More Nudity: Urban Decay's Naked Flushed Palette

As you all know, I'm a big fan of Urban Decay's products, so when I decided to start wearing bronzer and maybe doing a little bit of contouring, Urban Decay was a natural place to start.

The Naked: Flushed palette is so easy to use. Basically it's like Contouring 101 - it includes a buildable, sheer bronzer, a very pink blusher, and a shimmery champagne coloured highlighter. I've been using this every day on my face and have been very pleased. Here's what I look like with it:

Basically what I'm doing is placing the bronzer in the hollows of my cheeks (and yes I'm sucking them in to do that so I get the placement just right) and also a bit along my hairline so it looks natural. To do this I'm using the (weirdly enough) ELF Studio Blush brush. That brush has sort of a pointed tip so I can get it right in the hollows, and then also blend it really well. Another reason why that kind of brush is great, or an angled blush brush, is because I'm using bronzer on the sides of my nose to slim it down a little (#bignoseproblems).

After bronzer, I'm either using the blusher on the apples of my cheeks and then highlighter along the cheekbones and down the center of my nose, or lately I've been mixing both the blusher and highlighter on my brush together. This creates a more sheer, natural look. The pink blush in this can be a little overwhelming if it's too heavy handed, and combining both on the brush will even it out a little. Plus you get a nice, natural highlight that way.

I'm really loving the Naked Flushed palette because it's easy to use for every day, and I like having all the products I need in one case, especially when I'm travelling. It stays pretty much all day (but better to use your All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray as always) and is really great for basic contouring. Apparently also I'm going for a pretty much all Naked products face. Another win for Urban Decay!

PS - how is everyone liking the new layout? I think it's way easier to navigate, don't you? And I'm loving my little crown social media icons! Thanks so much to Eve of Epic Eleven Designs for all your help, I really love what you've done with the place. And if you're in the market for a new blog layout, she's having 25% off in her etsy shop right now!

From the Queen of Bones: Testing Too Faced Bronzers, Scrubs, and Julep Polish

A while back, my good friend the Evil Queen passed some product my way. I’ve yet to repay her for her kindness but this is a start! Her castaways ended up being some of my favorite products. Now, I’ve never been one for a daily makeup routine, but when I do wear makeup, I go all out. 

A bit of background:

My mother has blessed me with three things; decent skin, big boobs, and a fast metabolism. Only one of those is relevant to this blog post. My skin is neither dry nor oily, I only use face wash 3-4 times per week, and I only break out around that time of the month. I’ve been using Kimberly Sayer’s Almond & Lavender Face Scrub for the last year or so with awesome results. It’s an organic product (you can actually see the chunks of almond in the scrub) and is gentle but effective for all skin types. It’s a great exfoliator and smells fantastic. The Sayer scrub just randomly appeared in my house and no one was using it so I obviously claimed it as mine like any good Queen would. Unfortunately I’ve run low and since I’m an adult still living on a college student budget, I’ve reverted back to St. Ive’s Pink Lemon & Mandarin Orange Scrub, available at your local drug store. It’s not bad. Less exfoliating but still satisfactory for my skin, plus I prefer the smell of citrus in the morning.

 That being said, I don’t do a lot to my face in terms of foundation. I have awesome freckles and I don’t like covering them up. Regularly, I only use my Eucerin moisturizer +SPF and maybe a little bit of concealer under my eyes and on problem areas. I started using BB cream when I do put on a full face of makeup because it gives me light coverage and a nice healthy glow. This is where Christina’s presents come into play. She gifted me a Sue Devitt pressed powder, Too Faced bronzer, Julep polish, Too Faced Beauty Balm, and Marchesa perfume. I began using the Sue Devitt Triple C-Weed Pressed Powder in replacement of my crummy NYC translucent powder with miraculous results. It was still sheer and shine absorbing but gave a much smoother finish on top of my BB cream. 

 I tended not to use bronzer outside of the summer months because I’m so pale it just makes my face look dirty. I also haven’t used bronzer since I figured out how to use it correctly. Now that I’m educated its been working out much better for me. I look less dead in the winter now. I really like the matte finish of the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer and it smells like cocoa powder. No joke. Its amazing. 

The item I was most excited about that Christina sent me was a Julep nail polish. It was supposed to be the only item I was getting but she tossed in the others for funsies. When I was working much less back in May/June than I am now so I spent a lot of my free time experimenting with nail art and new polishes. A majority of my polishes right now are Revlon or Wet-n-Wild so I was thrilled to have a polish in my collection with strong pigment that I didn’t need to apply 5 coats to achieve the color it was supposed to look like. I was gifted Julep’s  “Brielle,” a really nice, rich pumpkin color. The picture here is literally one coat of polish and then topcoat. My final decision on it is that I’m in love and when I have spare money to sign up to be a Maven (Sign up for monthly Julep Maven boxes here!) , I’m taking that opportunity to chuck all my junky polish and start anew with some more sophisticated colors.

I’ve yet to try the beauty balm (saving it for a special occasion since its such a tiny tube) and I’m not a big perfume person so I can’t speak to the actual notes in Marchesa but I can say it smells really nice. I’ve also tried Not Your Mother’s Kinky Moves Curl Defining Cream as per the Evil Queen’s review and I’m in LOVE. I don’t get the sticky residue I got from other products after touching my hair and I get nice soft curls instead of that gross crunchy look. An added bonus is that it’s affordable and readily available at drug stores.

Stay beautiful,