EXTREME MAKEOVER: Makeup Vanity Edition

Okay, okay! I am really bad about putting back my makeup and makeup brushes after I'm done with them. So on Monday I decided, "it's the beginning of the week Marissa, it's time to get organized!" This led me to going on a cleaning spree and I am EXTREMELY pleased with the outcome! 

Before (really embarrassing):

See???? Gosh I feel like a terrible makeup owner! I wasn't even using my Muji drawer set. I love that thing! But, I worked hard and got everything spick and span. 

After (drum roll please!):

So pleased! I am thinking about rearranging my brushes and lipsticks because of being right handed, but honestly, it hasn't slowed me down in the mornings so far, so my brushes may stay put. 

I got my lipstick holder on amazon. It's acrylic and tiered so I can see all of my lipsticks that I'm encouraging myself to use this season. Would you like to see a blogpost on my favorite fall lip products? That will be my next post. I organized my Muji drawer like this: 

Drawer 1. Face product essentials

Drawer 2. Eye products (individual eyeshadows, mascaras, brow products and eyeliners)

3. More eyeliners and cream eyeshadows!

What are some of your favorite ways to keep yourself organized? 

Xoxo,

Marissa 

Chelsea's "Go to" Products of the Moment

I've been itching to blog about a haul really bad lately but I just haven't had the opportunity to purchase any new products lately, aside from the boring necessities. So I was brainstorming all day thinking of what I could share with everyone that would be helpful if your looking to update your makeup collection. So I thought I'd share with you my favorite products I've reaching reaching for a lot lately. After all, what better way to get someone interested in something than by telling them how much you like it? So whether you're in the market for just a new mascara or you want to update your whole makeup drawer (or drawers if you're like me :P), I genuinely hope you find this post helpful in your hunt for new makeup! 

In no particular order I'm just going to list each product, it's picture, and a description of what I use it for and what I think of it. 

DISCLAIMER: This post may be a bit long but I prefer to hear proper descriptions so I like to give proper descriptions :)

The first product is my LORAC Pro Palette. Words can't even express my love for this palette! Oh my goodness it's the bombdiggity. I got mine at Ulta back in March I do believe and I've never looked back! The moment I opened it I fell in love with the soft, buttery textures. Each shadow is so unbelievably pigmented, it's crazy! It has sixteen shadows, half of them are matte and half are shimmer/metallic. I've used this palette in conjunction with other products every time I've done my makeup ever since I bought it, no exaggeration. Enough said, moving on!

My next favorite is the much talked about original Naked palette by Urban Decay. This is just an all around pretty palette! It comes with twelve shadows, all aside from two are either shimmer or metallic in texture. I use this a ton on clients along with my LORAC palette. The two matte shades in the palette are "Naked" and "Buck"

I actually use both of these colors to define my eyebrows! I use Buck at the bottom of my brows to add extra dimension and I use Naked everywhere else. They also make wonderful transition colors. 

While we're on the subject of eyebrows, this is the tinted brow gel from Anastasia in the color Brunette I also have the colors Caramel and Granite. This is awesome for adding extra depth to your brows and it works to keep unruly brow hairs in place all day! I usually use the gels on top of powder to set my brows in place but I also find them a lifesaver when I'm in a mad rush but I just need something to make my eyebrows existent on my face! Just comb through and go!

I alternate between a ton of different primers but I always come back to this one by Laura Geller. I'm not really sure why. I tend to go for more of the silicone based ones but this one is more of a gel-like consistency and I actually really like that. I find my makeup separates less on my face throughout the day with this primer unlike with the more silicone ones. Don't be fooled by the name! It feels really lightweight on the skin, not thick at all like the name would lead you to believe.  

THIS FOUNDATION. Seriously. I've been repurchasing this guy off and on for at least four years! One of my dear friends got me hooked on this foundation. For a while I wasn't using it because Estée Lauder makeup counters stopped selling my shade! Can you imagine how sad I was? So it was exactly a year ago this month I decided to check out the Cosmetic Company Outlet at the Premium Outlets to see if they had my color. And low and behold they did! Needless to say, I stocked up on those bad boys! I bought two that day, two more when I went back in December and one more just last week. It's that awesome. It's a medium to full coverage foundation that stays put all day. What I really love about it is that when I put it on I can trust it's going to stay on my face and look great throughout the day with little to no touch ups. And also, even though you can get a full coverage look, it still looks like skin. My freckles still show through and everything. It's crazy how it works. The only negative thing is that it does tend to cling to dry patches, so I would avoid using this foundation if you have really dry skin. 

I have Emily Eddington from YouTube to thank for getting me into this little guy. This is such an interesting product. I'm not quite sure how to explain it really. It's a twist up tube with this stick of formula that turns emollient when it makes contact with the skin. 

This is what it looks like. This is not a moisturizer, I repeat, not a moisturizer! On days when I feel particularly dry I use this AFTER I've moisturized, on any areas that need extra moisture, before I apply my primer or foundation. I find that it gives my skin a smoother texture. It also works great on pesky dry patches! But once again, I would only use this for the daytime before makeup application. If you have severe dryness I would use a much heavier duty product. 

My favorite under eye concealer is the Maybelline Fit Me concealer. I broke down and bought this a while back after hearing everyone from the beauty community say how amazing this product was and boy, am I glad I listened to everyone! I only wish I had gotten it sooner! It blends effortlessly and covers up my dark circles like no ones business!

This is Collection's Lasting Perfection concealer. I was really trying my hardest not to include this in my favorites because it's not available in the US :((( I couldn't resist though! As you can tell by the packaging this is extremely well loved by me. I use this to cover up an spots or blemishes on my face and they practically disappear and it stays all day! I'm going to be terribly sad when I finish this tube. Nothing compares to this little beauty. 

My favorite setting powder is hands down Rimmel's Stay Matte powder. This is just the translucent one but they do have actual shades from the line. As you can see from the wear and tear, I use this every time I apply makeup. I just love it! It sets my makeup, improves foundation wear time, and it's under five bucks!

Highlighters are another thing I alternate with a lot. But I've been using Lightscapade by MAC a lot lately and I've been enjoying it a lot. I use it just at the tops of my cheekbones and I find that it adds such a gorgeous but natural glow to my face. It's not an obnoxious highlight at all. 

I have two blush favorites because there's no way I could pick just one. Blush is one of favorite beauty products! This first one is Coralista from Benefit. Mine is a little baby one from one of their value sets. This is such a gorgeous color! A peachy color with a hint of pink. It has a satin finish to it so it leaves the skin with a healthy glow. This is a great spring and summer shade but I'll probably use it a little in the cooler months too ;)

The second blush is Frankly Scarlet by MAC. It looks utterly frightening, I know, but if applied correctly, it is the prettiest blush! This is so extremely pigmented it looks almost unused. The way I apply it is I just barely tap my brush in the product and buff the brush on the back of my hand and whatever is left on the brush is enough for both my cheeks! The result, your cheeks have a perfect flushed look, no one would suspect it's actually makeup. 

MAC's Harmony blush has been my favorite contouring product for over a year now. I use other products occasionally but nothing compares to this long time favorite! My favorite thing about it is that it has zero traces of any orange which doesn't compliment my skin tone very well. 

My favorite eyelid primer has been this LORAC Behind the Scenes eye primer that actually came with my Pro Palette. I've found that it keeps my shadow in place longer than the UD Primer Potion! I may have to buy I full size when I run out!

I also have two mascara favorites because I'm a mascara junkie! I hopped on the Cover Girl Clump Crusher bandwagon a couple months back because once again, EVERYONE was raving about it. I bought the original formula first and loved it, then I bought the water resistant formula (shown in the photo) for the summer/long days when I want my mascara to hold up. As much as I like this one, I would suggest getting the regular formula because this one isn't water resistant at all. I've found it actually comes off easier than the regular formula. However, both formulas stand really well against smudging and annoying mascara transfer. 

My second mascara fave is the Clinique Lash Power mascara. I use this mainly for my bottom lashes or on top of a mascara that smudges easily. This is a tubing mascara so it stays in place like  nothing else until it's removed with warm water. This is the same formula as the Bottom Lash Mascara by Clinique the only difference, other than price, is that the brush is longer with this one. 

Lastly, my two favorite lip colors! The fact that they're from the same brand and line is purely coincidental but I do really like Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains. The first color, Honey, is a very flattering mauve that looks like my lips but better. The second color, Lovesick, is a bright pink with a tad of glitter in it but not too much. I like to wear this one to bring attention to my face when I'm not wearing much on my eyes besides mascara. It's flattering to my skin tone, makes my eyes pop, and makes my teeth look white! 

Here's a swatch of each color. Honey looks brown next to the bright pink Lovesick but I assure you, it's not. 

Well that wraps up my go to makeup products of the moment! If you made it this far down, I immensely appreciate that you took the time to read this. If you have any questions about any of the products I talked about or any products in general just leave a comment below or tweet me @chelseabmckay :) What's your "go to" product right now? Have you tried any of these products? Let me know what you think of them! 

-Chelsea

Covergirl 305 Eternal Oceans Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss review+swatches and pictures!

I've been wanting to try the nail polish from Covergirl for a while now so I decided to finally pick one up! I got this color, 305 Eternal Oceans, as part of my beauty haul that I posted a couple weeks ago.

As you can see it's a gorgeous purple with a blue undertone to it. Marissa was telling me that she thinks it's a close dupe to OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies from the James Bond Skyfall collection released for winter of 2012. I have yet to do a swatch comparison but just by looking at the two next to each other they do look very similar.

Covergirl claims that you can go without a base or top coat while using this polish because they added a chip-resistant topcoat to the formula. I did, however, use a base and top coat with this nail polish when I wore it just out of pure habit. So I took a photo comparison, on the left swatch I used my Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat and on the right swatch I used the nail polish on its own. 

natural lighting:

natural lighting with flash:

Surprisingly there's not much difference between the two swatches except for the right side being a little uneven which is pretty common when forgoing a top coat. 

The formula itself is very nice! It's thick but not goopy at all, time will tell if that changes but as of now it doesn't disappoint. It reaches full opacity in two coats which is heavenly! Dry time is alright. If you have to run out the door after doing your nails, I would definitely suggest using Seche Vite or Out the Door top coat to ensure you don't ruin your fresh mani with smudges.

I have no complaints about the packaging, I actually like it a lot. Sturdy but not clunky. It has a removable top which reminds me of Butter London polishes but still very different.

The brush is just your average looking nail polish brush really. It works great for me though!

My overall opinion of this nail polish is that it gave me a very good first impression! I'll definitely be getting more as soon as I can get my hands on them! And you should too! ;-)

Hugs,

Chelsea