Urban Decay F&F Haul

Here are the (only) two items I picked up during last week's Urban Decay  friends and family sale. I picked up the new revolution lipstick in 'shame' and the Vice 2 eyeshadow palette. The palette also comes with a dual sided eyeshadow brush.  It's an okay brush, but I personally don't think it's as nice as the brush in the Naked 2 palette.  I also got a free sample of the zero eyeliner pencil. It's black, but not as black as perversion, my favorite.  Check out the pics below!

Urban Decay Friends & Family SALE!!!

Urban Decay is currently having it's friends and family sale, which started today I believe.  Anywho, this is a great sale guys! 20% off your purchase, and free shipping (always) for purchases over $50.  I'm definitely using this opportunity to pick up the limited edition Vice 2 Palette. You guys might want to take a looksey!! I'm going to try and talk my mom into getting me a lipstick or two lol!

The code is: FFHOLIDAY13

The website is urbandecay.com !

Urban Decay's Holiday Lineup (Fall 2013)

Urban Decay announced it's Holiday lineup today! The collection is available online now, but it looks like a couple of items are not yet available (the highlight powder and the anarchy palette).  The collection will be sold in stores in the next few weeks or so, but for now you can only purchase online.  I have not actually seen the collection yet, but once I do I will update with more details on each item as well as swatches. For now, my info was compiled from Urban Decay.  If you want a full scoop of all the details plus amazing swatches, check out Christine's amazing post at Temptalia.  Also, check out the pics below. 

The set includes two eyeliner pencil sets (Black Market and Ocho Loco 2), a Vice 2 eyeshadow palette, two face palettes (Anarchy and Shattered), Heavy Metal eyeliner glitters, and a Naked Illuminated Shimmering Powder.

Photo Credit: Temptalia

Photo: Urban Decay

Photo: Urban Decay

Photo: Urban Decay

Photo: Urban Decay

Photo Credit: Temptalia

Photo Credit: Temptalia

Photo Credit: Temptalia

My Fave Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick Colors

Here are the swatches of my favorite Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick colors.  I love them all, but if I had to narrow the 22 shades down, these would make the cut!!

Row 1: Left to Right: Shame, Venom, Jilted, F Bomb, Rapture

Row 2: Left to Right: Bang, Naked, Turn On, Manic, Lovelight

Not pictured: Anarchy.  Gorgeous bright pink, reminiscent of Candy Yum Yum (by MAC).

Mini-Sephora Haul (Last Week)

***I wrote this post last week or maybe the week before sometime.  Forgot to finish by attaching pics, but here it is...better late than never!***

 Sorry things have been so hectic I haven't posted in a while.  Not that I've been busy, but I've found a couple of new series on HBOgo and they've consumed all of my time lol.  Now that I've finished one series, I have more time :).  So here's a post of my Sephora haul from last week.  I was not shopping for anything, but lo-and-behold an email from Sephora pops up in my inbox and it has this cool looking lip collection for $25.  I decided to check it out, and since of course shipping isn't free until you spend $50 (the agony) I picked up a Make-Up Forever Aqua Shadow Essentials Set.  This retails for $23 and based on MUFE's pricing, it looks like a good value.  Also, this is my first ever MUFE purchase, and I know this is a well loved brand by many folks out there. The aqua shadow pencils retail for $20 I believe, and this comes with two full-sized pencils and a mini aqua eyes liner pencil.  You can't mix and match shades, but there are three options to choose from: Neutral (pearly taupe and pearly beige), Smoky (taupe grey and pinky beige), and Pop of Color (blue and taupe colors). I also picked up Urban Decay's eyeliner in Gunmetal (on sale for $6 at Sephora-old formula).  Check out the pics below! (*PS-this purchase pushed me up to VIB level!)

Sephora's Give Me Lip collection features a full-sized Tarte LipSurgence, and sample sizes of other products.  Specifically,

 *Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Bare Pink
* Buxom® Full-On™ Lip Polish in Dolly
*NARS Lip Gloss in Turkish Delight
* Fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Treatment
* Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil in Rhubarb
*Tarte LipSurgence™ Lip Luster in Glitzy(full sized)

August Ipsy Bag

Before I get into my review/product list for this month's glam bag, I have to say I wasn't pleased with two things.  I'm not pissed, but I am annoyed.  First, this month's bag took longer to arrive (and DHL tracking numbers did not work at all this month), and that may have to do with the second thing. Second, this month's bag arrived damaged.  You can check out the pics below for greater detail, but this month's bag had a slash in it, and when I inspected the packaging, someone on the delivery end must have cut through my package and taped it back up, not realizing (or not caring more likely) that they actually cut thru to my bag. BOOOOOOOOO.  

Moving on, this month I received 5 items in my Ipsy bag.  I received: a sample size of Urban Decay's Revolution Lipstick in Anarchy (gorgeous, gorgeous shade of pink!), a NYX Mosaic Powder in #12 Dare (full size), a Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream sample, a Pixi Lash Booster Mascara sample in #2 Blackest Black, and a 1 oz sample of Michael Todd true organics Jojoba Charcoal Facial Scrub.  

Remember, Ipsy is a monthly subscription for beauty products.  For $10 a month and free shipping you get a bag containing samples (and usually one full sized item) of beauty products across a board of brands.  Many of the brands may be up and coming brands, and some are staple favorites.  This is only my second month of receiving the bag, and outside of the technical difficulties, I think it's good.  

Not a lot of product in this sample. Maybe about the length of your fingertip.

Hautelook Sales for the Week

HauteLook has a couple of sales this week that I'm totally going to be checking for! Today, at 8am Pacific time Urban Decay goes on sale.  Thursday, August 1st theBalm goes on sale.   NuMe hair tools also has a sale beginning tomorrow that I will take a peek at.  My problem with NuMe tools is that they are super overpriced only so that NuMe can "mark them down" or "have a coupon code" for certain people in the beauty profession.  I am generally not a fan of companies that constantly mark their items up JUST to make it seem like they're offering a good deal by having all of these "exclusive" coupons, discounts, or sales.  Seriously, if a curling iron is $262, and really worth $262, are you really going to offer it for $50 constantly??  Just make it the price it should be and skip the sales.  Regardless, if it's a quality product, your customers will know.  Random rant, sorry. 

But yes, def check out the HauteLook sales this week...you don't have to purchase anything.  I find that some companies come up on the HauteLook sale list regularly, every couple months or so.  Anywho, good luck shopping (or browsing like me)!

Thick or Winged Eyeliner (Updated w/pics)

**Updated with pics.  Clearly, I forgot to attach them, as I should have probably been in bed asleep not on blogger! LOL. Also, I found my stash of liquid eyeliners, I knew I had some.  They were in a box mixed in with eye pencils (not with my mascaras as I originally thought.**

Hey guys. Super quick post here. I had a friend ask me if she could do a super thick winged eye with a regular pencil eyeliner (as opposed to liquid eyeliner). In my personal opinion, I'm going to say no. First, if you're doing a thick eyeliner you're going to want to use a creamier pencil not a hard one, because that would be pretty painful to color in. The problem with using a creamier pencil is that you won't be able to get the best precision (likely) and it will very likely smudge, move, or smear. 

I personally am the worst at using liquid eyeliner, but I keep saying I'm going to practice more. I'm not a fan of those felt tip pen like liquid liners because I've found that for me they don't apply with even consistency, causing awkward application and streaky lines. I actually went to try it out with a pencil liner and realized that I don't have any liquid liner at all lol!  I've got to fix that problem. Instead I used my Mac fluid line, which is a gel eyeliner. It's kind of the best of both worlds. It's super creamy and even and dark. But it's also easy to apply since you use a brush, leaving less room for error (ideally). Anywho, it worked fine for me with the blacktrack, but with the pencil it looked horrid. Lol. The pencil smeared and I couldn't get the line or wing I wanted. So I'd def recommend liquid eye liner or at least a gel eyeliner. 

Also, don't judge my wing on the pics below I'm working on learning how to draw them. Especially since I think a neutral eye and heavy winged liner go great with a nice bold lip. It's late and I was just playing around. I will post more tutorials after I get my brows done this week. Nothing worse than pretty makeup and bad brows!


First pic: using MAC Fluidline.  Second pic: UD Perversion Eyeliner Pencil.  This was right after I applied both, and clearly the pencil smudged immediately and didn't really let me do a "wing". 

 

Urban Decay "Vintage" 24/7 Glide on Pencil in Deviant

In case you were unaware, Urban Decay recently reformulated it's old 24/7 glide on pencils with a new, creamier formula and new colors.  While some colors remain, Urban Decay launched "new" colors that would replace the old colors.  Long story short, in an attempt to get rid of all these "older" pencils, they are marked down to $9.50 at Sephora and Urban Decay online.  This is more than half the original selling price of $19, so if you've never tried the pencils out and would like to, I suggest picking up one of the marked down ones.  I think they may not be exactly like the "new" formula, but they are definitely a great pencil.  And the ones that are left are in fun shades!  There are currently six shades available at Sephora (Ransom-bright iridescent purple, Grafitti-bright green with silver sparkle, El Dorodo-gold, Lucky-deep copper, Lust-purple, Deviant-electric blue) and Urban Decay (1999-plum w/gold glitter, Binge-navy blue, Covet-peacock green, Crash-deep plum with silver sparkle, El Dorado, Deviant, Flipside-bright teal and  Grafitti). 

I picked up a Deviant from Sephohra when I picked up the Lorac Pro Palette. Again, these are fun colors, and a great purchase for those of you who would never pay $19 for a bright green or blue eyeliner!! I will say though, that if you aren't a fan of glitter, I'd be wary of these because Urban Decay's old everything was super glittery.

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick

So, Urban Decay is releasing a fall line, and they've decided to re-release lipsticks again.  These lipsticks come in 22 shades and claim to be uber-pigmented.  If you know my love of Urban Decay products, I'm super excited for these.  I'm sure they will be pigmented and super gorg! Just like Urban Decay's eyeshadows and eyeliners. They will be available at Urban Decay (.com) and at Urban Decay retailers, but two shades, Protest and Strip will be exclusive to Urban Decay (.com).  These lipsticks will retail at $22, which for me is on the higher end of the lipstick spectrum, more than MAC but less than Nars.  I can't wait to go into a Sephora store to swatch them in person!  I really am going to hate myself, because after looking at all the swatches on Temptalia, I honestly liked them all generally, and there were like 15 that made me say "I've gotta get that one!" LOL!

Also, the lip liners have been "revamped and reformulated", and those are also being relaunched in the fall collection in sixteen shades.  I'm crying for my wallet already.  Seriously, Urban Decay, if you're interested in me giving a review on these products, email me!! LOLOL.  I. Want. It. All.

 Head over to Temptalia for more info, plus swatches!!

This pic below was posted on their Instagram page:

How to Make Your Eyeshadow "POP"!

No matter what brand or quality eyeshadow you use, you always get ome that are either too sheer, don't wear long, or are just dull and blend into the other colors on your eye. Or you get the ones that are super pretty, but just don't show up well.  And we all know that caking on more eyeshadow just to get it to show only winds up making a mess...on your eye and your face. 

The best things that I've found if you have those shadows is to use an eyeshadow is to use an eyeshadow base (which is NOT the same as an eyelid primer) or to apply the shadow wet.  Actually, you can use a base or apply eyeshadow wet all the time if you choose...for me, some days I prefer the muted colors lol.  No need to always be bright.  Anywho, for an eyeshadow base you can actually use other eyeshadows, like pale colored cream shadows, but the most popular bases are eye shadow sticks (like NYX) or paint pots (like MAC).  These help your color stay longer and appear more vibrant.  Everyone has a preference, and you have to try them out to find which you like.  The only problem is that sometimes this causes an increased likelihood of eyeshadows creasing, but that can often be reversed by being sure to use an eyelid primer and even application of your eyeshadow base. 

For an example of how the shadows appear different and last longer, I've got some swatches below.  The colors and names of the eyeshadows aren't super important.  I just chose a few different colors as an example.  The colors I used came from Urban Decay (the limited edition 15th anniversary palette--the first four shades) and Wet N Wild's Color Icon Palette 333-I've Got Good Jeans (the last two blue shadows).

The last picture shows my arm after I rubbed it with a warm soapy towel.  As you can tell, the eyeshadows that were applied wet or with a base remained, but for the most part the shadows applied alone rubbed right off.  Notably, the shadows applied with the base lasted longer.  For my base I used NYX's eyeshadow base in White (it's available at Ulta for $6.99).  

I patted the base on my arm and then applied the eyeshadow on top.  For wet eyeshadow, I dipped my brush gently and lightly into water.  There are all types of techniques on wet application, and everyone has their own preference.  I know a lot of people like to spray the brush with water in a spray bottle.  

Check out the pics below! 

Utensils/Products:

Naked vs. Naked 2 by Urban Decay

Urban Decay is a big (popular) brand in the eyeshadow community, and the Naked and Naked 2 palettes are probably the most popular/most purchased eyeshadow palettes (opinion, not sure if this is rooted in some sort of fact or statistic out there). These palettes are available here at Urban Decay.  Both palettes retail at $50, which I know is a lot of money, but considering that you get 12 eyeshadows, all of which blend together beautifully and can be used for day or night looks, its not too bad of a deal.  Single pots of Urban Decay's eyeshadow retail for $18-$20 dollars, its not a bad bargain. I'd recommend watching out for sales.  Urban Decay, at least 2x a year if not more, always has a Friends and Family or Holiday sale, where you can receive upwards to 20% off your entire purchase.  Sephora will sometimes have a sale too and they are also retailers of Urban Decay products. Ulta also may have a 20% off coupon for Urban Decay as well.  I would def try and monitor sales and then purchase a palette at that time.  I'm not sure if you need both, perhaps swatching the palette in store and looking at the colors might help decide which you prefer.

OH! And both palettes come with brushes! Nice brushes! Brushes that retail from Urban Decay for $26.  So the palettes really is a good deal.  They also, in the packaging, come with either a free UD primer potion (Naked) or a sample size of the naked lip gloss (Naked ---a super gorgeous neutral pinky color that I love!)

In addition to the two Naked palettes, Urban Decay released a Naked Basics palette, which features six, all matte shadows.  I haven't purchased it because I have both Naked palettes and it retails for $27, but I don't feel like any of the shades are so spectacular or so different from the Naked shadows that I need to have it. I love both palettes, and often times find myself reaching for both, as they both have some of my favorite shades.  If I had to pick only one that I could have ever ever ever, it would be near impossible, but I'd probably say Naked (the original palette), although...admittedly lately I reach for Naked 2 more often.

Here are some pics:

Naked:
Colors Left to Right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal. 

Naked 2:

Colors Left to Right: Foxy, Half Baked (also in Naked), Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted, and Blackout.

I will try and update this post later with some eye "looks" I've created with these palettes.