Oh, fyi....

Just wanted to let you all know that I am leaving the country tomorrow morning. Possibly forever. Just kidding. I mentioned it in a previous blog post that I am going on a trip to Ecuador and that trip begins TOMORROW! I'm sadly not gonna be able to blog at all during these next two weeks seeing as I'm going to be in the JUNGLE annddd I'm not gonna be doing any makeup. Sad, I know. Honestly, my biggest concern is how on earth I'm going to live without wearing makeup. But don't worry, I'm bringing a bunch of makeup just in case hahaha! You never know, there might be some Ecuadorian hottie that I'll need to look good for, right? ;)

Anywaayyyy I will blog again as soon as I can, after my trip (I'll be home on the 16th).

Love you alllllll ♥

Buy this if you're rich

I tend to splurge on a lot of beauty products (it's pretty much the only thing I spend my money on) and can be known to spend a ridiculous amount of money on makeup at a time. BUT, I do know how to (relatively) limit myself and would neveerrr drop like, $100 on just one item. Except now I am seriously debating that thought because I have found my soul mate moisturizer and I need it.

As you all should kn0w (because you religiously read my blog, RIGHT?!) I am currently employed at The Bay, selling makeup. I had heard about Estee Lauder's Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher and how amazing it was and was given a sample by Archita, one of the lovely ladies who works at the Estee Lauder counter. Let me just say... this product is amazing. My skin can be very oily and this is the only product I've found that actually keeps my skin matte and shine free throughout the entire day. It has a serum like texture that glides beautifully onto my skin and then dries to the most amazing matte finish, making my skin silky smooth and providing a perfect texture for blending my foundation on to. I can't even believe how in love with this product I am, I've never really found a moisturizer that I would repurchase over and over again, but this could possibly be it. Only problem.... it's $73 for a bottle. Hell to the no can I afford that.

So sadly, as of this point in my life, I could never allow myself to spend such a ridiculous amount of money on one beauty product item. BUT if you've got money to burn, either give it to me... or give this moisturizer a try! You'll love it. And if you don't... give it to me ;)

Shu Uemura Neo Reflector Disco Lashes!

Was reading one of my fav fashion blogs (CocoPerez) and came across a post about these amazingly cool Shu Uemura false lashes that have mirrors on them like a disco ball!! How cool?! Obviously these would only be used for high fashion editorial makeup, but I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing them around and will def blog about it if I see them used for a magazine photo shoot or fashion show or whatevs. The lashes are 65 doll hairs (dollars) but are unfortunately sold out, according to their website.

What do you think? Cool or cooky?? Hahahah cooky wtf did that come from?

Review: Clinique Super City Block Daily Face Protector SPF 40

This product is more of a sunscreen that you wear underneath foundation (it acts as a primer) than a tinted moisturizer. It has a very yellow undertone to it (which works for me, seeing as my skin has pink undertones to it so it kind of cancels out the pink) but it's very very sheer and provides very little coverage. What I like about it though is that it's oil free (YAY!), has an SPF of 40 and is safe to use around the eyes. I still need to wear it a few more times to get an idea of how much I like it but for now, compared to the Elizabeth Arden tinted moisturizer that I tried earlier, this product is a winner! I will keep you posted though, if I change my mind.

Another Classic Smokey Eye

I did my beautiful friend Ashley's eye makeup the other week and we went for a classic smokey eye (she doesn't wear a lot of eye makeup so we went for something simple yet sexy) and here's the look I came up with! I used a bunch of shimmery and matte grey and black eyeshadows and lined her lash line with liquid liner. And NO, those aren't fake lashes!!! Can you believe it, I think Ashley has the most gorgeous lashes I have ever seen (not including my roommate Steph who has also been blessed with gorg lashes). I would have done some tight lining (applying a black eyeliner to her upper waterline... if that makes sense?) but she had a full day of travelling ahead of her and I didn't want any of that liner to somehow migrate towards her inner tear duct during the day (it always manages to get there!!) before she even had the chance to start her night of partying. Next time I would definitely do it though. Hope you likeyyyyy ♥

Review: Elizabeth Arden Sheer Lights Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer

I should have known as soon as I read the work 'Illuminating' that I was in for some trouble. Whenever you see words like glow, illuminating, or dewy, you should know immediately that you're in for some shimmer in the product. I dunno if it's just me, but one of my pet peeves is shimmer in my foundation. Sure, it can maybe look nice on other people but for me... I just end up looking shiny and oily. SO I knew as soon as I applied this moisturizer that there was no way I was stepping foot outside and into the sunlight. I would become a serious greaseball in a matter of minutes. Honestly, I didn't give this product a fair chance, but it's mostly because I knew it wasn't gonna work for me. I'm not playin' around here, there will be no time wasted on products that don't measure up to my standards, okay?!

AND, it only had an SPF of 15. That would be fine for Canadian weather, but definitely not for Ecuadorian weather.

My hunt for the perfect tinted moisturizer

Soo I'm currently in the process of searching for my soul mate tinted moisturizer. In a couple weeks I'm going on a trip to Ecuador and it is a MUST that I take tinted moisturizer with me on the trip. I won't have the time to do my regular makeup routine (it's a volunteer trip and we're building things, so even if I am wearing makeup, it won't even make it until noon without sliding right off my face). It is essential that it fulfills all my requirements and expectations and satisfy my every need. I'm looking for my perfect 10 here people.

K, so here are my requirements:

• It MUST have a sunscreen that protects me from both UVA and UVB rays. The higher the SPF the better with a minimum of SPF 25.
• It MUST be oil-free and ideal for oily skin types. My skin can get very oily in Canadian weather... imagine what it would be like in the hot, humid weather of Ecuador?? No thanks, this moisturizer CAN'T leave my skin feel greasy at all, otherwise I'll probably die of shiny forehead disease.
• It must provide nice coverage. It doesn't have to wear like a foundation, but I'd like it to at least even out my skin tone.

So, come with me as I embark upon my journey in the search for my husba- err, I mean my tinted moisturizer. I'll keep you posted with what I try out and what I think, as I have been sampling a few and have quite the reviews in store ;)

Scarlett Johansson at the 2010 Tony Awards lookin' FIERCE!

Images courtesy of justjared.com

I am absolutely in love with Scarlett's makeup that she wore to the 2010 Tony Awards. SOO gorgeous, I especially love how the purple fades into a pink... not something that I would ever think of doing because I tend to stay away from pink eyeshadow but it looks amazing and I'll definitely be trying it soon times! I also like that she kept her hair out of her face too to fully show off her beautiful face and makeup. Loves it.

Weekend Makeup!

Hi loves,

Sorry that I didn't blog at all over the weekend. I went up to the town I go to school in to partay with some friends and unfortunately had no internet connection! Wahh

BUT I took photos of my makeup so here they are now!

Friday Night

I was slightly concerned about wearing such a dramatic smokey purple eye on Friday because I was wearing it with a bright pink top. I was happy with the result and was happy with my obnoxiously loud attire BUT what do you guys think?? Too much colour for one night?

Saturday Night

I was inspired to do a blue silvery makeup look to wear with my all black outfit of the night. I used one of my glitter eyeliners and applied it all over my lid to top it off and was pretty happy with the result, especially because I was staying away from the smokey eye that I've been doing on myself lately. Yayz!

Beth, myself and Steph had a mini photo shoot in between fixing our makeup and heading out to the bar... can you tell we're drunk?? Hahaha

Taylor Swift finally straightens her hair

Well it's about time!! Taylor Swift is known for her overly curly hair and while of course it's a cute look, that's all it is... cute. But FINALLY she's stepped out of the her zone and wore her hair straight last night at the CMT Awards and I can happily said that she looks sexy, beautiful, gorgeous and HOTT!! Love it. I'm a sucker for straight hair, can you tell? Haha!

Which look do you like better??

PS. Love her makeup in the picture on the right too.

Tip: Avoiding Fall Out

Pampers wipes for sensitive skin is a great alternative to the more expensive makeup removing wipes. I wouldn't recommend using these to take off your eye makeup at the end of the day, but they're useful for wiping away fall out.

For the longest time I struggled with ways to avoid getting eyeshadow and sparkles all over my cheeks and just under my eyes after I'd gone through the whole process of applying my foundation and under eye concealer. It absolutely SUCKS to do your face (HAHA I just typed facebook accidentally LOL!) makeup only for it to be ruined by fall out. Even if I brush it away with a fluffy powder brush, if I've been using shimmery eyeshadows, I'll still have shimmer all under my eyes, which isn't cute. So here is my incredible, earth shattering solution that took me years to figure out.

APPLY YOUR UNDER EYE CONCEALER AND FOUNDATION AFTER YOU'VE DONE YOUR EYE MAKEUP!!!

Genius, eh? What I like to do is apply my foundation first (but you can save this until last too if you're really messy when you do your eyes), do the eye makeup on my lid, wipe away any fall out from under my eyes with a wet cloth, apply concealer and then finish my eye makeup by applying any eyeshadows along my lower lash line. Works like a charm and you don't have to deal with that pesky shimmer all over your face! Hoped this helped :)

Kristin Cavallari Inspired Smokey Brown

Yes, I'm totally naked in this photo. No joke ;)

Earlier today I blogged about Kristin Cavallari's photo spread in the newest issue of Dirrty Glam magazine (great name, eh?) and was feeling inspired to do a matte smokey brown look. Well here's what I came up with. The look isn't what I'd normally do for a smokey eye... there's not too much colour in the crease, it's mostly concentrated along the lash line and fades upwards into a light tan. There's also lots and lots of black liner along the lower lash line and waterline, and obvi, plenty of black mascara. The look also consists of nude lips and bronzed skin. This is quite a dark smokey look for a regular Wednesday (I don't normally wear black liner on my waterline unless I'm going out partaying) but I like the look I came up with and am pretty pleased :D

A perfectly sultry smokey brown eye

Found this photo of Kristin Cavallari (love her, btw) featured in the newest issue of Dirrty Glam magazine (has anyone even heard of that mag??) and I must say, I LOVE what the makeup artist has done with her makeup. She's wearing a matte smokey brown look that is incredibly sexy, sultry and compliments her brown eyes beautifully. I'm usually not a fan of boring smokey brown eye makeup but I'm feeling inspired by this look and will probs do it on myself later today when I get ready. I'll def take a photo and post it on here when I do.

Here are some other photos from the photo shoot!

An exception to the blue eyeshadow rules?

Stumbled across this photo of Gwen Stefani and her wild electric blue eyeshadow. It looks like she's only wearing one shade of blue on her lid only, which lyke, totally breaks the very first of my blue eyeshadow rules, which states to use more than one shade of blue and to blend them well together. HOWEVER, rules are made to be broken, right? Gwen manages to pull off the look by keeping the rest of her makeup very subtle and by wearing the blue eyeshadow on her lid only, as well as a very thin line of black liner (from what I can tell).

Anywho, I was inspired by this look and decided to do it myself today :)

Teal Mascara!

I've blogged about my Quo Pump Up the Volume Teal mascara before, but I wore it again yesterday, paired with some green eyeliner along my upper lash line and black liner along my waterline. I also applied a sparkly liquid liner to my lashes to make them sparkly (hahah obvi! You might not be able to see in the photos but it looked cool in real life... even though I got sparkles in my eyes numerous times). What do you guys think? Is it a bit much, or just the right amount of sparkles and tealness?

Gaga's Music Vid for Alejandro.... wtf?

Okay sooo Lady Gaga's new music video for Alejandro was released yesterday and after watching it a couple times, I am still very confused. It's obvious that there's a lot of political and religious imagery in the video, but what is the message that she's trying to get across? Is there even one?

This video is certainly not as glamourous as Bad Romance or Telephone, especially when it comes to her makeup and fashion in the vid, but I kind of like that. Lady Gaga is in no way trying to look beautiful, stunning, gorgeous or conforming to what our society's ideals of beauty is... I mean, she's got non existent brows and eyelashes in one of the makeup looks for pete's sake! That just shows what kind of artist she is though, which is something that I really admire. There definitely should have been more than just two makeup looks though... very disappointing.

Anywho, what did you guys think of the video? And the makeup?!

First makeup look of the video. Hardly any eye makeup, with no mascara, white liner along her waterline and deep red lips... Definitely not something I'll be trying out anytime soon hahaha

I'm pretty sure this is the same makeup as the above photo (except you can't really see her drawn on mole in the first photo, so maybe it's different?) but it's more close up so you can see the detail of her eye makeup. She's wearing very shimmery eyeshadow all over her lid and by the tearduct as well as her classic matte red lips.

This is the most makeup she's wearing in the entire vid. It's very similar but you can tell she's wearing some heavy black liner and lashes. And obvi, red lipstick.

2010 MTV Movie Awards Fashion + Beauty

As I'm sitting here in my living room watching The Dog Whisperer (hey, it's a good show, okay??) I've decided to multi-task and blog about last night's MTV Movie Awards fashion and obvi all the gorgeous makeup. So let's GO!

Whitney Port - Oh em geez, I LOVE her dress. Her hair looks great, as does her makeup. Usually Whitney goes for a barely there makeup look, but she's wearing some thick black liner along her upper lash line which looks grrrreat!

Audrina Patridge - Meh, she's gone for her usual darkly lined eyes but is wearing some silver eyeshadow in the inner corner of the eye to match it with her silver dress. Not really a fan of her shoes though, they make her legs look short, don't they?

Stephanie Pratt - I reallyyy like her dress, and even though her makeup looks like everyone else's (smokey eye, lashes and a nude lip) she looks great.

Christina Aguilera - Her dress is fierce and is nice with her red lips (albeit boring because she ALWAYS wears a red lip). Love the hair, although her entire look is reminiscent of Gwen Stefani (especially the hair).

Scarlett Johansson - Dear Lord, she looks amazing. Love the dress, hair AND makeup... a perfect 10 fo sho.

Ashley Greene - Cute dress (but slightly unflattering, no?). Her hair is slightly awkward and the makeup is uber boring but all in all, she looks good. Ish.

Kristen Stewart - Ahhh I am truly impressed with Kristen. Love her dress, and she's really toned down her makeup (usually she goes for a dark smokey eye). Although, she always seems to have slightly uneven eyebrows. Does anyone else notice that??

Jessica Biel - Boorrrinnggg, she should have gone for more of a pink lip.

Eva Mendes - Not really a fan of her dress, but her neutral makeup was key to pulling off this look. Anymore makeup and she would have looked waayy overdone.

Paris Hilton - Paris has kept herself under the radar lately, but she's working that tanned, bronzed skin, dark smokey eyes and pale lips. She could have gone with some more dramatic makeup... a purple smokey eye maybe? Regardless, she looks great

Lindsay Lohan - I'm pretty impressed, she doesn't look like the hot mess that she usually does. Not really digging her jumpsuit, but I am enjoying her dark sultry eyes.

Vanessa Hudgens - She looks beautiful as always, even though her makeup and hair is uber boring. Also, doesn't her dress kinda look like a nightie?

Katy Perry - Katy's gone for her classic winged liner, huge lashes and simple lips. I like that she's kept her makeup relatively low key, seeing as she's got some WILD blue hair, an attention drawing dress and neon yellow nails. Well done

Cameron Diaz - LOVE her dress, and makeup. She's kept her look really natural (not too much foundation, she kept her eye makeup very simple) but made her pink lips and cheeks the focus. Lurrvellyyy!