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| Vamp level: Queen |
Welcome to Beauty Crow! I am by no means a professional when it comes to makeup, just someone who loves makeup and has a strong sense of vanity. I also love reviewing stuff and have recently started subscribing to beauty boxes, which are exposing me to a lot of new products that I thought I'd share with you all. I'm doing this purely for the fun of it, and it also gets me using some stuff that I buy or maybe get a sample of and then don't touch for ages and ages. It's also helping me branch out from only using MAC, which I love, but I'm finding out there are so many amazing brands out there, especially some indie brands that are awesome, and drugstore brands are also upping their game.
For my introductory post, I thought I would try out some new (to me) products and write about them, since anyone who knows me knows how brutally honest I am about stuff. I used several Kat Von D products today, as I had a sample of foundation, a travel size mascara and liner, and of course, the Shade and Light contour kit. Also featured are some items I got from beautyboxes and some drugstore stuff, as well as some other prestige brands. Let's play! I linked most stuff in my post, as well as links to the beauty boxes themselves if you'd like to join (and clicking my links gives me points too!).
Let's start with the face stuff:
I started out by applying the Hey Honey Good Morning honey silk facial serum that I got in this month's Ipsy glam bag. I've never used a serum before, so I'm not sure what it is really supposed to do, but a tiny little bit covered my whole face. I followed that with my new favorite moisturizer from Temple Spa that I got from my very first Birchbox. It's light but very moisturizing, and as I get older I'm seeing my skin change and I'm realizing I need to take better care of it, so this moisturizer is my new bff. Over that, I started applying Kat Von D's Lock-It Tattoo Foundation in the shade Light 48. I got this as a sample from a Sephora order, so I didn't have a choice in shade. This is the 4th lightest shade in the line and too dark for me. Looking at the card it was attached to, I'd guess Light 45 is probably my color. Anyway, I applied the foundation with a flat bronzer brush from Crown Brush (super affordable brushes and very good quality) and found that the coverage was excellent. I also used a MAC concealer on some redness and zits under that.
Because the foundation was a little darker than I usually use, I went in with the darkest shade of Kat Von D's Shade and Light contour palette in the hollows of my cheeks, temples, and sides of my nose with my new favorite brush, The Velvet Luxe Flawless Face brush by IT Cosmetics. I also applied the lightest and medium lightest shade from the contour palette on my forehead, nose, cheekbones, and chin, followed by Hikari blush in Tango on the apples of my cheeks, applied with my MAC 129. I was almost scared of how bright pink it is, reminding me quite a bit of Dollymix by MAC, but it is a lovely shade, silky smooth and buildable. Everything was blended with my MAC kabuki 182.
My eyes! Oh my eyes:
Always always always, I start with my Urban Decay primer potion. For today's look, I started with a base of MAC paintpot in Blackground and topped/blended it with MAC Carbon eyeshadow. I dabbed some Sugarpill Countess loose shadow on my lid with a damp shader brush from Crown Brush. My browbone has both Shroom and Phloof! from MAC. I used Kat Von D tattoo liner in Trooper on my upper lid. I'm not sure yet how I feel about this liner; the applicator is actually a brush made up of many many fine hairs made to look like a felt tip liner. It's a thinner formula than I'm used to, but definitely buildable. I'm going to need to try it more to see how I really feel about it. So far: meh. We'll see. I also used Kat Von D Immortal Lash. I'm surprised how much I actually like the weird brush on this. It separated well, and the mascara itself gave good lengthening and volume. I'm concerned, though, because this product isn't waterproof and my eyes water like crazy. In my brows I used NYX eyebrow cake powder in the darkest shade and set it all with a brow gel I got in this month's Julep box called Lock Down Your Brows. I can feel that my brows are set without feeling gross, which is a plus. To finish off, I have MAC Blacktrack fluidline on my waterline, because again, my eyes water and that stuff does not move.
And what's on my lips? My new favorite lip color, I'm pretty sure: Copenhagen Soft Matte Lip Cream by NYX. I applied a few coats to build up color (and colored outside the lines a few times, whoops) but it's gorgeous and dark and vampy and not drying at all (which one typically expects from a matte lip product) and I love it so much. Beware though: it is matte, but it is not kissproof, as I tested on John.
I hope you enjoyed this inaugural post! Some of my friends have asked that I do Youtube tutorials, and I'd love to, but alas, my laptop's webcam doesn't work and I don't have a decent camera for shooting video.
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| Indirect sunlight |
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| Direct sunlight. Countess is just a hint of color |
