Essie Fun Summer Colors 
I don’t know why I am saying “Summer” colors and acting like I don’t wear these in the fall….I do. In fact, I can’t think of many colors that I swear off according to season….but for the sake of a title, these are great colors for Summer! Essie’s “Splash of Grenadine” is my all time favorite color (my favorite WAS “Bermuda Shorts”… and I stocked up on it as long as I could but it was a limited edition color so we had to say goodbye) Anyway….it’s that color that we all have that we don’t know what we would do if it were to be discontinued….I would be heartbroken. It is such a lovely, girlie, romantic pink without being a jarring pink (you know the ones I’m talking about) and I get tooooons of compliments on it.
Pretty right? It kind of has juuuuust a bit of purple mixed in to make it such a unique pink.
My other favorite is a new discovery….”Play Date” is kind of like a dark lavender that I stumbled across in CVS and fell in love with, as there are not many bright purples that are tolerable (most great purples that I gravitate towards are the muted ones). Behold “Play Date”:
Kind of funky right? But still a little sweet. For the record…both look great with some glitter on top!
Erin
How to De-Pot Eyeshadow, Blush, etc….Oven Method
A few posts ago I mentioned that I had de-potted all of my NYX 10 color eyeshadow palettes….those aren’t the only cosmetics I do this to! There are sooooo many different brands of cosmetics that I love….and they all come in different packaging. You will find the most amazing colors in blush, bronzer and eyeshadow in all different shapes and sizes…which is fine until you start running out of drawer space, counter space or bag space….then you just start to get mad. Here is how you fix that:
NYX Mosaic Blush in “Love”, Tweezerman tweezers
Step 1:
Turn your oven on to “Broil”…you can put it on a lower setting like 350 if you choose….it will just take the packaging longer to melt. Line a pan with tin foil and place your blush, eyeshadow, bronzer or anything else you want de-potted on the pan and place it in the oven.
Step 2:
***Disclaimer-you are putting plastic in the oven…there could be fumes associated with this…do this at your own risk!
Watch it closely…if you have your oven on “Broil” it will only take a couple of minutes for the plastic edges to start to pull away from the silver compact….when it starts to so this it should be pliable enough for you to get the compact out. When you get it out of the oven, hold down the plastic with a rag (it will be hot!!!) and insert tweezers, a scissor blade, a knife or whatever other thin blade you have in between the plastic and the silver pan….it should pop out easily!!!
Step 3:
Discard your plastic and you have your de-potted cosmetic!! BTW-If your casing is not as sturdy as this one you may be able to forgo the oven all together and just blast the bottom of the compact with a hairdryer to loosen the glue–however, the compacts that you can do that with are few and far between.
Now that you have all of your cosmetics de-potted….you can easily fit all of the different shapes and sizes neatly into something like this:
You can get these empty palettes everywhere now, MAC, Z-Palette, Stars Makeup Haven…to name a few…there are plenty of other rogue ones out there as well. This one happened to be an old eyeshadow palette that I got at a show and never used….so I ripped out the eyeshadows and plastic lining and put down some magnetic sheets. That is the other thing–some cosmetics that you de-pot will be magnetized….and that is awesome because you can just buy palettes that already have magnetic lining in them or you can buy it at Michaels like I did and put it in yourself. If they aren’t magnetized….you can purchase little magnetic stickers all over the internet. Hope this helps to simplify your life…and your bathroom!!!!
Erin
Soft Peach and Gray
It only takes one glance over on pinterest to see that people are loving pastels this season!!! Peach, lavender, mint green, light blue-you are probably seeing all of these colors in jeans, shoes, dresses and nails…….so why not on your eyes? I chose a nice peach for this eye look because…well…I don’t really know what the right occasion is for mint green eyes. Peach is so much more wearable. The peach color I used came from the NYX “Catwalk” 10 color palette although MAC “Expensive Pink” would be nice (but more shimmery) for this look as well. Anyway–this eye look is sooo easy to do quickly in the morning and it looks excellent in summer!!!
Products Used:
MAC eyeshadow in “Scene”, NYX “Catwalk” palette, Maybelline Eyestudio Gel liner in “Blackest Black”, MAC Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre”, NARS Blush in “Orgasm”, MAC Lipstick in “Please Me”.
PREP:
Apply concealer all over the eyelid up to the brow, all around the eye and underneath the eye. Set with powder. Apply your eyeshadow primer, I used a MAC Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre”.
Step 1:
Using your big fluffy, apply your peach shadow (I used a peach color from the NYX Catwalk palette) all over the lid of the eye and up….stopping at the brow bone. It should look something like this:
Step 2:
Using your bullet brush, apply your gray shadow (I used MAC’s Scene” into the crease and outer V of the eye…don’t go very far in…we want this to be a nice light look. It should look something like this:
Step 3:
Using a stiff brush, apply your highlighter from the brow bone down into the inner corner. Using your big fluffy, blend your gray into your peach and then your peach into your highlight color. Apply your gel liner on the upper lash line and wing it. You can see how to do this here and here. Apply your false lashes…I used Andrea #33′s. Add a coat of mascara to blend your real lashes into your fake lashes. Your final product should look something like this:
and this:
I used NARS blush in “Orgasm” on the apples of my cheeks…this color is the perfect peach and it has a touch of shimmer so it gives you a beautiful glow. I applied MAC lipstick in “Please Me” as a final touch….it is a very soft peachy pink that is pretty matte so add some gloss if you like some sheen.
Erin
e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip-Product Review
So I was strolling along in Target the other day (ok I was picking out an outfit for my future nephew and checking out the swimsuits for myself—they have some crazy cute ones this year if you haven’t seen them yet) when I wandered over to the beauty department…ya know… just to see what was going on over there. While I was contemplating getting another Just Bitten Balm, this shiny package of e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip caught my eye (I’m tellin ya I’m like a child….give me some glitter and shiny things and you have my attention).
e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in “Lilac”
I am a sucker for anything shimmery that will give you that glowy complexion so I bought it. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS $1.00!!!! One…dollar…cosmetics….how could anyone say no? This is what it looks like:
It is SUPER shimmery…so it is something that I would use sparingly….but it is awesome right above the apples of your cheeks to contour and give a nice little glow. I think it would work particularly well with a nice cream blush and tinted moisturizer and you could get an allover dewy look. For $1 go pick some up and see if you love it like I do! A nice little Target find considering Benefit’s High Beam (which is very similar to this in color…this is just a bit thicker) clocks in at around 26 smakaroos.
Erin
How to make shiny lipstick matte!
This tutorial was born out of necessity. When doing matte lips, I prefer to just use a great lipliner…they are automatically matte and they stay on soooooo long–but you don’t always have the color you need in pencil form. Many times I found myself with the perfect color of lipstick but the shine or gloss of it just wasn’t right for the overall look we were going for…so I started doing this:
Products Used:
Ben Nye Neutral Set Face Powder and NYX Lipstick in “Chaos”
Step 1 :
Apply your lipstick…..look at it and realize it would look better matte.
Step 2:
Apply translucent powder to your lips using a fluffy brush–you will see the shine disappear and your lips will be matte! ….Please know that some lipstick may transfer from your lips to your brush but should wash out. I would recommend using a darker brush if concerned.
Ta da!!! Easy as pie!
Erin
