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2/365 Days of Makeup IV

Press Sample I Bought It

By Sheila Arkee

This is truly one of my favorite combinations – a mix of gold, pinks, and chocolate brown. It’s surpisingly wearable round the clock!

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Face

Hourglass Primer No. 28

Make Up For Ever HD Liquid Foundation #153

NYX Concealer Stick in Glow

MAC Blot Powder

MAC Fleur Power Blush

MAC Refined Golden Bronzer

Eyes

Base: Prestige Primed & Ready

Inner Lid: MAC Expensive Pink

Outer Lid: BFTE Lava Momma

Outer Corner: Sugarpill Midori

Crease: MAC Shag

Outer Corner: MAC Embark

Browbone: Urban Decay Sin

Liner: Rimmel Soft Kohl in Black

Brows: NYX Auto Brow Pencil in Dark Brown

Mascara: L’Oreal Power Volume Coppa

Lips

MAC Stripdown Lip Liner

Maybelline Color Whisper in Pin-Up Peach

 

Does Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara Live Up To It’s High Tech Wand?

Press Sample

By Sheila Arkee

In my ongoing quest to find mascara perfection, I have to admit that I’ve  happened upon a few great ones lately. And then there are those that just don’t work for my particular set of eyelashes.

Generally speaking, newfangled plastic wands don’t do a thing for my lashes, but I’m always open to new experiences in the name of beauty blogging. That’s where Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara comes in.

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This mascara boasts an uniquely curved Triple Plump brush that’s designed to add volume and curl your lashes with the help of a protein-enriched formula.

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You’re supposed to navigate the wand in a certain way, however I run it through my lashes like any typical mascara – it definitely has a cool factor going for it, but what about the actual performance?

Here are my lashes with Sexy Curves ….

And to compare here are my lashes with a Rimmel mascara I really enjoy, Scandaleyes Lycra Flex.

The verdict? While I love the overall packaging and presentation of Rimmel’s Sexy Curves mascara, I think you can get more bang for your buck with another mascara. It’s just not the ideal mascara for me.

1/365 Days of Makeup IV: Purple Glittery Lips

Press Sample I Bought It

By Sheila Arkee

I have to confess that I don’t have the most experience with creating glitter-ful lips, but when long-time reader Jean made a request, I was totally up for the challenge.

This was going to be just  a practice round of glittery lips, but it turned out pretty darned great!

And by the way … welcome to year 4 of 365 Days of Makeup!!! Hooray! :)

When I started doing a 365, it was strictly pics of my eyeshadow and stayed that way for quite some time. Eventually it became nail polish photos, lip photos, cheek photos (kind of strange, what was I thinking?), and eventually became a mix of stand alone photos and full-faces. For this year, I plan to do mostly full-face breakdowns, so be prepared for a lot more of my mug!

To see what was happening in the past 365 projects, check out the Pinterest board with archival photos.

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Liner: MAC Plum Lip Liner

Lipgloss: Milani Haute Flash Lip in In A Flash

Glitter: Sweet Libertine Jem

A Brush For The Ages: Hourglass Foundation/Blush Brush No.2

Press Sample

By Sheila Arkee

I did not want to love this brush. Not at all. It costs $58. Nope, not me!

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But darn it all if it isn’t one of the best brushes I have ever had the pleasure of using in my entire makeup obsessed life. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the Hourglass Foundation/Blush Brush No. 2.

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Let me must say that my entire foundation application game has been entirely changed. I never want to stop using this brush, and in fact I want a backup, because it is just that terrific.

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While this is a full brush, it is a true cosmetics wonder because only the top part of the bristles work very lightly to buff foundation on to your skin.  It’s very interesting how this brush works, but it’s the best, non-streaky finish I’ve ever seen. Much more than my trusty duo fiber brush, I find this gives that highly praised “airbrush” effect to your skin and blends foundation perfectly.

The best part about this wonderful brush is that it’s cruelty-free and constructed with extremely soft, synthetic Taklon fibers. As a bonus, the brush is extremely easy to wash – while I typically use a bar of Dove soap on my brushes, I found that this one needs a liquid soap to get it squeaky clean.

The verdict? It’s love. Hourglass Foundation/Blush Brush No. 2 is a work of art and definitely worth the splurge. Hourglass is one of my favorite beauty brands, hands down. Besides the beautiful packaging, their products are high quality and all together luxurious. You can find my newest favorite foundation brush at Sephora.

Weekend Beauty Reads from the Beauty Blog Coalition

Swatching Sunday: Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Sparkling Black

Press Sample

By Sheila Arkee

This eyeliner is giving me LIFE! Seriously, I’m in love and utterly obsessed with this glitterful eyeliner which is just $4.49. Best deal ever. Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Eyeliners are definitely worth checking out!

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4 Cool Beauty Products I Found While Shopping My Stash

I Bought It

By Sheila Arkee

With over 16 years of makeup purchasing experience under my belt, I have definitely accumulated a serious makeup stash through the years. While I make a point to do a de-stash every couple of months and give away products to friends and family, there are a few products that have stayed along for the ride, and have surprisingly held up pretty well.  If properly stored, powder products can last forever and I keep my creamy products in cool, dark containers which keeps them from breaking down.

Taking a trip down makeup memory lane is one of my favorite pastimes.. It’s like taking a trip to my own personal makeup museum – here’s a peek at some cool products from my past that I recently re-discovered.

1. Nars Santorini and California Eyeshadows

Santorini is discontinued and needs my broken eyeshadow fix, fast! I remember purchasing this dark, shimmery purple when it was mentioned in either InStyle or Allure that it was used on Beyonce. I was such a sucker for anything published in InStyle and Allure back in the day!

California is a beautiful bronze that I’m definitely going to start wearing more often. I have no idea why it fell to the wayside for so long!

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2. Kevyn Aucoin Liquifuchsia/Hot Pink Cream Blush

I am a forever fan of Keyvn Aucoin and was so excited to buy this extremely pigmented cream blush several years ago. Liquifuchsia is a beautiful pink that blends in to look natural, but it’s not the easiest to blend and that’s why I this blush is still pretty much untouched!

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3. Kryolan Lashes

I purchased these several years ago, actually many years ago, when Jessica Simpson was still married to Nick Lachey. She had an Alice in Wonderland-themed birthday party and had really long side lashes as part of her look. I purchased these intending to create a similar look and just never got around to it – who knows what they’ll come in handy for at some point in time!

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4. MAC NC55 Loose Powder

By the time I ended my career as a retail artist with MAC, you had never seen someone so glad to leave which was a stark contrast to the way I felt when I started freelancing with the company several years before. I started freelancing at the Macy’s in Union Square, San Francisco about 11 years ago and I had the privilege of working with the greatest crew I could have hoped for. They took me under their wings, nurtured my artistry dreams, and were nice enough to give me display samples of discontinued products. One of such display samples was an unused container of NC55 loose powder.

While I’ve used this a few times on freelance jobs, it’s been languishing and I feel sad because it’s actually a fabulous matte bronzer. Many bronzers have an orange tone and to avoid that I always suggest using a powder that is several shades darker than your usual shade. In MAC’s terminology, NC foundations, concealers,and powders have a yellow undertone while NW’s have a pink undertone.

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That was a fun trip down memory lane – I found many other great products which will be making there way on Painted Ladies soon.

Have you come across any beauty products from your past recently?

 

Go Natural With Your Makeup This Summer (Featured)

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By Bella Franklin

Beauty expert Bella Franklin has some great Summer beauty tips!

Continue reading Go Natural With Your Makeup This Summer (Featured)

At A Mere $0.99 Is Sally Girl Sparkle Effect Loose Glitter Worth The Buck?

I Bought It

By Sheila Arkee

A few months ago I was on a mad, mad search for anything involving glitter. I felt the need to shimmer in ways I hadn’t for a while, and that led me directly to my local Sally’s Beauty Supply. There, right in the front along with all those other irresistible sample packs and doo dads, I found a plenteous supply of Sally Girl Sparkle Effect Loose Glitters priced at $0.99. What a steal!

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The colors I picked up are Blue Lagoon, Gleaming Green, and Midnight Blue.

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Blue Lagoon, Midnight Blue, and Gleaming Green.

I like that these are packaged with a sifter, making troublesome glitter spillage that much less likely to happen.

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To be completely honest, I am not entirely thrilled with the consistency of Blue Lagoon and Gleaming Green. They’re not horrible, but they are just not exactly what I was looking for. These glitters are more of a regular craft glitter, and I think at the end of the day I want something less chunky and easier to manipulate.

Here’s Blue Lagoon …

And Gleaming Green….

The only glitter of the trio that I truly fancy is Midnight Blue, a much finer glitter and definitely easier to work with.

The verdict? For a $1, Sally Girl Sparkle Effect Loose Glitters aren’t a huge drop in the bucket, but you might want to save your bucks if you’re looking for a more refined glitter that’s easy to apply. These would be better off used in your hair, sealed with hairspray, if you’re looking for a little extra gleam.