What Makes You Beautiful?

What's your daily beauty regimen?

Are you one of those lucky ladies who is naturally beautiful

and doesn't need a single product?

I loathe envy women like that.

I am not that fortunate.

So here are my daily products.

I use Mary Kay's skin care system.

Estee Lauder's double wear foundation (applied with a bush)

Estee Lauder's double wear powder (applied with a brush)

Urban Decay Eyeshadow

Clinique's Liquid Eye Liner

Clinique's Mascara
MAC brow stick

Any brand blush 

Any brand lipstick or gloss

It makes a HUGE difference if you use a brush to 

apply your foundation.

It's very awkward if you're used to using your hand or a sponge,

but after some practice you won't be able to turn back.

(I was not asked or paid to write this post!)

Weekend Recap

*I forgot to post this Monday!*

One Shoe Can Change Your Life ~ Cinderella

I can't pass up a good shoe sale. Ever. 

Even if I have no immediate need or place to wear these, I had to get them.

Both.

The crystals are actually clear, not sure why they look brown in the pic!

In addition to shoes, I re uped on 3 important items from MAC.

Brush Cleanser.

VERY important to keep your brushes clean!

I can't tell how much of a difference it makes.

Paint Pot in Painterly

I use this as a primer for eye shadow.

It makes your eye shadow pop in & keeps it on all day, in my opinion!

Eye Brow stick in Lingering.

I have thing about eyebrows. 

I hate to see over plucked, too bushy, or poorly shaped eyebrows!

Even with my naturally dark brows, this gives them a more defined look.

But don't go overboard.

Apparently she has no friends, because I don't know who 

told her it was ok to post this online.

Naked 2: Urban Decay

I've had some time to try all of all the colors in the Naked 2 palette by Urban Decay. 

I can honetly say I do love all the colors.

However, everytime I wear the color VERVE, by the end of my 8 hour work day,

it looks like my eye lids have been sweating!

I absolutely hate how it looks!

I don't wear an eye shawdow primer, and I never have.

But I guess I will have to.

A lot of people swear by the Primer Portion by Urban Decay so I might go that route.

Do you wear primer?

If so, which brand do you recommend?

*not compensated for this post.

My Lip Gloss is Poppin

For Valentine's Day hubby splurged and got me some new items from Estee Lauder.

One item I was surprised about was their lip gloss.

He got me Mod Poppy shimmer from their Pure Color line!

And I am in love.

$22.50 does seem like a lot of money for lip gloss, but it so worth it.

Very shimmery, not too thick, not too thin, and the perfect shine!

As always, I love that everything has that gold touch to it. 

I remember being a young girl and my friend's mom worked at Estee Lauder, and we loved playing with all her loot. I loved the shiny gold compacts and thought it was so "fancy."

If you want to splurge on yourself one day, try this lip gloss!

I will add that some people hate the smell of their products. 

I actually like it, so it doesn't bother me much.

I would have posted a pic of my lips, but I thought it would be too weird!

(I was NOT compensated for this post!)

Naked 2

This beauty came in the mail today and I'm in LOVE!

 My dear friend Joann bought this for me because it sold out so fast the first time & she knew I wouldn't be able to get to the internet in time to get it myself! Love her for thinking of me!

These colors are AMAZING! Very neutral, shimmery, matte, etc!

I love the names of the various colors!

Especially "Bootycall"! How funny!

 It comes with a full size dual end brush!

The back of the packaging will give you a better idea of what the colors look like!

If you are not a make-up kind of gal, and prefer neutral tones, but every now & then you don't mind spicing things up...this palette is all you need!

You can of course google Naked 2 tutorials & there are several videos that will give you various instructions on how to use it. Here's the first one I found:

*Edited to add: This was not a sponsored post! Although any make up companies, feel free to holla me as I would LOVE to do some reviews! lol!

Christmas Party Recap

This past Saturday we went to my company Christmas party. They did a great job this year and held it at a huge convention center and it was divided into 3 separate rooms for all the various crowds & different taste in music.

There was a room with a DJ that played all the current music for the younger crowd, a band that played oldies for the older crowd, and a band in a room for the middle aged people. There were almost 4000 people there in all!

There was another huge room with several buffet lines set up for food. There was so much food & desserts! Very very nice set up.

I tried to take pics for the blog but as soon as I pulled my phone out to take the 1st pic, my phone died! BOO!

Before we left the house, I did manage to snap a few pics.

I went to MAC & my friend Tamara hooked me up again.

She did a fabulous job!

I told her just do whatever & she did a dark smokey eye with lashes of course.

 I have got to teach myself how to do this!

I love getting dolled up!

 Notice I still had some curls before I got dressed.

 

Hubby & I

(See, the curls fell... I was pissed! Oh well!)

Tamara couldn't do my hair this time do to her schedule so I attempted to curl it myself with a flat iron. I even went to YouTube to pull up some videos to teach myself. More power to you girls that can do it,  because I can't seem to get it. EVER!

(excuse the hubby's doo-rag, he took it off before we got to the party! LOL!)

The dress I'm wearing is by Applebottom! Holla!! My first & only piece of clothing I've ever bought from that line, but it is absolutley fabulous. The rouching hides everything! There is actually a gold apple medallion that hangs from the front of the dress, but it easily folds over into the dress which I was very happy about. I got it from Macy's on a whim and I am just so so happy with it! I paired this with some gold Jessica Simpson heels. #DivaMode HA!

MAKE-UP TIPS

If you call the MAC counter to make an appointment, they will tell you the cost is $50 in products. However, you can ask for them just to do your eyes and then you only need to spend $30 on products. Make sure you ask because they rarely advertise this! 

I always do my own foundation & powder anyways so this is no big deal for me!

If you're wearing dark eye shadow & you want fake lashes, go with lashes that are bit more longer.Otherwise they won't show up that well. As you can see in the first pic, the lashes look really long. I actually picked out a more realistic pair that had a "natural" length & Tamara convinced me to go with the longer lashes. 

As you can see in the rest of the pics, they actually don't look as long when my eyes are open.

So it gave me just the right amount of glam! :)

Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge: Holiday Decor

Day3 of the Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge:

Holiday Decorations

I already blogged about this on Sunday! 

So scroll down to see some of my decor.

Our tree is up now though!

The whole middle section of lights won't come on though! 

And I still need to add more ornaments & bows, and  a tree topper!

 

Isn't this dark middle section awful!

Hubby searched for an hour to figure out where the the missing plug is and couldn't find it.

Boo!

 ********************************************************************************

Moving along!

I am no professional make up artist, but I do LOVE make up! So I'm going to share with you random tips I've learned from my MUA (make up artist) friends, the internet, and good ol personal trial & error!

 So here is tip #1.

Do you wear foundation?

If so, how do you apply it?

I've heard mixed reviews from various MUAs.

Some have told me use a sponge- but then that takes up a lot of foundation and can hold lots of germs.

Some have told me use your fingers- but you can end up applying more in some areas and less in others. Basically causing unevenness due to the pressure in your hands.

Then of course there's the brush. This is my new favorite way to apply liquid foundation!

The above image is of the MAC 187 brush. Quite pricey but during the holidays you can get a brush gift set for $50. The sets are smaller but you get more brushes for the price you'd normally pay for just one.  You can apply a small amount on top and use it to evenly apply your foundation. 

I can't even express how much better this looks now! It makes a HUGE difference!

It literally gives me a flawless look.

Don't believe me? Check out some of these reviews.

Just make sure you pick up some brush cleaner of course!