Urban Decay Book Of Shadows IV

So, I wasn't really planning on buying any more beauty stuff for a little while, since I just did my haul and satisfied my makeup buying bug. But then I got a tweet from Urban Decay saying that they were going to be at the Sephora at Fashion Valley mall yesterday and the main attraction was the new Book of Shadows IV. At first glance online, the shadows didn't look all that amazing, but then they did some swatches...and I fell in eyeshadow love. It isn't out yet, but I went on down to San Diego and managed to get my hands on one!

The girls told me all about it before I bought it. It has a little card with 5 QR codes that you can scan with your smart phone and then a video will come up showing you how to do different looks using the palette. It even has a little pocket in the box where you can put your phone so you can watch the video while you do your makeup. There is a mirror too. It comes with 16 amazing colors, a 24/7 Waterproof liquid liner in Perversion (black) a Supercurl mascara, a tube of Primer Potion and a little keychain speaker so you can plug your iPod or phone into it, (it comes with the cords too). Everyone in the store was so excited for me when they saw me carrying it up to the register haha. I even got some free stuff from UD too! I got a t-shirt, a baby tube of Eden Primer Potion and a full sized bottle of Meltdown Makeup Remover. Sweeeet.

Above are the front and back of the shirt, it's pretty but I asked for medium and she accidentally gave me an extra large! So I'll either use it as a sleeping shirt or find a creative way to cut it up and make it look okay.
And here are my other freebies.

I watched all the videos already, they are all pretty and different looks. I tried out the "Crystallized" look today, here is a close up.

I also tried the mascara today and I really like it so far! It curls really well. Last night I tried the makeup remover. I don't really know if it's just supposed to be for eyes or my whole face. I used it on my eyes and it took off all my eye makeup, its nice and creamy and was hydrating on my skin without being oily. I also used it on the rest of my face and it worked well too. I don't really think I'll buy it once it runs out, it is a little pricey and my other eye makeup remover works just as well. I'll see what it does once I use the waterproof liner, I may have to use it for that and I'll also see what it does on my harder to remove mascaras, maybe I'll just save it for times when I use those.
Overall, the box is awesome and I recommend at least swatching some of the colors if they get a tester in your store, they look surprisingly different and flattering. I am done with makeup splurges for awhile now!

NYX Cuteness!

I just had to show you guys how cute these are. I ordered them from Haute Look when NYX was having a sale and just got them in yesterday. I actually haven't ordered any clothes from Haute Look yet, just makeup, nail polish and a vacation deal back when I had spring break. The site is awesome and so are these glosses.

Most of them end up clear, but a few of the brighter ones do have some tint to them and they all smell amazing!

Back To School Look 1: Wide Awake

 Pulled an all-nighter or just didn't get enough sleep? Here's my favorite look to fake awake, try it out if you want, just try not to fall asleep at your desk!

I start with my Garnier Skin Renew anti-puff eye roller:

The coolness is refreshing and it will get rid of any puffiness.
Next I use concealer to cover up my dark circles, make sure you blend very well, especially if you use a lot of it.
Next do your foundation/tinted moisturizer/powder or whatever you use as usual.
When I don't get enough sleep I look kind of washed out so I definitely use a nice pink blush to make me look more awake (try Benefit Posie Tint or another cream blush for a natural flush) and a light bronzer all over. Or sometimes I use my Physicians Formula Happy Booster in Translucent for for a slightly shimmery glow, or in Light Bronze for some added color. It has a really nice rosy scent to it.

(The one pictured is the translucent.)
For eyes use your favorite eye primer so you won't have to touch up and then go for a light pink slightly shimmery eye color. I love the color Sin from my Urban Decay Naked Palette, but other good ones are UD Scratch, Too Faced Silk Teddy (from the Natural Eye Palette), one of the pinks from the NYX Nude on Nude or something from the Coastal Scents or BH palettes. Just make sure that the pink doesn't match the natural color of your eyelids too well, (if you have discolored eyelids like me, you want to stay away from purplish pinks) because this will have the opposite effect.
Take a pink highlighter like this Benefit Eye Bright and use it around the tear duct, to line the outer corner of your eyes and as a brow highlight.

Stick to a light color to line your upper lash line with, (I'd go with brown). The trick is to stay away from heavy colors.
Curl your lashes to open up your eyes and use a curling mascara if you have one, otherwise go with a lengthening rather than volumizing.
Line your waterline with a white or pearl eyeliner, this is an important step to make you look wide awake.

Last, use a light shimmery lip gloss, I used one of my favorites, NYX Goddess of the Night Baby Rose.

Here is my end result:

Voila I look twelve. Haha the lighting pretty much washed away my work in the pic, but in REAL LIFE, I really do look nice and awake and you can really see the pearly white under my eyes.
I have 2 more back to school looks for you, but really they work in any situation, not just school. Thanks for reading!

Ulta Haul + New Obsession?

I went to Ulta yesterday to look around and ended up getting a few things that I thought are kind of interesting so I thought I'd do a little haul. Plus, it looks like I'm guilty of having a new obsession, can you guess what it is? Oh yeah I got q-tips too but you all know what those look like.

My husband saw this and suggested I get it. Actually insisted haha. So it's the original Black Shatter and a color that supposedly glows in the dark! It's called Zom-body To Love. I think it would look soooo cool if it actually works, and I would even wear the glowy color on it's own. I cheated and had to try out the Shatter last night, I put it over OPI Alpine Snow which is pure white and here is the result!

I love it and it wasn't hard to do at all. All I did was wait for the white to dry, then quickly brush the black on in one sweep. On some of my wider nails I did one sweep over each half of the nail. I made it kind of thick, I like the way that turned out better than the thin which you can kind of see on my left middle nail. I'm so excited to try it over other colors as well!
I also got another new OPI color.

This one is called In the Spot-Light Pink. I wanted a nice neutral light pink color and this one was perfect. It looks more pink and less peach than the picture shows, I don't really like how it looks in the pic, but I'll take a new pic once I try it on.

Lastly for nails (I bet you guessed nail polish is my current love right?) I picked this top coat up. Sally Hansen Mega Shine. I needed a new top coat and I had been using Nicole by OPI Top Coat Plus and wasn't completely sold on it. I had heard good things about this one so I decided to give it a try. I kind of wished it was also a quick dry, but it says to put it on over dry nails. It does dry quickly though and I'm wearing it now.

I picked up two more things, both of which I cheated and tried out today. I like to try at least some of the products out before my haul so I can tell you something of worth about them besides, "I hope it works/looks good." Anyway, I picked up the NYX Mood Lip Gloss. It says that it goes on clear and then turns to the perfect shade of reddish pink on your lips. It did exactly that too! I loved the color it turned, it matched me perfectly, and it smelled good.
The last thing is a NYX Eye/Eyebrow pencil which sounds weird, why would you want your eyebrows to be white? They had a white one and a pearl white which is the one I got. I got it to go on my waterline, and I've heard that if white looks a little extreme on you, a pearl would give you the same wide awake look, without the weirdness. It is awesome! White does look extreme, plus the only white liner I own is one of the NYX jumbo eye pencils which is too thick to use, plus I'm not even sure it is supposed to go on the water line. This one gives a really pretty pearly sheen.

So that's it, but I did get an Essie polish a few days ago at Target and I thought I'd include it, I haven't worn it yet, what do you think?

It's a dark raspberry color called Big Spender which is my stepdad's nickname for my dog Bender. (Don't ask.)

Clothing Haul

So I was watching beauty guru Blair Fowler do a somewhat surprising haul. It was from K-mart of all places. I don't shop there at all, it's just not somewhere I go, but she showed a top that came in different colors and I thought maybe I would go see if I could find it, I really liked it and it was super cheap. I ended up not finding the top but I found a bunch of other stuff and the clothes were surprisingly cute and very inexpensive. So I thought I would turn it into a back to school fashion edition and show the stuff I got. I will also be doing a couple back to school makeup looks soon as well.
Lately I've really been liking layers. Where you wear a really loose flow-y top over another top. So that's what I picked up.
I got these three tanks to layer under things, they were on a major sale, I think they were less than 5 dollars each.

This one looks funny without it actually being on, but I got it a few sized too big on purpose, so it would hang down and I could wear maybe the white tank underneath. See how the sleeves are sort of drape-y?

The gray one is shaped kind of like a poncho, but it looks much better on, it is also supposed to have a shirt underneath, I like it with the blue one.

I just thought this was pretty, once again it is too loose to not wear anything underneath it, but there are lots of things that could pair with it.

The last thing I got was this pair of shorts. At first I wasn't too sure about them, I mean they are really weird. But I like to take chances on stuff that might be a little weird and the longer I thought about them, the more I liked them for just that reason. Girl's shorts are so short that they usually don't have much room for pockets. Lately however, I've been seeing a trend where the pockets just hang down past the length of the shorts and these took it a step further and embellished them with sequins. It might be cute or it might be really weird, but I like them so that's all that matters! Don't be afraid to take chances guys.
So that's it, I didn't get a whole lot but I also wasn't planning on doing back to school shopping anyway! I'm not much of a fashion person, I just wear stuff that feels comfortable and looks good to me so I didn't go all out and make whole outfits or anything. But I really hope to do some back to school looks and I'm also hoping I can get some drug store stuff so they will be inexpensive as well, so look out for that!

This or That Tag

I got tagged by Meg at www.beautybrainswhatelse.blogspot.com. Check out her awesome blog!

FASHION

Tribal or Aztec? Not really sure, I don't follow many fashion trends, whatever looks good to me I wear.

Girly or boho? Boho.

Floral or paisley? Neither. I think the tiny flower pattern that's popular now is cute on some people but I really don't like it for me.

Chunky or single bracelet? Hm, I need more braclets! Single I think.

Layered or single necklace? Single.

Shoulder bag or wristlet? Shoulder bag, I have too much stuff to keep in a wristlet!

Nude pumps or red heels? I don't own either but nude pumps sound good!



MAKEUP

Volumnizing or lengthening mascara? Volumizing.

Smashbox or nars? Want to try some Nars stuff so bad! Maybe that will be my next purchase.

Foundation or tinted moisturizer? Tinted moisturizer in summer, foundation other times.

Cream blush or benetint? Posietint! Its almost a combination of both.

Liquid liner or gel liner? I starting to really like gel liner.

Highlighting or contour? I guess I contour more because of my bronzer but I like highlighting too!

Sephora or ulta? Well, I'd have to say Ulta because the only Sephora near me is one of the little half-stores and they don't have much.

CVS or walgreens? Walgreens, it seems cheaper and it's slightly closer to me.

Touch up stick or liquid concealer? Liquid.

Tanning mousse or tanning bed? Neither, I'm always too scared a fake tan would look...fake, and tanning beds scare me too!



HAIR

Feathers or no feathers? I want feathers so bad!

Curling wand or curling iron? Curling iron. I like my triple barrel curling iron!

Flat iron or blow dryer? Flat iron.

Messy bun or ponytail? Messy bun. When I'm hanging out at home this is what my hair is always in.

Braid or fishtail? I can't really do either to my hair, there's too many layers.



NAILS

Nail stickers or traditional polish? Usually traditional polish but I like the Sally Hansen polish strips.

Sephora by OPI or OPI? I have both, but OPI is a little less expensive and I like the brush better. I just wish they had some of the Sephora colors!

Mac polish or ulta brand nail polish? I've never tried Mac polish. The Ulta brand is okay, not the best.



I tag:
I don't know who's done this tag so I tag everyone out there who wants to do it!

Eyebrows For Beginners

    I admit it, my eyebrows are far from perfect, but I do try to keep them in shape. I decided to give a few tips here for those of you who are maybe afraid to pluck them because you aren't sure how or are afraid of messing them up. Plucking your eyebrows just a little bit can really make a huge difference in the way you look, its hard to explain but I would say it makes you look more feminine and less harsh?

    So here are some easy tips. Of course it is going to hurt a little bit, but if you maintain them regularly you will only have to take out a few hairs at a time. If you want it to hurt less, pluck after you get out of the shower, or apply a warm washcloth to your brow area for a few minutes before you get started.

    Use clean tweezers to grab the hair near the base and pull very quickly in the direction of hair growth. I usually touch the tweezers to a tissue after each hair, it sticks to it so I don't have little hairs falling all over my face. Start by cleaning up all the hairs in between the brows. Don't go too far in to the actual brow, just get all those little ones in the middle.
    Next, look at the shape of your brows. It is best to maintain the shape you already have so pay attention to where the arch is, how far out they extend etc. Clean up all those stray hairs underneath your brows that don't fall into the natural shape. Don't pluck any hairs from above the brow, trust me this is the easiest way to mess them up, it will get weird, so don't do it.
    Really resist the urge to over pluck. I'm very happy that I never went overboard and over plucked because I don't have to fill them in every morning. I don't use waxes or pencils or anything on my brows. I'm not sure if this is a myth, but I was told that there is a stage in every hair's growth where if you pluck it out at that stage, it will not grow back. It makes sense because I know girls that have over plucked in the past and now they always have to fill their brows in.
    If you really feel that your brows are still too bushy, remove one more layer of hairs from the bottom of the actual brow but be very careful to follow your shape and don't get carried away.
    If even after these tips you are still unsure, or your brows don't really seem to have any shape or you just want some help, consider getting them waxed! A professional can shape your brows for you and then when you go home, you can follow along the shape she (or he) gave you so you only have to spend the money that one time. When I got mine waxed, she used a gel that was easier to shape and pressed her fingers to my brows after she pulled so it didn't really hurt much at all and it looked really good!
    Every day before I put on my makeup or at night after I take it off I look at my brows and see if there are any stray hairs that I can take out. Doing it often like this makes it easier and quicker to just pull a few hairs then if I wait a long time for them all to grow out.
    I hope these tips help and if you have any of your own be sure to add them in the comments! Stay tuned for my reply to a tag I got.
PS: Here's a pic of the Essie colors, the darker one is the Turquoise and Caicos and the light one on my ring finger is Absolutely Shore. I'm on day 4 and there's no chipping which for me is a miracle!