From the category archives:

Beauty

Fave Five Friday: Lipstick and Lip Gloss Edition

by agirlandhermutt on April 6, 2012

Although I’ve decided to reign in the focus on the blog I’m not giving up my Fave Five Friday. I have things that I love and I want to share! I hope you don’t mind.

True story time…Back when I was in college I entered a contest at a make-up counter in the mall for “Best Lips of Tallahassee”. All I had to do was to put some lipstick on, kiss this board, and then people voted on who had the best puckers. I won. Two years in a row. Woot! If I could put it on my resume, I totally would.

My love affair with lip glosses and lipsticks started around that time. I realized that I could instantly brighten up my face, change the whole vibe of my look, and have to do very little makeup to look put together.

I typically wear lip gloss all by itself, but I also have some favorite lipstick/lip gloss combos. Almost all of these are drugstore brands on purpose so that anyone can pick these up or find them in a local store.

Fave Five Friday: Lipstick + Lip gloss Edition

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Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick (Soft Nude) ~$7
with Sephora Ultra Shine Lip Gloss (Shiny Natural Look) $14

= A nice pinkish nude color combo. Revlon ColorBurst lipstick is great on its own. Not only is it creamy is it long lasting with tons of pigmentation, but its also really creamy feeling. The addition of the Sephora lip gloss just gives a bit of shine without any sticky feeling. Mentioned this one before.

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Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick (Peach) ~$7
with Revlon ColorBurst Liplogss (Sunset Peach) ~$7

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= The color combo of the summer. Peach and coral are everywhere for the season and I’m loving it. I think people tend to shy away from the peach colors because they immediately think they are going to look too orange. Totally not the case for this lipstick. It has a lovely pink hue undertone and is really flattering. The addition of the lipgloss just adds that pop of gloss that pulls the color all together.

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NYC Ultra Moist Lipwear (Sheer Red) $0.99
with Loreal Infallible 8 Hr Le Gloss (Rebel Red)
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=A bold statement. I have big ol’ lips and have a hard time with red lips sometimes. This NYC lipstick is the BEST. It’s the perfect red color without being too purple or pink. The addition of the gloss just adds that touch of shine and I find that the whole look just stays together longer throughout the day.

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NYC Ultra Last Lipwear (Snow Cone) $1.99
with NYC Liquid Lipshine Prospect Pink $2.50

=Barbie overload. I was a little nervous when I first picked up this frosty pink color, but it was just too cute. The pink has a nice shine without looking like you are wearing your Hello Kitty lipstick from middle school. This gloss is just simply to create that glossy look. I wear this lipstick and gloss separately often, but together they are the perfect pair.

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Mary Kay Crème Lipstick (Sunlit Sands) $13
with MaryKay Nourishine Lip Gloss (Beach Bronze) $14
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= The ultimate combo for all you tan lovelies. When I’m a bit tanner and want a natural look I throw this combo on. The first nude combo I showed is a bit too white looking when I’m tanner so this is my back-up colors. For those of you who are not as ghostly white as I am on a regular basis then this could be a regular neautral combo. I don’t wear the lipstick on its own much because it feels a little dry for me, but the gloss is great on its own. It isn’t sticky and lasts for several hours. I’m looking forward to breaking out these colors soon!

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I hope you guys are wrapping up your week and ready for the weekend. I don’t have much on the agenda and I couldn’t be more excited about that. A little pilates and an Easter celebration. Doesn’t that sound lovely?!

See ya Monday and don’t forget that you have some time to enter my Fishs Eddy NYC giveaway!

{ 1 comment }

Birthday Gift to Myself!

by agirlandhermutt on February 7, 2012

Hello friends! In my February goals post I mentioned that I would be refraining from buying an make-up until March 1st because I bought myself a pretty nice birthday gift. This is true and it is also because I have entirely too much junk anyway. I need to “hit pan”, or see the silver pan on an empty container, on a few things before I start moving to some new stuff.

Check out this mess of a make-up collection. Mom, Dad and The Scientist…just look away. We won’t be able to look at each other the same way once you see how much I have. My only saving grace is that compared to some of the folks I obsessively watch on YouTube, my little batch is nothing. Not sure if that helps me or not.

The bag is dedicated to all lip products. This bag doesn’t contain my faves that I keep in my purse (about 12 scattered around the place).

I have to keep this bag up pretty high because as I’ve mentioned before Korky is obsessed with all things lipstick, lipgloss and chapstick related.

No joke. Even as I was taking pictures he had to get in on the action really quick.

I change up my lipstick on a daily basis and don’t have any color that I wear every single day. The only thing that doesn’t look so good on me (and I learned this the hard way) is anything with a purplish brown tone. Eek.

I do love, love, love ELF lip balms. They smell great and are soo smooth.

I’m also a huge fan of Revlon Colorburst lipstick.

Korky and I are both Mary Kay fans. The lipsticks and the glosses are super smooth and fantastic! My Mom is neighbors with a woman who is a Mary Kay rep so whenever MK make-up appears in the routine know that it is coming all the way from Florida. I used to think MK was a rip-off but they have some seriously great stuff.

My craziness of too much stuff doesn’t end with lip products though. I have plenty of general face and eye stuff too.

So this all brings me to my latest Sephora splurge. I had a gift card and it was burning a whole in my pocket. Concealer and eye shadow to the rescue.

I was having some serious issues with my old concealer. It was creating white like spots around my eyes in photos and it looked like I had constant raccoon eyes going on.

I had read about Benefit’s Erase Paste a few times and decided to give it a try. At $26 this is not a normal purchase for me. If you have noticed the majority of my make-up is drugstore. Its not that I don’t enjoy higher end products, but I’ve found some cheaper alternatives that work just as well, if not better, for me.

My shade is fair which is a little bit of a peachy color. This concealer is super thick and it totally gets the job done. A litte goes a long way. Good thing because this jar is tiny.

My second splurge, and the main reason for my Sephora shopping, was the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I’ve been obsessed with getting the first version of this palette when it first came out. I just had a really hard time justifying $50 though. Gift card and birthday rolled around at just the right time.

The idea of this palette is to give you several pigment-rich neutral colors that aren’t boring. They totally got the job done with this.

There is a nice mix of matte and shimmer colors that all work together really well. Notice I said shimmer. Not glitter. You can totally wear these colors to work and not look like a hot mess who forgot to wash her make-up off from a night of clubbin’.

There isn’t a color I don’t like in this palette. Although I will admit that I’ve only dabbled in the Blackout to try it out. I’m not so good with the super dark colors just yet and The Scientist asked me if I had been crying. Ugh. Not good folks. Practice, practice, practice!

The palette also comes with a great double-ended brush, a mirror and a little sample lip gloss that I am totally falling for.

One of the great things about ordering from Sephora with their Beauty Insider card is getting free gifts every now and then. This time they threw in a Bare Essentials Buxom lipgloss. It was tiny and cute!

I should have read a little more about this before I slapped it on though. Buxom apparently means that this is a “plumping gloss”. Dear god. I put it on and about half-way through breakfast I felt like I was becoming Professor Klump. I kept asking The Scientist if I looked like I was having an allergic reaction. Beauty is hard kids! Oh, and if you are wondering…yes, I have used it again. There is no live and learn in this house.

So, no make-up buying until March 1st. I know I can do this…but it is sooo hard!Grrr.

Anyone else have a great love for make-up? Have you tried any of the items above?

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Fave Five Friday: LUSH Edition!

by agirlandhermutt on October 7, 2011

It’s Fave Five Friday! This week I decided to focus my love on LUSH, a handmade cosmetics company that has a range of products from soaps and lotions to shampoo and face wash.

When I first made the decision to look at a job in Boston over 6 years ago I made a quick trip to the city to check things out. When I did a lady I had become friends with through the internet (creepy sounding huh?) was nice enough to meet up with me to give me a little tour. She was also nice enough to bring me a little gift of her fave products from some of her fave stores in Boston. Two of the products in the basket were from LUSH. I enjoyed them, but kind of forgot about them after an unfortunate incident with a dry shampoo.

Recently our love was rekindled and I’m happy to report that our relationship is going strong. Here are some of my faves.

1. Fresh Face Masks ~$6.95
These refrigerated masks are made fresh with an expiration date so they are only sold in stores. They have a variety available to cover all types of skin types and issues. My face changed overnight after the first time I used one of these. So fresh and so clean clean. <–Outkast reference anyone?!

Of the few I’ve tried my absolute fave is Brazened Honey. This mask is for tired skin and is designed to provide a deep cleanse and balance.This mask is a combo of honey, eggs, lime oil and ground almonds for exfoliation. Because the exfoliation can be a bit harsh this one isn’t for sensitive skin. I’m an exfoliation junkie so this works jussstttt right for me.

My second fave is Love Lettuce. Its like a Green Monster for your face. This one is made for all skin types. It’s a mix of seaweed and lavender oil. There is a bit of exfoliation with this one, but nothing major.

2. Tea Tree Toner Tab ~$1.95
Just drop one of these tabs in a bowl of warm water and instantly you have an at-home facial steam. The tea tree is advertised as “great for congested skin”. Any time I start to have a blemish flare up I just drop one of these babies in a bowl of warm water and get to it. Instantly my face feels tighter and brighter.

Two Tips:
1. Cut the tabs in half. More bang for your buck!
2. Don’t forget to save the water! You can put it in a bowl or water spritzer and use it as a toner after your regular face wash for the next few days.

3. Sweet Lips lip scrub ~$8.95
This sugar scrub smells like a candy bar. It doesn’t taste too bad either. I wear a TON of lipstick and lipgloss so this scrub helps me get off all that extra residue. It not only exfoliates but also moisturizes. This little scrub step is my favorite part of my bedtime routine!

4. Whoosh Shower Jellies ~$10.95
I enjoy this soap more for the novelty than anything. I love trying to keep a handle on this jelly soap as I am in the shower. The whoosh jelly is a nice mix of citrus smells and I keep it in the fridge. It’s a chilly way to wake-up! Someone described the smell as “clorox wipes” but I happen to love the smell of cleaning products. To each their own.

5. Honey I Washed the Kids Soap ~$7.95
This best seller was my very first LUSH product. The soap has a combo smell of toffee and honey. Hello?! Isn’t that love worthy?! In addition to being yummy, it is also moisturizing and actually lasts for a really long time. Plus, it looks like a honeycomb!

Just like any other store, not everything at LUSH is hunky-dory. On a recent trip to this wonderful store I saw this little box by the checkout called Toothy Tabs. I paid my $3.95 for 40 tabs and went on my merry way.

The idea is that you take one tab, crush it up with your teeth, wet your toothbrush and then brush as normal. There is only one problem with this…they taste like perfume. Yep. PERFUME. It wasn’t until I took a better look at the box that I saw that it was actually flavored with Gorilla Perfume? That’s disgusting. Who does that?!

Who is ready for a weekend?! Apparently Columbus Day in Monday. Is it awful that I didn’t know that? I haven’t had it off as a holiday in YEARS and there isn’t a “celebration” going on. Am I think only one that was in the dark about this?! I feel like I would be a failure on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”. Eek.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see ya Monday!

Are you into LUSH at all? Have you tried any of their products?