Pixiwoo Saturday Night Make-up Tutorial

Admittedly I have a big time girl crush on Nic from Pixiwoo. She is so funny and self-effacing, and her make-up tutorials are pretty much the bomb dot com and surprisingly easy to follow. I watch different ones take note of the same products they use in each one. This is one of my favorites.

I already told Joey I would love the MAC Powersurge pencil and Trax shadow for my birthday!

Prim and proper braided bun

I can't wait to try this braided bun that was originally posted at The Beauty Department. Click the link for the step by step instructions. There's nothing like great hair to soothe those post-holiday blues. Have a great week everyone!

Lana Del Rey - Updated Mod Look

Lana Del Rey's music made up a big part of the soundtrack for the movie, Drive. It contributed to the dreamy and edgy quality of the film. It rocked. These videos embody a certain something: sexy, irreverent, updated mod, and more that words can't describe.

Is this look a  persona? Does it matter? (No.) Its effortlessly badass. I love the smudgy black eyeliner, nude lips, tousled big hair, the clunky gold chain paired with the slender cross... not to mention a voice like honey.

Today if you need me you can find me in my house trying out my new hot rollers while going through kohl eyeliner like a kindergardner with a crayon . Maybe lip-synching to a certain song, I don't know - we'll have to see what happens.

Happy holidays friends!

I wish this girl was my friend.

Kreayshawn, want to go to World Market and then JC Penney with me later? 

IPhone outfit

I just got this Kate Spade silicone case for my iPhone:

And I super love it. Its rainbow, (my favorite color!)... and I love the hot pink around the face. It has a great non-slip grip too! My iPhone loves it. My previous case broke after I dropped it for the thousandth time. And well, now I have a rainbow case. (RAINBOW!) I also have my i (ha!) on this one too... sigh. I love dressing it up. What's yours wearing?

Alternative Saturday

Oh hello! I thought I'd share an informative video tutorial on alternative make-up. I'm 1/16th of 1/2 latina, so I might just try this out.

Supersaver Sunday

This week I stopped by CVS to check out the Nuance line by Salma Hayek.  I was curious because well, I'm superficial and the packaging looked promising. Plus I'd recently read a review on another blog (that I can't find to reference,) which glowed with praise for Salma and her committment to the product quality and accessibility. I've wanted to try a new gold eyeshadow for awhile so I bought the Lights, Camera, Action trio in gold. It was about $9.

Initially I was skeptical of the lip gloss-y applicatior and shadow.

 I wasn't sure what to do with the highlighter?/eyeshadow? at first, or to be honest, what it was. The product itself provides very little information.

Furthermore, it took me a few minutes to find the third aspect of the trio - the eyeliner, located at the opposite end from the shadow. 

I tried this at the end of the day to freshen my look. The shadow is on the thin side and I applied a couple of coats for a more opaque gold look. The color is nice. I used the highlighter on my inner eye and well, don't use it there people, its actually eyeshadow. If you put it on over the gold shadow on the lid its pretty. The black liner goes on well, although for me it did smear into the crease of my very creasy left eyelid just a few minutes after applying it.  I put a lot on though... so maybe I'll go easier next time.

Overall, would I recommend it? Eh. And I hate to do that on my first Supersaver Sunday. Weh-wah. I don't know that I would buy it again.  The stick is compact and makes a good addition to a work makeup bag, (good). You can touch up if the day is dragging and you need some sparkle (also good.) The glossy shadow is kind of messy, the color is nice, but I wouldn't go crazy over it (mostly bad.) The price is OK, but I don't LOVE it like I do some of my other products. I'll give it a good "like it alright," and call it a night. How does that sound?

Have a great week!

Covert Operations

Hey friends. Lets get right to the nitty gritty, shall we?

First of all, this stuff works:

I don't know how it works and I don't care. When I put it on the at night, whatever is offending my face is either gone or small enough to conceal to nothing in the morning.

Nextly: Benefit Lemon-Aid

Hands down the best cosmetic product I have for the price. It has a thick consistency and will not go on easily if it is cold, especially if you use a brush. Apply in gentle pats with finger to eyelid and undereye area. Amazing. Go ahead and get in the inner eye adjacent to the nose bridge. Even better, right? Sometimes I'll wear this without foundation if I'm just going to take my dog to the dog park or run to the grocery store. Just this and a bit of my Nars multiple on the cheeks and a quick whip of mascara.  Yes, I'm vain enough to wear makeup to the dog park. Alrighty, I digress. Bottomline? There is a lot of awesomeness in one small package here, and my makeup MVP.

Generally I apply this first in my makeup routine, right after moisturizing, before my foundation.

Moving on...

Now for some conCEALah concealer: Laura Mercier Secret Concealer

I pat this on under the eyes if I need it as the very last touch of my makeup. Even after loose mineral powder. That's right, over powder. Craaazy! I touch up my undereye area if I still look tired, and I'll also dot a little bit upon the dark shadows on either side of my nose, and any blemishes that need a little whack into submission. I might dust a tiche of powder over it to set it... most the time I forget though. Its soft and creamy and never gets that crusty look when it dries. It blends very well into any foundation I've tried it with, and works great if you don't wear foundation. I think it works best when applied with your fingers. I daresay it is my concealer gold standard.

There you have it! Work it girls!

Braid Wednesday

LOVE! I'm going to try this today. I think it might be faster than a blow-out and you could conceivably do it with your hair partially wet, lets say if you got up at 4am to study for a quiz because you watched TV all night instead of studying the night before. Happy Braid Wednesday!

Makeup Monday

Over the weekend I went two Sephora with my friend Ali and picked up a few new things. I love getting new makeup over the weekend and saving it to wear on Monday. Its makes going back to the routine after a weekend much easier, I feel. ANYwho, all that being said I didn't wear any of my new stuff because I saw this tutorial on youtube:

And HOLY COW people, I tried this morning and loved it. I'm just going to show details and pictures of the eyemakeup I used because the primer/foundation/concealer bit would make this post extra long (and boring.)

I prelined my eyes with the Lancome Artliner in Aubergine, because it stays on all day without fail. And people, if you're like me, that shadow liner won't last you until lunch.

 If you have the Naked palette from Urban Decay you can use the two lighter brown colors for the shadow application, "Naked" and "Buck" (ha.)

Post-eyeshadow application I went over the liquid liner with the dark purple shadow ("First Dance") from my Too Faced Romantic Eye palette.

I ended up using a purple mascara that I just purchased and initially I wasn't so wild about. I wore it the other day for the first time without eyeliner and I couldn't tell in the least that it was purple. Today though, I paired with the dark purple liquid liner and eyeshadow it was noticably and subtly purple which is just what I wanted. I used Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash in Plum.

I bought the mascara for the color alone, not because I'd heard anything about it's special lash-magic qualities . I think its a great mascara for lengthening, less so to make lashes thick and full. My favorite mascara is still Maybelline Great Lash, but alas, they aren't on the vivid color bus just yet. I will continue to use it and consider adding another color though because it does a great job making lashes look long, clumping is minimal and it doesn't fall.

As far as the face, after applying foundation I used Laura Mercier Pressed Bronzer, I don't think you can beat it. It gives a nice glow without making your face look dirty or Snooki-like. I applied it with a stippling brush to my forehead, cheeks, and chin in a big "3" on one side and an "E" on the other. Does that make sense? I hope so. And then I set everything with loose powder, I used Nars LoveJoy pressed into the apples of my cheeks with an angled blush brush.

I loved the result, so big thanks to pixiwoo for the inspiration.

Superior style periodicals

... make me feel inferior and illiterate. I'm looking at you, Vogue.

 I rarely pick this up because I cannot relate to the people the articles are about. For instance, this issue features the Clarins sisters/cousins who live in Paris. They are tall and beautiful and inherited their wealth, fashion sense, and beauty from their families. And two of them are TWIN sisters. That makes me feel even less worthy. Plus the article was full of words I can't understand. And people, I AM IN 22ND GRADE, and a DOCTOR. Well, not a "real" doctor, but whatever. Who can relate to this malarkey? Tell you what, go ahead and throw them a page with a big picture and a caption, that's fine. Then use the rest of the pages to write an article on how to spot a good vintage find, or for quality craftsmanship when shopping for clothes. Better yet, can you get someone to write a piece on the incompatibilites of half-loop stitching on the hem of a low-viscosity rayon garment?

 That would be a piece I could get behind. Why did I buy it you ask? Because I wanted to look cool at the checkout counter. And lets move on.


This week I'm loving Essie's Turquoise and Caicos polish. I wanted to try it when I saw one of the younger Kardashian Jenner girls wearing it on KUWTK's. Yes, the teenage ones. What? ANYway, then my stylish coresident was wearing it and it was awesome, so purchasing this color became a matter of urgency.

And you know what? It makes me feel glamorous as I drink my glass of days old red wine in my living room after a long week of call. Thanks for that, pretty turquoise Essie nail polish. Cheers!

You'll always have a place in my heart, Elle Woods (photo credit.)

I'm gonna get more shine than a little bit

 I do declare, I don't love nothin' like I love somethin' that makes my hair shiny.

In my continued journey for Kardashian-like hair (I know they have extensions, its fine, leave it alone,) I picked up a couple of new post-shampoo products.

Technically I've had this leave-in conditioner for months, but I accidentally left it at my parents house and just remembered it a few weeks ago. Bo-nus! I think it cost around $35 at my salon.

I used approximately a double-pea sized amount and applied it to wet hair from the nape of the neck to the ends. I've applied from the roots before with less than desireable result. (greasehead.)

I then sectioned my hair in a manner not unlike Sanjay's ponyhawk of 2007.

Except its only 4 sections and I roll the ponies into a ball and secure with clips.

Then I used about 1/3 pea size of Joico K-PAK Protect and Shine Serum in each section. I applied it first to the ends and comb through the remainder from a few inches down from the roots with my fingers. I try not to put it too close to the scalp (to avoid the aforementioned greasehead.)  And people, its ah-mazing.. I got i at Ulta for around $18.

I blew out each section with my hairdryer. I have a BaByliss Pro Porcelain Ceramic Hair Dryer. And well, its a whole other post for a whole other day. The bottomline is I wouldn't recommend it, but it dries my hair fast, and it was the nicest hairdryer that I couldn't afford at the time. A big factor in the purchase was that it had orange accents and I had a 20% off coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond. Whatever. It does come with a concentrator that I use.

ANYway, moving on. I then straighten with my Solia straightener.

This was a purchase I made earlier this summer because my friend Ali uses this flat iron. Best hair tool decision ever. Ali has amazing hair so I just copy whatever she says in this department.

I finish it with Nexxus Comb Thru hold and finishing spray. I got it for around $10 at Walgreens last Christmas and its just now starting to run out. I love it. It also prevents those hair dents you get from your ponytail holder.

My hair looks like I got a professional blowout. And I think its mostly because of the Joico product. I've used the Kerastase with a different drying accelerator/shine serum and it was not as great. I may just be using the Kerastase at this point because it cost a fortune, but I'll never fully admit that, so lets just leave that where it lies. So the stars of this hairshow are definitely the K-PAK, the flat iron, and the Nexxus spray. I would recommend them whole heartedly. Happy hair day everyone!

Photo credits: {Kerastase Sublimatour Jour}{Sanjaya}{Joico K-PAK}{Hair Dryer}{Comb Thru}