The Favorite Products of Beauty Experts: Kassie Coleman

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1. Phillips Milk of Magnesia combined with Monistat Chafing Gel - These two together creates the perfect primer especially for runway.

2. Benefit's She-Laq - this products helps to seal eyeshadows, lip colors, mascara, and even brows; It comes with a pouch of little brushes to help apply the liquid to any of the above areas for a sure stay.

3. Mahya Cosmetics Eyeshadow in Cashmere - This eyeshadow color is made of natural minerals and has lots of pop to it. It helps to create a most glamourous eye.

4. Make Up For Ever Mist & Fix Spray - This product can be used to help set a makeup look as well as help affix eyeshadow with a very small drop to your brush. Works perfect for brides.

5. Make Up For Ever Aqua Eye Pencils - Any of the colors from this collection goes on bold and holds. It's waterproof and definitely works.

6. MAC Eye Kohl pencils - These pencils are great for creating a smudged look or even an easy smokey eye. They simply glide on.

7. Urban Decay 24/7 Lip Pencil in Ozone - Simply amazing! This pencil helps to stop feathering of your bold lip colors. You simply line your lips with this clear pencil and it's like magic. No runny lip!

8. MAC Matte or Make Up For Ever Matte Gel - Either of these products works wonders for those with oily skin. They can even double up to create a matte lip from any sheen lipstick.

9. Mary Kay Burnished Bronze cheek color (not pictured, couldn't find a picture)- This color is perfect for bronzing on dark skin as well as contouring on someone with a lighter complexion. Gives major uses with this one product.


Kassie Coleman
Professional makeup artist, Kassie Coleman, began her journey over 10 years ago in the entertainment and beauty industry. Being founder of Kassie’s Kreations, the self-educated artist followed her heart & began to “play in makeup” while assisting the lead stylist of a small Dallas beauty salon. Since then, she’s developed a keen eye for creating beautiful artwork for the runway, weddings, and other various fashion events. With her outgoing personality and tremendous talent, Kassie is sought after for photo shoots, print campaigns, as well as celebrities for red carpet events. Her clientele list includes David & Tamela Mann, Fred Hammond, and Darrin Henson just to name a few.

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9 Urban Decay Must Have Products

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Urban Decay is definitely one of my favorite brands, and without me even realizing it, they've definitely been taking over my "normal" go-to makeup products! I tried to keep this list under 5 products. You can see that I was highly unsuccessful at that!

1. 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil: I have a a bit of an eyeliner issue, I easily have over 100 liners. That's a lot. This is my liner of choice for a good smudgy smoky eye, it smudges and stays intense, then sets to last all day.

2. Good Karma Optical Blur Foundation Brush (my Good Karma Optical Blur Foundation Brush review): Yeah, pretty much this brush is amazing. I use this and my Beauty Blender brush for foundation.

3. Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer (my Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer review): Makes all of my uneven skin no longer noticeable.

4. Naked Skin Foundation (my Naked Skin Foundation review): Very lightweight and blendable, it makes you look like you have perfect skin with nothing on it. Love that!

5. Ammo Shadow Box: I've had this for a while and really need to take pictures! I love the combination of "fun" and more basic shadows in this palette. It's also frequently on sale!

6. Urban Decay Naked2 (my Urban Decay Naked2 review): I reach for this eye shadow palette constantly. It's a tremendous deal for $50 or so.

7. Urban Decay Naked Basics (my Urban Decay Naked Basics review and 18 amazing Urban Decay Naked Basics tutorials): The basic matte shades that we all use up first.

8. Naked Skin Beauty Balm: Very lightweight, it is even less noticeable than the Naked Foundation and it stil makes things less noticeable. it isn't quite the perfect look of the foundation, but definitely evens things out.

9. Super Saturated Lip Gloss: I love these pencils! Super saturated, lasts forever and easy to apply. I meant to pick up Big Bang at Sephora yesterday, but forgot. (Oh no! An excuse to go back!) It's perfect for spring!


Bought It Myself Affiliate Links

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Urban Decay's Theodora Palette: Furthering my Mila Kunis Obsession...

So, my Mila Kunis obsession (have you noticed that yet? I need to stop watching Friends with Benefits on TV, it makes the whole thing worse).... The new Wizard of Oz movie is making it WAY worse. I really want to see it, and Mila just looks amazing in the previews. Shocker.

Urban Decay is one of the companies with product tie-ins, and of course they've opted to create a couple of amazing palettes! I have the Theodora Palette, which is a good fit for my coloring. I admit that I still want the Glinda palette anyways, which would have worked better with my lighter hair.

You can see that this palette comes with a lot of colors. Obviously you wouldn't use all of them at once, but with so many neutrals here and some great accent colors there are so many possibilities!

Broken basically blends into my skin so well that you can't see it here. Beware and Bewitch are both matte, while there is subtle shimmer in West. I'm not so sure about that gold in Spell (it's not really gold, more of a bright taxi cab yellow to me), but the shimmery black is perfect for lining your eyes! Soooo pretty! And while I initially wasn't a huge fan of the greens in Jealous (they are a bit lighter than I though would be flattering), I've since seen my friend Phyrra's Theodora Eye Look Tutorial and I'm sold! I've used the darker green to line under my eyes (with the lighter green under the lash line and close to my inner corner) and it really is really pretty in person.

The palette also comes with a black eye liner, the 24/7 pencil in Zero. The pencil is a little bit soft for lining inside of my water line, but it is very deep black and it smudges really easily into my lash line.

The palette also comes with Theodora, a glossy red creme. It is in a pencil, but Urban Decay's High-Gloss Lip Colors are more of a gloss-lipstick hybrid. It has a lot of pigment, isn't sticky but it also really shiny.

I grabbed the only other UD High-Gloss Lip Color that I own to compare, because I thought it look suspiciously like Theodora. F-Bomb is also a creamy red, though in the pencil it is a tad warmer, lighter (aka- more orange) and less shiny. On my arm (and on my lips) I really couldn't tell a difference. If I was forcing myself to say something was different, maybe Theodora is a bit more red. But, they're pretty close!

The palette comes with directions for recreating Mila's look, so I had to try it! I'm not usually a girl that likes to wing her shadow up on to her browbone like it shows. I don't really know what landmarks to stop at, and I don't think it looks good on me. Some of that is definitely user error! So, I was a bit nervous using such dark colors on my eyes like this.

Once I had the look done, it was a bit much for a day look. In person the eyes were darker, and with my hair, my fair skin and the dark eyes the red lips were definitely wrong. I needed a nude lip for sure! If I had a darker complexion (like Mila) then the eyes would have less contrast and the red lip wouldn't be so dramatic. I do like the red lip, just not with this combination.


Some of my friends have posted about these palettes as well, check out what they had to say!

Theodora
Beauty and Fashion Tech's Theodora Review
Phyrra's Theodora Review, also a great Theodora Eye Look Tutorial

Glinda
Beauty and Fashion Tech's Glinda Review
Phyrra's Glinda Review


Urban Decay

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Does a Spray Make a Big Difference? Urban Decay Makeup Setting Sprays Review

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So, I fully admit that I've been very skeptical of the Setting Sprays that seem to be popping up everywhere over the last few years. I've finally decided to actually try them out and decide for myself if they're worth taking an extra 5-10 seconds every morning to spray on my face.

Urban Decay has 3 sprays, which were recently somewhat reformulated. I've been using them over the past 6 weeks or so, and let me tell you it's been quite the scientific experiment! I have notes galore, I've been spraying on half of my face or the full face, trying with different primers to see if it made a difference and tallying up oil control sheets, etc. Basically, I've been dramatically over thinking it.

Here are my findings.

All Nighter Long Lasting Makeup Setting Spray
Yes, this definitely helps things last a lot longer than they would have otherwise. I don't have a wild and crazy social life (I have a 2 year old!), but it definitely did help my makeup last over 14 hours and look perfect the entire time. I could really tell that it worked when I sprayed it on half of my face. By the time I was ready to go to sleep I looked fresh and perfect on half, with mostly gone foundation and smeared blush on the other.


De-Slick Oil Control Makeup Setting Spray
I'm definitely oily in my t-zone, and I do sometimes resort to using Milk of Magnesia as a primer to help mattify my face. Nothing else compares to how much oil that Milk of Magnesia can get rid of, though I did have hopes that this would be a good alternative for days I was expecting less shine (like in the winter).

It definitely does get rid of some of the shine (you could see a huge difference between the left and right sides of my face on days I did half and half), but it doesn't totally get rid of all my shine. I have combination skin, but I'm not super oily. It definitely isn't enough alone, but I thought it was a good product to use in combination with powder or if the Milk of Magnesia even wasn't quite enough for you. It also did a good job of increasing the wear of my makeup, though it isn't quite the All Nighter. It's about 90% All Nighter's lengthening ability and the de-oily strength was about 50% of milk of magnesia for me. If that comparison helps.


Chill Cooling and Hydrating Makeup Setting Spray
Here's the bit where I fully admit that I have no idea what the purpose of this spray is. That's likely because I'm trying it out in Michigan. In the winter.

Yes, it does feel a little cool when I spray it on, but I don't really notice that lasting for more than a few minutes. It does lengthen my makeup, but about the same as De-Slick. The All Nighter is definitely the best at that. I think this one I need to try out again in the humidity of a hot July summer.


Overall, I do think the couple of seconds spent spraying is worth it. The All Nighter is my Makeup Setting Spray of Choice, though if oil or heat are an issue you can sacrifice a little staying power for other added benefits. Are you spraying your face? What one are you using?


Urban Decay
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Ask a Beauty Blogger: Cream Blush Picks 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!



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



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!

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Makeup Wars: Valentine's Day Look

For this week's Makeup Wars we've decided to showcase a beauty element that we'll be incorporating into our Valentine's Day look! I've decided to show some of the makeup I'll be wearing (though probably not exactly like this, but this is the general idea). I don't have any big plans, I'm working that day and I have a 2 year old at home. But I'll probably do a few special things for my husband.

Things that I'll be incorporating into my look:
1. Curly hair: (Ok yes, you can see my new color here, more on that this afternoon!) My hubby likes when I curl my hair, and I'm still getting the hang of my new cut. This was the day after the cut, and somehow I feel kind of plastic here (and a bit like this is a DMV picture, that background is so boring!) My layers are moving a bit differently now with curls, so I'm practicing. But, I usually curl with my Beachwaver Curling Iron, and with just a little mousse and some hair oil my hair is good to go for a few days.

2. Darker Shadow: Obviously, a little smoky eye! When creating this look I just grabbed things from my stash that worked, I didn't worry about whether items were currently available (so sorry about the MAC Fafi paint pot from 2008!)

3. Pink Lips: I wanted some color, but not too dark. That middle ground seems to be something my hubby responds to.

4. Elie Saab Perfume: Whenever I wear this light and pretty floral he says he likes it. Every single time.

To create my eye look I wanted darker than usual, but I wanted to incorporate some pretty metallics and add depth. I started with my typical Urban Decay Primer Potion to make everything last all day. I then smudged a light layer of MAC Cash Flow Paint Pot (from the Fafi collection) over the lid right up to the crease. The Laura Mercier Black Gold liner gives a very similar look. I added a little Urban Decay Venus (from the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette) above the crease. This was for the crease shadow to be blended into.

Next I patted a little of the grey/taupe shadow from the Shu Uemura Mesmerizer shadow over my entire lid. I then took Urban Decay's Mushroom shadow, which has a similar tone to the Shu Uemura but is more opaque and a bit darker, and I worked this in to my crease and a little under my outer lower lid. Everything was blended out.

Next I applied black pencil to my upper and lower lash lines, really working the liner into my upper lash line and smudging it well. Finally, I curled my lashes like crazy and layered two mascaras for amazing lashes with just mascara. I used Fresh Supernova and then the new Maybelline Rocket Volume Express.

In the final look you can see that while it's smoky, keeping the darker shades out to the outer corners kept the inner half of the eye light, so the eye is more wearable. I think the metallic kept it from being boring.

I've been spraying my face every day with the new formulation of the Urban Decay All Nighter spray to keep my makeup long lasting. A full review is coming, but I love it!

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Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette: A Must Have

So yeah, have you heard about the new matte palette from Urban Decay? It's full of basics. Yes, indeed. That's why they call it the Naked Basics. Funny how that worked out.

I fully realize that is likely the most unexciting palette picture that I will ever post. But, hey! I spiced it up a tad by adding the UD logo and a little blurb for you to know that this is a very important palette.

Because really, these are the shades that everyone always seems to run out of first in a palette, right? The boring, basic shades that you suddenly find yourself reaching for over and over. That when you hit pan, you start to cringe, because what will you wear over your lid with every other shadow that you own?

All of the shadows are matte, except for that Venus on the far left, which has just a very faint shimmer. It makes it just the perfect highlighter for your brow bone. The rest of the colors are the basic ones that every one needs.

My friend Aprill from Gliter.Gloss.Garbage also swatched this palette, on both herself and her mom. If you have a darker skin tone and were a bit unsure about this palette, you need to go and check out her Urban Decay Naked Basics swatches. She declared this palette "Black Girl Friendly", so it's worth checking out no matter what your skin tone is!

The palette is a decent size for 6 shadows, but still a little on the compact side. This makes it great for travel!

Finally, I wanted to share how I've been using this palette the most. This is a great, quick and dirty every day eye look. 3 shadows, but they're all right there and it literally takes 2 minutes. Maybe 3 if you use 2 liners like I did.



Urban Decay

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Urban Decay's Pore Perfecting Primer: Yes, This is a MUST HAVE

While I always wear primer under my eye shadow, foundation primers is something I have a love/hate relationship with. Sometimes I can't get enough of it, particularly in the mid-summer when I need to use a little milk of magnesia to help with my shinies. So, the new(ish) primer from Urban Decay sounded amazing, and was enough to get me to try foundation primer again.

Yes, this really is pore perfecting. Truly, it doesn't feel gloppy at all. It is a light taupe/skin color, a bit opaque and it feels silky. It has a dry gel consistency, and you only need a very small amount. I used about the size of a small pea for my entire face, and this was more than enough. It doesn't pill up at all (Smashbox, I'm looking at you), and just seems to sink in to my skin immediately.

Pretty much any foundation applied over this primer looks much smoother and my pores definitely look smaller. Strangely enough, the only foundation that it doesn't seem to make a difference for is the Urban Decay Naked Foundation. I think that foundation simply doesn't need the primer. I've been using it with everything else from CoverGirl to Make Up For Ever and it makes a big difference!

Are you using a foundation primer? What do you look for in a primer, pore perfection or mattifying?


Urban Decay

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A Quick Look: Everyday Neutral Eyes with Shimmer

This is a look I had about a week ago, and I wish I had known how well it would turn out! I would have taken pics during the process. Here's how I did it.

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