Spring Makeup : Bold Liner + Radiant Orchid Lips!

I was just messing around with my makeup earlier today and I came up with this super fun spring makeup look. It's bold, colorful, and super on trend for spring! Hope you like it!

My Go-to 'No Makeup' Makeup

Over the course of my college career, I have been pretty much mastered the art of a quick and easy "No-Makeup" makeup look. Most weekdays I'm sleeping in as much as I possibly can and throwing together a quick makeup look right before I run out the door. This makeup takes me a maximum of ten minutes, and often times it's even quicker than that. I like to play up my natural features very subtly with as few makeup products as possible. Hope you enjoy!!

Review: DiorSkin Airflash Spray Foundation

As a self-diagnosed foundation addict, I buy and test out a whole lot of foundations. My latest foundation love affair has been with this DiorSkin Airflash foundation. I featured this product in my March Favorites post (just click here if you want to read that!) and I promised I would dedicate a full post to all the amazingness that is this foundation.

Prom Makeup!

It's prom season and I wanted to provide some inspiration for a makeup look you could do yourself for prom! I wanted to create a look that was universally flattering on every skin tone, eye color, and eye shape. This makeup look is dramatic but super easy to do and you can definitely recreate it! If you are planning to do your own makeup for prom, I definitely recommend practicing it a few times before the big day so that everything goes smoothly the day of your prom! Even if you don't have a prom to go to, this would be a gorgeous look for a night out with your girls or any type of special event!

March Favorites!

It is a gorgeous Spring afternoon as I am writing up this post, and I could not be in a better mood. It is finally warming up slightly where I live and the Spring weather always seems to energize me and give me new life. I am super excited to bring to you all the products I have been loving this past month. Let's hop right to it...

1. DiorSkin Airflash Foundation

Never have I ever used a foundation that has made my skin look so incredibly flawless but yet is completely undetectable on the skin. This creates perfect looking skin, but it looks so natural to the point where people may wonder if you are even wearing foundation at all. I just adore this foundation, and it may be the absolute best I have ever used! Full blog post will be coming on this soon!!

2. Tarte beMATTEnificent Eye & Cheek Palette 

I just did a full review of this palette with swatches and everything, so you can read that here, if you are interested. I want go too in depth here since that review is up, but I just lovvvve this palette. I am obsessed with matte shadows and these are super high quality. They blend out so effortlessly and I love the shade choices they made for the palette. I have been wearing these shadows non-stop this month!

3. Maybelline EyeStudio "Gusty Green" Quad

 

My last blog post was a FOTD post featuring this gorgeous quad and I am just so impressed with the quality of these eye shadows. If you want to check out that fun FOTD post, then you can click here. The shadows are so vibrant and pigmented, plus they are so silky smooth and they blend like a dream. I have to pick up more quads from this Maybelline line asap!

4. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in "Luminous Flush"

I have never been much of a blush girl. I don't excessively hoard blushes like I do some other types of makeup products. However, I have really been getting really into blushes lately and I am obsessed with this Hourglass blush. These blushes are marbleized with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders which give them the most gorgeous finish. The swatch above looks fairly matte, but it's really more satiny in person. This gives the most natural flush to the cheeks and adds the most subtle, gorgeous glow. I have to pick up some more shades because I'm literally obsessed!

5. Maybelline Master Hi-Light Blush in "Pink Rose"

 

This is another gorgeous, gorgeous blush! These are fairly new products from Maybelline and this shade is stunning. They are highlighting blushes so they do have quite a bit of shimmer, but I actually like that. They aren't too over-the-top disco ball on the cheeks, but they add a noticeable and flattering glow to the cheeks. This shade is a super pretty medium pink shade that look sooo pretty with a pink lip!

6. CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara

I can't believe I haven't tried this mascara until now. The CoverGirl LashBlast Volume is my all time favorite mascara from the drugstore and I love this one almost as much as that one, which is saying a lot. This gives volume and length and like it says, it does NOT clump! I really, really like the wand on this mascara. It is a curved with rubber bristles and it helps that lashes curl nicely. It also makes it really easy to get the outer lashes so that they flare out really prettily at the end. I am loving this mascara at the moment!

7. Balenciaga Rosabotanica Perfume

I picked up this sample size from Sephora as one of their point reward things and I have fallen in love with this scent. This is sooo spring appropriate. It smells like you've stepped into a fresh spring garden with lots of roses. It is pretty intense but I adore it! The notes are Experimental Rose, Fig Leaf, and White Amber. 

That wraps it up for my March Favorites. I have been obsessed with all of these products. I can't wait to see what April brings me in terms of great new makeup items. Thanks for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!!

xoxo,

Paige

FOTD: Mermaid-Inspired Eyes + Pink Lips!

Spring has officially begun and with this fresh new season, I have been super inspired to change up my makeup to coordinate with the changing weather. I found an awesome Maybelline eyeshadow palette and I could not wait to create a look with it. The palette is composed of gorgeous aqua and mint shades that just feel oh-so-mermaid-esque. This look is perfect for Spring and would also be an awesome Prom look, if the colors coordinate with your dress!

1. Foundation + Concealer

For foundation, I buffed Make Up For Ever HD foundation all over my face. For blemishes, I dabbed on the NYX HD Concealer and blended it out. For under the eyes, I used my much loved Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser.

2. Setting Spray + Powder

To set my under eye concealer, I used the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in "Diffused Light". This just adds more brightness to that area! To set my entire face, I used the Urban Decay Chill Makeup Setting Spray.

3. Blush + Bronzer

I contoured and bronzed the face with NARS Laguna. Since I was going with some crazy colors on the eyes, I wanted a fairly natural blush shade. I chose to go with the Benefit Rockateur boxed blush. I also filled in my brows with the Anastasia Perfect Brow Pencil at this step!

4. Eye Shadow

Step 1

With super colorful eye shadows, this is the way I start 99.9% of the time. First, I use the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Milk". Having a white base makes all the colorful eye shadows apply true to color and they show up much more vibrant. Since the jumbo eye pencils tend to crease really bad, I always set them with a shadow. Any light colored shadow will do. I just went with the Wet n' Wild single shadow in "Brulee".

I always want to have a transition shade when I'm working with bright shadows. This makes everything blend better and creates a better gradient effect when everything is blended. It also prevents the look from turning into crazy clown makeup. My all-time favorite shadow to use for this is MAC Soft Brown!

Step 2

First off, this quad is STUNNNNING! This is the Maybelline EyeStudio Quad in "Gusty Green".  The shadows are super pigmented and soft. They blend like a dream! Had I not known, I would have thought these were high-end shadows! Such an amazing drugstore palette! Here's how I applied them:

1. I applied this all over the lid with a flat shader brush.
2. I took a precise blending/crease brush and applied this directly in the crease for intense definition.

3. I used this shade on the outer 1/3 of the lid and blended up into the outer corner.

4. I applied this on the inner corner. 

 

5. Liner + Mascara

I used the Maybelline Gel Liner in "Blackest Black" to wing out my liner. For mascara, I applied two coats of the YSL Babydoll mascara to my top and bottom lashes.

6. Lips!

I finished everything off with the gorgeous YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick in shade #1.

 

I hope you enjoyed this super fun bright, mermaid inspired eye look! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!

xoxo,
Paige

Review + Swatches: Tarte Be MATTEnificent Eye & Cheek Palette

I was a little torn about doing this review. It was a limited edition palette and it seems to be sold out everywhere. You CAN find it on Amazon, but the price is jacked up a little bit. However, I really, really love this palette so I thought it warranted a full review!

Product Rundown

Original Price: $36 USD

The palette features 6 limited edition shadows, 2 "liner" shadows, and 1 blush. All are formulated with Tarte ever-so-famous amazonian clay! The palette also comes with a dual ended brush.

My Thoughts

I adore this palette. Matte shadows are my absolute favorite to work with and these are some amazing matte shadows! The are pigmented and smooth, and blend out very, very easily. You can create such an incredible range of looks with this palette, from very simple to dramatic. My absolute favorite shade is the "rose to the occasion" shadow. It is a great alternative for typical light brown crease and transition shades.

The blush is also fabulous. I love the Amazonian Clay blushes from Tarte. The shade in the palette reminds me a lot of the "Exposed" blush that is part of the permanent collection of their Amazonian Clay blushes, but this shade is just a little more peachy. I don't really gravitate towards the "liner" shades too often, so I don't get a lot of use out of those, which is a little bit of a bummer. But overall, I love this palette. The shadows blend so well together and I can create a quick shadow look in seconds without having to blend forever and ever! And since everything in the palette in formulated with that Amazonian Clay, everything is sooo long wearing. I love not having to worry about my eyeshadow creasing or fading throughout the day!

Also, I have to mention how much I LOVE the packaging. It is absolutely stunning and is definitely one of the prettiest palettes I own! If you are interested in purchasing this product, you can find it on Amazon by clicking here.

I hope this review was helpful and I hope you have an amazing day!!

xoxo,
Paige