Sheila this one is for you!

Sup nessa. I tried the Telescopic mascara... all I have to say is THANK YOU! I love it! I haven't really tried NYX shadows. I don't know, I guess I'm wary of trying something that is not MAC and I find it harder to believe something that is $3 is worth a buy... haha... but you're changing my mind more and more by reading your blog, because your shadow jobs look great. Is the NYX pigment just as strong strong as MAC?

A: I am glad you love the mascara! It's one of my favorites along with the 'Panoramic Curl' (I tend to switch depending on my mood haha). Well I always say, "Better isn't always best". I love MAC, I honestly do, they have been the epitomy of makeup since before I was even allowed to wear makeup, haha; and I actually have a few of their eyeshadows. I suggested NYX because they are actually really great eyeshadows for people who are on a budget. For ONE MAC eyeshadow at $14.50, you can get almost FIVE NYX eyeshadows! The pigments of a NYX are almost the same as MAC if not the same. I noticed that I use the same number of "swipes" on my applicator with both MAC and NYX. So if you like, you can definitely BUY ONE and see how you like it, I personally like the NYX loose pigments more than the eyeshadows because they deliver a nice shimmery boost of color EXACTLY like MAC's, so try those. [pictured below]. Like I mentioned before, my eyeshadows are MIXED, so one color could be L'Oreal, one could be MAC, one could be Flirt Cosmetics, or one could be NYC. I never use the same brands of eyeshadow for one look, not as a rule, but I just noticed I never do.

It's best to play with different brands of makeup to achieve different looks, if you stay with one brand, you are limited to how many different looks you can do. I like ALL brands of eyeshadow, Sephora brand eyeshadows work well too ($10), and I love the bright colors L'oreal has.

For a "base eyeshadow" (or what they call a highlighting shadow), there isn't much sense to spend $15 for it when it ends up being covered by your actual eyeshadow, which is why I absolutely cannot live without Revlon's "White Whisper" ($7) and Flirt's "Limelight" ($10) which comes in a super cute compact with a mirror. (Available at Kohl's).

These are some of the items I recently purchased to add to my growing collection of what my mom likes to call "junk" (aka "makeup"):



I also bought a "kabuki brush" [picture to the very left], this is great for getting more control of applying powder or brushing off excess shadows on your cheeks. And of course my bf Jon has to make a cameo!





Again, these are the ones you want to get, I believe they are $2.99 each and they are equivalent to MAC's Pigments in my opinion.