Showing posts with label Stila. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stila. Show all posts

Ask a Beauty Blogger: Cream Blush Picks for Fair Skin

Cream Blush for Fair Skin
I'm really loving cream blushes lately. They're great for creating a pretty and natural flushed look, but when layered they make your blush last for hours. Seriously, all day. I like to use a cream blush directly over my foundation, set it with powder, and then add a little more cream blush or a powder blush. The layering is key for a long lasting look.

Shannon recently asked for some cream blush picks for fair skin, so I enlisted the help of my friend Pam from Pammy Blogs Beauty. She has fair skin similar to mine, and I knew that she'd have some great picks as well! I haven't tried any of the products she mentioned, so you know I'll be adding them to my shopping list!

Drugstore Cream Blush Picks

New York Color Blushable Creme Stick in Plaza Pink
NYX Stick Blush in Pink Poppy
Revlon Photoready Blush in Pinched

Best natural looking blushes

Like Pam, I like 2 forms of cream blushes. The stick form (the NARS Multiple) I usually swipe across my cheek and then blend a little with my fingers. A cream blush that comes from a palette like the Bouncy Blush I will apply with my finger tips or a brush. My favorite blush is a small round brush that I got in a Clinique gift with purchase years and years ago. The closest I've found is the Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush, which is a bit denser but has a the correct shape and is about the same size. The Juice Beauty Buki Brush looks about the same on the ULTA website, though I haven't seen it in person.

When picking blush colors, I tend to go for either a light pinky-rose color or a light peach. The NARS Orgasm shade is a combination of both of those, so it really works for pretty much any situation.


Do you have any other blush picks for Shannon?



Do you have a question you want me to feature? Be sure to ask!



8

Stila Stay All Day Foundation Review

Stila Stay All Day Foundation Review
I admit that I'm a bit of a sucker for new foundations. This one sounded right up my alley, "Stay All Day"? Yes! And from Stila? Please!

Stila Stay All Day Foundation Review
This foundation is pretty great. Yes, $44 does sound like a lot for a foundation when you can get many great ones for less. But! This one also comes with a matching concealer in the cap (love that) and it also includes a foundation brush. I think that's a pretty good deal.

The foundation is a bit thick for a liquid foundation, it really is more like the consistency of Cool Whip than a foundation. It comes out of the bottle with a big spatula, and it feels very silky. It spreads easily with your fingers, and I admit that I don't really use the brush that Stila so generously included with the foundation (I'm a finger/sponge girl for foundation). With a few swipes of my beauty blender (near my nose mostly) the makeup does look pretty flawless. Well, you can tell I have on foundation (the coverage is too much for it to be invisible), but it really looks good.

The concealer is a cake concealer and is pretty full coverage as well. I did think it was a bit too dry for some areas (I had problems with it on blemishes), but it worked really great under my eyes and around my nose.

I feel like we've been spoiled lately with so many amazing foundation launches. No more excuse for patchy coverage or incorrectly matched shades!

Stila
2

Makeup Wars: Fall Trend Look, How Do You Interpret the 'It' Look?

Fall trendy makeup
This week for Makeup Wars we've decided to tackle Fall Trends. Fall is finally here, which I love because it is definitely my favorite season. To me, fall is crisp cool air, changing leaves, the smell of burning leaves (or pumpkin) and definitely football!

Doesn't it seem like every fall the trends are the same? A "return to ladylike elegance", darker/red lips and nails, more coverage with your foundation... many of those things are no brainers. They just go with fall much more than unstructured beachy waves and hot pink nail polish.

This year there are a few additions/variations to the typical fall trends. The first is the addition of dark lips. Rather than just the classic red lip (though that's there too this fall), this summer we suddenly saw dark, deep vampy lips pop up at the Met Ball. And it's still here. Eyes definitely are brown this season, though that should obviously be varied a bit depending on what else you have going on. I also love the flushed, pretty cheeks that were seen on many fall runways.

I've opted to combine 2 of these trends, the brown eye (toned down a bit, but definitely still brown) and the dark lip. I opted for the brown lip because I had a new MAC lippie that I wanted to try out, though I'll show you later how I toned it down a bit to not look like super goth girl (I don't have a problem with that look, it just isn't my look).

Products Used:
Anastasia She Wears it Well Palette: I love all of the neutrals in this palette and it has a good mix of shimmer (though not too much shimmer for me) and matte.

Elizabeth Arden Smokey Eyes Liner in Espresso: These are my favorite liners! They are strong enough to stand up to anything (I hate applying liner to have the pencil smoosh itself against my lid rather than apply to the eye), but apply smoothly and can be easily smudged immediately. It lasts all day! EA sent me 2 about 2 years ago and I can't even tell you how many times I've repurchased since then.

Korres Magic Light Face Contouring trio in Santorini: This is really pretty, but overall very neutral. I think I have a post around here somewhere, which of course I can't find now. A bit tan, a bit pink, a bit peach.... you get the picture. I just didn't think that this look would go well with a pretty pink flush.

Stila Stay All Day Foundation and Concealer: I really need to review this stuff, but I really like it a lot. It is a medium coverage foundation, though the coverage is buildable. They even put a matching concealer in the lid!

As usual, I layered 2 mascaras, here I used Maybelline Lots of Lashes and Show Off Mascara by Beauty Addicts.


First, I prepped my lids with a primer. I've used NYX Eye Shadow Base in Skintone because it has some great coverage and with light shadows I need to cover up all of my blood vessels. I then put a light layer of Almond all over my lid with a big brush.

Next I deepen up the out 1/2 or so of my lid with Trophy, only up to the crease. This pic looks a little uneven in that area, but really, it's just the picture! It's evenly applied and then slightly blended across the center of my lid.

I apply Glow to my crease, back and forth in a windshield wiper-like motion and blend it out slightly. I like the golden shimmer, so I also apply a little under my eye with my smudge brush. I've tapped it on here so that the shimmer will show up more.

I line my eyes with brown liner, smudging the line a bit. I also lined a little on my inner waterline on the bottom. Then I blended everything together.

I finished off the look with mascara (curl those lashes like crazy!), a little Korres Magic Light Face Contouring trio in Santorini used as blush and finally my lips.

The eyes are done!

Sooo.... that dark lip look that is all over the place... It isn't really for everyone. Sure, Young Rapunxel (on the left) is a very trendy "it" color for the fall. And yes, it makes me look like I don't have any melanin in my body. To make it work I applied a little bit of Laugh a Lot to tone it down. Really, I applied Rapunxel, blotted, applied Laugh a Lot, blotted again, and then finally a tiny bit more of Rapunxel. I have a bit of clear gloss over the top (I honestly can't remember which one I grabbed) to add a little shine. It's definitely still within that dark realm, but since I've added in a little bit of a color much closer to my lip coloring it works a bit better for me.








14

A Month of Red Lips: Stila Beso

Stila Beso
So, a few days ago I shared my favorite red lip gloss, and I have to admit that it was really hard to pass up featuring Beso instead. To me, this is a more "grown up" version of the L'Oreal gloss. If you need a more grown up version of something that is already a red lippie.

This is a slightly darker true red. The formula is interesting since it is billed as a "liquid lipstick" and it really is an accurate description. It's not a gloss, it's a bit thicker and drier. Yes, like someone stuck a lipstick in a blender and added just enough liquid to make it easy to spread around. So, it is really pigmented, not at all sticky and there's no flavor to it. It applies in basically 1 swipe, perfectly lined, fully pigmented, and no touchups needed. I kid you not. It lasts about 6 hours on me, and yes, it does stain my lips a bit, so when it starts to wear off that is a bit less noticeable.

I've been reaching for this a lot lately. I think it's my red of choice as fall rolls into the midwest.

Stila
2

Trying Out Mally's Signature Smoky Eye: Yeah, Kinda Love It

smoky eye
Recently I was trying to figure out a new product (the Mally Evercolor Poreless Face Defender), and I headed over to the Mally Beauty YouTube Channel. Once I got my answer, I started obsessively watching all of Mally's videos. (And really, I mean as many as I could on my iPhone during my toddler's nap!)

In her videos, you'll notice that Mally always has the perfect smoky eye. Luckily, she has a video showing you how she does it! I decided to give it a try myself.


I don't have any of Mally's color cosmetics (that Perfect Palette looks like it is going on to my Christmas list!), so I grabbed a few things I already had to recreate the look.

Surprisingly enough, my closest brown (from the small images I could see in my phone) was in a Stila Palette. I only used Grace, but I labelled Heather so you'd know what it was. Tophat is definitely purple, but that's kind of close to Plum, right?? Maybe....


I followed the directions that Mally gave, which mostly changed how I do my undereye area. Rather than just 1 light line of liner, I used both shadow colors under my eyes and then lined only on the waterline. I did line more into my tear duct as well, which isn't something I normally do. I like how it looks, though since my eyes are a bit "wetter", any lining I do into this area is very short lived. Even waterproof liner disappears in less than an hour!

I really like how the entire look came together. Brown and "plum" aren't colors I would have put together, but the 2 shades I used worked well together. (Something tells me that they work even better together when you use the actual shades that Mally used!)

The Poreless Face Defender is amazing and I'll have a full review soon. I'm never going to touch powder again!


What do you think? Have you ever tried to recreate a look from YouTube? I've done it in the past, but I don't usually try to copy as closely as possible, instead I'll watch to see how they line the eye or apply blush in a look. I really loved this look. Time to watch the rest of Mally's videos!


Mally Beauty
Mally's YouTube Channel


9

Stila's Breathtaking Beauty Palette

Stila's Breathtaking Beauty Palette, revie, swatch
Recently I shared a sneak peek at Stila's E! Live from the Red Carpet collection. This collection features quite a few amazing palettes, and my favorite is the Breathtaking Palette.

Breathtaking Beauty $25
• Eye Shadows
- Cinema - pale nude, base shade
- Best Picture - shimmery lavender, lid shade
- Film - black with shimmer, liner shade
- Academy - pale gold, base shade
- Theater - shimmery brown, lid shade
- Drama - rich purple, liner shade
• All Over Shimmer Powder in Kitten
• Convertible Color in Breathtaking
• Lip Glaze in Guava (deluxe travel size)

Read on to see swatches.
3
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