Coastal Scents Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale!

Get 25% of the entire store on Black Friday (today! 11/28/2008) and Cyber Monday (12/1/2008)! I just placed my order! Unfortunately, the True Black Gel Liner is out of stock, but everything else I wanted was there:

10 Piece Professional Blush Palette
28 Piece Eye Shadow Neutral Palette
Contour & Blush Palette
Pink Kabuki Brush
Italian Badger Angle Blush
Black on Black Taklon Angle Liner
Silk White Gel Liner (only decided to get this one since True Black wasn't available)

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! :B

Cute Slipper Socks!

These slippers are so adorable! I saw them at Bath and Body Works over the weekend, and my boyfriend bought them for me :D I bet they're wearing falsies haha :)

I also stocked up on Winter Candy Apple lotion while I was there -- aside from Sweet Pea and Japanese Cherry Blossom, this is one of my all-time favorite scents for lotion. What are your favorite scents?

NYX Private Sale at cherryculture.com

If you use the discount code NYX25 at cherryculture.com, you will receive 25% on all NYX items from now until tomorrow (November 21, 2008) ! NYX is really affordable for the quality -- I think it's the drugstore version of MAC. To give you an idea of how much you'll save:

Ultra Pearl Mania (loose powder that's highly pigmented) - originally $1.25, on sale for $0.94
Round Lipstick - originally $2.00, on sale for $1.50
Trio Eyeshadow (recommended!) - originally $5.00, on sale for $3.75

I also recommend the felt tip liners. :)

Happy NYX shopping! :B

Purple Makeup Look with Tarte Pink Lip Gloss

One of my YouTube subscribers watched my review of Tarte's The Vanity and left a comment about her favorite gloss that comes with this palette. I told her I would try it out, and she's right! It's super pretty! Thanks jamnotjelly702 for pointing that one out to me -- there's too much in this palette! :)

Here's the makeup look I did today using this pink shimmery gloss (the dark purple color is also from the Tarte palette):





























I tried my Lancome Oscillating Mascara for the first time today too! What do you think of the length?

Hope you all had a great weekend! :B

MAC Holiday Haul Swatches!

Here you go! Click to enlarge :)

Gray and Pink Makeup Look

I had Tuesday off for Veterans Day, so I met up with my sister to eat lunch with my mom and go shopping. I found this tokidoki jacket at Macy's, and I just had to buy it (the two little birds on the collar were too cute):

I wore this jacket for the first time today. I decided to do a gray and pink look to match it. Here's how it turned out:

EYES

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

MAC Phloof e/s

Urban Decay Last Call e/s

MAC Royal Assets: 6 Smokey Eyes Palette (courtly grey)

CHEEKS

NYX Pinky Blush

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural

LIPS

MAC Romancin' Lipstick from Adoring Carmine Rose Lips Set

FACE
MAC Select SPF 15 Foundation in NC30

20% off coupon for Ulta!

Click here to get a 20% off coupon on any one item including select top brands at Ulta. You can print the coupon from that site. It expires on Saturday, November 15, 2008.

If you prefer to shop online, the coupon code is 97153.

:)

MAC Brownish Blue Makeup Tutorial

My first look using MAC's Passions of Red holiday palette in Classic Eyes.




EYES
MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study
MAC Devoted Poppy: 6 Classic Eyes palette
MAC Carbon e/s for eye liner

CHEEKS
MAC Stark Naked Blush

FACE
MAC Select SPF 15 Foundation in NC30
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural

LIPS
MAC "To Swoon For" from the Adorine Carmine Rose Lips set

Enjoy! :B

MAC Holiday Haul

Items from Little Darlings, Passions of Red, and Adoring Carmine! I also ended up doing a little review of the face brush set. Although I was not fond of the 187 brush, the others were pretty good.

Macys.com promo code for 20% off!

Hi there! I got an email with a promo code for macys.com — 20% off! Here’s what it says:

From November 12 - November 17, 2008, enter promo code XG0SF1TAIW8N at checkout and save an extra 20% on your online purchase! Extra savings are reflected at checkout and apply to sale, clearance and regular prices, with exceptions listed.
Excludes Coach, Dooney & Bourke, Lacoste, Ed Hardy, 7 for all Mankind, cosmetics & fragrances, gift cards, toys, sunglasses, watches. For her: BCBG, Impulse, Lauren. For him: Emporio Armani, Polo/Ralph Lauren, Tommy Bahama, 7 for all Mankind. For the home: All-Clad, Henckels, Tumi, Waterford China & Crystal, Wusthof, area rugs, electrics and electronics, furniture, mattresses. Savings do not apply to Everyday Values, Jewelry Super Buys, web busters™, purchases on macysweddingchannel.com, purchases in Macy’s stores or prior purchases, payments on credit accounts, gift wrap or shipping charges.

Enjoy! :B

Classic Makeup Tutorial using MAC Red She Said (continued)

This is Part 2: Tips for Lips

Classic Makeup Tutorial using MAC Red She Said

This is Part 1: Eyes and Cheeks

Ulta NYX and Blockbuster Haul

Sephora Friends & Family Discount Code!!!

From November 6 to 10, 2008, Sephora is giving 20% off online orders! It's their Friends and Family Discount Code: FF2008

This would have been useful for my tarte The Vanity palette and Urban Decay Book of Shadows... but there's always something to buy from Sephora!

Happy online shopping!

:B

Coastal Scents Coupon Code!

For the next 3 days, you can use the following coupon code to get $10 off on your purchase of $75 and above: SAVEMONEY

The code expires on November 2, 2008 at 11:59pm EST.

They are also going to have new products next week, and there will also be a delivery of Out Of Stock Palettes.

Enjoy!

:B

MAC "Red" She Said Makeup Look

Here's what I'm wearing:

EYES
MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study
MAC E/S in Naked Lunch
MAC Mineralize E/S Trio in Inter-view (from "Red" She Said Collection)

CHEEKS
MAC Blush in Enough Said (from "Red" She Said Collection)

LIPS
MAC Lip Pencil in Cherry
MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in "Red" She Said (from "Red" She Said Collection)
MAC Dazzleglass in Love Alert (from "Red" She Said Collection)

MAC Haul with Red She Said and Holiday Brush Set

Just wanted to share a picture of my most recent MAC haul. For anyone looking to buy any one of the three holiday brush sets (basic brush set, eye shadow brush set, and face brush set), BUY IT AT NORDSTROM!!! They're selling it for only $35 there, compared to $50 at MAC! What a deal!!!



I also picked up some Red She Said items -- mineralize eye shadow trio in Inter-view, MAC Beauty Powder Blush in Stark Naked (LOVE IT!) and Red She Said Amplified Creme Lipstick. These are my favorites from the collection. At first, I went to the mall looking for the mineralize eye shadow trio in Threesome, but I ended up liking Inter-view better -- especially since I wanted to buy makeup for my upcoming Classic/Vintage Pinup Makeup Tutorial and Threesome doesn't look that great with red lips.

If you have any questions about any of these items, leave a comment and I'll let you know as soon as I've tried these on!

:B

Quick Hair Trick: Updo without any hair ties, clips, & pins!

Want to get your hair away from your face quickly but don't have a hair tie? No worries! I've got a solution for those with medium to long hair. Watch my YouTube video below if you want to see how to do my trick. I came up with this trick in 8th grade, and over the years a lot of my classmates/friends/co-workers/even strangers ask me how I do it, so I figured I'd share it with you!

Remember, this is more for functionality than for looks -- but you can make it nice and neat too if you want! It only took me 20 seconds to put my hair up in the pictures below. :D



Let me know if you get it to work for you! :B

Pink, Orange, and Yellow Makeup Look

I decided to wear my flowery dress to school a few days ago, and I wanted to match my makeup with it! Here's how it turned out:





These are the colors I used:

EYES
MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna (all over lid)
MAC Bright Sunshine e/s (inner corner)
MAC Post Haste e/s (outer corner)
Coastal Scents orange color from 88 Shimmer Palette (center of lid)
MAC Carbon e/s (upper lash line)

CHEEKS
MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque (primer)
MAC Blush in Nuance
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural

LIPS
Lancome Lipstick in Mars

:B

Tarte The Vanity Limited Edition Palette Review

I bought tarte's newest palette at Sephora. It's called "The Vanity", and it's a follow up to tarte's "We Wish You Well" holiday palette from last year. It comes with 16 brand-new eyeshadows, 16 brand-new lipglosses, a luminizer, a mineral powder bronzer in Park Avenue Princess, a mini "Lights, Camera, Lashes!" mascara, and 2 brushes (one eyeshadow and one eyelining)! It was $52, but for 41 items, that's only $1.27 each!!!







My swatches are below (the eyeshadows/lipglosses/blushes do not have names so I couldn't really label them here -- but the eyeshadows are in left to right order from top to bottom row. Click on the images for a better view):









I also recorded a review on YouTube. Check it out!



Overall, this palette is great! tarte makeup has Vitamin E in it too (good for preventing premature aging)! This palette would make a wonderful holiday gift for your makeup loving friend or family member (or yourself!).

Here's the pumpkin orangy bown look I did using everything from this palette (except for the eye liner):



:B

Urban Decay Bronzy Green Makeup Tutorial

Here's my first look using Urban Decay's Book of Shadows.





EYES
Primer Potion (mini size included in palette)
Urban Decay Gridlock, Baked, Absinthe, and Protest E/S
MAC Carbon E/S for eyeliner

CHEEKS
MAC Nuance Blush
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural

LIPS
MAC High Tea

:B

Urban Decay Book of Shadows Review

I picked up Urban Decay's Book of Shadows palette at Sephora. I bought it for $45, and I think it's a good deal, especially since the eyeshadows are really pigmented. It comes with 16 eyeshadows, 2 brushes, and 1 travel-size primer potion. I recorded a review on YouTube:



Here are my swatches (with and without flash):





8 BEST-SELLING SHADES
Goddess (midnight blue with lots of electric blue microglitter)
Shattered (bright green/blue shift)
Roach (deep brown with reddish sheen)
Smog (deep coppery bronze)
Baked (rich bronze)
Last Call (plum punch)
Grifter (sheer lavender with lots of silver microglitter)
Midnight Cowboy (golden beige with gold glitter)

8 EXCLUSIVE SHADES
Perversion (matte black)
Mayhem (deep purple)
Gridlock (medium brown)
Sidecar (bronze sparkle)
Shakedown (shimmering taupe)
Scandal (peachy-pink)
Absinthe (electric green)
Protest (dark green)

:B

Peachy Pink Makeup Look

I used (in order):

EYES
MAC Phloof! e/s (brow bone highlight)
a light pink matte e/s from Tarte "The Vanity" L/E Palette (right under the highlight): http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P223604&categoryId=C12001
MAC Swish e/s (lid)
Urban Decay Last Call e/s (outer corner and crease)

CHEEKS AND LIPS
MAC Cream Colour Base in Crushed Bougainvillea (LOVE IT!!! Too bad you can't use this one on your eyes though)

This was a quick look -- only took me about 10 minutes total. Hope you like it! :B

***UPDATE***

I got this message from Pursebuzz on the Crushed Bougainvillea cream colour base when I mentioned that it can't be used on the eyes due to the warning label that came with it in the packaging:
"Hey There!
I think this only applies to those who are allergic to red dyes and products. A lot of people are allergic to red pigment/dyes/shadows and that’s why the warning is there. But if you aren’t then it’s fine :)~PB"

So if you're planning to use Crushed Bougainvillea on your eyes, do so at your own discretion! Make sure you are not allergic or anything first!

Pinky Purple Makeup Tutorial

This is my first makeup tutorial! This is the look:





Here's a list of products I used in this tutorial (in order of appearance):

EYES
MAC Paint Pot Artifact
MAC E/S Shroom
MAC E/S Post Haste
MAC Pro E/S Vibrant Grape
MAC E/S Swish
Note: E/S = eye shadow :)

LIPS
MAC Amplified Lipstick in Violetta

CHEEKS
Dior Bronze Blush in Sunrise Party
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium/Natural

Special thanks to EverydayStyle for coming over and helping out! :B

First Post!

Hi everyone! I'm starting up this new website about makeup, hair, fashion, good deals, and anything nerdy! I'm currently a full-time student, so I will try and update this as much as possible between exams and projects. I'm a computer science major, and I've loved makeup all my life. I'm not a professional makeup artist or anything, but I have been wearing makeup since... 5th grade! :-X I will also be making makeup videos and posting links here from YouTube. I like all makeup brands, especially MAC. I try to experiment with different brands though, from drugstore to Chanel and Dior just to see if there really is color payoff. I will post hauls, reviews, and any bargains that I find. Hopefully they will be helpful to you on your journey with makeup! That's about it for now! Check back again! :B