 Alright guys, I'm coming at you with another palette review. I have to talk about this palette though. This is the new Tarteist Pro Amazonian Clay eye shadow palette and it's freaking gorgeous. Also, it smells wonderful, like chocolate kinda. It has 16 matte shades and 4 DUOCHROMES. You know I love duochromes. Making this a total of 20 shades all together. I will start off by saying that when I look at Tarte palettes, I love their face palettes or other products and I don't get super excited by their eye palettes because they are very neutral. beautiful for sure, but not something I personally need because I have plenty of neutrals. I buy them as gifts often because they are always great formula and I do have some smaller eye palettes from them but their bigger ones I don't usually buy for myself. This palette layout though is completely different. Not only is the palette layout different but it's also a different color scheme then what they normally do. Their is some neutrals but there is also beautiful berry shades, super warm shades, and cool toned. With saying that I'm going to say that I think this is right up there with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette. Which is a HUGE statement. I have said all year that the ABH palette was "palette of the year" and I still feel like it's amazing but this palette just came in at the end and possibly took the crown. It's all personal preference though. For those of you who were intimidated by the berry shades in the MR palette and thought that it was very overwhelming, this palette may be more to your liking. It has those great berry shades and super warm shades but it also stays true to it's neutrals and has some cool toned options and the sickest black I've ever seen. It's more intense than Makeup Geek Corrupt shadow. That's right I said it. Not only are the shades beautiful but they blend like a dream, honestly they blend better than any palette that I have in my collection. I'm not lying. When I swatch them they are so soft that the "Tarte" stamp immediately goes away. and if you didn't know it was powder you would swear it was cream. The product doesn't clump up on the lids though. A lot of times when shadows are super soft and creamy feeling they tend to get clumpy easy if you get too much product on the lid. Not the case with these. Like I said there are 16 of these insanely formulated mattes. Now there are a few shades that feel a bit different than the others but the pigment is still there. Mainly it's just the darker shades. Smoked feels just slightly different, almost as soft but not really. Drama feels a little chalky and I think that's just due to it's purple-y tones, purples are just in general more difficult. Mod, which is the very intense cranberry shade, feels just a bit different as well but the pay off on that color alone is sick. Those are really the only ones that I notice feel any different, but like I said they still have the same pigment and payoff. Now on to the duo chromes. I love duo chromes, and that's actually what sold me on this palette was the fact that they were doing duo chromes and matte because that was so out of character I thought. All the duo chromes are super pigmented, but 2 have noticeable color shift and 2 have subtle color shift. I'm gonna say that in my eyes two are really just more of a intense shimmer and then 2 are duochromed. They're still beautiful none the less. The 2 that are really subtle are Ethereal and Minx. The 2 that are noticeable are Glam and Trendy. Ethereal is very bronzey and it's almost like several different shades of bronze. Like a golden bronze and then an orange bronze shift. Or that's what I see anyway, it's almost unnoticeable as a color shift but looking at it just right you can see it. Minx is mainly warm brown but it also has that cranberry vibe as well. Glam is a champagne that has a peachy pink shift to it, which I love. I think that's my favorite. Trendy has a forest green vibe and that's what you see first but it has some burgundy and then a brown-ish undertone as well which makes it the most noticeable duo chrome. These perform just as well as the mattes do and they're just as pigmented. This is going to be permanent in their line, they've also released a Tarteist Pro Glow highlight and contour palette that looks equally as pretty. These are formulated with the new motto of "#rethinknatural and #naturalartistry" which is where these products will perform to the highest standard while still being good for your skin and not have any harsh components in them. They also are geared more toward the artistry side of the industry I think, with their gold and matte black casing they're very kit friendly and would work well for someone who freelances or works as a professional makeup artist because they offer so much. Where as in the past we've seen a lot of pretty packaging and holiday sets that are beautiful no doubt but not ideal for traveling or packing in a kit. Of course this isn't the only line they're releasing the new holiday sets have already hit and they are the Painter's Collection so they're very art themed in packaging and design. They have a ton of product and lots of cool bells and whistles that make them absolutely great gifts. This line however is what I'm very impressed with. I just am so blown away with this palette alone that I can't even tell you to get it fast enough. It is now available on Tarte.com but will release November 13th in Ulta stores. It is $53 and worth every penny I think. It is permanent keep that in mind, so don't stress about it selling out and being gone forever. It is 1g/ 0.035 oz x 20 shadows.  Swatches are two rows at a time from left to right which is top to bottom on my arm. First two rows/ left picture /top to bottom Classic, Innocent, Whimsy, and Smoked Vintage, Fierce, No Filter, and Vamp Bottom two rows/ right pic/ top to bottom Chic, Profesh, Mod, and Drama Indie, Bold, Edgy, and Punk  These are the 4 lustre/duochromes, I took several shots of the swatches to try and catch the color shift the best I could. From left to right Ethereal Glam Mink Trendy   I did a super dark Halo Eye with the black shade "Punk" on either side, the more cool toned shades for transition, and applied "Trendy" with my finger. I feel like it does apply better with my finger. I've also applied it wet as well with a brush. Ultimately I like to apply duochromes, metallic, or shimmer shades with my finger because I feel like they apply the most intense that way. I used super dark colors like black to show you that A) This blends out super easy and there was NO fall out. B) I wanted to go a different route from lighter toned neutral which is what you typically associate Tarte with.  This is just a typical gradient neutral smokey eye that starts lighter in the corner and darker towards the outer part of the eye and smoked out on the bottom the same way. You can't see it very good because of the hat. My apologies.
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As you know, I love MyChelle products. Their Retinol Serum and Brightening C serum is two of my favorite things in skin care. So when I got the opportunity to try some more, I jumped on it. Today we'll be talking about 3 NEW products for fall which is:
Perfect C™ PRO Speed Peel, Perfect C™ Radiance Lotion, and Bio-Firm™ Hydrogel Concentrate. The Pefect C Pro Speed Peel is 10% L-Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C. ($32.50) This is brand new to the skin care community, because it is a professional grade at home peel with Vitamin C, it is " is formulated with a powerful dose of 10% L-Ascorbic Acid, 1% L-Lactic Acid, Plant C-Stem™ and Retinal to deliver youthful, glowing skin. Formulated with 25% Citrus Fruit fragrant puree, in only one minute, this fact-acting peel retexturizes skin while gently exfoliating to deliver youthful, soft, and glowing skin." It's to be used before bed because the skin heals itself over night. Just as our bodies heal their self with a good nights sleep, so does our skin. I do notice that this tingles while it's on the skin (it can be on the skin for 1 minute max) and my skin still tingles afterwards for a few minutes. It can make your skin a little red but it didn't do that to me.
Next is Perfect C™ Radiance Lotion - 12% L-Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C ($45)
This is hydration at it's finest with a "12% dose of L-Ascorbic Acid combined with Plant C-Stem™ and Licorice Extract to help brighten and protect skin from the effects of environmental pollution for a smoother and more luminous complexion." This goes well with the Brightening C serum that I talked about in my other post of MyChelle products. The Brightening C serum is one of my favorite products from them. Their Retinol Serum being my absolute favorite. This does what it says it will do. I use it in the mornings and it seems to give my skin a glow, and it's a really nice moisturizer to use before makeup.
Last is the Bio-Firm™ Hydrogel Concentrate ($45)
This goes really well with the peel. It's actually to be used after the peel to really capitalize on the body's regeneration system and healing process while you sleep. This is "a concentrated 2% Hyaluronic Acid moisture-binding gel that melts to instantly smooth and firm skin. Packed with potent Alpine Nunatak™ Plant Stem Cells and Crocus Chrysanthus Bulb Extract to help firm and provide deep nourishment and hydration." This doesn't have to be used with just the peel, it can be used with any other peel or exfoliator to help repair the skin over night. I do use this right after I use the peel and it's really nice. I can feel it when it dries though. It's good to sleep in for sure. However, if you don't like being able to "feel" stuff sitting on your skin you may want to use less of this. I'm going to leave the link for their site here: http://mychelle.com
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As you know this has been the year for Korean beauty. For good reason, they've easily introduced some of the best skin care and makeup tips, tricks, and secrets we've seen in a very long time. They're here to stay and I couldn't be happier because seriously, some of the things they've introduced into the skin care game has been well.....game changing. Plus it always seems like their products are so much fun. Like the carbonated bubble mask (that works), the flower lipsticks that adjusts to your body temperature, and so on. They have new, ingenius, and all out different ways of approaching beauty and I love that. They didn't just stop at makeup and skincare though they're in the hair care world too.
Another one of their beauty secrets is "Snail Essence". Ok so lets talk about snails and the benefits they offer. First of all, I hate snails. I'm just gonna put that out there. I don't know why, but they gross me out. However, for the love of skincare, makeup, or hair care I will research good products for you and try most everything that isn't dangerous. So Snail cream is actually something that is pretty common in a lot of skin care. A lot of what you see though is just similar things that mimic snail "essence", it's not like people are breeding them for their goods. No snails are harmed in the making of these products. So the snail enzyme is a "high-efficacy active ingredient comprised of proteins, glycolic acids and elastin" it's dereived from the same thing snails use to heal cuts on their bodies from rough surfaces. In beauty products it restores moisture and supports cell regeneration. You see Snail Mucin in a lot of skin care products lately because it's also big in the anti-aging process, as well as restoring pigmentation and also healing scars. Thus also giving you unbelievable softness. So where does this come into hair care you might ask? Well it's simple, it's like an anti-aging treatment for your hair. Restoring your hair to it's healthiest, most youthful appearance. Snail Essence is mainly a ton of proteins and elastin, which is great for hair. To help with breakage, shine, growth, and so on. Everything that you put in your body comes out through your hair. So all the meds you have to take, the diet that your on, what you're drinking, it all comes out through the hair shaft so to keep our hair looking it's best we have to alter what we take into our body as well as how we treat our hair. Thus we need to take a bit more time treating the hair, rather than just a weekly hair mask or whatever. So the new Kenra Snail CC Cream we're gonna talk about today is the first hair product of it's kind to be infused with "snail essence" it's a 10 in 1 corrective cream (cc cream) that is weightless and restores hair youth and fights the 10 signs of aging hair. So we take time to make sure our skin isn't aging, why not our hair? I'm gonna insert the key benefits right here of what this cream does: - Boosts shine - Increases thickness - Reduces breakage - Tames frizz & flyaways - Hydrates hair - Improves elasticity - Relieves scalp irritation - Increases manageability - Decreases coarseness for noticeably softer strands - Provides heat protection - Paraben and sulfate free - For all hair types You apply this evenly through damp or dry hair. Style as you wish. It retails for $25, has 2.5 oz, and in a pump style tube. Which I really like. It smells AMAZING. It also feels really weightless. Even using it in dry hair it's super light and weightless. I use two pumps in my hair when it's dry and use it from the mid-shaft down, and I have relatively long hair. It immediately feels soft and becomes more managable. With my hair wet I use about 4 pumps to coat from scalp to ends. So I'm really enjoying this and I see results very quickly with it. This became available in Ulta stores andUlta.com in September. Kenra is a very trusted professional hair care brand, that I've used many times. I love their hot spray and finishing sprays. Plus they smell amazing. Here's the official link: http://www.ulta.com/platinum-snail-cc-creme?productId=xlsImpprod14561049 **This post was powered by Brand Backer.**  Urban Decay knows how to do palettes. And I must say they knocked it out of the park with the new Full Spectrum palette. If you missed out on last years Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix palette, this is your second chance for blasts of color. Now right away you need to know, this doesn't have any neutrals (I don't consider white a neutral). It's just a beautifully laid out, every shade of the rainbow, palette. I love how there are 3 shades in each color family, with each row being a color family. This will be available for purchase on October 26th and it's $58 (Some places are reporting it's $55), I believe it'll be in both Sephora, Ulta (but Sephora for sure) and UrbanDecay.com  This has 21 shades. 18 new shades and 2 from the Alice in Wonderland palette and one from the Vice 3 palette. It also comes with a double ended brush. First lets talk about the packaging. Guys it's so pretty. It's a jeweled "UD" on the front that has every shade in the color spectrum in it. It's a plastic palette and it's different in design from a lot of palettes I've seen lately. It's keeping with the same size of the Vice palettes which is the medium sized square shape. When I think about it though, I feel like Urban Decay, out of all the companies that I like, always comes through with packaging. I loved the OG Naked palette, the Naked Smokey palette packaging, the Vice 4 and don't even get me started on the Alice in Wonderland palette. So they always do packaging right in my eyes. My favorite shades are: Minx Gossip Seize Calavera Sketch Warning I love the whole palette with exception of a few shades, but those are the ones that I really love. I do find that Gossip works better when I apply it with my finger. It's more pigmented and intense when I do that and it's a beautiful strawberry shade with shimmer. Sketch has even pigmentation but it's not as bright on the lid as it looks in the pan and it may need to be "built up" it's not patchy but it just might require a bit of layering to get the intensity you want . Not that it isn't beautiful it really is but I expected it to be just a tad brighter. Calavara (yellow) is super pigmented as well as Hatter (green) both being matte. Seize is absolutely beautiful in the crease to warm things up. Minx is navy blue with some sparse glitter in it and it actually looks navy and not black on the lid which is so hard to find. Especially, without using a white base underneath. Bump is actually really pigmented and stark white and I usually find that companies have a hard time producing a non dry, pigmented, opaque matte white. Jones is incredibly pigmented and looks like a foiled orange almost. Mean and Warning also have that "foiled" look to them as well. This has a mix of mattes, shimmers and glittery shades. It looks to me like there are 8 mattes, 8 shimmers and then 4 that have more glitter in them than shimmer to me. I guess Minx could go either way but I included it in the matte category even though it has SOME glitter. There were three shades that didn't impress me, because they didn't have the best or even pigmentation. Those shades are: Iced: it's super sparkly but that's all it seems to be is just silver glitter, I don't notice much of a base with that one. The glitter really comes through though. Faded: It looks really pretty in the pan with the golden shimmer over the taupe purple but it's just not consistent through out. Midnight Blaze: This is another really glittery one but it didn't have much glitter or pigment pay off when swatched.   I done two sets of swatches with these. One in natural light and one with the flash on my camera. The reason I done this is because sometimes natural light gives you the true color of the shadow but a flash will pick up the shimmer and foiled look of the shadow. So I felt like it was really needful to do two sets.
In order, on both pictures, starting with the left picture going to the right picture, from top to bottom the swatches are: Paranoia, Jones, Goldmine, Mean, Metamorphosis, Faded and Bump. This is the more pale shades in the palette 2nd/middle picture Gossip, Seize, Calavera, Hatter, Blindsided, Sketch, and Iced. This is the brightest shades in the palette 3rd/right picture Alchemy, Warning, Midnight Blaze, Hundred, Minx, Delirious, and Platonic. These are the darkest shades in the palette. The pale shades are more noticeable with the flash obviously. Sketch didn't show up very well in the picture but it's better in person. I swatched these with my finger, without primer, and most of them are only one swipe. Which is how I do all my swatches. Like I said earlier, this releases the 26th. I personally really like this. I know it's getting mixed reviews but I think it's a really beautiful palette for people who love color. Yes there are a few shades that don't "wow" me but overall the palette is a hit in my book. 
Exuviance is at it again with some more awesome skincare goods. I recently done a review on the Overnight Recovery Mask that I still use and really like. This time we're talking about a cleanser.
This cleanser retails for $34 for 7.2 oz. What I find cool about this, and that actually sparked my interest, is that it is a "soap free" cleanser. Which I know what you're thinking, how can it be a cleanser but be soap free. It's a foaming cleanser formulated with "Alpha and Polyhydroxy Acids to sooth and improve the skin’s texture." Soap actually can be very drying to the skin while also striping the skin of natural oils, thus making it more vulnerable to other harsh irritants in face products as well as exposing it more to environmental dangers and pollutants. Much like soap isn't as important for hair as much as a conditioner is (yes that's true), same goes with their approach for this cleanser. It's soap free but offers conditioners to help smooth the skin texture and soothe any irritation you might have. Don't worry though it's still cleansing your skin thanks to it's formulation of Glycolic Acid and Gluconolactone. I'm gonna give you the details from the site about this product. • Formulated with Glycolic Acid (AHA) and Gluconolactone (PHA) to exfoliate and clarify • Deep cleans to remove makeup and impurities • Soap-free formula is non-drying and gentle to skin • Conditioners soothe and improve texture • For all skin types, including sensitive skin Being that this is soap free, it's a much more gentle cleanser and it cleanses the skin naturally without messing with the skins natural moisture. Lets get real, sometimes we get a little crazy and strip the skin too much which can actually cause the skin to produce more oil (found that out the hard way), cause irritation, or become super dry and start to get rough dry patches or cause texture problems. None of that is cool, and none of that has to happen if you know how to treat your skin. In which case I recommend you seeing a dermatologist or esthatician and really figure out what your skin type is whether that's oily, normal, dry, combination, sensitive, etc. While also figuring out which products your skin needs more of and less of. This product is a no brainer though. My theory when all else fails is start with the products that are as gentle as possible on the skin to see how the skin reacts, and step it up if you need to along the way. You shouldn't have to use an overly harsh cleanser though. Especially if you're already using it with a Foreo or a Clarisonic or some other cleansing device, because that exfoliates the skin well enough anyway so why add a super harsh cleanser on top of that? Naturally this is ideal for sensitive skin and of course all skin types. It also includes, as stated, "skin conditioners" to help soothe irritated skin and improve texture. Which was something I loved with the Overnight Recovery Mask. I appreciate products that soothe and make my skin feel better much more than using something very harsh to strip my skin of impurities or get really rough with clogged pores. Don't get me wrong I love a good pore strip or the Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay mask but you are in for some burning and pain with those. Although beauty can be pain, I think it's best to avoid that as often as you can. Exuviance seems to be a brand that definitely tries to avoid that, while still giving you the best results possible without the harsh side effects. As I've stated before Exuviance is clinically proven in their efforts to improve skin texture, soothe skin, improving skins appearance and fighting the aging process with "a patented bionic blend of highly evolved Polyhydroxy and Alpha Hydroxy acids". It's dermatologist developed, full strength but still gentle so that any skin type can use it. Also I've said before, "invest in your base". Without good skin, you can't have good makeup application, you look unhealthy, you tend to look older and skin is something that you have to take care of because that's all you have. It's not like with a bad foundation you can wipe it off and start fresh with a different one. Skin is something that is precious, so find what works for you and invest in your skin care routine so that you don't have to worry so much about investing in good concealers, foundations and so on to hide your skin issues. In the long run a good skin care regimen could actually save you tons of money as far as makeup and inexpensive skin care products go that don't work nearly as well. I'm gonna leave the link below: https://www.neostrata.com/product/exuviance+purifying+cleansing+gel.do **This post was powered by Brand Backer**  I am in no way, shape, or form, an expert or pro at Special Effects makeup, makeup artistry, Halloween Makeup, or Body Painting. HOWEVER, the plus side of me being not a pro is that I know what it's like to be a beginner and wanting to venture past the face paints in the Halloween aisle at Walmart (not hating, because some of them I do use as a base). So really just in the last two years is when I started looking at other brands and places and figuring out what does the best for me. So I do have some tips and tricks that I've picked up along the way. Tip 1 Don't disregard how useful actual makeup can be. For instance the NYX Jumbo Pencils are really good bases and there have been several times that I've used NYX Milk Jumbo Pencil as a white base for my entire face just make sure you set it with powder though heavily because it is a cream, it will heat up and smudge and move. So when they go on sale for buy 1 get 1 half off or whatever at Ulta I jump on that. They're great bases for eyes but also good from an artistry stand point. Also my go to, ride or die, ace, number 1, thing I use for detailing is liquid liner and my preference is Ardency Inn Punker Liner that is waterproof. I have an affiliate code I'll leave it below if you want to use it in the future to save some money. They are so good to me they know how much I love it and keep me STOCKED. I believe I have 3 right now. Keep in mind I use it EVERY TIME I do a themed look for Halloween, Snapchat Filter or whatever. Plus liquid liner is the absolute best for Leopard or Cat looks. It makes life so much easier in my opinion. Another thing I really like is contouring, no matter what color you need, with eyeshadows and a tapered contour brush. Also for shading and bringing dimension to things you've drawn to make them appear to be "on top of the skin" it's easier to use matte eye shadows that you have and brushes to shade. A really good person to watch for stuff like this and all around general bad ass-ness for Body Painting and Makeup Artistry is Jordan Hanz. She does 31 days of Halloween tutorials, she's a stickler for details and she's honestly taught me so much because she explains why she does this and that. I'll link her youtube channel here. Tip 2 What to buy. I'm gonna tell you if you're going into this as a person who's gonna do this more than just once a year buy some palettes. Get a Mehron palette. I have one that I got off Amazon from Mehron it wasn't expensive I think it was just $25 at most. It has 8 really good sized water activated paints. The second thing is a grease paint palette, or cream paint palette. Whether that is the Make Up For Ever flash palette, Color Wheels from Ben Nye are also a good choice and much less overwhelming and more cost efficient, iMagic also has a flash palette that I actually have as well and I have no complaints about it. It's available on Amazon and it's definitely the cheapest but looks dead on for the Make Up For Ever flash palette. I prefer to buy palettes that are primary and secondary colors which is bright colors like your basic blue, green, red. white, black. purple, so on so forth. Then if you want to get into flesh colored ones later you could but I'd rather buy those as singles or just use my RCMA palette. That's just me though. Now if you aren't sure you'd use that and don't want to have palettes just kicking around not being used I recommend getting single paints from Frends Beauty by brands like Global Colours, Ben Nye, Kryolan, etc. They have plenty of options and you're probably looking at like a $7-$12 price for one single color. If you don't already know you can sign up for a free membership with them and always get 10% off your purchase (no I'm not affiliated, I just try to save you all some money). Also Snazaroo has even more afforable single paints and palettes on Amazon. Tip 3 Water Activated vs Cream Paints. THIS..........took me a while to figure out my preference. I went for cream when I first started because I was more comfortable with that and I knew they would be full coverage. HOWEVER, I found that I prefer "water activated" paints much more because they can be very full coverage, the products lasts longer, and they dry down matte and don't have to be "set". You can also go over any patchy areas with a cream paint if you want more coverage. Or a lot of times you can "highlight" with a cream paint. Like if you painted you're whole face or body a cobalt blue, you could go over it messy like with a sky blue or a paler blue cream shade and that would bring your look from a flat one shade, to a more dimensional base without really having to do much like shading and what have you because you would already have that going on somewhat. It's all personal preference though, just remember to set the living crap out of cream paint with powder. Preferably a powder that is the same color as your cream paint. Just for that added color. Tip 4 Reference Picture. Whether you're re-creating an artist's work (by the way always give credit for that, it's just polite), or a drawing, cartoon, comic book, what have you. Have a picture nearby, pulled up, so you can look at it quickly and look often so that you know you're on par with what you're doing. Also, it'll make it easier for you to find places or ways to make the look you're own if you want to change it up, if space is an issue. For example I just did the Bride of Frankenstein and I had a reference picture for the stitches but it didn't mean that I did every single detail like the picture. I made it my own by choosing to add in eyeshadows, a sculpted brows, ombre lip but still keeping to the traditional stitch line, screws on the temple and the major identifiers that signify that "yes, that is a Bride of Frankenstein look". Tip 5 Buy separate brushes for artistry and special effects like blood or whatever. This isn't exactly necessary it's just my preference that I find has made things easier for me. I buy actual art brushes and I also buy separate sponges. I get the sponges on the stick in the craft section even. They make for really great "texture looks" with water activated paints. The synthetic artist brushes work really well with fake blood but it's almost like a putty so it can ruin a brush if you aren't careful to wash it pretty quickly. I don't use these brushes for blending or shading with powders just when I'm dealing with water activated paints or sfx products like blood, dirt, mud or whatever. Tip 6 Using adhesive. I apply adhesive with a disposable wedge sponge. If I didn't have liquid latex or something I've used eyelash glue several times and it works really well for minor things. It's not gonna hold very heavy things but for my Pearl Mask I used eyelash glue and it done well. Liquid latex is a bit more stout. If you are allergic to latex you can use gelatin, makeup wax, spirit gum. Some people use Elmers Glue or white glue. To each their own I guess. Also when using it, try to work in small sections. For instance if you want it to look like skin is peeling or whatever take tissue paper and tear it into little pieces, then glue it and then paint it. You may have to add glue over top of it before you paint it. For textured looks or building up features like more prominent cheek bones, or a large swollen bruise use torn cotton and work in layers: glue, apply, glue, apply, glue, apply till you get the shape and height that you want. Tip 7 Don't be afraid to use blood. Blood is very cool to work with and it can take an "ok" scary/gory look and turn it into a more detailed real like effect, that looks far more detailed and complicated than what it actually is. The best thing I ever bought was Ben Nye Thick Blood that I got from Frends Beauty, it's very much like a jam/putty texture and I love it. I also use regular ol' vampire blood from the halloween aisle at Walmart when I need a thinner blood to run, or splatter, or whatever. If you don't want to go that route another thing that I used to do is start with a black shadow for the center of the cut or whatever, then use a burgundy shadow around it to show irritation to the skin, then start adding red liquid lipsticks in different shades, red cream lipsticks to add different texture and then glosses to give the bloody effect and it worked just fine. So those are all my tips. I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween. I'm gonna leave some of my fave looks from this year at the bottom. Enjoy!! **Affiliate codes:** Ardency Inn "LOVEMASCARA" FOR 15% OFF Be Biotin Hair Vitamins "LOVEMASCARA" for 25% off  It's time for another Sephora Play! box. This one actually arrived quite late. I got it on the 21st. They bill you around the 1st part of the month but it usually gets to me around the 15th I think. I almost thought it wasn't coming. It did though, so all is well. This month's box is actually really good I think. The theme is "The Cool Cut". As always you get a card for 50 extra bonus points that expire by the 30th of November.
What's in the box this month: Smashbox Always on Matte Liquid Lipstick in Driver's Seat NUDESTIX Intense Matte Lip + Cheek pencil in Belle Too Cool For School Egg Mellow Cream Skin INC. Pure Revival Peel Verb Leave-in Mist Tom Ford Orchid Soleil Starting with the Tom Ford perfume. You know I don't like perfume that much and I really don't like perfume being one of the samples. This is kinda musky too me and a little "old lady" ish. Verb Leave In Mist. I'm excited to try this it's a leave in conditioner, detangler and defrizz. Verb is a really good brand. They're very popular in the hair care world. This enhances hair's shine while also being a heat protectant as a bonus. Skin INC Pure Revival Peel. This "gently sloths away dead skin cells to reveal a bright renewed complexion." So basically it's a gentle exfoliator. Too Cool For School Egg Mellow Cream. This is a 5 in 1 cream made with egg extract and collagen fiber. It can be used as an eye cream, a serum, primer, sleeping mask, and neck cream. I've actually seen the sheet masks they have in this and wanted to try them. So this I'm pretty excited about. Nudestix lip and cheek pencil in Belle. This is a nice dark mauve shade. I wouldn't use it on my cheeks because I don't like cream blush, but it's very opaque super pretty for fall and it's quite dark so I'm loving it on the lips. Smashbox Liquid Lipstick in Driver's Seat. This is a very warm rose shade with a brown undertone. I absolutely love the Aways on Matte Liquid Lipsticks and this one is no different, again it's a really great fall shade. It's not like last year when the trend was cool toned every thing, berry, and greys. It seems like this year it's muted oranges, warm browns, and brick shades. This falls right into that warm toned category. Going in my purse for sure! So that was this month's box. I really liked it. If you would like to sign up for a Sephora Play! box I will leave the link here. It's $10 a month.  The next part in my Snapchat series is The Lace Mask. This one is quite time consuming. The easiest way I can tell you to do this is to start with the outlines of the lace mask and making sure they're even on both sides. Then little by little drawing the outline and edges. I use a waterproof liquid liner for this so, Ardency Inn Punker Liner (you can use code LOVEMASCARA for $$ off your purchase) a felt tip liquid liner is the easiest to use in my opinion. Gel liner can be water proof but it's not easy to do small detailing with it.
I draw on a matte oil free face. So it's imperative to do your base, and then immediately go into your Lace Mask. The oil on the face even if you're dry will work against the waterproof liquid liner. So bake the face with loose powder is my solution, then once you're done set the face with a setting spray. Preferrably Blue or Green Marble setting spray, but Ben Nye Final Seal would be ok as well. Back to the mask: work on the detailing and drawings in the mask, then work the netting in around it. Don't stress over it being identical. It won't be identical to the filter but it can look like a lace mask none the less. Don't bother drawing on the lids it will smear. Do a super smokey eye on the lid and intense lashes that way the netting just runs into it. For the red lip I used Lovecat from Ardency Inn but a liquid lipstick would be lovely. KVD Santa Sangre would be a good one or any red liquid lip honestly. Stick around for more Snapchat Filter makeup, as I have much more on the way.  I am determined to find something from the new KVD launches that I like. We all know I didn't like the MetalMatte palette but I really think that it was just my palette. I've seen where plenty of people did like theirs. So I decided to get the liquid lip set above. I knew that I already liked the formula, and these are mini's which I prefer to full size actually. I think they have more control. You get 8 liquid mini's and 2 new shades. What actually sold me was that these were shades I hadn't really seen much before. Like you always see Lolita, Lolita 2, Vampira, Exorcism, etc from the liquid lip line. Those are the ones most talked about and usually included in "best of" sets or as point perks and deluxe samples. This one had completely different shades and it also included Echo which is a Navy shade that is kinda popular, but not seen that much. I had also wanted Echo but couldn't justify buying the big dog. So I seen this set and jumped on it. This set also comes with 2 new shades: Plath and Roxy. Plath I love, Roxy is good in theory but a bit patchy which you will see in the swatches. So the 8 shades you get are: Plath: deep russet red ( a red/brown with brown being the strong undertone it.) Santa Sangre: Poison Apple (a bright neutral classic red) Mother: Dusty Mauve Pink (a brighter mauve not dusty in my opinion) Lovesick: Mauve Nude ( a cool toned pink nude) Backstage Bambi: Vivid Hot Pink (accurate description) L.U.V: Rich Violet (vibrant, bright, violet fuchsia) Roxy: New shade. Bright Grape (accurate) Echo: Satin Navy Blue (accurate again) So those are the shades in Sephora's description and then mine. Below I'm gonna give you swatches of all 8 on the lips. Same great formula in all of these. Didn't expect nothing less. The only one that was troublesome was Roxy and that sucks cause it's new, but I truly think it's because it's a true purple and purple is the hardest shade in powder form, cream, or liquid, to pull off and make perfect in every way. I still think it could be built up more and made a bit more even. I had around two coats on in the swatch. Echo has two coats as well. The rest are just one go. Plath, the other new shade, is gorgeous. It's essential for fall. I freaking love it. I love the other shades as well but I'm a sucker for brown undertones. My fave shades out of this are: Echo Mother Plath Santa Sangre The others are great too, but these are my picks.   As you've probably seen, Sephora has all sorts of new launches for the Holidays. Like the years past Hourglass dropped a new Ambient palette. This time it's all brand new products and shades with the introduction to a new Ambient powder which is "Surreal Light" that they have infused in the other powders in the palette as well. There are two blushes: Surreal Glow - a more neutral mildly peach shade Surreal Effect - a rosy pink shade that's brighter than you would think but wearable Bronzer Surreal Bronze Light - a cool toned bronzer that they formulated with the idea of "contour" in mind Strobe Powder: Surreal Strobe Light - a impressively pigmented champagne highlighter Ambient Powder: Finishing powder in Surreal Light - a pigmented powder that could almost act as a highlighter in my opinion but very neutral in it's undertone not as champagne as the Surreal Strobe Light. It's described as nude and that's totally accurate. Nude but not translucent. This palette is a travel palette so bear that in mind. It's quite small. You get .04 oz of the 4 other shades and then .14 oz of the new Ambient Powder. Totaling 5 powders all together and .3 oz of product. I won't lie this is a very small palette, with not a lot of product. However, the powders inside are all new and limited edition. They also can't be beat in my opinion. The packaging is a marble look but it is plastic. It's absolutely B-E-A-utiful. I am disappointed with how small the other products are but packaging wise it's the same size as last years palette, but last years palette had 6 powders all the same size this has 5 powders, one that is quite big and then 4 that aren't. The one thing I notice in this is there is a lot of specs of glitter in there. It doesn't really bother me but just so you know there is some what seems to be glitter or shimmer in this palette. Not something that I notice in regular Ambient Powders or Ambient Blushes. I definitely find I reach for this since it has a cooler toned bronzer, a finishing powder, blushes and highlight. So I do use this a lot. I definitely take it with me traveling. So far, it's been really beneficial and something that I've used every day. Everything has performed as all Hourglass products do, and that's beautifully. I expected no less from them. They apply wonderful, blend wonderful, look and feel really natural on the skin. They're all around what is totally expected with a bonus of being brand new and not something you would already have. I think this would make for an awesome gift as well. It's luxurious, it's got everything you need and none of the powders are overpowering, so I think most everyone would really like it as far as a face palette goes. This is $80 which is the same price as last years Ambient Palette I believe. Hourglass is very expensive in general so I'm not surprised by the price but none the less for as small as the palette is, I think you should get more product or it be priced less. The smaller powders are the same size as the travel size Ambient Powders that go for $22. So if you were to multiply the travel size single powder cost by 4 for the 4 small shades you get it would be $88 for the four smaller powders alone. Then another roughly $30 for the larger powder even though a travel size ambient powder is only .04 oz and the price is $22 which is half the price of a full sized powder but not half the product amount. So that would be over $100 basically with how they seem to price things. Which I still find ridiculous but nothing I can do about that. A full size Ambient Powder has more product in it than this entire palette. An Ambient Powder has .35 oz for $46 a pop. Where this is 5 shades and a total weight of .3 oz for $80. Again I'm going to remind you that this is limited edition so when it's gone, and it will be gone eventually, it's really gone. Also, Sephora has a fabulous return policy as I've stated many times before. So if you didn't like it, or found you didn't use it enough to justify the price you could always return it. The friends and family sale will be coming in November, this may or may not be available then so if you want to wait for that, it would be a good time to get it. So here's the link for the Surreal Lighting palette. I haven't bought any of the Hourglass palettes they've released other than the eye shadow palettes, they've never held any interest for me because shades were being repeated. This one was entirely new which is why I wanted it. It won't be for everyone, definitely not justifiable for everyone, but it is different and I really like it.  |
ErinI'm from Tennessee. I'm a makeup and skincare lover. I have always enjoyed creating looks but I love to help people with product knowledge and application even more. I've been able to start blogging and do these things I love because God has seen fit to bless me with the opportunity. Thanks for stopping by and visiting with me! 
  
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