Hi! It’s been… a really long time since I posted, to say the least!
Felt like filming a tutorial using my Naked 1 Palette, so if you’re in the mood to watch a video instead of reading my boring blog posts, check it out!
Review: Milani Blushes!
I got these blushes awhile ago, after hearing the rave reviews on Luminoso. I wasn’t expecting much, but it definitely lived up to the hype!
I didn’t really use them much this past winter, but now that the weather is warmer and more spring-y, I’ve brought them back into rotation, so I thought I would share some photos. 🙂
Luminoso (left) and Dolce Pink (right).
Luminoso is a coral-ly peachy color that is a perfect every day shade. I can see this being very flattering on many skin tones, especially those with more olive undertones. It is sheerer than most of my other blushes, but definitely buildable. I find that it gives a very natural glowy type of look.
Dolce Pink comes off as more of a purple-hued, deeper pink. It has some glitter, but it’s not too noticeable. Like Luminoso, I find that this is on the sheerer side but definitely buildable.
Luminoso (top) and Dolce Pink (bottom).
I love both of these blushes a lot and I can’t wait to pick up more! Have you tried any Milani blushes? Which are your favorite shades?
What’s in My Travel Makeup Bag?
It’s been a long and grueling quarter, and I’m so happy to say that it’s finally over! Tomorrow, I’ll be heading back to sunny, beautiful Los Angeles for about a week, and I’m super excited to see my family, friends, boyfriend, and dogs!
I wanted to share what I usually take along with me when I go back home. Yes, I do know that I overpack (to say the least), but I like having options, okay?!
What I have in my bag:
MAC Studio Fix Fluid, Revlon Nearly Naked, MUFE Full Cover Concealer, Almay Clear Complexion Concealer, YSL Touche Eclat
NYX Butter Lipstick in Fizzes, Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Mischievous, Milani Lipstick in Nude Creme, Maybelline Lipstick in Vibrant Mandarin
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette, MAC Soft & Gentle, Tarte Smooth Operator Powder, NYX Blush in Taupe, MAC Blush in Modern Mandarin
Lorac Pro Palette, Lorac Behind the Scenes Eye Primer
Shiseido Eyelash Curler, MUFE Mascara, TheFaceShop Design My Eyebrow, NYX Eyebrow Shaper, Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner, Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen, NARS Radiance Enhancing Pro-Prime Primer
What are your “must-have” products for when you travel? Do you usually overpack when it comes to makeup? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
Review: My Favorite Primers ♡
Today, I wanted to share with you two of my absolute favorite primers! I seriously cannot go anywhere without these – they make my foundation look better and last longer.
I discovered the NARS Radiance Enhancing Pro-Prime Light Optimizing Primer last year after getting a sample with my Sephora order. I honestly wasn’t expecting much from it, because I had tried so many higher end and drugstore primers at this point (Hourglass, Benefit, Revlon, Laura Mercier, BareMinerals) and they were all just a bust. I tried it out anyway, and wooooowwwwwee! It is easily the best primer I’ve ever used. It doesn’t really have a “siliconey” feel, but it does an amazing job of minimizing imperfections and smoothing everything out nicely. My foundation can normally go a couple of hours without looking too bad if I’m not wearing primer, but I can go to a full day of classes (6 hours), do an intense cardio workout, and still have my makeup look absolutely perfect after if I’m wearing this primer underneath.
It is honestly an expensive product, but I would say it’s easily worth the price. Also, it lasts forever! I used that tiny sample bottle for months, so I figured it was a good investment. I’ve had this big bottle for over 6 months now and it’s still pretty full! 🙂
I randomly picked up the Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro Primer during a Rimmel sale, just out of curiosity, and I was surprised at how good it was for a drugstore primer! As I’ve stated before – I didn’t have any luck with all the primers I’d tried, so when I finally ended up with this I was really happy. It’s pretty cheap, so I usually use it as an everyday primer. It has a more silicone-type feel than the Nars primer, but it doesn’t feel heavy or greasy, and it doesn’t break me out at all.
I’ve found that this primer really helps to smooth my face out nicely and it does a great job of keeping my foundation fresher for a longer period of time. Overall, it’s an awesome product, especially for the price.
Which primers do you use and recommend? Have you tried either of these products? Let me know! 🙂
My Favorite Lipstick Colors for Spring!
It’s just about springtime here in Northern California – the weather’s getting hotter, birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, allergies are… allerging? Anyway, I wanted to share some of my favorite springtime shades to wear and do a mini-review of each of them!
From top to bottom: Maybelline Vibrant Mandarin, Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Mischievous, NYX Butter Lipstick in Lollies, NYX Butter Lipstick in Fizzies, Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Strawberry, Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Bellini
Vibrant Mandarin is a stunning orangey-red, and the formula is great! It’s creamy, doesn’t pull, awesome color payoff, and isn’t drying. It’s a very good drugstore lipstick. The only thing I don’t like is the smell – kind of smells like Play-doh.
Mischievous is a peachy coral that just screams spring. This one has a bit of a weird formula and applies patchy, but I love the color so much that I wear it anyway. It’s definitely going to take more work to make this look perfect – I would suggest exfoliating and moisturizing your lips and maybe a lipliner – the whole shebang. This one has a minty smell and feel that is bearable – not great, but not offensive.
Lollies is a peachy baby pink. The formula is a little lacking, but I feel this is a running problem with these kinds of lighter shades. It also needs some TLC for that perfect polished look, but the end result is just lovely. It doesn’t really have a scent – maybe a bit of lotion? But that’s about it.
Fizzies is a sheer orangey-red? Not exactly sure how to describe it – it pulls as a brighter MLBB on my own lips. It’s super wearable and a little on the sheerer side, so I think it would work on pretty much anybody (it also has a much better formula that Lollies). It just adds that “umph” to your lips if you want to go for a more natural look! Again, like Lollies, this has no smell that I can really discern.
Strawberry is a pinky-red with shimmer. This, along with Bellini, was my first foray into Revlon lipglosses, and I was honestly surprised at how much I liked these! They’re not as sticky, but they are on the thicker side, so I’ve found it’s best to apply as thinly as possible and build up layers for a more opaque look. This looks great layered over lipstick and lipliner or just on it’s own.
Bellini is a creamy, pale pinky-nude. It reminds me a lot of Buxom’s White Russian, which I also love! It has almost unnoticeable microshimmer in it – the only way I can see it is if I bring the lipgloss container next to my lamp and really scrutinize it. It looks beautiful when combined with Fizzies, but really, works on any brighter lipstick.
My Nike Haul!
Hi guys! I’ve been dying to show you what I ordered from Nike – after a long week (and a couple days), I finally got some pretty packages in my hand.
Last week, I was looking to order some new running shoes, and went on the Nike site only to find that… they were having a 20% off clearance sale. AWW YISS! So of course, I ordered my shoes right then and there. I wasn’t completely sure I would be happy with the color choice, but I’m so glad I picked what I did, because they’re absolutely gorgeous 🙂
I wore the shoes to the gym today, and they are super comfortable and lightweight.
I also ordered some super bright, highlighter-yellow compression shorts. I already have a pair in black and I love them! They’re made of this nice material that doesn’t really “absorb” the sweat off your body (not sure how to really explain this) so you don’t feel all sticky.
Overall, an awesome purchase. I’m super happy with everything I got and can’t wait to wear the shorts in the gym!
Review: NYX Buttergloss Collection (with swatches!)
Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you my NYX Buttergloss collection 🙂
These are my favorite everyday glosses – they range from sheer to more opaque and come in a really great range of colors! You will definitely be able to find a color you’ll like.
Typically, I don’t like lipgloss because they’re usually so sticky and make a mess of everything. I also have this problem where the stickiness of lipgloss causes my lips to get super flakey, but I’ve found that I don’t have this problem with these glosses at all! They also have this delicious buttery-vanilla scent, and no offensive flavor (just tastes like nothing to me).
From top to bottom: Creme Brulee, Apple Strudel, Merengue, Strawberry Parfait, Peach Cobbler, Cherry Cheesecake
As you can see, they are super duper gorgeous! My most used ones are probably Apple Strudel, which just adds a touch of natural-looking oomph to my lips, and Strawberry Parfait, which looks amazing topped over lipstick.
They’re also fairly cheap and widely accessible – I definitely recommend these if you haven’t tried them already!
Review: Lorac Unzipped Palette
I received the Lorac Unzipped palette (not thew new gold version!) this past Christmas from my boyfriend. It’s an absolutely gorgeous palette that I had been lusting over for so long and I was super excited to finally get my grubby little hands on it. I’ve had it for long enough now to do a decent review of it, so I wanted to share it with you guys! 🙂
Lorac is easily one of my favorite cosmetic brands. The price is fair, especially considering how great the quality is of all their products. This is my second Lorac palette after my Lorac Pro Palette, which I also love and use almost every day!
The only thing that bothers me a little is the packaging. Lorac palettes are pretty similar in price as the UD Naked palettes, but the UD palettes have much better packaging, in my opinion. Since this Unzipped palette is made from a sturdier cardboard type material, it does the job, but you have to worry about spills and such (as a clumsy person, this is definitely something to be concerned about!)
I already spilled something on it and there is a slight stain in the cardboard. Luckily, it didn’t reach the shadows, but if it had I would’ve been so upset!
From left to right: Untamed, Unspoken, Uncensored, Unreal, Undiscovered, Unbridled, Unconditional, Unattainable, Unbelievable, Undercover – over bare skin, no primer.
It’s a good mix of matte and shimmer shades. I strongly prefer this over the Naked palettes because it has more variety in terms of matte shades – I usually prefer half matte and half shimmer, because I feel like I get more use of all the colors.
My favorite shades are probably Unattainable and Unreal – a pretty simple everyday look I’ve been doing with them is Unreal all over my eyelid with Unattainable in the outer third of my eyelid and a touch of eyeliner and mascara.
Overall, I definitely recommend this palette. It’s versatile – great for neutral everyday looks, or sultry/glammed up night-time looks. I want to try the new version (the Unzipped Gold) now! 🙂
Review: MAC Lipstick Collection & Swatches!
My MAC lipstick collection is quite small, but I still wanted to share some swatches and do a mini review of all of them!
From left to right: Speed Dial, Impassioned, Russian Red, Milan Mode, Velvet Teddy
I personally really love MAC lipsticks – I think they’re gorgeous, although some of the formulas are definitely a little lacking. They’re also a pretty good price ($15 each) so I don’t feel so guilty picking one up every now and then.
Russian Red (middle) and Velvet Teddy (far right) are a bit drying – definitely wearable and workable, but they aren’t as easy and comfortable to wear as some of the other ones.
Milan Mode was actually the first MAC lipstick I bought, and the formula is really great – it’s moisturizing and sheerer than the others – I always feel like I can throw it on and run out.
I think Impassioned is my absolute favorite out of all of them – it’s a bright hot pink that is just indescribably beautiful. It looks especially great when I’m a little tanned during the summer, because it really pops out against my skin.
How do you feel about MAC lipsticks? Do you have a favorite you recommend? Let me know down below! 🙂
LOTD: Color Series [Purple]
Hi! I wanted to try out a little “series” and focus on trying out new colors, especially since spring is fast approaching and also because I’m always sporting neutral looks (gotta switch it up, right?) I wanted to do purple first because I love purple eyeshadow! I get a lot of funny looks when I wear it out, but I personally love it. I hope you guys like it too!
Products used:
Face
Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation (OC-1) x L’Oreal True Match (Natural Beige W4)
MUFE Full Cover Concealer (7)
TheBalm Bahama Mama x Rimmel Natural Bronzer (Sunlight 120)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle
Lorac Face Powder (P2)
Benefit Dandelion
Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro Primer
Skinfood Salmon Darkcircle Concealer (#2)
Eyes
Nars Pro-Prime
Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner
Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade (Dark Brown)
Lancome Eyeshadow Base (Nude)
BH Cosmetics 120 Color Palette (1st ed.) x BH Cosmetics Day & Night Palette
Lips
NYX Lipliner (Natural 810) x NYX Butter Gloss (Apple Strudel)
hello♡monika 