MAC Skin Fisnish Natural dupe

Hello Beautifuls!!

I was so happy when I found a foundation that matched my skin perfectly (MAC Studio Sculpt NC50) and the matching powder! The Mac Studio Sculpt foundation I use cost about $30 on its own. The Skin Finish Natural powder is about $25. I thought paying $30 for a foundation was a stretch (but I couldn’t pass it up) so I knew I definately couldn’t afford to buy the $25 powder. I told myself I would come back because I couldn’t see myself spending $55 dollars at the MAC counter for two items. I was in Wal-mart one day looking around the in the cosmetic ailse (like I always do) and came across some loose finishing powder in shades similar to MAC’s finishing powder, Light, Medium, Dark, and Deep. The lady at MAC used Deep on my skin so thats the one I got from Walmart. The brand is called Black Opal and its their Deluxe Finishing Powder the only difference between the two is that the MAC is pressed powder and the Black Opal is loose powder but it works the same. It cost about (sorry for not being exact) $8, I can’t remember but I love it and it matches well with my MAC foundation. I’m super excited I don’t have to pay $25 for the MAC powder.

Product; Black Opal Deluxe Finishing Powder in Deep

Where I got it; Walmart

Cost; about $8?

Overall; I love this powder, it is a very good alternative to the MAC Skin Finish Powder for a very good price. If you are looking for a good finishing powder, check out Black Opal!!

Kissez

Tip Tuesdays!! Lemon Juice

Hello Beautifuls!!

A lemon a day keeps the toxins away.. This is true, lemons are very beneficial to looking good and being healthy. They contain Vitamin C (help treat infections) and help alkalize your body. Lemon water flushes out the toxins in your body and allows your skin to feel and look healthy. Hot lemon water can help with many digestive problems such as nausea, heartburn, constipation, and parasites (eww). Lemon juice is also great at clarifying to remove product build up in your hair!!!! NO MORE BUYING CLARIFYING SHAMPOO =]

These are just a few ways lemons can be used for a healthier body, check out http://www.lookgreat-loseweight-savemoney.com/lemon-water.html for more info about lemons..

Kissez

Eyes Wide Open!!

Hello Beautifuls!

First off let me wish a happy birthday to my boyfriend,  HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY DOMINIC!!

I know most of you are familiar with the white eyeliner trick. Well if not, here it is; say you didn’t get enough sleep and your eyes are looking puffy and red and just tired, use a white eyeliner pencil on your water-line to make the eyes appear open and bright. For those who have darker skin, a white eyeliner may be to noticeable so then you want to use a flesh color eye pencil. Flesh colored eye pencil are very hard to find. I know Stila has one called Topaz but it’s $17 for one eye pencil!! If you feel that $17 for an eye pencil is too high, I’ve got good news!! I was in Forever 21 the other day and I found a flesh-colored Jumbo eye pencil for only $2.80!!! This is my first time buying make-up from their and I have to say I’m impressed. Their cosmetics line is called  Love & Beauty. I also bought some glitter liquid eyeliner. I haven’t tried the liquid eyeliner on my eyes but I did put a strip of it on my hand and it stayed there the whole day. The flesh-colored eye pencil is called Highlight #1 and the glitter liquid eyeliner is called Blue liquid liner (also under $3). I like these two products very much so I suggest you guys to check out Forever 21’s cosmetics line Love & Beauty.

Product; Highlight #1 Eye pencil/Crayon, Blue Glitter liquid liner

Where I got it; Forever 21

Cost; each was under $3

Overall; I think it’s worth the couple dollars you spend, the flesh-colored pencil can be used not only on the water-line but you can use it as a base or even a highlight. The glitter eye liner is great for a simple but party look. Just use the glitter liner with some mascara and you’ll be good to go!

Kissez!

NYX for $1!!!!

Hello Beautifuls!

I was surfing the net for new products and I stumbled across www.nyxcosmetics.com and discover an amazing sale they have going on NOW. They have a crap load of products (face, eyes, lips, tools) for only $1 each. This sale started Jan. 15 2010 and ends Jan. 25 2010 so go and check it out A.S.A.P!!

I love NYX products because it is very cheap but high in quality. One of my favorite products, you’ve probably heard about them, are the Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencils. They are very creamy and extremely easy to blend. They come in a nice variety of colors. I mainly use them for bases and on my water-line. Currently I have Black Bean, which is just a black color and Milk, which is a pure white color. I purchased mines from a beauty supply store for about $2.99 each. I’ve heard people say you can get them at Drugstores but I’ve yet to find it at any Drugstores in my area. Usually these Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencils are $3.50 each on their website so this is a really good deal.

9 MAC pigments for under $20!

Hello Beautifuls!

First let me start by saying Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!! Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication to making this country a better place to live for all races. Your dream will live on forever.. On to the reason I’m posting this blog, I heard a lot of make-up guru’s talking about MAC pigments and its many uses. If you are unfamiliar with pigments, they are highly concentrated loose color powders with a lot of pigment (meaning it’s packed with color and you only need a little bit for a very vibrate look that POPS). They come in matte and shimmer finishes. Many companies have pigments such as L’Oreal Paris HiP line have pigments, Coastal Scents has Mica pigments and Urban Decay has Loose Pigment eyeshadow just to name a few. These pigments range in price from about $12-$20. Not only can you use them for eyeshadow but if you mix them with lip gloss you can use it as lipcolor, or mix it with different hair products (pomade) to give color to your hair, mix it with your moisturizer to give your face an extra glow or you can even press them yourself instead of keeping them as a loose powder. MAC pigments come in a 4.5g jar for $19.50. People who buy these jars say they last forever, however, if you don’t want to spend that much on eyeshadow or you feel you don’t need that much I have discovered MAC pigments!!! There are  few sites that sell these samples but all of them are not real MAC pigments. Most of the sites sell them in a small jar with about 1/4 tsp of pigment inside. The price range from $1.75 to $1.90 for one sample. For those who aren’t sure, 1/4 tsp of pigment equals about 30 uses (very good for under two dollars). I ordered mines from http://www.thebeautysampler.com. I ordered 9 all together and my total was about $16. On that site some of the samples are $1.75 and some are $1.90.

For a video on how to use pigments check out Petrilude’s video How To Use Pigments at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcc91B7s5UE

Product; MAC Pigment Samples

Where I got them; http://www.thebeautysampler.com

Cost; $1.75 to $1.90 for 1/4 tsp

Shipping; took about two weeks due to the holiday. Arrive through U.S. Postal Office, came in a bubble wrap filled envelope. They come in a little jar with a screw on cap and they each have labels on the bottom.

Overall; I was very satisfied with the product. THEY ARE NOT FAKE! Every one of my jars had a good amount of pigment inside and the colors look amazing!! So go check out MAC pigment samples, another website you can get them from is http://shopcraze.com/PageShop.aspx?c=10101 Note: Each site has a different variety of colors to choose from so check out as many sites possible!!

Below are the pigments and a few swatches w/o primer…

in order from Left to Right:

Naval Blue, Grape, Violet

Kelly Green, Teal, Night Light

Pinked Mauve, Heritage Rouge, Chocolate Brown

Swatches; in order from left to right

Chocolate Brown, Kelly Green, Naval Blue, Violet, Teal

 

 

88 Eyeshadows for under $20!

Hello beautifuls!

I know everyone has talked about finished eyeshadow palettes comparable to MAC but way cheaper in cost. Well I finally got mines in the mail about two weeks ago! I’m so excited. I ordered mines from http://www.coastalscents.com. I love the CS because not only do they have eyeshadow palettes, but they have blush and contour palettes, concealer, mineral makeup, foundation, COSMETIC BRUSHES, etc. all at a GREAT price. Along with my 88 palette I ordered two brushes… Now to the review:

PRODUCT; 88 Ultra Shimmer E/S palette, Italian Badger Blender Brush, Italian Badger Pencil Brush

WHERE I GOT IT; http://www.coastalscents.com

COST; E/S palette= 17.95, Blender Brush=2.65, Pencil Brush=2.96, plus shipping 7.25

total= $30.81

Shipping; I ordered mines Christmas Day and I had it by New Year’s Eve so it took about a week. Shipping is $7.25 in the U.S. It was packaged very securely in bubble wrap, foam sheets, and boxes. None of the E/S’s were chipped

My Opinion; I ordered the Ultra-Shimmer palette because I have darker skin and I thought it would show up better but I when I used it for the first time I realized it is TRULY ULTRA shimmer. The colors are very pretty and pigmented but a little too shimmery for daytime wear. Another thing I noticed is that some of the colors look differently on your skin than just looking at it in the palette. The two Italian brushes I ordered are great! They are very soft and they don’t shed.

Overall; I would highly recommend you to check out the http://www.coastalscents.com website and order from them because I was impressed, my next purchase will probably be 88 Matte Palette. I ordered an 88 Neutral Palette from Ebay a week ago so I’ll be doing a review on that soon! The swatches I did on my arm is w/o primer.

I hope this was helpful to you =]

Kissez

Happy Thursday?

I’m in class and I wrote a whole paragraph on my make-up palette I got in the mail but somehow it didn’t save and I don’t have time to write it again so I’ll do it later but anyways.. It’s been all over the news and in newspapers. I’m talking about the horrific earthquake in Haiti. I feel so bad for those people and their land, it’s horrible that had to happen. I normally don’t donate money through television ads because I know a lot of the times it is not legit, but I am going to give money to the relief of these people through the organization CARE. You can simply go to their website www.care.org and donate money.. I urge EVERYONE to give SOMETHING because every bit helps and if you were in that situation you would want someone to help also.. So please keep the families of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers…

Kissez

hello beautiful people, welcome!

I’ve always wanted to start a blog with beauty tips and secrets, product reviews and just my own personal opinions and random thoughts. I didn’t know it would be this soon though. I’m in my computer class and it’s the first assignment so I figured this is a great time to start.. Bare with me because I’m new to this so I hope to have more goodies posted really soon!!! Kissez =]