I'm back! Probably briefly...

Hey all! It's been almost 9 months since I last posted. Hope all is well! I have a lot of catching up to do. Work has been super busy and after a long day, I'm planted in front of the TV rather than the computer. I haven't bought any new makeup recently as I have only been using the same products day in, day out. I did want to share with everyone what my morning and night skincare/makeup routines are.

In the morning, I like to prep my face with the following:

Products: Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Balancing Softener, Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Protective Emulsion, Ossion BB Cream 27/PA++, and Cle de Peau Smoothing Base for Pores.

I only started using BB Cream last week only because I have entered that phase in life where I actually care about protecting my skin from outside elements. BB Cream seems to be the miracle go-to item for lazy folks like myself. I'm still new to it and am not used to using any type of foundation on my skin. Do you guys have any recommendations for brands you like who make this product?

Followed by the makeup:

Products: Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow - Candlelight, Bobbi Brown Sparkle Eye Shadow - Sunlight, Tarte Amazonia Clay Blush - Exposed, FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara

And then at night:

Products: Charmzone DeAGE Red-Wine Skin Toner, Essence, Emulsion, Eye Serum, and Eye Cream.

I just got a new DSLR and am still learning how to use it. Forgive the not-so-great pictures! (They still came out better than my old camera - I think. :)

Anyway, that's it for now! Some questions for everyone: as mentioned before, for those of you who use BB Cream, what is your favorite? Also, any recommendations for eye cream?

Darling Girl Cosmetics: General Catalogue Swatches

Hey all! It's been a while since my last swatch post. Things have been hectic especially at work. I also moved into a new apartment so it's been a couple months of non-stop activity. I've finally gotten a week where I could sit down and actually do swatches, read blogs, and just relax. Not that I should since I have so much work to complete but it's still nice to get time to yourself.

There are so many collections to catch up on! In addition, I've got so many swatches to post! Here's all the swatches of the last haul I got from Darling Girl Cosmetics:























Aren't they lovely? These color are all a part of the general catalog over at Susan's store. I absolutely love every single color here - this rarely happens when I purchase en masse at a makeup store. I wish I had the time to do my makeup every single day because I would absolutely love to see what awesome looks could come out with these colors. As always, the texture is fantastic. I swatched them over Pixie Epoxy. I have Glitter Glue coming my way and I can't wait to test it out!

What about you? What lovely looks have you created before with some of these colors?

Darling Girl 200 Follower Giveaway

Hi all! Susan of Darling Girl Cosmetics is having her 200 Follower Giveaway! Click on the picture below to join:

Blogger Meme

Hello all! Taking some pictures, typing up some reviews, you should all see something pretty soon (perhaps this upcoming weekend?). In the meantime, I got tagged by the lovely Mng over at I'm Not Skinny, So What? Go and check out her awesome blog!

1. Name your favorite color: Red.

2. Name your favorite song: Currently, it's "One In A Million" by Ne-Yo.

3. Name your favorite dessert: Taro flavored frozen yogurt. Hell yeah, Yogiberry!

4. What is pissing you off? Nothing at all.

5. When you're upset, you... Go to the gym. I do kickboxing at least 3 nights a week so it's a great stress reliever.

6. Your favorite pet: I've never had a pet. :(

7. Black or White? Most definitely black.

8. Your biggest fear is...: Failure. Missing out on things. :)

9. Your best feature is...: My smile! I used to have braces and lazy me didn't wear the retainer so they're not as straight as they were when I first got my braces off.

10. Everyday attitude: Loud and obnoxious. Lol.

11. What is perfection? Boring and seems stressful. Imperfect little me means I can get away with a shit-ton. Haaaaa.

12. Guilty pleasure: Laying in bed with my IPOD on. Seriously, best thing ever.

I tag...whomever! :)

Several Hauls (Picture Heavy)

Hi all! I got nominated for for Best Swatches over at the Beauty Blog Awards (voting link)! This is a great honor and my first ever so I'm excited. I'm super, duper far behind but that's okay. It's nice to see my blog up there. :D

Also, I just wanted to give you a sneak peak of what is coming up and to let y'all know I am still lurking around. :) I'm sorry I haven't been commenting as often - I've been inundated at work with a lot of projects so I haven't even been responding to my personal emails.



















I've been really good about not buying makeup! Not so good with shoes and other luxury items though. :(

Meow Cosmetics: Legal Scandals Collection Swatches

Wow, I cannot believe how long it took me to finish this set of swatches up. Also, I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with everyone's awesome blog posts so I'm going to try and get through most of them today. Work has been a bit rough and the weekends haven't left me with much free time either. It's a good thing but sometimes it's also good to have some time to yourself. :)

For me, I use that time to do some pretty, pretty swatches! This post features the Meow Cosmetics collection, Legal Scandals. Take a looksies below!















Easily, my favorites from this collection are Wanda H., Billie H., Lana T., and Martha S. Martha S. came out a bit patchy but the color is really pretty to use for work. I liked Patty H. also but I'm not well-versed enough in make-up application to know how to wear it. Lol. I tend to stick with colors I can swipe on and breeze out the door. Nothing too bright, too bold, just soft and versatile enough to wear for any occasion.

How about you? Any favorites from this collection? What color(s) do you prefer wearing all the time?

Meow Cosmetics: Mysterious Scandals Collection Swatches

More swatches! This is one of Meow's smaller Scandals set. It's called Mysterious Scandals:







Peg E. looks like it would work wonderfully as a highlighter and Marilyn M. was a big surprise. Nothing exciting in this set but I think it's meant to be a bit more subdued. Great colors for daily wear. :)

What do you think?

In Love With Darling Girl's My Little Pony Look

Hey all! It's been a while since I've posted an EOTD and here's the true facts: I suck at doing my eye makeup. It's cool. We all need to start somewhere. But what makes it even worse is that I can't take a single decent picture when I do end up putting on eye makeup. It takes about 50 different shots before I find one that's "meh" and decide to post.

Last night I went to see "X-Men: First Class" - fantastic movie. Kind of disappointed they didn't have an extra scene after the credits. Anyway, since going on this no-buy (4th day, woo!), I've started playing with my makeup. Here's a purple look I did last night:



Let me tell you how much I LOVE "My Little Pony" from Darling Girl Cosmetics. It's a beautiful duochrome that shimmers lavender/green when you pat it on. Then if you start blending, a darker lavender color comes out.

What I did was that I primed my eyelid, patted on "My Little Pony" all over my eyelid, then in the crease, I started 'blending' and by blending, I started going back and forth with my brush and MLP. I had the shimmer on the lid and the dark purple on the crease. This one eyeshadow basically completed the look.

I wanted the crease to be a bit more dramatic so I added some of Urban Decay's "Hustle" but I don't think I really needed it. Eyeliner, mascara and whee. It's finished. :)

By the way, those are my eyelashes. "Fairy Drops" mascara is freaking AMAZING.

Products used:
- Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer Potion
- Darling Girl "My Little Pony" eye shadow (lid and crease)
- Urban Decay "Hustle" eye shadow (outer v)
- Avon "Sugar Plum" Glimmerstick eye liner
- Fairy Drops "Scandal Queen" mascara

Have you tried any of these products yet? What do you think of MLP?

Meow Cosmetics: Meow Scandals Collection Swatches

Hi all! Sorry I've been away for a while. I started a new job this week and I have been trying to get acclimated to the new work culture. My old job gave me a really great farewell and I received this in the mail sent by my (ex)boss the Friday I left:



I almost had a conniption when I saw this. Wrote a thank you to my boss and well, I still haven't taken it out of the plastic packaging because I'm afraid I'll get my fingerprints on it, haha! I'm really going to miss those guys. I hope I do well at this new company. Wish me luck!

I am also going on a month long no buy. It started on June 2nd - not June 1st because I bought something on June 1st and decided June 2nd I needed to stop buying stuff. I hope I can do this! I want to see if I can actually go a whole month without purchasing anything. =X

In the meantime, whenever I feel the 'buying' itch, I just have to remind myself that there are still a lot of swatching to do. :)

Moving onto less boring matters, here's Meow Cosmetics Meow Scandals collection:









Neuter is a really pretty olive green, Jessica R. is a really pretty purple but nothing out of the ordinary, Prissy was super patchy - perhaps the matte pigment didn't work well with PE, and Feral was a gorgeous navy blue.

It's not one of my favorite collections but there are definitely some lovelies in this collection.

Have you tried these colors? What do you think?

ShoeDazzle: April & May Purchases

I'm still on my shoe purchasing spree and no matter how much I don't really like platforms, they're so in this season and some of the styles are just too cute to pass up. Yes, I have issues with spending. :( Case in point: the amount of money I spent at Express yesterday.

Anyway, onto the shoes! I got these from ShoeDazzle.

For April, I purchased 2 pairs of Michael Antonio shoes and 1 pair of a ShoeDazzle original (I think...):





The nude shoes didn't fit as well as the blue ones did. In fact, it actually felt like it ran 1 size larger. I'm not quite sure how to address the inconsistency issues. :/



These were my fun pair. I've never had something that looked like this and I have a thing for straps so I had to get it. I think it'd look cute with a pair of skinny jeans. :)



I didn't think I was going to purchase anything for May - the selections weren't all that great. Then they came out with this LE and despite the platforms, I think the color is so gorgeous and unique.

Share with me some of you shoes for this season! I'd love to see what your likes are and it's a good way for me to see what I'm missing out on. :) Also, what do you think? Yay or nay?

Darling Girls: What Dreams May Come + Holo-Glosses

Hey all! So this is the last post of my most recent Darling Girls haul. I just placed a huge order last night for some samples from their general catalog in addition to the new dry oil sprays that they came out with. I'm super excited. :D

Anyway, moving on to the swatches!

First up, from the What Dreams May Come collection:





These were the freebies I received in my package:



And then the gorgeous, gorgeous holo-glosses:









I love the holo-glosses. I have a trouble with glosses/lipsticks drying my lips out so I don't wear them. However, these were not drying at all. The color goes on very sheer so it's best to wear over a color but I used them on their own and I thought they were great. :) I wish the container wasn't so difficult to screw the top on and off though.

Another fantastic purchase! I've loving Pennies from Heaven - it's SO pretty!

Have you guys tried any of these colors? The holo-glosses? What are your thoughts?