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.