The Most Random Thing I've Ever Bought--Tarte Cosmetics Celebutante

Why I decided to buy a coconut-scented body oil is beyond me. I am not the kind of girl who typically oils myself up, but Tarte Cosmetics always draws me in with the yummy goodness that they put in their products. Tarte says this:

"A few spritzes of this non-greasy, dry oil shimmer spray will give even the most office-dulled skin a glistening champagne-colored sheen while the coconut scent is sure to take you away."

First of all, I love love love the smell of coconut. It instantly reminds me of summer and deliciousness. Secondly, I've looked for a way to add shimmer to my skin without covering myself in chunky sparkles, and this seemed to be an effective tactic. This body oil is chock-full of vitamins A, B1, B2, D, E and anti-inflammatory and softening properties to boot. Here's a picture of it in my cute little beach chair soap holder thing.

 It is definitely adorable packaging, as usual. The shininess absolutely got me hooked already. When I sprayed it on, I realized how absolutely true the blurb from tarte was. The consistency is very dry. When it is rubbed into the skin, the "oily" feeling absolutely disappears and the vitaminy goodness is completely soaked up by your skin.

Too bad I am Sicilian and my arm looks like a bear here, but I promise you in reality it's not this obvious. Thank you to the focus of my camera. I don't know if you can catch the sheen that it gives to your skin, but I am telling you this is going to be a daily spritzer when it starts becoming more summery. On the day of my best friend's birthday, I spritzed it all over my legs, and people definitely commented and noticed on how it brought a lot of good attention to my legs, and actually made them look "better." I had a nice, healthy glow and, quite frankly, I didn't look as pasty as I could have. I hate the winter.

My only concern with this product is that when you rub it in, the sparkliness gets all over your hands and you have to wash it off, which I haven't found is too much of a travesty for the pretty sheen it gives your skin. I guess I should expect that it would happen, but in reality it is kind of annoying to have to wash sparkles all off your hands before you think about putting on makeup or heading out the door. As I said, however, I think it's worth the wash.

Long story short: Sexy sheen, kind of pricey ($35), but prevention of free-radical damage while looking like a sex icon is FINE BY ME.

;) all my love
kristie


PS going bare again today--Smooth Operator and some mascara. And my eyebrows. That's it. :D

A Small Comment on Eyebrows...and Other Non-Makeup-Related Things

Recently, I have been going through Facebook photos of myself from freshman year as well as other pictures from high school. I want to go back and shake myself senseless. I need to show you a picture of what my eyebrows used to look like.

What was I thinking? My eyebrows are semi-circles! They don't complement my facial structure, and I look constantly surprised. Thankfully, I was able to grow them in and learned a thing or two about filling them in over the course of my college career.

My eyebrows are much more natural nowadays, and they actually require much less maintenance! They have found their natural arches (which I was lost about back in the day), and I have become much less obsessed with making my eyebrows twins. Here are my eyebrow suggestions for other people struggling with what to do with eyebrows.


#1: Your eyebrows are sisters, not twins. When you become too concerned with your eyebrows being exactly the same, you start to over-pluck. As I'm sure you've already noticed, I used to do this all the time, and gave myself non-existent eyebrows. Let your brows find their natural arch and work with what your momma gave you individually on both sides of your face. No part of your body is exactly identical, and your brows won't be either. Don't worry about it.

#2: Feel free to add more, but stop taking away too much. What I mean by adding more: to match one brow to the other, use a brow pencil or a brow powder one shade lighter than your natural hair color to fill in the spaces. Don't take away from the other one! Again, this is how I overplucked my eyebrows into oblivion. *Shudder* Even thinking about it getting me upset! Ha!

#3: Use those stencils you get in brow kits! They seem absolutely ridiculous, but I promise you--they help you find a shape that will complement your face, and you don't have to worry about planning out the shape yourself. Try it once, fill it in lightly. You'll thank me, I swear. They come in the Sephora brow kit, if you're looking to buy  one.


My brow regimen:
1) Wow, when I wake up in the morning my eyebrows are all over the place! I use a brow brush to brush through the hairs and tame them before I begin filling them in.
2) I tweeze unnecessary hairs that have popped up--but be careful! Don't tweeze hairs above the brow because it creates a really unnatural look and can ruin the height of the beautiful brow arch.

This Brow Tutorial Shows How to Create the Perfect Arch

3) I fill in my brows with a shade VERY close to my natural dark brown hair color. I have used Sephora's brow kit, and I am currently loving the brow kit I purchased from NYX cosmetics. You can find each of them on their respective websites, www.sephora.com and www.nyxcosmetics.com. FYI--the NYX kit is only $6, which I think is a steal because I can use it 1,000 times. No lie.

Use a small angled brush to create the top and bottom lines of your brow with a brow powder (I don't use a pencil, I think it is too aggressive of a line) and make sure to blend the lines you created up into the hairs. The more natural the blending, the better your eyebrows will look. To create a natural line on the inside-most part of your brow, use a brush that has a rounded edge--that way the line doesn't come out so angular. That would look unnatural.

4) Keep your brows in place all day with a gentle brow gel. I find some of them to be too "hardening". I didn't like the gel that came in the Sephora kit--I felt it "glued" my brows in place. Example: It's like the difference between a hair spray that holds your hair but lets it maintain its bounce, or a spray that literally turns your hair into steel. My favorite brow gel is the one that Chanel sells. It's the perfect amount of hold.

5) Highlight with a soft white underneath the brow to draw attention to the height of your brow bone--that will also deepen the crease color you put on when you wear makeup later!

I think my brows are much more natural and fit my face much better now. I hope you agree, and if you have brow questions, be sure to e-mail or comment.

IN OTHER NEWS: My room mate and best friend in the entire world, Jeanne, turned 21 this weekend--a total milestone! We threw her a great party at our favorite Italian restaurant and then went to New York City--the West Village is the "it" spot--I had no idea! The whole neighborhood was overflowing with the trendiest people, and everyone was relaxing and laughing and dancing and just living it up! We had such a great time down there that we're planning on going back at the end of the school year. I used a H.I.P. duo for gold lids that I hope to show you soon, by the way! She and I both had a truly great time, and I want to thank everyone who was a part of the festivities for making it a really great experience. I love her very much and I'm glad that she had a good time. So, Happy Birthday Jeanne! :D

This is a picture of us being silly from my Photo Booth Application--it's from freshman year! How far we've come! <3 LOVE YOU.



<3 all the best, kristie

My Makeup Life as We Speak

Dear World,

So I'm sure you can tell that the posts are lacking, but I'm going to have to admit to you that it is mainly just because I haven't been wearing that much makeup...at least not the same degree as usual. Like I've said many times, I always have my Smooth Operator tinted moisturizer from tarte cosmetics on hand, but recently I've just been throwing on some mascara and that's it. (Welcome to the end of the school year.)

However! My room mate, guy friend upstairs, and another friend of mine recently decided to go out and enjoy ourselves, and  I wore the Mac Russian Red Lipglass that I reviewed a while ago. I figured it was my only chance, so I decided to try it.

It. Is. Hot! I was really proud of how perfect and simple this red lip was, but I'm going to say this. Red lips are a lot of work. It is going to be an occasion few and far between that I wear this look, simply because I cannot cannot cannot stay on top of reapplying this stuff. If you eat dinner, of course it's going to wear off. I am too careless of a person to freak out constantly about what's on my face. Fortunately, I anticipated that. I reapplied it a few times in the evening, and by the time we went out for drinks and things, I took it off with the makeup remover and cotton balls I had in my bag! Wahoo!
Don't get me wrong though, those red lips are super sexy. But next time I'm not wearing them to dinner. :D

The rest of the time I've been wearing fairly nude colors, with a little bit of brown on the crease for definition. I recently purchased the NYX Cosmetics For Your Eyes Only Palette for Brown Eyes. The website cosmetic candy did some swatches, which I will post here.

At first I was disappointed in this palette because...let's be honest here...the colors are really boring except for the emerald green. However, I think this palette has grown on me and I will explain why. First of all, it is a nice compact place for all of your nudes and associated crease colors (The top four colors from left to right) Secondly, the deep burgundy-violet and emerald green are really really beautiful colors and I consider them a great acquisition. This palette is also well pigmented, which often is a hard thing to say when your purchase is such a ridiculously good price. I paid less than $10 for this palette, and I will probably have it for an eternity and a half. (In other news I really don't like the lavender/lilac color in the top right corner...we'll see what I can do with that)

All in all, I have two weeks left of school, and I will probably wear minimal makeup during that time. Expect to hear from me here and there until then, and then I promise this website will get an explosion of reviews.


Summer here we come!

<3

Long Time Ladies, A Review on Migi Nail Art

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I've written. Sadly enough, I haven't had much to write about. Either I've been focusing a lot on work or I've been out and about. Fortunately I'm back in the game with a lot to write about--in the near future is a NYX cosmetics review as well as another great Tarte product review.

For now, however, I have have HAVE to tell you about this nail art pen set that I found at, out of all places, the New York Auto Show! I had always wondered how people made such beautiful artwork on their nails. I had seen some videos on YouTube of different gurus using a nail art pen, but I never really made anything of it. The woman who was selling this nail pen at the Auto Show must have thought that I was the easiest customer to persuade--she literally had me hooked in five minutes. The set I got came with an amazing deal--if you send in the return they give you, you get free refills for live, minus shipping and handling! Amazing!

I tried out the nail pen in black first, and I decided to take on a daunting task and do a tiger print on my nails. Never in a million years would I have believed I could accomplish a design like this, but with this pen, not only did I actually make a beautiful design, but I also did my left hand...really well!

How adorable is that? Nail art is a perfect way to express yourself, and anyone that knows me knows that I love to change up my nail styles constantly. What's perfect about these nail pens is you can also take the pen part off and beneath it is a brush, so you can also use the colors to fill your nails. They come in an assortment of colors that include a compilation of regular colors, neon colors, sparkly colors, and french-inspired ones. With the white that came in the pack of regulars I got, I put a french tip on my toes in approximately five minutes. No joke. It would normally take me all night to try and get the line right.

The pack itself is $25, and that comes with eight colors that each have a brush and pen feature. Included in the pack is the "for life" refund thing I mentioned, as well as a booklet full of design ideas that will link you to their website which has even more ideas. I think this company mayyy get mad at me for using their "life" feature literally for the rest of my life. Visit their website PLEASE. I am so happy that I purchased this. I am going to add little flowery things to my nail designs foreverrr.


Migi Nail Art

Long story short: Stop going to get manicures. You can do it yourself.


<3 kristie

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