Parian Spirit Brush Cleaner Review

Hello my lovelies! How are you all doing? I know I am a slacker! Forgive me! :)

Did anyone see Michael Jackson's Memorial at the Staples Center? I thought it was such a sweet tribute to the King of Pop, and the montage of him and his daughter's words brought me to tears. I am an 80's baby, and I grew up loving his songs, watching "Thriller" over and over again- my favorite song is "Rock with you", and it's definitely one of those songs you turn up in the car! It's sad we lost a legend so soon...I didn't realize how close his parents' house was to my work, literally like 5 minutes away. Of course the streets are blocked due to the overwhelming crowds, but I hope he knows how much people loved him and his music. :)

So I had a reader question ask me what the difference was between the MAC Fix+ Spray and the Model in a Bottle, the MAC Fix+ spray in a nutshell is a simple concoction of water, glycerin, and witch hazel (among other things), but mainly is a refreshing water spray that I personally use to mix with facial masks or even the Ly-Na Pearl Cream, or even just as a refresher on a hot day. Sometimes I also use it on my beauty blender sponge to apply my mineral foundation wet or to thin out liquid foundation. The Model in a Bottle is an actual setting spray that doesn't budge your makeup, it mattifies it and sets it so there is no need for touch-ups throughout the day. You spray it on over your makeup a few inches away from your face (eyes closed), and let it dry. It may feel sticky at first but goes away and then feels like normal. Great for hot days! I will try and do a comparison soon (with and without it). You'll notice your makeup lasts a lot longer than without!

Anyway, at the Makeup Show LA months ago, I picked up the Parian Spirit Brush Cleaner, at the shows the Parian Spirit Brush Cleaner Kit is only $20 and includes the canister with the grate, 2 brush cleaning wipes for traveling or on the go, a travel size spray, and a large 16oz. bottle that will last you a long time!

The grate itself is removable, and you clean your brushes against this for thorough cleaning. You can then clean the jar and grate when you are done and let it dry for next time. The best part about this brush cleaner is that it dries you brushes IMMEDIATELY. No waiting needed (except larger brushes such as buffer or face brushes as these might take longer to dry). The scent itself is citrus, nothing atrocious.



Product: 4 out of 5
Packaging: 5 out of 5
Quality: 5 out of 5
Overall: 5 out of 5
Price: Varies, can buy individually
Would I buy again? Yes
Where to buy? Various stores online, such as makeupmania.com, alcone.com, etc.

PROS:
- Cleans brushes quickly and thoroughly, dries immediately.
- Canister comes with a grate to help clean your brushes, washable and re-usable.
- The show kit/price comes with a lot for $20, and the 16oz. bottle will last you awhile!
- Canister is easy to travel with, great for makeup artists.
- Has a travel size (2oz) spray.

CONS:
- I am not too fond of the citrus smell (that goes for everything even oranges! I hate citrus-y scents for some weird reason)
- Canister itself isn't too big, therefore cannot clean huge face brushes.

Overall: It's currently my favorite brush cleaner, and it's unique. Very easy to clean brushes on a whim and I LOVE that it dries my brushes as quickly as I take it out and pat it on a paper towel. It's not damp- it's completely dry. Definitely recommend!

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The Best Night Ever! Vision Awards!

As you ladies know from a few posts back, there was a charity dinner at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to help find a cure for Retinitis Pigmentosa (blindness), and receiving a Vision Award for the Film of Vision were the Twilight producers among many others, so quite a few celebs came out to help raise money; and I was so glad to be part of this amazing night. They were all so nice and just as gorgeous as they are on TV and in the movies.

They also had a silent auction and some of the items were a MAC gift box filled with goodies, and an OPI basket!

My friend Irina and I got there at 4, before the red carpet (the carpet wasn't red, LOL), Gil Birmingham (aka Billy Black in Twilight) arrived first, he was SO AMAZINGLY sweet and his hair was awesome! He was later joined by Billy Burke (Bella's dad Charlie) and his gf.

They had 5 or 6 Twilight posters on a table in the front- all to be signed by the cast and producers that showed up that night.

Christian Serratos (who plays Angela) arrived in a gorgeous fuchsia dress, she is SUPER cute! And incredibly kind and sweet. Miss Teen California Chelsea Gilligan is gorgeous in person but she was so nervous presenting an award, she kept stuttering and was obviously reading off the teleprompt, but nonetheless she looked great. Ashley Greene (my favorite cullen other than Edward who plays Alice) was by far my favorite of the night, not only did she LOOK amazing, she was the most sweetest celeb I have ever met. She was so friendly, she chatted with people, always smiling, and never hesitated to take a pic with a fan. Her skin is flawless ladies! Like the girl is just perfect! I was so happy to have met her because she is indeed a pleasure to meet, total sweetheart!



We also ran into fitness guru Jillian Michaels who has bigger arms than some of the guys I know and damn they are killer! She has such an amazing body and she too is so gorgeous in person! She was also very sweet and complimented me on my dress, and asked me if I was enjoying the show, she received an award as well and she deserved it! I gotta get on her fitness plan! LOL!

The crazy Bai Ling was there with one of her many outrageous outfits, her boobs were out there and the host was saying how her dress should be illegal in this country, LOL. She was nicely tanned though I must say!

Peter Facinelli was a no-show, he was supposed to be in attendance but apparently there was some miscommunication with the organizer and his publicist. So sad. :(
Taylor Lautner arrived really late, like right when everyone was having dinner, due to the press and paparazzi that were still around, they took him around to the back. He was with his parents and security and they did not allow any pics of him or with him unfortunately. But I did manage to take a pic when he presented the Twilight producers with their award- and yes all the females in the place were screaming, lol. Poor Taylor, but he is SOOOOOO cute, and pretty tall in person (for some reason I thought he was short because I always see him standing next to Rob and Rob is really tall!) All the gals were sad they couldn't take a pic with him (myself included) since my sister LOVES him, I would have loved a pic with him for her, but ah well. At least I can say I was in the same room as him HAHA.

Alison Sweeney from Days of Our Lives & Biggest Loser was there, her dress was super cute and she has an amazing post baby bod! I would have never guessed she had kids! She was also so sweet with her husband, and called him over to take pics with her on the red carpet. Her makeup and hair were so amazingly put together and I told her I loved her as "Sami Brady" and she laughed and said "Thank you", chatting with me for a bit she was really nice as well.

I took a pic with the infamous Larry King, he was nice when I took this pic with him, but according to my friend managing the show, he was a bit crabby shortly after and wanted to go home because he was bored, so he wanted his wife Shawn King to perform her snippet rendition of a few MoTown classics so they could leave. *Shrugs*

Taryn Manning from "Hustle & Flow" was also there (she performed her own song) with DJ Qualls (the guy from "The New Guy). And Bruce Davison was also there who played "Senator Kelly" from X-Men, he has been in a lot of other movies and TV Shows.

Anyway, here are a few pics, I will never forget this night, it was just surreal and amazing!

On the "red carpet":




















Angela!


Twilight auction items:






Signed by RPattz himself:








Me and Jacob's Dad! LOL. I have a surprised look in the 2nd pic, don't know why haha















With Bella's Dad! Doesn't he look so happy? He hasn't hit the bar yet that's why, LOL.




With one of the producers from Twilight, Wyck Godfrey:


Taylor Lautner presenting the award for Film of Vision to the Twilight producers:








Ashley and Billy autographing the Twilight posters for auction:








She really looks like Alice here, lol:














Larry King:


View from our table:


(click to enlarge)


Dessert!


Alison Sweeney














Other items to be auctioned:






R.I.P.








Diane Ladd:




















And lastly, my smokey look of the evening using NYX's Smokey Eye Palette:

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IMATS 2009- Part 3 of 3 (HAUL)

(I finally replied to all the questions from my C-Box! ------>)

Finally, my last post on IMATS! This is pretty much all the goodies I got from the show, this has actually been the first time I bought anything makeup related in a long time (including last week's Vegas show), even though to me "long" is probably 2 weeks, LOL!

First of all, I wanted to say thanks to Jennifer and the people over at IMATS for the special invitation to both days of the shows as well as for all the wonderful things they did to make sure the show was a success; as well as for the awesome press kits!

I am trying to recuperate for Saturday (for that fundraiser dinner), so hopefully I can post before then, but I will be "Tweeting" from the dinner! :)

This was what was in the press kit:

- Royal Langnickel Brush Set
- Temptu Foundations
- Nurturing Force Oil Blotting Papers
- Youngblood Primer and Lipgloss
- LA Splash makeup bag with goodies
- BeautySoClean makeup cleaning spray
- Ziba Beauty Kohl Eyeliner
- Naked Cosmetics Pigment
- Senna lipstick and face color powder (that the booth gave for free)











And this is what I hauled, I bought:

- Model in a Bottle, which is a makeup setting spray I love, it keeps your makeup in place, no smudging, fading, and it's waterproof (haven't tested that part), but especially in this hot cali weather, I need something to keep my makeup in place, and this does it for me. I bought my first bottle ever for $20 at some salon, and the show price was $12! What a steal! So I got the "Sensitive Skin Formula" for my sensitive skin, we'll see how it goes!
- Royal Langnickel Brush Set that has a new brush I have not seen/heard before: a NOSE SHADING BRUSH! Great for contouring the sides of the nose!
- Large Kabuki Brush for $6
- More Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tars! I love them they are so pigmented! I will post some lip swatches soon!















To see more Obsessive Compulsive Lip Tar Swatches and Products from older posts: CLICK HERE

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IMATS 2009- Part 2 of 3

Here is a continuation of my IMATS coverage. FYI, IMATS focuses on special FX makeup hence why you will see a lot of pics showcasing this. It's amazing how much talent and time it takes to pull off the most unique creations! I have also included pics of the Chalk Festival I mentioned in my last post.































Gotta love the view from the back! LOL!
























My favorite!










John Lennon:

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IMATS 2009- Part 1 of 3 (PIC HEAVY!)

Hello ladies (and gents)! I have missed y'all dearly! I am on my last lap of my hectic schedule and come July I should be back to my blogging schedule where I at least post once a day. So I am slowly trying to get back into the groove of things, I haven't had internet access in about 3 or 4 days since I left my laptop at home and spent the weekend at the BF's mom's house so I was twittering from my phone, so sorry in advance for you ladies that have emailed me. (https://twitter.com/nessasarymakeup)

For last year's IMATS photos: CLICK HERE



Since I went picture crazy (as I was there for both days of the show), I am splitting IMATS into about 3 separate posts since there are tons to cover. I was part of "Press" so I tried to document as much as I could as if you ladies were there yourselves! So I will post my haul in my next post. I met some really awesome ladies- my blogger sisters and readers and it was SUCH A PLEASURE and an AWESOME experience meeting you all, and thanks to those that came up to say "Hello!". I finally met the gorgeous and talented Christine from Temptalia.com, Elessa (aka Pursebuzz) once again, as well as a few famous YouTubers like Sparkage, Judy, Fafinette (Aubrey) and Petrilude.

They are all so awesome as they are online and I was so excited to have met these wonderful people who share the same passion. I was sad I missed a few bloggers and friends such as Robyn from Purely Cosmetics, Linda from myprettypinkbox.com, as well as a few others. But I was happy to see the awesome gals i've hung out with before like Imee, Christiana, Jackie, and of course the readers! Bonnie and Ingrid you ladies are so sweet and I truly appreciate the wonderful gifts and it's such a pleasure to meet you Bonnie!

IMATS this year wasn't as good as last year's in my opinion. For some reason, as much as the venue itself seemed bigger, it felt much much smaller in the sense that not too many companies exhibited this time around, the economy perhaps??? Nonetheless, there were still some great deals to be snagged, such as Makeup Forever (MUFE) which gave 40% off all their products during the show, MAC PRO gave 20% off (they DID NOT give the MAC PRO cards without proper credentials anymore), and of course great deals on brushes galore.

I received a PRESS KIT goodie bag which I will post soon, but it had some awesome products I can't wait to try out. Unfortunately I got sick this past weekend, probably due to the fact that it was supposed to be sunny on Saturday but instead it was raining! So I wasn't dressed for the weather and now my head is stuffy so once I am in the makeup mood I'll play with 'em. I also have some new Purely Cosmetics goodies to share with you all as well soon!

They had a chalk festival across the street and it was SO INCREDIBLE how talented these people are, these art pieces were all done with pastels and chalk!

***IF ANY of you ladies have pics from the show, send 'em to me please!***

Anyways, here are some pics:











CLICK TO ENLARGE SOME OF THE PICS:














Me and Pursebuzz!




































Eve Pearl and Ingrid
































Maxi from "Blush"


Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

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IECSC Show Las Vegas!

Yay! I am back from Vegas and it feels good to be home, the weather in Vegas was ridiculously hot and I honestly missed the 70 degree weather the valley has been having for the past 2 weeks, although this weekend it's supposed to be hot...I can't believe it's been a year since last year's IECSC show, seems like yesterday!

The show in Vegas was nice as always, it's the IECSC show and they don't just do makeup which is always refreshing. They have spa treatments, massages, tanning, hair, nails, makeup, etc. and it's always nice to see new and upcoming companies and their innovative products. The NYX booth had goodies bags with various products at a great deal, like 22 eyeshadows or $15.

I didn't haul much since there's also IMATS this weekend, but I was excited to get my hands on a Konad Nail Stamping Kit! I also got more stencils for it and I loved the results! I will do a full post on it soon and how to use it. I also got the cutest nail dryer ever....it's a duck! I also got my favorite Ojon shampoo since it was more than half off at the show! Retail it's $22 an $18 for the conditioner and shampoo and at the show I got it for $10 and $12! I also got a couple China Glaze nailpolishes, some NYX lashes and a smokey eye palette, and just a couple brushes from of course Crown Brush. I also got 3 Modern Basic lipsticks and a blush which I forgot to take a pic of, so I'll add it in another post later.

Anyway here are some pics!






The outfit:


My haul:










































Teeth Whitening:
































Crown Brushes had 2 booths:






With some of my friends:

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Reader Questions:

I am going to Vegas this weekend to cover the IECSC makeup, hair and nail show! So of course I will be bringing you gals back some photos and info on new companies! In the meantime here are some reader questions!

Q: Where did you get your black rose ring? (from the booze cruise post)
A: I usually get all my rings from either Forever21 or Wetseal, they have the cutest rings!

Q: What is the difference between the $10 IMATS ticket and the $35 one?
A: The $10 ticket is just for the Exhibit Floor, meaning you can go around and buy products from the booths (the people exhibiting), the $35 ticket includes the Exhibit Floor, lectures, classes and keynote speakers so you can learn more about various topics that you may want to learn more about such as airbrush makeup, mineral makeup, or special fx makeup.

Q: I swear this blog is becoming nessasarytwilightnews.com.... im just not a fan of twilight so im annoyed at the lack of makeup :(
A: You are more than welcome to read other makeup blogs or start your own. This is my own personal blog that is not solely about makeup but other random things that appeal to me and because I have been so busy lately with my job as well as other things going on, I haven't really played with makeup, hence I am blogging about other things to fill up the time until I do have more time to get back into it. Blogging about a cake or a fundraiser for a good cause isn't a big deal, so just relax. You can't please everybody!

Q: Do you have to be a MAC Pro member to buy an empty pan palette?
A: No, you do NOT have to be a mac pro member to buy the empty eyeshadow or blush palettes, or the refills that go into it. Simply walk into any freestanding MAC store and ask for them and they will sell it to you.

Q: How long does it take to apply your makeup?
A: It varies, if I do a quick look i've done before it can take 15 minutes, a natural look (like just mascara or eyeliner) takes less than 10 minutes, if I am doing a more intricate look with more colors or whatnot, or just experimenting it takes me much longer, like an hour!

Q: What's your favorite face primer?
A: Right now I am using two, MAC Skin + Base Primer which feels more like a primer and comes in a small black bottle, and then I am using the Korres Primer which I also like because it just feels like a moisturizer and glides on better then feels like a primer. I also love the lemon scent it has!

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BDAY FOTD & Dinner Craziness

So last Sunday I had a birthday dinner with a few friends and finally did a look! My co-worker Irina also got me the BEST CAKE ever....an ice cream cake with RPattz (aka Edward Cullen) on it that read "Happy Birthday Mrs. Cullen", I squealed and was the happiest person on earth, LOL. Everyone at the table is in on my obsession and they too loved the cake, however I told them to NOT eat his gorgeous face!

It was even on Twicrackaddict.blogspot.com!











Got birthday nails!


What I used:

[Face]
- MAC Skin Primer
- MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NC30
- Buff'd Mineral Foundation in "Chamois" and "Almond"
- Purely Cosmetics Diamond Finish Powder

[Cheeks]
- Korres Bronzer to contour
- MAC "Fashion Frenzy" blush

[Eyes]
- Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer
- MUFE eyeshadow #26 (pink) on the inner lids
- MUFE eyeshadow #9 (purple) on the middle of the lid
- MAC e/s in "top hat" (starflash, LE) and "nocturnelle" e/s on outer-V and contour
- MAC e/s in "Rondelle" and "Shroom" as highlight
- MAC Fluidline in "Blacktrack"
- L'Oreal Mascara
- Urban Decay "Electric" liner on lower lashline

[Lips]
- MAC l/s in "Snob"

My awesome cake:


Post on Twicrackaddict:




Irina going Twilight crazy...she got the board game too! LOL!

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Vision Awards

I am so excited to announce the following!



I will be attending the 36th Annual Vision Awards (www.visionawards.org) on Saturday July 27th at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel; all proceeds go to help fight Retinitis Pigmentosa, an eye disease that causes blindness and other degenerative eye diseases. Tickets are $200 which includes dinner and entertainment, while mingling with a few notable celebs, and hosted by Larry King.

......the BEST part?!!! Ready???

"Twilight" producers as well as the movie are being honored as the "Film of Vision", and my friend who works for RP International (who is producing this red carpet gala event) told me that there is confirmed appearances by some of the Twilight cast such as: Ashley Greene, Billy Burke, Taylor Lautner, and Peter Facinelli.

I AM SOOO EXCITED!!! To even meet one of them is insane! And you are helping a good cause! So if ANY of you ladies are interested in attending this event, let me know! Again each seat is $200. You can view the invitation here: CLICK HERE. And hey! We can also meet! :)

Others that will be honored and recognized:

FILM
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
SEVEN POUNDS
TWILIGHT
VALKYRIE

TELEVISION
DAMAGES
GREY’S ANATOMY
MAD MEN
RECOUNT
TWO AND A HALF MEN

Here is my invitation!

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The Booze Cruise!

Hello my lovely ladies! Hope you all had a great weekend, as for me as I was computer-less, as I was out this entire weekend and wasn't even near a computer, but like I mentioned a few posts back my company was hosting a Casino Cruise last Friday, so I thought id post some pics with some of my co-workers/friends. It was really fun even though I got a bit sea sick at first! But the view was so gorgeous...





Irina's tat:


My sales team all wearing heels, LOL.


Me and Carolina (not my beer, I was holding it so he could take our pic, LOL)


Me and mom-to-be Stacey (the same co-worker that had the wedding a few posts ago)


My co-worker Cynthia with my other co-worker's daughter Aubrey, isn't she CUTE!?

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