Christmas Makeup FOTD

So let's start this new year off by pretending it's still relevant to post Christmas makeup!
K? K.

You may have noticed a few changes here 'round the blog. It's a work in progress! I was messing with a few things and I have just been experimenting, really. But believe me I know for right now, it clashes. But I can't wait for it to all come together!

In addition to that I have changed the font in my watermark and have experimented with changing the watermark up in general. I know that's a subtle change that probably no one will notice but me. But, what do you think? Do you like the old one better? Should I leave the ".blogspot.com" at the end? Leave your thoughts in the comments, por favor!

This is a look I threw together Christmas morning and it's equal parts tacky and stereotypical.
On one hand, it's stereotypical because it has all the things you associate with holiday makeup- red lips, red or green eyeshadow, and gold. It's tacky because most people don't wear all of them at once.
But I do! Because I really don't waste time listening to conventional rules and I do what I want anyway. SO. I think it turned out not half bad!

I think what I'm most proud of in this look is the eyeliner. Somehow it turned out just right!

I took a mixture of Swag & Underground from the Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box and put it all over the lid. Then I took the red shade from the BH cosmetics 120 palette and blended it into the crease. I could have blended it more, for sure.

Then I lined my bottom line with the green shadow from the BH cosmetics 120 palette

As is my new thing, the colors I used are marked with a daisy!

Other products used in this look:
Jesse's girl waterproof liquid eyeliner
Urban Decay primer potion
Covergirl Lashblast Volume mascara
Covergirl 3 in 1 outlast foundation
Physicians Formula translucent powder
Elf eyebrow kit
NYX soft matte lip cream in Amsterdam

So I hope you all had a great holiday! Tell me all about it below!

Christmas Haul

Normally I wouldn't feel the urge to post what I got for Christmas. But I am doing so for a few reasons.
1- I have read on blogs recently people proclaiming to be 'so nosey' and wanting to know what others got for Christmas. So, why not oblige?
2- I left Christmas this year feeling overwhelmingly thankful for the people in my life, and how grateful I am for the gifts they kindly gave me. This year I got truly spoiled and I could not be more thankful!
3- A lot of my gifts were beauty related! So of course it's only natural to share them on my blog!!

First and foremost is the lovely gifts I got from my friend from work, Jessica from Leopurrd. She definitely spoiled me, as you can see! Here's a closer look:

Aside from the Seche Vite quick dry top coat that she knows I use, she got me these 2 lovely shades of OPI nail polish.
On the left is OPI DS Magic . Right when I saw the silver cap I knew this must be a special polish. I was right! The DS stands for Designer Series. So this is a lovely extra fancy polish. It's a shimmery sparkley blue that flashes a purple duochrome. I guess to me it's a true blurple, since it shifts!
On the right is OPI Underneath the Mistletoe, which is part of the Mariah Carey holiday 2013 polishes. It's a red jelly with silver glitter which is exciting because it's my first jelly polish!

In addition to the unique polishes, she gave me my first BH cosmetics! I got the 120 palette, the first edition. I love how thoughtful Jessica was- she got me and another friend of ours both the 120 palette. However she got me the first edition because it contained mostly bright colors and she knew that's what I liked; meanwhile she got our friend an edition that contained mostly neutrals because she knew that's what she liked! Truly thoughtful, I tell you!

Above is the top layer- soo manyyy cooolors!

And here is the 2nd row of colors. So many colors I don't know what to do with!

My favorite part about this palette is the size. I thought it was going to be the kinda palette that you leave at home (I often do my makeup on the go or at a friends house) but to my delight the size is perfect to throw in my makeup tote and bring along with me. It's not too big at all!

Not pictured that she also got me is the BH cosmetics flawless brow trio in medium. I didn't take a picture of this because I have used it far too much for it to be picture-pretty. I have to say that I like this trio better than the ELF one I was using before!

This amazing present was sent all the way from Colorado from my best friend! And how well does she know me!! First the 'big' gift is this lovely nail polish set from Sephora. In addition to the ones pictured is a black, clear, a multicolored glitter polish, and a set of star shaped studs. These are all great staple colors to have in your collection so of course I'm thankful for them.
However, the main star of this present is the Hocus Pocus lanyard! I can't wait to put my work badge on it and wear it every day. This just truly goes to show how well my bestie knows me, since it's in my top 5 favorite movies of all time! We also watched it one year in the middle of July just because! So this movie has memories for us, as well. I thought it was a very sweet and thoughtful gift to include, when the polishes would have been more than enough!

Now every year my mom usually buys me a fragrance for Christmas or my birthday. This is usually an interesting experience because my mom has no sense of smell! However somehow she has usually managed to be spot on with my taste- I don't know how she does it! Well, this year she cheated! Sort of. I truly wasn't expecting this present because my mom got me a big gift this year- pictured below.

Just before Christmas I half-mentioned that I should have asked her for a perfume this year, since I don't currently have one. She asked what I would have wanted and I didn't tell her because I felt that she already spent too much on me. Yet on Christmas here I opened a full size bottle of Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck! Whaaa? How did she know?! Apparently at one point I mentioned in a store that I loved it while I tested it. I don't even remember this and yet here it was under my Christmas tree! Truly taken aback and pleasantly surprised by this gift. I love this scent!

Now I'm saving the biggest & best for last so I'm going to shove these non-beauty items in here awkwardly.

If you know me then you know that my favorite animal is an Orca whale. I'm obsessed. So my boyfriend adopted one in my name! It's Princess Angeline from the J pod near San Juan islands in Washington. I have a friend that lives there and works for the whale watching tours so I have lusted after going there for years now. So he adopted me this whale because it's the next best thing :P

Princess Angeline was picked especially for me because for one, she's a princess, and I am also a princess. For two, her pod number is J-17 and my birthday is June 17th. And lastly, she was one of the whales in the Free Willy movies! I love those movies because they are what got me interested in Orcas when I was just 5 years old.

My boyfriend's family can always be counted on for media related gifts. They are religious black friday shoppers and always are sure to get media at a ridiculously good price!
This year they got me Pretty Little Liars seasons 1 &3, Season 3 of Justified (PLL and Justified are my 2 favorite shows! Next to Parks & Recreation). They also got me Eminem's Marshall Mathers 2 LP and (not pictured) Miley Cyrus's Bangerz, which is currently in the car player!

The big gift I mentioned my mom got me was this Nikon Coolpix S3500 point & shoot. I'm going on a cruise at the end of January and really wanted a point & shoot to take along so that I wouldn't have to drag my DSLR everywhere, and also because I don't feel comfortable taking it off the ship. So I am so excited to have a point and shoot camera again! Woo! Thanks momma.

Now for the grand finale!

First and foremost is this set of holiday MAC brushes that I got from my boyfriend. To be fair I specifically asked for these. I was going to buy them for myself but they sold out online. So naturally, I sent my boyfriend on a quest to find them. And he did! He got the last one apparently!

These are my first MAC brushes!!! I only own Elf brushes other than this, so this is a big deal!
Speaking of deal, this was a great one! I couldn't ever bring myself to buy any MAC brushes because the price is quite steep. However with this limited edition Holiday collection, the price of each brush is less than half price!
I got "the essentials" set, which comes with 168, 193, 217, 239, and 212.
I can't wait to try out these brushes!!

And, drumroll please...

I know. I know. My jaw is on the floor, too. ALL THREE Naked palettes?!?
I can't even.
Technically one is from my boyfriend, one is from his parents, and one is from his siblings. I am so overwhelmed that they would spend this kind of money on me and I truly can't believe how lucky I am!

To go from never trying a naked palette aside from lustfully swatching a few shades in Ulta, to owning all three is simply unimaginable to me. I don't even know where to begin!

So in 2014 you can expect LOTS of new looks! Between the colors in the 120 palette, the neutrals of Naked, the array of nail colors, and the beautful brushes I have to apply them, I am now so excited to put together looks and tutorials for you! And I'm going to smell great while doing it ;)

So that's the majority of my Christmas haul! I can't believe how blessed I was this year. I hope that you all were doubly blessed as I was and that this holiday brought you all you wanted and ever so much more!

Did you have a good holiday? What do you want to see me swatch first? Let's talk Christmas in the comments below! 

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

P.s. As there is a slight chance this is the last post I will be posting will be the last of 2013 so THANK YOU everyone who has read this blog in 2013 and I hope you stick around through 2014! I can't wait to see what the next year has in store :) 

Halloween 2013: Pop Art costume

 {Warning: this is a pic heavy post!}

Nothing like posting about Halloween just shy of Thanksgiving!
But let's be real...Halloween is, like, my favorite holiday. I'd like to drag it out as long as possible.
Also, I'm slow. and lazy. but let's go with I love halloween!

pumpkins my friends and I carved...mine is on the far right, the disney castle symbol. No stencil!

makeup look featuring Benefit's THEY'RE REAL! mascara

A while back (an embarassing amount of time back, if we're being honest) I got a sample size of Benefit's They're real mascara from Sephora for my birthday. 

I created a look with this mascara but before I could post it, my computer was dunzo (10+ points if you get that reference)...but now it's finally here!

Feast your eyes on a purple eyeshadow look I did featuring They're Real!

cranberry and lavender makeup look

More pictures and products used after the jump! -->

August Ipsy glambag: Glamour Academy

This month's theme for Ipsy was back to school, glamour school that is!

The bag itself is really cute in my opinion. It's a great wine shade and has gold "coat of arms" decorations with beauty products. Pretty fitting for glamour academy! 

August Glambag

Keep reading after the jump for all of this month's content, and LOTS of pictures!

What's in my purse? Let's go down the rabbit hole

I am one of those girls. The kind that keeps everything they could ever 'need' in her purse. As a result of this, my purse is always around 10lbs. Some boys (my brother or boyfriend) will pick it up and marvel at the fact that I carry such a burden every day!

Yes, boys, it's a feat! Respect it!

So today at work while I was being oh-so-productive I realized I wanted to look for a receipt from Walmart (which the haul post is coming for!) But while doing that I realized I really  desperately needed to clean out my purse.

a small bag that is one of 3 inside my purse. Unnecessary? Yes. Adorable? HELL yes. From Forever 21

And while doing so, I took inventory. Just so you guys are aware of how crazy I am. And how unnecessary I am. It's ridiculous. I fully admit it.

• Three (3) packs of gum- 5 Cobalt (unopened), Extra Polar Ice, Extra Orange Creme Pop
• Six (6) pens- 3 of these are Disney pens. I am a little obsessed.
• Four (4) lighters - yet I can NEVER seem to find any. So, I put them in the side pocket. No more digging for lighters, hooray!
• two (2) unopened contact lenses. I guess it's good to be prepared!
• two (2) nail polishes- Sinful Colors black on black & NYC Big City Dazzle
• Deodorant- Secret va va vanilla (My holy grail deodorant, so in love with the scent!)
• two (2) camera battery chargers
• two (2) cameras- Fujifilm point & shoot & Kodak underwater point & shoot
• two (2) pairs of sunglasses- leopard print and floral print
• travel sized Bath & Body Works antibacterial hand gel gold dust 
• One pack of cigarettes- Camel Turkish Royals (the only cigarettes I will ever smoke)
• travel sized bottle of Bath & Body Works fragrance mist- secret wonderland
• Trial sized Neutrogena daily facial cleanser that I thought was hand lotion this whole time
• two (2) wallets - one for daily use and one for all the cards that are rarely used

Mixing animal prints...so embarassing!

• Ipod classic 
• $2.82 in change
• an assortment of movie tickets, concert stubs, and Disney photo passes
• wristbands (I collect them when I go to clubs/bars), a hotel key, and other momentos
• headband
• got2b powderful volumizing styling powder sample
• Redkin rough paste 12 sample size
• tums refreshers
• Pepcid AC
• Pepto Bismol Pills
• Keys

As you can see, I keep everything but the kitchen sink. But if you thought that was it, you are wrong. There is more! Yes, more.

I have three smaller bags that I keep inside my purse. As I type that I realize how insane that sounds. 

The one that is packed full is the purple velvet one. The purple doesn't show up in pictures but trust it is a royal purple velvet bag from H&M

 Inside you will find all my 'beauty' contents.

some jewelry and the purple velvet beauty bag

Literally all of my lip products are in this bag. Why?? That is beyond me. Truth be told, I don't even wear lip products every day, and I don't even wear half of these lip products at all! Why do I carry them around daily?? gah!

Also, jewelry. Another thing I don't wear everyday, yet insist on carrying around for no good reason other than they will get lost if I don't.

• Octopus necklace from Merbellas at the Renaissance Festival
•  Leopard print watch from Windsor you can find here
• pair of gold leopard earrings from Forever 21 you can find here
• Starfish ring from H&M (pretty much my favorite ring) unfortunately I could not find it online. I saw some similar ones but didn't feel comfortable linking them since I did not know who they belonged to
• Gold bow ring from Forever 21 you can find here
• black stone ring from H&M
• gold anchor necklace from Forever 21
• black & white rhinestoned leopard ring- I don't remember where I got this but a similar one can be found here
• the dark spike ring from this set
• gold key double knuckle ring from Forever 21 
• gold knot dangly earrings from Forever 21
• Plastic? resin? white rose ring from Forever 21

And that's my jewelry. Also stuffed in the same small bag is all of my lip stuff:

• Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in Monte Carlo
• Either Wet n Wild or NYC brand - literally the whole package does not say the brand name on it. Weird! lipstick in Pink Slip
• Carmex cherry lip balm in the squeeze tube
• Urban Decay lipstick in sellout
• Rimmel Stay Glossy in black
• Revlon Colorstay Overtime in Enduring Iris
• Covergirl Outlast lipstain in 450 saucy plum
• Essence Breaking Dawn Pt 2 Collection lipstick in A piece of forever
• Maybelline Superstay 10 hr stain gloss 170 pleasing plum
• Covergirl Outlast lipstain in 440 wild berry wink
• Ulta extreme wear lipstain in 14
• Maybelline Superstay 24 hour color - this is my holy grail lip product! On & on Orchid
• Maybelline Superstay 24 hour lipcolor - The sticker fell off of this but this is my holy grail red lip color! I am guessing it is either keep up the flame or endless ruby. Whatever it is, I love it!
• Urban Decay Pocket rocket lipgloss in Max 

Other makeup and things in the same pouch:

• E.l.f shimmering facial whip in lilac petal
• container of safety pins with bobby pins stuffed in, that I forgot were there until I was doing this
• E.l.f. mineral eyeshadow in royal
• Covergirl brow and eye pencil in Midnight black

As you  can tell, I carry a lot in my purse!

Might be hard to tell, but it's a clear plastic puch with old-school style 'tattoo' art on it.

Are there any other purse hoarders out there like me? When you look through your purse you get uncomfortable with yourself like, why do I have this? I will never need this! Yet you stick it back in anyway...

Please tell me I'm not the only one! ;)

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

Big Lots & Dollar Tree Haul

When nouveaucheap posted that there were sightings of China Glaze, Zoya, and OPI and even Essie at Big Lots, I knew I had to hightail it over there ASAP. There is only one big lots around me (a few more if I'm willing to travel a bit) and I had never even thought of looking there for makeup! I didn't realize that they have actual brands, not knockoffs or cheap no-names. They have nice brands there! For CHEAP! 

Unfortunately in my venture I did not find any Zoya, China Glaze, or Essie. But the trip was not a bust! I still got all these great products!

First I found this lovely emerald shade of nail polish by Julie G cosmetics called *****. I have also seen this brand be called Jesse's girl so I really don't know which to call it. The packaging says Julie G, though, so we'll go with that.I have seen lots of bloggers talk about this brand but since it is only sold in Rite Aid and online, I figured I would not be seeing it anytime soon. There are no Rite Aids around me and I am not one to order online very often (this is usually because I am broke) . When I saw this shade for only a dollar I couldn't pass it up! 

I have since used it on my nails and can definitely say that I am pleased with the formula so far!

 

I have never tried any magnetic nail polishes before. But for $1.60 who can resist? I figured it was worth trying!

 

I have had one experience with "shatter" or "crackle" nails and let me just say, it was not a good one. I was not impressed at all. However when I saw this OPI Nicki Minaj **** polish for only $1.80 I had to snatch it! I am a sucker for a good deal. I am hoping the effect works, and it's cool to have a novelty polish like a Nicki Minaj one.

I got another magnetic polish, this time from Sinful Colors. Mostly what drew me to this was the pattern it has...unfortunately, I didn't realize until I got home that it didn't come with the magnet! I am still going to try using the Sally Hanson magnet, but it won't give it the same pattern it has on the tag :(

So that was my haul from Big Lots. 

Luckily (unluckily for my wallet) there is a Dollar Tree right next to my Big Lots...so of course I had to stop in! and I found more goodies there!

This is my favorite find. It's a gorgeous purple with gold shimmering purple glitter in it. It's beautiful, and it looks great on the nails! It is Milani brand which I have never tried and it is the shade totally cool . That it is, Milani. That it is.

 

I'll admit this was a little of a goofy buy. I don't have any hope whatsoever for the polish in there, but I couldn't pass up those cute little stencils, for only a dollar. 

This is another fun color called Treasure Island by LA colors. Another brand I've never tried but I really liked the color so I hope the formula is nice!

I picked up Elf's shimmering facial whip in lilac petals and I think it might be a little to pinky to work as a highlighter for me. I haven't tried it on my face yet though!

That's it for my dollar tree haul but I have ONE more item that I found at CVS on clearance. I know that most people don't like or prefer black lipstick of any kind but I am really into the vamp-y kind of look.  I got this lipgloss for only 1 dollar and some change!

Rimmel Stay glossy in black

Ignore the extreme closeup of my lips. But here is the gloss on my lips alone, without anything underneath. 

This is layered on top of Urban Decay's sellout. As you can tell I layered the product a bit more this time. It tends to pool at the edges so maybe a lipliner would help prevent this?

This is the gloss layered on top of CoverGirl Outlast Lipstain in Saucy Plum 450

I layered it over this because it's darker and I felt would accent the black more. It's still spotty in places as you can tell on my upper lip.

The 3 lip products next to each other for comparison (sans flash)

I am still searching for a true black lipstick or gloss. They all seem to be spotty and sheer at best. The search continues! But for a buck and some change, I'm not complaining.

I advise everyone to go to their nearest Big Lots and see if they can score any high-end polishes for the low! Let me know in the comments if you found anything good at your local one!

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

I gave in...to IPSY

So I have seen a lot around the blogging world about different 'subscription services' and box subscriptions.

Honestly, none of it ever interested me. I figured it was more expensive than it was worth, and let's face it- I buy enough beauty products every month. I also have a subscription to Netflix and Hulu and in my opinion that is more than enough things to be addicted, I mean, subscribed to. 

But then I started looking a little more carefully at the glam bags people were recieving and in particular, May's bag caught my eye. In particular there was a FULL sized Zoya polish in it- I have yet to try Zoya because I am super cheap about my nail polish. I know. I suck. Not only that but some bags included some urban decay eye shadow.

So needless to say I was on board with this idea, so I looked into it a little more. What I found out was that basically you take a style quiz that (from what I understand) puts you into one of a few categories. Based on your style category you get one of a few glam bags, which include a mixture of full sized products and deluxe samples of products. All of this for only $10!! Ten dollars!!! I spend more than that on an accidental beauty splurge in Walgreens.

Not only does it come with the products but membership to the website grants you access to tutorials from plenty of youtube gurus (for instance Michelle Phan, who started the company!) and also from your average beauty. It especially emphasizes looks to try with the products you are given, which I think is lovely.

Basically, it's a lot of bang for your buck! And since I'm all ABOUT bang for your buck, I am over here like 

Needless to say, I was drawn in. When I went to sign up I was disappointed to find out I had been wait listed. I really liked some of the bags I saw for May and quickly realized it was too late for that, that ship has sailed.

To my delight, I was taken off the wait list less than 3 days later. But, I still have to wait until June for my subscription to start. One thing I enjoy is that it charges you on the first of every month, so you don't forget which day you actually ordered it, etc. 

So, all in all I can't say that it will be worth it yet but I have heard nothing but good things about this subscription service so I hope that I will be pleased as well! I'm sure I will be!

Stay on the lookout here for breakdowns of my bags and how I like/use the products I receive!

How about you, are you subscribed to any monthly beauty service? How do you like it? Let me know in the comments!

Follow your bliss, 

Ember Darling

In official news: I have the best boyfriend ever

So I'm sure you remember this post, where I detail my journey to find the Wet n Wild Spring Forward Nude Awakening palette. 

Well, my wonderful, fabulous, thoughtful boyfriend went behind my back and ordered it online once we couldn't find it in person!! 

He just surprised me with it!! I am basically jumping for joy and of course I already swatched it!

I was definitely impressed with the texture of these- so silky! I was a bit put off at first by the pigmentation, it came off a little chalky at first. But once I blended it just a little bit, it evened itself out! 

I can't wait to bring you some looks featuring these great eyeshadows!!

The top row is the right side, and the bottom row is the right side. Because I like to do things backwards like that. (no, really, I was too excited to give a damn)

As you can see the white-ish one did NOT show up on my forearm whatsoever. Hopefully it shows up a little better on my eyelids! 

Excuse my nails, I was literally in the middle of redoing them when my boyfriend came in with this surprise!

As you can probably tell, I'm a LITTLE BIT stoked on this. Can't wait to try it out and see what kind of fun looks I can come up with!!

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

p.s. not to rain on this parade, but it's funny that I already decided to take the plunge and buy UD Naked. However with this I am going to take a second thought and maybe buy Naked 2 instead. We'll see! :) Now I have a dupe to last me for the time being -- which is good, because I am broke!

Family Birthday party look!

Hey lovelies I know it seems like I'm slackin' on the posting and I DEEPLY apologize! I have been trying to make my camera work with videos and it's been a stressful process.

VIDEO REVIEWS COMING SOON! :)

But for now let's get on to the makeup and outfit I wore!

It was my brother's birthday this past week so the family got together for some Publix subs and margaritas (as it was also Cinco de Mayo)

I had a rose gold and burgandy look goin' on. I know it's hard to tell the burgandy part but I'm about to post a picture of the makeup I used, and you can tell! 

Now I know I've talked about my Profusion Palette a lot, as I use it in almost all of my looks! (because I can't say it enough: a review video is coming!!) but here's a sneak peak at what the actual palette looks like.

ooh, pretty colors! 

As demonstrated by the arrows, these are the colors I used!

Here's the rest of the makeup used to get this look:

Face:

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 foundation in nude beige

Physician's Formula multi-colored pressed palette in Buff

for contouring: Elf contouring blush & bronzing powder in St Lucia

unknown concealer (I hate containers that fade so you can't even tell what product it is!)

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer potion in original

the eyeshadows demonstrated above

Maybelline eyestudio gel eyeliner in blackest black

Covergirl lashblast volume waterproof in black

Nyx Eyeshadow trio in honeycomb for highlighting and eyebrows

eyelash curler from Forever 21 (how cute is that- purple + rhinestones = <3 )

As always when I'm looking forward to a long day, I topped it off with Urban Decay all nighter setting spray to make my makeup last! Not pictured is some lip color that I threw on and did not write down what it was 

:(

Last but not least, you can peep my OOTD here:

everything I'm wearing is from Target! In fact the skirt was on clearance for less than $10. Now that is a steal!

Follow your bliss, 

Ember Darling