Finger Paints Palette of Petals Spring 2011 Collection

I won the entire collection of Finger Paints Spring 2011 shades from Sally's Beauty Blog!


I never win anything!! I know everyone always says that when they win stuff, but I really really never do.

I'm super excited to try these out, but I didn't want to wait to swatch them, so I'm copying the super clever scotch tape swatches I've seen Karla Sugar do. I don't know if she came up with this idea herself, or if this has been going on for ages and I just never knew, but she's the first person I've seen do it and I think it's amazing! [I'm easily amused]


The collection consists of six very spring-y colors. I automatically loved all of them except the orange. This is only because I hate orange in everything except eye shadow. I think it looks weird because of my skin tone.

 My polishes didn't come with the rings, which is fine because rings usually suffocate my fingers and make me fidgety.


Also, for some odd reason, my polishes have no names on them, maybe because they were promotional? I have no idea.. Google came to the rescue like always, and I was able to find the names for them anyway.

L-R: Carnation Creation, Aren't You Glad-iolous?

L-R: Chrysanthe-mum's the Word, Did You Ast-her Out?

L-R: Heavenly Hydrangeas, Dahlia My Number

 The formulas for these were great, and they applied smoothly.

Carnation Creation [top] looks a lot darker in person, I think the flash makes it look a bit bright

Aren't You Glad-iolous? [bottom] is my favorite of these two, and one of my favorite overall.  It's also the definition of a one-coat polish. It's super pigmented!

Chrysanthe-mum's the Word [top] is something between a mint green and a lime green. It's not really bright enough to be considered lime, though.

Did You Ast-her Out? [bottom] is pretty opaque and required three coats. The color isn't really anything spectacular, but it's a nice bright pink.

Heavenly Hydrangeas [top] is another favorite [I always favor purple polishes.] It only required two coats, though I think one could have also worked.

Dahlia My Number [bottom] is the only shimmer in the collection. I don't like the color on myself, but I think it could look nice on someone else. It's very shimmery and required three coats.

This collection came at a great time for me, I was just thinking that all I own are dark colors and I had nothing for spring. yay!

Common Beauty Mistakes

Nobody can be perfect all the time [I manage to be perfect five days out of the year and it's usually during holidays when I'm asleep for most of them.]
Everyone makes beauty mistakes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to correct them asap. Especially because some can end up hurting you in the long run. 

1. Going to bed with your makeup on
Everyone has heard this a million and one times, and yet we still keep doing it! When you wake up in the morning and your makeup has all but melted off, look at your pillow and you'll notice it's not all on there, so where is it? that's right, it's in your face, clogging up your pores and making you look dull.
No matter how tired you are, force yourself to get out of bed and wash your face every night. You don't have to do your entire skincare regimen if you're too tired, just make sure you wash all that stuff off.


2. Putting conditioner all over your hair
I only stopped doing this about a year ago when I realized it was wrong. Nobody ever told me any different! Conditioner should only be applied from your ears down, otherwise it can create buildup on your scalp and make your hair limp. This is especially true if you have wavy or curly hair or if you have fine hair.

3. Washing your hair everyday
People always seem a bit put off when I say I wash my hair twice a week. I don't know how dirty everyone else is getting, but I don't work in a farm or tend sheep in my time off so that I need to wash my hair everyday. Over washing can strip your hair of its natural oils and it can leave you with dry and dull looking hair. If you have extremely oily hair, try using a dry shampoo in between washes. If you use a lot of products in your hair [hello my fellow mousse addicts,] you can rinse your hair out with water when you shower, just don't use shampoo.

4. White Eyeshadow
This one is purely an opinion but seriously, white eyeshadow is horrible. It looks good on NO ONE. Unless you're a celebrity on the cover of a magazine that will get photoshopped to death, you're going to end up looking ridiculous. Dark skinned girls especially, white eyeshadow is the death of us. Just don't do it.
** White or light colored shadow on the inner corner of your eyes is absolutely a must, I'm talking about all over the lid.

5. Biting your nails
I bit my nails from the day I was born until about six years ago. I know how hard it is to stop, but now that I have long, healthy nails, I also know how important it is to stop. Not only because nubby fingers are unsightly, but because your nails can get infected from all the bacteria being passed from your mouth to your hands, not to mention the infections from all the germs on your hands going into your mouth.
How to stop nail biting.

6. Not wearing sunblock/tanning
You know those old ladies who have really leathery skin that kind of looks like a Chloe Handbag? Stop them one day and ask them if they liked to tan when they were younger. Actually, ask them if they still tan on a regular basis. Yes, tanning looks good and I'm of the opinion that it looks healthy but oh my God it's NOT. Tanning is the worst thing for your skin. I finally came to terms with this a few months ago and invested in a daily moisturizer with sunscreen and a couple of bottles of sunblock for when I go to the beach. Maybe I won't look as golden as everyone else in Florida, but I'm lowering my odds of skin cancer and premature wrinkles. I win!

7. Matching your makeup to your clothes
This is one of those that don't hurt you but are just terrible to look at. A purple dress does not mean purple eyeshadow. Rather than wearing the same color, go for one that complements your outfit. Purple dress? Gold and brown eyes. Blue shirt? Grey eyes.

Makeup and beauty are fun, and I hate talking about "rules", but these aren't so much rules as just guidelines to not looking crazy. I've pretty much done all of the above things several times..I still do some of them, but it's important to know what these mistakes are and how to avoid them and just TRY. Nobody wants bad hair!

e.l.f. Eyelid Primer Review

I've been a long time user of Too Faced's eyeshadow insurance, and it's been fine. I honestly haven't noticed anything super spectacular about it, I feel like it works just as well as when I use a concealer as a base.

Since I have no kind of brand loyalty, I'm always up for trying anything as long as I can afford it. That's probably why I seem to be on some kind of e.l.f. kick lately. I keep finding things I want to try from them and they're all so cheap that I can't help but buy them.

The e.l.f. Eyelid Primer retails for $1 at Target, Kmart or the e.l.f. website. Yes, ONE DOLLAR.

I honestly expected absolutely nothing from a $1 primer, but I decided to quit being a snob and just try it.

best.decision.ever.

This stuff is amazing. Not just amazing for the price [which I've always thought is a polite way of saying a product sucks but it's too cheap to complain about], this is amazing in general. Amazing in the sense that it really works.

The primer comes in a tube and looks pretty much like a concealer.

 On to the before and afters. That's what everyone wants to see anyway.

These were taken before I left for work in the morning. How crooked is that liner?! I'm so ashamed.

 

These were taken when I finally got home after working and running errands and I actually think I may have taken a nap at one point. **They look brighter because I had to use flash since it was nighttime.

Clearly, nothing moved an inch. The liner is still strong, the eyeshadow didn't crease one bit, and everything seems to be in place.

I've read other reviews that aren't as glowing as mine and I think it could have something to do with my skin type. I have the definition of normal skin. No excessive oiliness, no excessive dryness, just regular skin. The area around my nose gets a bit oily sometimes, but that's about it. I think maybe the primer works so great for me because I don't have oily eyelids and it helps everything stick better.

I've also read that e.l.f.'s Mineral Eyeshadow Primer and their Studio Primer and Liner Sealer are much better than this one. I haven't seen either at my local Target, so I can't say, but if you find that this particular one doesn't work, you might as well try the other two. The price is so low that if they don't work, it's only a couple of bucks.

Alternate Uses For Beauty Products

As someone who owns entirely too many beauty products, I always find myself with left overs of things I either liked but didn't love enough to use them up, or things I didn't like but couldn't return. There are also the things I liked but forgot about because I got another thing just like it that I liked slightly better and by the time I remembered the first thing, it was too late to use it or I forgot it again [it's a never ending cycle.]

Because of my constant surplus of stuff and my guilt about throwing things away because I'm broke, I find myself having to come up with creative ways to use up products. Some of these, I've discovered on my own, but most, I've collected from various magazines and blogs.

Conditioner= Shaving Cream
I've never [not once in my life] used up an entire bottle of conditioner on my hair. There are just too many other ones to try for me to patiently wait until the bottle runs out. Instead, when I'm done using a conditioner, I use it as a shaving cream. It moisturizes just as well, if not better than a regular shaving cream, and it makes my legs smell super nice.

Shampoo= Soap
Though shampoo tends to be something I do usually finish, sometimes I just don't like the way a particular one works with my hair. Instead of tossing it out, I just use it as hand soap. Also, because the majority of shampoos have some conditioners in them, it won't dry out your hands the way a regular soap can.

Lipstick= Cream Blush
Every girl knows this, it's almost too obvious. Clearly, it can only be done with certain shades of lipstick [I don't think you want purple blush.]

Concealer= Eye Shadow Primer
 I've read some makeup artists say that concealer won't work as a primer, but in my experience, it works just fine. And, Paula Begoun says it can be done, so it has to be true!

Baby Shampoo= Brush Cleaner
I don't actually buy baby shampoo to use on myself [as I'm no longer a baby :P] but I buy it specifically to clean my brushes because it's cheaper. Since the formula is milder than other shampoos and soaps, it's great to clean your brushes without ruining them and making them harsh.

Clear Nail Polish=Preserve Costume Jewelry
This is something else I don't actually use to begin with [because clear polish is so boring it makes me cry,] but i buy it for it's alternative use. Simply paint over the rhinestones on costume jewelry and it will hold them in place longer. Also, a clear coat on the inside of a ring will keep it from turning your finger green.

Mascara= Tame & Color Brows
This actually only works if you have dark hair like me, otherwise you'll end up with blonde hair and black eyebrows [which would only look good if paired with that purple lipstick as a blush.] When a mascara dries out and can't be used anymore, I run the wand lightly over my brows to give them a little color and tame them. The keyword here is LIGHTLY.

Eye Shadow/Pigments= Liner, Blush, Highlighter, Gloss
Eye shadows and more specifically loose pigments can be used for almost anything provided they're the right colors.
A light shadow can be used as a highlighter on the brow bone and cheek area.
A dark or bright shadow can be used as a liner when you want a more subtle look and not the harsh lines that traditional liners tend to leave.
Any shade that looks natural can be used a blush.
Mix a little bit of clear gloss with a loose pigment to create a shimmery lip shade.

What do you do with your old products?

e.l.f. Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter

I received this as a gift from a friend on the same day that I saw it at Target and kind of wanted it but didn't get it. Lucky for me, everyone is well aware of my dark circles and it seems they want to not see them as much as I do.

One end is the concealer and the other end is a highlighter to brighten the eye and other face areas.

I didn't really know what to think about the highlighter being white, but it seemed kind of wrong. I've had concealers of this sort before and usually, the highlighter shade is a lighter beige, but not straight white.

 

My friend picked medium which was fine because that's the color I am in most brands. After I blended it, it actually looked a bit too light though.

Unlike the tone correcting concealer I reviewed a while back, this concealer wasn't as light or liquid. The consistency was actually pretty good, it was just the shade that was off.I swatched it on my eye to better show what I mean.

These are my dark circles on a surprisingly good day :)

The concealer already looks too light to the point where it washed out my skin and it looked a bit gray. It also has a kind of "wet" finish that made the are look shiny. This is something that the tone correcting concealer does as well, but it goes away after a few minutes, so it's not that big of a deal.

Now it's bright gray! I really think that this was due to the color being wrong, though.

As far as coverage goes, I think it did cover the circles, it just didn't work with my skin tone. The consistency was better than the tone correcting concealer, but it wasn't anything too pigmented either. I think it worked for me today because my circles were less visible, but I would never be able to get away with it on a bad day.

The highlighter actually worked even though it was white, it definitely brightened the area but again, it was the wrong coloring that threw everything off. However, there is a bit of sparkle in it, so it should be used sparingly.

Overall, I think this would work for someone with very light or no dark circles. It brightens the under eye area and it's very lightweight. Just make sure to get the right shade.

It's also important to note that this product lacks severely when it comes to the variety of shades available. There's only three shades : Fair, Light and Medium. So, anyone with darker skin or variations on those three shades, is out of luck here.

e.l.f. Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter is available at Target for $3.99 or on the e.l.f. website

Other Thoughts:
Seek For Beauty
She Speaks of Beauty
Dottie K

New e.l.f. Beauty Book [Bright Eye Edition]

I've only ever tried e.l.f.'s concealer [which I like] and their amazing brushes [which I love], but I've always been a bit skeptical about the rest of their stuff.


However, their previous kits seem to be popular, and I read a few posts about these new e.l.f. Beauty Books and for $5 it couldn't hurt to try one.

The Beauty books come with 12 shadows, an eye liner and a sponge applicator. 

 

On the inside flap, they also have instructions on how to apply the shadows and different techniques to achieve different looks.

 

 For some reason, the bottom left corner shadow would not photograph well. It was a kind of light yellowish color. I tried taking multiple pictures but it kept looking white.

That was the closest I could manage.

Appearance wise, I really liked it. The shadows also looked vibrant but also wearable which I think is something a lot of bright shadows lack. These looked like something I could actually wear in real life without looking like I was trying to hard. 

Sadly, I was quickly disappointed when I saw what the color payoff was like.

All pictures were taken in natural light and the swatches are without primer.  The shadows don't have names so I'll use their positions as a reference.

The only one that was pigmented in this set was the first one on the right. In the palette, this is the bottom right corner shadow [dark brown]

The green shadow next to it, actually came out looking gray, but that might have more to do with my own skin color and not the shadow. As for the other two, I had to swatch them over and over to achieve any kind of color. 

In this set, I actually really loved the two middle colors. They were very shimmery and pigmented.  On the palette these are the two middle ones in the middle row. The other two colors were the same as the one in the previous set, I had a hard time getting them to show up at all. 

These shadows were my least favorite. The first shadow from the left was much too shimmery, even for me. It looked too white and frosty. 

The huge disappointment, however, was the shadow all the way to the right. In the palette, it's the top right corner one and it looks like a deep, very rich purple/royal blue, but it was a mess. It barely showed up at all and the color turned into a weird too bright blue, not at all what I expected.  

The other two colors are nothing special, just varying shades of purple.

The eyeliner is just a standard black eyeliner. It's not smudge or waterproof. 

ps. Please ignore my super dry hands, I was washing my vacuum cleaner right before I did these swatches. I didn't even know vacuum cleaners could be washed before today, but I digress...

After rubbing it for five seconds.

Overall, the Beauty Book left a lot to be desired. I only really liked two of the shadows, which makes it totally not worth it since there are 12 of them. Although it was only $5, I expected a bit more considering the raves e.l.f. usually gets. 

Maybe they would have been better if I used a primer, but I don't think an eyeshadow should rely on a primer to get it to show up at all, only to intensify it. If it's not good to start with, it's not worth it to me. I think there are better brands of drugstore makeup that cost about the same and give you a better color payoff.

Tree Hut Body Scrubs

OH MY GOSH THESE ARE AMAZING.

ok, now that I have that out of my system, I can write a rational explanation for why these scrubs rock.

I picked the first one of these up at Wal Mart on a whim. I was in desperate need for a body scrub but absolutely refused to pay a ton of money at Bath & Body Works, especially because every review I read of their products is all over the place; some people love them, others act like it burned their skin off. So when I was wandering the beauty aisles and saw the tub of Tree Hut Sugar Shea Scrub for 5 bucks, I figured I had nothing to lose.

First I have to say that I love the way the Brazilian Nut smells. It's like coffee and chocolate mixed together with some kind of earthy smell that I can't place [I guess that's the "nut" part.]

I recently bought the Coconut Lime and was once again pleasantly surprised by the smell. I love coconut smells [though I hate coconut flavored things,] and the scrub had a hint of coconut, but it was more tangy and limey than anything.

The consistency in both is pretty thick, but totally manageable, and it lacks the gross oily quality of a lot of scrubs out there. It washes off fairly easy and doesn't leave a greasy residue all over the shower. The grains are just the right size so they exfoliate you without scratching or feeling too rough.

The best part is that the bottle lasts a long time considering its size. I thought I'd use it up in two weeks, but I've had the Brazilian Nut for about a month and it's still halfway full. Granted, I don't exfoliate nearly as much as I should, so an everyday user would probably go through it much quicker. However, you don't need a lot of product to get the job done.

Tree Hut products are available at Wal Mart for about $5-6 each, which is a steal when it comes to scrubs.
Ulta also sells them for the same Price as Wal Mart.
I've also seen them at Amazon for up to $20 [which I find a bit ridiculous.] But it's worth going on the Amazon site just to read the reviews, everyone loves these!

Looking on the Tree Hut Shea site, I found that they have a ton of other products that I'm now dying to try. Those other flavors of scrubs look amazing. [Flavors??... is that the right word?] They also have body lotions, washes and butters. Hopefully, Wal Mart gets these in soon.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer Review

Maybelline recently came out with a new line of face makup named Fit Me.


The purpose of Fit Me is to be more inclusive of the various skin tones people have. They have three categories [light, medium and dark] with several shades and tones in each.

Of all the drugstore brands, Maybelline has always been my favorite, but I've never had much luck with their concealers. However, I decided to try out Fit Me given the wide array of shades available.

The cool thing about Fit Me is that the shades are grouped together in such a way that you can determine what foundation, concealer and blush to buy using their number codes.

By using the tester bottles at Walgreens, I determined that my shade was 25 (Medium.)

The color is actually incredibly close to my actual skin tone. This amazed me right off the bat because I have a very hard time finding concealer that matches my skin.

What I love about this concealer is that it does what it's supposed to do. It mimics my skin tone, but brightens it at the same time, and doesn't look the least bit powdery. It's clear that my hand got lighter, but it's not obvious that it's due to makeup.

However [there is always a however with concealers,] the coverage leaves a lot to be desired.

If it seems like I'm not wearing anything on my had, it's because Fit Me is very very sheer. It's possible to build on it to make the coverage a bit better, but to be honest, it'll never be a full coverage concealer.

I think Fit Me could work for a day when I don't need as much coverage, but mostly I've been using it the same way I use e.l.f.'s Tone Correcting Concealer, on top of my MAC concealer as a way to offset its powdery quality.

I think Maybelline's idea of coordinating foundations, concealer and blushes is a good one, but I do think they should try to make the formula a bit better. I'm sure they didn't intend their products to be used in combination with better ones.

e.l.f. Tone Correcting Concealer Review

Because I'm cursed with hereditary dark circles, I buy every concealer that comes out in hopes that I'll find the right one.

e.l.f. Tone Correcting Concealer isn't anything amazing by itself, it's very, extremely lightweight, and many times it melts off after a few hours. Also, there is very little product inside the bottle, so I find myself going through an entire one every month.

For reference, I'm an NC35 and I wear Apricot Beige

 The color looks really light, but once it's blended, it looks perfect.

The color is right, and the texture is great but it's clearly very light coverage.


The reason I made a point before to say it's not great "by itself" is because it is great in combination with another concealer.


MAC Pro Longwear Concealer is also not great by itself. I recently reviewed it as part of the series of concealer posts. Longewear dries incredibly powdery and no matter what I do, always looks caked on.

However, when I combine MAC's powdery concealer as a base, with e.l.f.'s lightweight concealer on top, it works much better.

The lightness of e.l.f. is just what MAC needs to look more natural.

e.l.f. Tone Correcting Concealer is a steal at $3, and although it's not enough to use on it's own, I think it works great paired with a dryer, full coverage concealer.

I've seen e.l.f. products at Target and Kmart, and you can buy them online from the official e.l.f. site.

Maybelline SuperStay 24hr Concealer Review

***NOTE****
I did a follow-up review of this concealer a few months later as I just couldn't come to terms with the fact that I seemed to be the only person that hated it, make sure to read it!

I read a lot of rave reviews about SuperStay that compared it to MAC and other high end concealers, so I decided to give it a try.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the selection of colors. Like most drugstore brands, SuperStay just didn't have the variety of colors that they should. The shades are Ivory, Cream, Light, Medium Beige and Deep Beige. The closest I could find was Medium Beige, though it looked a bit light in the bottle, but Deep Beige was too dark.

Right off the bat, the color looks way too light, even though my face is lighter than my hand [as is the case with most people,] it was the wrong color.

There is no other way to describe this than to say it was a disaster. The color is too pink, especially for my skin which has yellow tones [actually "yellow tones" is an understatement, sometimes I think my actual skin color is yellow.]

This concealer is similar to MAC's Longwear in that it dries very quickly and it stays dry and powdery. It's best to apply it before your face cream dries in order to make it easier to blend.

I think SuperStay could be good for people who have more pink in their skin because with the exception of the Cream color, all the shades have pink undertones.

In its favor, I will say that SuperStay has amazing coverage. I think if it had been my right color, it could have rivaled my MAC concealer.

If you're light skinned and in need of a heavier concealer, I say give this a try.

Makeup Alley reviews