Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay Naked Palette (Naked, Virgin)
Dolly Wink Liquid Liner
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
Eyeko Graffiti Pen Liner
Shu Uemura Lash curler
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus Mascara
criss-cross 3/4 lashes (I think it's Darkness brand?)
Nail art crystals
Urban Decay lash glue
NYX Mosaic powder in #1 Highlighter
MAC Spaced Out blush
Anastasia Brows In Bloom palette
Lioele Real Vivid Matte lipstick in Sandy Beige
Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in 517

Circle lenses are Neo Vision Queen Grey lenses from Pinky Paradise.
Use code FRMHEADTOTOE for a free beauty gift w/ each pair of circle lenses purchased.

And my facey face:

Hello everyone! I hope you are seeing clearer skies than I am at the moment. We are stuck in some drizzly, druzzly, freezing rain/snow/sleet action and once again I am using my previously recorded photos and videos to live vicariously through my prior experiences. Warm and happy forever, I say!

Because of this glorious excuse, I am posting an outfit of the day from when we had a few short days of Spring preview weather. I'm quite sick of winter so as soon as it hit the 70's, my House of Holland suspender tights flew onto my legs (Literally, they flew across the room onto my legs. You should've seen it.) and I flew across my living room to set up my new tripod. See? I'm getting better! I finally used a tripod to record an "outfit of the day". *curtsy*


If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that the day I actually wore this outfit I had on my black Theory Gratti blazer which is a cuter, more cropped fit than what I'm wearing in this video but it's currently at the tailors being altered. As I rarely wear any outfit more than once, I wanted to record this outfit concept before it flew (Again? What's with all the flying?) out of my mind completely so please forgive the slouchy boyfriend-ish fit here!


So there's also a bit of a story about this outfit. I was obviously feeling a bit self-conscious because I tend to be pretty conservative and not wear anything this risqué to work although I work in a creative department that can "get away" with wearing more fashiony or casual wear. On my way to lunch, I passed one of the directors who I saw give me an eye and then the Vice President of my department walked past as well while I was going up the stairs. Inside I was like OH NO DID I WEAR THE WRONG THING but shrugged it off and got in line for my food.

A couple minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder from the VP.

He stopped me and said, "Can I just say--thank you. THANK YOU! You look fabulous today. Thank you. Thank you."

Needless to say, I was thoroughly embarrassed and flustered and flattered and had a big grin on my face for the next two hours. XD He even went to my manager and talked about my outfit and that he probably embarrassed me. Eeeeeeeeeee~

A couple more just 'cause. Here I am showcasing my grump face. I was having camera troubles. Lol.


And an example of why remotes are way better than camera timers, especially when you can only find the 2-second setting. MEGA FAIL!


Anyway, I hope you guys have a lovely day filled with people giving you lots of compliments that you can accept a little more gracefully than I was able to. Hermmm. Ahem. >_<

Ü

Hey-ey girls and boys. Today's post is about one of my favorite new lipsticks that I only recently tried and fell in love with: NYX Black Label Lipsticks (currently retails for $7.50 at nyxcosmetics.com). If you are a regular follower of my blog you probably already know how in heart with NYX I am, and that I have a pretty sizable Round Lipstick (retails for $4) collection. I have some swatches of Rounds here but I've gotten so many more since that post. I always thought about trying out the higher-end Black Labels but were pretty happy with the Rounds that I never really checked them out.

Silly me, why had I never tried these before? XD

Here are my reviews and swatches in video form:


And here are some hand swatches so you can get a fair comparison of the shades with each other.

Hey everyone! I'm really excited to announce the winners of the Winter/New Years collaboration giveaway with Klairedelysart and Nikkietutorials. Thank you to all the entries and congrats to the winners! I was overwhelmed with the nearly 200 entries and everyone did such a fantastic job, it was really difficult to choose. :)




Dramatic:
polpolpolopl


Simple:
yuniex3m


Comment:
rea23rea

Extra:
Hedwyg23


To the winners, please send me a message on youtube with your shipping info so I can get your prizes out to you! Commenters, what do you think of the winning looks?

^_^

Skin79 Hot Pink bb cream (not shown)
Urban Decay Primer Potion
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean
NYX Single Eyeshadow in Hot Pink
Wet & Wild Color Icon Palette in Night Elf (matte black and white shimmer)
NYX Single Eyeshadow in Wildflower
Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner in black
FAIRYDROPS Scandal Queen Mascara
Darkness lashes in VXA
Lioele Artist Auto Eyebrow pencil in Grey Black
Rock & Republic Contrived Pressed Blush in Kinky
Lioele Real Vivid Matte Lipstick in 6 Sandy Beige
Dior Addict Ultragloss in 517



Obviously, this isn't the most complicated look but it works with any other color as your basic colored smokey-eye. It's not too difficult for those experimenting with doing smokey eyes for the first time as well. To get a more wearable Valentine's Day look, check out my video from last year. ^_^

Happy pre-Valetine's Day to those in relationships, and for those not in a relationship, you can do a green or blue smokey eye in protest. Angst!

Hope that was helpful and have fun practicing. Let me know in the comments your Valentine's Day plans are and whether they are pink or blue. ;)

Disclaimer: Lioele products provided by prettyandcute.com. Fairydrops mascara provided by a rep of the company. Everything else I bought myself. :)

To break it down, here's what each mascara claims to do:

Original: Waterproof, volumizing, curls
Scandal Queen: Water-resistant, lengthening with fibers, volumizing, curls

Sorry about the no-makeup photos here but I really wanted to show a fair evaluation of the mascara's performance on its own. There's really no better way than to wear no makeup in my opinion. Just ignore the end-of-the-day deathliness. ;)







In actuality, my upper lashes are longer with the Scandal Queen mascara (you can tell in the blurry background of the "Original at an angle" photo) but the curl-holding ability isn't awesome enough to show it at this angle. It doesn't suck 100% since I do have 75% of the curl in the first image, but not dramatic enough to be what I would go for personally.

In contrast, check out the Original's mega curl-holding abilities in both photos! Very impressive, which is why I love it so much. Overall, I have to say that the Original is still the big winner in my book which I think is pretty obvious in the photos. Not perfect, since it gets a bit clumpy and doesn't lengthen as much as I'd love, but still a good go-to mascara.

I give the Scandal Queen a 7/10 because it's performance is not bad as it does lengthen and volumize as promised, but it's only medium on the curling front. It does keep lashes soft and pliable though, and is probably better for your lash health than a waterproof mascara. It's also removed easily with my regular face wash.

The original I give an 8.5/10 since it holds curl and volumizes but it doesn't lengthen much and it gets clumpy if you're not careful. It's also difficult to remove and you really need a good waterproof eye-makeup remover to get it off.

I hope that was helpful for those interested. Maybe some of you with longer lashes than me will get better results. I'm actually going to test it more to see if it will work well as a second-step over other mascaras to help lengthen and volumize my more "clean" mascaras like Covergirl Lash Exact. Also, I've been talking with the rep for FAIRYDROPS and he said he's trying to get the waterproof version over as well if the first goes well so if you'd like that, give them feedback!

Valentine's Day look from this video coming soon. :) Let me know if you plan on picking it up, and let me know what you thought of it!

Disclaimer: A rep from FAIRYDROPS send me the Scandal Queen mascara for consideration. I purchased the Original version myself. All my reviews, as always, are my 100% honest opinion. :)

1. Cardigan
2. Interesting top
3. Some layers underneath (since I'm always cold)
4. Skinny jeans or leggings
5. Boots

Here's a close-up of the top. I LOVE this top from LOFT because the color and material look so classy, and the built-in necklace really makes it special. Since I wear cardigans almost daily, I love adding something embellished underneath to catch the eye. I also adore the pretty flower attached to the shoulder. :)