Today's Face Tuesday: Dark and Stormy

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Today's Face: Tuesday 
A Pink Touch: Makeup Look

In today's post, I'm doing a look I like to call "Dark and Stormy". It's a really shimmery and sparkly silver and black look with just a tiny bit of shiny pink tossed in. I finish the look with a frosty, sweet pink lipstick. The look is perfect for an everyday, more dramatic look or for a fun night out!

Again, like in my last Today's Face post, I start with moisturizer, primer, and then my foundation routine. Feel free to use whatever foundation and concealers that work the best for you but today's look is best with your skin looking nice and flawless and matte. For the best results, I'd finish your foundation and concealer with Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder because it gives you the perfect finish to your skin. (It's also really cheap and lasts forever, a must-buy in my opinion!) Next is touching up the eyebrows then I go in with a bit of bronzer and blush and voila! Face is ready for eye makeup!

Before! (Look how matte my skin looks!!)

After I do all that, I just prime my eyes with and start in with a base eyeshadow. I used a light pink matte shade from the Naked 3 palette called 'Limit' and place that all over my lid and up into the crease a bit.


My lid with just 'Limit'

Next I go over just the lid (not the crease) with the silver shadow from L'Oreal's Studio Secrets HiP Studio Secrets Metallic Eyeshadow Duo in Platinum. I love this duo because you've got the most gorgeous, sparkly silver color and an equally gorgeous black color that works amazingly well with the silver. 

This is a very well-loved eyeshadow
I go over my lid with the silver shadow on the left. Black will be used later!

Here's what the silver adds. The picture doesn't do it justice but everything just sparkles beautifully. Note that I only put the silver on my lid, not the crease.


Next, we'll go in with the the Naked 3 palette again with the color 'Blackheart', the very darkest shadow in the palette. I love this color because it isn't as really as dark as black, but more of a dark dark purple with little specks of gold. 


We'll take Blackheart into the farthest side of our lid (near where our eyebrows end) and pat that on very very lightly and then go in with a big, fluffy blending brush and blend blend blend away! 


Take Blackheart up into your crease and it'll give really great definition to the look, giving it a twinge of pink and purple. 

Next, we'll go back to our metallic eyeshadow duo but this time take the black shade and bring that on top of Blackheart and blend blend blend it out even further, darkening up the look. 


I find the best thing to do when you're using a dark black is to go in with it on top of another dark color and just keep adding and patting it in until you get the darkness you want. It's always easier to add more black and not so easy to take black off your lid.


Now, we can't forget liner so we're just going to add a deep wing using Maybelline's Master Precise Liquid Liner, making the line fatter and fatter as it gets closer to the wing. I touched up the look with NYC's liquid liner as well as added a highlight on my brow bone and inner eye with the NYX white eye liner pencil.

To finish the look, add whatever your favorite mascara is. Today I used a few coats of Maybelline's Mega Plush Volume Express Mascara as well as They're Real by Benefit. 



And if you so choose, you can add a lipstick or lipgloss. I'm wearing MAC's Frost - Angel which is probably my most favorite lipstick I've EVER owned. If you can get your hands on this lipstick, BUY IT. I love it so much.

It's such a simple, pretty pink that works with literally any look. 

My pride and JOY!

Voila! We're done!!!  

The Final Look!
So that's today's face. Let me know if you like the look because it's one of my favorites and a go-to look quite often!



Yikes! I should go clean up the mess I made!!! Hope you guys enjoyed :)

xo Emily


Today's Face Tuesday: A Pink Touch

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Hey friends!

In today's post, I'll be showing you one of my favorite makeup looks that I've been perfecting over the past few weeks. It's a pink-toned look that is perfect for spring and warm weather.

Before I do anything, I start out by using a face moisturizer. Currently I'm using the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream which I bought at Sephora and honestly it is one of the best moisturizers I've ever used on my face. I have naturally dry and sensitive skin and this works like a dream on my face. It's a bit pricey but you only have to apply a thin layer and you'll stay moisturized all day so it's definitely worth the price in my opinion. 

From the left; primer, foundation, and concealer

Next, I go onto my face essentials. Basically these are the things that go across my face to "fix" imperfections. Before foundation, I make sure to apply primer. This isn't a necessary step but if you're going to be active all day and want your face makeup to stay put, I would use a primer. There are lots of amazing primers from both the inexpensive to the more pricey side. My personal favorite is from Clinique's line of primers. The universal Superprimer is my number one choice because I don't need to correct much discoloration or redness.  If you have these problems, they have four or five other primers that can fix these problems! 

My favorite ways to apply concealer and foundation: my Real Techniques brushes and beauty blenders! Using your ring finger also works well for concealers!
My current foundation is something new I've been trying out, the L'Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder. I don't wear a lot of foundation and I have a lot of trouble matching my skin tone so I have to try out a bunch of different brands and this is currently what I've been testing out. I apply the foundation all over my face and then use my Real Techniques buffing brush and just buff it into my skin until it's completely blended. 

I then go in with my Maybelline Instant Age Rewind under eye concealer which I use because being a college student, I get incredibly bad dark circles. This stuff really works, I've already gone through two tubes. Lastly, I use my concealer, which is currently the NYX HD Photogenic Concealer, and just dab that in my problem areas and blend it in with my ring finger.


My favorite pressed powder, the Rimmel Stay Matte

Next, I go in with the Rimmel Stay Matte Transparent Pressed Powder to just set all my face makeup in place and remove the shine from my face. Also during this step, I sometimes use bronzer to contour and warm up my face as well as blush. Lastly, I go in with a highlighter on the top of my cheekbones to define my face. 

Now, onto eyes!


The essentials

For today's look, I used my Naked 3 palette which has a bunch of really amazing pink under toned eye shadows in both matte and glittery/shimmery shades. 


I went in with a e.l.f eye primer first and then covered my lid with Nooner using the Real Techniques base shadow brush and then went in with a shimmery pink color, Buzz. 


Next, I worked Mugshot and Blackheart into my crease using the deluxe crease brush and blended it out until there were no harsh lines between the two shades. Lastly, I went in over the entire lid with the color Dust, a glittery pink shade



The last step for eyes was eyeliner and mascara. Today I used the Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in a thin line on my upper lid and then flicked it out for a subtle cat-eye. I then went in over that line with the Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner just to darken it up. I also used the NYX White Eye Pencil in my inner eye to brighten and highlight my eyes. Lastly, I used the Benefit They're Real Mascara all over my top and bottom lashes.


Here's my SUPER SEXY before face

First step, the eyeshadow across my lids

Next, added eye liner

Lastly, mascara finishes the look

Here's my final face (excuse the headphones)

So that's today's face. Let me know if you like the look and whether I should do another one of these posts. I've been really enjoying using my Naked 3 palette to create pink toned looks that work really well during the spring time so it's fun to experiment with different looks. 

Now, I've got to get back to my episode of Lost (which I'm currently re-watching) so I must be going. Thanks for reading!

xo Emily

Monday, Monday....

Monday, April 7, 2014

Happy Monday! (not)



Ah yes, the dreaded day is back. In the words of the Mama's and the Papa's, (no, not my parents...it's a band) "whenever Monday comes, you can find me crying all of the time." So yes. I am crying because I have a heck of a week ahead of me. 


But that's besides the point. The point is: today's post comes to you with Ice Cream in mind!! And who doesn't love Ice Cream? 



I'm getting quite excited because it's actually maybe, finally becoming a bit warmer in the city here and my summer clothes are itching to get out of their stuffy containers but the jury's still out on whether or not I need to start shaving my legs. So, despite that, I decided to soak up the (minimal) sun and enjoy a true warm weather activity.... getting Ice Cream!




It wasn't too long ago when I was watching the cooking channel and one of those rando shows all about desserts came on and within the episode, a little shop called Victory Garden, in the west village, was featured. The name caught my eye and I realized that this was the very shop I walked past countless times as it was right near my sisters work. So obviously I dragged my sister to the shop to eat some Ice Cream.



Victory Garden, as I soon found out, wasn't your typical Ice Cream shop. Instead, they serve creamy goats milk ice cream. 


Now that might make you balk a little bit especially since the word "goat" is in the same phrase as "Ice Cream" but trust me, this ice cream is some of the best you will ever taste. I was nervous at first too but my sister and the cooking channel convinced me to try it. 



When we got to the cute little shop, the employees were incredibly friendly, allowing me to try the dreaded goats milk ice cream before I settled on a full cup. 


mmmm.....salted caramel


The shop has daily flavors that change enough for you to still want to come try what's new, as well as keeping your favorites (like salted caramel). Today's daily flavors are chocolate rosemary, fennel, tangy goat milk, and salted caramel. And every single one is insanely delicious.



I only needed two samples of two delicious flavors and then I was hooked. 



I got myself a cup of salted caramel and almost found myself licking the cup once I was done. This stuff is seriously so so good and I recommend it to anyone who is an Ice Cream enthusiast or just would like a sweet treat on a warm day!




xo Emily



Victory Garden is located at 31 Carmine Street between Bedford and Bleeker in the West Village and it's an easy subway ride from the 1.