My Easy FOTD with MAC Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick

This was a very simple and easy look I wore to work on yesterday.

Please go to Beauty By LeRenda to view the rest of this post. :-) Thanks.

Quick and Easy Purple FOTD

Since my eyebrows were freshly arched I decided to go ahead and complete a look. LOL!  I'll take you through the steps on how to go from the picture on the left to the picture on the right. :-)

I'll pick up where I left off from the previous post, and that was with the brows.  It's very rare that I actually fill in my brows with a pencil or powder.  This only occurs if I messed them up or if I had a look that required a really strong brow.

I do use M.A.C. brow set to add color and to keep them in place, but this is not something that I do everyday.  

M.A.C. Brow Set is very good to use when adding color to brows and keeping the shape in place.  In this picture from left to right: Girl/Boy, Show Off, and Clear.  Elf makes a great clear mascara/brow gel as well and it's only $1

Today I used Show Off.  I would describe it as a dark reddish brown color.

Since I'll be going a bit dramatic with my brows in this look, I'm going to do the "concealer trick".  Well, with Black Opal Foundation Stick in Heavenly Honey instead of actual concealer.  Have I told you all just how much I absolutely LOVE Black Opal Foundation Sticks? Well just in case you didn't know, I really love them.  They're the most convenient foundation products ever!!! 

Okay back to my brows.  

I started by using my M.A.C. #249 brush to apply the foundation under my brow

I then blended the foundation down to my crease. 

I brushed off the excess foundation and shaped the top of my brow.

  I prefer not to have a very harsh brow where you can see exactly where the concealer was placed. 

Since I wanted to tone it down a bit, I used my finger to smooth out the foundation. 

Here's the difference in my carved out brow and my natural brow.

Now on to the rest of my face.  I will be using these product below to finish the FOTD.

M.A.C. Skin Refined Zone, Isomers H.D. Primer,  Skindinavia No More Shine Make Up Spray, (yes all of these oil controlling/mattifying products are necessary for me to not be a greasy monster) Coastal Scents 26 Color Shadow Blush Combo Palette, Revlon Colorstay for Oliy Skin in Caramel, Clinique Loose Powder in Invisible Blend, NYX Lipliner in Purple Rain, M.A.C. All My Purple Life Lipglass, Sonia Kashuk Mascara in Black. Elf Flat Powder Brush (I use this for liquids, powders, & creams), Sonia Kashuk pointed foundation brush, Coastal Scents Pink Jubiliee Kabuki on a stick brush, Sonia Kashuk blending brush, M.A.C. #249 brush, Coastal Scents Pointed Crease brush.

I applied my foundation

This is the only shadow that I used for this look.  It's all in the blending. :-) Unfortunately Coastal Scents pre-made palettes don't have names or numbers on the colors so I'm pointing to the color that I used.

I blended this color from my crease to my lid.

I also used it as my bottom liner.

 

I added Sonia Kashuk mascara

Then M.A.C. Superslick liquid liner in On the Hunt

Time to Highlight!

I'm using the same Black Opal Heavenly Honey Foundation Stick.  I blended this foundation all the way to my cheeks so that you can't see exactly where I started and stopped.  I want a soft transition of colors. 

Here I am so far.  

Time for powder. 

I highlighted my cheeks, nose and forehead with this color below 

Then I applied this color for blush

Next I contoured with this one 

Lips!! I'm really enjoying this combo of NYX Purple Rain 

With M.A.C.  Afrobella's All My Purple Life Lipglass (limited edition)

Urban Decay Purple Haze Eye Shadow Review and FOTD

A few weeks ago Urban Decay had a huge sale on a lot of their products.  I'm still kind of new to Urban Decay.  I've been slowly increasing my collection over the last year.  I was super happy to see that they had single matte eyeshadows on sale.  My only complaint about Urban Decay's palettes is that there are never enough matte eyeshadows.  Well I've just fixed this problem  I bought all of the matte eyeshadows were on sale.  If I reviewed them all this post would be extremely long so I'll break them up and start off with Purple Haze.

I really like the fact that even though this is a matte eyeshadow, it's not too dry.  It goes on smooth and of course since it's Urban Decay it's full of pigment.  No chalky effect at all. :-)

I only used Purple Haze and M.AC. Vanilla Pigment for shadows.  I used Urban Decay's 24/7 Waterproof Eyeliner Pen, Ulta Volumizing Mascara. I have M.A.C. Girl/Boy Brow set on my brows. This was a very quick and simple look.  My Blush is Nars Taj Mahal (post coming soon) with M.A.C. Vanilla Pigment as a highlight.  My lipgloss is Revlon Colorburst in Sunset Peach. 

Urban Decay 15yr Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection FOTD

These are the products I used to create my look

These are before and after looks (well almost finished without the lashes)

I started off with M.A.C. Prep and Prime Skin.  If possible, I'd recommend you using a primer before your make-up.  It really makes a difference in your application and it helps it last throughout the day.  Depending on which one you use, primer may or may not help with oiliness, it may help with color correcting, it may have SPF.  There are many out there on the market.  

 Prep and Prime Skin is geared towards reducing the appearance of pores, redness, fine lines/wrinkles, and it's supposed to help control the sebaceous gland which is what produces oil.  It doesn't control it enough for me to use it alone, but I can say I can see a difference when I wear it from when I don't wear anything at all.  I definitely have to re-apply more often if I don't wear anything.  

You should think of primer with make-up the same way you would when painting.  If you had to paint a car or a wall, you'd prime it first right?  Well it's the same with your make-up.  Think of your face as the canvas you're painting.  

I added my Cover Girl Foundation to my palette.  I don't like wasting product so I love palettes.  This still ended up being too much.  That foundation does really well and it was under $5 at Kroger's Grocery Store.  It's just the regular Cover Girl Clean foundation for Oily skin, of course.  I used one of my favorite face brushes, the Elf flat powder brush. (LOL! my baby girl getting in the picture at the last minute.  She's so nosey. Ha ha! :D)

First I had to work with my brows. They're really thick so I'm using M.A.C. Girl/Boy Brow Set.  It does a great job of holding my brows in place and adding color.  

My brows really need to be done.  I'm using my Black Opal Stick as a concealer to help clean them up. 

I added Urban Decay Primer Potion 

Then NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk (Yay! I FINALLY got this.  It was at H.E.B Grocery Store for $3.49.  They seemed to always be sold out of this pencil when I would go look for it.  They only had 4, I should've bought two, but since this was my 1st time using it, I decided to just get one.)

I used my #239 brush to add Junkshow to the middle of my lid

I added Tainted to the inner lid and the inner lower lash line

I added Omen to my Inner Crease

Then Evidence to my outer crease.  I also put this color on my outer lower lash line using my Coastal Scents pointed crease brush.  It's amazing for adding shadows/pigments to the lash line.  It's very precise but soft.  I like using this way way more than the M.A.C. #219 which is bigger and can be a bit scratchy sometimes.  

Next was Flow as my Brow Highlight with my new limited edition blending brush #234.

Of course blend, blend, blend.  I used my Sonya Kashuk blending brush for this.  I used this brush instead of the #224 because it's smaller.  I didn't want to take away the boldness, just blend them together. 

Deep ended was added to the middle of my lower lash line 

This is Vanilla.  I put it in my tear duct area

Then I used my new UD 24/7 black liquid liner in Perversion.  After using this liner for a couple of weeks, my opinion of it has changed a bit.  I love the long lasting effects and the shine, but I'm not very fond of the applicator.  If it would've been a long thin sponge like M.A.C. Superslick or Elf's liquid pen liner, it would've been perfect.  The fact that it's a short brush makes it a bit more challenging to get a pretty& straight line. :-(  I think the next time I use it, I'll just try to pour some out and use an eye liner brush.

The best mascara I've ever used is Lancome's Oscillating Mascara.  It's also the most expensive I've ever used. LOL! I think it retails for $36.  I never paid that much for it. ( I can't ever imagine spending that much on mascara. ) I bought it when I still had my employee discount at Dillard's.  Even then, I waited until we had our extra discount and stocked up. (I did the same with Dior Extase) When I worked at Macy's, either I'd wait until we had our extra discount or wait until Lancome had GWP. Even though it's hands down the best mascara I've ever used, I don't think ANY mascara is worth almost $40 w/tax.

Can you believe I got these lashes with just one coat? Guess that's a con of leaving the department store. :-(  I would've been fine without adding lashes, I just figured since it was a bold look, I might as well go all the way out.  I'm probably one of the few MUAs who actually prefer natural lashes over false ones.  I  love good mascara.  However, I totally understand that falsies take your look to the next level.  As usual it always comes down to personal preference.  I'll admit though,  it does take me a lot longer to use mascara to get my desired look (except for the Oscillating Mascara) than it would for me to just pop on some falsies.  So I guess, time frame and preference is key. 

For concealer I still used my Black Opal Foundation stick. The color is Heavenly Honey.  I used my Sonya Kashuk Pointed Foundation Brush, which is my fave for under eye concealer.

My cheek highlight Elf Candid Coral, My Contour Cover Girl Queen Collection in Ebony Bronze, My blush & bronzer Nicka K Bonze/Chocolate

Ha ha! Note to self, don't move the brush while trying to take a picture. LOL! :-) I used my Coastal Scents Angled brush from the Jubilee brush set for all of these products

I also contoured my nose with the Cover Girl Queen Collection Ebony Bronze Bronzer.  This powder is phenomenal!!!   I highlighted my nose with Elf Candid Coral Blush.  I used my Coastal Scents Deluxe blending brush.  I love this brush.  It's made for the eyes but I use it for highlighting, contouring, and for setting powder under my eyes over my concealer.

For my lips, I kept it light.  No liner. I used my beauty supply Ruby Kisses lipstick in Shiny Nude and Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss in Sunset Peach (also purchased at Kroger's).  This lipstick is really, really nice! It's very pigmented and lasts for hours.  I'm so shocked that it only cost $1.99.  Shocked and pleased, I must say.  Go check out Ruby Kisses.  They're highly underestimated.  I need to mention that I truly HATE this applicator on the gloss.  Why would they ruin this great gloss with this weird sponge tip.  Do you see it?  It's almost as if it's been squeezed in the middle.  Who does that?  It doesn't pick up a lot of the gloss so you have to keep putting it back in to get a good payoff.  On a good note, for this look, I didn't want my lips to look overly glossy, however if I wanted to wear it buy itself, it would take a while to get the color to show.  Boo! :-( For this reason, I will not be buying anymore Colorburst glosses.  Ughhh!  

This is the lipstick before I put on the gloss.  Isn't it pretty?  I can't even think of another color that I have like this.  I need to go back and get another one for my kit.  It feels really good too.  It's creamy, but not really glossy.  I forgot to take a picture of me putting it on, I guess you get the idea though. ;-)

Revlon Colorburst  Lipgloss in Sunset Peach

I only placed the gloss in the middle.  Maybe 4 little dots of it at the most was used.

I added M.A.C. Prep and Prime Transparent Finishing Powder all over, I just forgot to take a picture. This is the almost finished look before falsies.

I added Ardell #105 lashes.  I purchased these from Kroger's Grocery store for less than $3.  Who would've thought that my favorite places to buy cosmetics would be grocery stores. Ha ha! :D

Finished look

Close up of the eye