Holiday Gift Ideas and Stocking Stuffers

Having trouble finding a gift for your best friend? Or perhaps you want to drop a few hints to your boyfriend or hubby?

Here are some nifty gift ideas:

1. Clinique Personalized 'Happy' Perfume, allows you to place your own picture on the bottle! $52


2. Prescriptives Colorscope Refillable Eye and Cheek Palette (Warm & Cool), $52


3. Lancome Jeweled Affair Palette, $52.50


4. Sephora So Belle Multi-use Palette, $25


5. Sephora Metallic Sequin Clutch, $18


6. Philosophy Multi-Use wash in Cinnamon Buns, $16


7. Napolean Perdis Palette, $39


8. POP Beauty Lid Silver, smoldering silver smokey looks! $22


9. Sephora Electro-Glitter Eye Pencils, $8 (awesome dupe of MAC glitter eye pencils)


10. LORAC Mini Mocktal Bar Lipgloss Set, $25


11. Sugar I dream of sugar palette, $38


12. Laure Geller Baked Basics (dupe of MAC MSF's), $48


13. Sephora Glitter Spray, $8

Cosmetics Company Store & AVON Haul

So I was going to post last night, but the BF was hogging the laptop...that will be fixed soon because (shhh! im getting him one for Xmas!) so hopefully I won't have to share anymore. LOL.

The BF and I went to Camarillo Outlets last night, I realized that a weekday is the best time to go there because there was literally NO ONE there as opposed to the weekends where it's packed and good luck trying to find parking...

I went to the CCO store and picked me up some items (after I just said that I wasn't going to shop anymore!) but since MAC items are so much cheaper there, I can't refuse! I also got my AVON haul!

I picked up: MAC Fluidlines in "Haunting" and "Nightfish" which I love! Haunting makes a great purple/lilac base and nightfish is an awesome color because it's dark but not as bold as black. I also picked up 2 lipsticks, "Scanty" and "Creme de Femme", my friend sent me more of the "Sweet Sienna" pigment which I heard is sold out almost everywhere, and an eyeshadow in "Endless Love" from the Nocturnelle collection (which I am selling so email me if you are interested, I already have a similar color).

First, my AVON Haul: Lipsticks in "Nude Pink" and "Magnificent Mauve", and "Rich Red" Lip Radiance Lipgloss ("Red Romp" Dupe)











MAC Attack!








Fluidline Swatches:




Scanty is more of a cream (amplified cream) so it goes on smooth...


Creme de Femme is a nice frosty pinkish color, it's darker than Scanty in person


I also went to Walgreens before we headed home and picked up an Isadora Palette and a Wet N' Wild pink lipstick, if you haven't noticed I have an obsession with PINK Lipsticks! I totally love the Isadora eyeshadow palettes, they have gorgeous colors and are very well pigmented. Walgreens had them on sale for HALF OFF!






Comparisons of all the pink lipsticks, "Snob" is still my favorite! :)


And since I have been posting pics of babies, I thought id add one of my BF when he was in the 2nd grade, look how cute he WAS haha, he looked like a good boy, and now he's just a rotten brat!

Mi'Lady & Mi' New Makeup

Did anyone watch Gossip Girls tonight? It was GOOD! I love Blair (Leighton Meester) she is super cute!

I received my Madminerals.org minerals today! I am loving 'em! My favorites are "Kunzite", "Twisted", and "Ancient Gold".



And since I loved the "Tease/Pixie" LA Colors Palette I bought from Cherryculture.com (C-Shock Dupe), I also ordered the "Blue Lagoon/Soiree" palette. For some reason the colors on the website do not match the colors on the back of the actual palette, so I named both for reference.



Swatches:


I did a look FINALLY using Mi'Lady, well it really wasn't a complete look since I was just playing around with it, I am going to start playing with different looks to go with my holiday theme for the company holiday party and maybe feature it on here so you gals can tell me which one you like best. I don't know yet whether to do powerful red lips and natural eyes, or smokey eyes and a neutral lip, or a little smokey with some red, and red lips...decisions, decisions!

I enjoyed this look however I didn't really like the Pure Ore and Goldmine with it that I used...so I gotta play around a bit more...





And here is my BF's OTHER niece, Ariana, she is 2 months older than Alyssa. Alyssa is Filipino and White (some of you asked what ethnicity she is), and Ariana (pictured here) is Filipino and Mexican, isn't she just adorable? She has beady eyes and she is always laughing and smiling. Look how stylish she is with her headband!

Christina Aguilera on the cover of Marie Claire!

I rarely post non-makeup related entries simply so I don't bore any of you with random ramblings, however I just had to post this pic of Ms. Xtina who is just too cute prego!

I have always loved her voice although I didn't really like her personality too much after "Dirrrty" (I don't know her but just based on the general perspective of her being in the public eye.) She has always looked a tad bit too orange all the time, however she does have that classic beauty and expressive, gorgeous eyes.

I wish her the best, I can't wait to have kids of my own someday and experience that motherhood goodness, I appreciate you mommies out there for everything you do! :)

Special Thanks to PurseBuzz.com and Stephie!

I just wanted to give a special thanks to PurseBuzz.com for featuring me on her latest post (RE: Rainbow Eyes) and to my awesome sis Stephie cakes, Stephienese for her sweet shoutout on her latest video, isn't she just TOO cute for words??!! I love that girl! :)

You ROCK GIRLS!

CherryCulture.com Product Review: Wild and Crazy Eyeshadow

You can check out my latest article on Cherryculture.com here: Insider's Pick

It's hard sometimes to find a really good eyeshadow that has great color-payoff at a great price. I love well-pigmented eyeshadows (who doesn't right?!); the ones that give you so much color in just one swipe of your finger, brush, or sponge applicator. I often get frustrated when I try new brands of eyeshadow from the affordable drug-store brands to even high end ones, only to waste money because their pigmentation and wear was of poor quality. But I had the opportunity to try “Wild N Crazy” eyeshadow in “Maya Dream” which is a gorgeous soft, medium, sparkly blue; and at first I thought it would be one of those cheap eyeshadows with poor color-payoff, the ones that you have to swipe a hundred times just to get some sort of color to show up on your finger. But that wasn't the case with this little pot of gold!

The eyeshadow was actually very smooth and almost seemed a bit creamy, like a finely-milled creamy powder. I found it very easy to apply the eyeshadow to my eyelids and it was also very easy to blend it in with other colors, it also stayed on pretty long, longer than I expected it would! I was very happy with the color I got, it wasn't a bright outrageous blue, but a nice soft blue that really made my eyes pop. It was also a great shade to do a “smoky eye look”. The packaging is very cute, it's a screw top cap and pot and I found that this kind of packaging makes it a lot easier to get in there and get more color. I also like how the lid was clear and see-thru so you can see the color through the lid. Another thing I noticed was how much eyeshadow you get! Talk about more bang for the buck! There's definitely a lot of product to last you a long time.

Another thing I loved about it was the price! It was so affordable compared to other eyeshadows that don't even do the job, that you can pretty much own every color they have!
The only cons about this product I had was that I wish they had more colors! They only have fourteen colors, which isn't much of a wide selection of colors, but there is enough variety in the color batch to pull of pretty much any look. I plan on trying these eyeshadows in Sakurako (a baby pink) and Lily Song (a matte white). I definitely recommend that you try at least one of these awesome eyeshadows!

Quick EOTD (eye of the day) look...

I forgot to take a full face pic because the BF was rushing me to hurry up and between trying to run out the door and him telling me to hurry up - I forgot. :(

But it's ok because I have a better FOTD planned: one featuring a look from Sephora I am trying to imitate, and a better FOTD using some of the new Metal-X eyeshadows from good 'ol MAC.

First of all, the Metal-X eyeshadows DO crease, HOWEVER, depending on how you apply it, you can definitely avoid it. First, apply it with your finger or a sponge tip applicator, the sponge "absorbs" any excess cream therefore not making your lids too oily which causes creasing as well as giving you better control during application. Another thing I noticed, is that it helps to use a base, such as UDPP, a paint pot, or a neutral colored POWDERED eyeshadow, that controls the natural oils of your lid for smoother application of the Metal-X eyeshadow. Smoothing it with your finger also smooths and flattens out the eyeshadow to give it more of a vibrant color and that powdery finish it gives (since it goes from cream to a powdery finish). What I like to use the Metal-X eyeshadows for also, is a sort of a base to just enhance the vibrancy of eyeshadows colors. In the look below, you will see how vibrant goldmine eyeshadow looks over the Pure Ore, rather than if it was by itself. So for you ladies with oily lids that have creasing problems, you can use it as a base under your eyeshadows.

This look reminds me of a parrot I used to have, he was yellow and green all over. I used Rubenesque paint pot, and "Pure Ore" and "6th Sin" from the collection for this look, as well as MAC eyeshadow in "Goldmine" (first half of the lid), MAC Pigment in "Emerald Green" (second, outer half of the lid), and Milani eyeshadow in "Garden Mist" (on the middle of the lid).

Pure ore as the base (over Rubenesque paint pot)


Goldmine eyeshadow:


6th Sin on outer-V, added "Emerald Green" pigment to intensify the color:


Milani "Garden Mist" on the middle of the lid for the gradient effect:


Lined eyes and added "Emerald Green" pigment on lower lashline as well:

Shop 'til you drop...

I know I should be really shopping for my loved ones now that Christmas is around the corner, but I can't help picking out a few things for myself! (Hey I work hard too! LOL). Thank goodness for online shopping, I pretty much have dad and the BF done. :)

I had a huge headache today and couldn't even function to post as much as usual. I bought the Silver Pigment as well (which I haven't had time to swatch), but I will be posting a picture of ALL the pigments I currently have (request by a reader).

I have so many posts lined up just haven't had time to really divulge myself into it. (i.e. videos), hopefully soon once the holiday chaos dies down...

I went to the mall after work since I had to pick up an order and picked out a few things, I have a company Christmas party December 14th, so I wanted to wear RED and bought a nice slinky tube top dress and shoes to match.



I love these shoes!




I bought this cute little ring, I collect rings! I love big, chunky rings...


I am obsessed with cuff bracelets, I ended up buying 3 colors!


I also was in need of a bigger toiletries bag as the XOXO one I had was a tad bit too small for all my things, it even came with 2 smaller cosmetic bags, travel bottles, and a loofa!