Lorac Unzipped Palette

Thanks to my Platinum rewards status through Ulta, I received a $10 credit to use in my birthday month and I was also given a gift card. I hadn't been keeping up with the different products available lately, so I went to the store with nothing really in mind. I spent some time looking through the Urban Decay, Smashbox, Tarte, Too Faced, and Stilla Cosmetics displays, but nothing really caught my eye. Then I came across the Lorac Unzipped Palette.

I have never paid much attention to Lorac products, I'm not sure why, possibly because of the hefty price tags, but I was really drawn to this collection of shadows. I'm a huge lover of browns and natural shades since they work really well for everyday and dramatic looks, and I can wear them for work. I walked away, took a few more looks around the store, at the nail polish racks, clearance sections, but I just kept coming back to the palette. I figured if I came back to it 4 times, it was probably the product I should leave the store with.

I couldn't be happier with my purchase. The shadows are very creamy and pigmented. They glide right on and don't take very much at all to get the look you're going for. I have only used the sample of eye primer a few times since I still have so much of my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, but It seems to work fairly well. 

It has an assortment of shimmer and matte colors for several different looks. I would highly recommend this palette for anyone who is looking for a versatile selection of natural browns, creams, and pinks. 

Christmas Mani Fail

For Christmas I wanted to have a Christmassy manicure. This year I was totally into all things green, red and silver for the season, so I decided to go for this look with my nails as well. On Christmas eve, I went for it and ended up using a dark green, Envy by Ulta, and on my accent nails I used Ulta's Gunmetal covered with a coat of Love Marilyn by China Glaze. I loved it! I thought it looked really good, so did my Boyfriend!

Christmas morning I woke up... and the polish on my right hand accent nail was gone. Just gone! It had completely come off and was no where to be found. This has never happened to me before; I couldn't believe my eyes. At first I thought I was just seeing things, but there on my left hand the polish was fine! I checked my hair, the bed, all over the place to see if it had just come off, but I turned up with zilch. So I take a shower and go to get ready and do my makeup, and the polish on my left hand accent finger is now gone! I couldn't help thinking that maybe there was a bad reaction with the polishes and they just didn't mesh. I didn't have time to redo them before leaving for my parent's house, so I spent all of Christmas with only 4 of my 5 nails on each hand painted. I thought it was really funny and really odd!

I still can't believe it. Has this every happened to any of you? I used a proper base and top coat as well, so I don't think it was that. Just plain weird!


Another thing I noticed about this green polish, when applied on its own, is smooth, but even though I waited until it was no longer tacky in the slightest before applying my NYC top coat, it wrinkled and cracked. I haven't had a problem with this topcoat on any of my of Ulta brand nail polishes. I think you can kind of see it in the photos above. It has this cracked/wavy look beneath the top coat. I've also never encountered this before. Such a weird mani experience!

NOTW - OPI & Ulta

I decided to try something a little different for my manicure last week. I've never really used black polish before, but I thought it would be fun to try out. I had also recently picked up Rainbow Connection from OPI's Muppets Collection and decided to throw that in there as well.

OPI's Rainbow Connection & Ulta's Little Black Dress. Little Black Dress took only 1 coat to be completely opaque, but I used two just to be safe. Rainbow Connection is awesome! It has such a variety of colors in the glitter that it look great against the black polish. I'm excited to try different looks with these polishes!

D.G.S.Beauty's Summer Giveaway Winner

Another giveaway haul! This time I would like to thank the lovely D. Sadie of D.G.S. Beauty! I won first prize in her summer giveaway which included an Ulta Lip Gloss Set, ELF Eyeshadow Palette Vol. 1, bag, Kiss 3D Nail & Toe Art, Hello Kitty Mirror, Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush, Ulta Lipstick Mulberry Shimmer, Sally Girl Eyeshadow, Sally Girl Liquid Eyeliner, Rosewood Lip Color, Maybelline Eye Makeup Remover, Wet N Wild Sparkled Nail Polish, Sally Girl Nail Polish. I'm a huge fan of E.L.F. and am excited to try the palette! A lot of these brands are new to me so I'm looking forward to testing everything out! The bag is perfect for my purse and for travel. The goodies came very well wrapped with a lovely note :) Thank you again!

D has a great blog and always has wonderful swatches & reviews that I find really helpful, so head on over to her site and see for yourself!

NYX FOTD

I recently won a giveaway for the NYX The "All I've Ever Wanted" Box from Mini Penny and was able to try out the palette. I also took advantage of Ulta's one day sale on Too Faced Shadow Insurance and picked up my first tube for only $9. So today I was trying out 2 products for the first time. I really liked both! My eyeshadow stayed fresh and crease free for nearly 12 hours and I love the variety of colors in the palette. The colors aren't quite as great in the photos as in person, but I hope you get the idea :)

Outdoor lighting, no flash

Indoor lighting, no flash

With and without Flash

 

I didn't realize until after I took the photo of the items used that I forgot a few things, but I've listed them below. These are indicated below with * 

Face: 

Ulta Professional UV Foundation Primer

Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in #205- Very Light

CoverGirl True Blend Liquid Foundation in #1-405 - Ivory

Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Luminous Matte Pressed Powder in #1002-05 - Light*

Blush and Bronzer from the NYX palette

E.L.F. Essential Tone Correcting Concealer in Ivory*

Eyes: 

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX The "All I've Ever Wanted" Box - 4 shadows used

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara in black

E.L.F. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Light

E.L.F. Eye Widener in Pearl White*

Lips: Estee Lauder Pure Color Lon Lasting Lipstick in #182 - Pinkberry*

E.L.F. Plumping Lip Glaze in Fire Coral*

I also used a brown eye liner that I've had for a very long time and don't remember what brand it is. The markings have all worn off.

FOTD - 8/24/2011

My face of the day for August 24, 2011 using the Wet n Wild Color Icon eye shadow trio in Sweet As Candy.

No flash/flash

Face: Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in #205- Very Light

         Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Luminous Matte Pressed Powder in #1002-05 - Light
         E.L.F. Bronzer in Golden
         Wet n Wild Color Icon Blusher in #831E - Pearlescent Pink

Eyes: Ulta Eye Shadow Base

         Wet n Wild Color Icon eye shadow trio #381B- Sweet As Candy

         E.L.F. Essential Waterproof Eyeliner Pen in Purple

         Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Mascara in #001 - black

         E.L.F. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Light

Lips: Estee Lauder Pure Color Lon Lasting Lipstick in #182 - Pinkberry

Beauty by Krystal Giveaway Goodies

So my goodies from Beauty by Krystal arrived on Monday! I was so excited to see the box in the mail! My cat Spike was very interested as well :)

Everything was packaged very well and individually wrapped. It was like a mini Christmas in July! Or a late birthday gift, depending on how you look at it :) I couldn't wait to open everything up and start using some of the products. Krystal even included a little card with some extra Target coupons! Those will come in handy.

I've had the pleasure of using the matte shade from the CND The Look - Perfectly Bare Nail Polish duo pack and love it! The CND Sentsations Hand & Body Lotion in Mango Coconut is amazing as well. I apologize for my lighting, my apartment receives no direct sunlight. It's nice to not be woken up by the sun at 5am in the summer, but when it comes to natural light it's no good.

I managed to snag e.l.f. products I didn't have yet but was itching to pick up, so that was a total score! The 141 piece Master Makeup Collection will last me for ages and I love all the options it has! I can't wait to try out some new looks with it. I've really been wanting to test out some different bronzers with my skin and this is perfect!

Thank you again to Beauty by Krystal! This prize is amazing and I am so happy to be able to try out these new products!