Countdown to Gorgeous Day 9: Pink Passion and FOTD

Day 9 of Countdown to Gorgeous brings me another lip oil tint, this time the aptly named Pink Passion.

I paired up this medium pink with the brown/gold eye combo I've been enjoying, this time adding in Maybelline's 24/7 Color Tattoo in Chocolate Suede to deepen the color for a bit more intensity. I did have some problems blending it out, however, as the pigment wanted to bunch up a bit.

It could be because the formula is drying out, which is a drawback with the potted Color Tattoos. Unfortunately, the newer pencil versions have something in them that causes my eyes to water, so I definitely prefer the potted version.

I've been using a lot of the same makeup since I started this series, as now I want to finish up the Natural Passion cream blush, the It Cosmetics CC+ Cream and the Inika Blond brow pencil. All are lovely.

I topped Pink Passion with Crowd Pleaser, which gives my lips a much lush effect. I like the combo, as it tends to warm up the pink tint a bit and make it more flattering for my complexion.

Countdown to Gorgeous: Days 7 and 8 with FOTD

Disclaimer: I purchased these. All links are to previous reviews.

Yep, I'm behind.Work kicked into high gear with projects needing to be completed before the long Christmas break. I'm coming up for air today, before round two of "this needs to be done now" starts.

Day 7 of the bareMineral's Countdown to Gorgeous advent calendar is the lovely golden vanilla glimmer gloss in Crowd Pleaser. It's sheer but full of gold shimmer, which makes it a perfect lipstick topper for this time of year (or really, all year round). I like the formula of these glosses and find that I can get a good 3-4 hours of comfortable wear from them. Here I'm wearing Crowd Pleaser over the peachy Toujours Heureux lipstick by Paul & Joe Beauty. Honestly, the gloss helped the lipstick look better.

Day 8 brought me the only skincare item in this advent calendar - the Skinlongevity Vital Power Infusion Serum. This milky serum claims to diminish the look of fine lines, wrinkles, and uneven skin tone while helping to protect against future signs of aging.

There are some interesting ingredients in the mix (below, copied from Ulta), and the recommended two pumps covers my face and neck.

• Long Life Herb: Legendary herb shown to help defend against signs of aging. Specially cultivated from the vitamin- and mineral-rich herb grown on Okinawa, known as "the island of long life".
• California Poppy: A bright and brilliant flower native to California known for its resilience and ability to thrive in harsh conditions.
• Lempuyang ginger: A root traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicines and Indonesian Jamu herbal medicine.
• Skinmimetic Technology: Inspired by the properties of youthful skin, bareMinerals combined Long Life Herb, California Poppy and Lempuyang ginger extracts to create bareMinerals SkinMimetic Technology - a leading edge complex is designed to help protect your skin against visible signs of aging and damage, to promote your most radiantly youthful appearance.

I like the feel/consistency of this serum and find that it sinks in almost immediately. It does not interfere with subsequent makeup application, nor did I notice it causing my skin to get any more oily than normal. I'm guessing I can get about 2 weeks of 1x daily use, which is not enough to see changes, but my initial impression is positive. A full size (1.7 oz) will set you back $48, but I did see some sample sets on Ulta that contain the serum if you want to try it out without committing to a full size.

Now for the makeup used in this FOTD:

I'm still enjoying the It Cosmetics CC+ Cream, although I'll be seeing the end of my sample in another few days. I mixed it with my Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess liquid luminizer, which I'm starting to make a dent in it.

Blush is the bareMinerals Natural Passion cream blush topped with Estee Lauder's Peach Passion, which I depotted from one of my Color Portfolio palettes and put into a Z palette. That's Canadian beauty youtuber Allana Davison on the TV.

On my eyes I'm wearing Maybelline's Gold Shimmer 24/7 Color Tattoo as a base, with Allspice from day 6 on the middle to outer edges of my eye and Urban Decay's Vanilla on the inner portion.

I like how this turned out and ended up wearing the same shadows for several days in a row. So you may see it again.

I'm sneezing my head off today, which I'm hoping is just from allergies triggered by today's 80 degree weather. I'm popping Zicam like Pez candy, so no colds, please!

Blingin' in the Spring with a Rose Gold FOTD

Disclaimer:  Products purchased by me except as noted.

Right now spring is landing with a muggy wet thud in Mobile, but hopefully relief is in sight starting Wednesday.  Good thing, as walking outside into air so thick you can feel it is not how I want to celebrate spring and is contributing to a less than cheerful mood.

Regardless of the weather, warming temps and spring flowers always lead me to the color pink. Want proof of my spring pink tendency?  Here's a link to last year's Pretty in Pink FOTD. This year I gravitated towards rose gold and used some new and older products from a variety of brands. I'll try to suggest dupes for items that are no longer available.

For my eyes I used 2 matte shadows from the discontinued stila In the Know palette, which is probably my favorite matte palette EVER.  Clay makes for a great crease transition color, but if you don't have it Urban Decay's Laced is a good alternative.  I find this soft rosy tan type of shade very versatile, albeit low on the excitement scale.  I used Driftwood along my bottom lash line for a bit of soft definition.

Urban Decay's rose gold shimmer Scratch (old formula) added some bling to my lid while Vasanti's gel eye pencil in Rose Gold was great for lining my lower lash line and the inner corner of my eyes.

I used Benefit's Posie Tint as the base for my blush.  I needed two layers to get it to show, but it is a lovely soft pink that does leave a stain behind, or at least it did in my arm swatch.  I used two of the shades from the Gwen Stefani blush palette by Urban Decay: Lo-Fi as a bronzer and Hush as a blush topper and highlighter.  I'm still really enjoying this palette and think it's perfect for someone with fair skin.

I'm guessing it's gone now, since it was limited edition and I saw it on sale a few weeks back.  I don't think I have any dupes for Hush (thinking, thinking, thinking).  Nope, I don't.  As to a comparable bronzer for fair skin, the limited edition Estee Lauder Summer Glow palette has a bronzer that is similar (you can see my review here) but I have to work way to hard to get the color to show up, whereas Lo-Fi is much easier to work with.

Given the soft monochromatic rose gold look on my eyes and face, I decided my lips needed a nice pop of pink to add some oomph, so I used some Lancome samples I've had for a while.  French Sourire Shine Lover Vibrant Shine lipstick is my kind of color and formula, as it's a glossy but light on the lips flamingo pink.

The Gloss in Love in Under the Spotlight packs it's own punch of color with high shine and some glitter thrown in the mix.  Moderately sticky but comfortable to wear, I really liked it as a topper for French Sourire as it amped up the shine and longevity of wear (about 3 hours with sipping iced coffee).

Other makeup used for this look with links to reviews if available:
Face Primer:  BECCA Backlight Priming Filter
Foundation:  Lauren Brooke Creme Foundation in Cool No. 30 (the best natural ingredient foundation I've found to date.  Love and need to finish the full sized jar before it goes bad, considering the lack of preservatives, etc.)
Brows:  unreleased brow gel from a L'Oreal consumer study.  Obviously I really liked it cause I'm still using it, even though the study instructions said not to.  I'm guessing that's due to liability issues but no damage to report here, just thicker looking brow hair.
Mascara:  Maybelline Mega Plush Volum' Express on upper lashes and Clinique Bottom Lash black/brown on lower lashes.
Setting Powder:  Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light.  Every day, every way.

Hope your spring gives you warm days with cool nights and low humidity, which I will continue to dream about in this muggy mess blanketing Mobile right now.

Amber Monochromatic FOTD Featuring Clinique and Makeup Geek

Disclaimer:  I purchased these.

There are certain colors I gravitate towards on a regular basis (hello amber), and occasionally it's nice to do a monochromatic makeup look using variations on one color. Today I'm going to show you a look featuring various products from Clinique, Makeup Geek, Revlon and Estee Lauder.

Clinique Ample Amber shadow stick

Amber shades work particularly well with both my eye color and fair complexion.  Amber is between orange and yellow on the color wheel, and since blue and orange are opposite blue on the color wheel, they are complementary. Clinique's Ample Amber Shadow Stick makes for a super easy wash of color over the id and lower lash line.

The eye liner is Urban Decay's discontinued Lucky (full review here), a gorgeous copper in a blackened base.  So glad I got my hands on one before they disappeared.

For my blush, I combined Makeup Geek's Infatuation with Secret Admirer.  I used the warm terracotta of Infatuation over the entire cheek area and then popped the uber cool-toned Secret Admirer on the center of my cheeks for a bit of pink glow.

Infatuation

Secret Admirer

On my lips I combined the soft reddish brown of Revlon's Brown Sugar Lip Butter with Estee Lauder's Wired Copper lip gloss.  Estee Lauder has some seriously nice glosses, by the way. Love the shimmer in Wired Copper.

Brown Sugar

Bottom:  Wired Copper

Brown Sugar + Wired Copper

So there you go - a warm monochromatic look that works equally well for me in all seasons!  Also, Lily Raisin wanted to say hello with her pink bunny ears :-)

And So It Begins....Happy New Year and FOTD

I wish I could say I've got a clear vision of what I'd like to accomplish in 2016, but I don't.  I did do some decluttering of my house over my 2 week Christmas break, a la the KonMari method, or a loose translation of.  I'd like to continue decluttering and organizing my house until it truly does contain only items I need or love, but I'm not gonna set any hard deadlines.  My clothes and books are done, so that's progress.

Pre book purge

Post book purge

I've got a bedroom that I need to totally declutter as it has turned into "that" room where everything you don't want to deal with or don't know what to do with has ended up.  Once it's clean I'm going to move my mother's unused treadmill in so I can get more exercise.  So there's that.

Kale, parsley, beets, blueberries, ginger and turmeric

Looking back at 2015, probably the best habit I picked up was drinking green smoothies in the morning and just eating more healthy in general.  I feel better and I think it's helped my skin, plus I like concocting smoothies.  I don't crave sugary treats as much, perhaps because I'm getting my sugar in the healthier form of fruit.  I also add spices like turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper which adds a nice kick while amping up anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and blood sugar balancing properties.  Go me.

Today was our traditional New Year's Day meal which consisted of rice, black-eyed peas, turnip greens, fatback, and cornbread.  Yum.  This was my FOTD, and I've linked review of the products I used if available. Happy New Year everyone!

 Foundation:  Pur Minerals Air Perfection Cushion Foundation in Medium
Translucent powder:  Le Metier de Beaute Classic Flawless Finish Loose Translucent Powder
Blush:  Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Luminous Flush (1st pan)

Bronzer:  Julep Glow Pore Minimizing Bronzer
Highlighter:  Becca Shimmering Skin Perfecter in Moonstone (pressed)
Lips:  Le Metier de Beaute Fembot

Eyes:  Cargo Yukon over a base of Maybelline's Barely Beige Color Tattoo.

Mascara:  Estee Lauder Sumptuous Volume Bold Lifting Mascara

Eyeliner:  Kat Von D Immortal Love (upper lashline) and Julep Smoky Taupe Shimmer (lower lash line)
Setting Powder:  Hourglass Ambient Powder in Dim Light