Get Ready With Me | Red Lip

Here's a makeup look featuring a bold red lip, I hope you enjoy! Below is the step by step process I used when creating the look to better help with what exactly I did. <3

Foundation and Concealer:

I used Philosophy's Hope in a Jar to moisturize after showering before starting the video. With summer and the heat a primer is pretty essential plus it helps even out my skin tone. For this video I used Benefit's Porefessional. I mixed Loreal True Match Foundation in shades W2 and W3 together on the back of my hand and applied it with a Beautyblender sponge. I went in with Mac's Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15 as a concealer and highlighter and applied it under my eyes, along the bridge of my nose, cupids bow, and forehead and blended it out with the Beautyblender. To set the concealer I used Mac's Prep + Prime Finishing Powder with an Elf blush brush.

Eyebrows:

I'm not going to lie, I suck at doing my eyebrows. I don't have the technique down and quite frankly I'm a little lazy but I did what I could for the video. I used Anastasia Beverly Hills' Brow Wiz in Brunette. Since I bought mine I guess they've changed the name to Dark Brown instead of Brunette. I went over and sort of set that with Whitening Lightning's Brow Bar to Go. After the video I used the wax in the brow bar to keep my unruly brow hairs down, haha. Anyway, moving on to eyes.

Eyes:

I only used one palette for this video and that was the Lorac Pro Palette. I kept the eyes simple since I was doing a bold red lip. A bold eye and bold lip clashes with each other. You usually end up looking like a clown. I took Taupe in palette with a Sigma E40 and put it in my crease. I then took Lt. Bronze on a Sigma E55 all over the lip. It's one of the shimmer colors in the palette but it's a very subtle shimmer. I then took Mauve on a Mac 217 and pushed it in the outer corner and up into the crease just to give a little definition in the eyes. Then I took that same E40 and blended everything out.

Face: 

I contoured my face with Nars Lagoona Bronzing Powder using a Sigma F05 brush. I hit the hollows of my cheeks, forehead, chin and dragged it onto my neck. I used my favorite blush, Mac's Melba on my cheeks. It's just the perfect neutral shade. I wear it year round. I'm staring at my hand since I just swatched it and the main color that I see is peach but a nudey peach. Anyway, I used a Bhumi blush brush to apply it on the apples of my cheeks. I took my Sigma F50 Duo Fibre brush to blend everything out and make sure there were no harsh lines. And to give a pretty glow I went in with Mac's Soft and Gentle Mineralized Skinfinish as a highlight on my cheek bones and cupids bow.

Eyelashes:

I curled my lashes with Japonesque's Eyelash Curler. This curler is the bomb. I've tried drugstore and the Mac one and this one is better than all of those. I did one coat of Loreal's Telescopic Shocking Extensions Mascara, the waterproof formula, because using waterproof before your regular mascara can help make the lashes look fuller. I then used Loreal's Telescopic Carbon Black Mascara and coated my top and bottom lashes. And finally, this wasn't in the video, I finished it off with Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. I know, it's a lot of mascara but I'm not a false eyelash wearer so I do what I can to make my lashes look long and full as if I were wearing falsies. 

Lips:

Before the video I put on Maybelline's Baby Lips lip balm to make sure they were moisturized. I used Rimmell's Scandeleyes Kohl Pencil in Nude as a lip liner. I used it as a base around my lips and because it was nude, it acted like a concealer so the color wouldn't bleed throughout the day. I took Mac's Myth lipstick and put it in the middle of my lips because I wanted it to be a little lighter since the red we're about to go in with is VERY red. Now for the big mamajama is Mac's Russian Red lipstick. 

For the final touch, I locked in my makeup with Urban Decay's Chill Setting Spray. And boom, we're done!

By the way, my hair is three day old hair. I sprayed it with Batiste Dry Shampoo before filming and combed it through. It's always a mess so don't pay any attention to it haha.

I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comment section either here or on the video! Oh, and I tried to find links to all the products. Loreal and Rimmell are drugstore brands so you can find them at any drugstore, Target, Rite Aid, etc.

Thank you!
Amanda :)


As a disclaimer: I did not make the music I put to the video. 
Picture Perfect - dFonz
Seth is a good friend from high school and his music is amazing. Picture Perfect is one of my all time favorite songs. I listen to it at least once a day. If you like it, you should check out his Soundcloud and Youtube -> soundcloud.com/dfonz and youtube.com/sdfonz
Do It Like A Dude - Jessie J
Classic - MKTO  

Equipment: Macbook Pro
Edited on: iMovie

Who's the Girl Behind This Blog?

I realized I started off this blog without really "introducing" myself. How rude of me! In case you were curious as to who I am and who's the one behind the computer typing up these awesome posts, keep reading! :)

I'm Amanda. I will be 24 years old in a week and I'm 5'4.25", yes that quarter is necessary. Haha. I'm currently a stay-at-home caregiver to a three year old little boy named Jack, whom my family has guardianship of. We also have his sister who I watch after, when she gets home from school. I live in the most bipolar weather state there is, California.

I LOVE makeup. You can say I'm YouTube taught because I have watched videos for as long as I can remember. I was born with the tomboy gene so I needed some guidance on makeup and hair as I got older and started to care about how I looked. I first started watching Kandee Johnson and loved her - still love her. I now also watch Nicole Guerriero, Jaclyn Hill, Casey Holmes, SMLx0 and quite a few others. They've taught me sooooo much! 

A couple rando's about me:

• I love Taco Bell - it's pretty bad
• I am extremely sarcastic and I love to joke around
• I'm 75% Mexican and 25% White - you wouldn't know by my light skin and slanted eyes though haha
• I have a 7 month old Boxer named Ellie 
• I play World of Warcraft (I'm not very good) - holla at all my gamers haha
• I have my paralegal certification 
• SF Giants, SF 49ers and San Jose Sharks fan
• I'm agoraphobic
• I've taught myself to play 5 instruments
• I'm one of those kids who's parents are divorced and love it haha
• Law and Order: SVU is my show. I watch the reruns like nobody's business. The USA channel has a marathon every Tuesday, which makes it one of the best days out of the week for me.
• My favorite ice cream is Coldstone chocolate ice cream with a crap ton of gummy bears!

Those are just a few random things about me to sort of sum me up. I'll be starting to post more often and it's a sort of all over the place blog that's going to consist of makeup (duh), hair, raising the kids I watch, just life! I hope you stick around and come back!

Happy Hump Day,

-Amanda

Get Ready With Me | Fast Forward

I was about to get ready when I had this bright idea to roll my Macbook and film it. When the baby is sleeping, I sometimes get bored. Haha. Here's my first ever video and post on YouTube! Apologies in advance for the poor lighting and everything else. I'm not a pro and I used iMovie to edit. Don't forget to upgrade in HD!

Hope you enjoy! 


Products Used:

Benefit Porefessional
Loreal True Match
Mac Pro Longwear Concealer
Mac Prep + Prime 
Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder
Mac Melba 
Nars Lagoona
Lorac Pro Palette 
Whitening Lightening Brow Bar to Go
Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz
Too Faced Perfect Black Liner
Loreal Telescopic Mascara
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
Eos
NYX Butter Gloss in Maple Blondie
Mac Fix+ 

Happy Monday,
-Amanda :)

tarte Brazilliance Maracuja Self-Tanner

First Impression/Review

I recently bought the Tarte Brazilliance Rejuvenating Maracuja Face and Body Self-Tanner. Phew, say that 10 times fast. QVC was having a one day deal where you would get the self-tanner (11 oz - double the size as the original), mitt and self-tanning face towelette's (5) for $49.98. With shipping and handling added, the total came out to $60.95.

Originally the tanner is $39.99 for 5.5 oz (half the size of the QVC deal) and mitt. The towelette's you'd have to buy separately at $21.00 for 10.

I'm all about trying new products so I jumped at the deal. I took a shower and exfoliated the night before with Lush's Sea Salt Scrub, shaved and then used the self-tanner right before bed.

TIP: Do not apply self-tanner right after you shave because the tanner will seep into your pores and you'll have these dark dots all over your legs and that is not cute. You should wait about a couple hours before applying.

Now on to the application.
The first thing I noticed was the smell. It wasn't a gross fake tan smell, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The smell was pleasant and tolerable. The tanner comes out as a dark brown color and it does have a slight tanning guard so you can tell where you're applying it.

I did feel as though most of the tanner was being absorbed into the mitt. I did two coats of tanner to my body. I did not use the face towelette's because you have to wash your hands right after using it and I didn't want to wash off the tanner I had put on my hands. The tanner takes about 8 hours to develop so I put it on before I went to bed and off to sleep I went. 

I have white sheets so when I woke up this morning I expected some of the tanner to have gotten on my bedding but surprisingly there was none! My skin was quite brown from the color guard but I hopped in the shower and rinsed off. I was a little disappointed that after rinsing off, much of the color was gone. I put my moisturizer (I prefer a body butter) on and have gone about my morning. 

TIP: To help the longevity of your tan, always moisturize. Use a wash cloth in the shower instead of a loofa and try not to shave because you're tan will come off on the razor.

So what do I think of this product?

PROS: The application was easy, the smell was great, it didn't stain my fingernails and it didn't come off on my sheets.
CONS: The color isn't as dark as I had hoped, even after two coats, and most of the product seemed to have absorbed into the mitt when applying.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This is a good product if you're new to self-tanning or if you just want a really subtle looking tan. For the price and what I received, it was a good buy for me. If you're looking for that deep, dark tan like you just spent a week on an island this is not the product for you.

I hope this helped some of you. Remember, stay out of the sun! Skin cancer and wrinkles are not cute. Self-tanning for the win!

-Amanda :)

Sigma Makeup Brushes

Sigma Makeup Brushes

Is it worth the hype?

I was very skeptical when it came to Sigma's makeup brushes. I researched, watched videos and read reviews about their brushes and there were a lot of mixed opinions. I decided to hold off on purchasing any for the time being since I felt I didn't need anything at the time. 

2014 has come and I knew I needed new brushes. I had been watching Jaclyn Hill on YouTube for awhile and she mentioned she teamed with Sigma to create an Expert Beauty Box that included seven of her favorite brushes for $90 (retail value of $113). I decided to go ahead and buy the box in March when it launched.

My box (pictured above) arrived a week later.

The contents included:

• F80 Flat Kabuki 
• F86 Tapered Kabuki
• F35 Tapered Highlighter
• E55 Eye Shading
• E25 Blending
• E40 Tapered Blending
• E30 Pencil
• Mini E25 Blending (Free Gift with $30 purchase)
• Card from Jaclyn Hill

I immediately took them to the sink to wash. (I use the Beautyblender Solid to clean my brushes) The Kabuki brushes washed fine, no shedding or fallout. However, when I washed the F35 Highlighter brush, it shed quite a bit. I was a little sad when that happened. The rest of the brushes had no shedding or fallout. 

I've been using these brushes for a month now and I absolutely LOVE them. Ever since that first wash with the F35 brush, it has not shed since. They work amazing. I have different makeup brushes but always grab for these. I will definitely be purchasing more. Not only do they have brushes but they also have makeup and accessories for your brushes! They have a brush glove that I really want to try too!

Basically, Sigma brushes are like Mac brushes except cheaper in price and better quality. If you're in the market for new brushes, I recommend taking a look into their collection. www.sigmabeauty.com

-Amanda :)