So, the lovely blogger Veronika is hosting an awesome giveaway of ZICO water which sounds like an awesome product. I have never used it before, but after her glowing review it sounds like something I would run out and go use! It is a coconut water that comes in many different flavors and you can mix it in smoothies as well to make an even yummier drink! Veronika writes about the many benefits about ZICO water provides because not only does it taste yummy it helps with cramping because of the potassium (which I get and is super annoying sometimes). This seems like it would be a super cool giveaway to win and even if I don't I may go out and get it and try it out because it just sounds delicious, healthy and refreshing! If you guys want anymore information you can check out Veronika's blog where you should all enter the giveaway, here.
So, I know this must be either annoying or enjoying for you guys. So I have been enjoying finding new blogs and reading about their lives, there have been a lot of giveaways and I just wanted to let you guys in on yet another giveaway from Nelly A Complete Waste of Makeup. She is actually linking up with Kelly from Messy.Dirty.Hair who is giving one of Nelly's lucky readers 2 OPI and 2 Essie nailpolishes (OPI Give me coral sometime/Fiercely Fiona & Essie To buy or not to buy/A Crewed Interest) These are some pretty amazing colors for the summertime and there are 37 raffle entries and I think you should all enter it!
So Neely from A Complete Waste of Makeup is hosting a giveaway. Her blog is awesome, I have been reading it for quite some time now and she is a great blogger and she is awesome for giving away not 1, not 2, but THREE giveaways!! The 3 products include:
1. eReader case of your choice from JavoEdge 2. Tiny Robins nest earrings from Wired Essentials 3. 1-5 pack of sparkle EmiJays
These are all some pretty amazing products and there are plenty of ways for you to enter in for the giveaway (32 entries per person to be more specific). The giveaway ends in 8 hours and I think if you get a chance you should definitely enter!
Wow, can you even believe May is even over. I cannot even fathom that this year is flying by so fast. So much has happened. My cousin has his engagement party in Pennsylvania this April, my sweet nephew turned 2 on May 10th (and I just found out earlier this week that his mom is expecting another bundle of joy which is SUPER exciting news!!!), one of my good friends from high school/college got engaged last weekend and I feel like life is just moving by and I have no clue where time is going! I guess I am just trying to stay afloat at this point. Anyway let me just get to my favorite products from May, I also am going to add a little section after the products for tips that I have learned from makeup artists, blogs, friends, etc. that might help you guys out so hope you guys enjoy this one!!
So first is the NARS blush/bronzer duo:
I know I am late to this NARS party and I have been meaning to pick up this little number for quite some time but I haven't come around to it since now. I was timid at first glance at the orgasm blush and even though it is a "universal" color used on almost every skin color as the makeup consultant told me I was super worried I would look like a clown with super pink cheeks. I was very pleasantly surprised at the outcome though and I bought it on the spot. The laguna bronzer is also great for contouring which I learned how to do from a bunch of awesome blogs over the years and from the makeup consultant, I now know where to contour on my face specifically and what brush to use! I completely recommend this little duo for everyone. The bronzer is not too dark and is great for contouring and like everyone says the blush goes on everyone, for me it is a great peachy color without being obnoxious and my sister is a few shades darker and it looks great on her as well.
Next up is the elf waterproof eyeliner pen (I think I might have done this in my elf haul post, but oh well).
This eyeliner pen is great for precision because I am not great at doing top liner and even if I make a mistake I can pretty quickly fix it. But this thing is no joke when it says waterproof it is pretty tough to take off, but with eye makeup remover it works fairly well. I believe I got this for either $1 or $3 and you can't go wrong for that much. I say if your a novice at top liner you pick up one of these an get to work!
Up next is Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer.
I've never really used a primer before and just put a moisturizer on my face before applying any makeup on, but after doing a bit of research on the pros and cons of what it actually does I figured I might as well try it out and I had a $2 off coupon for a Revlon PhotoReady cosmetic so I only paid about $9 for it. I have noticed a difference in my makeup not fading and I don't have to do any re-applying throughout the day at all.
The final beauty favorite of May is something that I have used for quite some time, but I had stopped using it and now recently realized I needed to start re-using it again. It's Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller.
I love this stuff, my mom got this years ago and I took it from her drawer and never looked back. I thought I could retire it, but lately my under eye puffiness has come back to haunt me. All the stress from work and school has taken its toll on my eyes. This stuff is great for anytime of the day it's quick and easy, all you literally do is roll it under your eyes where the bags would/do appear and it reduces the appearance of it over time. I have found it to work for me and think it is a fantastic product for anyone rather than those crazy expensive night eye creams!
Ok now I said earlier I have some makeup tips that I have learned from just this past month that I wanted to share and I know this post is super long already and I have done a LOT of catching up in this one day alone, but hopefully some of these tips can help!
Tips:
1- Eye Shadow brushes: These small brushes are great for being multi-taskers. I have found when I apply my powder foundation I get these small creases in the eye area that I can't get around with my big poofy brush, but I just grab a small eye shadow brush dab powder on it and apply around those creases, it makes it magically disappear!
2- Contouring/Blush- This is great if you have a round face like me to define your cheekbones, nose, forehead, etc. Using a shade or two bronzer darker than your skin tone and a side angled brush go along the cheekbone parallel to your eye down to where it's parallel to your lips. For your forehead, do a light coat above your eyebrows and then for your nose do a thin coat on the sides of the bridge of your nose. After contouring it is best to apply your blush to the apples of your cheeks!
3- Highlighting: I've heard a lot of talk about highlighting certain areas of your face and they even sell highlighting powders which I was just about to buy until I was experimenting at home with my makeup and noticed I had a non-shimmery white eye shadow color in a palette at home. I tried using that as a replacement for a highlighting powdering and it worked exactly the same and it saved me some money!
I did a small vlog to go along with the tips I listed above to make it a bit easier and to serve as a visual for you guys and get a better idea of some of the things I'm talking about. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail!
Hope you guys enjoyed this super long post along with the other super long catch up posts I had today (sorry about that) just think of it as reading material for this weekend if your bored?! Well hope you guys have a fantastic weekend!!
So for a pretty long time I had used Mac because I had been recommended to it and I had started out using their Studio Fix foundation and I actually stopped when my cousin saw me using it because she said the coverage wasn't doing anything for my skin but making my skin oily. I hadn't really loved Mac and every time I went into the Mac store at the mall by my house I felt as if they were always helping other people and were sort of standoff-ish (granted, it is a HUGE mall and a small Mac store, but still I am a paying customer and wanted help). I first off felt like they didn't give me the exact attention I needed. I am not needy or do I seek a lot of their time, but if I am spending a decent amount of money at a store I do want the person who will be getting credit for "helping me" to actually help me. Anytime I've gone there they have never once suggested anything to me like they have at Sephora or Ulta, I just don't feel like they care there. Nonetheless, the last product I used was the Mac Skinfinish Natural Mineralize in a Medium Dark.
The problem with the Mac powder foundation I found was I wasn't satisfied with the coverage, I mean it was clearly doing enough to get by, but I felt like it was doing something funky to my face because by the middle of the day it left my face feeling cake-like and dry. I officially got fed up with paying $30 for this foundation that I was getting crap service in purchasing and not getting what I was paying for. It wasn't like I wasn't willing to fork over the money to pay for good stuff, but I expect quality makeup for the price especially with a reputable brand like Mac. Well I figured I would go to Sephora on a slow day/time and try to snag a makeup specialist and try to re-do my whole process minus my liquid concealer (I use Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer also from Sephora and only $25 for acne marks and these freckle/black spots I have just as a base liquid because I don't like all over liquid foundation). So I brought this Mac powder with me just so they got an idea of what I was using and what I wanted to change from. I was unsure of how to explain what I wanted, but the specialist was so nice and patient with me and understood exactly what I wanted and answered all my annoying questions!! She showed me this amazing powder foundation from Make Up For Ever it's their Duo Mat Powder Foundation in shade 209 (Warm Beige).
I had the Mac powder on my face and when I was describing my problem to the makeup specialist she was noticing what I was talking about and it was about 7 p.m. at this time and I had not re-applied at all throughout the day. She said the powder made my face look a bit ashy and dry and it had a pink undertone to the shade which is NOT what I needed, so clearly the Mac makeup people did NOT pay attention to me when they were choosing a color for me. The shade in Make Up For Ever has a yellow undertone which is exactly what I need for my skin complexion and it absolutely does not cake on your face nor does it dry out your face. The sponge applicator it comes with I never really like so I use the elf brush I have, just because I find it easier to get all over coverage with a brush better than with a small sponge.
So if you are debating between some powder foundations and you have similar issues with your skin complexion make sure you are really doing your homework and asking questions, don't take being ignored by the specialists at these stores because it is just plain rude. I am not sure if it is just at this particular store because I have not been at any other Mac store, but I assure you after my experiences here I will probably not be back at a Mac store again unless I really need a bright colored eyeshadow (which I probably won't).
I know this post is coming pretty late, but I have been extremely busy trying to catch up on school and work and then squeezing in sleep between all that. The past weekend I had one of my good friends since high school have his engagement party and in my culture we go all out and have an all out reception basically. The night before the engagement party he had all his friends and family over at his house for just a night of fun we had some awesome food, yummy cocktails and got some cool henna put on!
Us lovely girls
The whole crew, and the groom-to-be in pink!
Me and my bestie!
All of us rocking our A hats
The moms playing flippy cup with us (and the groom-to-be's mom chuggin' that beer like a champ!)
Shots all around!
So, after this night we all were pretty tired and woke up pretty late and all 6 of us girls got together at one of our houses and all got ready for the night ahead. It took a good 3 hours for all of us to get all of our hair and makeup perfect and with the 96° looming outside we were anxious to get as many pictures as we could with our makeup/hair looking good. The banquet that the engagement was held at was a gorgeous place with a front lobby that mimicked a fancy hotel with a breathtaking chandelier. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but it hadn't crossed my mind at the time. Since the 6 of us girls were his closest friends since high school/college we all were told to prepare a small dance that we had been practicing for just about a day and even though we just wanted to get it over with (which we just did by the skin of our hairs) it was a lot of fun nonetheless. The food was amazing and the night proceeded along to the dancing portion of the night which was the part that all of us were looking forward to! Dancing started roughly around 9:30 p.m. and went til about midnight. With drinks flowing at the open bar and music blasting through the speakers with friends all around you couldn't have asked for a more fun evening. It was the first one of our friends to get engaged and we couldn't be more happy for the couple and definitely cannot wait for the wedding next year!! Here are just a few pictures from the engagement!
Us lovely girls before the engagement!
Me with the engaged couple!
Me & Anish
Me & Shah
Bestie & I
<3 these 3
love these girls
cool angle
Cake :)
Cheers!
Yay!
All of us friends
girls from h.s.
Chocolate/vanilla w/ hazelnut cake
{best cake I've had in a while}
So now the excitement has died down from that and after all that on Sunday I had a pretty average Memorial Day, didn't have work so took that time to catch up on assignments and papers that needed to be done just trying to stay above water. I don't know what possessed me at the time when I signed up for 4 classes during the summer, but it is NOT easy especially when you are working part-time. But I am lucky in the sense that I work in the same field that I am going to school in and I have some great resources at work they all help me during downtime with research and that is such a relief sometimes! I have been MIA on this blog because of the sheer fact that since Monday I have been trying to catch up on just a weeks worth of assignments for only 3 classes. My fourth class starts next Tuesday at 8 a.m., that should be exciting, NOT! Since I am all caught up on everything for the time being I am going to enjoy blogging and tomorrow I am going to Michigan to celebrate the 1st birthday party of my adorable niece, Uma. I will hopefully capture a ton of pictures because I haven't seen her since December and it will be a nice time to catch up with all my family again and have a small get away from Chicago.
p.s. I am cheating and doing another blog post right after this just to catch up on blog posts that have been sitting in my drafts :) so enjoy the reading, guys!!
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