Review & Swatches: Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Laced, Scratch, and Bordello

Review & Swatches: MAC x Isabel and Ruben Toledo Lipstick in Victoriana

MAC x Isabel and Ruben Toledo Lipstick in Victoriana is described as a "midtone pink red" and has a matte finish. I do see the pink, but it's more of a fuchsia red to me. I was originally hoping that this would be a dupe for Revlon's Strawberry Suede, but this is a lot more red. This shade is limited edition and is sold out in most places, but I was able to get mine from Nordstrom's website recently and retails for $17.50. 

Tag: The Versatile Blogger Award // I'm back!

The lovely Jenny from itsmeeejennyy.blogspot.com nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award. Jenny is a relatively new blogger and YouTuber and she's super sweet. 

What is the "Versatile Blogger Award" ?

The Versatile Blogger Award is given to bloggers, who are popular for their good quality style of writing and overall the quality and uniqueness of their blogs.

Rules:

- Thank the person who nominated you

- Share 7 facts about you

- Nominate 15 other blogs

& here are my 7 facts!

1. I did not find out my real legal name until I was 18... and filling out college applications. I ended up having to change so many forms so that everything would match. It's not a crazy different name, it's just in the different order than I thought. 

2. I have a dog named Pluto and he's a derp. He doesn't really care about me though and only listens to my dad. 

3. I just finished my undergrad a quarter early doing 2 majors - Anthropology and Psychology.

4. I'm Vietnamese, but most people don't think I am until they hear my name. 

5. My hair is naturally brown and looks like a light brown in the light and so people are confused if it's real or not. 

Some of the lower pairs were lightened from this picture. I couldn't find a picture on my laptop of pre-colored hair. 

6. I got bored easily when I was younger and so my mom taught me the basics of a lot of DIY things. I know how to knit, sew, crochet, and embroider but I'm not great at any of it. 

7. I had my first kiss when I was 18. The guy I was dating was leaving an event to go to perform in an orchestra concert and I walked him out. When we hugged, I turned to kiss his face but... HE DID THE SAME THING AND WE KISSED. There was this pause and he started to ask, "Did we just...?" and I said, "EEP. JUST GO!" I went back into the event and I squealed to my best friend about what just happened. I pretty much died. 

I nominate:

Vanessa from Citron + Guavaberry

Sheri from Behind The Frames

Sharlynn from The Blackmentos Beauty Box
Ling from The Cosmetic Critic

Susan from Le Jolie
Kay Cake from imladiiekay
Cindy from Cindyhyue

Hao Are You? #10 // Weekend Getaway & Giveaway Winners

Two weekends ago, I went to San Diego just for the weekend! It was a very impromptu trip because I just finished most of the bigger assignments / exams until finals. I also posted some pictures on my Instagram about it!

Even though it was very short, I had a really nice time with my boyfriend and my sister. I haven't gone to San Diego in a few months and so it was a nice change of scenery. I also totally forgot what the UCSD campus was like and it's a lot bigger than my own school's campus. I'm so glad that it only takes 10 minutes to walk to my classes while it takes my boyfriend and his roommate around 20.

& for the giveaway! I'm going by the names on the Rafflecopter widget and the winners are Areeba and Sara C. ! I already e-mailed them and will be mailing out the packages soon (:

I want to say thank you to everyone that entered and also "Hi!!!" to all the new followers. I'm very close to 200 followers now and I'm thinking of maybe doing another giveaway at 250 followers. I was originally planning on doing it at 100, but I immediately passed that milestone during the giveaway. I also want to space out giveaways so that they're not constantly happening.

Lastly, I want to say that my finals are coming up in about 2 weeks. My posts will probably be more sporadic and then I'll be spending 3 weeks away from my whole makeup collection. I'll be in my hometown for 2 weeks and then in San Diego again for 1 week with my family. I'll try to queue up posts and write reviews beforehand though!

How have you been?

(Current) Most Used Lipsticks!

If you didn't know, I love lipsticks. They're one of my favorite things to wear and I have way too many. I'm to reorganize my collection to possibly sell some things and wanted to see which ones I truly love / use a lot. The more nude shades are relatively newer, but they've already became such staples in my routine. 

Review & Swatches: Lorac Unzipped Palette

The Lorac Unzipped Palette has been out for a few years, but I finally got it as a birthday treat to myself last month. It's full of pinky / rosey neutral shades and each pan contains 0.39 ounces of product. There are three completely matte shades, one satin, and the rest are shimmery. A mini Behind the Scenes Eye Primer (0.19 ounces) is also included and the whole palette retails for $42.

February 2015 Face of the Month // Red Roses

My eye look for this month kept alternating between a really blown out / smokey look and a more cat eye / winged out shape. For the look in today's post, I decided to go for the cat eye shape mostly because all of my pictures were blurry for the blown out look. Regardless of the shape, I still used the same palette - the Lorac Unzipped Palette. It has gorgeous rosey and burgandy shades that still lean on the nude side. I'm definitely so glad I got this for myself for my birthday. 

I forgot to take a true before picture, but the one on the left is just me with foundation on.

For foundations, I didn't really stick to just one. The one I'm wearing in these pictures is the NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Barcelona. I got a sample of it while I was in San Diego last weekend and it's pretty great. I won't be getting the full size any time soon because I want to use up more of my current foundations, but it's very high on my "to-purchase" list. 

To set the foundation, I used the pressed version of the Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder. I thought the pressed version wouldn't be as good as the loose, but it's definitely evenly matched when it's on my face. It gives my face a really smoothed out satin look so that I don't look too flat.

The Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Rose Gold is also another birthday purchase for myself and it's a finely milled, but very pigmented, rose gold highlighter. It leans more on the coppery / warm side of rose gold though. I only dusted on the tiniest bit for these pictures because I was going somewhere later in the day. Highlighters are also hard for me to photograph unless I really pile it on so I'll save that for the full review.

For bronzer, I've been reaching for NARS Laguna. The slight sheen it has gives my face more life and it also warms up my complexion without making me look orange.You can see how much I love it because I've hit pan on it.

You can really see the shape of my eyeshadow in this picture. My hooded lids make everything I do on my lids look like I'm going for a natural look. When I look down, it does look more dramatic though. 

The beautiful Lorac Unzipped Palette! I also used the included primer on my lids and set it with a dusting of the Tarte Powder. It's just an extra step I do for most powder eyeshadow looks to help them blend out  more.

I put -

Unconditional in the crease

Unbridled to in the outer crease to wing it out and deepen the color

Untamed on the outer portion of the lids to give my eyes my depth

Uncensored in the inner corner

Unbelievable on the center of my lids

Undercover to blend out the edges and highlight my brow bone

You don't need to use this many shades for just one eye look, but I wanted to show as many colors as possible. I really wish my camera could capture how beautiful the shadows looked though because they look a bit washed in my pictures. If it helps, the colors are really true to pan.

For brows, I used my trusty Anastasia Brow Wiz in Soft Brown all over and Medium Brown on the tail. I then set it using the Maybelline Brow Drama in Deep Brown. I went crazy when I worked in Ulta and bought 3 different Brow Wiz Shades, but I usually can get away with using Soft Brown, Medium Brown, or Taupe.

For mascara, I used the L'oreal Telescopic Shocking Extensions Waterproof Mascara in Blackest Black. Depending on the day and what I needed to do, I would also use Urban Decay Subversion Lash Primer and layer using another mascara that I had on hand. For these pictures, I just used Benefit They're Real.

For lips, I used Ulta Matte Lip Cream in Stirring so much this month. They're different than other matte liquid lipsticks initially because they do look more like a satin finish. After 5-10 minutes, it really sets down to a matte finish. The final finish reminds me of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams. It's definitely not transfer proof, but the color does last a long time and feels comfortable. 

& That's it! What have you been wearing during February?