2013 Christmas Tag!

Hey all! I was in the mood to do a tag today, and I haven't done one in a really long time, so I thought that I would just hop on google and look for a fun one. Then I found the 2013 Christmas Tag, and I thought that that would be a festive one to post right after Thanksgiving so here we go!

1.  Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?

I personally love the look of real trees, so that's definitely what I'm partial to, but in my house we've only used a small synthetic one.  I kind of hate the smell of evergreen trees, though.  I still really wish that we used one.

2.  You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?

I don't actually like coffee, but I still buy fun coffee drinks at Starbucks and the local coffee shop anyway. I try to get different things every time, I go, though.

3.  Whats your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?

I like have a few things that I like. I'm probably most partial to have red and gold, but silver and midnight blue are gorgeous. I just love sparkly things, too. We always go with our old things that we've collected throughout the years, so we always do random things.

4.  Giving or receiving?

I don't have any money, so I can't really get extravagant gifts, but I love putting them together. Getting the wrapping paper, doing the card, making the packaging special, because my mom always treats it like a chore. I always give my parents presents and write that they're from Santa.  It's fun. Of course, I love getting things, but you just feel so much more festive when you're making presents.

5.  To mince pie or not to?

My dad loves mince meat pie, but I've never layed a finger on it. In all honesty, I don't really like pie...I guess I just like really desert-y pies like chocolate. Mmm, chocolate.

6.  What's your traditional sunday lunch?

Er, we don't have one. My family actually isn't Christian, so we don't do anything like that. Not to say that we just do Christmas for the gifts, because my mom was raised Christian, but it's more just a family thing for the day than making anything out of Sunday.

7.  Christmas day fashion

I always wear my pajamas at home, but then when all the family gets together, I wear something nice but with all Christmas colors.

8.  What's your favourite Christmas song?

Well, I'm in choir, and we have a long Christmas set that we sing a million times throughout the year and our collective favorite song is White Christmas.  I really like that one. Other than that, I don't really know. Of course, I love the emotional ones like Christmas Shoes and Santa Bring my Soldier Home. (don't actually know if that's the real name, but I love that one.)

9.  What's your favourite Christmas film?

I actually haven't watched hardly any Christmas films! I don't have one! Tell me your favorite one and I'll watch it.

10.  Open presents before or after lunch?

Before. I'm the one that carries the holiday tradition in my house, so I wake up early and make breakfast for everyone and after breakfast we open all the presents.  Then we go to someone's house and all the family exchanges the last of the gifts. 

 

I tag everyone, since I wasn't officially tagged anyway...Enjoy and get festive! 

Face Up To It: Revlon Age Defying Foundation

I don't know about you, but my most important makeup items are my face products. I have pretty bad skin with a lot of acne scarring and discoloration so it's important to me that I cover it up.  My skin is also really oily, so I go through about a powder a month. Today, though, we're going to talk about Revlon's Age Defying liquid foundation.

Color is 20 Soft Beige

 I was trying to get a picture where you can see the shimmer 

in this foundation, and this was the best I could get.

 I have to admit, this foundation is very different from all the ones that I have used in the past. First of all, let's talk about the packaging. It has a pump that I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of, but you can sort of see it through the cap in the picture. This pump is very easy to control, right up until the very end where you have to open up the foundation to get the last little bit out of. I haven't always heard the best things about pumps, so this was a nice surprise. And it's easy to unscrew and dip into when it's time to finish it up.

I can't vouch for it's age defying qualities, because I'm young, but I didn't notice it having any particular benefit for my skin or scarring.  I can see it being good for people with drier skin, though, because of the hydrating qualities I noticed. It also has SPF 20!

The biggest problem I can see people having with this foundation is it's consistency. This is the thickest foundation I have ever touched. Now, I personally don't mind being able to feel my foundation on my face, but I know that's a big issue for other people. I suppose that it must have some hydrating factor in it, since it's for older skin, so that must be why.  Basically, don't buy this foundation if you hate really thick ones. However, because of this, it has pretty fantastic coverage.  I still have to use concealer, but not nearly as much with other foundations.

Let's talk about the finish now.  This is not the shiniest foundation I've ever used by any means, but it definitely needs to be set. That being said, this obviously takes an extraordinary amount of powder to set.  I was not a big fan of that. If you don't use a lot of powder, this foundation is definitely very tacky and feels even heavier. As I tried to show in the picture of the foundation on the tissue, this foundation has an odd shimmer to it. When I first noticed it, I thought that it was my blush, but then I remembered that my blush is matte.  So, clearly it's not noticeable unless you are looking pretty closely, but it's definitely there.  

I like this foundation. It retails for about $12 I believe, but it definitely goes on sales.  I think you'll like this foundation if you're just looking for something with a ton of coverage and you perhaps have a little bit drier skin. If you hate being able to feel foundation thickly on your face, stay away.

Do you like foundations with pumps? I found myself actually being swayed to say yes!

Rainbow Rave

A new look! Bright colors!

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Nyx Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencil: Milk

Inglot Square Eyeshadow 371 Matte

Inglot Square Eyeshadow 60 AMC 

BH Cosmetics 88 Matte Palette

Elf liquid eyeliner Black(don't recommend)

NYC High Definition Volume Mascara

MAC Studio Fix powder

Okay, not my most interesting look, but I wore this to a neon dance over the summer. It was simple and it looks great on brown eyes.  I really wished that I had those eye shadows that glow under black-light by Sleek.  That would have creeped people out, though. Those or Sugarpill eye shadows would have been fantastic.

I hope that you enjoyed this look anyway, despite its simplicity. See you next time!

Hoola Bronzer

 Review time! One of the most renowned bronzers of all time. 

I love the packaging of Benefit powders.

 Okay, let's talk about this brush. Usually, brushes that come with powders are crap. They are a bad size, shape, and material. This brush, on the other hand, is great. The shape is fantastic for fitting right underneath the cheekbones. It's nice and dense and picks up powder well. Love.

Look at that color. Not too muddy, not too red. I've heard that people are supposed to choose a bronzer that has the undertone that you naturally tan to, and my undertone is just brown. Some people tan redder and some people tan yellower. This is perfect for brown.

 

This is the color. It's nice and powdery so that it blends well, but not so much so that it just brushes right off.  Perfect.

I cannot say enough good things about this powder.  It really is worth the $28 (or whatever it is). The color is fantastic, the texture is fantastic, the brush is fantastic. The packaging is the slightest bit shock resistant, so if you drop the box the powder doesn't break. At least it hasn't for me. The one things is that the mirror could be larger.  Buy this now!

Quick Tip: Not Wasting Powders

Hey, all! I'm back with a quick tip for you on how to use the last little bit of a powder.  Ever find yourself trying to get all the bang for your buck that you can by shoving your face brush into the corners of the pan just to get only the tiniest bit of powder on your brush.  It ends up taking forever to put on your face.  This is what I've been doing for a while that really helps get everything out of my powder that I can.

My most recent powder. It was just alright; I'll probably review it eventually.

I smoosh the end of my brush around the ring of the powder to break it up.

I put it into a clean pan that I've been using for this purpose for a while.

Empty pan!

I dump all these old powders together and then you shake them up to create a fine powder that you use like a loose powder.

Now, this works for me, but it won't be favorable for everyone.  It's just a lot quicker to get a good amount of powder on your brush this way than rather than in a tiny ring. Tell me if this works for you!

Under the Sea: A Tutorial

And now I'm back with a look! Albeit a look I posted on my youtube channel over a year and a half ago, but better late than never!

And again, my bad camera face rears its ugly head. Awesome.

Eyes:

·         Too Faced Shadow Insurance

·         Urban Decay cream eyeshadow in Moonshine

·         MAC Gorgeous Gold

·         Wet n Wild Blue Had me at Hello (all colors except for grey)

·         Merle Norman Dusty Rose 

       

Lips:

·         Revlon Candy Pink Lipstick

·         NYX lipgloss
 

So this is a look that I did January 2012 that featured the Wet 'n Wild Blue Had Me at Hello palette.  I really liked this look and actually wore it a couple times. It never ceases to amaze me how good blue looks on brown eyes. Oh, I guess I'll link the video here.  Bare in mind, this video had awful lighting. Terrible. It kept turning orange!  Ah well, it still wasn't too bad...hopefully.

Anyway, tell me if you're excited to see another look from me, because I have a couple pictures of one that I might post.  I probably will even when this post gets not comments on it.  Well, I'm happy to be blogging again, either way! Oh, and I'm setting this post to post on the first day of school for me. Wish me luck with Senior Year!