EOTD: How-To Using EcoTools 6 Piece Eye Brush Set

This is going to be my first "tutorial" EOTD.  I usually explain the basics of how I do them, but I think this step-by-step version will be a little easier to understand.  I wanted to do an EOTD showing how I use each of the brushes that come with the EcoTools 6 piece eye brush set, so this is a really easy, neutral look using purple to add a bit of color.  You'll see that I show the brush in the picture to demonstrate how and where to place the eyeshadow.  I hope you like this and I hope I did an ok job at my first step-by-step tutorial!  Like always, I'd love to hear any feedback you have.  

Products I used:

- EcoTools 6 piece eye brush set (All of them!)

- VS eyeshadow primer

- ELF eyeshadow quad in Nouveau Neutrals (All but the olive color)

- Revlon Perle eyeshadow in Violet Starlet

- Mary Kay eyeliner in Amethyst

- L'Oreal Bare Naturale mascara in Black

(I meant for these to be larger, but they didn't fit in the post very well.  Click to enlarge any of them)

1.  Apply a light shimmery neutral eyeshadow all over your eye area, using the Large Eyeshadow brush.

2.  Apply a light brown eyeshadow on your lid area and blend it up just below the crease, using the Angled Crease brush.

3.  Apply a medium purple eyeshadow into your crease, using the angled side of the Angled Crease brush, blending down into the outer half of your lid.

4.  Blend them all together using the Highlight brush.

5.  Apply a light highlight color to your inner corner using the Petite Eye Shading brush.

6.  Apply the same highlight color to your brow bone using the Highlight brush.

7.  Apply eyeliner along your upper lash line and inner half of lower lash line, and smudge using the Smudge brush (LOL, really?).

8.  (Before I did this step I re-applied any of the colors to make sure I didn't blend them all away)  Curl your eyelashes and apply your favorite mascara!

I'm still just loving this set of brushes.  I know when I first reviewed them I said they would make a great travel set, but I'm getting use out of them at home, too.  Totally worth the money.

Hope you all have a nice day- Happy Friday! :)

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Wednesday Weekly Favorites: Going Lighter

This week I finally felt like I made the transition to more "summer appropriate" makeup.  At least for a little while, anyway- who knows how long it will last.  I'm usually not one to lighten up my eye makeup during the hotter months, but this week I tried especially hard to hold back!  I also experimented with wearing less foundation again.  As I've mentioned before on here, I'm a foundation newbie- I just got into it recently.  And ironically, recently I've had more breakouts than normal.  It could just be due to the hot and humid weather, but I decided I'd see what wearing less makeup on my face would do for my skin. 

Anyway, enough talking!  These are my favorite items for this past week:

Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express mascara- I've mentioned this numerous times here, but I seriously love it.  It's the only Maybelline mascara that has given me good results!  

ELF Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder- This one I've also mentioned on here.  I've been using the blush, and I have to say it's about the only peach color I've tried and liked on my skin tone.  It has enough pink and shimmer in it to even out the orange.

NYC IndividualEyes compact in Central Park- Can you tell by now that I like this?  LOL.  I've been using this palette almost every day since I got it last week.  I love that bottom champagne color; it's getting the most usage by far.  I just love the colors together for a soft, neutral, everyday eye.

Aveeno Clear Complexion foaming cleanser- I've been rotating my cleansers (I collected quite a few last month, and now I'm trying to use them up), and this week I'm using this one.  I like that the foam consistency feels non-irritating on my sensitive skin, and it blends easily into a lather.  

NYC Smooth Mineral Natural Veil- This is just a translucent powder, but I really like the quality of it. It's very finely milled, and it sticks with me all day.  This week I've just been using concealer on my couple remaining pimples (Thank goodness the others cleared up!), and then dusting my entire face with this.

Mary Kay eyeliner in Amethyst-  I've been pairing this with my NYC IndividualEyes compact eyeshadows, and it's a great combination, especially for green eyes.  

Wet 'n' Wild Idol Eyes eyeliner in Dark Brown- I've been using the smudge-tip a lot, and then I'm also trying to just finish up the rest of this eyeliner.  I've had it for a few months and now have other dark browns I like better, so I want to get rid of this.  LOL.  It's still a good eyeliner, though, don't get me wrong.

Have you used any of these products?  What are your current favorites?

And one last thing before I go for the night-

I got this at Target today:

Definitely expect a review in a week or so once I've given it a fair trial!  

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Free site for online parties and vendors

When I was a consultant for a home sales company I was always looking for a new outlet to showcase my products. I had heard of having online or eparties but was not sure where or how to start the proper way.  I was lucky to fall on: http://myvendorparty.webs.com/

The owner of the site, Andrea, is friendly and helpful.  She even had periodic events with multiple vendors back to back which was nice because some people would stay from the previous vendor party or come early for the next one and learn about your products.

This would also be a great meet and greet and different way to showcase your etsy shop, handmade items, and is great for all you home consultants like Tupperware, Lia Sophia, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, etc.


It's very relaxed.  I hate talking in front of people.  I have sort of an irrational fear of that, so this was perfect for me.  It was always a lot of fun. You choose the dates and times along with Andrea.  When I last used the site 30 minute time slots were free and only $1 for an hour time slot.  Please double check with Andrea on this when requesting to set up a party.

You can also request a party if you'd like to host an AVON party or another vendor.

I'm no longer a consultant and I am not compensated in any way for referring people.  I just truly think this is a great tool to use for anyone looking for fun, unique, and relaxing ways to showcase their home business.

The site again is: 
http://myvendorparty.webs.com/





Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

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My Eyeliner "Collection"

This should hardly be called a collection, as I don't have too too many.  I've also tossed out quite a few recently that I just wasn't using or had a similar color of.  And let me just mention while I'm thinking about it- ELF's $1 brightening eyeliners are terrible.  These came to mind just now because I tried one in Coffee, a dark brown, not too long ago, and it smeared and smudged and never dried on my lid.  It just sat there, all sticky and gross.  This is one I just tossed out tonight as I was going through my stash.
Anyway, here they are:

From left to right: 

Pencil: Milani Liquif'eye in Silver, L'Oreal HiP eyeliner in Violet Volt, N.Y.C. Waterproof eyeliner in Teal, Rimmel Spark It Up! eye darkening pencils in Tiger's Eye, Peridot, & Black Gold

Automatic: Clinique Quickliner in Roast Coffee, Wet 'n' Wild IdolEyes eyeliner in Dark Brown, Covergirl Exact Eyelights eyeliner in Vivid Ruby, Mary Kay eyeliner in Amethyst, E.L.F. waterproof eyeliner pen in Coffee.

These are my current pencil eyeliners.  I'll talk about these in order from left to right.  I rarely use the Milani one because of the color (It also irritates my eye a little), but it has awesome staying power and glides on gorgeously.  The L'Oreal HiP works the same way, and it's the same kind of "Urban Decay 24/7 drugstore dupe" eyeliner, like the Milani Liquif'eye.  This one doesn't irritate my eyes at all, though, and I love the color.  The N.Y.C. waterproof pencil is my favorite plain teal eyeliner- it retails between $3 and $4, so it's also my favorite SUPER inexpensive, easily available eyeliner.  The next three are all Rimmel Spark It Up! eyeliners, and these are probably my favorite "fun" eyeliners right now (I say fun because they have shimmer in them- they aren't gritty, though).  They're a little more expensive at around $5 a piece, but still not bad at all.  They are incredibly pretty, too!  

Swatches, in same order as pencils are shown above:

The three Rimmel eyeliners are on the far right- Tiger's Eye is a darker bronze, Peridot is a dark slightly-more-green-than-blue teal, and Black Gold is like an antique black gold, like the title.  I don't really know how else to describe it!  These last pretty well as long as you don't touch them- so, they aren't as durable as Milani Liquif'eye or L'Oreal HiP eyeliners, but they are still good quality.

These are my current retractable eyeliners (With exception of the ELF pen).  80% of them are shades of dark brown, and that was totally not intentional.  From left to right: My Clinique Quickliner is my everyday "I just want something quick and neutral that will stick" eyeliner.  It's a deep reddish brown, and it's got wonderful staying power (Actually, all of these have pretty decent staying power).  The Wet 'n' Wild IdolEyes eyeliner is my favorite for a deep chocolate brown color.  It also has great durability, and it's only $1.99 at most drugstores.  This is what I would recommend to anyone that wants a super cheap, great quality, basic eyeliner.  The Covergirl Eyelights eyeliner is just a standard dark brown, nothing too special about the color.  The quality is average, but it really stays on my waterline.  The Mary Kay eyeliner is a GORGEOUS shade of purple-gold that I just love.  If you have green eyes like me, I think this color is a must-have!  The pencil is tiny, though, so I probably wouldn't repurchase this at $10.  Finally is the E.L.F. Waterproof eyeliner pen, which feels like you're applying a felt-tip marker to your eyes.  This is OK, but I don't personally like the look of liquid eyeliner of any kind.

Swatches, in same order as pictured above:

The Clinique one is obviously a fair amount lighter than the other browns, which is why I don't use it if I'm looking to do a deep, smokey eye.  For neutral looks it's perfect!

What are your favorite eyeliners?  

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Super Mini ELF Haul+EOTD

The only way I can justify this (pathetic excuse of a) haul is that I was not feeling well today and needed a pick-me-up.  I don't know why it just wasn't my day, but at least it's almost over.  :)

I went to a ton of different stores today (In the mall, and then Target, Walgreens, and Walmart) searching for something that peeked my interest, and nothing really did it.  I even found the infamous Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure nail polish at Walmart, but still couldn't justify spending $6.50 on it.  It is beautiful, though!  It stinks having to really cut back on shopping, lol.
Anyway, I settled on only two things from ELF that I've been kind of curious about recently- the Tone Correcting Concealer in Light Beige and Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal.  I don't know if anyone has a strong desire to hear about these, but here they are just incase:

Bottom line about these: Skip the concealer.  It's only $1, but it doesn't work very well at all.

Now the Facial Whip I like.  I had read reviews about it being too shimmery, but just a little on my cheekbones and browbones I think is super pretty.  I used it over my foundation but under my powder, so it toned down the shimmer quite a bit.

Now onto my EOTD, which is a bronzy-brown experiment!  I hardly ever do brown.

I call this an experiment because I used my ELF Golden Bronzer as eyeshadow.  I didn't mix the colors, but used three of the four separately.  I also broke out my ELF mineral eyeshadows; Wild in my outer crease and Innocence as a shimmery highlight.  Using that bronzer as eyeshadow was a success, though, I think!

Products used:

-ELF Tone Correcting Concealer as eye base (I'm still avoiding my old Almay eye base)

-ELF Golden Bronzer

-ELF mineral eyeshadows in Wild and Innocence

-Mary Kay eyeliner in Amethyst

-Covergirl Exact Eyelights mascara in Black Ruby

I love how the eyeliner and mascara are practically the same color!  Both are a purple-gold hybrid with beautiful sheen.

Have a great night everyone!

  

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Wet 'n' Wild, Icing, and Mary Kay

Today I ended up getting more makeup/beauty items than I had intended!  

(Note: I will add swatches tomorrow, as I am doing this late at night with poor lighting.  Thanks for bearing with me!)

I love going to The Icing (I work at the mall, so I swing by after my shifts), because every few weeks they have something new added to the clearance makeup tower.  I usually find some interesting nail polish or eye shadow for under $5, which is what happened today!  I got two nail polishes- a matte emerald green and a frosty champagne.

Lady Lucky

Champagne Bubbles

(This one is pretty streaky- in person it's not so bad that I won't wear it, but up close it's noticeable)

When I got home, I was welcomed with my order from Mary Kay!  I went to a party over a month ago, and the seller was unbelievably slow getting my product in the mail.  All I purchased was an eyeliner, so I guess I can understand why she didn't feel it was a priority, but still.  I had to call her multiple times to make sure she didn't forget about me.  She ended up throwing in a free eyeshadow to make up for the complications.  I purchased the eyeliner in Amethyst; a deep purple.  I really fell in love with it when I tried it on at the party.

As much as I looked forward to receiving this, I can't help but be a bit let down.  It's a mere .01oz of product.  Compare that to Urban Decay's 24/7 liners, which are .04oz.  It's TINY.  :/  This was $10.

(Note: I'm just using Urban Decay's liners as a comparison for the size, not the type of eyeliners)

This was the eye shadow my representative gave me; it looks to be a sample.  It's called Precious Pink, and is .05oz.  It reminds me of the size of those eyeshadows that come in mini makeup sets- like ELF's, for example.

Lastly, I went to Kmart tonight, because I had to grab a couple more of those Wet 'n' Wild palettes while they were BOGOfree!  Of all the products here, I am most excited about these.  

I got Greed and Pride:

Greed

Pride

And that's it!  All I spent today was just over $10- both of The Icing polishes came to $4.77 after tax ($2.25 each), and with the BOGOfree I only paid for one of the WnW palettes ($5.29 after tax, approximately).  The Mary Kay eyeliner I paid for awhile back.  I just love how easy it is to satisfy a makeup "craving", as I call it, on so little money. 

Is there anything in particular here you'd like to see reviewed?  Just let me know.  

Happy weekend, everyone!

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