Face of the Day with Makeup Geek, Tom Ford, and NARS

 I couldn't come up with a witty name for this post.  I wanted to do something referencing the name of the green eyeshadow (Jester), but I wasn't feeling creative enough, I guess.  Ah well.

It's National Lipstick Day

Hey guys!  Happy National Lipstick Day!

I rounded up 10 of my favorite lipsticks to show you in honor of the day.

Left Column top to bottom:
    --- Maybelline Color Sensational in Pink Freeze
    --- Clinique Pop Lip Color + Primer in Bare Pop
    --- Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Plump Perfect Lipstick in Perfect Blossom (discontinued)
    --- Lipstick Queen Let Them Eat Cake
    --- Maybelline Color Sensational in Strike a Rose (limited edition)

Right column top to bottom:
    --- Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Shine in Pink Dragon
    --- MAC Lustre Lipstick in Viva Glam V
    --- Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Lovelight
    --- NARS Audacious Lipstick in Brigitte
    --- Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Coral Shimmer

from left: Pink Freeze, Bare Pop, Perfect Blossom, Let Them Eat Cake, Strike a Rose
Pink Dragon, Viva Glam V, Lovelight, Brigitte, Coral Shimmer

This is definitely not a complete list of my favorite lipsticks, but I tried to narrow it down somewhat.

What are some of your favorite lipsticks?

Current Wish List

I have a pretty long wish list right now.  Of all expensive stuff.  Yeesh.

First up is my Charlotte Tilbury lemmings:

Filmstar Bronze & Glow Face Sculpt and Highlight -- This bronzer/contour and highlighter duo seems to be universally considered the best product in her line.  It looks like the bronzer/contour shade would be an excellent color for my skin tone, and the highlighter looks somewhat subtle, which would be good for me because I tend to go overboard with my highlighters.

Let This Blue Shadow Take Center Stage

Hey hey, everybody!  I hope all is well with you guys!  I've been a little bit stressed the past week or so, because one of my Mom and Dad's cats escaped from their house and has been missing since July 2.  :(  She's strictly an indoor cat, so we're pretty worried about her.  She needs to come home, like, yesterday.  They've been doing everything the experts suggest (flyers, posters, a front yard sign, humane traps around the house and neighborhood, etc.), and the ASPCA say that 70-75% of missing kitties are reunited with their families, so I have lots of hope that she will be home soon.  I know there are some people who would say "it's just a cat," but our cats are family members and very important to us.  We love them so much!

Anyhow, I'm really enjoying my Makeup Geek eyeshadows.  So much so that I ordered a bunch more.  A bunch.  Yeah.  (I believe they are going to arrive tomorrow.)  I, of course, had to do a smoky eye with the dark blue shade called "Center Stage," which is one of the foiled eyeshadows offered by Makeup Geek.

A Fancy Face of the Day

So, this look isn't particularly fancy, but the makeup I used is.  No drugstore products used for this FotD.

Sparkly Purple!

One of my favorite shadows of all time is Darling Girl Cosmetics "Here's Johnny".  It's a gorgeous, very sparkly purple.  Whenever I wear it, I spend entirely too much time looking in the mirror with my eyes half closed admiring the beauty that it is.  I never like taking it off at night!  My husband also loves it, and always comments on how awesome it is when I wear it.  I wore this makeup for date night last week.

Favorites of March 2015

It's (kind of) the beginning of a new month.  You know what that means.  Favorites time.

Face of the Day with NARS (featuring Charlie)

I was going to make an April Fool's Day joke about not blogging anymore, but I thought that would just be too mean.  :P

So instead, I'm just going to show you my face with a bunch of NARS makeup on it.

Here's all the NARS stuff I used.

Chicago Trip: Part 1

A few weeks ago, I had a little time in Chicago with my parents and my sister.  My husband couldn't come with because he was takin' care of business.  I took a million photos, and I thought I'd share some (too many) of them with you guys.  I put most of the photos in collages (fun with picmonkey!) so I could show you more of them without making you scroll down the page for the next three days.

Chicago Travel Makeup Bag

I just got back from a trip to Chicago with my family (minus my husband because he had to work (sad face)), and I thought I'd show you what I took in my makeup bag.  If I showed you my skincare, this post would take forever to read.  Besides, I like looking at travel makeup bags more than travel skincare stuff.

Madame Butterfly in Detroit

I love how this look turned out.

So, what time is it?

Opera time!

Mulberry Nails and Look of the Day

There are times when I like being all match-y match-y with my makeup.  But instead of doing the traditional match-y match-y thing with my lips and nails, I decided to try to match my nails to my eyeshadow.

Butter London's Queen Vic is a wonderful berry shade that seems like a rather fall friendly color to me, and it's the shade I wanted to wear on my eyes, too.

Butter London Nain Lacquer in Queen Vic (sunlight)

So, the shadow I used doesn't match the nail color perfectly, but I liked the result nonetheless.

I used: from the Sephora Color Anthology Palette
                    --- berry purple on the moving lid
                    --- warm shimmery brown in the crease
                    --- light matte peach above the crease to blend out the brown
                    --- matte cream under the brow and inner corner

       
          Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in 1999
          Physicians Formula Eye Booster liquid eyeliner in Ultra Black
          Maybelline Full 'N Soft Mascara

from left: Sephora shadows, Urban Decay 1999 24/7 liner

Cheeks: Milani Baked Powder Blush in Berry Amore

Lips: NARS Lipstick in Dolce Vita

from left: Milani Berry Amore Baked Blush, NARS Dolce Vita lipstick

And then, later in the day, I decided to put on a berry lipgloss (MAKE UP FOR EVER lipgloss that was discontinued ages ago) just for the heck of it.

I think I look paler in this photo because I'm shiny and reflective (I didn't remember to reapply powder before I took it.)

The Sephora Color Anthology Palette was available around the holidays last year, but I snagged it on sale in the spring.  I noticed that Ulta has a palette on their website (by Beauty Gems) that looks exactly like it.  I suspect it is actually the same palette but without the Sephora nameplate on the front.

Earworm of the day: Lady Gaga's "Applause" -- it's on my workout playlist, and today it just stuck afterward.

Late Summer Favorites

Happy (?) last day of summer!  I thought I'd celebrate (???) the day with a favorites post.  And, because I didn't write a July favorites post, and I'm slightly late with August favorites, I figured I'd just call this a "late summer favorites" list.

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer -- This tinted moisturizer has a wonderfully light texture, has a light citrus scent, and leaves the skin slightly dewy.  It has decent coverage for a tinted moisturizer, and it protects the skin with an SPF of 30.  I have been wearing the shade Alaska because I've been using a self-tanner, but I think I'm going to need to switch to Finland for the winter.

MDSolarSciences Mineral Creme Broad Spectrum SPF 50 UVA-UVB Sunscreen -- This stuff has an interesting texture.  It's very silicone-laden, and kind of thick.  I love that it has a really high SPF, but my favorite thing about it is how well it works as a makeup primer.  I need to try to write a full review of this sunscreen.

Benefit They're Real! Mascara -- Whenever I use this mascara, I remember how good it is. However, I did manage to poke my eye rather seriously with the wand recently, and it really hurt.

Prada Candy -- Wearing this perfume puts me in a good mood.  It's kind of a sweet, but spicy
floral-y scent that has completely different top and bottom notes, so it smells totally different after a few hours of wear.  You really need to try it for yourself.

Sleek Garden of Eden Eyeshadow Palette -- I have really been enjoying this palette.  My favorite shades in this palette are Eve's Kiss, Evergreen, and Fauna.  Tons of possibilities with this.

from left: Eve's Kiss, Evergreen, Fauna

I sometimes find writing favorite things lists kind of tough, because the staple items (like foundation/tinted moisturizer, mascara, powder, etc.) remain pretty much the same each month, and I use so many different other things (like eyeshadows, palettes, blushes, lip colors -- I usually mix those up everyday) that it is hard to choose favorites.  Does anyone else have this problem?  How do you choose what favorites to write about?

Thanks for checking out my recent favorites!

Throwback Thursday With NARS

NARS used to have liquid eyeliners in nail polish-type bottles.  I believe they were introduced around 2001.  The three that I own probably date from 2005.  I'm not sure when they discontinued this type of packaging.

The shades I have are Neverland, Showgirl, and Silkwood.

There weren't any brushes included with these, so you had to supply your own.

Here are some swatches I did using q-tips.

from left: Neverland, Showgirl, Silkwood

The colors are pretty awesome, aren't they?  I think I used these once or twice and I kind of remember not being very good at applying them.  I'm now afraid to use them because they are so old.  I think they are destined for the trash.

I received these as gratis when I was working at Sephora years and years ago.

Makeup for the Doctor

I went to see my headshrinker today, and while I was doing my makeup I realized I was creating a much more natural look than I usually do.  I seem to be more conservative with my makeup if I'm going to see him, which is silly because he knows I have a beauty blog and used to work in the cosmetics industry and clearly love makeup.  What's weirder is I wear whatever kind of crazy/dramatic makeup I feel like wearing when going to see my GP.  So, who knows what my deal is.  *shrug*

Yes, my hair really was that weird.  It was windy and humid.

I wore NARS Laguna bronzer on my lids as an eyeshadow and on my cheeks as a bronzer.  I wore Maybelline Color Elixir lipgloss in Blush Essence on my lips, and I used Fresh Supernova mascara on my lashes (I'm trying to use up a little wee one I've had for a while).  So, some exciting makeup, clearly.

NARS Laguna bronzer, Maybelline Blush Essence Color Elixir

Do you change your look in any way when going to the doctor?

First Day of Spring Face of the Day

According to my calendar, today is the first official day of spring!  I used green and yellow shadows that remind me of new growth of plants and sunshine, and a purple liner that makes me think of crocuses.

Eyes:
     NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk as base on the lid
     NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Sea, Sex, and Sun -- green on the lid, yellow in the crease
     Wet 'n' Wild Brulee under the brow
      Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliner in Ransom
      Maybelline Full N' Soft Mascara

Cheeks: City Color Be Matte Blush in Fresh Melon

Lips: Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Moisturizing Lipstick in Blush Glow

Have a happy day!