Here is the next installment of the colors I picked up from Taylor Made Minerals. These were colors I just had to have: Sage, Dralion, Centaur, and Bishop.
Sage is an absolutely beautiful olive green with gold undertones, Dralion is a copper color with turquoise reflections, Centaur is a deep gold and Bishop is a beautiful lavender color with some blue high lights.
Below are the swatches - I definitely cannot decide which is my favorite, they are all so beautiful!
One more set to go!
I was so excited when I checked the mail this past weekend, because my order from Taylor Made Minerals had arrived! I ordered tons, so I will be posting bit by bit to make everything easier to see.
High light and base colors are definitely lacking in my collection, so I used this as an opportunity to pick up some basics! I ordered Crystal, Earth, Mirage, Plush, and Diamonds.
As you can see, although they are all a white or off-white color, there is a hit of something else in each of them. Specifically, Earth has a hint of green, Diamonds has a hint of silver, Mirage a hint of blue and Plush has some purple undertones.
I think the swatches give a better picture as to the undertones for the colors. They are absolutely beautiful and the texture is so smooth and velvety!
Two more parts to follow!
I received my Today's Special Value from QVC, the Laura Geller "The Perfect Match" collection. This included a new foundation (Phenomenal Foundation), concealer (The Real Deal), blush, two brushes, lipstick, mascara, and eyeshadow/eyeliner duo.
Below is the set as it came:
The eyeshadow duo is called "Earthly Riches", which has a beautiful spun gold and copper swirl on the left and a rich, dark, chocolate brown on the right. The brown can be used as an eyeshadow or a liner.
The blush, "Down to Earth", is a beautiful berry color, with swirls of mauve, a little brown, and pearl. This blush isn't as "frosty" as her other blushes, but yet an absolutely beautiful color.
The lipstick, Tawny Rose, is a warm rosy-coral color, with no shimmer and great staying power.
Last, but not least, there are two brushes in this set. The first, a double ended brush has one end for blush or all over color, and another shadow brush that is great for blending. The second brush is her liner brush, which is angled to give you versatility when putting on liner (wet or dry).
I will run some swatches of the colors here soon. I have been wearing the foundation for the past few days and I absolutely love it! The coverage is phenomenal (hence the name), and the concealer is amazing! This set is a great way to get introduced into the Laura Geller line!
As I mentioned earlier this week, I ran into a CVS and found the Sally Hansen Natural Beauty by Carmindy line (finally!), and purchased the foundation and translucent powder below:
Now, I must preface this with I am a mineral makeup (mmu) lover through and through. I have not used liquid foundation in over 6-7 years because of my addiction to mineral foundations. I figured, being that the foundation was buy one get one 50% off, it was worth the try!
I was so pleasantly suprised when I used the foundation. It is extremely smooth and has great coverage. The color actually matched fairly well, especially considering the line has a minimal selection of colors to work with. The translucent powder sets the liquid foundation and gives a smooth and matte finish to the skin, which makes application of blush and eyeshadow so much simpler.
I used the following products, along with the Carmindy foundation, with this FOTD.
Retail Price: $12.00 USD
Where to purchase: Click here
Product: 5 out of 5
Price: 4.5 out of 5
Packaging: 5 out of 5
Overall: 4.5 out of 5
Would I purchase again? Overall, I would definitely buy this product again - it's great, especially being that it is a drug store brand!
So, as I posted earlier, I went to our local outlet mall and was able to find some MAC goodies at The Cosmetic Company Store. It was like being a kid in a candy store! I ended up purchasing three pigments (Sunpepper, Night Light and Helium), an eyeshadow in Firespot and one fluidline in Sweet Sage.
The swatches are below. Sunpepper has a great duo-chrome type finish. In natural light it has a little bit of a blue hint one way, and a deep cool copper tone in another. MAC's Nightlight is a great warm olive green, and Helium (my new favorite) is a very pale pink with irridescent undertones.
Keep posted for some looks with these new colors!This past weekend, my mom, little sister and I went to our local outlet mall, about an hour or so south of Indianapolis in Edinburg, IN. My full intention was to go to The Cosmetic Company Outlet and see if they had any MAC that I needed. Of course, I found some, which I will post about soon.
Walking around, my sister saw Claire's Accessories, and we went in to see if they had any earrings for her. Little did I know I was going to come across an absolutely beautiful eyeshadow pallet in there!
The colors are absolutely beautiful! I love frost, and I don't think that shadow could get much more pearlescent than these. They are a powder shadow with a bit of cream base, so they go on extremely smooth and are easy to blend. Best of all, the entire pallet was $12.50, and they were buy one, get one half off on all their cosmetics. I ended up getting mine, and picking up one for my mom as well - what a bargain!
I will try and get some swatches put together for all of you when I have the opportunity.
I was in Walmart a few days ago, and made a pit stop over in the cosmetics isle to see if there was anything I had to have. Once there, I remebered a few mentions on MUA as well as other boards about a couple great NARS Orgasm lipgloss dupes, so I thought I'd see if ours had any of them.
I have worn this the past few days, and it is an absolutely beautiful gloss for the price. I would highly recommend that you pick this one up if you are by your local Walmart, or anywhere else that carrys NYC for you!
Over the past few weeks, I have read a lot about Sally Hanse's Natural Beauty line inspired by Carmindy, but unfortunately, none of the CVS around me have carried the brand. I happened to be on the other side of town yesterday for lunch, popped into a CVS, and found it! Even better, the line was buy one get one half off!
I've been reading reviews and chatter on the makeup boards about the dupes for the ever-popular Nars Orgasm blush and lip glosses. The one that was mentioned numerous times as a fantastic drug store dupe is the Milani blush in "Luminous". Although the first pictures makes it look intensely pink, it is a warm pink-coral color with a nice gold frost in it. The second picture is a great indication as to the true color. As you can see, there is lots of frost (not sparkle) to the blush, giving a beautiful and natural glow. I was pleasantly suprised at how smooth and almost "wet" the blush felt. Although it is a powder blush, there is nothing chalky or dry about this when applying.
All of the women in my family are nuts when it comes to makeup. We are always asking eachother about new makeup, sharing advise, and borrowing makeup items from eachother. My aunt is no exception. She graciously gave me the Laura Geller pallet below - unfortunately I do not know the name of it, or where it came from. I love the colors, though. They are extremely pigmented and easily blended together.
For this EOTD, I blended Tourmaline on the inner portion of the lid into Loreal's Aqua Paradise on the outer portion of the lid and along the lower lash line. When the two met, it turned into a beautiful olive green color in the middle. In the crease, I blended Laura Geller's Jade into Milani's Lilly White as a high light. All of these colors were applied dry and blended together as such. I didn't line my lashes so the color is more evident.
If have the opportunity to order Laura Geller, I would recommend it. The eyeshadows are beautiful and she has a fantastic selection of baked blushes, which are all the rave. She is actually going to have a Today's Special Value today on QVC (which I have already ordered).
I have found it to be so much easier to have a great pallet of eyeshadows to work with when I am running late or just need an easy look to go with for the day. The Milani quad in "Autumn Earth" is just that. I have three great neutrals and then a beautiful green to work with if I wanted to add a little color.
This EOTD, although I had time to work with, I just wasn't interested in anything in my drawers, so I fell back on neutrals as an easy answer to any look.
I applied the bronze all over my lid, and blended the green into the outer corners towards the middle, and then pulled it down around the lower lashline. The dark copper color was used in my crease and then blended into the offwhite highlight up to the brow bone.
I finished things off with mark (Avon) liquid eyeliner in "Bronze Edge". The liquid eyeliners by mark are a great addition if you love liquid liners, but also need something with an extremely fine brush. These don't go on thick, and allow you to build up to a thick winged liner if needed, or else go natural with a thin, tight line.
The other evening I was cleaning out my makeup drawer and came across an eyeshadow duo by Sebastian Trucco that I barely had used, but was an absolutely beautiful color for summer: Manhattan Mermaid. The one side was a warm lime green and the other a pale turquoise. Both sides are extremely pigmented and full of frost. I think I purchased this a while ago at my local Beauty First store.
I was running out the door, so I did a quick and easy look with this shadow. Both were applied wet on top of Loreal Decrease, and then blended together. The high light is Milani Lilly White. In about one minute I had the following look.
This shadow will definitely be moved to the front of my makeup stash so it will get some much deserved use this summer while turquoise is still a hot color!
While at Walgreens, I purchased another Jane Be Pure Mineral Blush. I absolutely love the colors, and this one is no exception!
I purchased "Satin Rose", a very pale, cool, rose color, with a hit of shimmer.
The swatch is below - again it is a very light color, so perfect for all year. It applies easily and blends seamlessly into the skin.
To see the other colors I purchased, click here.
Jordana Pretty Shine: (right to left) Darling, Divine, and Lovely
Top to Bottom: Divine, Lovely, and Darling
Swatches: (Top to bottom): Darling, Lovely and Divine
When it comes to eyeliners, I am a liquid eyeliner fanatic, but sometimes a good pencil liner is just what you need for the lower lash line. I find it extremely difficult to find a soft pencil that doesn't snag and pull when you try to apply it, but I stumbled across Jordana's Easy Liner retractable pencils a few months ago, and find myself going back to grab more as needed. This time I picked up a few colors that I am lacking in my pencils - blues, greens and purples. The four colors I picked were Mint, Sterling Blue, Seagreen and Purple Fusion.
Top to Bottom: Mint, Sterling Blue, Seagreen, and Purple Fusion
Left to right: Mint, Sterling Blue, Seagreen, and Purple Fusion
Above is a closeup of the pencil - as you can see it has a nice fine point, and can be twisted up/down to allow for easier application.
For the price, these are an absolute must, and they have tons of colors to choose from!
