted white/vanilla

Sin-(my favorite color) frosty champagne

Naked- matte tawny

Sidecar- glitter tan

Buck- matte brown

Half baked-(other fav) shimmer gold

Smog- brown with gold shimmer

Darkhorse-taupe brown with gold flake

Toasted- pinky taupe

Hustle- purple taupe

Creep-almost black grey with small silver glitter

Gunmetal- steel grey with chunky silver glitter

There are different pros and cons when it comes to each product.

The Naked palette comes with 12 colors as well as a brush and sample of their infamous Eye Shadow Primer Potion. The brush is a nice quality but the bristles are a little stiff. The packaging is felt which tends to gather lint. It is also a magnetic closure which I personally really like. Then inside there is a small mirror for if you with to bring it on the go. However it is $50 which is pretty expensive for eye shadow.

The Natural Eye palette comes with 9 colors and 3 how-to cards. It also is a magnetic closure. However the satin tab that was attached to make opening it easier fell out of mine. And there is no mirror so you will need to bring a separate one if you wish to take it with you. What makes me want to jump and shout about this product is that it is only $36!!!

The price difference is striking seeing as there are many similar colors and is $14 less than the Urban Decay one. The Too Faced line also has A LOT of different palettes to choose from. The Urban Decay only has two naked palettes to choose from.

If you are looking for a nice product but can't spend $50 at the moment, reach for this Too Faced Natural Eye Palette. With it you will be able to recreate almost any look made with the Naked palette.

Have a wonderful day :)

Thank you for taking an interest