Prime Time

One of the most annoying things after spending hours perfecting a smokey eye or creating amazing eyeliner, is to have it crease on you before you've even left the house. Creasing can look really beautiful if it's intentional. If not, it's bloody annoying. Like almost everyone obsessed with makeup, I've dabbled in many a primer; some have been awful, some amazing. After a little root through my make up collection, I've chosen the ones I use most regularly:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

The UDPP is probably the most widely known and used eye primer out there. Hailed as a "legendary' product, it promised more 'vibrant eyeshadow that lasts 24+ hours and NEVER CREASES'. While it is a great product that does increase the vibrancy of eyeshadows used after, something about its texture puts me off. To me, its greasy. Even a tiny amount of product patted onto the eye takes a while to sink in and for me, has never really done much to help the longevity of my eye make-up. My eyes will still crease after a few hours and its wand does nothing to help spread the product. While I have never finished a full bottle of UDPP, its packaging makes me slightly weary, even after a few uses the primer potion seems to dry up and nothing seems to be left. Although UD have changed the bottle, the fact that I have to cut open the bottle to seize over half the bottle irritates me. Especially when it doesn't work that well on me. Am I doing something wrong?

MAC Painterly Paintpot

While I've tried many of the paintpots in MAC's collection, it is Painterly that I always revert back to. Its matte texture and skin colour makes it the most wearable, and it is definitely more hard-wearing than UDPP. By taking the smallest amount on your ring finger, gently placing it on the eye, it creates a thicker layer than the UDPP and makes the colour more vibrant and last a lot longer. But again, for me it doesn't last all day. There is still some small creasing, hardly noticeable unless pointed out. To make the product last longer, I gently apply a light layer of translucent powder, which helps to set the primer.

NYX Concealer in a Pot

And finally comes the NYX Concealer in a pot. Lots of people swear by using a concealer on the eyes, followed by a dusting of powder to set it; while others claim this never, ever works. For me, it works in the same way as the others. It lasts a few hours, until slight creasing can be seen. But for those on a budget who don't want to invest in a specific eye primer, its a great way to ensure your eyeshadow lasts longer. 

Do you have a preference when it comes to eye primers, or are you bothered?

Happy Sunday! 

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$6 for $15 of beauty products from Beautymallexpress.com

Ok all my beauty fans. This is a really cool deal. DealPulp has a deal up for $6 for a $15 gift voucher to Beautymallexpress.com.  Beautymallexpress.com has crackle nail polish, glitter polish pens, eyelashes, facial masks, and there's even a deal to get 4 regular nail polish pens easily with your gift voucher.  Click the banner below to grab yours!




***I am an affiliate with DealPulp.com because they have some good money saving deals and I love to share them with you.***


Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

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Free earbuds and a $25 HD camcorder!

Another 1SaleaDay post.  1SaleaDay.com is again offering another FREE items.  This time it's free noise canceling earbuds.  Leave a comment or testimonial on the Facebook page, then order your earbuds.  It says all orders that do not leave a facebook testimonial with be canceled so you might want to make sure you do that.

Also I was super excited about this deal.  I thought I'd have to wait until Christmas deals to find a deal this good on a digital video camera.  I've been wanting on to try my hand a Youtube videos as well as possible Vlog posts every now and then.  Anywho, 1SaleaDay has a Sylvania Pro DV-6000 720p pocket camcorder with 8X digital zoom, HDMI connectivity, and 4 GB SD card included!

The list price is $119 but 1Saleaday has it for $24.99!  They have it available in red, blue, and purple.  I got the red.  A lot of times their deal high tech devices are usually refurbs.  I read through all the description and didn't find anything to say that this one is a refurb.  In fact the description specifically says: NEW.

I'm not an affliliate, I don't receive any compensation for this post.  I just good deals when I see them and wanted to share with you



Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

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Enter to win a $50 VISA gc on Girl Tech Diva

I've been putting some entries into this giveaway. Girl Tech Divas is offering a $50 VISA gift card to one follower when they reach 500 followers. Right now they are at 262. This giveaway has been going on for a while and the followers are moving pretty slow. This would be a great time to get your entries in.

Enter and spread the word for entries. Who knows, you might even end up with a $50 VISA gift card for your effort. Who couldn't use that? Would be great to help with back to school shopping or gas for your upcoming vacation.

Click HERE to go to Girl Tech Divas blog to enter to win





Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

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Cheetah!

Today I was going through my twitter and ran into an awesome post with the suggest of using gold nail polish with black crackle nail polish by OPI over it because it looks like cheetah print on your nails! Crackle polish is awesome! Try it out!

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Outfit and Make Up of the Night!

We had a lovely wedding to attend on this fine balmy evening. I ordered this dress a few months from AX Paris and I'm in love with the color! I think the dress is really cute BUT it can make you look bigger on the bottom then you actually are. I don't know about you... but that's not really what I want. But, all in all... I'm happy with it. The shoes are BCBG (bought at DSW... on sale! Score!).

(lovvve the zipper on the back!)

Link to the dress

What I wore:

Maybelline 24 Hour Superstay Foundation in Nude (OMGosh... this stuff is awesome!!)

MUFE Serum Exliar

MUFE Primer

NYX Bronzer #2

MAC Well Dressed

MUFE Smokey Lash

UD 24 7 liner in Zero

UD Naked Palette

Buxum Lips in Bambi

At the wedding... such an amazing venue!! 

Momma and her baby! LOL at his not ready for a picture face.

Have a wonderful night! Review coming soon on the Maybelline 24 hour foundation!!!

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Shatter on hot pink: Zoya Tobey and OPI Black Shatter

I'm probably the last person ever to post nail swatches of a shatter/crackle nail polish... and I must admit these photos have been sitting on my hard drive for a lot longer than I had intended. Anyway, I really really love the way this combo looks- surprisingly enough I've found the black shatter a difficult colour to pair other nail polishes with. My instinct says to pair it with a soft colour, but the black ends up overwhelming any nude/neutral base.

So... hot pink it was!

Zoya Tobey in natural light

Zoya Tobey with flash

OPI Shatter in natural light

OPI Shatter with flash

I'm interested to try other shatter colours, but am a bit wary. Any suggestions of shatter polishes that work with a softer base colour are welcome! I've also tried China Glaze crackle in purple, but to be honest, I'm very disappointed with it. It's pretty much... crap.

I also broke my nail polish no-buy. I am a weak, weak woman.

xox Chloe

p.s. don't forget to follow my blog(s) with Bloglovin, if you have it! I feel so very lonely being their only followers :P (I had to give them at least one follower! 1 looks a little bit less sad than 0, I think.)

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Meow Cosmetics order, p.1

The cat lover inside of me HAD TO TRY MEOW COSMETICS.  Maybe I'm obsessive, I don't really care, but as soon as I saw their cat-themed website my eyes rolled back into my head.  The names are seriously too cute.  Hugs & Kitties?  Kept Kitty?  And of course, my purchase came in cheetah print wrapping paper.  I'm in love.

For my first Meow Cosmetics order I purchased a bunch of samples, and with the two free samples they threw in, it came to a total of 15!  I was so excited to try these and swatch them.  I got mostly eyeshadow, but I also tried samples of their undereye concealer, finishing powders, and blush.  

This part of my order will feature most of the eyeshadows I got.  I'll do another post tomorrow showing the undereye concealer/powders/blush!  The post was getting kind of pic-heavy, so I decided to do it this way- I hope you all don't mind!

Egyptian Treasures eyeshadows: Obelisk, Nile, Ancient

Rainforest collection eyeshadows: Boa, Endangered, Piranha

ScandalEyes Jessica R., CatEyes Caffeine Buzz, IdealEyes Kept Kitty

Random pictures of pretty swatches!

So gorgeous together!  I'm totally loving these eyeshadows, they swatch beautifully and have great pigmentation.  I love the multicolored glitter they have, especially Kept Kitty (that insane gold!).  It's beautiful!  

As much as I love the colors and insane variety they have, I'm not sure I'd buy full sizes.  You can either buy a sample baggie ($1.00) or a 10g jar ($10.25).  I wish they had an in-between size!  

Right now they have an awesome Christmas in July going on- you can purchase from the LE holiday collections this weekend only, and get free shipping (I believe it's US no minimum, international $30+).  I'm tempted..

Stay tuned for part two! :)

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Free Freschette "pizza by the slice" on August 4

I'm part of the Freschetta Fresh Connection team. Freschetta sent this bit of info over to me and I thought you might like to know about it.

On August 4th (2011) Freschetta is having a free "Pizza by the Slice" event.  They will be giving 5,000 slices away every hour!

How do you get in on this?  On Thursday July 28 (2011)  www.FreeFreschetta.com to sign up for a reminder for the event.  Note that the link won't work until July 28 for the free freschetta reminder.  On August 4th you will be sent a reminder.  The Free Pizza by the Slice event will start at 11 AM on Aug. 4.  


On the day of the event, there will also be more fun things like interactive contests coupons available. Sooo mark your computer calendars and get ready for free Freschetta pizza!  

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Review- L.A Colors 5 Metallic Eyeshadow Palettes

Today's review is on L.A Colors the 5 Color Metallic Eyeshadow Quads.

I have never used any of their eyeshadows before, every time I went to buy them, the store never had the color's I wanted. I have some of their lip products. So this was a first and a great buy!

 I picked up three pallets.
L-R EP23 Serenade, EP24 Unforgettable, EP46 Stormy
All swatches are only a one time pass, I didn't pack on the color on my arm, what you see is from one swipe! Very pigmented!!

 Serenade. I love all of these colors!

 Unforgettable. You can't see one color because by some miracle I actually got a tan! But it shows up on my eyelid.

Stormy. These are all grey's and look great with the other colors. Also makes a great smokey eye!

If you don't have any L.A Colors what are you waiting for! You can find them at Cherry Culture and I found these at my local dollarstore for $3!
You get a great color payoff and it last's all day!
I'm sure it would last with the heat wave that most of Canada is getting and the United States. (not me we are at +10!)

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MAC Well Dressed Blush

For years I've heard so many amazing things about this blush but never picked it up. I guess in the back of my mind I thought it would be too light and just wouldn't look right on me. I bit the bullet and gave it a go and it's turned about to be one of my all time favorite blushes. Ever. Like. Ever, ever. I bought this about two months ago and I kid you not... this has been the ONLY blush I've worn.

I'm usually A.D.D when it comes to cosmetics and jump around a lot... maybe I'm growing up a bit or maybe it's just this blush is the perfect thing for me. 

It's a cool neutral mauve-y pink with a the most glorious silver sheen. You really don't even need to use a highlighter when wearing this but the sheen is not over the top. This is a buildable blush which is good because there is NO way you will add too much. Nothing like looking like a clown.

With indoor light/flash... you can see the beautiful sheen

In Natural light with no flash

I'm also wearing:

MUFE HD Foundation in 120

NYX Bronzer #2

Buxom Lips in Bambi

UD Naked Palette

MUFE Smokey Lash

UD 24 7 liner in Zero

 

Thanks for stopping by!

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LA Splash Crackle'd nail polish

My local Harmon just got a huge stock of new products in, rearranging the entire front wall of the store to display all this fun stuff! One of the many things they've started stocking is crackle nail polish in every brand that makes them, including OPI's Shatter, Sally Hansen's Crackle, and this new LA Splash Cosmetics (LASplash?) stuff.

I've been dying to try crackled nail polish for a while, and the LA Splash polish was only $4.79, so I decided to give it a try. They had this amazing looking silver glitter crackle called "Ice'd", which I chose over a black since I thought it would look less goth. I put it on over my existing chipping purple manicure (which I was going to take off tomorrow anyway) and came up with... what??

The thin silver glitter immediately turned thick, white, and opaque... it looks like moldy bread! I'm really befuddled because it changed so drastically and looks downright gross (which is exactly what my mom said when she saw my nails... "Ew, gross!"). I tried to apply a thin coat, but perhaps I put too much on? I will try it again tomorrow with fresh polish, but if it still looks like this, I'm going to take advantage of Harmon's fantastic return policy and try a black, or just forget about it entirely.

Even weirder is I haven't found a single mention of this polish on the internet no matter how many variations of "Crackle'd" I search for. No blogs, no reviews, no online stores selling it. It's not even on LA Splash's official site! What's with this mysterious product?

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FOTD: Summer Shimmer

I haven't done a Face of the Day in a long time so I thought I would post one today.  It's nothing too exciting, as I've been wearing very little makeup lately.  It's absurdly hot and humid here in Florida and my makeup tends to just melt off so this is one of several light makeup looks I've been wearing a lot lately.  My hair is also something I've been sporting often as of late.  It's just two loose braids with some face framing pieces left out in front.  I used a one inch curling iron and wrapped the front sections around the iron (did not use the clamp) for a few seconds to give them some texture.  Low maintenance and still cute!  Hope you like the look!

 FACE:
- Hard Candy Sheer Envy Face Primer
- Maybelline Mineral Power Liquid Foundation in Porcelain Ivory
- e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer (prime undereye)
- Pixi Correction Concentrate in Brightening Peach (undereye)
- Palladio Herbal Treatment Concealer in Ivory (undereye and on blemishes)
- e.l.f. SPF 45 Sunscreen UVA/UVB Powder
- Physician’s Formula Healthy Wear Bronzer SPF 50 in Fair
- N.Y.C. Bronzer in Sunny (contour)
- Wet N Wild Limited Edition Everything Under the Sun Bronzer (apples of cheeks and back to temples)
- Ardell Brow Pencil in Medium Brown

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Maybelline Unstoppable Eyeliner in Espresso (tightline, outer 2/3 of top lash line)
- Wet N Wild Limited Edition Everything Under the Sun Bronzer
                - pink shade on lid
                - dark brown shade on crease and outer ½ of bottom lash line)
                - medium beige shade as brow highlight
                - lightest sand shade as inner corner highlight
- N.Y.C. Showtime Mascara (top and bottom lashes)

LIPS:
- Hard Candy Volumizing Lip Gloss in Girl Next Door

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Crackle polish looks better in purple.

Recently I was contacted by the lovely people of Born Pretty Store to try out one of their crackle nail polishes.  I've read lots of positive things about Born Pretty Store, but never had purchased anything myself.  I figured this was a great opportunity to do it, especially with my love for crackle nail polish. :)
Since I already own OPI Silver Shatter and a Sally Hansen black crackle, I decided to venture into the world of color and go with purple!  The color you see below is Violet.

Is that not gorgeous or what?  For this manicure, I paired it with Sinful Colors Fiji, which is a shimmering deep violet.  I thought the colors complemented each other really well!  I have on three coats of Fiji, one coat of Violet, and one thin layer of a Revlon quick dry top coat (The Born Pretty Store crackle dries to a matte finish unless you apply a glossy top coat).

Left: Born Pretty Store Violet crackle, Right: Sinful Colors Fiji

If you've ever used a crackle nail polish, you know the formula takes a bit of getting used to- you have to apply it quickly because it dries FAST!  You also have to make sure you don't go over the same areas otherwise it messes up the shatter effect.  I found that this crackle is a lot easier to work with, though (compared to OPI Silver Shatter).  The same rules apply (work fast and efficiently), but the formula is smooth and doesn't dry quite as fast.  I also really like how it "cracks" big enough so the polish underneath shines through.  

Have you tried any cool color crackle polishes?  What about anything from Born Pretty Store?  At $5.50/polish with free shipping worldwide, I'm seriously considering buying a few more!  I'm obsessed with this trend! :)  

And as a special little thing for you guys, Born Pretty Store is giving me a coupon code for 10% off a purchase to share with you.  Just use the code below!

Thanks guys.  Have a great Friday- it's the weekend!

Disclaimer:  I was sent the mentioned product for consideration from Born Pretty Store.  I have no affiliation with the company whatsoever.  All thoughts are 100% true and my own! I would never recommend something I wasn't pleased with. 

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