Spring Is Starting--I'm Getting Used To It :) My Spring Look :)

Hi guys :)  Here is how I started my day :)

Yum :)

Also, here is my collection of...dare I say it?  Probably my favorite perfumes of all time--and they are dirt cheap!!!  I should do a perfume collection blog, as I own a whole bunch of perfumes from many price ranges, but thought I'd share these because I love them so much.  They are so wonderful!!!  I love to wear the violet one at bedtime, it has a really soothing, wonderful violet smell.  The old version of Rose and the old version of Oceane (maybe the new too--haven't tried it yet!  As you can see I have Oceane from back when the brand was owned by L'aromarine).  And then the others are just wonderful as they are--although wishing Outremer's newer version of "Rose" was sweeter like the old version.  It now is sharper and has a citrus note :-/  Anyone reading know of any nice, sweet, rose perfumes?  The sweetness of Fleurs reminds me of the old Rose, but doesn't satisfy that perfect rose scent craving that I need!!!  I love smelling like sweet flowers!

ONTO THE MAKEUP! :)

About The Makeup:

*Hourglass ethereal light is the one showed, which I used all over the high-points of my face GENEROUSLY, as ALWAYS (those darn powders are my favorite makeup item EVER).

*The La Rose de Versailles eyeliner and pink lip crayon were brought back to me from Japan by my boyfriend, wasn't that sweet... :)  Of course when he went over there, I told him he didn't have to get me anything but if he did, I'd want it to be makeup!

*The pink blush is from the ELF Blush Palette.  The contour shade is the only shade I used from the ELF Contour Palette...I love that contour.  It seriously lasts all day, more than a lot of my high-end contour powders can say.  Since the whole palette is only $6, yeah, I will continue buying the whole palette just to get that contour shade, although I hope they start selling it separately!

*For this photo, I tried to touch the brushes to the products that I used them with!! :)  That morphe eyebrush is the very best eyebrush I own (granted I own all elf, bh cosmetics, and sonia kashuk kit eyebrushes!!).  That eyeshadow quad by Napoleon saves my butt on days where I really don't have the time to do a full-on eyeshadow look.

*The one thing that I used that isn't pictured is a deluxe size sample of Anastasia Brow Wiz in Chocolate.  Wow, I am AWED by how well that stuff work on weeks where I haven't been regularly keeping my brows conditioned.  It was too tiny to see in the picture anyway!! :)

*The thing in the picture that I like the least is that Mario Badescu setting spray.  I now put it on if my face is feeling dry in the morning but I know I'm going to be washing my face soon (the case today, and why I was able to use such a heavy face cream [yu-be] with that tarte foundation, which for me is on the moisturizing side), because if I leave that rose spray on my face, it will get itchy.  Itchy faces are not fun and usually lead to either scratches or some sort of breakout!!  Really have to apply certain products to their own scenarios... Which was the case today.  I am usually an oil-slick!!

*---ON THAT NOTE: If you want a damn good hydrating/refreshing spray that also, weirdly enough, hydrates your eyes and soothes them (I have chronic dry eye and I don't like ruining my eye makeup with eye drops), try the Benefit Facial Hydrating Mist...It is seriously a godsend for me.  I don't even bother buying any other sprays for hydration anymore, unless of course it's an actual setting spray, which is a completely different thing.

*Pairing the Lancome Hypnose mascara with the Fleurs perfume really made me smile, as they smell a lot alike.  Very flowery, fresh, and lovely...Just one of those extra things that puts a pep in your step.

Pops of pink :)

My look :)  I look like I'm wearing a sheet, but it's a really long, flowy pink shirt that I got on clearance for $8 at Anthropologie back in January (back in January!  I can't believe how time flies.  Spring's here!).


Did anyone know that Dita Von Teese is actually a natural blonde?  I was doing a little research on her because I want to read her book, "My Beauty Mark," and when she was a teenager, she was blonde as blonde as blonde!!  The transformation is pretty cool.  She was always gorgeous, just in two different ways.  It's amazing what just a little makeup and some hair-dye can do.  If you want to change your personal style, you CAN do it!!  She's proof, for sure.

Back to the grindstone!  I have a TON of stuff to do today, and then I'm heading to dinner with a friend. :)


Hope everyone else is starting their spring marvelously!  Mine could be going a bit easier, there is a LOT TO DO and a lot of it is stuff that will change my life permanently if I don't get these tasks done, so I'm trying to keep calm, drink lots of tea, and push myself forward.  It hasn't always been easy!!  April is going to be a god-send!!!

How To Be "Naturally Beautiful"

Being, "Naturally Beautiful," is some sort of phenomenon.  It is always hilarious to me when, because I wore a bright or dark eyeshadow or lipstick color, or decided to wear black eyeliner, now I'm brinking into, "Un-Naturally Beautiful," territory, even though to be, "Naturally Beautiful," I still was using NINE OTHER PRODUCTS.  To dilute the ignoramus of it all I decided to put together this little tutorial.

How To Be Naturally Beautiful

Step 1:  Your skincare.  Let's face it, you are going to get old and wrinkly FAST unless you have a good skin-care regime.  Use sunscreen and a moisturizer that doesn't break you out.  Because lord knows, PIMPLES are NOT Naturally Beautiful.  They may be natural, but they are not beautiful!!

In this picture, I am somewhat in the dark.  I wouldn't DARE go in bright sunlight with no makeup on and take the picture, because we all know that's not a naturally beautiful sight...


Step 2:  Prime your face.  I'm using a primer that diminishes my larger pores and creates a smooth canvas on my face.  That's what primers are supposed to do.  Pores are NOT beautiful, so best you cover them somehow, and since primers are sheer, you won't look like you have extra makeup on your face!

The product is called, "Dr. Brandt," Pores No More.  It works awesomely, but it's pretty freaking expensive and I'm not going to go out and purchase it (this was a sample).  So best you go buy the cheapest, somewhat shittier primer that you can find, like I will do when this runs out.  Don't worry though, your makeup is the most important part in being Naturally Beautiful.


Step 3:  This is the most important part.  Applying your concealer.  Since you want to use as few skin-covering products as possible (to eliminate the chance of cakiness), I highly recommend skipping foundation and just going straight to a high-coverage concealer that will kill two birds with one stone.  Also, apply it with a beauty blender (I recommend the Real Techniques Complexion Sponge).  Applying it with a beauty blender will sheer out the high coverage concealer and provide you a natural finish that most makeup brushes can't achieve.  So everything looks like it's just your skin.  BUT BETTER.

Now because most of the colors and impurities in your face are gone, your skin looks rather flat.  But not to worry!!  You'll be covering this with makeup that creates the Naturally Beautiful Look once again.


Step 4:  Applying your powder.  Because you want this look to be as natural as possible and you also want it to last as long as possible, you need a decent powder, one that will leave a natural finish.  I think the powder I chose not only sets, but makes the concealer I used look more natural than the concealer would by itself.  Many people use bare minerals for this, I just use Elf Mineral Booster in shimmer.  Also a lot of people use HD powders, which are really just Dimethicone and Silica mixed together and you can get them for a hell of a lot cheaper at websites like TKBtrading.com... You just want something that isn't going to settle in your fine lines or look cakey.  After all THAT wouldn't look natural.  You can't just choose powder, you have to choose the RIGHT powder.

I applied with the ELF Large Stipple Brush because I think it applies the powder sheerly, avoiding even more chances of cakiness.  And yes, that's a hair-tie around it, go back a couple entries and you'll see why I did that.  (And if you're not noticing yet, yes I use a lot of ELF products.  Why buy something expensive when I can have something cheap that works just as well?)


Step 5:  Choose your blush WISELY.  Lord knows, a bright pink one and you'll be accused of being Un-Naturally Beautiful once again.  I opted for the one on the left.  It's kind of a berry tone and on my skin looks like I was walking around in the cold and got a little flushed.  You can do swatches on your arms to see which looks the most natural on you.  Then pick the blush that goes with the best swatch, and voila!!

Make sure to apply your blush with an excellent brush.  I will explain this in further detail in another entry, because I don't think other people emphasize this enough, but it is truly easiest to apply blushes with a dense, soft, fairly large blush because it will blend the color into your skin a hell of a lot easier and cover more surface area, allowing for a quick application.  Of course you don't want to use that type of brush for the high-pigmented blushes.

Oh, look I yawned.  Don't wanna do that in front of people without covering your mouth!!  That's not Naturally Beautiful!!

On second thought, pose with your blush brush for a second.  Look at you, you're almost done!!  Being Naturally Beautiful took a lot of steps, know-how, and techniques, didn't it!?

Step 6:  Apply your mascara.  If you can get away with it, do NOT use a clumpy mascara.  People see clumps in your mascara and they run off saying, "YOU ARE NOT NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL!!!"  You can even wear some natural looking false eyelashes (Revlon Precision lash glue is supposed to be a good glue), I won't tell anybody.  And dear GOD, comb out the clumps!  But don't comb it too thoroughly, if your lashes are not tangled a little bit, that might look too unnatural!!

Step 7:  Now, pick out your lip product.  I know what you're thinking here.  Hey, that nude-colored lipstick doesn't look too bad!!  WRONG.  You want to have color on your lips, but if they look completely covered in lipstick, that won't be Natural Looking enough.  And if you choose the red one, you're screwed.

You know how to put on lipgloss.  Voila.

Step 8:  Oh, didn't anybody tell you that your eyelids by themselves are too veiny?  Well here, I just handed you that gem without you even asking.  Now apply some nude colored eyeshadow (whatever color you may be).

Make sure to blend it in really well with your finger.  Lord knows if it looks too powdery what will be going through the minds of those Wise People all around you.


Step 9:  Lovingly gaze at the pile of products you used to accomplish this Natural Look.  You're done mother*cker!

In some lightings, you'll SUPER-won't-look-like-you-did-your-makeup!

Knowledge is power baby, knowledge is power.

In fact, the more casual you act and the less you look like you give a shit, the more Naturally Beautiful the Wise People around you tend to think you are.

BOOM!  And done!!


Product List (GAH, I hate writing this part.):
*Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream With Clary Sage
*Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Face Oil Free Lotion Sunscreen
*Dr. Brandt Pores No More (I plead with you not to buy this)
*Glamoflauge Concealer in the shade Ultra Light
*Real Techniques Complexion Sponge
*Elf Mineral Booster in the shade Shimmer
*Elf Stipple Brush (it's the large one but they don't name it large...hence my writing it that way)
*Elf Mineral Pressed Blush in the shade Wanderlust
*Bestope Premium Synthetic Kabuki Brush (the rounded one.  This was shipped from China and I am kind of ashamed of buying it)
*Elf Eye Enhancing Mascara
*Elf Conditioning Lip Balm in the shade (what a surprise) Nice & Natural
*Elf Essential Brow Comb and Brush
*Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in the shade Silky Caramel (not sure they sell this shade anymore, but there are many similar shades in the line if you're looking to buy the exact same brand I used...it's pretty pricey and I bought it at a weak moment in my sophomore year of college.)

Total Number of Products Used To Achieve Naturally Beautiful Look: 13
Sarcasm Scale: 100%
I Didn't Give A Shit Level: Off The Charts
Percentage of Dumbassery That Prompted Me To Write This Entry: 100%


PS: No, I'm not an egotist, I don't think I'm amazing looking, and I didn't write this to show-off... Saying How To Be Naturally Beautiful was all in good fun and in sarcasm and I felt the need to write this PS in case anyone for some reason felt strongly otherwise.

I Figured Out The ELF Large Stipple Brush ;) Total Quick-Fix!! Three AWESOME Tricks!!!

This review is extremely enthusiastic.  I promise you I am in NO way affiliated with ELF and that I take pride in giving honest reviews!!!  I am just in awe by how well this product worked for me after I gave it this quick-fix.  It not only made it a decent brush, but the brush became an irreplaceable staple in my collection!!  Severely out-did my expectations...I can't wait to show you the tricks I discovered!!

To those of you who opened your ELF package, took out the large stipple brush, and then were dismayed to find out how loose and flimsy the hairs were, I'm hoping you didn't throw it in the trash.  If you did, prepare to be disappointed!!  Pull it out from where-ever you stuffed it!!!  I'm about to totally change your opinion on this thing.

But first--go grab a small hair-tie or rubber band!!!

(pictured: ELF Stipple Brush, the larger version, and ELF Mineral Glow Powder)

I used a small, regular, pink hair-tie and just secured it around the wooden end of the brush 5 times.  I then slid it up the wooden part until the hair-tie was around the bristles!! :)

This made the brush firm enough to apply makeup without the bristles spreading out too much and causing brush marks.  They stay together enough now to actually do the job they are supposed to do--stipple!!

Trick 1: Use It With Foundation
To test out the brush, I first used it to apply Revlon's 24 Hour ColorStay Foundation, the original kind, not the whipped (which I don't care for as much).  Oh my god.  I absolutely love the application of the foundation with this stipple brush.  I poured some of the foundation onto the back of my hand, dabbed the ELF Stipple Brush into it, and then stippled my cheeks, nose, undereyes, the entire face, just buy patting the brush onto my skin at a 90 degree angle and lightly bouncing it against my skin where I wanted coverage.

The application looks FLAWLESS.  There are no brush marks at all and it just looks so wonderful!!!  I couldn't be more thrilled with the application of this, it's my new favorite foundation brush.  It's definitely better than my Meijer-brand beauty blender, which was what I was using to apply the foundation previously!!  It's also better at applying this particular foundation than my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush.  And while I can't compare to the Sigma F80 yet, I honestly think that the application looks so flawless, that I don't see how it could possibly get any better.  Highly impressed!!! (Note that I did not use the foundation to cover up the blemish on my chin--I rarely cover up blemishes because I feel it's healthier for my skin and makes them go away faster).


Trick 2: Use It To Apply Blush
Now I have heard a lot about the power of using ELF's Small Stipple Brush to apply very pigmented blushes.  And I've used it a great deal for this purpose, having no superior option.  But I have one complaint about it, used in that format.  It's so small that you really have to work at blending out what little you put on your cheek, and because of this, you have to work hard not to have little spots on your cheek that appear to have more blush than other spots.

ELF's Small Stipple Brush has been such a raved about option for blush, I thought it was only natural that I give the large one a try, now that it's in working order!!  I grabbed the Wet N Wild Color Icon Blush in Heather Silk because this is a blush I have never, ever worn in public due to the deep pigmentation and how fair my skin is.  I knew that with the small stipple brush, this blush didn't work at all for me.  But what about the large?  I tried it, and was so pleasantly surprised.
After lightly dipping the brush in the blush and tapping off excess powder (like I would the small stipple brush), the concentration of blush is light and evenly spread out--there are no dense, concentrated areas of blush that are hard to blend. .

I can actually apply this blush extremely quickly, which was a very pleasant surprise.  It took me all of ten seconds to do my blush, and it was blended and even-looking, when before, with the small stipple brush, it took a solid minute of full-concentration to application and blending.

I can finally wear this blush now.  Above are the results thus-far in the process.  Please don't mind my eyeshadow, I found an old The Icing Eyeshadow Palette from when I was in Highschool in the back of my closet, and I was smearing colors on my eyes half-hazardly to check out the pigmentation and texture.  Haha :)

Tricks 3 and 3.5: (My Absolute FAVORITE Trick) Use A Stipple Brush To Apply Loose Powder!!!
For the final trick, I'm SO EXCITED to share!!!  I usually use the large container of Elf Mineral Booster in sheer, (with 4 tablespoons of baby powder mixed in, trick 3.5** because I am very pale and without it, it's too dark for my complexion--the baby powder actually improves the texture and appearance in my opinion as well!), for all over my face, applied with a big pink powder puff, because I've found that that was the application that looked the smoothest and most natural on my face, more natural than any brush I've ever used, including Bare Minerals, The ELF Complexion Brush, and many more.  I've also used Elf's Glow Powder in Shimmer with the powder puff, both with and without baby powder mixed in and found that the application of it didn't look nearly as smooth as the mineral booster.

Well, I have two full containers of the Glow Powder, and unfortunately, they are the same size as the large version of the mineral booster!  I decided that since I thought the texture of this powder was sub-par, I would definitely notice if there were a smoother or harsher application when applied with the stipple brush.  It was sort of a gamble, but I wanted to try it!!  Just like the blush, I dab the brush in just a little bit (this time using the cap of the product), and then tap off the excess.

So, so shocked.  The powder looks incredible.  Now I feel like I am cheating on the Mineral Booster!!  This is absolutely my new way to apply powder.  It's the smoothest application of powder I've had to date.  No cakiness at all...just natural!  I don't know if you guys can tell from the pictures, but I think the biggest change that I can see from the photographs, is my nose.  My nose is very oily, and makeup loves to break up and cake up if I don't set it quickly enough.  In the first picture, you can see that there is makeup on it breaking down, but in the second picture, it just looks smooth and matte.

This brush that I was on the brink of throwing in the trash, has now become one of my favorite makeup brushes, all thanks to a hair-tie.

I hope this post was useful to you!!!  Have you ever had any makeup items that you thought weren't so great, but then you re-purposed them and they became favorites?  Please share!!!

Sorry I look so crazy!  Hope you will give this a try, regardless!! :)  I know you will be pleasantly surprised.

PS:  Tried out a different hair-style today!!  It kind of reminds me of the 50's, which is an era I love to re-invent :)

Take care and have a wonderful week :)


Oh PS: I've got highlighter all over that spot above my eyebrows on my forehead HAHA.  That's why the powder didn't cover it.  I was just messing around with different things I was finding today!!!