Mascara Mondays!

Hey loves! Here's the second post, Monday's post, for this month's week of beauty! Today, being Monday, is MASCARA MONDAY! One Monday a month I will review a mascara that I love and/or a mascara I didn't love all that much. Today, I will be reviewing the mascara I've been using lately and the one you've seen in all the pictures of looks I've taken lately. So here goes:


Mascara Mondays (#1 July 16, 2012)


This first mascara I'm going to discuss is smashbox Full Exposure mascara in "Jet Black". I got this as part of a kit I purchased from the smashbox counter in Nordstrom.


PROS:


- The color lives up to its name. Its a true, genuine black color.


- The mascara really wraps around your lashes, coating them pretty well, adding both length and volume.


- The wand is fuller in comparison to some, but it's still easily usable and workable.


CONS:


- The mascara sometimes runs a little if you sweat, have watery eyes, or tear even, but it doesn't pour down your face. It gives that "raccoon eye" look.


- The mascara really requires an eye makeup remover to entirely remove it. Regular face wash or face makeup removers or makeup remover wipes don't work very well and you'll end up using a few wipes, leaving your eyes red and uncomfortable.


- While I got it as part of a kit that was a great deal, the mascara alone costs $19.00. In the world of department store mascaras, that's average to inexpensive. And while I love A LOT of department store makeup, certain things just aren't worth the money. I've found plenty of mascaras at the drug store for under $10.00 that work just as well and are even easier to remove; therefore, taking away the cost of an additional product: eye makeup remover.


- This mascara does provide a great look, but it takes multiple coats to get the right look. For me, I generally need about 3 coats to get the look I'm going for. However, it is a faster drying mascara and if you don't apply and reapply coats quickly, you'll end up applying wet mascara on top of dry mascara, which can cause flaking into your eye.


- The tip of the mascara wand gets smaller to help you reach the inner corner, which is great. However, the tip gathers clumps of the mascara so as you're applying the mascara to your lashes, you sometimes might find a little getting onto your brow bone if you're not careful.




Basically, the mascara certainly isn't bad, but for the price, I'd only use this if it comes in a kit or a free gift. There are plenty of other great mascaras out there, so check back for reviews and keep your eye out on the Facebook page when new posts are up. Also, don't forget that one week a month, there will be daily reviews or suggestions Sunday-Saturday with themed daily posts!


If you've tried this mascara and agree or even disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on it! Lots of love, gorgeous!

Seasonal Sundays!

Hey there; Happy Sunday! If you're a fan of my Facebook page, then you knew there was a new post coming today with something new for the blog! So here it is: Once a month, for one week (Sunday through Saturday) there are going to be daily posts with something specific for the day. So for example, today is Sunday. Sundays are Seasonal Sundays. Once a month on a Sunday, I'll write and post about a seasonal look or a beauty regimen good for the season we're in. Then that same week, on Monday, there'll be a specific post for Mondays (one Monday a month). I know that may be a little rambley, but I wanted to fully explain it. Today's post is "Seasonal Sundays" and the next one will be a Sunday in August. *Remember to check back daily this week as there will be a new post daily until Saturday!*

Seasonal Sundays (#1 July 15, 2012)

This is a look that is fun and summery. I've posted a similar look before, but this one I feel is perfect for a middle of the summer night out or even a day time look. It's noticeable and sexy, but fun and flirty so it can be worn day or night and could always be made more dramatic (thicker liner, winged tip, deeper color added in outer corner for more depth), or made more natural (brown liner instead of black, or forgo liner and only do mascara). Anyway, here's the look:

- Apply a full face of makeup (prime, conceal, blend, set)
- Apply bronzer to the entire face for a summery glow by applying it like a "3" to either side of your face.          
            Gently run the brush through the color and begin in the center of your forehead. Work the color our
            around your eye and come back in on your cheek bone, then out again around your mouth and come
            back in to the middle of your chin. Repeat on the other side and then run down the center of your
            nose. This method ensures you get the bronzer spread evenly so you don't look fake and that the
            color is only on the areas the sun would hit and tan you naturally!
- Apply blush (in a pinky peach tone) to your cheeks
- Prime your eye lids (I used/always use MAC Paint Pot in "Painterly"
- Begin by applying a matte, nude shade to your entire eye lid. I used MAC eye shadow in "Brule"
- Then I used the NYX eye shadow trio in "Shangri-La", which is yellow, orange, and peach shadows.
            - I apply the peach shade (far right) to my eye lid from lash line to crease.
            - I then apply the orange shade to my crease, blending outward and upward slightly. I also work it    
              into my outer corner.
           - Lastly, I apply the yellow shade as a highlight to my inner corner and brow bone.
- I applied a cream eyeliner in black (mine was from e.l.f.) using a flat eyeliner brush to my lash line.
- I took a pencil eyeliner in black and applied it to the inside of my lower waterline.
- I wrapped up the look with some black mascara on top & bottom lashes and filled in my brows using an  
  eyeliner/brow pencil from NYX in "Taupe".
- To keep the look seasonal and soft, I applied a tangerine lip gloss for a sheer wash of color. (Peach,
  tangerine, or coral would all work too)

Feel free to create this look using your own shadows you already have or something similar. I think a burnt orange would also be pretty to add to this look in the outer corner to add depth to make this look more nighttime friendly or to go from summer to fall! Anyway, play with your colors and leave comments and send pictures of your own looks! Don't forget to "Like" me on Facebook for more pictures and so we can interact even more at: FacEscapes by Tina.

A little personal ...

Hey love! I don't usually write blog posts that are primarily personal. I incorporate my experiences with products and occasionally give a background of what is going on in my life, like things with my husband and daughter when I feel like it's relevant.

This post really is just a little update on me. I've entertained going to cosmetology school since I was 16 and have looked into it, toured multiple schools, and even went as far to apply and look into the financial aid process. Up until this past year, I was legally considered a dependent when it came to filing taxes since I lived at home more than 6 months out of the year. This past tax filing season (for 2011's tax returns) I was finally able to file as an independent since I lived on my own and paid my own way and was married and had a baby. Now, when I'd go to apply for financial aid for cosmetology school, I'd qualify for more assistance since I make a good deal less than my parents do (obviously).

So anyway .. tomorrow (July 12, 2012) I'm going to a local cosmetology school and meeting with an admissions adviser. I'm going to tour the school, discuss enrollment dates, and begin the financial aid process. If all goes well and between saving, grants, and student/federal loans the tuition will be handled, I'll finally be getting to cosmetology school!

I've spent my life knowing only one thing for sure: I wanted to be a mom. I never truly found hobbies and from 14 years old on, focused on dating and relationships and never found myself and what makes me me. Luckily before I met my husband, I took the time to genuinely discover who I am. And I knew two things for sure: I still wanted to be a mom and that whether hair, skin, makeup, nails ... whatever, I wanted to help people create the most beautiful them. My daughter is my world and my life and brings me more happiness than I could ever describe, but I finally learned what could make me "tick" and that was cosmetology.

I know some of you may not want to read this post because it's not informative and it's not all that relevant to your lives, but I just wanted to share my happiness with my blog readers today that tomorrow the other half of my dream for my life is beginning. All of your views and comments have really encouraged me to believe this is the right thing for me and that doing this type of work in any capacity, even blogging :), is helping others so thank you for teaching me that.

All my love,
Tina

Something A Little Different .. Perfume!

My reviews and posts are generally on makeup or skin care and sometimes hair care. I never really mention or review perfumes I've tried and love or tried and hate. While there are a TON I really can't stand, I have been wearing one a lot lately that I love! I've had it for like a year and a half now and completely forgot about it, but as I was cleaning my closet out that contains all of my lady gear (the good kind lol .. makeup, hair stuff, perfume apparently haha) and found it and I fell back in love!

My perfume of right now is: Vera Wang "Princess". I have it in a typical spray bottle and a roll on fragrance, which is always the way to go. This perfume has amazing stay power and lasts almost all day long, even if you sweat or are moving around, but I love a fragrance on the go. Roll on perfumes can tuck easily into purses and evening bags ... even your jean pockets!

This perfume:

1. Smells great .. obviously. Why else would I love it? But really though, it just has the warm, feminine scent that doesn't smell too young or too elderly, it doesn't have that teenage trying-too-hard scent, and it just is really pretty. It's not floral or clean/fresh, but not quite a musk in my opinion. It's almost like Warm Vanilla Sugar's warmth, without the wanting to vomit from sweetness. (Amazing description right? Vera Wang should just be knocking down my door to write the reviews on her fragrances hahaha) But honestly, it's the most down to earth, legit way I can describe it. Typical scent words "Musky", "Floral", "Clean" do evoke an idea of it, but floral can vary widely from a hint of femininity to catch in your throat, gagging, field of flowers where is my Zyrtec?

2. Adorable packaging. The full sized bottle is in the shape of a heart and is tinted purple. The cap is gold and the lid is a gold crown with jewels on it that just surrounds the nozzle. Super cute. The roll on fragrance is a decently large (in length) stick that is clear with a hint of purple as well. It has gold, hand drawn looking hearts over the entire bottle and in the center says VERA WANG and under it says "princess" in the cutest script font.

3. The scent actually lasts. You don't have to bathe in it to smell it so it actually lasts more than a month, even being worn daily. You don't often need to reapply so if you get the gift set around a holiday and end up with the bottle and roll on fragrance, you really end up with 2 perfumes.

4. The boys love it. It's not too strong, or girly. It's soft and subtle and feminine ... all the good things you want a woman's fragrance to evoke, but it's got something to it. Something like an undertone I guess. It's like dark, seductive. Like when you first smell it, it's sweet and lady like, but on the back end it's like naughty hahaha. Like you know the woman wearing it, has another side. I'm going to say it ... Vera Wang's Princess makes me think of "lady in the streets, but a freak in the sheets". hahahahaha Anyway, it's just a sexy fragrance so give it a whirl! It'll make you feel seductive and your man will not mind!

Saturday Night Out ...

Call the babysitter because us mama's need to get dolled up and be a woman sometimes! I asked what your go to look for Saturday night out is and I'd love to hear more and see more pictures on Facebook, but here is mine from this past Saturday night (July 7, 2012)!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I looked over some pictures other makeup groups post and decided to do my own version of a seductive, primarily deeply black shadow look that I saw. It turned out pretty damn near close to the picture I saw and what I wanted, considering my eye shape was different than that of the girl in the picture. Anyway, here's the look!

Eyes: Black, Smokey, Seductive

1. Apply MAC Paint Pot in "Painterly" to the entire lid from lash line to the brow.
2. Next I applied a cream eye liner from smashbox in "Lava", which is a deep, smokey, shimmery gunmetal that can also be worn as a cream shadow. I applied this from my lash line to my crease using a flat shadow brush and reapplied to desired pigment.
3. Then I took my L.A. Colors eye shadow trio in "Lily", which is a traditional smokey eye trio (white, silver, black), and used the darkest color, black, on top of the cream shadow/liner "Lava". I also continued reapplying this color until I got the depth and pigment I wanted.
4. The girl in the picture I was trying to recreate didn't have a traditional white or off white shadow on her brow bone or inner corner so I recreated with a few colors what she had on. I took "Naked Lunch" and "Goldmine" shadows from MAC on the brush together and applied them to my brow bone and inner corner.
5. I then took just the "Goldmine" shade and applied it directly under the brow, as it appeared to have a golden tone in the look I was trying to recreate.
6. I noticed in the look the girl didn't appear to have eye liner on, but to make sure my lash line looked fluid with the rest of the look, I took the thin end of the eye shadow brush and swept the black color on the upper lash line, around the outer corner, and under the lower lash line. I did also apply a black eyeliner pencil to the lower water line. I applied mascara and filled in my brows and my eyes were set!


Cheeks: Sexy, Subtle Pink

After contouring my cheek bones using bronzer, I applied "Twinkle Pink" blush from e.l.f. cosmetics (the dupe for Nars' blush I wrote about before) to my cheeks.

Lips: Soft Pink

1. As always, my lips were primed and prepped with a lip conditioner.
2. I then applied my lipstick "Angel" from MAC, which is a really pretty, softer pink.
3. I applied MAC's Lipglass in "Cultured" on top for a soft, sweet pink lip to be noticeable since I was going out, but to not fight with the deep, dark eye look. *As a general rule, just do one. Lips or eyes get the va va voom focus and the other gets a complimentary look!*

Fireworks Fierce ... 4th of July Makeup!

Happy belated 4th of July! I hope everyone had a fun, safe midweek celebration! It felt so weird for the 4th to fall on a Wednesday to me. I mean obviously it changes every year, but I feel like it's always a Sunday or a Monday for some weird reason. Anyway, besides the point, my family and I had a wonderful day on the beach! We took little Miss Zoe for her first real beach trip and she swam in the pool, played in the sand, and tried out the ocean! After a much needed nap (while Mommy got ready), we headed out on the beach for some fireworks and Wildwood did a great job! Zoe just loved them and didn't cry once; I was so proud! Anyway, enough about my fun filled day .. and on to the makeup!

I wasn't sure what look I wanted for sure. I debated soft, subtle eyes and a red lip, blue eyes and a nude lip, or going all out (since it's a holiday and all) and rocking the blue eyes and red lips. Well I forgot (fail!) my red lip stick, gloss .. pretty much anything red .... so blue eyes and a softer lip it was!

Here goes: Fireworks Fierce

Eyes: Blue and White

1. I prime the eye lids (as always) with MAC Paint Pot in "Painterly" from lash line to the brow.
2. Next I applied the lightest shade (top left corner) from the palette "Eye Candy" from L.A. Colors on the entire eye lid.
3. I then took "Irises" from NYX cosmetics, which is a brighter true blue (4th of July blue basically) and applied it on the lid from lash line to the crease. I also worked it up slightly into the crease somewhat fading out. I took a flat eye shadow brush and reapplied the color repeatedly until I got the desired pigment I wanted.
4. I then took the darkest shade (blue in the bottom right corner) of "Eye Candy" from L.A. Colors and applied that in the crease and outer corner.
5. Next, I combined "Crystal Avalanche" and "Naked Lunch" eye shadows from MAC cosmetics with the lightest shade from "Eye Candy" that I originally used over my entire lid and applied those 3 colors to my brow bone and inner corner.
6. I then applied cream eye liner in black to my lash line and a black eyeliner pencil to my lower waterline and finished off with mascara. And of course, I filled in my brows using "Taupe" eye liner/brow pencil from NYX cosmetics.


Lips: Soft Nude Pink


1. I always prep my lips with lip conditioner when I first prime my face before any makeup goes on so when I'm ready to do my lips, they are soft and all dry skin can be wiped off easily with a tissue.
2. Then I applied "Natural Nymph" lipstick from e.l.f. cosmetics.
3. Next, I applied "Cultured" gloss from MAC cosmetics from their Tinted Lipglass line


Then ... ta da! You're 4th of July set!

Mommy & Zoe (6 mths old already!) on the beach for 4th of July 2012!

Cream Compact Foundation

I generally prefer liquid foundations personally for my makeup because I like their coverage and application. However, sometimes when you're short on time, need a touch-up, or just don't feel like doing your makeup up, a cream compact can be a great choice. There's a bunch out there from drug store brands to department store brands and they range drastically in quality and price.

My first one that I really loved was MAC cosmetics' cream compact Studio Tech. It gave a nice, build-able coverage that looked great in pictures and lasted throughout the day. However, at $30.00, it was just a little out of my personal budget for consistent use. In the scheme of department store makeup, $30.00 foundation is certainly not that bad, but I need a little more than the average person to cover up my redness so it doesn't last me very long. I continued to use it and replace it for awhile, but I was searching for a comparable product in quality, at a lower cost.

Finally, I found it! Ulta's Fabulous Face Compact Foundation is just amazing! It doesn't come in the same eye appealing packaging as MAC's, but the quality of the actual product is well worth looking past that. The compact has a clear lid so you can see the color and the amount left without opening it and in my opinion, this compact closes better and keeps the actual foundation more fresh and prevents drying better than the MAC packaging. The part holding the foundation lifts up to reveal a mirror on the other side and a round sponge applicator underneath. The sponge is of surprisingly high quality and doesn't flake or fall apart after continued use. I generally prefer foundation brushes (as my readers know well), but sometimes the sponge is necessary, like in the car or for quick touch-ups.

The actual foundation is a great formula with build-able coverage. It has a decently liquid formula, but isn't runny and doesn't "melt off" your face. It provides great coverage and lasts all day when worn under a finishing powder. The only real downside I've found, is that this foundation only comes in 6 shades, which of course can make the MAC foundation a little more appealing to those with very light or very dark complexions. However, the colors are rather forgiving and the makeup is very blend-able so the average person will be able to find one that works.

Also, another great bonus to this foundation is that it's Ulta's brand. It is often lately on sales like 2 for $10 or  2 for $12, like the recent sales Ulta has been having, which is a phenomenal deal considering the compact is $12 when full priced. When I purchased mine, I got two for the price of one. Ulta also offers coupons like $3.50 off $10 or 20% off one item, so if you time your purchase right, you can really get a great deal. Even at full price, it's still a great deal.

The choice is up to you. I know many MAC makeup wearers are very loyal and especially wouldn't consider an "off brand" product and that many people can afford the $30.00 foundation, but if finances are an issue and you don't mind trying a new brand, give it a go! It's certainly not a huge investment, and you may just be surprised!