&*(Walgreens Haul && Swatches)*&

Hello lovelies! I have returned a day late, but returned none the less! haha I am still getting into the swing of things with blogging again and working on the facebook fan page so thank you all for support and sticking with me! I appreciate each of you who take the time to look at my blog or keep up with me on facebook! Now it's time to get to the good stuff! =)

So I do not have a large haul but I wanted to do swatches of some products I'd heard great reviews on and if you are a nail art lover such as myself, I found some great finds at Walgreens that I had to share! So let's get to it!

First off, I have been wanting to try Wet n Wild products for awhile now after so many reviews I've seen through YouTube and the blogger world. There was a hit and a miss in what I picked up. Let's start with miss.

 

 

So I used to use my BFTE cosmetics eye shadows wet as eyeliner and with the company being shut down for an undetermined amount of time, I figured it was time to venture out into actual color eyeliner pencils. Well, unfortunately I do not see me using these in the future.

 

 

 

While the colors might swatch well and have an okay color payoff, I could tell instantly these would not be long wearing, especially for waterline. It claims to 1: Be rich in color. This is true. The colors are beautiful. I give them kudos for that. 2, they claim they apply smoothly. I agree, they were smooth to apply. 3, they are creamy to be able to be used in different ways. While they are creamy, they 4th claim fails completely. They are not long lasting. At all.

 

 







The top smudge line is with the slightest pressure which still shows that it smeared even with the slightest touch. The middle smudge line was with medium pressure, swiped once. These are fun colors but I do not feel they would last very long actually on the eyes. For me, I have dry eyes which makes me have to use eye drops throughout the day. This no doubt would fade any liner off my water line. So for me personally, I call this a miss.

 

Next up are a hit! The Wet n Wild coloricon palettes! I picked up the famed The Naked Truth palette and for fun and a future project, the Spoiled Brat palette.

 

 

 

So let's start with what is a personal hit for me, the Spoiled Brat palette.

 

(Left is a dry swatch, right is wet)

 

These palettes are so buildable which is by far the best quality about them! Not only are they buildable, but the colors are so soft and pigmented. I own a lot of different eye shadows from different companies, but I do not own anything close to this silver. It has a high powered shine to it and is like melted silver. If you are a fan of silver eye shadows, pick this palette up! It's worth it! The black color is VERY sparkly which in my case, I love. It blends well and can be built easily to a seriously strong black. The pink shade is pretty and able to start out as a soft pink or buildable to give a powerful punch of color!

 

Next is The Naked Truth palette.

 

 

I wish these palettes had names for the colors so I could better describe them. I'll start with the lightest color. As you can tell, it's my skin tone which is why Spoiled Brat palette is better in my opinion. For me personally, the colors of this palette just do not work as well for my light complexion. The second lightest shade still doesn't show much and honestly the flash I think is the only reason you see it on my skin. Without the bright lighting, it's hard to see on me as well. The last colors though are beautiful and I love for a smoky eye. The darkest color is such a great smoke out color and could be paired with so many color combinations. It looks shiny but this color is actually matte. Lighting issues caused it to look slightly different. The next color is a frosty finish but a beautiful color for an everyday neutral look. The last color is a copper color that has glitter in it but it is still a very wearable color for any day. All of these colors are creamy and easy to apply, just some didn't show on my lighter skin.

 

The last items I picked up were found at the end of an isle and I picked up every style of them that I found in my store! They are nail art decals. I was shocked to find these gem wheels for $2! What a steal! Here are the styles I picked up! The first one I think is my favorite and I can't wait till after Valentine's Day to play with!

 

 

 

I will be playing with these more over the next few days and plan on using the Spoiled Brat palette this weekend so hopefully I'll have a new look tutorial for you all soon. I'm also working on doing my nails tomorrow for a new nail tutorial so stick with me! I really am returning to the blogging scene!

 

If you would like to keep up to date on new posts, please follow my facebook fan page by clicking like:

 

https://www.facebook.com/skindeepunique

 

I try to post on there of upcoming posts and such! I hope you all are doing wonderful and as always..

 

Until next time, stay smiling!

LB











Update && BFTE Cosmetics last Day to Purchase!!!

Hello my lovelies! I AM BACK! Finally, I know! My last courses in college kept me away a little longer but as of Wednesday, I am officially a college graduate! I now have my degree in business and all the hard work and having to put off my passions has paid off! This last semester was crazy stressful with trying to visit family and do college. I just didn't have enough time to really put into giving you all the best posts I could make so I waited till I graduated to return.

I will be working on new posts and possibly re-amping my blog over the next few days so thank you all for sticking with me through this last year and the lack of posting! I really do appreciate those who have viewed this blog! It really is a passion of mine but I wanted to pursue a higher education as well.

Who knows what the future holds for me but I think that's the exciting part about life! I'm finding what I'd like to do in the future and love having my creative outlet here with all of you but also love having this business degree to see what doors it can open for me! I have a real eye for business so this is exciting to me to see what happens next!

Anyways, enough about me! Back to the huge point to this post!

As you all may know, I'm a huge fan of BFTE cosmetics. Huge as in own probably 300+ colors now. I was blown away by the quality of this company and the company's owner. Crystal was a huge inspiration to me to start sharing my looks to lead to the confidence of throwing myself out there in the blogging world. I was so amazed by the amount of talent posted on the fan page on facebook that I started gaining confidence in my own abilities, not to mention have found my own style through this adventure!

Crystal has decided to close the doors for an undetermined amount of time to take a break and find what she would like to do next. As we all go through phases in our lives to find what we want to accomplish in our lives, I respect her loyalty to herself as well as fans in this time she is taking to figure out what is next.

Just as I am doing with finding what is a best fit in my life, she is as well! I wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors and do hope that BFTE cosmetics reopens again! The BFTE cosmetics fanpage on facebook has been my go to for inspiration, encouragement, and friendship.

If you are wanting to purchase today, please visit:

www.bftecosmetics.com

or to get inspired like I was by Crystal and the talent on the fanpage:
Please search BFTE Cosmetics on facebook!

They are doing giveaways today as well! Check them out!!

So to end this post, thank you to this wonderful company for opening my eyes to this world of beauty and teaching me to be true to myself and what I want to accomplish in my life, no matter what the size of the goal is!




Keep dreaming lovelies! Aim for the stars! Study, learn from others, ask questions, be creative, and most importantly, ALWAYS be true to who you are.

Stay beautiful lovelies,
LB

&*(Smokey Eye Tutorial w/ Too Faced Smokey Eyeshadow Collection)*&

Hello lovelys! Sorry for the day delay! Due to bad lighting, bad camera, and my phone just not taking good pictures, I've done this tutorial three times now and I apologize for not the best pictures! I'm in the process of looking for a better camera but until then, I just have my phone so bear with me! haha ANYWAYS...

So this was a request from one of my closest friends, Michelle, who I adore and of course had to make sure I did this tutorial for her! I decided since it's so overdue, that I'd try to deal with the bad pictures! So Michelle, I'm sorry but I hope this will help!

Her request was a tutorial on how I do a simple smokey eye! This is my first makeup picture tutorial so please be kind! haha I promise next time I'll use flash (like in the below picture haha) with an actual camera to get better pics!

So here we go!

So here are the products I used:

Benefit Stay Don't Stray primer for concealers & eyeshadows
Too Faced Smokey Eye shadow Collection
Sephora brand Brushes from their recent brush collection for the holidays
Maybelline Lash Stiletto waterproof mascara (Its in black, although the sticker is missing so not sure what the name exactly might be for the black)
Avon dual ended eye liner in Black-Silver

So the colors I used in order are:

White Lie as the highlight
In a Flash as the second color on the lid
Up in Smoke for defining the crease
Smokin Hot to darken outer V

I used these two brushes for the look. A flat detailing brush and a fluffy blending brush.

Now, time to start the step by step tutorial!

First, I used an eyeshadow primer. I usually use Urban Decay's primer potion but I just got this primer from Sephora and I'm in love! Benefit Stay Don't Stray primer for concealers & eyeshadows is fantastic! I love that it's extremely close to my skin tone and it helps also to keep your concealer in place!

Primers are great at making sure your eyeshadows last a long time without creasing through out the day. I recommend using a primer but it isn't needed!! For this primer, I just used a pump of the primer on my finger and blended it in over my whole eye, corner of my eye, and under eye area.

So this is an awful picture, I'm sorry!! I will explain all the lines to make this easy! hehe Adding a highlight color can help to brighten the eye area and bring emphasis to your eyes. For my simple smokey eye, I start by highlighting right under my eyebrow. This will instantly add light to your eye area.

Next, always add a little of that light highlight color to the inner corner of your eye. This will also bring light to your eye. Now to start the smokey eye, keep in mind start from your lightest color and work your way darker going towards your outer corner of your eye.

In this case, I used White Lie on the inner 1/4 of my eye. I like using light colors on the inner part of my eye to just add more light to the eye. I know it sounds strange to add "light" to a smokey eye but stick with me! I promise it works out! haha Now, I usually make my highlight under my eyebrow kind of bold and then blend it down to my crease. This step you don't have to really do but I like how it looks in the end.

Again picture quality is horrible. =( My camera was just not working with me.. Sigh.. Anyways, next I took the color In a Flash and blended it into the rest of the lid.

Tip: So you don't end up with it going straight from white to gray, use this trick! I used the flat brush for these two colors. I used one side for the white, and the other for the gray. When you get done putting the gray on your lid and need to blend that line inbetween the two colors, load up each side of the brush with white on one side and gray on the other. Start packing on the white over that line inbetween the two colors, then use the gray over that part you just added the white too. As you go back and forth between the two colors, slowly dragging the brush over that line, it'll blend flawlessly! Easy right?!



The next step is to start defining your crease. This is where the fluffy brush comes in. This step isn't really "needed," but I like using this technique when doing a smokey eye. Taking a darker color than your eye shadows on your lid, but not your final darkest color, helps you to slowly mark where you want your smokey crease to be. For me, I like a larger crease because you can see that your makeup is smokey when your eye is open. So, to do this, you take your fluffy brush and darken just the outer corner of your lid and then slowly drag the brush over your crease.

Keep in mind for my smokey eye, I keep the 3/4 rule. 3/4 up to my eyebrow, 3/4 of the way to my inner corner of my eye. I like to keep that inner 1/4 of my eye light so I don't drag the crease all the way to the corner.

Now it's time to add the really smokey effect by adding your darkest shade to your eye. For my smokey eye, I just darken my outer V and blend.. blend.. blend.

Your outer V is the corner of your eye lid and about half of the crease. I put in a V on the image to kind of help you to figure out where it is located! =) Easy right?

A blending brush is really essential here! Now I'm not saying you have to use expensive brushes from Sephora to get a great look like this. You can easily use brushes from ELF (www.eyeslipsface.com) cosmetics or something that are like a $1.00. To be completely honest, my go to brushes are from ELF! haha Just decided to treat myself to some different brushes! =) You can even find flat detail brushes or fluffy brushes like this at your local craft store! They don't have to be "makeup" brushes.

Last but not least, just add your eye liner and mascara. =) I used the silver on the inner half of my bottom lash line and black liner on the outer half. Add mascara, and bam! You have a dramatic look that is really wearable! I wore this look to a Christmas Benefit Concert. =)

Final tips for this look:

Remember, light colors on the inner part of your lid and under eyebrows!
Blend, Blend, Blend. It's your hero in a look like this!
Choose any color scheme and just start with the lightest color on the inner eye and go darker on the outer eye.
To balance out the look, if I go with a strong bold or dark eye, I make my lips a neutral color like a light pink of champagne nude shade.

I hope this helps, Michelle! Let me know if this broke it down for you and show me a look you do! =)

Thanks for all the support everyone and stick around! I'll be doing more things in this upcoming week! =)


If you enjoyed this photo tutorial, let me know! Maybe I'll start doing more of these! =)

Until next time,... Remember, Stay smiling!

XoXoXo,
LB