Make up: The Vamp

I told you guys I've been waiting months to do this and finally, the opportunity arose. It was cool (in the 60's) and zero humidity. It's also the first day of October! What a coincidence ;)

I'm finally wearing my Media lipstick by MAC.

A quick run-through of what I'm wearing:
- Laura Mercier foundation primer
- Bare Minerals 1C (Fair)
- Taupe eyeshadow as an eyebrow filler
- UDPP in Eden as a eyeshadow base
- UD Virgin on the brow bone, Sin on the lid and a little bit of Buck in the crease
- Ardell false lashes (I forget what number, sorry)
- MAC fluidline in Blacktrack for eyeliner
- Too Faced Lip Insurance
- MAC Media lipstick
- Estee Lauder Soft Matte Bronzer (01) for contouring

And really, that's it. I threw on an all-black ensemble, straightened my hair and that's how it's done. The great thing about this lipstick is that it's super matte. It dries down quickly and is not sticky at all. The bad part? It's hard to work with. If you put it directly on your lips it's very, very dark. If you apply it with a brush you get more of a "wash" of color. I did both to get the final product. It's just painstaking because every tiny mistake is super obvious with a dark color like this. However, I think I like it. Definitely not something I'd wear everyday but it's fun to play around with. Plus, I really never wear lipstick for whatever reason. I usually play with my eyeshadow. But popping on a statement lipstick is really useful for those days when your eye make-up just isn't looking right or you're not in the mood to blend a bunch of shadows together.

Today has been great, the weather is super nice and it's feeling like fall. While we took Daniel to the playground, I bumped my head on one of the metal poles while going under the jungle gym and I have quite the head ache from it. Hopefully it goes away soon. I'm going to go munch on one of our cupcakes from yesterday.

Enjoy the first day of October!

Reviews

This started as a beauty blog and although it is much more than that now to me, I still want to stay true to my "roots". I have been having a stressful week to say the least. I am not in a very good mood, I am extremely tired but I have wanted to review these products forever because I like them a lot.

L'oreal True Match foundation spf 17 oil free
Color: Classic Ivory (N2)
Price: $13.00

 
I tried the liquid make-up for this brand, not the roller or the compact. I don't use anything but liquid foundations. I didn't have high hopes for this one because a) it's cheap and b) I had to guess about the match in store because there are no testers. However, I was very happy with what I picked. It was given good reviews in Allure and I firmly believe it's the best drug store make-up I have ever used. I would say the finish is semi-matte, not completely matte. The coverage is medium and it really is very blendable. I got lucky and the color I picked worked very well with my skintone. I chose the "neutral" color because one was too pink and the other was too yellow. I would definitely suggest that people stay in the N family unless they know for sure they are either pink or yellow. It covers my blemishes very well for being only a medium coverage. I think it wears rather well also. I noticed I got very shiny at the end of the day but that's probably just my super oily skin acting up. I have been breaking out like crazy lately for no apparent reason :(

Over-all: I would definitely recommend this make-up to someone who is looking for a better price but doesn't want to sacrifice the quality for their foundation. There is also a pretty wide range of skin tones and colors. There is something for the palest of the pale, which is hard to find, let me tell you.

Lorac Visual Effects Mascara
Color:  Jet Black
Price: $20.00
 

This is a very different mascara from what I've tried. First of all, I want to start out by saying that this mascara is NOT for the people who have trouble putting mascara on normally. This product will only make your life more difficult. However, if you're like me and are pretty good at make-up application, give it a try. This mascara has the 4-sided combing wand that really separates. The hard part about it is that when the mascara is new there is too much of the formula deposited on the brush and if you don't learn to scrape it off you are going to have a clumpy, smudgey mess. What I do before using it is take the wand out of the tube and scrape off excess mascara on the sides of the tube opening. That gives you the best amount to work with. When you get a hang of the wand, it really gives you dark, separated, thicker looking lashes that stay long and curled. It doesn't get as hard as some of the curling mascaras do but it gets a little stiff. It's a 3-in-one mascara for those of us that need all the help we can get.

Here is an example of my eye make up with it on:

Over-all: I would definitely recommend this mascara to anyone who has been around the block with other brands and formulations but haven't found something that really "does it all".

Urban Decay Naked Palette (Limited Edition)
Color: a variety of nudes, creams, golds, browns, grey and black eyeshadows
Price: $42 (now sells on amazon and ebay for over $100) 

  I was waiting for this palette since I learned about it at my old job in the beginning of the summer. I have a lot of praise to give this palette but I do have some critiques after having used it so much. First of all, the packaging and everything was excellent. I love the case and I love the way the eye shadows are set up in a row. The mini UDPP and the eyepencils that come with it were a nice bonus but if they wanted to charge us less for the set without them in it, I would have been down for that. I didn't really need a 24/7 liner, I have a bunch already. The colors included in the set are (from left to right): virgin, sin, naked, sidecar, buck, half baked, smog, darkhorse, toasted, hustle, creep, gunmetal. I like that it had a nice range of different shades and that no two were very similar. Creep is the darkest shadow, it's a black with small sparkles in it. Some of these colors are in their permanent line and I believe some are new. I loved the way the colors blended, the way they wore and the shade range. I didn't, however, like the fact that there is really only two matte colors. Naked and Buck are the two mattes and I was expecting for there to be a darker matte for blending. I don't really like blending shimmery shades into my crease. However, it's not a big deal and to me that didn't take away from the whole palette. So most of the shades have at least a little shimmer to them, while some like Sin, Sidecar and Half Baked are very, very shimmery. I think if you have at least 5 of the shadows in this palette you could have easily passed on it and not be missing a thing. The fact that it's being sold online for $136 really makes me laugh.

Over-all: I like this palette a lot for the colors but I believe it was pretty over-priced and that I would have taken it without the pencils and mini UDPP for a reduced priced and been a little happier. However, if you got the palette - you got a nice buy. If not, don't worry, something new and interesting will be on it's way out before we know it.

Fashion Week

The title says it all. New York Fashion week. I await Fashion Week each year, twice a year, patiently. Now that this week is finally here I am extremely excited to see ahead. I really can not wait for Milan and Paris but, first things first. I have been keeping my eye on the collections coming out and so far, I am on the fence about it. There are some collections that I would literally give an arm and a leg for and some that I could easily pass up. Spring is not my favorite season for fashion but I always keep an eye on the runway. Not only does it tell me about what will be in fashion in terms of clothing, I can see the trends emerging for beauty as well. I am sitting on this proverbial fence for a couple of reasons. A lot of collections are leaving out color, and to me, color is what spring is really known for. I see a lot of black and white, which is really great, but for spring? I'm all about wearing black year round, I was just expecting there to be bright, fluid colors. That being said, I am never one to turn down blacks, greys, or anything monochromatic. Let's be frank, Lauren is a black on black, all year 'round of type of girl.

Jason Wu Spring 2011 RTW courtesy of Vogue.com

The collection for Jason Wu and many others were primarily black/white/grey and were either very tailored or very drapey and feminine. I saw a lot of futuristic, structured looks as well as a lot of soft, sheer and very airy pieces. I really did not like the fact that so many of the models walked down the runway in see-through shirts with no bra. How is that "ready to wear"? I get that the designer does not intend for women to actually wear them that way and that a lot of the looks that go down a runway are not literal. However, I feel that it's strange to send people down a runway with their shirt see-through and expect the people looking at the clothing to know how to make it wearable. What do you wear under it? I don't get it! I was just very surprised at how so many people were using dark colors for spring. Vera Wang's collection is mostly black! There are exceptions to this of course. Marc Jacobs had crazy, bright, over the top clothes per usual. A light pink silk/satin pant suit? Only at Marc Jacobs!

Donna Karan Spring 2011 RTW courtesy of Vogue.com

And of course, the other side of the spectrum was Donna Karan and Alexander Wang with monochromatic, simple and soft collections. I am still keeping my eye out for some of my favorites that have yet to make their way down a runway. Based on what I've seen of some previews, especially Marchesa, they are going to be gorgeous. The white Marchesa gown in this preview is to die for, basically a dream dress. I am waiting with much anticipation to see the whole collection.

Marchesa Spring 2011 RTW preview courtesy of Vogue.com

As for beauty, there has been a lack of make-up on the runway. I have been seeing a lot of sweeps of eyeshadow with tinted lips. Nothing extreme, a lot of minimalism. Spring is usually that way so I am not at all surprised. However, I do notice a lot of people are going sans mascara?! How bizarre. I don't believe I could ever do that. I think spring is the time to let your skin be the main attraction, so I'm going to load up on a great moisturizer and a highlighter and let it do it's thing. For now, since we are going into fall, I am going to get a little daring and experiment with more intense looks. I can't wait to wear my Media lipstick!