&*(BFTE Cosmetics Looks!)*&

Hello loves! So I know I'm a little late getting this up. I apologize. I've been busy getting ready for my father in law to come to visit and just had a lot of stuff going on. ANYWAYS!

So I finally got to play with my colors and I have to admit, I didn't think I could be any more impressed but yet I am! These colors blend so well and I love their staying power! Even my go to eye makeup remover *extra virgin olive oil* had a little trouble which hey! I'm okay with! I rather have my colors stay put so that means I don't have to do touch ups 5 times a day! haha

Anyways, I decided to also do a look with the new color of the week: Iced Violets. The color of the week is where you get a full size jar of eye shadow for the sample size price.. $2.00. I love Iced Violets because its such a soft purple which is not something I have in my collection. Definitely check it out!

http://www.bftecosmetics.com/

**Note: I haven't done my hair for the day yet... Its 4 AM. haha Decided it was just easier to put it in a pony tail and keep my bangs to the side haha*

First Look -- Neutral

I truly believe everyone should learn to do a neutral look as one of their first looks. As many guru's and such have pointed out.. makeup shouldn't define you, just enhance your natural beauty! I personally usually do purple looks because of my eye color BUT neutrals will look good on ANYONE! =)

Remember be happy with who you are underneath your makeup too!!

First tip of this Blog! haha

All colors are exactly as said in picture BUT...

I took Truffle AND Oak and blended to the brow bone. I like truffle as a matte color BUT I wanted some sparkle too this which Oak is exactly that!! No matter how much I tried my flash took out the sparkle and since its 4 AM.. I kind of needed the flash! haha

My picture above this I liked but I wanted a little more flash too it so I added Autumn as a liner.. I just smudged it into the lower lash line.

Second Look -- Green on Green

 Okay, Second Tip of this Blog: DEFINITELY have a larger fluffy brush to blend out harsh lines and blend colors together. My first attempts with these eyeshadows I couldn't find any of mine and it was harder to blend with a contour brush. I LOVE the fluffy blending brush from ELF. I used all ELF brushes for these looks. =)

I had never done a bright color like this but I decided to try and even though I have green/hazel eyes.. I really like this on me.

Third tip of this Blog: Don't be afraid of color. Think about it. Your eyes are not closed all the time *unless sleeping haha* so you won't see all the bright colors the whole time your eyes are open! Bold colors can enhance your eye color as well! =)

Just as the last look, everything is as is in the picture but I blended Green Apple and Caribbean together all the way to the brow bone.

I have to say out of these colors, I am loving $10 Pineapple! I'm going to buy a full size of this color as well as Butt Naked which are such great high light colors for me. Personally I just love the sparkle in $10 Pineapple. =)

Third Look -- Smokey Blues

Usually I stay away from blue unless its a blue smokey eye. A lot of people tend to fear blues because they can sometimes be really intense but...

Fourth Tip of this Blog: NOT ALL SHADES OF BLUE OR GREEN OR PURPLE etc are the same! Don't be afraid to try a color that you wouldn't normally wear. In this case, I mixed a bold blue called Bermuda with a charcoal sparkly gray called Alakazam to tone the color down to make it more wearable.

Fifth tip of this Blog: Ever have one of those days where you are running late and you have to do your makeup fast; try a neutral lid and a pop of bright color on the lower lash line! It will instantly brighten your face and you are out the door! =)

As I wrote earlier, your eye is not always open so the colors are not as intense when your eye is open. I decided to just show an example of this look. Personally I wish I would have done an eyeliner on the bottom lash line to just make this a little more intense of a smokey eye but that's just me.

Sixth tip of this Blog: As you can see usually always add a color to my crease. Doing this adds depth to your eyes and is key to doing a smokey eye. I personally don't take the color in my crease all the way to the inner corner of the eye because I feel it becomes too harsh and like to keep light colors on the inner corner to brighten the eye area.

Just as the others, I decided to blend two colors to the brow bone.. Alakazam and Bermuda.

For me, Bermuda is a little too bold of a blue for me all over the lid so I just toned it down with another color. I do that a lot when it comes to a lot of the palettes I have and such.

Seventh tip of this Blog: Use a lighter color than your skin tone on your inner corner of your eye. This instantly brightens the eye area! I used Butt Naked on the inner corner and under my eyebrow.

Fourth Look -- Mixing Colors

Mixing color combinations to make an eye look is one way to instantly grab people's attention. I personally LOVE using teal colors as a lower lash line color. It brings a pop of color to the look and compliments the other colors used.

I kept the lid very light and then put the bold teal on the bottom to bring attention to the eyes.

Eighth tip of the Blog: Okay, so I didn't do this with this look because its 4 AM and I was only wearing lip balm BUT remember the best rule with makeup... If you do a bright eye or bold eye makeup, make sure you do your lips in a nude/neutral color.

If you do a light eye, then do a bold lip! You don't want your makeup to be too in your face *no pun intended haha* and as I pointed out before, just enhance the beauty you already have!!! =)

As you can see in this look, I chose to do a light pink, purple (the color of the week, this week!!!), and the pop of teal.

This is actually what I'll be wearing today!

Remember, be creative! Try things you wouldn't before! You'll be amazed. I never thought I'd like yellow on me or pinks and I actually do!

Have fun with your makeup! =)

Remember to check out http://www.bftecosmetics.com/ every week to see if a color you want has been chosen as the color of the week. Join their fan page on facebook (just seach Beauty From the Earth) and you can help choose the color of the week and keep up to date on sales and contests!

Thanks for reading and hope you liked all the looks and tips! I'll definitely do more soon!!

XoXoXo,

LB

<3

&*(BFTE Swatches!!!)*&

Hello loves! I'm back again!! <3 So I actually finished my swatches earlier since I decided I would hold myself back from playing yet and just get the swatches up so everyone can see these beautiful colors! As most of you know, I'm very picky about makeup and the companies that I get behind but I love everything about this company!

Every single color blended easily and were very pigmented. I'm the type of person that the makeup I use has to be pigmented! I don't want to spend hours just building colors. These are beautiful colors that you can make lighter but build quickly. I seriously am addicted to this company! If you have facebook, definitely look them up! All the people on the site are so nice as well! Definitely a fan page I check everyday! Just search Beauty From The Earth!

You can order from them at: http://www.bftecosmetics.com/

Sample sizes are $2.00
Full sizes are $6.50

They also have a color of the week that is a full size color they sell for a week that is at the sample size price!

They sell a variety of products so definitely check them out! Okay okay, I'm done gushing about this company! Now to the good stuff! Duh, the makeup!!

=)

NOTE: In the swatches, I have them in sets of four colors. First swatch is dry, then wet, finally with ELF mineral eye primer!

I ordered three 16 pc sample tins and the color of the week. =)

I'm personally a purpleholic so I had one tin of just purples! haha

Personally in this tin, my favorite 5 would have to be:

1.) Sugar Plum

2.) Rock You

3.) Orchid

4.) Grape

5.) Midnight Kisses

Top Row

1.) Twister
2.) Iced Violets

Bottom Row

1.)Belle of the Ball
2.) Purple Iris

Top Row

1.) Runaway
2.) Sugar Plum

Bottom Row

1.) Grape
2.) Big Ego

Top Row

1.) Midnight Kisses
2.) Unicorn

Bottom Row

1.) Class Act (loose glitter.. didn't stay without a good primer)
2.) Rock You

Top Row

1.) Orchid

2.) Embrace (looks lavender in container, but actually comes off as a reddish purple.. very unique)

Bottom Row

1.) Aphrodite
2.) Panurple

My second tin was like my rainbow tin! haha I love teals and greens as eyeliner colors for me so I have several of those colors. I don't usually wear brighter colors but everyone's pictures online looked amazing so I thought I'd try them!!
Favorite 5 from this tin would be:
1.) Illusion
2.) Envy
3.) Aloha
4.) Miracle
5.) $10 Pineapple

Top Row

1.) Breeze

2.) Bermuda

Bottom Row

1.) Miracle
2.) Fairytale

Top Row

1.) Charm
2.) Voodoo

Bottom Row

1.) Illusion
2.) Caribbean



Top Row

1.) Green Apple
2.) Lemon

Bottom Row

1.) $10 Pineapple
2.) Envy

Top Row

1.) Aloha
2.) Princess

Bottom Row

1.) Passion
2.) Raspberry

Far Left is my full size jar that I got of the color of the week.. Sweet N Spicy

The last tin I ordered, I decided to make it into my neutrals, highlights, and colors for a deep smokey eye.

Favorite 5 out of this tin would be:
1.) Butt Naked
2.) Alakazam
3.) Steel
4.) Beautiful
5.) Celtic Charms

Top Row

1.) Butt Naked
2.) Beautiful
 
Bottom Row

1.) Eggplant Light
2.) Lynx (this is a sample of their highlighter face product)

Top Row

1.) Oak
2.) Truffle

Bottom Row

1.) Satin Sheets
2.) Coal

Top Row

1.) Alakazam (sorry this image is a bit blurry)
2.) Mississippi Mud

Bottom Row

1.) Celtic Charms
2.) Autumn

Top Row

1.) Smoke
2.) Black

Bottom Row

1.) Dirty Deals
2.) Steel








Hope you all enjoy all the swatches! Sorry a few look a bit messy or were a bit blurry! If you want better swatches of any color, let me know! I aim to please! =)

I'll be doing some looks with their makeup tomorrow so stay tuned!

Until next time, remember to always stay smiling!

XoXoXo,
LB

&*(Too Excited about BFTE Cosmetics! Had to Share!!)*&

Hello lovelys! Okay so I know I do not have any swatches ready yet and heck, I just opened my shipment but I'm super excited to share with you all a company I found on FaceBook actually!!

BFTE *Beauty From The Earth* Cosmetics!

I just ordered three 16 pc sample tins and look how beautiful the colors are!! I mean seriously!! haha I have ordered from ALOT of companies but I have never enjoyed with with a company as much as BFTE. Their customer service is great and their facebook page (Search for Beauty From the Earth to find their fan page) was just something else. Everyone on the fan page has been great and are all super nice and help each other find the right colors! It's amazing to find such a well ran fan page! I read the page for about 2 months before I decided to order and as you all know, when I order I go big! haha Loving all the colors and am about to jump off here to go do some looks for some pictures on here as well! haha I've gotten excited before with other companies but not like this!

As everyone says on the fan page, thanks for feeding my makeup addiction with such great products! I will be telling ALL of my friends about this company! Seriously check it out! Swatches of all colors tomorrow! I better get busy!

Till then, remember always stay smiling!
XoXoXo,
LB

&*(Quick Nail Polish Removal Trick)*&

I'm back again with a quick tip for removing tough nail polish. =)

Have you ever done your nails and it was a dark color, lots of layers of colors, or have glitter and its difficult to remove? Well here is my way of removing nail polish EVERY time!! =)

I always tend to have a lot of nail polish in my designs and such so this is my go-to too remove nail polish.

You need the following items:

1.) Nail Polish Remover of your choice
2.) Q-Tips
3.) Aluminum Foil.. Yes.. Aluminum foil haha
4.) A Paper Towel

This takes about 10 minutes so keep reading if you want to learn another way to remove your nail polish in one swipe!

Start with ripping a small piece of paper towel and soaking it in nail polish remover.

I personally fold my paper towel in half and then rip a piece off so its two sided to hold more remover.

Now form the piece of paper towel to your nail. Rub the paper towel into your nail. As you can see, I was removing my cupcake nails and was removing the polish from my yellow painted nail.

Yup, you guessed it! Now take a strip of foil and cover the paper towel covered nail.

This will keep the soaked paper towel in place.

Now finish all of your nails with these steps!

It's that easy! Now wait 5-10 minutes!

I personally hate how cold your fingers get when you keep them in the nail polish remover and I hate having to scrub at my nails to remove the polish.

When you remove these, most of the polish will come off in one swipe. Literally I was able to see the cupcake design in the paper towel when I pulled these off! haha My cupcake design had ALOT of flaky glitter which is hard to remove and usually hard on the tops of your nails. This works perfectly!
Sometimes I'd dip my nails back down into my nail polish remover to soak the paper towel again and just to help remove the polish.

To remove the foil and paper towel.. Rub across the foil again just to help loosen up the polish and paper towel. I usually rub across like 5-15 times to just help loosen them up. Then to remove, press firmly on the middle of the nail and slide the foil/paper towel off. Make sure to keep some pressure on the nail to remove.

As you can see with my pointer finger, it pulls most of the polish off. If not, you can always slide your nail back into the foil and rub the rest of the polish off. I like to make the paper towel strips big enough to go around my nail so I have an extra side to wipe the last of the polish off. Use the q-tips to clean up any edges or last polish.

There you go! All finished. Wash your hands and you have clean nails to start your next nail creation!!


I hope you liked this little trick! I know I use it all the time especially if I used glitter or a lot of polish!!

I will have more reviews coming up and check out the star tutorial I just did as well!

Remember Always Keep Smiling!!!!!

XoXoXo,
LB

&*(Nail Tutorial -- Be a Star)*&

Hello again loves! As promised, I am getting my nail tutorial up today! I apologize its a day late. I had a few complications with the nail polishes I used... will explain as I do the tutorial! lol

I put up on my FaceBook page asking people to give me some requests of nail designs. I absolutely LOVE the challenge plus I love putting stuff up that I know you want to see! So as requested by one of my good friends, Larissa, I have put together a bright star design. She wanted green and pink but sadly I couldn't find that right green to go with the pinks that I had. =( I ended up doing orange with pink for the summer time! =)

So hope you enjoy! Thank you again for the request Larissa! Keep them coming everyone!! =)

Keep reading for the step by step tutorial to do the nails below!!! ENJOY!

Products I used:
As my primer/base coat... I just used my favorite nail hardener by Sally Hansen! I HAVE to use a product like this or I'll end up breaking my nails quickly.
As the base color, I chose AVON nail enamel in Viva Pink. First I have to say I love Avon nail polishes and the colors are beautiful and affordable, but the dry time on this nail polish even with thin layers was AWFUL!!!! I'll stick to their speed dry nail polishes.
For the sparkles on the pink, I used KleanColor Nail Lacquer in Fuschia Glitter.. I didn't use the larger pieces of glitter in this polish, just the rainbow sparkles.

For the detailing I used:
As the base stripe, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Sun Kissed. I'm a huge fan of these polishes and have almost all the Xtreme wear colors! haha
For just added detailing and cleaning up the Sun Kissed stripe, I used a blue based pink by Nabi Nail Art Lacquer in Bright Pink. I'd never heard of this brand of nail art striping polishes but I LOVE THEM! I want more! haha
For the stars.. I didn't have any star glitters so I just used the star glitters in this polish by KleanColor Nail Lacquer called Silver Star!

So to start as always, ALWAYS treat your nails with a base coat or like I did, use a hardener to protect your nails. I personally did two coats of hardener to make sure my nails were protected from staining and to help keep my nails from breaking since I'm still growing my pinky nail out after it broke! haha

Base color time! I did two thin coats of Viva Pink. This took forever to dry and it was very streaky. A good dupe by Avon would be Strawberry of their speed dry collection. Its a little darker but dry time would have been much better!!

Instead of doing a french tip, I did the same technique but diagonal across the nail with the sun kissed color. If the line isn't straight or perfect, no worries! I used my pin striping along the edge of the lines to clean it up.

Remember, you don't have to be perfect or whatever! Nail polish can be messy! You can always clean up the edges when you are done! When I first started doing french tips, I'd start on my skin and then rotate my nail to get the perfect line! haha Its okay to make mistakes.
=)

You can see on my middle finger, I have polish on my skin too! haha People ask me how I get the perfect nails.. its because I started out messy and cleaned them up! ;-)

Now to start the glitter!! I decided to do the glitter before doing the pin stripes on the edge of the orange color. For this, literally just add as much glitter to the pink part of the nail.

You could always have just regular glitter and clear nail polish. I wish I'd had done that. For that option, just add clear nail polish where you want the glitter to stick then sprinkle the glitter over those spots.. Let it dry, then wipe away the extra glitter on the nail! =)

Now add the Fuschia Pink pin striping polish on the edges of the orange color. This will clear up the lines plus you can see it better than my camera picks up. On your nails, it shows up as a highlighter pink color with a slight blue tone.

After I did that, I added the stars from the polish. This again would have been easier with just nail glitters and clear nail polish but since I didn't have any star glitters, I did it the hard way. I used a paper plate to put the polish on, got a star on the end of the brush, then placed it. Took a bit of time, but I like the result!


Well I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!! I know I'll be wearing these nails for at least a week or so! =) I will be posting a great trick after this post about how to take off thick hard to remove nail polish! I will have reviews of BFTE *Beauty from The Earth* Cosmetics this week as well! Thanks again for all the support! <3


Remember until Next Time, ALWAYS STAY SMILING!
XOXOXO,
LB

&*(Just a Quick Update)*&

Hello loves! I apologize that I haven't posted recently. I'm currently in the process of starting to pack my house, waiting on orders to come in to review, and getting ready for my father in law to visit! I'm super excited he's getting to come visit and see us here in New Mexico before we move. I promise I will have new posts here soon.

Some things to look forward too:
BFTE (Beauty From The Earth) Cosmetics Swatches/Reviews
Nail designs such as pink and green stars, red carpet ready nails, pin strip nails, and more!
Avon reviews since I used to sell Avon ( I HAVE LOTS TO REVIEW )
And more!!

Please stick with me, I promise new stuff is coming!! Just been really busy lately and enjoying the cupcake nails I did! haha Will be changing them out this week as well as posting another nail tutorial!!

Thank you again to everyone who has shared my link, supported me, and listen to my insanely girly rambles about makeup and nail art! haha I appreciate every view and all the support. Even the critism is great so I know how better to reach out too all my fans of my page! Thank you all! I will be trying to change up my site this week as well so like I said stick with me! I promise I'll get it all set up this week!!

Until then, remember always stay smiling!
And always do what you love, be passionate, be creative.. JUST BE YOU! =)

XOXOXO,
LB

&*(Nail Tutorial -- Sweet Strawberry)*&

Hello loves! =) I'm back again early in the morning with my newest nail design. My husband is stuck working crazy hours so I stayed up late and decided to do new nails and since you have all been patient with me, I decided to put it before I go to bed even though its 4:30 in the morning haha!

So this is my newest design! Read ahead for a step by step tutorial and the products I used!

Sorry the lighting was bad.. I have a better pic of my whole hand at the end! =)

So here we go!!
*Instead of taking pictures of each bottle, I took two pictures of the products I used and will list and say where I used them! =)

Left to Right
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
Sinful Colors Professionals Base Coat
AVON Speed Dry Nail Enamel in Strawberry
Pure Ice in Watermelon Ice

Left to Right
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Going Green
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in White On
Sinful Colors Professional in Green Ocean
Sinful Colors Professional in Pinky Glitter

Since I broke my pinky nail, I decided to start with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener to help keep my nails strong. It never hurts also with using bold colors to make sure you have a good base coat to keep your nails from having stains.

So on the safe side since I've dyed my nails before without a base haha, I added two coats of Sinful Colors Professional Base Coat... I am a fan of their nail polish so when I was shopping for the perfect green today for the leaf part of the strawberry nails, I picked up this base coat. I may do a review on it later on. =)



Now to start the strawberry nails! =) I love Avon products so when looking for the perfect shade for the strawberry, I found AVON Speed Dry Nail Enamel in Strawberry! I love tons of AVON nail polish so I was glad to get to use this one. It does dry quick which was also a plus!




Now if you know me, I LOVE sparkle so I decided to add an extra step and coat the entire nail with Pure Ice in Watermelon Ice. You don't have to add as much sparkle as I did of course, but I like the added effect.

Now to add the leaf part of the strawberry. Okay, this may seem hard but once you get started, it gets easier, I promise! haha You can do this two ways.. either use just the brush of the nail polish, or you can use an old paint detailing brush. Personally I used both, although I found that to just create the leaf part, its easier to use the brush and just clean up the lines with a detailing brush.

You create the leaf part of the strawberry by creating three triangles, making the middle one longer than the other two. To clean up the edges, I just put a drop of nail polish on a paper plate and used the detail brush I had laying around the house to clean up the lines. Also remember, these don't have to be perfect and they don't have to come to a point like mine did!

Be creative. You can make them rounded or pointed, doesn't matter! Make the design your own! =)

I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Going Green for the leaf part. I found this color just complimented the pinky red color.

Now time for the little details. So I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in White On. Either with the tip of the brush of the nail polish or a detailing brush, add random spots to the pink part of the nails. I used a detailing brush for a little better control with the spots.

This is again just an added step that wasn't really needed, but I took Sinful Colors in Pinky Glitter and dotted it over the white color. I personally wanted this to be a very sparkly look.

Sorry the quality of the picture is bad... I promise the spots are more of a light pink now.. haha

To finish the sparkly effect, I added Sinful Colors in Green Ocean over the green leaf part. This glitter nail polish is fantastic. It has chunky foil like glitter in it and it makes for a really great way to finish the look!

I personally LOVE the bold colors and glitter but you don't have to have them as flashy! Take out the glitter nail polishes and you still have a great look!


So I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! This was definitely one of the harder nail designs I've done but once I got started, it does get easier I promise! I hope you all give this a try, this would be perfect for the summer months ahead!

Remember, Always keep Smiling!

XoXo,
LB