Friday, April 15, 2011

COMING SOON: MAC Surf Baby

US Release Date: May 26, 2011










Picture Credits: princessebeudy

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

DUPE: MAC - Mischievous Mint

MAC's Mischievous Mint ($14):



Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet ($2):





I have just been getting my pictures from Google since I can never find good lighting in my house. The picture I found of the Sally Hansen polish seems very washed out. When you swatch these two polishes they are actually very similar on the nail.

DUPE: MAC - Shadowy Lady

L'Oreal HiP Duo "Wicked" ($6.99):



MAC's Shadowy Lady ($14.50):




MAC's Shadowy Lady is a bit darker than the HiP duo. They still are a close match though. I'll keep looking around for a better one, but for now, I think this will due! Enjoy!

DUPE: MAC - Shale




Milani's Icy Plum ($6):
 




 
 
MAC's Shale ($14.50):




DUPE: MAC - Naked Lunch

Wet n Wild Fine Wink ($1 - $3):

MAC's Naked Lunch ($14.50):




How can you go wrong with this?! Wet n Wild's eye shadows are getting such better quality! I was so shocked to see big makeup gurus buying Wet n Wild palettes, so I decided to try them for myself. Oh wow they are sooo much better than we all remember them as. Of course, as with all eye shadow brands, there are a few duds. However, they're so cheap you aren't losing hardly any money by giving it a shot!

DUPE: MAC - Vanilla

With this dupe it is an amazing price to get Covergirl's single pan eye shadows for around two to three dollars instead of MAC's shadows for around fifteen dollars! This color, once again, isn't completely perfect but very very similar! Having a nice simple off white color is a staple in anyone's makeup collection and helps make your eyes brighten up and look more awake.

MAC's Vanilla: $14.50




Covergirl's French Vanilla: (approx) $2-3

Monday, April 11, 2011

DUPE: MAC - Woodwinked

MAC's Woodwinked: $14.50
L'Oreal HiP Duo "Wicked": $6.99

This color isn't an exact dupe, but it's fairly close!

Woodwinked is a beautiful antique gold color that leans more on the warm side. If you have a darker skin tone and it can really brighten up the eye with it's shimmer reflects in it. For lighter skin tones I find you have to have a warm based skin tone for it to not look off on your eyes. For warm skin tones it is thee perfect gold color! On me, for instance, it makes my eyes look kind of sickly and yellow. I have very cool toned skin.

MAC's Woodwinked:
In this duo the color is a bit darker than Woodwinked but has the same general color to it. The brown/gold color in the Wicked duo is a bit more chocolaty brown with gold in it. I have found the HiP Duos to have a very similar and comparable texture to MAC shadows. 
L'Oreal HiP Duo "Wicked":

DUPE: MAC - Wedge

Another dupe! Here we go!


MAC's Wedge:



L'Oreal HiP Dup in Shady (Left side):



MAC's Wedge: $14.50
L'Oreal HiP Duo "Shady": $6.99

These HiP Duos are absolutely astonishing! They are so smooth and easy to blend. They also are very pigmented. (Which is what HiP stands for - high intensity pigments.)

HELPFUL HINT: Face Shapes

Face shapes are extremely important in determining your haircut and style. Wilshire Wigs explains face shapes very well. I thought I'd share what I found on their page explaining face shapes and different hair styles that you should and shouldn't do. Enjoy!

As its name implies, the Oval Shaped Face is longer than wide, with a jaw that's narrower than the cheekbones. Because the oval shaped face has no dominant areas and is so proportional, this face looks good with just about any hairstyle, length or texture.

The Diamond Shaped Face is characterized by a narrow chin and forehead with wide cheekbones. Diamond shaped faces need narrow sides and fullness at the chin. Bobs work very well for this shape. Avoid wearing height on top or volume on the sides. Use some fringe or bangs to cover narrow forehead.


The Heart Shaped Face is characterized by a wider forehead and a narrower chin. Bring some hair onto the forehead to disguise its width. Keep hair close to the head at the eyes, but make it slightly full around the jaw, and below and in front of the earlobes.

The Oblong Shaped Face is characterized by a very long and narrow bone structure. The woman with an oblong facial shape often has a long, thin neck. Use a fringe or half-bang across the forehead by creating soft waves or curls in the crown and nape areas. This helps to create the illusion of an oval.

The Pear Shaped Face is characterized by a small or narrow forehead and a rather large pouchy-appearling jawline. Comb hair to add width from the eye level through the crown of the head. Set and comb hair close to the head on the sides and at the nape.

The Round Shaped Face is characterized by a wide hairline and fullness below the cheekbones. The woman may be overweight and the neck may appear short. These faces look very good with a geometric or linear style. Add height, when possible, and long, wispy side areas to make the cheeks look narrow. Comb hair close to the head on the sides and at the nape.

The Square Shaped Face is characterized by a wide hairline and jaw. Square shaped faces need height on top and narrowness at the sides. Comb the hair off the forehead to add height to the face. Cury texture and wisps of hair around the face break the wide, straight lines common to the square face.
Credits: www.wilshirewigs.com 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

HELPFUL HINT: Eye Shapes

Everyone has different eyes. Therefore one makeup look can look beautiful on one person, and then on another it accentuates all the wrong parts of your eye. It's very important you understand your eye shape and how to accentuate all of the right parts.

What eye shape are you? You can use this chart to help you out.




Next we have another chart with tips on doing your eyeshadow the correct way for your eye shape!



I'm sure many of you have seen these circulating through the beauty community, but I found them very informative and helpful so I thought I'd share! 
Good luck on finding new beauty techniques to individualize your eyes!

DUPE: MAC - Satin Taupe, Tempting, Brule, Night Manoeuvres

I know, I know. Four dupes in one post?! CRAZINESS! Maybelline has some amazing quads. One of them being the Stylish Smokes in Natural Smokes. This quad is absolutely beautiful!

Maybelline Stylish Smokes (Natural Smokes) quad:






Now time for the fun part, the dupes! Match the numbers to the numbers in the picture for the MAC dupe in this quad

1: MAC - Satin Taupe
2: MAC - Tempting
3: MAC - Brule
4: MAC - Night Manoeuvres

The only major difference I see in these is that Tempting is a bit more bronze than the color in the quad. Also, MAC's Satin Taupe is a bit more pigmented... but that is to be expected considering it is high quality compared to drugstore. Everything else is almost spot on!

DUPE: MAC - All That Glitters

Here I am with another DUPE guys! I'm on a roll lately finding some really good drugstore eye shadows! Everyone knows and loves MAC's All That Glitters. It's a beautiful champagne pinky shimmer that looks absolutely gorgeous.

MAC - All That Glitters:

The dupe I found is in a Cover Girl quad called Country Woods. The dupe is in the pan that's second from the left. This color is a little darker than All That Glitters, but it's not hardly anything. They are crazy close!

Cover Girl - Country Woods (quad):

DUPE: MAC - Satin Taupe

Satin Taupe by MAC is one of my all time favorite colors and is insanely popular. However not everyone can afford to buy MAC shadows, or anything from MAC for that matter. I've been on the hunt for some good dupes and I found one that is extremely close!

The picture below is MAC's Satin Taupe:




L'Oreal HiP Duo "Sassy" is crazy close! Not only in color but in texture. I was so shocked that the HiP duos were of such good quality! I heard they were, but until I got them for myself I was a major skeptic. It is very finely milled and goes on and blends nice and smoothly.

The picture below is L'Oreal HiP Duo in "Sassy":




Satin Taupe's shimmer is a bit more silver than HiP Duo "Sassy". The HiP color is a bit warmer. The pigment in the HiP color isn't as strong as Satin Taupe, however it's not bad at all!


All in all I think you could definitely use HiP in place of Satin Taupe and you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference. Except for the fact that you spent half as much on it! :)


Satin Taupe: $14.50
L'Oreal HiP Duo "Sassy": $6.99


Amazing amazing dupe! 

Saturday, April 2, 2011

HELPFUL HINT: Water Marbling

For those of you who have tried water marbling you know it makes an amazing design on your nails and is very simple to do! I've had people ask me why their nail polish doesn't spread once they drop it into the water though.

Most of the time I have found out that people are using warm water or cold water. Don't do that! It absolutely has to be room temperature or the colors won't spread correctly. It's a very simple change that needs to be made.

Hopefully that'll help some people that get confused by that and think they need to use a certain brand of nail polish or something very complicated.


Remember: ROOM TEMPERATURE WATER.


<3

REVIEW: ELF Studio Endless Eyes Pro Eyeshadow Palette



This product was featured in December 2010's "The O List: Holiday Edition" of O' The Oprah Magazine. I bought this product around that time without knowing about that. I hadn't heard anything about it but it was only $10! Of course I had to try it.



So what are my feelings about it? It's just kinda... eh. Some of the colors are really pigmented, others are just a flop. There are no mattes in this at all, just some with very subtle shimmer. Others are super shimmery and sparkly. This is a large variety of colors which is awesome and it would be great to expand your collection and to try out new colors. However, if you already have a lot of eye shadows and are very knowledgeable about good pigmentation and are expecting an amazing outcome, I wouldn't waste your money. Instead I would go to Coastal Scents and get the 88 palettes. They have fewer colors and cost about $18 but are a thousand times better in quality.



Anyways, this isn't a bad buy, it's great if you are just starting out as I said or if you want to try some new bright colors. It's just not the best cheap palette out there.




Would I buy this again? Probably not.

Friday, April 1, 2011

DUPE: MAC - Little Girl Type

This dupe is a little more blue toned than Little Girl Type, but is still very similar! I found it at my local Walmart for $2! That is a much cheaper price than ordering from the MAC website or getting it from a counter.

The dupe I found is called Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Hardwear in Lacey Lilac.

They both are beautiful spring time colors and go amazingly with the muted color trend. Enjoy!