Very late Christmas Haul

I got a few different Sephora gift cards for Christmas this year and wanted to quickly share the things I picked up!
I splurged and finally bought the Urban Decay Naked palette. After standing there for what felt like forever staring at the original version and the Naked 2 palette. Swatching like a mad woman. I finally decided to start with the OG. And I have been using it non-stop!
I picked up one the tarte Amazonian clay blush in "Natural". I have heard nothing but rave reviews about these puppies. I ended up purchasing what may be considered a more unusual color. It's a bright almost cherry toned blush that really gives that winter cold flushed look to the cheeks and I don't have any thing else like it in my collection. These are highly pigmented and do have great staying power like everyone says. I'm sure I will get more of these at some point.
I've looked at and passed up Benefit's eye Bright pencil for years and finally got it with my gift card. Not much to say about this yet, it's my first venture into using a flesh toned pencil on the waterline so I don't have much to compare it to.
Lastly, I got another tube of MAC's Rebel lipstick which I already own so I went and swapped it at Nordstrom for an eyeshadow in Coopering. I have been lusting after this since watching Nikkie Tutorials look inspired by the new Tom Ford makeup ad (one of my favorite looks of late)
Thanks for reading!

Nail Of The Monent

Just did this quickly tonight before heading out to a show. I used American Apparel "Factory Grey". I love this grey polish. It's been the only grey I've owned for a few years now and it still applies beautifully! The brush is awesome and it's incredibly opaque. You could almost get away with doing only 1 coat but I always do 2 anyway. I've also been experimenting with doing the whole accent nail trend so I put a coat of Essie Luxe Effect "Set In Stones" on my ring finger.

Summer VoxBox

This summer I signed up and decided to try out the website influenster.com. This site allows you to see reviews of products, take beauty quizzes, earn badges, and request a "VoxBox" for FREE. All you have to do is sign up, take your own personal beauty quiz, request that seasons box, and when you receive the box test out the products and review them on the site. There is no pressure to only write a positive review. They just want to know your opinion. It's a great site to text out new products and get into the hobby of blogging and reviewing.

I was sent, inside the box, the new Always Tampax Radiant sample set, new Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion in spf 30, Quaker Banana Nut Bread bar, Clear Scalp Hair Therapy Total Care shampoo and conditioner, new Sally Hansen Nails & Cuticles Hand Creme, and Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Polish in the color 908 Graphite Gravity. 

The Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen was a product I really enjoyed. It was perfect for summer. It doesn't leave your skin oily, it smells like pineapples, and it's super moisturizing.

I also have been loving Sally Hansen's new Nails & Cuticles Hand Creme. It has shea butter making it super silky and it smells like oranges. I have been applying it after I my nails dry just to add some protection for my cuticles.

The Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Polish is awesome! The effect is crazy and so much fun to do for a party or night out. It lasts pretty long. I had mine for 3 days and only started chip by the 4th.

Overall I thought influenster was a great experience and I definitely plan on testing it out again and recommend you all to do the same!

  xoxo
~Bear~

Maybelline Not So Great Lash?!

I'm not exactly sure why I bought this mascara and convinced myself I needed to try it again! It's been years since the last time I used it. I've been trying this mascara since about the age of 13 and I never really fell in love with it. But alas I was a sucker to peer pressure and after seeing constant rave reviews and Allure magazines frequent pushing of this mascara as a Best of Beauty hall of fame winner and dubbing it a cult classic mascara I found myself picking it up yet again. Not only did I purchase this mascara, use it about three times, and remembered how much I disliked it but I bought it in a 2 for the price of 1 pack so now I'm stuck with two stinkin tubes of it! I'm not really crazy about this tiny little brush, it's like a classic mascara wand but is so stiff and small it doesn't do much to separate my lashes. It tends to distribute the product unevenly and my lashes get all stringy and stuck together in little bunches. I was hoping that it would give me a very natural looking lash. Not overly voluminous but just enough length and separation. I think more than anything its the formulation that I can't stand. It's stinky and strange. It literally feels like I've put glue into my lashes. Am I the only one that feels this way about this supposedly fabulous mascara?!

Sally Hansen EVH nails!

Are these bad ass or what?! These Sally Hansen nail polish strips were part of the limited edition collection for the film "Rock Of Ages". Did anyone even see that? I'm a die hard 80s hard rock fan and total fan of musicals but that one just looked, dare I say it, even too cheesy for me. These were by far my favs from the collection. I replica of the famous design found on Eddie Van Halen's guitar. This was only my second attempt at these nail strips. And while I do think they are super rad I have a hard time justifying the price. They are a one time use product that costs 10 bucks, which is more than most of the full sized bottles of nail polish I own. I do find them a bit tricky to apply and I always end up with at least one tear or rip. Its for sure a novelty thing and perhaps if I get into that whole world of the accent nail one box would last for quite a bit longer. All in all I probably won't be rushing out to track down another box of these puppies but I will be taking lots of photos because I think if I could find bottles of black and silver stripper polishes I could recreate this look anytime my little heart desires!

Wet N' Wild Shadow Collection!

Disclaimer: If you are someone who watches beauty "gurus" on You Tube or reads blog after blog about makeup this will be OLD news to you. I will most certainly be beating a dead horse here, you may be bored to tears. However if you are not one of these people  (i.e. some of my friends and family) you are about to learn of the killer drugstore find and magic that is Wet N' Wild Color Icon eyeshadows.
Do you remember Wet N' Wild makeup? Once upon a time it was the cheapest crappiest makeup money could buy. I'm sure we all have memories of horrificly colored 99 cent eyeliner pencils and bright teal pigments. Ahhh those were the days. If I remember correctly Wet N' Wild was some of the first makeup I ever got my hands on. Probably around the age of 9 and most likely for a Halloween costume. Nowadays the prices are still the cheapest on the shelves at your local drugstore but some of the products are stellar! I'm not sure exactly when the brand launched the Color Icon line but they completely reformulated their eye shadows and over the past few years have been releasing some amazing palettes. Here are all the ones I own...

 I know my collection may seem extreme but like I said these puppies are CHEAP. The largest 2 palettes holding 8 shadows a piece retail for only $4.99! They come in 4 different sizes that I know of: single shadows, 3 shadow palettes, 6 shadow palettes, & 8 shadow palettes. Almost all the shadows have a shimmery finish to them, with the exception of the 6 shadow palettes which house 3 completely matte shades and 3 shimmery ones.

Vanity

I love that they have produced collections with matte shadows. It always seems like matte shadows are hard to come by in the drugstore so having that option is a total bonus. These shadows are incredibly buttery and velvety soft while packing a huge punch in the pigment department! They come in a really wide selection of colors including some fun brights but the neutral palettes are where these really shine, some of which I find to be great dupes for a lot of popular MAC shades. I honestly find myself reaching for one of these palettes almost daily just to slap on something quick for the work day. Here are some swatches of my favorite neutral palettes! In particular, if I had to pick one universal, staple, must have, it would be the "Walking On Eggshells" palette. It looks gorgeous on the eyes! Long story short if its been ages since you've checked out a product from Wet N' Wild I strongly suggest you pick up a Color Icon palette and try them out! You will not be disappointed :)

Walking On Eggshells

Silent Treatment

Mini Drugstore Haul

I stopped by Bartell Drugs today to pick up a new bottle of my favorite dry shampoo, Pssssst!, and of course couldn't resist taking a gander through the cosmetics aisle. And what do you know, whoops I bought a few things!

Like I said I picked up another bottle of the Pssssst! dry shampoo. Am I the only person who loves this stuff?! I know it has been an Allure beauty award winner but I feel like I never hear You Tubers or beauty bloggers talking about it. If not used carefully it can leave that "I just dumped baby powder on my hair" look which to be perfectly honest I still accidentally do from time to time. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. But 9 times out of 10 its the best! I have incredibly fine thin curly hair which I straighten most days. I have to wash my hair every other day or else I could basically grease a cake pan with the amount of oil my hair produces. I like to use this dry shampoo on the in between washes day in conjunction with a hair spray. I feel like it gives the perfect amount of added volume and dry/dirtiness, and by dirtiness I mean the sexy slept in rock and roll good kind of dirtiness. Muah! Love it!

Walking through the makeup aisle at my local Bartells I noticed this display of a brand new collection of the Kate Moss for Rimmel Lasting Finish lipsticks. Again something I feel like I haven't seen a ton of buzz about and they are amazing! Come on people! I have one shade from the first collection of lipsticks that Rimmel put out months ago, designed by Kate Moss herself and I LOVE it. The one I have is in the shade #12 (a beautiful grandma like coral). This is the new spring collection and I must say I had a hard time picking a color because they are all pretty killer. I ended up grabbing the shade #09. Every color in the collection (as in the original collection) are fully matte and opaque, just the way I like em! They are these really beautiful fashion forward colors that are similar to things you'd see in the MAC or NARS lipstick lines. Plus they retail for $4.99, and I had a dollar off Rimmel coupon, uber bonus! I have been lusting after MAC's Rebel lipstick and based on the pictures I've seen of people wearing it I must say I find this color to be pretty similar. Its a bright pinkish/purple/berry color. I wore it out tonight and it feels great on the lips! Definitely recommend checking them out if you can find these Kate Moss collections at your local drugstore.

 Lastly I picked up this Cover Girl Eye Enhancers single shadow in the shade Tapestry Taupe. If you are someone who follows blogs/you tube I'm sure you've heard of this color. Its a pretty shimmery everyday neutral taupe shade. I have yet to try it out but have been hearing about it for awhile. Most recently my latest You Tube obsession Chelsea Wears (she is hilarious, makes great videos, and cha-ching has a sailors mouth worse then mine!) mentioned it in an old
favorites video of hers and I'm excited to try it out. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to quickly become my favorite everyday all over the lid eye shadow. Stay tuned... I'll keep you posted on that.

The Lipstick Files: Besame Red Hot Red

I recently received this incredible red lipstick by Besame cosmetics as a gift from my dad. I probably should start off by saying that I am obsessed with red lipstick. It is definitely in my top 5 favorite beauty items of all time and I love trying different shades/textures/finishes. So needless to say I couldn't wait to try this out, and it did not disappoint! I was first intrigued by the packaging which I must say looks shockingly similar to a sex toy of some kind. Its a little gold bullet with a crimson red floral design. The actual shape of the lipstick is just as interesting. It has a squared top that has a flat angle on either side of the tip. In researching this lipstick online I discovered that the Besame line was started by cosmetic historian Gabriela Hernandez. The entire Besame line is a truly vintage inspired collection. Gabriela aspired to create a line that is "infused with a romantic sensibility and is rich in historical details" hence the shape of the product and old fashioned packaging. The lipstick I have is one of the Classic Color Lipsticks which there are 12 shades of each of which is supposedly an exact reproduction of shades that were favorites of different Hollywood starlets. The one I have is in the shade Red Hot Red (Marilyn's favorite). It has a semi-matte finish and is intended to give one coat full coverage. It is an incredibly bold and bright fire engine red and is super pigmented. On my lips it reminds me of my MAC Ruby Woo but feels way nicer on the lips. I find my Ruby Woo to be so dry and stiff its almost impossible to work with sometimes (but I love the color so I deal). This lipstick left the most opaque gorgeous solid color while actually feeling smooth and soft on the lips. I think I may have found a new favorite red and am definitely looking forward to trying some of the other colors in the line! Oh and one more thing! While looking at products on the Besame website I saw that Gabriela wrote a book called Classic Beauty: The History of Makeup which I totally will be ordering!

Welcome!

Hi! We are Mackenzie & Emma, sisters who love all things beauty, welcome to our blog!