Bare Mineral Brushes

I want to do a review on all the Bare Minerals brushes I own so here it is! I think Bare Minerals is a great brand, I love their mineral foundation and every product I’ve tried has never disappointed me! These are a couple of brushes I love and use all the time.

Handy Buki Brush – This is my go-to brush for applying my mineral foundation. I’ve had this brush for a long time and it is still in really good condition, no shedding at all. They have this technique to applying their foundation where you swirl your brush into the foundation, tap off excess and buff onto your face. I like this a lot because it really makes you makeup look natural and flawless at the same time. And you build on it if you need more coverage.  Made of goat hair.

Strawberry Shortcake

On Wednesday’s we wear pink! This is Essie’s Strawberry Shortcake, which is a medium pink creme with frost. A very cute and girly color! I’m not too crazy about it, for some reason it reminds me of a color a mother will only let her 5 year old daughter wear haha! I probably got this feeling because of the name too. I always go to the Essie display at my local CVS or Target and stare at it until something pops out at me, Strawberry Shortcake was the winner this time. I used three coats here plus Seche Vite top coat…I feel like most Essie polishes I own are on the sheer side, streaky and always need at least three coats to even out. Does anyone else feel this way too? Maybe it’s because I like to apply thinner coats so they dry faster. Well that is all for today, have a happy Hump Day!

Thank You Clarisonic!

     Clarisonic was having a contest on Twitter and Facebook to win a Mia and I WON ONE!!! They've been having these contests daily where they ask a question, you respond with your answer and they randomly pick a winner with the right answer! The question that day was: What year was the spinning rotary brush invented? The answer was 1969. I got lucky and they chose me :D I had been wanting a Clarisonic SO bad but I couldn't afford to buy one. I'm pretty sure I've entered every single contest they have had in the past 4 months and I guess my persistence(with a little bit of luck) paid off! The Mia comes in 10 different colors, I choose turquoise and also had my named engraved on it. They shipped it to me really fast too, I got it about a week later after they announced I won!

EOTD: Showy

I really like this smokey blue look, and the metallic teal color is gorgeous! I use to prefer wearing blue eyeliner over black, I think for like two years straight I only wore blue eyeliner and sometimes even blue mascara haha! Anything teal, turquoise, or a pretty blue always catches my eye and I want it even though I probably already have something similar! This L'Oreal eyeshadow duo I used here is okay...the metallic teal color applies smoothly and has excellent color payoff. But the dark matte blue isn't as pigmented and a little chalky, although you can still work with it. BTW sorry if my eyebrows have been looking a little messy, I'm trying to grow them out and then have them shaped. I've always envied people with perfect beautiful brows, I hate the shape of mine so I finally decided to something about it!

Zoya Charla...and a Puppy!

Thank God It’s Friday!!! I have another Zoya polish to show you today! Charla is beautiful tropical blue sparkling metallic, it has an aqua base with teal/green shimmer. It’s a perfect “mermaid” color and I’ve gotten so many compliments while wearing it! The formula is fantastic…covers evenly, dries fast and opaque in two coats. When I took pictures outside I noticed you could see the tip of my nail, but you don’t really see it in person so no big deal. I'm on my 5th day wearing Charla and no chips at all, just some tip wear which Seche Vite top coat is known to cause! I had hard time capturing what did really looks like, one picture is outside in the sunlight and it doesn’t show how shimmery it is. The picture inside with natural lighting shows the shimmer a little better, but in person the teal greenish shimmer really stands out and is gorgeous, trust me!!! I’ve been wearing mostly Zoya lately because I just discovered how amazing they are and bought quite a few new polishes, but I will try and switch it up a little! Also I'm getting a little frustrated with my nails...I've kept my nails short my entire life because I played sports then after high school I didn't care to grow them out because I would get acrylics ever so often. After really getting into nail polish I've been trying to grow my nails longer, but they keep splitting and breaking :( I bought some Nail Magic from Sally's Beauty Supply and I thought it was helping but then two my nails broke again last night! Anybody have any recommendations for strengthening your nails? I would really appreciate some advice :)

EOTD: Chronic

I actually woke up before my alarm this morning so I had time to put some eye shadow on today! I usually just wear mascara, winged liner, foundation, blush and I’m out the door! I was in the mood for something simple but different and I rarely wear green eye shadow so here it is! I'll call it Chronic because I like that green stuff ;)

Silly Rabbit!

Hey everyone! I want to do a fun/non-beauty post today and introduce my pet rabbit Snickers! He is one and half years old and is a Mini Rex breed. One of my good friends Jackie gave him to me a year ago because she was moving across the country and couldn't take him with her. I gladly accepted Snickers because I had been looking to buy a bunny anyways! My parents never let me have any pets while growing up - well not any furry pets that is, we had fish, turtles and frogs haha. My boyfriend and I are dying to have a dog but it isn't realistic for us at the moment, so we are happy with Snickers as are little furry friend =) Snickers has super soft fur with a really interesting coat pattern. He lovesss Kit Kat bars, he knows the sound of the wrapper and comes running after me when he hears it haha! He can be a naughty boy sometimes and chew anything possible (like my shoes!) and dig in places he shouldn't! But he is so cute I can never stay mad at him and I love him to pieces! He has been really acting up lately though, like not pooping in his litterbox because he needs to be neutered. This is normal behavior for unneutered rabbits because want to be dominant and spread their "scent" everywhere. Unfortunately I can't afford to neuter him yet because I guess neutering a rabbit is a lot harder than cats or dogs and require a vet specifically trained for rabbits and it's like $250 =( But hopefully I will be able to do it soon, maybe I should start a Snickers fund :D Here's some pictures of my baby boy!

Birchbox: July!

This month’s Birchbox is the first designer collaboration, a box with some of fashion icon Cynthia Rowley’s favorite products! Cynthia’s collections include classic pieces as well as flirtatious silhouettes with fantastical prints. The box had a slip with a really awesome pattern that reflects Cynthia’s style. We had a little treat inside too, a Kind Almond & Apricot bar with no preservatives or hard-to-pronounce ingredients…which was very yummy!

Zoya Ali & Charisma!

I’ve got two amazing Zoya nail polishes to share with you today!

Zoya Ali is THE most perfect neon pink EVER! In my experience, neon polishes are sheer, streaky and hard to work with...but not this one! The formula is amazing…not sheer or streaky, easy to work with and perfectly opaque in just two coats! This blows all the other neon polishes I own out of the water! I ordered this knowing it was a bright pink (pictures never show a neon’s true color) and when I opened my package is I was so happy it was screaming pink at me haha! But I knew I had to put it to the swatch test before I feel in love, and Ali passed with flying colors! Just wait for pictures of it under a black light, it glows like crazy! Zoya is now my favorite nail polish brand hands down. Their polishes are free of toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, camphor and vegan friendly! Can’t get better than that! The swatch below does not capture how it really looks in person, it's way more fluorescent!

Le Métier de Beauté Kaleidoscope Penelope & more!

I won the Le Métier de Beauté Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Penelope from Beautylish! The contest was back in April and I received my goodies at the end of May so this is a very overdue review! To my pleasant surprise my package also came with a Sheer Illumination Highlighter and Brightener and Automatic Slim Eyeliner in Night Sky. Le Métier de Beauté is a luxury brand that I could never afford so I am extremely grateful I won!

Go Blonder!

 I decided to try out John Frieda's Go Blonder Controlled Lightening Spray on my roots. My roots were starting to really stand out and that’s usually when I decide to dye my hair but I wanted to wait a little longer between dyes. I was hoping this would lighten my hair enough so that maybe I wouldn’t even have to dye my hair, but those were REALLY high hopes haha! I got it at CVS for $9.99.

Top 10 Award: Skin Care Edition!

I was tagged by Life with Lis to share my Top 10 skin care products! Thanks so much! I know Beauty By Krystal started the Skin Care Edition of the Top 10 Awards, which I think is a GREAT idea because like she said…just because these products work for me doesn’t mean they will work well for you! So it’s nice to see what everybody uses and maybe you’ll learn about a new product that could possibly benefit you!

Red, White & Blue!

Here's a quick 4th of July makeup look! I was bored at home after the parade/activities at the park and waiting to watch the fire works. My family has this awesome spot were we watch the fireworks every year, we are literally right under them and it looks like you're seeing them in 3D. We're are SO close that ashes fall on us haha! Anyways so I decided to play with some makeup...obviously the theme was red, white and blue!

4th of July Manicure!

Happy 4th of July weekend! The sun is blazing hot here in San Diego, and I'm trying to keep cool inside! Here's a really cute and simple manicure perfect for the 4th of July. It's really easy and I'm no pro at nail art, so if I can do it, you can do it too! Polishes I used are: Nail Magic for the base coat, Zoya Kristi, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Blazing Blue, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, Sally Hansen nail art pen in white and Seche Vite for top coat...

Essie's Disappearing Trick Review

Hello! So today I will be reviewing Essie's disappearing trick conditioning cuticle remover, which is suppose to eliminate excess cuticles in seconds. It contains a softening cuticle removing agent, 10 natural conditioning oils and moisturizing Vitamin E. This is my first time using a cuticle remover, before I use to just attack my cuticles with whatever tool, not even soaking them. And I would get really bad hangnails, so I left them alone for a while. Finally I decided to grab this and try it out. I really like the applicator tip, it has a tiny slit and it is easy to control how much product you squeeze out. You can also use the tip to massage your nail bed, so no mess at all! So, does this really make your cuticles "disappear"???