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

Drugstore Haul/review!!!

Yesterday Marissa and I hit up our local Walgreens and CVS and did what we do best, find good deals on makeup! I went knowing what I wanted to check out all the new summer products that some of my favorite makeup brands are still coming out with. We went to Walgreens first and right away I found the new Maybelline Baby Lips Electric lip balms! I was so excited because I've been seeing them all over Instagram, so I snatched one up right away! I paid $3.99 for mine. 

I got the color Pink Shock because it seemed most suitable for my skin tone. The picture below shows two different swatches. The one on top is just one pass over on my hand and the bottom one shows how built up you can get the color.

The color looks so nice on the lips, you can wear it more sheer or build it up for more intensity. The BEST thing about this certain color is that it smells EXACTLY like a blue raspberry Jolly Rancher! If it tasted like it smelled, I'd probably just eat the whole tube! Haha!

Overall, I don't really have anything negative to say about this product because I just adore the Maybelline Baby Lips line! They all feel really nice on the lips, they're easy to apply and they all smell delicious! The only thing I would suggest before wearing them is to give your lips a nice scrub with some homemade sugar scrub or a little bit of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream with a q-tip. If you have any dead skin on your lips the color may accentuate it.

After I put that in my basket, I looked up and saw Wet n' Wild's new limited edition trios for the summer! I got so excited because it is EXTREMELY rare for me to find WW limited edition products! I only have one limited edition palette and I didn't even find that one, Marissa did. So I grabbed two of the trios.

This first one is called "I'm Seeing Triples!"

As you can see they're pretty bright colors which is so great because it's not often you find colors like this at the drugstore! This trio has a lime green, a cobalt blue, and a berry shade. I didn't notice in the store that the bottom berry color was put in upside down but there's nothing I can do about that now haha. The picture below has some swatches.

These swatches were done with no primer or base underneath because I wanted to show their true color. I haven't worn them yet but my first impression was that the shadows, like most Wet n' Wild shadows, were super soft and buttery not chalky in the least bit! Now keep in mind that "chalky" and "powdery" are two different words. Because the shadows are so soft, when you dip your brush or finger in the pan the product loosens which results in some powdery-ness. So to avoid shadow fall down, just give your brush a good tap before applying it on your eyes.

The second trio I got is called "Hard Being the It Girl"

 This palette has a pink, another blue, and a creamy color with a slight yellow undertone to it.

I can see myself reaching for this palette more often than the first because I love wearing pink on my eyes and that cream shade is a perfect all over lid color or browbone highlight for my fair skin tone. The blue in this trio is more of a royal blue in comparison to the cobalt blue in the first palette.

My overall opinion about these palettes is that you would definitely want to use a primer on your lids and most likely a base too just to bring out the intensity of each shade. But they truly are a wonderful bang for your buck considering each palette is only $2.99! Helloooo good deal!!

The last thing I got at Walgreens was one of the new Rimmel Stay Glossy 3D glosses. I was excited about these too because I just love Rimmel! The colors had been picked over so I just got one.

This is in the color "Back Row Smooch", how cute is that name? Here's a close up of the shimmer.

It's a light pink gloss with a really pretty subtle blue shimmer to it. In the swatch below you can see that it's not extremely pigmented but that shimmer does still show through.

When I applied it on my lips it basically looked like my lip color with shimmer on it. Overall, I probably won't wear this certain color on its own but definitely on top of a lipstick to give it some dimension.

At CVS I got some great deals! Covergirl was having a deal if you bought $12 or more you got 4 extrabucks back so I got a full size and a mini Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polish. The full size color is in Eternal Oceans and the mini one I got as a gift. I'm going to do a separate blogpost on the nailpolish soon! The full size was $5.99 and the mini was $3.79 which was a total of $9.78 so to qualify for the extrabucks I got one more item which was the Covergirl Eye Enhancers trio in Shimmering Sands.

I've heard SO many great things about this palette, I thought it was about time I got it! I did some finger swatches to show off the gorgeous shimmer these shadows have. 

The picture still doesn't do them justice! They are so pretty! You can't go wrong with neutrals! I used the darkest color and that bright highlight shade today along with another product I'll go over in a second. I find this palette perfect for everyday use. You can put that middle taupe color all over your lid and the darker bronze color in your crease for a really pretty but effortless look and you're out the door! I also love the lightest shade for an inner corner highlight it just brightens your whole look! That palette was $5.79 so that put me at $15.57 which qualified me for the extrabucks! So I picked up the Maybelline Fit Me foundation, which I've been so desperate to get my hands on. I'm going to do a separate review on that. And I got one of the new Color Tattoo Pure Pigments in the color Downton Brown. 

Guys. THIS COLOR. It is BEAUTIFUL! I wore it today on top of my Bad to the Bronze cream shadow with the Covergirl trio and I love the look it gave my eyes! So bronzed and summery! Plus it made my blue eyes pop!

If only the picture did this justice! I suggest applying this product with a flat stiff brush or with your fingertips. I did the latter and I loved the outcome! The foundation was $7.99 and the Color Tattoo was $6.99. I used the four extrabucks I got with my Covergirl transaction plus I had a $5 off coupon so I only paid $6.47 for the two Maybelline products! Gotta love saving money!

I hope y'all enjoyed my drugstore haul/review! Let us know what other products from the drugstore you want to see us review!

Chelsea