Brush review of sorts..

Studio Tools vs Mac

Hmm, Studio Tools at Target have stepped their game way up. The bristles are alot more softer and the handles are different as well.

This is a Mac 224 and the studio tools brush side by side, same brush basically aside from bristle color. The studio tools is alot more dense and precise and lets not mention cheaper. It could also be compared to the Mac 222. The 224 & 222 were both around $24, the studio tools was $4.99!


My entire set of studio tool brushes. The eye brushes all are the old handle brushes with the exception of the blending brush.


Elf powder brush vs Coastal Scents bronzer brush
I like them both. The CS brush bristle are closer together and picks up alot more product but the handle is a piece of crap. The Elf brush was cheaper but not by much. I wanna say $3 and the CS brush was $6 maybe. Can't remember. But either of these brushes are great for the price. And both get the job done.

Foundation brushes..Mac 190SE vs Studio Tools

Either one is fine. My Mac one is from the 2008 holiday collection so it's a smaller version. But the bristles are soooo soft on the studio tools brush. And it gets in all the crevices. That brush was $7 as oppose to the $30 for Mac.

Mac vs Studio Tools, don't mine my Mac brush it needs to be washed.

Basically, there is no difference in the two of these brushes aside from asthetically and price. The bristles on both are very soft. The studio tools brush is slightly smaller which I actually like better. Mac 187 $42(estimate) Studio Tools $6.99 at Tarjay. I've found my dupe and plan to get probably 2 more for my kit.

Now if I can get a dupe for the Mac 188 and 242 brushes. I'm so over spending so much money on Mac. Even with the discount you still spending a lot of money. The only time I will purchase Mac now is when I cannot find an inexpensive dupe for something. I completed my kit as artist for probably around $150 over the span of 12 months. All thats left for me is to build my foundations. All in all, I'm a happy camper.

Finally got my orders in..

I finally recieved my Elf Cosmetics and Glamour Doll eyes order. First up, Elf, shipping wasn't bad at all. It took about a week and half from order to shipping. So not bad, considering I seen alot of reviews on shipping nightmares.

I really like this brush belt for the price. It was $15, it's faux leather but feels very sturdy. It says Elf in the bottom right corner but its hardly visible unless you really look at it. As you can see, I couldn't wait to get some of my brushes tucked away. Also tucked away is lash glue, tweezers and small scissors.


These are the eyeshadows,blushes and the bronzer blush duo(which I heard is a dupe for the Nars one but more affordable) from the studio line. I believe these were all $3 and I got 50% off on all the studio items.

Top Row (blushes): Peachy Keen, Candid Coral, Mellow Mauve
Next (shadows) Butter cream, Saddle, sand dollar
Duo: blushed/bronzed


Order in its entirety:
Brush Belt
black wristlet
shine eraser blotting sheets/50pk
eyelash curler
corrective concealer quad palette
Shimmering Facial whips- Spotlight & Golden Peach
Studio line kabuki brush
shadows-sand dollar, saddle, butter cream
blushes- peachy keen, candid coral, mellow mauve
2 in 1 conditioning gloss- Supermodel, plumtastic
Lip primer & plumper
eye primer & lip liner
natural eye lash kiy
mineral lipstick-Natural Nymph
Blush/bronzer duo
Fan brush-studio line
flat top powder brush-studio line
mineral eye primer
mineral lipgloss-Trophy Wife
Hypershine gloss-Honey
Superglossy lipshine-candlelight, honey do
waterproof eyeliner pen in black
Wet gloss lash & brow clear mascara


entire order in the bag it came in

Finally Glamour Doll eyes "samples" I was VERY disappointed with this order. From shipping to getting them in my hand. Pictures can be decieving and also I must've missed some print somewhere, these bags literally are smaller than the palm of my hand. She sent me 3 free samples but honestly for $10 I would've rather had bigger samples as oppose to the free ones. I guess I'm just annoyed that this shit took 3 weeks and then showed up in my mailbox in a regular letter size envelope. All I could honestly think was "3 weeks and $10 for this" I wish her well with her business but I will NEVER again.

My elf order was huge but was still less than $50! A large portion is for my kit but the stuff that's for me, I might do a review on when I get around to using it. So glad I'm not waiting on anything else to come in the mail. I've done so good budget building my kit that I'm going to put my Mac pro card to use real soon. I need a few shadows ..ok not need, I want, along with a few lipsticks. I also have a few B2M items.

Man deadline is looming, I go live in the salon as early as next week. I have a few more products to get along with ordering my marcels. I have to finish designing my flyer to get to the designer and then printer. I have to decide on a business card and a colleague has been pushing me to get up a website so she can send some people my way without bugging me everyday. So I have that in the back of my brain. I also have a photoshoot in a week with 2 models. So the light at the end of the tunnel is pretty dim, but I am so not complaining.

Ordering products online

I've been back and forth on whether to post this or not but this is my blog and its my experience so I'm going to.

Now I've never been one to order makeup online. I like to see my products in person to make sure its something I like. But I bit the bullet oh about 2 or 3 weeks ago and started ordering small stuff and things I've seen countless reviews on.

Glamourdolleyes.com
I don't think I did enough research or watched enough reviews on this one. No doubt the eyeshadows are VIBRANT and they catch my eye every single time. So I bit the bullet and I ordered a couple baggie samples. Totaling me about $10. This is a ONE woman show, the one big detail I somehow overlooked. I placed this order on Sept.22 and I still have yet to recieve. I wouldn't be too bothered if there wasn't an advertisment going about about special halloween combinations and to order soon to recieve in time. Umm, I support the movement and I ain't mad, make that dough but can I have my samples, this advertisement came out after my order. I understand the website says orders on a SLIGHT delay due to shipping errors with jar supplier. I understand that, I know that could be stressful in itself. But I didn't place an order for jars. My samples are baggies, so unless baggies are included in that shipment, I'm a bit confused. It sounds like I'm complaining and I'm not, I'm ANNOYED, I've went from nervous, to patient and now just plain annoyed. I don't like paying for something and waiting in limbo. $1, $2, $5 or $20, it's my money and I either want it back or want what I paid for. I prefer the latter but if that's not possible, send my shit back through paypal. I do not want to wait a month for samples of some eyeshadows. So for this one I say: DO YOUR RESEARCH, I myself will not be placing another order but I won't tell anyone else not to, that's just not me and everyone's experience will definitely not be the same.

Makeupgeek.com
This order is probably the reason for most of my annoyance with the one above. I placed this order the day after placing the above order. That same night, I received confirmation of order placement. The next morning I received shipping info and a day or so later this order was IN MY MAILBOX. WTF...how that happen. Now both of these companies are independently owned and granted Marlena doesn't have to "make" her product but still. This order went from Michigan to Texas in 3 days. I will definitely order from her again if needed.

Eyeslipsface.com
the good old elf cosmetics. Now I took a gamble on this one. I remember a while back people were complaining about shipping. Then it got considerably better. I placed a large order. Ordering about 19 items from the regular line, the mineral line and the studio line. I won't complain, I just placed this order on Tuesday and the website still says order processing so I'm hoping I have it at my door by this time next week. If you order from here you take a gamble on shipping unless you pay for 3 days or overnight, etc. I don't need my order bad enough to pay $12 to 3 day it. But when I get it I will surely review the products.

All in all, what I've learned is I still don't like ordering online. I have just enough patience but not enough. I don't like paying for something not knowing if all will go well. But I am glad I have paypal. I won't be making any online orders anytime soon for any makeup products from big name companies or independently owned companies and I will never order makeup from Ebay or somewhere of the likes cause I just don't trust it.

That's all I got for now.

Haul/Review, Etc

Here are a couple things I've purchased over the last 2 weeks or so.

Nail polishes up top: Atomic(green) clear, Nuclear Energy(purple), Nyx jumbo eye pencils which I swatched in the next picture, cuticle oil by Haken, I love this stuff in between nail fills. It smells like strawberries and leaves my cuticles soft. It was in the range of $2-$5 at Sallys.

Nyx jumbo eyepencils left to right, Lavender, Slate, Cottage Cheese. I think I own just about all Nyx eyepencils. They are a cheaper alternative to Mac shadesticks. I like Mac shadesticks but not at $14+ a piece. I get my Nyx pencils For $2.99 at my local beauty supply store, but they can be ordered at nyxcosmetics.com or cherryculture.com

I got this order from makeupgeek.com(will review experience later)

Ben Nye & Mac pigment samples, Nyx glitter liners & Nyx eye palette for brown eyes.

Top: Nyx glitter liner gold (left), glitter liner Disco Ball (right)

Bottom: Ben Nye pigment Ice (white) Ben Nye pigment Starry Night (black sparkle) Mac pigment Fuschia

I really like this palette. This is a great idea for beginners. It's a palette that is designed to enhance eye colors. Mine is for brown eyes but there was a few others on the site as well.

Revlon finally got some true matte lipsticks. I really like this one in Nude Attitude. Very neutral and truly matte.

A few things I picked up at Walmart. At the very top Revlon matte eyeshadow in Venetian Blue. Walmart has picked up a new line called Hard Candy and I love the packaging. It's almost an Ed Hardy-esq feel. Anyway I purchased Walk the line liquid liner in black, Lash call lengthening mascara Night Owl it's black (don't like the wand on it) book of eyeshadow-Rocker Chick (comes with a sample black kohl eyeliner that's really soft and creamy) Nobody's Perfect Concealer palette in Medium

Rimmel natural bronzer in Sunlight, L'oreal de-crease primer (great cheaper alternative to Urban Decay and Too faced shadow insureance) Revlon Colorstay foundation in Toast w/ SPF12 for Normal to Dry Skin. I really like this foundation and am going to do a separate review on it.

If you like to play with lashes, right now is the time to get plenty of variety. You can find all sizes and colors since it's halloween time. Same for wigs. The 3 up top are all Halloween lashes, the Revlon fantasy lashes I got in Flirty. My own lashes are rather full and long so I don't play with lashes often. But they are fun to be creative with and use on photoshoots.

This is a look I did a couple days ago. I used the Coastal Scents 88 regular palette. The colors look a bit powdery in the pictures but not IRL. They actually were quite vibrant but its not a look I think I would do again.

My new glasses. Makeup can be worn with glasses. The pictures above I have on 1 contact and couldn't wait to get the other one out. lol Sad thing is I'm too blind to do my makeup without contacts.

I think thats all I got for now. This post is getting a bit long.

Time to catch up

I have so many things I want to update about on the blog. Honestly, I just formed a habit of not blogging, not you tubing,etc and it's so easy to NOT do any of it. Truth is I enjoy doing both. I'm in limbo about the you tube channel though. I enjoy making tutorials but the editing of them bad boys is just not what that is! It's part of the reason I haven't done any tutorials recently. I don't like windows movie maker much and I don't like the wait time it takes to upload. So I've really been wrecking my brain trying to come up with a happy medium. I'm going to experiment a little bit I think before I just give it up all together. As for the blog, I'm going to start updating regularly. At least that's what I'm shooting for. I finally was able to just play in makeup and create some looks as I wait for my cosmetologists license to get here so I can work. So I have a few looks I'm going to be posting in the next couple of days. I also have a few hauls/reviews I want to get to. I'm also waiting on 2 packages in the mail. One order I just placed last night and one order is going on 2 weeks now and I'm trying to give it a chance to get here before I say anything but I'm starting to get a little antsy about it. So if it's not here by tomorrow depending on how I feel, I'm going to go ahead a write up a sight-unseen review to be posted by Friday, based on research and my own personal feelings regarding MY order.

Anyway, I want to revamp the blog. I was looking at some past post and I see where some of them are not what I want to see on my beauty related blog, so some post might be going bye-bye. Going forward, I'm going to be posting any and everything beauty related that I think will be of use to myself any one who still reads or comes across this old blog, every now and then I might purchase something none beauty related like an electronic or something and it might get sprinkled here and there. :)

With that said, if I can get these pictures to load correctly up next will be some random makeup pics that I want to get up.

That's all I got for now.

Some New Looks

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog, but if so, I had some time on my hands the other day so I created 2 tutorials on the tube. Check them out if you want, but for now here is some pics.

My Everyday/Go To look: This is a look I gravitate toward when I'm feeling lazy or uninspired. It's really quick to throw together and very simple. Doesn't take department store brands or Mac. You can certainly use that if you want but I had to be sensible with spending while I was in school.

This look can definitely be taken from a simple day look for work, school or errands, etc. To a smokey gorgeous evening look for a girls night out, date night,etc. For an evening look I would darken the outer V with a black shadow, I would line the lips and use a darker lipstick or gloss, maybe a red or plum. Whatever you like..

For this look I used the following:

Face:
Revlon Custom Creation foundation in Deep (shade #2)
Mac Studio Finish Concealer in NW35
Milani even tone powder in Caramel

Eyes:
Covergirl eyeshadow in Golden Shimmer (all over the eye stopping a little above the crease)
Nyx Dark Brown (in the crease and outer corner of the eye)
Nyx Nude (for browbone)

Lips:
Studio Gear Ambition (lipstick)
Mac Dazzleglass Miss Dynamite (lipgloss)

For this look, I like the purple but not a fan of the glitter. I was trying something different because I had gotten the idea in my head and I had also picked up the glitter at Walmart. It is by Mary Kate and Ashley and it was around $2.84. The glitter of course is messy and I didn't like seeing little specks of glitter show up everywhere.

For this look I used the following:

Face:

Revlon Custom Creation in Deep (shade #2)

Mac Studio Finish Concealer in NW35

Milani even tone powder in Caramel

Eyes:

Lavender (Coastal Scents 88 Matte palette)

Fishnet (Urban Decay)

Stars n' Rockets (Mac)

Dark Purple (Coastal Scents 88 Matte palette)

Midnight Black (Smashbox to set eyeliner on waterline)

Loreal Intense Linuer(sp) (liquid in Carbon Black)

Maybelline Colassal Volume mascara (carbon black)

Mac eye kohl liner (Engraved)

Lips:

Mac Angel (lipstick)

Rimmel Eastend Snob (lipgloss)

I really enjoyed doing these tutorials. Reminded me of how I missed doing tutorials. I don't miss the editing process though. It's very tedious. I'm brainstorming some other ideas and we'll see how it all goes.

In other news, today this blog is a year old. When I started it last year I had all these ideas in my head but school and life took over and I didn't have the time to devote to it like I wanted. I thought about deleting it but I don't want to. So I'm making an active effort to update alot more often than I did before even if noone still reads.

Oh and how could I forget..I finally graduated from cosmetology school. I took my first test and passed. So I have one more test to take and I thought I could take them back to back but of course that would be too much like right. So my next and final test is in 2 weeks. I need to repack my bag. By this time next month, God willing, I will be a licensed cosmetologists.

So I think thats all and if you still read thanks for stopping by and checking me out.

Peace

3 months later...

Wooowwwwwwww...I can't believe 3 months have passed since my last post. Let's see what I can sum up...Still in cosmetology school. This is my last full week of school. I will be graduating next Thursday morning (Aug. 6) Now that its coming to an end it seems like I just started. I'm ready to move on with my life. I've been in school 10 months. Graduating a week early and the first one of 26 people that started with me to actually graduate. I'm very proud.

Let's see what else, my baby turned 9 last Tuesday (the 21st) That was emotional for me. He's growing up. We had a party the Sat. before and there was 9 kids that came out to celebrate with him. They bowled, did laser tag and had pizza, cake and drinks. He got TONS of toys, games and money. Then on Tuesday, he took cupcakes to school to share with everyone that he couldn't invite. He is such a thoughtful kid. Always thinking of others. I hope its a trait he'll never lose.
He will be starting 4th grade at the end of August and he is so ready. We bought all school supplies over the last couple of weeks and it has just made him a little bit excited. I think shopping for school clothes is going to probably send him over the top. lol

That about sums up the last 3 months. Nothing major, school, work and rest is about it. I'm hoping to go on a family vacation when I graduate. If my husband can get off. If not, we'll just go to Six Flags are something.