Look of the Day: Soft Pinks

You probably have gathered from all of my posts that I am really into bright colors, both on my eyes and my lips. Okay, and my hair. I do enjoy more subtle looks every once in a while though. Today I used a soft pink on my eye and lined my eyes with black liner. I really like the way it makes my blue eyes pop. I used a slightly dark, nude pink on my lips to balance out the look. Products I used are listed below. Let me know what you all think! :)

Products Used:
Urban Decay Eyeshadows from the Vice Palette: Freebird, Laced, Noise, and Anonymous. I used the tiniest bit of Noise. It is a super bright pink that I placed on the outer lid and blended A LOT.
Lancome Artliner Liquid Liner in Noir
Estee Lauder Pure Color Liner in Blackened Black
Clinique High Impact Mascara in Black
Lancome Brow Expert Brow Groomer in Taupe
Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24hr Foundation in 100 Ivoire N
Clinique Allover Colour Blush in Peony
Lancome Le Lipstique Lip Liner in Sheer Raspberry
Lancome Color Design Lipstick in Vintage Rose

Swatches of Products Mentioned in My NYX Cosmetics Post

I didn't want my post from earlier to be too picture-heavy and long, so here is a separate post of swatches of the products I mentioned. I did not swatch the things that NYX does not sell anymore.

You can read the post here for descriptions of these products and prices of them.

Slim Eye Pencils: Black, White Pearl, Electric Blue, Purple, Acid Green, Emerald City

Jumbo Eye Pencils: Milk, Black Bean, Pacific

Studio Liquid Liners: Black, Coffee, Plum Purple, Purple, Blue, Sapphire

Another look at the liquid liners. The purple didn't show up as vibrant on camera as it is in person.

Liquid Crystal Liners: Gun Metal, Pewter, Jade. The bottom is the liners swatched alone and the top is over the black liquid liner. Pewter is a purple pink shade that is similar to Gun Metal but not as much as the picture makes it seem.

Soft Matte Lip Creams: Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Amsterdam

Round Lipsticks: Mars, Louisiana, Spell Bound, Femme

Left: Jumbo Lip Pencil in Ice, Right: Retractable Lip Liner in Nude Pink

HD Photgenic Concealer in Yellow

HD Studio Photogenic Grinding Blush in Sangria in Madrid

NYX Cosmetics

Back in April I did a review of Clinique cosmetics. I talked about the products I had used from the brand, what I thought about them, etc. This time I am going to discuss a drugstore brand, NYX cosmetics.

I have been using NYX for a few years and find more and more products from the line each year that I like. This brand is super affordable and does not skimp on quality with most of their products. The best time to buy these is when Ulta occasionally has 40% off on NYX or buy one, get one free. NYX isn't sold at any of the drugstores near me, but I know that they are sold in various drugstores in the U.S.

EYES:
Glitter Mania Glitters - I won't talk too much about these because NYX doesn't carry them anymore. I wish they still had them because I think they are really nice glitters. I have them in white, blue, and purple and they are bright and stay on well. When I put other glitters on my eyes sometimes, they tend to crease a lot. These don't do that. I'm sure there are other comparable glitters out there that I will try when I use these up.

Slim Eye Pencils - I have these eye pencils in the shades Black, White Pearl, Electric Blue, Purple, Acid Green, and Emerald City. These aren't my favorite eyeliners in my collection for a couple reasons. I don't feel like they are as pigmented as they should be when I use them. They also do not wear well on me and are usually faded after a few hours. My eyelids are extremely oily, so that may or may not have something to do with it. I guess I have so many because they are a really good price and I can pair them with other eyeliners I have. These are $3.50.

Jumbo Eye Pencils - I have these pencils in the shades Milk, Black Bean, and Pacific. I started using these jumbo pencils after I saw XSparkage using them in her tutorials a lot. It was love at first use. Milk Jumbo Eye Pencil is something everyone should have. It is a perfect base and makes any color placed on top of it pop and look much more vibrant. It surprisingly doesn't crease on my oily lids, but I do use a primer underneath the pencil. NYX has tons of different shades in these to create all different kinds of looks. They can be worn alone or as a base for other shadows. They are $4.50.

Studio Liquid Liners - I have these liners in shades Extreme Black, Extreme Coffee, Extreme Plum Purple, Extreme Purple, Extreme Blue, and Extreme Sapphire. On the bottles, the labels say, "Dramatic Color Payoff". That is totally true. These liners are awesome. They are vivid, don't rub off, and have a small brush in the lid that is pretty easy to use. The blue and purple are my favorites because I love bright colors. At such a great price, it is worth it to own at least two. They are $4.50.

Liquid Crystal Liners - I have these in the shades in Crystal Gun Metal, Crystal Pewter, and Crystal Jade. These liners are as equally freakin' awesome as the Studio Liners. They are very glittery and stay on just as well as the other liners. You can wear them on top of the Studio Liners to make them stand out really well, but they stand out on their own too. I love putting one of these on with a more nude eye look to spice it up. These are also $4.50.

LIPS:

Sheer Gloss - NYX doesn't have these Lip Glosses anymore, but I have them in shades Shangri-La, Rose, and Sweet Dreams if that means anything to anyone. They are decent glosses, but don't wear that well. I will have to try some of their newer glosses at some point, but I just have so many other glosses right now that I need to get through.

Soft Matte Lip Creams - I have these in shades Abu Dhabi ( rose-beige), Istanbul (a soft pink), and Amsterdam (a bright red). Here is a description of these creams from the NYX website: "Neither lipstick nor lip gloss, the matte lip cream is a new kind of lip color that goes on silky smooth and sets to a matte finish. Soft Matte Lip Cream is surprisingly durable and, unlike some matte lipstick formulas, also moisturizing." I think this is a pretty accurate portrayal of these babies. However, I do think they are kind of drying after a while, so I use a lip gloss with them. Amterdam also fades after a couple hours, so I like to wear it over a red lipstick. Istanbul is my favorite out of the three I have. I probably wouldn't buy more of these just because I like some of the other NYX lip products a lot better and, at $6.00, they are pricier than most of their other lip colors.

Diamond Sparkle Lispticks - Ahhh! Okay, so NYX doesn't carry these lipsticks anymore either! Sorry that three of three of the products I have to talk about are ones you can't even go out and buy. I didn't realize that until I started writing this post. Well, I have these in Sparkling Gold (a gold-toned nude), Sparkling Amber (a gold-toned pink), and Sparkling Orchid (a purple-pink). They are nicely pigmented, extremely sparkly, and I don't reach for them as often as I do their other lipsticks.

Jumbo Lip Pencils - I have one Jumbo Lip Pencil in Ice (an iridescent, light brown). I don't wear this color as mush as I should. It is a great brown-toned shade, and I have a hard time finding something like this that looks good on me. The wear on these is average, but I sometimes wear this with other lipsticks to help make it wear longer.

Round Lipsticks - I have these in the shades Mars (beige), Louisiana (bright strawberry pink), Spell Bound (Magenta), and Femme (orange-red) I counted on their website and this lipstick comes in 108 different shades. There is almost no way you couldn't find a shade you like. The hardest part is deciding which one or ones to get. These are pretty moisturizer, very vibrant, and last for a few hours before having to reapply. Use a lip liner to make these last longer. At $4.00, they are totally worth trying.

Retractable Lip Liners - I own one of these in Nude Pink and it looks slightly brighter than what I would imagine a nude pink lip liner to look like. This is a great lip liner that I can wear with a lot of different colors. I usually fill my entire lips in with this lip liner before applying lipstick. My lip color stays on for most of the day without having to reapply when I use this liner. They are available for $4.50.

FACE:

HD Photogenic Concealers - I have this in the yellow shade and it's supposed to help reduce the appearance of under-eye darkness. This concealer works really well. It brightens my eye area and hides the dark circles that I generally have. It goes on really smooth and the applicator wand helps control how much I put in without over-doing it. This concealer comes in different shades and colors to correct various problems and costs $4.50.

HD Studio Photogenic Grinding Blushes - I have this blush in the shade Sangria in Madrid. I really liked the idea of this blush, but I just don't really like it. It is slighty messy if you don't open it carefully and the shade I have looks clownish on me no matter how little I use. Maybe some of you would like these though. They are $15.

Powder Blushes - Okay so I have not personally tried these NYX blushes, but I have heard a lot of good things about them. I also know that they have a lot of good dupes for MAC blushes. These will be something I will pick up in the near future. They are $5.

Sometime today or tomorrow I will have another post with swatches of this stuff. I won't include the items that NYX doesn't sell anymore.

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Smell This: Viva La Juicy Noir

We got A LOT of new fragrances in at work yesterday and I am so excited about them (well, most of them). I will eventually talk about almost all of them, but I'm going to start off with something I think a lot of people will be excited about: Juicy Couture's new fragrance, Viva La Juicy Noir.

I want to start by saying I saw this bottle and wanted the perfume just because of how in love I am with the bottle! That doesn't happen to me very often. This design is awesome! It is the coolest metallic pink and these pictures do not even begin to show how amazing it looks in person. It has the usual Juicy Couture symbol on the front and the usual lid, but with a satin black ribbon tied to it. I seriously cannot get enough of this bottle!

Now after getting that out of my system, the actual fragrance is pretty good too. The top notes are berries and mandarin. Middle notes are honeysuckle, gardenia, and jasmine. The base notes are amber, caramel, vanilla, and sandalwood.

When first sprayed, the berry scent stands out and the perfume seems fairly fruity, However, after I wore it for an hour and smelled it again, a mix of the middle and base notes became more noticeable on my skin. This end scent seemed very fitting for a fragrance with "Noir" in the name.

I don't think I like this scent necessarily more than the original Viva La Juicy or Juicy Couture, but I do really like it and would still buy this fragrance to wear. It would be a nice scent to wear on a date or for nights out. 

Viva La Juicy Noir is sold in various department stores and is $90 for a 3.4 fl. oz. bottle and $70 for a 1.7 fl. oz. bottle.

My (Late) 4th of July Look

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while! I am going to Chicago next week for vacation and I've been busy with a lot of last-minute planning.

I was going to post my 4th of July look last week but never got around to it. I know it's a little late, but better late than never, right? This was my look from the 4th of July:

Products Used:
BH Cosmetics 120 Palette 2nd Edition
NYX Liquid Liner in Electric Blue
NYX Glitter (They don't carry these glitters anymore)
Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Radium
Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara

June Favorites

June is over! Wow! Where did the first half of this year go?!

Anyway, I have quite a few products I have been using the past month.

These are the products I reached for the most in June:

Clinique Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser - This cleanser is really good at removing makeup. It is one of those cleansers where you know all your makeup is off after you finish using it, which is just what someone with acne-prone skin like mine wants. I use a different cleanser after this one to actually wash my face because this one is just for removing makeup and other products like sunscreen. The tube in the picture is a sample-size that I got in one of Clinique's gifts, but I would definitely purchase this product in the future. The price is $19.50 and the bottle will last a while because you don't need to use very much with each use.

Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait - This is a peachy-pink color with gold shimmer. It has a very textured, kind of gritty feel to it because of the large pieces of shimmer in it. I have read some reviews where people have voiced their disappointment with it. I, on the other hand, don't really mind it. The color is really pretty on the lips and still feels moisturizing like the rest of the lip butters. These sell for $7.49 at Ulta and are usually around $1-$2 cheaper at Target or Walmart.

These purple-y shades in the Urban Decay Vice Palette - I have been obsessed with these colors this month! I love purple and these are just some really unique shades of purple. Unfortunately, I don't think this palette is available anywhere anymore, but hopefully UD will come out with individual shadows of these shades.

 Provocateur is a super shimmery, light purple with a hint of pink. It looks very eye-catching on the lid.

 Rapture is a dark lilac shade that I love to use on my outer lid and in the crease sometimes. The picture totally makes it look gray/brown, but I promise it's not.

Vice is an awesome metallic purple that I use the most in the crease. It can look slightly gray when I put it on sometimes. This could just be due to the bad lighting situation I have in my house. It looks awesome in the sunlight!

EcoTools Foundation Brush - This is a really nice foundation brush that is pretty soft and applies foundation evenly without leaving streak marks. If you need a foundation brush but don't want to spend $20+ on it, I would recommend this one. It is $7.49 at Ulta, but I think I bought it at Walmart for around $5.99.

China Glaze Nail Polish in Blue Iguana - Ahhhh! These pictures do not to this color justice! This is the best blue I have ever seen! Okay, I might be exaggerating, but it's a really great blue. It's shimmery and basically pure awesomeness. I got this nail polish on clearance at Ulta some time earlier this year, so this might be another product that is not available to buy. It's worth searching for though.

OPI Nail Polish in Be a Dahlia Won't You - These pictures also do not do this color justice. This shade is a bright, deeper pink with glitter (not the gritty kind though). I love the color on my toes, hence the foot picture. OPI polishes are generally $8-9 at Ulta or salons.

Paul Mitchell Strength Shampoo and Conditioner - Having my hair dyed is taking a huge toll on my hair. I love the purple, but my hair is basically fried. This shampoo and conditioner leaves my hair feeling soft and shiny. When I use these products, my hair doesn't feel as stringy and brittle. These were a gift, but I think they are around $12-$15 for each bottle. They can also be purchased in bigger bottles.

Summer Fragrances

Let's talk about summer! There are so many reasons to love this time of the year. One of the things I love about summer is all of the summer fragrances that are out.

In case you are in the market for a new summer scent or just want to sniff some awesome stuff, I have made a list of some summer perfumes to check out.

There are some summer scents that aren't on the list, which means one of 3 things: I either don't know about it, forgot about it, or the counter I work at just doesn't have it (like Burberry Summer).

I threw in the description provided for each fragrance when you go to buy it online because a lot of them are fun/funny and just make the perfumes sound so much better.

In no particular order, here we go!:

Ck One Summer

"Brighten your everyday with the warm feeling of Summer from this CK One fragrance."

Calvin Klein tries to switch up the notes in this summer scent each year along with the bottle it comes in. The notes are a blend of citruses and "waterfall" accords, watermelon, cucumber, lily, musk, and moss. This year the scent just isn't doing it for me. The mixture of the cucumber and watermelon just doesn't sit well with me I guess. I do, however, love the bottle for this fragrance. The color of the bottle is gorgeous along with the bright green print. The bottle also has textured water drops on it. Don't let me not liking it stop you from smelling it though. I know a few people that do really like it. It's just a matter of different tastes.

A 3.4 fl. oz. bottle is $50.

Eternity Summer

"Relax in luxury with this warm, aquatic, floral fragrance from Calvin Klein Eternity that features the scents of the sea."

Calvin Klein also does the same thing with their Eternity Summer fragrance with switching the scent and the bottle every year. This year the perfume has notes of a sea breeze accord, wisteria flower, and white amber. The scent is very floral and feminine. I am not the biggest fan of super floral scents and this one is just a little too floral for me when it is on my skin. However, I do like the scent and think it is perfect for floral lovers. The bottle is also really pretty with a blend of purple and blue. The picture doesn't really do the bottle justice.
A 3.4 fl. oz. bottle is $62.

Eternity Aqua

"Eternity Aqua is inspired by refreshing feminity with an effortless elegance. Natural sophistication and confidence - the relaxed side of the Eternity woman."

Eternity Aqua isn't a summer edition and is in Calvin Klein's permanent fragrance collection. It's a great scent for summer though and I thought it was fitting to include it on the list. The notes are Pink Lady apple, cucumber, apricot, white peony, jasmine, tiare, gardenia, magnolia, woods, cedar, and musk. The cucumber scent stands out in this scent just like in CK One Summer, but it isn't a strong and blends well with the other notes. The bottle is a gorgeous ombre blue.

A 1.7 fl. oz. bottle is $57. A 3.4 fl. oz. bottle is $74.

Armani Code Summer

"The brightness of the southern Italian sun and the freshness of the Mediterranean air: the newest interpretation of seduction - Armani Code Summer."

This summer edition of Armani Code smells floral but is not too overwhelming. It is lighter and more floral than the original Armani Code and is one of my favorite summer scents. The notes in the fragrance are pear sorbet, bitter orange, neroli, orange blossom, cyclamen, ginger, sambac jasmine, blonde wood, vanilla, and musk. I don't find this floral scent to be too much when I wear it like the Eternity Summer is on me. The bottle is so pretty! The glass is frosted and is a beautiful bluish-purple towards the bottom with delicate white flowers on it.
A 2.5 fl. oz. bottle is $70.

Summer Blossom

"Discover the sensual scent of velvety woods, extravagant florals, and seductive musk in a refreshing scent."

This is another floral summer scent. Summer Blossom is a Ralph Lauren fragrance and is a twist off of Romance. It has notes of mandarin, guava, jasmine petals, coconut water, and soft vanilla. This fragrance is light and airy. It definitely makes me think of summer when I smell it. I love how simple yet cute the bottle is. A bottle doesn't always have to be big and flamboyant to stand out.
A 4.2 fl. oz. bottle is $74.

Daisy Sunshine

"A sun-kissed expression of the iconic Daisy fragrance, Daisy Sunshine is a vibrant floral fruity fragrance you'll love."

Daisy Sunshine is a limited edition fragrance by Marc Jacobs. I talked specifically about this scent in a blog post earlier this year, which you can check out here. It's a fruity floral scent and has quickly become my favorite scent for summer (and in general). The bottle is also adorable. I mean, just look at it!
A 1.7 fl. oz. bottle is $65.

Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine

"A playful floral fruity, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine reinterprets the classic Daisy Eau So Fresh with a bolder, fruitier twist."

This is also another limited edition scent by Marc Jacobs. It is also really good, and you should check it out as well. The notes are strawberry, apple blossom, pink grapefruit, jasmine, rose and violet leaves, oak moss, and amber wood.
A 2.5 fl. oz. bottle is $78.


Acqua Di Gioia Eau Fraiche

"Delicate, Precious, Transparent."

This is a lighter version of the original Acqua Di Gioia. Like Eternity Aqua, it isn't specifically a summer scent, but I think it fits pretty well into the category. The notes are grapefruit, Primofiore lemon, mandarin peel, ylang-ylang, jasmine tea, jasmine water, cedar, musk, and brown sugar. It smells very clean and fresh and makes me picture a house on the oceanfront. I like the shape of the bottle and the lid. It is identical to the original Acqua Di Gioia, which could be just a small problem if you owned both perfumes and sprayed one on thinking it was the other without looking closely. Not a big deal though.
A 1.7 fl. oz. bottle is $58. A 3.4 fl. oz. bottle is $75.

Light Blue Dreaming in Portofino

"Light Blue 'Dreaming in Portofino' for Women brings the sensuality of nature and the glamour of the Italian coast to life."

This fragrance isn't specifically a summer scent either and is available all year round. However, I think this is a perfume that is kind of overlooked and could be more popular, especially in summer. Dreaming in Portofino was introduced into the Dolce & Gabanna fragrance line in 2012. I think a lot of people still don't even know it exists, which is a shame because I actually like it just as much as the original Light Blue fragrance. The notes are litchi accord, ambrette seed, iris, osmanthus, amber, patchouli, and musk. I think the patchouli is what makes it different from typical summer scents. The scent is a little deeper and fuller than other summer perfumes, but it smells really good. I think the bottle is a little dull, but in reality, the scent is what really matters.
A 1.7 fl. oz. bottle is $71. A 3.4 fl. oz. bottle is $92.

There you have it! Have you tried any of these fragrances before? What is your favorite summer scent? Let me know in the comments below!