Nails: Sephora by OPI Spark-Tacular! Top Coat over Essie Fun in the Gondola

The main purpose of this post is to better show what Sephora's Spark-Tacular! Top Coat looks like. I felt that the pictures in my last post weren't as good as they could have been, and I only showed the Top Coat worn alone and layered for a glittery effect. This time I'm showing it used as it was intended, as a top coat over other nail polishes. This is to help inform you on whether or not you would like to purchase this product. I'm no nail expert, but I just like fun pretty things so yeah :) I hope you like the effect!

Graftobian HD Glamour Creme Foundation Palette

Eeep! I just recently received my Graftobian HD Glamour Creme Foundation Palette in Warm in the mail.

SO excited. It was a bit of an investment, as it was $70 (dies a little) but I really did and do consider it a must-have. It's just so handy. It comes with 18 different colors, and it will be your transitional piece all throughout the year when your skin tone is changing due to the sun or if you're doing your friend's makeup. You can use these creme products for any type of coverage you want, whether it be foundation or concealer. The coverage is very pleasing to me, it is medium to full, and though it is a cream product I don't find it to be too slippery or emollient. I much prefer it to the Eve Pearl HD foundation because that product is just too creamy for me, and way too emollient. It feels like it never sets. I do set the Graftobian foundation with transluscent powder, just for extra staying power, and because my skin is on the dewy side and I prefer to matte it down or else my foundation will just slide right off. 

No clue why there are little pink splotches on some of the foundation. That really bothered me. I know cream products sweat but these were like pink little irregularities. :( Hope it's not a defect in the product.

I'm not showing how this foundation wears in this post, but in my next FOTD I will be wearing it, so you can see it there. I do have swatches for you though! Here you are :) I hope you find this helpful.

SWATCHES:

Graceful Swan, Ingenue, Vixen, Femme Fatala, Enchantress, Temptress

Sunlit Linen, Buttermilk, Desert Sand, Golden Sunset, Winter Wheat, Deep Xanthe

Midnight Marigold, Ginger, Burnt Amber, Pecan, Sienna, Caramel

It is not a super long lasting foundation, but it does last throughout the majority of the day I would say. My HG foundation is Estee Lauder, nothing else will ever compare, but I am extremely allergic to it and for the sake of my skin (which had become painfully irritated and bumpy) I had to stop. I like the Graftobian set very much, and my most accurate colors are Temptress, Vixen, Femme Fatale, Sunlit Linen, Buttermilk, and Desert Sand. All these match me ish and I typically blend 2 or 3 together as I'm going from tan-ish to not tan at all. Right now my exact shade alone could be Temptress. I prefer to mix my colors either to bring out the brown in my skin or to create a most accurate or a preferrable shade. Sometimes you want to look a little warmer or darker then what you naturally are so it is great to play around with this palette for that purpose.

A Beautiful Combination

I love playing around with makeup, especially when I'm at home, bored, doing nothing. So I randomly decided to spruce up my face and try more face makeup then I ever wear. The result was amazing. The three face products I used were Laura Geller Blush-N-Brighten (only the highlighter portion), Tarte Park Avenue Princess Bronzer, and NARS Madly Blush.

This is in no way an FOTD or even a makeup demonstration. I am literally just showing you pictures of an amazing combo. My hair's not done, I'm in pajamas, and I only have eyeshadow on one eye. So... yeah.

How divinely gorgeous is this combo?!

It shines even without flash :)

I thought this was a beautiful result. The colors all complement each other so well and it's just such a warm beautiful look. I used the bronzer as contour (even though it doesn't contour very well because it's just too warm and not a deep enough brown), blush on the apples of my cheeks, and highlighter on top of my cheek. 

I LOVE these products. 

Laura Geller's Blush-N-Brighten. I don't really use the blush portion often because I find that it actually blends in with my skin and isn't very noticeable/visible. The highlighter, Portofino, on the other hand is amazing. I actually PREFER this to Dior Amber Diamond. Like, a lot. It kind of bothers me... oh well. SO psyched that Portofino finally came out on its own! I first searched for this on the Laura Geller website and I actually couldn't find it. Now they're promoting it on its own! http://www.laurageller.com/store/highlighters/products/baked-highlighter-with-double-ended-face

Tarte Park Princess Ave. is a nice bronzer to have, and works great with this look. It's nice on it's own and actually very very subtle. It's a little warmer then I would prefer and I'm going to keep looking for other bronzers.

Nars Madly. Divine. Beautiful blush. It's warm and pinky brown and just gorgeous. It looks amazing. A little goes a long way!

Flash

No Flash

Hope you all have enjoyed this brief post! 

Lip Service

Kat Von D Hellbent | MAC Up The Amp

MAC Angel | MAC Girl About Town

SEPTEMBER BIRCHBOX!

It's Birchbox time! I apologize for not putting up August's Birchbox up yet, that will be happening sometime within the next few days. Unfortunately my sister was away on a trip and had my camera for that Birchbox, so I had to use my cell phone to take the pics :/ Anyway, this month's Birchbox haul is awesome. I like it much more then last month's. At least, I like the look of it. When I first opened the box I was soo excited. However after trying three of the products, I only like one of them, and it's just like not love. So yeah. But before I burst your bubble, take a look at my Birchbox loot first :) Details will come after the pics.

BIRCHBOX                                                                                                    THANKS TO YOU! 

                                                                                                                         SEPTEMBER 2011

Resilient blinc | Mascara                                                                                           0.21 oz | $24

Long days call for sweatproof, waterproof mascara. This tubing mascara does the trick and looks extra glossy too.

Adventurous Incoco | Nail Polish Applique                                                 16 strips | $7.99- $10.99

We all have a wild side. Nail strips are the latest trend- try them on your fingers or toes.

Practical Jouer | Lip Enhancer                                                                                 .33 fl oz | $14

Why settle for plain 'ol lip balm when you can hydrate, plump, and condition all in one go? Right, we thought so.

Eco-Minded LIV GRN | Natural Eau de Parfum                                                     3. 4 fl oz | $60

Made from sustainable ingredients, this bright scent is laced with orange and neroli. Plus, ten percent of sales go directly to Global Green, an environmental non-profit.

EXTRA Lash Card

Smear not: This hand card ensures that you rmascara stays on your lashes, not on your eyelids.

TREAT Birchbox Friendship Bracelet

Break it down, Clown:

Blinc Mascara- Blech :( Horrible. Note in the description it says nothing about lengthening or volumizing. That's because it does NEITHER of those things. Extra glossy, yes. The formula is very very wet and actually flecked onto my eyelids in like three different places. I suspect they threw the Glamour Card in because they realized you would need something to deflect that wetness. It made my lashes much more sparse by tubing them all together so it looks like nasty unflattering black spikes shooting out of my eye. Ew :'( Hot mess express :(

* mascara only applied to the top lashes

Incoco Nail Polish Applique- :'( So so sad. I don't know if it was just me but these appliques really didn't work well for me. They are so beautiful though. They really are. However, when it came to applying them it was just a disastrous experience. The appliques are real nail polish (with top coat included isn't that crazy?) and they're very flexible. However, this was bad in my case because when filing away the excess, the tips would just rip off. The appliques tore very easily, and they just didn't seem to stick well to my nails on the corners, or fit my nail bed particularly well. I'm still really sad about how this didn't work out because as I said the appliques were beautiful, and they were my favorite part of the Birchbox. I was so excited when I saw them. I really did almost cry when I kept making a mess with the appliques. The thing with this is, if you mess up there's no going back. If it's ripped, it's ripped.

Jouer Lip Enhancer- This is an interesting product. The thing about it is that it doesn't really absorb very much so your lips will have that balm feeling for hours. However, it's probably the closest thing I've found to a lip balm I like. Nothing moisturizes my lips like Vaseline, but this is pretty good. It does plump a bit I think. I noticed it had that tingly type of effect (but not bad like the Buxom lip products ugh, horrible, makes my lips feel fiery), and wondered if it was supposed to plump. Now I know it is haha and it does make my lips look... fatter? Don't know if that's a good thing. It doesn't feel sticky like a gloss but to me it makes your lips look glossy. It is also colorless.

Unflattering pic of my lips- they look about an inch wide don't they?

That's all I've tried! There's not much magic to the glamour card, but I do appreciate them throwing it in there. The more the better! Also I don't think I'm going to try the fragrance sample, I just hate perfumes. On me anyway. And as for the friendship bracelet, also really simple but once again I appreciate the effort! It's huge on my wrist, as it is on probably a lot of girls wrists because it is just a huge piece of string.

Excuse the white mark- dunno what that is! Bit of dried toothpaste maybe?

Bracelet... sliding off my wrist... off my hand.