I’ve been loving this taupe series–there is something about a wash of taupe on the eyelid that looks effortless and chic. I also find that when using taupe colors, I’m finished my makeup in record time.

Here is a breakdown of today’s taupe look!

EYES:
-Creamy silver base
-Urban Decay Stray Dog e/s
-MAC Concrete
-MAC Wedge
-NARS Coconut Grove e/s
-MUFE Smoky Lash
-L’Oreal Carbon Black Mascara
-Urban Decay Zero eyeliner
-Urban Decay Stray Dog eyeliner
-Cover Girl Champagne eye shadow

FACE:
-MAC Cream Colour Base in Pearl
-Cover Girl Champagne eye shadow
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-Finishing Powder
-Hard Candy Blush in Pin Up

LIPS:
-MAC Playing Koi
-MAC Sweet Sunrise

Today’s taupe look is a bit more on the warmer side. Most of the colors used were from the Urban Decay Naked Palette. Believe it or not, this is my first time doing a taupe look with my Naked palette and I’ve owned this palette since July 2010!!!! Shame on me!

On a side note, I can’t tell you how much I’ve been diggin’ my berets! I only own three–very typical neural colors (to go with everything) but I think I may venture into different color ones–they are simply fabulous. Ugh–I can’t get enough!

And here is a breakdown of the look:

EYES-
-MAC Painterly Paint Pot
-UD Sidecar
-UD Virgin
-MAC Carbon
-UD Creep
-UD Sin
-MAC Wedge (You could use UD Naked)
-Urban Decay Zero Eye Liner
-MUFE Smoky Lash
-L’Oreal Carbon Black Mascara

FACE-
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna
-MAC Lightscapade Mineralize Skinfinish
-Finishing Powder

LIPS-
-NYX Strawberry Milk
-MAC Fashion Scoop

Quick outfit of the day–I’ve been into rockin’ a sweater and jeans lately–my comfy glam look-lol! It’s been so cold–who feels like dressing to the nines in this weather? Spring, where are you? O_o

The beret is from Forever 21, sweater is from Old Navy, jeans are from Forever 21.

My necklaces are from Charlotte Russe & my boots are from eBay. (*insert cheesy pose & smile in*) *lol* I LOVE these boots and need to get a new heel since I’ve worn these heels out.

Today today’s taupe look is a little more on the “dirty” side. Dirrrrty Taupe! *lol*
The colors were a little muddy but I still think it was a nice look–and it matched my sweater! See? *lol* Please don’t mind the messy updo. It’s been in the low 30′s and completely dreary out–I haven’t felt much like “dressing” up–it’s been comfy with a touch of glam for me

Here is a breakdown of today’s look:
EYES-
-MAC Painterly Paint Pot
-NYX Cottage Cheese Jumbo e/s Pencil
-Urban Decay Mushroom
-Urban Decay Skimp
-Urban Decay Spotlight
-Urban Decay Stray Dog Eye Liner
-Cover Girl French Vanilla e/s
-MAC Feline Kohl Power
-L’Oreal Carbon Black Mascara
-MUFE Smoky Lash
-MAC Brun e/s
FACE-
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-Cover Girl Champagne e/s (to highlight)
-Hard Candy Blush in Pin Up
LIPS-
-ELF Lipstick in Natural Nymph
-NYX Lipgloss in Salsa

Don’t take the name of this post too seriously–when I finished up the look, it seemed like the best title! I created this look using ALL brown eyeshadows and bases and I didn’t think it would come out as good as it did. I even got a compliment from the sales lady at Ulta!

Here is a breakdown of the look-

-UDPP
-MAC Painterly Paint Pot
-L’Oreal HIP Cream Eye Shadow in Brown
-NYX Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencil in Iced Mocha
-MAC All That Glitters
-MAC Mulch
-MAC Carbonized
-NARS Coconut Grove
-MUFE Smoky Lash Mascara
-Cover Girl Last Blast Mascara
-Cover Girl French Vanilla Eye Shadow (to highlight)
-MAC Coffee Eyeliner

As you can tell from the last few blog posts, I’ve been LOVING MAC products lately. No particular reason…I’ve just found a particular everyday eye look that’s I’m completely smitten with. Here is a video with all of my MAC must haves at the moment!

PS-Earrings are vintage and blog post for these beauties will be up tomorrow

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZaOpsgPaTc

Two words-Taupe overload! In a tasteful way that is

I recently bought this shirt from Forever 21–it’s a cook toned taupe shirt with silvery sequins on it. For some reason I think this shirt looks fabulous with brown knee high boots.

Here is a breakdown of day 5 in the taupe series:

EYES:
-MAC Painterly Paint Pot
-Silver Eye Shadow Base
-Bare Minerals Glisten Pigment
-MAC Concrete e/s
-MAC Show Stopper e/s
-NYX Black Bean Jumbo e/s Pencil
-MAC Carbon e/s
-MUFE Smokey Lash
-Cover Girl Lash Blast
-MAC Vanilla e/s (to highlight inner corner)
-Cover Girl French Vanilla e/s (brow highlight)
-MAC Feline Kohl Power

FACE:
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna
-NARS New Order Blush
-Mally Finishing Powder

LIPS:
-MAC Playing Koi Lipstick
-Sleek Baby Doll Lipstick

Merry Christmas my dear friends!

This is my last beauty favorites post of the year and while I’m not ready to come back & do videos just quite yet,  I have many beauty items that I’m passionate about at the moment.

Obviously the holiday season has been upon us over a month (if you celebrate the way I do. I had my tree up in early November). I love everything about this time of the year–including red lipsticks. Russian Red by MAC has been my HG lipstick this month. I found myself forcing myself to rock a nude lip because I had realized I’d been doing red lips every time I went out but I don’t care. This is the time and I’m loving every moment of Russian Red. I’ve tried higher end red lipsticks but I always keep coming back to Russian Red–it’s a classic intense bluish red matte color that is flattering on most (if not every) skin tone.

My Christmas Eve Makeup Look feat. the fabulous Russian Red

For eye shadow, I’ve been into quite a few colors that I shamelessly admit I haven’t touched in months.

I’ve been using Phoolf! everyday–it’s stunning on the lids, brow highlight & face highlight. It’s becoming one of my must have/ everyday beauty products.

In addition to my rekindled love affair with Phloof! I have recently rediscovered the fabulousness known as Wedge. Sure, you may think it’s dreadfully boring as it’s just a soft muted beige-taupe color but it’s fabulous for softening harsh lines.

Show-Stopper is another eye shadow I’ve been loving. I’m the type that is VERY specific about not using brown colors on the eyes when I’m wearing a black outfit etc…But there is something about the color….I wear it with both black & brown–I adore this color more than you know….of course it was LE. I’d love to see this be a permanent shade someday.

Carbon…what can I say about it? It’s a simple matte black color…not overly pigmented but  it’s just  perfect. Hands down, it’s my favorite black eye shadow.

In a recent video, I discussed my interest in better eye brow care. Who am I kidding? My eye brows are awkward, one seems to be more arched than the other and they both have terrible bald spots due to over-plucking through out the years.A few years ago, I bought this eye brow stencil kit by Anastasia and it worked miracles. I totally forgot I owned the stencils so I started using them again.
What I love about the stencils is that I can “draw” the brow on rather dark and dramatically while I’m plucking my brows. The stencil allows me to pluck only stray hairs and acts as a guide to allow my brows to grow in. It’s a SLOW process but I’m not giving up.
My brows (lightly stenciled in)–a work in progress...

At the moment, when I’m primping for the day, I take a short shader brush, a little Brun e/s by MAC and fill in what needs to be filled in to make my brows look symmetrical & somewhat normal. Using Brun allows the brows to look softer and natural. I use a velvet black brow pencil to lightly fill in my bald spots & blend into Brun–ever so lightly. It’s going to take getting used to these brows as they’re somewhat bolder than what I’m used to.

Glitter! I’ve been LOVING glitter at the moment and I’ve been incorporating both MAC Reflects Pearl Glitter & Wet n’ Wild Glitter in Confetti into my daily look. Uh, it is the holiday season so it’s totally allowed for daily use.

Oversized Stud Earrings-these faux diamond studs are my best pair. Very vintage-esque! They go perfectly with a red lip & most anything in my wardrobe.

This pic is a little blurry but these are my everyday earrings.

Yves Rocher Chocolate Orange lotion & perfume–sweet & season appropriate–I adore it and I’ve been using it most days. Unfortunately this was LE.

My Taupe Series! I’ve been slowly working (and enjoying every second) of the Twenty-Two Days of Taupe series, but, right now it’s all about MAC’s Russian Red.

On a personal note my husband bought me a rose today! I told him I will now expect a pink rose every Christmas Eve *lol*

I’ve been in love with Peppermint Hot Chocolate, having breakfast for lunch & dinner AND my Lip Smackers Gingerbread Cookie lip balm.

Here is a quick look at the new top I got from Forever 21–haul to come soon

That’s it for now! What are some of your favorites for the month of December?

Now that 2012 is just WEEKS away, I thought it would be appropriate to do a blog post on my favorite beauty products from this past year. Tastes change season to season, but most of these products are things I found myself using frequently throughout the year.

Most Used High End Makeup Brand: MAC & NARS
Most Used Drugstore Makeup Brand: Wet n’ Wild, Revlon & Cover Girl

Best High End Eye Shadow: NARS
Best Drugstore Eye Shadow: Wet n’ Wild (great pigmentation)

Best/Most Used High End Lip Gloss: MAC Underage Lipglass & MAC Fashion Fanatic Plushglass
Best/ Most Used Drugstore Lip Gloss: L’Oreal Colour Riche in Baby Blossom, NYX Lipgloss

Best High End Lipstick: MAC Runaway Red & MAC Fleshpot
Best Drugstore Lipstick: Revlon Fire & Ice Lipstick

Best High End Mascara & Eye Liner: Makeup Forever Smoky Lash Mascara & MAC Feline Kohl Power
Best Drugstore Mascara: Cover Girl Lash Blast (Waterproof)

Best High End Makeup Base/ Primer: MAC Paint Pots, Urban Decay Primer Potion
Best Drugstore Base/ Primer: NYX Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencils, ELF Cream Eye Liner

Most Used High End Eye Shadows: MAC Espresso, MAC Carbon, MAC Carbonized, MAC Wedge, MAC Coquette, NARS Coconut Grove, NARS Mekong

Most Used Drugstore Eye Shadows: Cover Girl Champagne, Cover Girl French Vanilla, Wet n’ Wild Envy, Wet n’ Wild Sugar, Cover Girl Brown Smolder

Most Used High End Palette: Too Faced Natural Eye Palette, Too Faced New Smokey Palette

Most Used Drugstore Palette: Wet n’ Wild Lust & Wet n’ Wild Vanity

Best Face Products: Coty Airspun, NARS Laguna Bronzer, Benefit Hoola Bronzer & Chanel Bronze Universal, NYX Blush in Natural

Best High End Face Highlighter: NARS Copacabana, MAC MSF in Soft & Gentle
Best Drugstore Face Highlighter: Hard Candy Doll Face, Cover Girl Champagne Eye Shadow, Physicians Formula Happy Booster Powder

Most Used Makeup Brushes- MAC 217, MAC 219, MAC 109, Lowe-Cornell Maxine Mop Brush, Target Brand Medium Shader Brush

Best High End Concealer: MAC Studio Sculpt
Best Drugstore Concealer: Hard Candy

New makeup brands I’ve tried this past year: Chanel, Laura Mericer, Wet n’ Wild, LUSH

Best Fragrances:
Fall/ Winter–Boyfriend by Kate Walsh
Spring/ Summer–Chloe, Daisy by Marc Jacobs, Pearberry Body Mist by BBW

High End Makeup Brands I became a HUGE fan of: MAC, NARS, Chanel
Drugstore Makeup Brands I became a HUGE fan of: Revlon, Wet & Wild, NYX

Makeup Brands that disappointed:
Certain Chanel products–for the money,pigmentation should be up to par.
Urban Decay: more along the lines of how they promoted Naked 2-it was shady and rubbed me the wrong way.
Sigma: advertising whores. I’d rather pay double for MAC brushes in the future.

I can’t wait to see what new & exciting beauty items catch my eye in 2012!!

Today’s look is is bit warmer than the last few taupe makeup looks I’ve done. I used a silver base for the last few looks but today I did something  bit different. Oh! And this is a first for me, I mixed brown & black eye shadow together–I’m diggin’ this look!

Here is a breakdown of today’s look–

EYES-
-Benefit Creaseless Eye Shadow in Birthday Suit
-Bare Escentuals Glisten Eye Shadow
-MAC Mystery e/s
-MAC Mont Black e/s
-Barry M Black Gold Dazzle Dust
-Urban Decay Demolition Eye Liner
-MAC Feline Kohl Power
-MUFE Smoky Lash
-Cover Girl Lash Blast

FACE-
-Laura Mercier Face Illuminator
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-NYX Blush in Natural
-Coty Airspun

LIPS-
-ELF Lipstick in Natural Nymph
-NARS Turkish Delight Lipgloss

I’ve been having a blast doing this taupe blog series! it’s enabling me to pair colors that I wouldn’t normally pair together–lots of mixing and matching–it’s been a lot of fun.

Do you ever work super hard to get that effortless “bed head/ chic, sexy” hair? Haha–I totally manipulated my hair to look messy, piecey and voluminous today. I wish I could just throw it in a side pony and have it look chic in 2.5 seconds–but no. *lol*

Today’s look is a smokey look (surprise, surprise!) Here is the breakdown of the look

EYES-

-LORAC Boudoir Eye Shadow
-MAC Painterly Paint Pot
-NYX Pots & Pan e/s Pencil
-MAC Carbon Eye Shadow
-MAC Black Tied Eye Shadow
-MAC Silver Ring Eye Shadow
-MAC Feline Kohl Power Eye Liner
-MUFE Smoky Lash
-Cover Girl Lash Blast
-MAC Vanilla Eye Shadow
-MAC Wedge Eye Shadow

FACE-
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-Hard Candy Pin Up Blush
-MAC Vanilla Eye Shadow (to highlight)
-Coty Airspun

LIPS-
-MAC Myth Lipstick
-Sleek Baby Doll Lipstick