Thursday, February 28, 2013

Review: Pumpkin & Poppy Little Black Collection Cream Eyeshadows

Greetings from the Dark Side~!

Pumpkin and Poppy's Little Black Dress collection included two cream eyeshadiws: Beauty Sleep and Divinely Happy. Let's see how these two vegan creme eyeshadows fair when they are put to the test!


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

FOTD: Spring Faerie

Greetings lovelies!
Winter is not yet over, but spring seems to be already at out doorstep. the weather has been so nice here in California and I just needed to make a very bright and fun spring-time look.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Hair Styling

Greetings lovely Dark Siders,

I've had many requests to do a hair care and hair styling post. I've recently have been doing less and less to my hair, but apperantly most of you have liked how it looks like that so I will share what little I do to style my hair.

*Please excuse the fact that I am not wearing any makeup in the shots. I took the photos right after taking a shower and I didn't want to put makeup just to take the photos.


1. Shampoo and Conditioner

These are two pretty standard hair care products, but they can make a huge difference in the way your hair looks and styles. Ever since I switched to the Clear shampoos and conditioners, but hair has been healthier than ever. Although the portions of my hair that are colored can get dry, my natural hair is so soft and healthy. I have not had any split ends since I switched shampoos ^_^ I am currently using the Total Care one, but I like all the other Clear shampoos/conditioners I have tried.












Monday, February 25, 2013

FOTD: Foreveralonecraft (Ft. Victorian Disco)

Greetings my ever-lovely Dark Siders!

At the request of a lovely reader, I created a look using all four products from the Victorian Disco Cosmetics Foreveralone Collection. The collection includes three eyeshadows and one bright blush. I wanted to show you how wearable the blush is by wearing it today to work (I used a very small amount of the blush on my cheeks). I work in a high school classroom and although my bright hair can make it hard for people to distinguish me from the rest of the high school students, I'd like to think that the makeup I wear to work is more "grownup". But anyways, let me stop rambling and show you what look I created ^_^


Tutorial: Lula Mae (Ft. Pumpkin & Poppy)

Greetings from the Dark Side!

I thought I would re-do the EOTD look I did yesterday. Not only because a lovely reader requested it, but because I am also still testing out the new Pumpkin & Poppy Little Black Dress collection. So here is a little re-do with a short picture tutorial.


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Project No Buy Update: Week 7

Greetings from the Dark Side!
And welcome to the round up for Week 7 of my No-Buy!
 
Week 7 (February 18 - February 24) has been challenging because of many recent tempting collections and shopping trips. Let's see how I did!

If you are new to my No-Buy, please check out my past posts:
-Week 4 Round Up 
-Week 5 Round Up
-Week 6 Roundup

Swatches: Victorian Disco Cosmetics Foreveralonecraft Collection

Greetings from the Dark Side ^_^

Victorian Disco Cosmetics released a Valentine's Day collection inspired by Minecraft and, being a huge VDC fan, I absolutely had to get it. I included the set in a haul two weeks ago or so, but I just received it the other day and have. The collection includes a blush and three eyeshadows. It was a limited edition collection, but it might still be available (check HERE). The collection is $16.

Image from http://www.victoriandisco.com

EOTD: Lula Mae (Ft. Pumpkin & Poppy)

Greetings from the Dark Side~

Since I just received the Pumpkin & Poppy Little Black Collection (which is inspired by the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's), I wanted to try out the products really badly. I created this quick and simple look using all the eye products from the collection. 

Weekly Haul: Pumpkin and Poppy, Sinful Colors, Real Techniques

Greetings from the Dark Side~
This week I bought a few things, but I tried very hard to stay within my No-Buy makeup budget. Firstly and most importantly, I bought the new Pumpkin & Poppy collection that was released not too long ago. I love P&P so I could not pass that up. I also went to ULTA yesterday and it was pretty exciting. I should mention that I NEVER go to ULTA because it is kind of far from where I live. I have been wanting to go really badly because I have been dying to get the Real Technique brushes (and I did pick some up!). Anyways, here are the things I ended up buying this week.

1. Pumpkin & Poppy Little Black Dress Collection ($48)
This is the most recent P&P collection inspired by Breakfast at Tiffany's. If you buy the entire collection, it will come in a blue box. The collection includes: two cream eyeshadows, one cream blush, one lip butter, one powder eyeshadow, and one black cream eyeliner. I will be doing separate review posts for each product because I am missing the lip butter at the moment. I will say though that the collection is really fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

NOTD: Peaches and Cream...and Glitter!

Greetings from the Dark Side!

Here is my current manicure~ I have Sinful Colors 'Orange Cream' and Essie's 'A Cut Above' glitter polish. 'Orange Cream' looks more to me like a peachy color and it reminds me of peaches and cream. The color is so gorgeous for spring, which is just around the corner. And the pink glitter is so glamorous! It is a really pretty combo!



Thursday, February 21, 2013

FOTD: Everyday School Makeup

Greetings from the Dark Side :)

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so lazy when it comes to do my makeup in the morning. I am NOT a morning person, and I would rather wake up at the latest possible moment and look a hot mess than to wake up an hour earlier to do my makeup and hair. So instead, I have a fixed routine for the days when I want to do makeup/hair that literally takes me less than 10 minutes.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Diablo III Series: Demon Hunter

Greetings from the Dark Side~ and welcome to another Diablo III inspired look. 
Today's look is inspired by the Demon Hunter class and I am using the artwork for the Demon Hunter from the Diablo III guidebook. Here, the Demon Hunter is portrayed wearing a black/metal colored armor. Everything is pretty neutral, the only real pop of color comes from the green of her eyes.  I kept the rest of my face very neutral and the lips a darker nude.

This is not my image.




This look is all about the eyes. I think if I was a Demon Hunter and was covered in kickass armor and  a dark hood, I would want my eyes to stand out so I could intimidate anyone. I tried to chose a lip color close to the one from the picture above, her lips look like a very neutral, dark nude and overall I like the lip color with this eye look. It was neutral but not too nude and washed out.


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Project No Buy Update: Week 6

Greetings from the Dark Side!
And welcome to the round up for Week 6 of my No-Buy!
Week 6 (February 11 - February 17) has been a super busy week. I have been more focused on school and work, so I have not been paying too much attention to my No-Buy goals this week. I was stressed so I went shopping to distract myself. Because of that, I almost went over my award budget. 

If you are new to my No-Buy, please check out my past posts:
-Week 4 Round Up 
-Week 5 Round Up

Saturday, February 16, 2013

FOTD: Neutral and Pretty

 Greetings from the Dark Side!

 I love bright and dark eyeshadows, but that doesn't mean that I don't love to wear my neutrals. I especially love neutral looks that are shimmery and pretty. This look is not too difficult to create and you can definitely recreate it with many different products. It is a tad smokey but still super wearable for day and night. I particularly love this look for a night out because I don't have to worry about any smudging or eyeshadow fall out so it is easy to wear for a long period of time.

Honestly, this is a look that was inspired by a tutorial I saw on Youtube, but I cannot remember what video or whose video it was! If I remember I will include a link. 
(I remembered! It is Tanya Burr's makeup look on Ingrid, and it was so beautiful I wanted to try it out for myself! She did an amazing job. Check out her tutorial if you want to see how she does it step by step).


Friday, February 15, 2013

Dupe: MAC 'Black Swan' Pearlglide pencil VS. Rimmel 'Sparkling Black' ScandalEyes Kajal

Greetings from the Dark Side~!

I made a brief post on my Facebook about this possible product dupe. I thought I would post it here anyways for those who do not follow me on Facebook. I found that a product I owned was a really good dupe for the 'Black Swan' pearlglide pencil liner from the new MAC Archie's Girls collection. The MAC pencil costs $16.50 while the Rimmel ScandalEyes is about $3-$5. 

As you can see below, the two pencils  are both black with silver sparkles. The MAC one (on the right) is a bit creamier and more intense than the Rimmel one (on the left), but they are very close. Plus, when they are worn on the eyes, they look almost identical. $16.50 for a product I could get for 4 times less money was not worth it for me. I immediately returned 'Black Swan'. So if you missed out on 'Black Swan' or thought it was too expensive, now you have an alternative dupe :)




EOTD: YSL Midnight Garden

Greetings from the Dark Side!~ 

Just a super quick look of the day using Chanel and YSL eyeshadows :) This look was hardly worth a post but since my weekly challenge included posting a look with high end products, I thought I might as well post something xD


                                                                    Products Used                                                                      
-Chanel Illusion D'ombre eyeshadow in 'Vision' (base)
-YSL Ombres 5 Lumieres Palette in #11 'Midnight Garden' 
(dark teal, dark purple, light purple, mint green eyeshadows)
-Rimmel SandalEyes Kajal pencil in 'Sparkling Black'
-Maybelline Mega Plush mascara


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Weekly Haul: MAC, Mon Ennui, Covergirl

Greetings from the Dark Side :)

The recent release of the MAC Archie Girl's collection had me curious, so I went to MAC for the first time in a very long while. I am in still on my No-Buy, so I knew I was going to have to be careful. I walked out with a few purchases which I wanted to share, along with a few other purchases from this week. 

MAC Purchases
My MAc purchases include Betty Bright lipstick ($16.50), the Prolong Wear concealer ($18.00), MAC Paint Pot in Let's Skate ($18.50), and the lip pencils in Magenta ($15.00) and What a Blast! ($19.50). If you add everything up, you might be thinking that I went over my weekly makeup budget, but I will explain. After using the disaster that was the Revlon ColorStay concealer, I returned it and was left with zero concealers. One of my No-Buy rules is that I can buy products that I do not have without touching my the money in my "Makeup Bank" from my No-Buy rewards. The Prolong Wear concealer is thus excluded. The same goes for the lip pencils. I have one miserable lip pencil from NYX that is pink. I have no lip pencils to use with my other lip products and it has been hard to use the brighter lip products without a lip pencil. Thus I am also excluding the lip pencils from my No-Buy. The rest, though, will be subtracted from my "Makeup Bank" balance.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

FOTD: Red Calamity (Ft. Shiro Cosmetics)

Greetings from the Dark Side!

When I am really busy, I don't have time to make complex eye looks. But that does not mean I cannot make something bright and fun. I love using bright eyeshadows as eyeliners with black eyeliner rimming my lash line. I really like to do this because it emphasizes the shape of my eyes, adds a bright pop of color, and it only takes a minute or so. In this case I used a reddish orange eyeshadow to show you that you can use this shade and pull it off for the day time.


Sunday, February 10, 2013

Project No Buy Update: Week 5

Greetings from the Dark Side!
And welcome to the round up for Week 5 of my No-Buy!
Week 5 (February 4- February 10) has also been a tough week. I almost went over my budget when I saw the new Flower Cosmetics display at Walmart. Besides what I purchased from Flower Cosmetics, I have not purchased anything else. Still, new temptations come every week and I am trying my best to stick to my budget.
If you are new to my No-Buy, please check out my past posts:

Review: Revlon ColorStay Concealer

Greetings from the Dark Side :)

I've been trying out this Revlon concealer since the end of 2012, and I have made up my mind on how I feel about this product. If you want to see my thoughts on the Revlon ColorStay concealer, then keep reading!


Tutorial: Singles Awareness Day (Ft. Glamour Doll Eyes)

Welcome to the Dark side!

 If you are not celebrating Valentine's Day, then you can celebrate Single Awareness Day. Which ever you choose to celebrate, have fun and spend the day with those you love, be it friends, family, or your partner. And most of all, remember to pamper yourself and love yourself. Feb. 14th is a day to share love with those around you, but leave some for yourself too!

If you are looking for a look to really make you feel fierce, then try out this Singles Awareness Day look. This is not a look for the faint of heart. But if you want a rebellious look for Valentine's Day then this look might be what you are looking for! Wear red on your eyes and lips boldly! 


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Organizing My Makeup Collection: Eyeshadow Drawer

Greetings from the Dark Side ^_^

One of my goals for this year is to have my makeup more organized. I have had makeup products all over my room with no proper organization. Last week I finally managed to organize most of my lip and face products into one drawer. This week's challenge was to organize most of my eyeshadows in one drawers, so I will show you how that went.

These first two photos are BEFORE shots. I had so much crap in these drawers it is not even funny! I had skin care products, cotton pads, my deodorant (O_o")...I don't know how all this came to be in the same drawer...

FOTD: Casual Valnetine's

Greetings from the Dark Side~

I am not particularly fond of Valentine's Day, but I will still attempt to do some Valentine's Day looks for you who do like Valentine's Day. Instead of doing very dramatic looks, I thought it would be nice to do a casual Valentine's Day inspired look. This is super easy! I used all drugstore products to create it so I hope you like it!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Haul + First Impression: Flower Cosmetics

Greetings from the Dark Side! 

I am sure most of you have heard about Flower Cosmetics by now. It is the Walmart exclusive brand created by Drew Berrymore. I LOVE Drew! I think she is awesome and gorgeous! From what I have seen and read, it seems like she is genuinely interested in creating a fabulous line of makeup. You can't the same for other celebrities who "create" their own makeup lines. I was therefore really excited for this release. I am was SUPER excited to see the entire collection at my Walmart today (I literally just came from Walmart and I HAD to make a post right away) It sucks that I'm on a No-Buy and I have a small budget to work with, but I managed to stay within my budget and get some awesome products! I'm not in a rush to pick up everything since the line is permanent anyways.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Review: Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper

Greetings from the Dark Side!~

Today I have a very magical review! The Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper~!

Look at the lovely and colorful box!

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Lipstick Compedium: Illamasqua 'Magnetism' Lipstick

Greetings from the Dark Side~!

Welcome to The Lipstick Compendium, where I share my reviews about lipsticks and lip glosses alike in an attempt to compile swatches and thoughts of all my lip products.
Today's topic is Illamasqua's Magnetism lipstick from the Generation Q Collection.

Review: Illamasqua 'Allure' Blush

Greetings from the Dark Side!
Here is another Illamasqua review! Illamasqua is one of my favorite brands, and in particular I love their cheek products. Their cream blushes, powder blushes, and cream pigments are absolutely amazing. The blush I am sharing with all of you today is from the Generation Q collection and the color is called 'Allure'.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Project No Buy Update: Week 4

Greetings from the Dark Side!
And welcome to the round up for Week 4 of my No-Buy!
Week 4 (January  28-February 3) has been a tough week! I was temped by so many new products and it has been really hard to keep up my No Buy. I did spend some money this week, but I did not go over my budget. Still, it was extremely difficult to keep to my budget this week. I almost slipped up and bought more than I could afford. If you want extra details, keep reading :)

If you are new to my No-Buy, please check out my past posts:

Weekly Haul: Victorian Disco and Rimmel ScandalEyes

Greetings from the Dark Side~

Instead of showing you my weekly hauls on my Project No Buy updates, I will be doing a separate haul to show you the products I bought every week as well as including swatches and a first impression.


1. Victorian Disco Cosmetics Foreveralonecraft Collection ($16.00)
I haven't received this purchase yet, but I did buy it this week.  This is the VDC Valentine's Day collection and I was super excited for it!
Image from http://www.victoriandisco.com

Return of the Look: Wakka and Lulu

Greetings from the Dark Side :)

This post is soooo late! It was requested by Sarah ages ago and I kept forgetting about it. But here it is! If you want to look at the original post check it out HERE.This look was inspired by the characters Wakka and Lulu from Final Fantasy, as well as the eyeshadow duo from Victorian Disco Cosmetics. Today, I will be creating a similar look using colors from the Lime Crime Alchemy palette. The look is a bit different, but I hope you still like it!