Hey glammies! Like I said, I've been trying to review more products for you guys, especially palettes since those are typically the most bang for your buck. This palette was recommended and highly talked about by a big YouTube beauty blogger Jaclyn Hill and when I saw it was on clearance on Sephora's website, well I went for it.
This palette is pretty tiny for a LORAC palette, since it only comes with 4 shadows. All of them shimmer.
These eyeshadows are "baked" shadows so the beauty of them is you can use them dry for a softer look, or wet for a more intense creamier look.
I've swatched them dry and wet down below for you to check out. Unfortunately, this palette doesn't list the names of the colors, so I won't be able to help you with that.
Dry Swatched Shadows for Little Black Palette
Wet Swatched Shadows for Little Black Palette
So my overall impressions of this palette is basically that the colors they provide are beautiful. They all work well together, the shadows are creamy and highly pigmented and leave your skin glowing. They have gold undertones so they really bring brown eyes out, check out my look down below. The one thing though that I don't like about this palette is that there are no matte shades. Yes, I know it's rare to have a baked matte shadow, but since there isn't one, the look isn't grounded. There's nothing to offset the shimmer especially in the crease.
Little Black Palette Eye Look View 1
Little Black Palette Eye Look View 2
If you are a shimmer/satin eyeshadow fan and not having a matte shade doesn't matter, then you are going to love this palette, it is really compact and even comes with an eye primer that works well with the LORAC line. But if you are a girl/guy who needs to have a matte shadow then I would say look into another palette like the Pro-To-Go which offers both and then some!! This palette can be found on LORAC's website here http://www.loraccosmetics.com/make-up_little-black-palette.html and it's on sale for $17! Which is such a steal!!!
So yes, overall I love the palette for what it is, and will be experimenting with the shadows even more, but I wouldn't buy it for full price or be able to solely travel/use this palette without something else, even though I tried!!! I need a matte color!!!
Do you guys have a favorite baked shadow palette you like? Let me know about it!!
So, traveling, it's kind of a bear. You never know what to bring, you bring too much (in my case), you know it's hard to decide what eye colors you might need or face products. So, I've been on the search lately for new smaller travel palettes that I can take with me, and feel SATISFIED that I have choices and beautiful looks.
LORAC came out I think this past fall, with a lovely little compact palette, called the LORAC Pro To Go. I picked it up from Sephora as they were closing out their LORAC line, but they still have it available at Ulta (although it's sold out as I'm writing this) and LORAC's personal site.
The palette includes 6 shadows, 2 blushes, 1 bronzer, and 2 small eyeshadow brushes. I've included swatches below for you guys to check out.
The Eyeshadows
I know you guys are saying, SO what do you think? And here's what I'm gonna tell you, it lives up to all the hype all over the internet. It is so small and compact you could literally fit it into your purse if you really wanted to. The colors are so buttery and so pigmented (above those are only one swipe). I got tons of compliments when I wore this during my last trip.
The eyeshadow colors allow you to complete multiple looks ranging from a neutral simple eye to a dark smoky sultry eye. They also work well if you decide you want to bring a couple fun colors with you to throw into the looks because they blend so beautifully with everything! The black is great to use as an eyeliner and the Pearl color is a wonderful highlighter if you are in a pinch.
Above is the look I did using the palette. I just, am dying over the beautiful colors!! If you want to see a tutorial let me know!!
The Cheek Products
The cheek products are amazing as well, they again are very pigmented! The blushes are pretty universal colors and go on smoothly without any splotchy or patchy issues, and they are completely matte which makes them so wonderful to work with. The bronzer is very warm just fyi, but it is matte which of course is a huge plus!! You can use it for contouring in a pinch, but I love how it warms up my complexion in the winter and gives a soft glow to the face since it is on the warmer side.
Overall, I would recommend this palette so much!! If you are into neutral shadows, this will be your go to, and for $38 it is the cheapest of the LORAC palettes. (I've been finding it on sale all over the place too!!)
Have you tried this palette? What do you think? Do you have a favorite travel palette?
I will be reviewing a couple more LORAC palettes coming up so stay tuned!!!
Okay you guys, have I been living under a rock?! When did scented stuff get popular again? It's like I'm back in 5th grade or something. Lol alright let me back up. So scented polishes are all the rage again, but this time Revlon is doing them with class. No more sickly strawberry and purple grape, noooo instead we have flavors like Twilight Woods and Lavender Soap.
I decided to pick up the Espresso "flavor" to see what all the hype was about. The Espresso color is just a glossy black color. As far as nail polish goes, it went on really well I only needed two coats to get ultimate opaqueness. I didn't use a top coat because I wasn't sure if it would seal the smell in, but I haven't needed it, this polish has worn all weekend long without so much as a chip! So that's positive.
YEA I know what you guys are thinking, get to the good stuff, what's the smell like? Well, I'm here to tell you that it's FOR REAL! As the polish started to dry I noticed the smell of espresso beans in the room, before that it was just the potent smell of nail polish (which not gonna lie is a little bit of turn-off). And it's lasted!! Although it's not AS potent either that or I've gotten used to the smell, they still faintly smell of espresso beans. Not as much as day one, but it's definitely there.
Now, I will say if you don't like fragrances or chemically fragrances, you aren't going to like this. The first day it was a little overwhelming for me, but I've come to have a certain fondness for it. I know there are 25 other flavors and I highly suggest you check it out!
If you try it let me know what you think in the comments below! (Ulta is having a buy one, get one 50% off right now!)
So, I went a little crazy last night when I was up around 4am (remind me not to sit down and watch movies on my bed at 6pm...four hours and a drool puddle later, I screw myself out of sleep till 6am) I decided why the hell not? Let's clean some brushes! (Yep, that's how my mind works).
Now that it's winter and "sicknesses" are going around, it is the most important time to really keep up on cleaning your brushes. Why you ask? Well, because your brushes and sponges can hold all those germs and bacteria in them, of course! Not only that, it spreads all those diseases around AND dirty brushes when your skin is all messed up from the cold can actually perpetuate break outs and irritation.
Getting a little grossed out? Yea...it happens...feeling overwhelmed? Yea, me too....but hey don't worry! We're in this together! So the rule of thumb when you are sick is to deep clean everything as soon as you are over the sickness and avoid using products that are close to your eyes or mouth. If that's not possible, like you JUST NEED to wear mascara or put on your favorite eyeshadow, then you gotsta disinfect like an OCD person or chuck stuff upon completion of said disease. So, chuck your mascara and deep clean your brushes and sanitize (this is the key thing) your eyeshadows and powders!
The rule of thumb when you are all better and a healthy individual is that you should deep clean your brushes every week to every other week (depending on the amount you use them) and that you should try and spot clean your brushes as you are working with them (spot cleaning also helps your colors stay true fyi!)
Okay, now that I've got the lecture out of the way on why and when you should clean your beauty tools, let's get down to what I use to clean and sanitize my brushes and how I actually go about cleaning them.
So first I have two different products I use to actually clean my brushes depending on how dirty they are. If they aren't super dirty and/or don't need conditioning I reach for the E.L.F. Brush Shampoo, which is also pretty fool proof. The consistency is very gel-like so it really sticks to the bristles and you can really clean stuff out quickly. Because it's so thick you don't need that much so you don't waste the product (even though it's only $3). I really love using this shampoo on my beauty sponges because the sponge doesn't soak up the product so you can really get the outside clean.
If I need something to condition and really really deep clean my brushes I actually reach for Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps 18-in-1 Hemp Lavender Pure Castille Soap. There's no detergents in it and the smell is absolutely wonderful! I even picked up a travel-size to take with me on the go, but a huge bottle will run you $3-$4. It's more liquid-y then the E.L.F. shampoo so you may find yourself using more product until you get used to it, but it breaks down even the gunkiest brushes (eyeliners, foundation and lip brushes) it makes the oils and waxes come out of the brushes like it was just water.
It also leaves them smelling great and very soft so bonus!
I have heard a lot of people say they like to shampoo and condition their brushes with Mane and Tail products, which are also very cheap, so whatever works! I will say though that after years of using the MAC brush cleaner, even cheap shampoo is better than that stuff and WAAAYYYY cheaper so just say no! Lol
So I'm going to include a video down below of one way to really clean your brushes if you are super OCD but if not, I basically clean my brushes by getting them damp (so just quickly taking them under the hot water stream) and then I pour a little cleanser on them, swipe them around in my hand until no more pigments come out, with large powder or foundation brushes I get my fingers all the way down to the root to ensure every last bit is cleaned, and then I rinse them, reshape them (which is a must it will also remove excess water!) and then if you didn't notice in the very first picture, I lay them on a rag with a rag under the ends of the handles so that the water doesn't sit on the furl. So basically angling them down, this is going to help preserve the integrity of your brush, water getting on the furl (the metal part that holds the bristles) can cause the glue to loosen and it can also cause the metal to rust in some brushes. Angling them down also helps the water to run off faster so your dry time is a little quicker!
So if these were my brushes for clients I would hit them two times after they've dried with 91% Rubbing Alcohol to sanitize them completely, which I keep in a spray bottle (super easy) this can also be used to sanitize your makeup! 91% is the only one that will kill all the bacteria that grows on makeup (bleck I know!)
So other things I use while I'm using my brushes is the E.L.F. Daily Brush Cleanser. This is $3 and I just spray each side of the brush and run it over or swirl it on a paper towel. As I said before this will not only keep bacteria at bay, it will also keep your makeup looking crisp so that previous colors don't mix and muddy up the new ones you are applying!
I know there are ones that dry faster then the E.L.F. brand one of them is called Cinema Secrets, but I own so many brushes that it isn't something I need to invest in as of yet.
So I hope this helps you guys with your cleaning needs!! I know it can be a bummer to take the time, but it will keep sickness at bay AND also allow you to look even more flawless with your makeup application!
So I've been really into watching movies lately, like ACTUALLY going to the movie theaters. I should preface that I'm not a huge "watch a movie in the theater" type of gal. One reason being that where I would normally watch movies (i.e. Independent theaters) my knees hit the back of the seats in front of me (BEFORE people sit down) so it's not super comfortable.
But I braved the wilds of the theaters and went on a binge of sorts, seeing all the new very Oscar worthy movies, like the weirdo that I am...lol and thought I would give you a mini review on them, should you want to brave the wilds too!!
So the first movie I went and checked out recently (we won't go way far back to Christmas because that might be overkill) was Nebraska.
The premise of the movie is that Will Forte's Dad, Woody, get's one of those scam million dollar prize letter's in the mail and is trying to get to Nebraska to cash it in, as he believes it to be real. Will Forte's character decides to finally drive him there (they live in Montana) and they end up stopping in Woody's hometown where his family lives and drama ensues. It was directed by Alexander Payne who made the choice to shoot it in black and white so it gives it that dreamy 60's italian super 8 look to it.
I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed this movie, it was so jarringly funny and surprisingly it didn't come from Will Forte. I will admit I kept waiting for him to be his weirdo SNL self, but instead he pretty much plays the straight man to Bruce Dern and June Squibb (his parents). You will definitely start to cheer for the underdog in this movie and visually it is just so stunning that it makes you see the Midwest in an entirely different light.
Next I saw American Hustle. Okay, this movie I had mixed reactions to it.
I think the premise of the movie is interesting, and I think the acting was really good. The premise is that a couple who are con-men gets caught so they end up having to work with the FBI to take down a bunch of congressmen. It's set in the late 70's early 80's with an all-star cast that includes Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Christian Bale. But my "review" of it is this, it was entirely too long, and not in a good way. A lot of the plot lines fell flat at parts and there were characters like Jennifer Lawrence that could have been left out. Not that I don't think she did a good job in the roll, it just wasn't needed in the story. But maybe that's just my opinion...lol. So overall I would say it was okay...but I wouldn't re-watch it again, as terrible as that sounds.
Now the next two movies are my absolutely favorites of the ones I saw, I literally re-watched them over and over again.
Inside Llewyn Davis, I can't stop talking about, like literally, I have been playing the soundtrack for a week straight, on repeat (my poor neighbors) and I just died when I saw it.
So the premise of the movie is a week in the life of a folk singer living in Greenwich Village, New York right before Bob Dylan hits the scene. Oscar Issac plays Llewyn Davis (who is based on a real folk singer named Dave Von Ronk) and my god, you believe he's the real deal. He actually sings all the tracks that are in the movie and you just hurt along with him. His voice is beautiful and literally the struggle is real. There are some unexpected actors in this movie like Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, and Carrey Mulligan who all act so well you forget they are who they are. But of course, the stand out is Oscar Issac *swooning*. I highly recommend everyone going to see this, it will just make you hurt in all the good ways, and it's literally turned me back on to that folk music that was going around in the 60's in a big way.
So this next movie that I've been watching on repeat will probably come as no surprise to most of you, one because I'm a Spike Jonze cult member, and because well, I have a weird fascination with Joaquin Phoenix, don't even ask me why...but yea, it's HER.
This movie, if you don't know the premise is about Theodore (Joaquin) a lonely letter writer who uploads a new OS that is artificially intelligent and played by Scarlett Johansson or actually just her voice. He falls in love with her and it's this rocky up and down relationship through out the entire movie. Basically I liken the relationship to the do-over of the last one he had (that's all I will say without giving any spoilers). Spike makes you think in this movie, makes you analyze where our society is going in the not-so-distant future when all of us rely on our computers and such so much more then ever before. How our relationships will look with the evolution of online dating and basically virtual reality. He makes you feel all the feels is how I describe it, how we isolate ourselves and also how it's okay to have unconventional relationships.
I have seen a lot of other movies, but I just realized this is getting insanely long, so maybe I will include that in a part 2.
What movies are you loving or looking forward to?? I'm always up for suggestions!!
Man, the holidays or holidaze was such a wild ride!! I'm not going to lie, I gave up on blogging over it because there was just too much stuff going on! Yes, glammies I tend to get overwhelmed with the holidays and so I decided to take my own advice and chill the eff out for a spell and just enjoy my family and friends and the parties haha.
ALSO did anybody else catch that wild and disgusting flu that's been swirling around like a bad ex? My god, I've literally had it for weeks...I want to scream!! I mean the messing up of the makeup alone is enough to drive me batty but snarfing and choking on snot just pushes me over the edge. Too much? Yea...I feel ya...
ANYWAYS I'M BACK! Is what I'm saying, I'm back with a better resolve to work on this blog now that life has settled down, although I can't say that there will be a posting every day like I had originally thought, I will be trying to do as many as I can, and hopefully linking them up to the youtube channel. But not always, so don't worry you guys will still be getting all the juicy gossip and trends here before they ever go up on the channel.
Please let me know what kinds of things you guys want to read and see in the new year. I will of course be on all the stuff that comes out like every other beauty blogger, but I'm also looking to tailor this to you dear readers! If you have questions about certain products or techniques don't be afraid to message me and I will investigate it fully.
I am here to meet YOUR needs! While also shocking the hell out of you a little bit as well.
Alright, 2014 I am ready for ya! It's gonna be an amazing ride so buckle in Glammies, cause we're about to get all crazy up in hurr!
