NYX Blush In Taupe - Perfect Contour for the Pale Ladies

I can't help but feel as though there's a big misconception between contour and bronzer. I can't remember what beauty youtuber mentioned it, but it's a trend I've been noticing for a while now. I used to think that they were interchangeable. You used a bronzer to contour your face. But then I kept noticing that in photos, my face didn't really look sculpted. It looked.. odd. Where it should have looked like natural shadows, it seemed too warm/too brown for my face. It looked out of place.

I know it doesn't look the worst here, but trust me that it was noticeable.

And that is when I realized that contours and bronzers are not the same thing and should (probably) not be used interchangeably (at least on my personal skintone.)

(As a personal disclaimer, let me just say that I do not have a warm skin tone whatsoever. I have very cool-toned skin, and as a result any kind of warm shades look off on me; this is how I came to this conclusion. I know that it will not apply to everyone and that warm bronzers might be perfect for some people. They just aren't for me.)

To some of you, that might be old news. To others, it might be a revelation for you like it was for me. I have the featured product to thank for my revelation - NYX Blush in Taupe.

I'm going to say this now - I'm not saying that Taupe is the perfect contour shade for everyone. It does, however, look like a natural shadow on your face as opposed to an unnatural (at least one me and my skin tone) brown shadow.

Taupe is a blush that I'd heard about forever, but because I had already invested in Benefit's Hoola, I thought that I was set for the long run in terms of a bronzer. Besides, Taupe was always sold out whenever I remembered to look for it in ULTA. It was only when I was looking through my Amazon wish list, wanting to treat myself, that I saw that it was in stock and bought it on impulse.

When it arrived, it took me a while to even bothering unwrapping it and using it. Meh, I thought, I've got Hoola. It was only one morning, when I grabbed Taupe by accident and decided to use it, that I did a double-take in the mirror. It was like night and day from the effect that Hoola had on my cheekbones and jawline. Whereas Hoola looked slightly unnatural on my skin, Taupe was like free plastic surgery. Taupe looked like a natural shadow had sprung up on my skin and given my cheekbones a fresh breath of life. After highlight, they looked divine. I don't use that word lightly.

Swatches, pictures, and comparisons between Hoola and Taupe after the jump!

Anastasia Beverley Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Ebony ❤ Review, Tutorial and Swatches!

As a fair skinned (read: pale) lady with dark, dark brown hair, it can be a struggle to find good eyebrow color matches. Anything I've come across in the drugstore has either been too chocolate brown, had too much red, or too close to black to go with my hair.

I've been interested in Anastasia Beverly Hills' brow products for a long time now, but I wasn't sure about what shade to go for in the pencil, powder, or tinted lash gel lines, and even after going to Sephora and swatching colors multiple times, I couldn't make up my mind.

When the Dipbrow product launched, I was intrigued. I like doing my brows with an angled liner brush that's fairly stiff to give me the most control, and while I normally use powder (Urban Decay's Darkhorse), the gel liner consistency meant crisper, more defined lines. Again, I faced the challenge of whether I should go with their dark brown shade or the ebony shade, but eventually, after struggling to find good pictures of the ebony dipbrow shade (seriously - there are not many good pictures) I just bit the bullet and bought it.

More after the jump!

Long Time No Post!

Hello, all! I apologize for my long absence from this blog, as you may or may not have noticed. My reasons aren't sound, and aren't really super excusable, but I wanted to do a post just to update and give any readers an idea of what's been up.

I have about four posts in drafts for this blog, but all of them are incomplete, since I was waiting on pictures to finish them off. However, my camera broke after sand got into the viewfinder at the beach in August. I've been trying to figure out a way to take pictures without it for a while now, but there haven't been too many good options, since my iPhone's camera was damaged by moisture and my mom's camera's upload cord is MIA.

My last option is a camcorder, which I got for my birthday in may, but my only hindrance there is the lack of good editing software for videos (I really loved the idea of making gifs to use on my blog, but I lack the know-how and software for that) as well as the color balancing/staying true to color with the camera function on the camcorder.

Pre-August, however, I didn't really have much of an excuse for not posting. Mostly it was procrastination and making excuses, while also stressing about just graduating and looking for a job. I'm hoping to get the whole situation figured out soon and hopefully posting will get back to a semi-normal schedule!

Essence Eyeliner Pen ❤ Review, Photos, and Swatches!

Everyone needs a good black liner in all its forms - from liquid to gel to pencil, it's a necessity. My favorite form of liner is a toss-up between pencil and liquid pen liners, with both of them having their downfalls. The main problem I run into with liquid pen liners is that they're either not black enough or they run out too quickly. My last liquid liner was Stila's Stay All Day Waterproof Eyeliner, and while I loved it, the tip dried out after a month or so.

I recently found my old Stila pen while cleaning out my old makeup bags, and I decided to try and look for a new one to try out the next time I was in ULTA. I had also been meaning to try out some of Essence's products, having heard about them from a few different websites, and since they're pretty cheap I was interested to see how the quality was. They had two different liquid pen liners - the Extra Long Lasting pen that I picked up and an Extra Fine Tip pen that was sold out.

Blast from the Past: MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipglass ❤ Swatches and Review

I can count the amount of times that I've been inside a Cosmetic Company outlet store on one hand. I can count the amount of times I've been inside a Cosmetic Company outlet with money to actually buy something on one finger.

The one time that I speak of was the time I was so excited that I had no idea what to buy. It was about two or three years ago that I went, and I was enamored by the idea of MAC products. I saw they had a few Viva Glam Gaga products (If I had known what I know now, I would have gone for a lipstick as opposed to a lipglass, but oh well), and I decided on the lipglass. Why, I couldn't exactly tell you. I didn't wear lipgloss then, and I still don't wear it much now. But I chalk it up to my immaturity as a makeup affectionado and my excitement about being able to buy MAC.

Wet N' Wild's Lipstick in Cherry Bomb ❤ Review and Swatches!

Yet again, I've another Wet N' Wild Lipstick for you guys! It's hard to turn down that $1.99 price point, especially when I've enjoyed the formulation of these lipsticks so much so far (though it was a shame that Just Peachy wasn't my color.)

This time, I picked up Cherry Bomb, a color I had bought with Just Peachy, but ended up giving to one of my friends soon afterwards since she had really wanted the color.

Cherry Bomb is a dark purple/berry burgundy color that leans a little brown, but can be layered for different color intensities. The formula is very much like the other Wet N' Wild lipsticks, but I actually found it to be a bit more drying and uncomfortable for long-term wear.

Full review and swatches after the jump!