Last weekend my SO and I went to a surprise birthday dinner for a good friend of ours. For my makeup, I wanted to do something warm toned and slightly fall-inspired. Summer has been fun and all but I'm so ready for Halloween and cooler weather. I can't be the only one! 

I'm still obsessed with Halo Eye application so that's what I went for here. I've been wanting to use my FF Gemtone eyeshadows in some way other than as an inner corner highlight. For this look, I layered Sun Crystal over my trusty Darling Girl brown base and it looked gorgeous, particularly patted in the center of the lid. I have to say, I really love my Gemtone colors. Not only are they stunning, but extremely versatile. It may just be my most favorite collection I own. 

Product List:

Skin79 Orange BB Cream

LA Girl Concealer in Natural

Urban Decay Naked Skin Loose Powder

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Tarte Exposed Blush

Becca Opal Highlighter

Nars Pro Primer 

Femme Fatale Sun Crystal

Darling Girl Hot Cocoa Eye Base, Gold Digger Chromaglow

Blackbird Dog Days, Thirteen, Fire Pledge, Lucid, Half Full

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz 

Kae Q Herbology Lipstick

Hi readers! I wanted to share some looks I did last week. I finally found a good place with natural lighting to take some full face shots of my makeup! Any other bloggers or selfie lovers out there will understand how exciting this can be. I find it helpful to see a full face shot of someone's makeup along with a closeup on the eyes so you can get the full picture of how their look came together. I have a pressing tutorial with photos coming this week, I just need to document the actual process still :)

Product List (look 1):

Skin79 Orange BB Cream

LA Girl Concealer in Natural

Urban Decay Naked Skin Loose Powder

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Darling Girl Purple Haze Blush

Hello Waffle Lavender Cream Highlighter

Nars Pro Primer 

Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind

Darling Girl Sakura Season, Hot as Baelfire, Unicorn, Enigmatic

Blackbird Dog Days and Half Full

Inglot Gel Liner in #90 Dark Brown

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz 

Darling Girl Love Bug Lip Gloss

Hello readers! So you guys may or may not know that I'm really into pressing my indie eyeshadows. I actually don't hate them in their loose form or anything but I find that there are a lot of benefits to pressing my shadows. Pressing them is more storage efficient and travel friendly. I save time by not having to unscrewed 5 jars in the morning. I often discover that pressing shades help with pigmentation too (especially Femme Fatale eyeshadows, they are like butta now). I've managed to press a good amount of my collection thus far and my most recent endeavor has been pressing nearly all of my Darling Girl shadows into a convenient palette. I'm just 2 shadows short (!!) of pressing a full palette. I have a pressing tutorial and pressing collection post in the works for those of you who are interested in learning how to press for yourself. 

Now getting back to today's post, most of the shadows showcased below are some recent additions to my pressed palette. In the pan, Taystee Girl looked like a pretty baby blue with pink iridescence. When placed on the eye, TG transforms into nearly a solid ballerina pink because of the strong duochrome. This unintentionally turned it into a Cotton Candy inspired look! Or a baby shower look, whichever you prefer. Taystee Girl is a perfect example of how duochromatic shifts can come out even stronger when pressed. 

Product List:

- Nars Pro Primer

- Blackbird Dim Tradition

- Blackbird Thirteen

- Blackbird Dog Days 

- DG Taystee Girl

- DG Reckoning

- DG Don't Cross The Streams

- Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind

- Nyx Brow Gel

- Inglot Gel Liner in #90 Dark Brown 

- Maybelline The Falsies Mascara

- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown 

- Skin79 Orange BB Cream

- Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer

- Urban Decay Naked Loose Setting Powder

- Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette (Havana, Fawn, Banana)

- DG Sassy Sakura Blush

- DG Ophelia Lumos Highlighter (still obsessed with this)

- NYX Round Lipstick in Thalia

Hi readers! Today I wanted to share with you my favorite look to do when I'm not testing out new products and want to wear some purple. I try to change up my eyeshadow looks constantly in an effort to make sure my collection is actually getting used but this particular combination holds a special place in my heart! Unfortunately the main shades I'm using were Colors of The Month back in 2014 and are no longer available but these are probably my favorite shades from Shiro Cosmetics.

While this eyeshadow combo is an old stand-by for me, this was my first time trying out Life's Entropy Catalyst Lip Theory. The color is a very on trend slightly-grey mauve and it paired nicely with the multitude of purples on my eyes. I plan on doing a full review of these products soon so keep your eyes peeled. 

Product List: 

Skin 79 Orange BB Cream

Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer

Urban Decay Naked Setting Powder

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Tarte Exposed Blush

Darling Girl Ophelia Lumos Highlighter

Nars Pro Primer

Shiro Chinchillin'

Shiro Dammit Moon Moon

Shiro It's Gonna Be May

Blackbird Dog Days

Blackbird Thirteen 

Blackbird Vintage

Urban Decay Foxy 

Inglot Gel Liner in #77 Black

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

NYX Micro Brow Pencil

NYX Setting Gel 

NYX Lip Liner in Pale Pink

LE Catalyst Lip Theory 

Hi everyone! I have an EoTD using some deep greens and browns to share with you today. The star product of the look is Darling Girl Cosmetics Dragon's Breath Diamond Dust eyeshadow. This was my first experience using an eyeshadow from their Diamond Dust catalog, which are described as light-catching shadows filled with lustrous glitter. I would absolutely agree with that - the glitter in this shadow is absolutely gorgeous and nearly impossible to pick up on camera. In person, the gold  shimmer you see on my lid was gold glitter. You'll definitely need a sticky base for this but I highly recommend you guys pick up a mini of your favorite color in the line - I think I want them all now!

Product List:

- Nars Pro Primer

- Urban Decay Foxy

- DG Hot Cocoa Eye Base

- Dragon's Breath

- Break The Internet

- Aranza Zazu Who 

- Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind

- Urban Decay Faint

- Inglot Gel Liner in #77 Black

- Maybelline The Falsies Mascara

- Nyx Micro Brow Pencil & Brow Gel

Hi readers! I have a backlog of shadows I want to swatch and review but it's literally been raining every day in the last two weeks -_- As I've slowed down on my indie purchases, I've been really trying to utilize colors I already have and work on my makeup skills. Today I had some time to get ready and play with my makeup before meeting up with a friend for dinner. This is the first time I've applied false lashes in a while and I forgot how they enhance a look! These ones are the Koko lashes in Goddess (they're a dupe for the House of Lashes Noir Fairy lashes). 

Hi readers! Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. Yesterday my look consisted of some warm browns and bronze shades from my Darling Girl Cosmetics haul. If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I find reds and reddened browns a bit intimidating but I actually really like how this look turned out. I applied it before work around 10AM and it was still going strong 12 hours later at a BBQ party. I'd describe it as a daytime appropriate reddish brown smokey eye. I tend to change up my eye looks constantly but I think this one is going to get a lot of wear this summer. 

Products Used: 

Hello everyone! On Monday I received a rather large and exciting haul from Darling Girl Cosmetics and couldn't wait to try out a few shades. The color I had been looking forward to most is There Is No Dana, a brightened orange copper with an intense gold metallic sheen. I decided this color was going to be the focus of my look so I paired it with That's A Big Twinkie, a beige-pink with a soft blue duochrome also from the Ghostbusters Collection. Through the crease I used #breaktheinternet, a warm matte brown. I used Hot Cocoa as a base for all the shadows. I was pressed for time but I really like how daytime-appropriate this look turned out. To make it a nighttime look, I'd probably add a deeper brown to the crease and outer corner and pop on some false lashes. 

This week has been pretty hectic but I'll be swatching my Darling Girl Haul next week. I also have the complete Once Upon A Time collection to review, including the new wave that's launching next month! 

I also used my usual Nars Pro Primer, Inglot Gel Liner in #90 Dark Brown, Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, and Nyx Micro Brow Pencil in Blonde for my brows. Sorry if my skin looks a bit scaly in these pictures, the skin around my eyes has been unusually dry lately. 

I finally got a chance to play around with Femme Fatale Cosmetics Mood Ring eyeshadow, a gorgeous deep berry with a soft blue shift. I have a hard time pulling off bright red and pink eyeshadows, but I'm totally zen with berry shades, particularly when worn in the crease. I got lots of compliments on this look, which like NEVER happens irl, so it's pretty safe to say Mood Ring and I are about to get pretty serious :) 

I decided to pair it with Hello Waffle Cosmetics Heavy Breathing Cat, an interesting silver taupe with gold shimmer and some of my trusty matte neutrals (Thirteen as a transition shade, Half Full as a eyebrow highlight) from Blackbird Cosmetics pressed line. Right before getting ready for work, I received a lovely package from my exchange partner containing some products from a new-to-me indie cosmetics brand, Life's Entropy. Inside were a couple of pretty looking eyeshadows and two Lip Theory lip paints in Chaos (a beautiful brightened berry) and PKA (a warm marsala red). I decided to wear Chaos to compliment the wine tones in Mood Ring. HOLY CRAP. It's now been over nine hours and this color is STILL hanging on. I've been drinking water all day long and ate a salad for lunch so it has faded slightly into more of a stain but this pigmentation and longevity is outstanding. This is exactly what I wanted the OCC Lip Tars but from an independent business woman and at half the price. I've yet to try PKA but suffice to say, if the experience is similar to wearing Chaos, I'll definitely be purchasing some more! They have a new shade called Catalyst that looks to be in the same griege family as LC Cashmere. They offer sample test tubes of the different shades here, which is a great bang for your buck! 

Happy Friday guys! I wanted to share a look I created yesterday using one of my most loved eyeshadows ever, Darling Girl Cosmetics My Little Pony. It's a beautiful lavender purple with a subtle green shift and pink sparkles. This is probably my most reached for purple for the lid. To bring the sparkle and shift out, I applied it over top of Darling Girl's Glitter Glue. I used a couple of shades from the Urban Decay original Vice palette to blend out and deepen the crease. Inglot Gel Liner in #90 Dark Brown to tightline, Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister on the water line, NYX Brow Wiz dupe in Blonde on my brow, and NYX Brow Gel to set it in place.