The Holy Grail of Lavender Nail Polishes

As you can see from the title, I have found my holy grail in a particular hue of nail polish, lavender.

Now, it is taking every ounce of my self control not to make a "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" reference here, so I'll abstain. But people, go watch that movie.

Anyway, back to my newest favorite nail polish. This color is from Essie's Spring 2013 collection, and it's entitled, "bond with whomever". What that means, I really couldn't tell you, but I know the polish is pretty spectacular. It's a gorgeous neutral, true lavender color. I have tried just about every lavender color out there from just about every brand that doesn't cost over 9 bucks for a bottle of nail polish, (Butter London you're killing me),and none of them compare to this beauty. Most others lean more pink or purple but this one is right in the middle.

It's a cream finish that is pretty much opaque in two coats, however being the OCD person that I am when it comes to my nails, I put on three for good measure, along with a top coat. The nail polish finishes pretty shiny on it's own, it's no gel polish but it's a nice shiny finish as are most Essie polishes that I have.

I obviously really love this polish, and I may have to go get another one as a backup before it disappears from the shelves. It's limited edition so if you're interested go pick it up!

I hope everyone has a nice week, I should be posting again soon. Thanks for reading!

Face of the Day #3

As the title suggests, this is another face of the day. I know, I know, I've already done a couple of these but I've been bogged down with school work, (Who let me double major? Why did I think this was a good idea? Someone tell me!), and so this is one of the easiest posts that I can make. I've still been pretty slow with posting so I figured it was okay that I show you what I wore the other day on my facial region.

These are the products that I used along with a picture of the whole look.

So as you can see I went for a taupe, shimmery eye look along with one of my favorite Spring lipsticks. For face I did my normal routine which I'll do a post on all by itself soon.

 I started by priming my eyes as always and then applied the shimmering taupey gray color in the bottom left corner, called Sandy Rose, from this palette all over the lid, then applied the matte counterpart, called Hot Stone, from the upper right corner into my crease just for some definition. Then I used the white shade on the top left under my brow and in the inner corner of my eye for a bit of a subtle highlight. I got this palette over a year ago and it's the Bobbi Brown Sand Tortoiseshell Eye Palette. I don't think you can get it any more but you could use any taupe shimmery shade and get the same effect.

To finish off my eyes I used a new mascara that I have, the MAC In Extra Dimension Lash mascara. I hated this mascara at first but now that it's aged a little and dried up a bit I love it so much more. Apparently I'm a dry mascara formula kind of girl.   Unfortunately that means I need to get another new mascara soon. I'm thinking the Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash? Maybe? We'll see.

Moving on to cheeks, I went for a pretty natural and neutral pink blush, Benefit's Hervana Blush.

I truly love this blush and wear it basically every other day. It's the perfect neutral pink that goes with just about any eye and lip combination without ever overpowering either of those things. I also highlighted my face with my Mac Cream Color Base in "Pearl". This baby doesn't look like much in the pot but it's perfect for day to day use. It's a gorgeous cream shade with a pearl that gives my skin a nice dewy glow without any obvious sparkle or chunks of glitter.

Once I was done with all of this jazz I got to my favorite part, the lipstick. I didn't fully appreciate this lipstick when I first got it, but recently I've been reaching for it all the time. It's a great transition color for this time of year, when it's still cold (at least in Michigan, we're still in a deep freeze with no signs of thaw) but you still want to have some more color and brightness to your face. It's Mac's "Speak Louder" lipstick.

As you can tell this lipstick is a great dark, reddish pink. It's a creamsheen formula, which isn't my favorite most of the time, but in the Spring I do appreciate the extra moisture that this formulation provides. Here's the whole look!





So there you go, my third face of the day! I will be posting more in the next week or so, so keep a look out. Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is enjoying the madness that is March, and Go Green!

The Best Cream Eyeshadow, Ever (REVIEW)

Okay, first of all I'm sorry it's been almost a month since I posted last. After only about a month of being healthy I got really sick again. The combination of three illnesses at once along with being busy with schoolwork kept me out of the blogging game for a while. But I'm on Spring Break now and I actually have the time to breathe and do something I enjoy. Thus, this post.

So I have a real love for cream eyeshadows. They're a super simple and easy way to make it look like you've put a lot of effort into your eye makeup without actually putting in the effort, which is key to me for life in general. Plus, they tend to stay on a lot longer than powder shadows. All these reasons mean that I've tried quite a few cream eyeshadows. Whether I've owned them myself, tested them on my arm at Sephora, or used a bit of one that one of my friends has, I've tried just about every cream shadow out there in search of the best one. I think I've found it.

These are two of my holy grail product, MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Cream Waterproof Cream Color.

I currently have two of the colors, numbers 13 and 15.

Number 13 is a shimmery, champagne color. It has more pink in it than similar products, like Mac's Paint Pot in Bare Study. This is a gorgeous shade that I use all the time, as you can see by the sizable dent I've put into it. It's perfect for every day use, both underneath other shadows and on its own.

Number 15 is a taupey bronze shade. This is perfect for the days that I really want to look like I put a lot of effort into my makeup look but don't have the time to use four shadows from four different palettes. If you put this all over the lid and into the crease it gives great color and dimension that lasts hours.


Here they are swatched. #16 is on top and #13 is below it.

Now that you know what colors I have, here's my rave. These shadows are amazing quality. They are creamy and incredibly easy to blend. They give a subtle shimmer but have no chunks of glitter in them, unlike some of the other cream shadows I've used. They last as long as you want them to and I've never had a problem with them creasing on me. They can be used as bases or as shadows on their own. They are over all a fantastic product.

There are a few bad aspects to this product. First off, the packaging is plastic. This seems like a small detail but for the relatively hefty price tag, about $26, it would be nice if the packaging was glass, a la the Mac Paint Pots. My other qualm with these is the smell. They have quite a strong "cosmetic" smell that while I can't describe, because I'm awful at describing scents, I can surely tell you it isn't pleasant. You can smell it while you're working with the product until it dries on the eyelid. It's not awful but I would have preferred a nice vanilla scent as I usually prefer my makeup to smell almost good enough to eat. (I have an obsession with food, whoops)

Even though there are a few small problems the actual product is amazing. I intend to pick up some more shades at some point in the future.

I hope everyone is enjoying this (slightly) warmer weather that has settled over the midwest. If you're somewhere that is already warm or is always warm, I'm super jealous considering I'm still huddled under my heated blanket. Thanks for reading, gave a great week, and I'll definitely post again soon!