Makeup Prep and Finishing Roundup

August 12, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

Trying to get two posts in a week and that means that I actually have to write blog posts, that’s a good start, right? So here we are in August truth be told I have not worn makeup since about April because time isn’t real anymore and I don’t leave my house so here I am talking about makeup when I haven’t worn any in quite some time but here we are anyway.

This is for sure a more of a what I have kind of post as opposed to a what are my favorites kind of post but I will still tell you my favorites as I go.

Primers:

I don’t use primer very often, I did use a color correcting primer from NYX for a really long time, I don’t so much anymore but when I do put on a full face I will put a primer on to help everything stay where it’s supposed to be. I also normally wear primer in the fall, winter, and spring but during the summer, it’s just too much when it feels like 100 degrees outside and you just don’t wanna.

I have a bunch of tiny primers because of my IPSY Glam Bags so while I took a picture of them I am not really going to talk about them because there are so many (10 to be exact).

Ciaté London Watermelon Burst Hydrating Primer:

Got it last month in my IPSY Glam Bag plus and I am excited to have a go at it. I like watermelon so we will see how I feel about it.

Touch in Sol No Pore Blem:

I have used this one several times and love it, it’s just a really light primer with rose water and I really like Touch in Sol as a brand because that is also my current moisturizer and I love it so much.

Dr. Brandt Pores No More Luminizer Primer:

I like Dr. Brandt’s products and having this in the wings is a great thing. I don’t really have much to say about it because I haven’t gotten the chance to try it but I am excited to.

Concealers:

I use concealer every time I put on makeup because I just look tired at all times so having concealer is really important to me.

There is a reason that I am not a huge fan of every shade being the same name and then they are vastly different colors, like both of mine are fair and they are vastly different shades.

Tarte Shape Tape in shade Fair:

This is the one that I am currently using and I really like it, it is worth the hype that surrounds it. This is one of the lightest shades and I really need to get their shade porcelain but I think when I was at Ulta they were out of it and so that was unfortunate, when I am tan this shade is great but in the dead of winter it’s too yellow.

Colourpop No Filter Concealer in Fair 02:

This one is my absolute makeup bag staple, it’s like a seven dollar concealer and I love it so much. It’s a lighter shade than the Tarte one so it does match my skin tone better with my foundation on.

Setting Powders:

Coty Air Spun in Translucent:

I love this one, it just smells good and this is the one I use the most frequently of the two that I have. It is also a huge size for under ten dollars 2.3 OZ at Walgreens for like eight dollars so you know you cannot go wrong with it.

Ciaté London Extraordinary Translucent:

Much smaller but I got in an IPSY box so I cannot complain. I feel like most setting powders are roughly the same so I can’t really say that there is much difference in my opinion but it’s honestly not something I would buy on my own.

Setting Sprays:

Colourpop All Star Setting Spray:

I am almost out of this one because it is the one I use every day when I wear makeup. I love it a lot but I do have to have a towel up on me because it does spray out all over the place. Yea, it’s a spray so of course it’s going to do that, but I would buy it again.

Urban Decay All Nighter Settign Spray:

Other favorite, smells like cinnamon. I got a sample o this a while back and I bought a travel sized because I liked it so much and I am again running out of my other setting spray. I use the little size of this at my parent’s house so I guess I have two favorite setting sprays.

So I have a lot of random things in my makeup bag for prep and finishing for my face and I felt like I just needed to dump all of them into one place and here was the most logical place to do it.

Do you guys have any favorites when it comes to prep and finishing with your makeup? Any that you love that I should give a try?

I will see y’all with another blog at the end of the week!

-MJ

A Late Summer Makeup Look

September 8, 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

I have been holding onto this post for a few weeks now and I don’t know why I just haven’t posted it. I have been in one of those moods where nothing creative is coming out of my body and while I want to post, I just don’t know some days what to post.

It’s hard to write a makeup look in a blog post, it really and truly is, this is one of those things that would be on YouTube but I haven’t posted on my YouTube Channel in over a year. I want to get back into that as well but I still have some things to work out before I do.

Now why did I decide to do a makeup look today in blog form? I don’t know I took over half an hour on a look so I figured why not now. It was a look that I was actually really proud of so I am going to share it. Is it going to have pictures? Maybe, one I am not good at makeup photography, not even a little bit and I didn’t take any pictures with really good lighting.

This is literally a post made to companion my Makeup Bag Refresh in a way because I used a lot of those products in my look.

Okay so what did I do, color correcting primer (NYX Photo Loving Primer in Green) as well as my usual basic foundation, (Urban Decay All Nighter Liquid in shade 0.5) I have found that more high end foundation doesn’t break me out, I also used concealer (Tarte’s Shape Tape in Fair) I did use a setting powder (Coty Air Spun in Translucent)

I did my eyebrows with Rimmel Born This Way in Medium, put on highlighter from Morphe in shade Extra if this was more of an evening look I would have used more highlighter but this was a day look so I played the highlighter down. I also used Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in ‘?’ which was an exclusive in the summer mystery box. I don’t actually remember which mascara I used but I think it was Thrive Cosmetics Liquid Lash Extensions mascara. As well as a setting spray which is one of my favorites at a really great price point Colourpop All-Star.

I feel like this eyeshadow look was what I was most proud of, I have gotten a lot better at eyeshadow over the last few years and this is one of those things that I have really tried to get batter at while I have gone on my makeup journey. Like it doesn’t look as good as it did in real life, the lighting is not great. I did use the Morphe Nature Glow palette (which I love). The one thing that I really love about this palette is that there is an insert with all of the shade names which makes it so much easier to use!

It is a lot more saturated in real life but the lighting in my bathroom is awful, I need to get a better light but I didn’t have time after putting the look on to get the ring light out. Also I have no mascara on in the picture but it did go on afterward, I promise.

I used six different shades, I used the shade Popular all over the lid and up toward the brow bone, it is a nice shade with a little bit of shimmer that is a good base. (I would use an eyeshadow primer for a more long wear application).

Next I used shade Step Up on the outer two thirds of my eye and into the crease, I build up like that I know other people do their eyes different but this is how I do it. I followed that with shade Seriously on the outer third of the lid and also into the crease and under the lower lash line as well. I used the shade Power to darken up the outer corner and dragged it up into the crease on the outer side of my eyeball just a little bit.

I did a few glittery shades as well; I would wear this look anywhere because it is a great late summer early fall natural eye look. First glittery shade I used was Pop in the center of the lid, again I would use a little bit of concealer there and do a really nice cut lid next time I did it. I also popped shade Clear into the inner corner of both eyes and I called it a day.

I loved this look, I really like doing my makeup so I love the opportunity to be able to play with my makeup a little bit more than usual. When I wrote this post it was 105 with the heat index so I must say the makeup held up to the heat and I was really excited about it.

I’ll see everyone next week with another post, have a good rest of the weekend and great start to your week!

-MJ

Makeup Bag Update/Refresh

August 4, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

So I posted a blog post a little over a year ago with my makeup bag essentials or my wedding makeup go-to’s and I have since updated what I carry around. Now I have also done a travel or To-Go beauty post and that can be subbed in as well if you don’t want to check a bag if you are flying to an event. Some of the things have remained the same, I am not that versatile but I have found new things over the last year or so that I have swapped older products out for and I think that a refresh on your makeup bag is necessary every so often. As seasons and styles change you need to move with them also it depends on what you are wearing to the event, I am going to say that usually I go for a neutral/natural look when it comes to eyeshadow when I am going to events that are more professional or even personal, I am not going to a club I do not need neon eyeshadow no matter how much I want to wear some acid green eyeshadow like the Tokidoki one I had back in the day, legit it was their shade called I think Soya and I remember loving that brand so much back in the mid to late-2000’s. I saved up for it so I could buy it at Sephora and I don’t know why I picked that shade because I didn’t wear it very often.

Seriously for events that don’t involve a lot of glitter avoid a lot of glitter!

So let’s dive right into the bag then, I am not going to talk about tools because those haven’t really changed and let’s be honest everyone uses their makeup brushes for what they want and they have their favorites so if you want to know about my tools, they are in my makeup bag essentials post.

I am going to start with base makeup, my foundation hasn’t changed it is still the Urban Decay All Nighter Liquid Foundation in shade 0.5, I really want to try their new Stay Naked foundation and eventually I will because I feel like Urban Decay is my go to for foundation and it has been since I started wearing makeup. (I like Makeup Forever as well but I haven’t used it since I was in college and I dropped it on the floor in my apartment. It went everywhere luckily the bottle was mostly empty.)

My primer also hasn’t changed I still use NYX’s photo loving primer in green to balance out the red in my face, though the All Nighter does cover the red really well.

The things that I have switched out are concealer and I have added setting powder, the setting powder I have is Coty Air Spun but for a makeup bag I use Tarte’s setting powder that I got in my May Glam Bag last year. I have used it in the past when I had no idea how to use makeup so it was a natural choice to include here.

My concealer game has changed, I still love my Naked Skin concealer but that is up in my makeup bag at my parent’s place, I have moved on to Tarte Shape Tape, like the rest of the internet. I will say this it does make my face a little tight in the application areas but it makes your skin look great. I also have been using Colourpop’s No Filter concealer and I have been absolutely obsessed because it is under $10 and it works so well.

On to face so blush bronzer and highlighter, my bronzer still hasn’t changed, I am still working with Hoola from Benefit because I don’t wear a lot of bronzer but when I do I put it on in all the wrong places and then look stupid.

Blush has changed though, I got an Anastasia blush trio last year and I have found that I like having multiple choices for blush or the option to mix two different shades and get a great look out of it.

Highlighter has also changed, I still would probably bring my Urban Decay highlighter quad but I also like the single pan options as well and I have Morphe’s highlighter in the shade Extra and Colourpop’s highlighter in the shade Might Be because I like them both and again like having options when it comes to my look.

Eyes is probably the area that has changed the most and that’s understandable because eye trends change so quickly and there are always new eyeshadow palettes and mascaras coming out.

Eyeshadow is one of those things that you can love one day and hate the next but I found that having a larger palette with a lot of neutral shades has done me really great so I switched to the Morphe Nature Glow palette because it’s 35 shades and you can add in pops of color from other palettes if you want or bring a few single pan shades from your favorite brands to add some variation to your look. I also usually include the Tartelette Toasted Palette as well because it is a smaller version of a neutral palette and I have been loving it for years.

Mascara, I still like to carry two around with me but this year it is too travel sized items, Doucce’s Maxlash and Benefit’s Bad Gal Bang which I found myself using a lot this year. Bad Gal Bang though takes longer to dry that I have noticed so be careful. Still wear glasses so I don’t wear eyeliner and also I don’t want to look like a death metal raccoon by the time I’m done trying to get the wings even.

Eyebrow products are still the same, I found Rimmel’s Born This Way years ago and I haven’t been brave enough to really try anything else.

Lips are easier for me in a way because I just pick a few nude shades and run with it, one of them I just got but it has already found its way into my makeup bag and that is the Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour liquid lipstick in shade ‘?’ it came exclusively in the summer mystery box and I am obsessed with it. The other shade is Eddie Funkhouser Twisted Kisses in the shade Kiss Me Twice and I got this one in my November Glam Bag last year. I also carry around a lip scrub and I have one from Tree Hut Beauty that I have been loving for the last year so it was the natural choice.

Last is setting spray, I have two or three that I use but this is a travel size of the All Nighter setting spray from Urban Decay and it so good. Believe the hype, it’s great if you want a matte look all day. Colourpop’s All-Star is also great if you are looking for a more budget friendly option!

So that’s my update, my refresh, and my current makeup bag collection.

Do you have any holy grail products that never leave your makeup bag? I would loe to know about them!

I will see everyone about mid-week with another post!

-MJ

Five Eyeshadow Palettes I’m Digging

July 26, 2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

This series is part three of my five favorite eyeshadow palettes and five more eyeshadow palettes. Really this series should be called “MJ is an eyeshadow palette hoarder and needs help” Like I love most eyeshadow palettes and I follow so many makeup accounts on Instagram so I get to drool over all of the new releases all the time and that is such a problem for an MJ who is on a budget but can’t walk into an Ulta without spending less than $50 and that’s like one palette. It’s so expensive but it’s so nice, I have like 35 shades of a very similar brown and I see more neutral palettes and want all of them, even if all the shades are similar to those I already have.

Also I promised a post last weekend but I moved last week and I have been unpacking since then so I haven’t really had the inspiration to write a blog post because everything seems to be going wrong, but that is not for this space. That’s for Twitter, if you want to see my complaining tweets you can follow me on Twitter, if you want to see cute pictures of my parent’s dogs and my life, you can follow me on Instagram.

I am going to be completely honest, I don’t know if you can still purchase all of these palettes and I am sorry if there is one or two on this list that you can no longer get, these opinions are per usual all my own.

Lorac Tale as Old as Time

This has been one of my favorites for a while now and I didn’t want to post this in any of my other posts with eyeshadow palettes because I know that this was a promotional for the Beauty and The Beastreboot a few years ago. Lorac does some really great collaborations for films, I think they did one for Pirates of the Caribbeanand Alice in Wonderlandas well as others that I cannot remember now. I love the pigmentation of this palette, I have used it on several occasions and one of my favorite shades is Beast Mode which is a deep royal blue and I have for sure used it to do a deep blue smokey eye in the past. The packaging is a little extra but really cool, I feel like their movie tie palettes are always a little extra.

Too Faced Beauty Daydreamer

This was the Christmas palette this past year, you can read about it initially from my November Beauty Haul. Too Faced is one of those brands that I really enjoy for their holiday launches. This one was not only eyeshadow but also blush, bronzer, and highlighter so it’s a multi item palette and I was a fan of it. I for sure get one every year and I should stop because they have some pretty similar shades every year. I like the shades they are more geared toward the “holiday party” vibe but there are enough neutrals that you can pair it with another palette and do a nice look for any time.

Urban Decay Naked Heat

So I just bought this one last weekend, it was half off and I have wanted this palette since before it came out, Naked palettes are one of those things that I collect like Pokémon, gotta collect them all. Currently I am only missing the Naked Cherry and the Naked 2 palettes. I love the shades in this and I cannot wait to actually dive into it, I accidently dug into the shade He Devil, oops. Also I have to glue the mirror back in because it fell out as I was writing this paragraph. The packaging on this palette is phenomenal and I am so in love with it.

Colourpop It’s a Princess Thing

This was one of my Top Beauty Products of 2018, it was my first foray into Colourpop even though I have been a fan of the brand for a few years now. Now that some of the brand is in Ulta I have been able to be exposed to more of it. Colourpop is one of those brands that brings out so much product and so many launches and they are all so unique and their quality (over everything I have) has been great. They also have a really great price point, their concealer is like $8 and I love it just as much as I love my Urban Decay concealer. They came out with a Disney Villains palette earlier in the year and I also want that one but I never did purchase it, clearly I don’t need any more palettes, seriously I don’t, but will I get more, yes I will because when it comes to makeup I have no control over myself, like a crow with shiny things.

Urban Decay Born to Run

This one came out last year and I immediately went in and bought it, I love the shade range within the palette and I was in love with the packaging, it brought out my inner wanderlust and I just needed it. The palette is 24 pans which is actually pretty large for an eyeshadow palette and there is a shade for everyone in this palette, seriously 24 eyeshadows could create so many looks.

Well that’s it, I could write so many more of these posts and maybe once a year I will but for now these are the five that I have been digging this year.

Do you have a favorite palette? What is your favorite eyeshadow shade name?

I’ll see everyone later in the weekend with another post, the package hopefully is now in my mailbox so I will be writing that post for Sunday, I am really excited for that post as well and I will see you all then!

-MJ

February Beauty Haul

March 19, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

So it’s been awhile again, I am at my parents babysitting the dogs while they are on vacation, and I still will be when I post my next post, (which I have already written.) so my opening paragraph may be similar.

I didn’t buy anything in January and I only bought a few things in February, I wasn’t planning on buying anything but then my mascara went bad and almost gave me an eye infection, it was red for like two days so I threw it away and bought a new one. Well while I was there I got a few things. This is not going to be a long post because it was only three new things and a tried and true favorite.

I am just going to briefly mention the tried and true favorite, it is also the thing that expired and made me look like I had pink eye for a day and a half. My NYX Worth the Hype mascara, I still love it because normally I am not a person who will purchase a full sized mascara anymore, if it is a prestige brand I tend to lean toward the travel sized products just because once you open a mascara they have such a short shelf life before they go bad and when you spend so much money on a product you can only use for a few months.

Next, onto the new things, so Colourpop is now in my Ulta and I am excited to be able to see the products in person instead of looking online and hoping that I get colors right. So I got Colourpop’s No Filter Concealer in I think the shade Fair 02. I have heard mixed reviews on their concealer but I like the shade range because the shade that I got is lighter than most of the concealers that I have seen on the market.

A few months ago I got a sample size of the All-Nighter Setting Spray from Urban Decay and they have a display of them on the counter in my Ulta so as am impulse buy I purchased the travel size because I really enjoy the setting spray. I don’t wear setting spray every day but when I do I reach either for that one or for my Colourpop All-Star Setting Spray.

Last but not least I have been experimenting with facial oils and I decided to pick up another one to try out. I have very sensitive combination skin and I always have to be really careful with the combination of products that I put on my face but I like Pacificia, I used their makeup wipes for quite some time while I was in college so when I saw their Flower Power Rapid Response facial oil. It has rose and blue tansy and I know that my face doesn’t react to rose and I was excited to see that. I can only use it about once a day or sometimes even once every other day because of my skin but it has been a really great addition to my skin care routine.

Did anyone else get anything new in beauty in February? Is there anything you are currently coveting when it comes to skin care and beauty?

I’ll be around with another post Saturday, so I’ll see everyone then!

MJ’s Top 12 Beauty Products of 2018

January 24, 2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

2018 was a crazy and intense year for beauty for me. I amassed so many beauty products in 2018 and it’s a lot you guys, a lot. I got introduced to a lot of new brands because of ipsy as well as FabfitFun and I found a lot of things that I really liked because of those subscription boxes.

All of these opinions are my own per usual.

NYX Worth the Hype mascara

Why I love it: This one of my early purchases this year and it is a pretty good mascara at the price point. (it retails for $8.00 on the NYX Cosmetics website) You get pretty good volume that doesn’t look super fake even with a few coats. This was my go-to mascara for the first half of the year, it came out really early in 2018 and it was my absolute favorite for such a long time this last year. It lasts all day, it doesn’t irritate my eyes unlike some mascara’s because I have super sensitive everything and I was a huge fan of it.

Artic Fox Hair Color in Wrath

Why I love it: So I got my hair colored professionally for a long time, I am not naturally a red head but I love the color that I have had since probably 2013. It became for feasible for me to dye my own hair and Artic Fox was one of those brands that I had seen online before so I knew what it was. It is a beautiful color and everyone loves it, I am still trying to get better at dying my own hair because it’s hard you guys I always miss spots. It was something like $16 at Sally Beauty and that is a lot cheaper than having it done at a salon. The dye is also vegan and cruelty free which I am always really excited about when it comes to beauty products.

Urban Decay All Nighter Liquid Foundation in shade 0.5

Why I love it: Urban Decay was the first prestige foundation I ever got when I was younger when everyone was still using powder foundation, I talked about that in one of my haul posts when I bought the product. It doesn’t break my skin out, it isn’t super heavy, and it looks amazing. (It retails for $40 at Ulta) It is more on the pricy side so I find myself subbing it out with less expensive foundations for my everyday just going to work wear. It doesn’t clog my pores though and every time I wear it I fall in love with it over and over again.

Foreo Luna Fofo

Why I love it: I got this in my summer fabfitfun box and I use it all the time. It makes my skin feel great. (It retails for $89 on the Foreo website) I would for sure buy from their skincare range in the future. It is on the pricy side but I was lucky enough to get it in a subscription box, seriously one reason that I am always so hyped about getting the fabfitfun box four times a year.

Colourpop All-Star Setting Spray

Why I love it: I am not a person who usually uses a setting spray but I got this one on a whim (honestly it was to qualify for free shipping because I am one of those people) but I actually really like the product.

Murad Skin-Perfecting Lotion

Why I love it: Again another gem from one of my fabfitfun boxes from last year, I use it every morning and it makes my skin feel so good. I am already planning on buying another tube when I run out of this one. (It retails for $40 on their website as well as other beauty retailers.)

Soo’AE Rose Mist

Why I love it: I used this for the first time over the summer when I burnt the crap out of myself and it was just a little extra hydration for my skin and it really helped out. Now I use it whenever my skin feels dry or tight because even just that little bit helps out so much. Now that we are in the winter months it is so dry outside and a mist is so useful. (It retails for $14 on their website, I got it at Wal-Mart for about the same price.)

Garnier Skin Active Micellar Cleansing Water (for waterproof makeup)

Why I love it: MJ has really sensitive skin and therefore I have to take extra care when I choose the products that go on my face and that includes what I use to take my makeup off. I used the micellar wipes for a long time but this seems a little better because it is used with cotton pads instead of the pre-moistened sheets. (it retails for $6.59 through Target.)

Coty Airspun Face Powder

Why I love it: This last year has been the year where I discovered a lot about beauty and makeup and setting powder is a thing apparently. I have used it a few times and I really like how it works and it just smells good. So I really like it. (It retails for $7.99 at Walgreens)

Tree Hut Sugar Lips sugar scrub

Why I love it: It’s so great. It leaves my lips feeling moisturized and not rough. This was another product mentioned in one of my monthly hauls and I use it a few times a week when my lips feel dry and gross. It smells good and it is easily transportable because it is in such a small container. (it retails for $5.99 at Ulta which is where I purchased it.)

Colourpop It’s a Princess Thing eyeshadow palette

Why I love it: I didn’t really include much makeup on this list and I just kind of realized that, I have been a fan of Colourpop for a few years but never bought anything from them. One of my friends shared the Disney Princess collection with me when it was announced and I had to have this palette. I love it, the pigments are great, and the color names are amazing. (It retails for $20 on the Colourpop website.)

Cactus brush cleaner

Why I love it: It’s really nice to be able to clean brushes on this, it was an impulse buy at the time but I am such a huge fan of it. It cleans my brushes really well and it is rubber so it is really easy to clean after each brush cleaning session. I got it so long ago at Marshall’s so I don’t remember what the price was, nor do I know the exact brand.

Did you have any favorite beauty items in 2018?

See you all on Saturday!

-MJ

October Beauty Haul

November 7, 2018.Reading time 13 minutes.

How is it already November, but really also how has 2018 lasted for six and a half years? I swear it feels like this year flew by but also has been going in reverse. October was pretty good for makeup even though I didn’t get all that much. Still one of my favorite posts to write each month because I am apparently a makeup hoarder and I need help.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Blush Trio in Pink Passion

Okay so I put this in my Blush, Bronzer, Contour, and Highlighter Round Up so I have already talked about it. I do not have enough blush in general but when I saw this, at TJ Maxx, maybe I should change this to “MJ walked into a discount store and went a little crazy” or “MJ blacked out in Marshall’s and walked out with six things he didn’t need: a series.”

With that tangent laid down in front of me I must say, I love the colors in the trio and I am looking forward to actually using them as winter sets in and everyone is just pale. Spoilers, I am usually really pale so this might help or it will make me look like I am in stage makeup, one of the two and no in between.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick in Pure Hollywood

I have also discovered that I am a lipstick hoarder along with eyeshadow palettes, those are clearly my weaknesses when it comes to what my makeup collection is made up of. I need more lipstick storage, that is the conclusion I have come to in the last several weeks as I do not have enough slots in the storage area to hold all of the lipsticks that I own. Someone send help.

This color is really nice I love a good nude lip and this nude liquid lip shade has an almost pinky but also slightly rosy undertone (I am writing this sentence while half asleep so if it doesn’t make sense, I’m sorry.) For the most part most of my lipsticks are nude shades but I will say I also love a good pop of color.

Colourpop It’s a Princess Thing eyeshadow palette

I have been waiting for this palette since someone shared it on Facebook and I went on Colourpop’s website and entered my email to be notified when it was available. I have swatched this palette and I am in love with it. I am so pleased with the first Colourpop product that I have ever bought even though I have been a fan of them for a long time but finally took the plunge to purchase something from them and I will say this with absolute certainty, I will be purchasing from them again. The colors are highly pigmented and very pretty. I am a sucker for packaging as well as color names and I must say this one has some great ones. I love the breakdown of the palette with the number of shades that are matte, metallic, and glittery. There are some palettes at are too metallic heavy for me but this has a really nice balance that can be used to create a number of stunning looks.

The one drawback of this palette is that it doesn’t have a mirror, now I have other palettes that don’t have mirrors and it’s not a big deal but this palette is nice and compact so having a mirror with it for traveling purposes would have been nice.

I think that you can still snag this palette on Colourpop’s website and it really is worth the price point that it is at.

Colourpop All Star Setting Spray

Okay this was a purchase to get my order over the threshold for free shipping because I am a terrible person like that but to be honest I have been seeing so many beauty gurus talking about “setting spray” for months now. Full disclosure, I have only used setting spray once and that was at an outdoor wedding in June of 2017 in the very south of Louisiana and I didn’t want my face to melt off. I don’t even remember what brand it was because I borrowed it. I like the idea of setting my face so everything stays in place because in the last few months I have learned a lot from beauty guru’s and sharing some of their wisdom when it comes to my makeup routine makes me feel at least a little useful.

Love the packaging, nice and summery even though we are facing toward the bleakness of winter, it’s simple and I am looking forward to actually having a reason to use it to actually test it out.

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

Look! More setting spray! This was a sample and I have been seeing so many people using this setting spray but to be honest I didn’t want to drop that much money on a spray bottle full of…I don’t actually know what’s in setting spray, if it’s like hairspray I still think it is just mostly aerosolized glue and there is a part of me that doesn’t like that.

I am again really excited to see if this product works for me like it works for so many others. If I like it who knows maybe I will buy a full sized bottle in the future, we’ll see.

Too Faced Beauty Daydreamer Holiday Gift Set

Holiday packaging! Too Faced is one of those brands that I get every year around the holidays and I have been for something like four years now. This is where I get my travel sized Better Than Sex mascara every year because it is still one of my favorites and something that I always reach for and take with me in my makeup bag. Their holiday packaging seems to get better and better every year and this year with the Beauty Daydreamer set it was a palette with 16 eyeshadow shades and four cheek shades as well as a travel Better than Sex mascara and a Bunny Kisses lip gloss. I am normally not a fan of lip gloss but this one isn’t too bad I have tried it I have swatched it and granted it is a little sticky is it nothing like some of the glosses of my past. It is a nice nude shade that I feel like would look good on a wide range of skin tones and I can’t wait to actually get a chance to wear it for a longer length of time than just seeing what it looks like on.

Let’s talk about all of the things you get in this separately. Again I am a palette hoarder, no I am not throwing the word hoarder around loosely I have a lot of palettes and I continue to buy more even though I really don’t need them. Palette first though, the first color that caught my attention was “Resting Grinch Face” I laughed out loud in the Ulta, people looked at me funny. I love the shades, for me I have never had a problem with Too Faced products and I continue to love them with every new item that I add to my collection.

The bag has bunnies on it and I absolutely love it, I am a sucker for makeup bags as well if you check out any of my ipsy posts you will know that. It is nice and I think that Too Faced is stepping up their holiday packaging more and more every year. Kepeign it fresh and all of that.

Coty Airspun Transparent Loose Face Powder

Okay so I started watching a beauty guru on YouTube and when I get interested in someone’s channel I tend to binge their videos and I found myself two days later with a list of makeup I needed to buy, though your girl cannot afford some of the really high end stuff no matter how much she dreams about it. I can still window shop even though I can’t afford $100 foundation or really expensive makeup products. My mom remembers using this powder so I feel like is a good barometer of their quality. Now I walked through Walgreen’s for five-eight minutes looking for this and not asking for help because I wanted to prove to people that I don’t need help…I needed help because it was in a place in the makeup aisle that didn’t make any sense to me, it was by the lashes. Now on first impressions, I actually really like the smell of it, I don’t know why there is just something really nice about it. I like the smell and for some reason it’s kind of nostalgic. I don’t know where I have smelled it before but I am a huge fan of it.

Again beauty guru’s told me that I need to set my concealer, I have never done that before and I am still trying to figure out why, I get it; it’s to make sure nothing moves and nothing creases. When I first heard someone use the term “baking” I was so confused because you don’t “bake” anything in the traditional sense with or on your face. It took me months to figure out why people were “baking” and what it actually was as well as its benefits.

Two more months in 2018 you guys, we got this!

Is there anything that y’all got in October that you are loving? Is there anything that you are super excited for as the holiday season rolls around? Let me know in the comments!

-MJ

Blush, Bronzer, Contour, and Highlighter Round Up

October 27, 2018.Reading time 12 minutes.

Well here we are again with another makeup related post, some of my favorite posts to be honest because I get to go through my collection and actually look through what I have. I have discovered new favorites as I go through the posts like this and it has for sure made me realize that some of my collection has the potential to be retired because of age or condition. I have mostly purged my collection, there was a trend on YouTube of “doing my makeup with products I don’t like” and it made me go through and get rid of some things that I either haven’t used in a long time or really just didn’t like because of quality. My makeup collection at the moment seems to be a nice balance of quantity and quality though I don’t need to buy anymore for a long time, does that mean I won’t? No, it just means that I will think about my purchases a little bit more before I walk into Ulta and start singing “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Because let’s be real if it was socially acceptable, I probably would.

The Blushes:

Too Faced-Love Flush in Baby Love

This was my first high end blush, I want not really a wearer of blush until a few years ago, this is in my Makeup Bag Essentials so I have talked about it before but it is a softer pink and it goes on really well with not a lot of effort, it is a little dusty, particles do tend to fly more with this one when it comes out of the pan than some of the others that I have had in the past but it is still one of my favorites for many reasons, the color, the pigment (light without being overbearing), the packaging, and even the design on the blush pan itself. (so much attention to detail)

Anastasia Beverly Hills-Blush Trio in Pink Passion

Now I got this one this month because I needed more blush. (I didn’t but I did) You are actually going to see this later in the month in my October Beauty Haul post so spoilers I guess. One deeper pink, one pastel pink, and one dusty pink make up this palette and I must say all of the colors are nice. Anastasia is a newer brand for me to get into. My first Anastasia product was the Prism eyeshadow palette and I have loved the quality ever since.

The Bronzers:

Just a lovely army of one here.

Benefit-Hoola

I got this as a sample and for the summer it is amazing, I think in the winter I would switch to Hoola Lite to be honest because for the most part I am very pale and if I am going for a natural look there is a good chance I am not going to bronze very much. I got really tan this summer from being outside so when I did wear makeup I did need to bronze and somedays it just feels nice to have a little bit of bronze. This was a sample I got a few months ago, check the April Beauty Haul post or my Makeup Bag Essential’s post for all the rest of my thoughts on this product.

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The Contour Kits:

Something I realized when I was taking pictures for this post; I sure do have a lot of contour palettes for someone who doesn’t contour much. I started buying the palettes when that over exaggerated contouring was popular because everyone was doing it. Now as soon as I started trying to figure out how to do it a more natural contour look came around and I found that I preferred that. I still want to try that “clown” contouring trend from a few years ago but let’s be honest in my opinion some of that was just for clicks on social media and on YouTube. It looked fun but not something that you would ever really want to do in a regular everyday makeup routine, unless you want to spend three hours doing your makeup and I know very few people in their real lives who have time to do that.

NYX- Highlight and Contour Pro Palette

This was my first contour palette because of its price point. It is a solely powder based product which for the most part I love; I haven’t really experimented much with crème products even though I have a few but I feel those are more in my higher end brands like the other two in this section. I will definitely say that this product has a great range of shades for multiple skin tones even though I have a very fair complexion so some of the shades aren’t for me but having more comprehensive shades in this palette is great.

Tarte Tartist Pro Glow

I got this in my summer fabfitfun box and I have only used it a handful of times but I have gotten some good results. I am still working on being able to “chisel” my face like I am made of marble. Maybe I just wish that I had higher cheek bones, maybe that’s it. I love all of Tarte’s products that I have tried and this is no different. It is a mix of powder and crème shades and it great. Like the rest of Tarte’s clay based products it smells amazing! I like the more natural scent then a chemical scent that some companies end up having when they try to make things smell good. (Too Faced can pull that off too, their peach scented things actually smell like peach.)

Urban Decay- Naked Skin Shapeshifter in Light-Medium Shift

I can say so much about this palette I got it in March, check the haul post. I really like that it is half crème and half powder, it comes in a nice slim package, and it has a mirror on both sides, like a mirror sandwich. I haven’t used this one as much as I should but I love the Naked Skin line from Urban Decay, it is the only concealer that I use and I love that too.

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The Highlighters:

Becca- Shimmer Skin Perfector in Opal

This was a sample that I also got in March because it was an email blast and I love those for samples because sometimes you don’t want to buy a full sized product because you don’t know if you are going to like it. I love this one it is a great highlight when I am going for a subtler highlight and that is most of the time. It’s a great shade and I have used it on multiple occasions when I want to shine just a little brighter.

Morphe- High Impact Highlighter in Extra

I got this in August, again you can read about it more in my August Beauty Haul post. I love the color and Morphe to me always has really good stuff at a really fair price point. It has a high end feel and effect without the high end price tag and that is something for me that is really important. I love my higher end brands don’t get me wrong but if I can find a great product for under $10 that is a huge thing. I need to use it more, that’s the bottom line.

Urban Decay-After Glow Highlighter Palette

This was my first highlight palette and is my go to for a lot of things, like one of the products that is ever present in my makeup bag. I love having four shades to play with where the colors are rather unique and can be used for various looks and layer amazingly. Urban Decay seems to never disappoint (at least for me) with their products and packaging and this palette is just another example of that.

Anastasia Beverly Hills- Aurora Glow Kit

Last one! This palette has some really unique colors but I haven’t really gotten to play with it much because I got it in July and I haven’t been wearing like any makeup since then. I have swatched all of the colors and they are a little dramatic and sometimes you need to switch things up and have a more dramatic look. Again Anastasia tends to be the brand that is one of my go to brands when it comes to more daring things.

Well there it is, the round up. I have linked what feels like half of my blog posts into this post because I feel like that is what a round up is for in a way. These views are all my own. I hope you guys all enjoyed the post since I took like a week hiatus to write it.

What are some off your favorite bronzers, blushes, highlighters, and contour items? Let me know in the comments below, is there anything that I should try or should avoid?

-MJ

August Beauty Haul

September 13, 2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

How is it the end of August y’all, when the heck did that happen? I swear it was just January like a week and half ago, this year is just flying by and I am not sure how I feel about it.

I feel like this is one of my favorite posts to write, I would love to make more videos on things like this. (and I hope by the time you guys are reading this I have actually restarted my YouTube channel as it has been on hiatus since May and I am ready to actually get back in front of the camera. It’s looking more like September now but you can go and watch all of my old videos on WaitIt’sMJ in the link here.) That however is not what this post is about. No, no it’s about what I bought when it came to beauty this month that I probably didn’t need. Okay some of it I actually needed but most of it was “oh, I love that, I need it.” I get need and want confused sometimes in my brain, I need to work on that. I would say my voice of reason could help me avoid this but normally she is the one going, “Girl those colors are just slightly different from all of the other palettes you have, you should get it.” And then I walk out of Ulta with a bag that I didn’t walk in intending on purchasing. Seriously I went into Ulta for a Morphe fan brush a few months ago and I walked out with foundation, (which in truth I needed) two lipsticks, and another eyeshadow palette. You can refer to my March Beauty Haul for those items. It’s like passing out and waking up in an Ulta with a bag full of items that you don’t remember picking up. I need someone to go with me every time I walk into that store and keep me on task because I clearly should not be trusted to walk into that store by myself. Sephora, yea because some of those brands are amazing but when you see a single highlighter for $60 or so you kind of put things in perspective that you can find a cheaper dupe for that and not spend $60 on one highlighter.

Rant over and now to the products:

I have found myself walking into some very random stores in the last few months and one was TJ Maxx, I don’t think I have actually ever been in one even though Marshall’s and Home Goods are places that I frequently frequent. (Yes, that is just as ridiculous to read as it was to write.) My Marshall’s back in Indiana never had designer makeup. (want to see what I found there last month, click here.) I walked into TJ Maxx looking for a smaller bag because I have a backpack and I would sometimes prefer not to carry it. I did not walk out with a purse, I walked out with a pair of tongs (which I did need), a pass port cover (it’s holo and I love it.), and two Kat Von D products.

Now one of these products I contemplated buying at Sephora a few months ago but my store at the time did not have the product but it was there at TJ Maxx and I was all for it. It was her Shade + Light eye palette in Sage. Now back in the day I had several eyeshadow quads, I have since graduated to palettes and most of my quads have gone into the trash because they were old but there are sometimes when I just want to do a simple look or just have a more compact and travel sized palette that I can still do a few looks with and this palette is much more of my 2005 emo/scene phase color palette and I was there for it when I picked it up. Now I have green eyes, I should have gotten this product in plum because it would have worked a little better with my eye color but I love the dark shade in this little palette.

Next Kat Von D product was her Studded Kiss Lipstick in the shade Coven, who knew I needed a lavender lipstick, Kat Von D did, she knew that out there somewhere would be someone who needed lavender lipstick and it was in this case me. Her packaging is to die for, I love the studded lipstick cover, again my 2005 emo self is quaking because it is amazing. The pigmentation is amazing and I cannot wait to find an occasion, or make an occasion to wear this lip color because your girl is excited for it.

Next up, so I have been watching a lot of beauty guru videos in the last few weeks because they have been providing me with so much joy. I love watching people who are passionate about things be able to do the things they are passionate about. Well one of the videos I was watching talked about lip scrub and I am one of those people who has done a sugar scrub about once in my life but would like to do it on a more regular basis. I went to Ulta and I bought the Tee Hut Sugar Lips Sugar Scrub and first of all, it’s amazing. It’s minty and it left my lips really soft, I wanted one where you could just ingest the sugar where as some of the ones I was looking at were more for lip exfoliation so they had pieces of things in them that were not edible. 10/10 would recommend.

So this next item was something that has been on my wish list for a few months now but every time I walked into my Ulta it was out of stock and that was the Morphe High Impact Highlighter in the shade Extra. (That’s a great color choice name.) I love Morphe and I was so happy when Ulta began carrying the brand, though of course I wish they carried what the Morphe stores carried but at this time they do not. There are a few brands that they have online and in other stores but not in my store and it makes me rather sad. Back to the highlighter though, it is a champagne gold shimmer and it does pop which I am always looking for. Again I have been told by YouTube beauty gurus that my highlight should be blinding and I am still working on it.

I went and got more lipstick, don’t ask me why, I don’t have many non-NYX lipsticks so getting another Kat Von D lipstick made me happy, this time it is in the shade Homegirl and it is a beautiful berry color and I am a huge fan of it because it is going to be a nice autumnal shade to add to my collection as we creep closer and closer to those fall months. Who else is excited for leaves changing and pumpkin everything? Because I for sure am and have been since last fall.

Remember how I said maybe I would go back and buy the Plum shade in the Kat Von D Shade + Light palette, well when I went back to TJ Maxx it was gone. I was in Marshall’s later in the month and I was wandering around and I saw it and I snatched it right up because I had thought about it for almost three weeks. I was excited to see it on the shelf though and I was happy with the colors and again, I love eyeshadow quads because those were where I started when I was beginning to wear and purchase makeup. I feel like this shade will make my eyes pop and I am excited because for a long time all I wore was shades of purple and this is just a throwback to my original style in a way.

This will probably be my last item of the month and it was an item that I was not expecting to purchase. Urban Decay put on their Instagram that they were discontinuing the original Naked palette and I have been coveting the whole Naked palette line for years now. I got the Naked Smoky and Naked 3 palettes for my birthday a few years ago and so when Urban Decay posted that the palette would be half off while supplies lasted I jumped at it, it’s normally a $54 palette and granted I would spend that much on it because I have been a fan of Urban Decay since I started wearing makeup. I think my original powder foundation was Urban Decay so I have been loving them for a long time now. I actually had to Google Image what it was called and after scrolling for a few minutes I found it, it was the Surreal Skin Mineral Foundation and I think I had it in the lightest shade they made. Memories, y’all, memories, but back to the present and this palette. This palette was always kind of a game changer in the makeup world and that view is strengthened because of how people have been reacting since the announcement, they even held a funeral for it and that is so extra, I love it. When I was buying mine at Ulta one of the girls who works there said that this palette was her first palette and I think a lot of people shared that sentiment over all. This is not my first palette but it will go down as one of my favorites. The packaging is something that I have always loved from Urban Decay, this palette feels like a velvet on the outside and the colors like the rest of Urban Decay’s collections are amazing. The original Naked palette is something that I am going to love playing with in the coming months as we move into autumn.

Did you get any new products in August?

-MJ

5 More Eyeshadow Palette Favorites

August 14, 2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

So I did a post like this a few months ago in regard to my top 5 favorite or go to eye shadow palettes. I feel like I could do five or six of these posts to actually get through my palette collection. I need to stop buying palettes but let’s be honest they come out with so many a year that are amazing that I want all of them.

I tend to roll through three or four eyeshadow palettes at a time where I use those palettes over and over again until I get tired of them and move on to another palette, I do go back to palettes do not get me wrong but like I had my original Top 5 I have 5 more to show you today.

Like last time I am going to talk about each palette individually.

Tarte-Tartelette Toasted

Okay this one has been one of my favorites since it came out last year. I have used it a lot since then. I think Tarte is one of my favorite brands for eyeshadow I love their formula and their eyeshadow smells great. That’s not normally something you think about when it comes to eyeshadow, smell. It has a pretty even distribution of shimmer and matte shades all in warm tones that are perfect for the fall. I think this was my go to palette last fall in my YouTube videos and whenever I needed to wear makeup because it is small and compact enough to carry around unlike some of my larger palettes. This is the only tartelette palette that I own but I have the tartist pro (that was in my top 5 post), their magic star palette that came out around Christmas, and the Be a Mermaid & Make Waves palette.

Too Faced- La Petite Maison

Normally the time of your that I buy Too Faced is the holiday’s I got this palette a few years ago. I love the formula for Too Faced, their Sweet Peach palette is one of my absolute go to’s when it comes to a lot of looks. I use this one usually around the holidays or during the winter because it has some beautiful colors in it and the packaging it came in was amazing, I finally got rid of it about four months before I moved from Indiana. I love Too Faced packaging especially around the holidays. They never disappoint on the color pay off or the pigmentation of the color.

Lorac- Pro 3

Lorac is a relatively new brand in my makeup bag or even in my collection, I think my first palette that I got from that brand was the California Dreaming palette and I have not looked back since. The only problem I have with this one is the color Medallion in my palette is pressed too loose and it comes out in chunks and flakes instead of coming off nicely on the brush and nicely on the eye but that is the only color that I have encountered that was not pressed all that well but it is one of my favorite colors in the palette so that makes me a little sad. I love Lorac’s formula because it goes on well and blends well and all of the colors in this palette are a nice neutral so it goes with all looks and can be used year round.

Urban Decay X Kristen Leanne- Kaleidoscope Dream

This is probably the most daring palette in my collection and I am not mad about it. This palette is so colorful and so pigmented, there is even and iridescent shade in it that is a combo of two colors, I have worn it sparingly on my eyes and it is beautiful. The colors are so out there and amazing to say the least, I swatched these and my arm looked like a rainbow. I cannot speak more highly of this palette, again Urban Decay is one of my favorite brands. I think my first good foundation was an Urban Decay powder foundation in probably 2007 so this brand has been in my makeup bag for quite some time now and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I love to see brands do collaborations with people and this is no exception.

Morphe – 35 W

Morphe is a great brand, their packaging is simple but their products are amazing. I have been obsessed with Morphe for a little over a year now. I was so happy when I was able to get it at Ulta because I am one of those people who like to see the makeup before I buy it and also I don’t trust shipping when it comes to makeup especially with eyeshadow because I don’t want to open up my package and find half of the pans cracked. I love Morphe though and this palette is so multi-functional when it comes to colors and looks because there is such a variety of color throughout the palette.

I have come to the conclusion that I need to wear more makeup because I have so many amazing products that I don’t actually use enough because I don’t wear makeup frequently. I love to look at it, swatch it, and then let it sit in a drawer until I want to write a blog post with it. It’s not a good method because all of these products are just calling for me to use them. I feel like sometimes I am limited by my skills when it comes to makeup but then again I remember that I actually need to do my makeup to get any better, it’s such a paradox. Or getting new palettes and having to play tetris to get them all in the drawer, I don’t have a lot of makeup storage space at the moment (I am working on it) but I keep adding to the collection and I need to stop until I have the space to actually put things in.

What are some of your favorite eyeshadow palettes or single shadows?

-MJ

Wait It's MJ

Tag: Urban Decay

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