Fun With Color: Fuchsia Flash

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably have the inside knowledge that I'm a neutrals gal through and through. However, I do like to shake things up from time to time! What better way to do that with one of my favorite colors? Fuchsia!

Please excuse the difference in lighting. It was a little cloudy today and I couldn't get it the same both times!

This was a really fun look to create! I started off by priming my eyes with the Lorac Behind the Scenes Eyeshadow Primer. Once that dried, I layered NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk right over it. I then patted a shimmery off-white shade into the inner third of my eye and to my browbone (I used the shade Venus from the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette). Next, I applied matte fuchsia shade from the Coastal Scents 252 Eyeshadow Palette to the outer two-thirds of my eye. I then added a matte deep plum shade into the outer corner and blended it all together. I topped off the look with some black liquid liner, curled lashes, and mascara (I used TheBalm's Schwing! liner and their Body Builder mascara, which I've already reviewed!). 

To balance out the bright eyes, I went nude on the lips. I threw on NYX Matte Lipstick in Butter and layered a NYX Megashine Lip Gloss in Beige over it.

Here's a picture of the look in action, which I wore to a party with some friends!

Me and my friend Matt! Fancy photo credit goes to my friend Leigh. Are you diggin that 'stache as much as I am? Of course you are.

 What's your go-to bright color? Mine is either fuchsia, electric blue, or neon yellow. I can't decide. 0:)

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Is this any good? BH Cosmetics Liquid Eyeliner Pen

I am a big believer in the fact that the search for the perfect liquid eyeliner is a long road filled with broken dreams. Well, not really. I've been wearing liquid eyeliner for quite a long time and still can't find the perfect one!

I recently picked up a Liquid Eyeliner Pen from BH Cosmetics (~$6) in my last Little Black Bag purchase (read my blog post about it here!) in hopes that something that is so low in cost would be my next favorite. However, I was a little disappointed with the results. 

Picture-heavy, so read more below!

Wishlist Wednesday #6 | Aveeno, Benefit, MAC, Stila

After all the up-front Summer feelings in last week's Wishlist Wednesday post, I want to personally add a bit of cooler-weather neutrality to reduce the heat. While I do enjoy the summer, there's nothing I love more than cooler weather and cozying up in blankets. The products this aren't wintery products in particular, but they remind me of cooler temperatures. Click through to read more about this week's picks!

Little Black Bag Unboxing!

I was inspired by the lovely Elle Fowler (of Dreaming in Blush) to make an order from Little Black Bag, a flash sale/social shopping fashion website, ever since she posted her What's In My Little Black Bag? Summer Edition video. I was excited to receive my order, but I was a little less than impressed with the condition that some of the things arrived in. 

Top 5 MUST HAVE Blushes!

Today is my 21st birthday! What better way to celebrate than to talk about my favorite blushes?

Blush is one of my absolutely favorite things. Adding a flush of color to the cheeks can really brighten up any makeup look! I used to only own one blush when starting my collection, but that was before my hoarding tendencies took hold. Since then, I've found that different colored blushes can achieve different looks. It's no surprise that I've built up quite the collection over the years!

So, I had a dig through my stash and came out the other end with my Top 5 MUST HAVE Blushes!

Did one of your favorites make the cut? Click through to find out!

Feathered Liner! | Experimental Eyes

I was sitting around earlier this evening playing with some makeup (who doesn't?) and I ended up with a really fun look that I wanted to share. Here's my take on Feathered Eyeliner!

I got this look by playing around with my liquid liner. I felt like messing around, so I scrunched up my face and threw a dash of liquid liner on my lower lash line. I really liked how the line it made wasn't completely solid, and I thought that it kind of looked like a feather. So, the next thing I did was fill in the spaces in between the black marks with a white pencil liner. I really liked how it turned out, so I submitted it on /r/makeupaddiction so I decided to make a blog post about it!

Here's what I used: 

A matte, dark grey eyeshadow and a light grey matte shadow from my Coastal Scents 252 Palette, the shade  Venus from UD's Naked Basics, NYX Slide On Liner in White, and The Balm's Schwing! Liquid Liner in black.

What do you think? Would you wear this out in public? I would... if I could recreate it again. I tried for ages on the other eye, but I just couldn't get it right! That's why this picture only has one eye featured:

lol

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you. If you're interested, feel free to follow my blog with Bloglovin' so you can keep up with my posts!

Silver Screen Siren: 1940s Inspired Makeup

Hello, everyone! I was really wracking my brains to try to figure out a topic for today's post (as I am not currently able to generate much new content--read this for more information), so I decided to go the FOTD route with a look I did recently that I was really proud of! 

I was really inspired by makeup from the 1940s while doing this look. What I loved about that decade was the bold lips, brows, and heavy contouring--all of it being matte. I do love my highlighting, but I  Being the blush addict that I am, I enjoyed not using a sparkling pink or a warm coral blush for a change.

I started by applying my Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation for light coverage that would even out my complexion. Then, I contoured my cheeks, jaw, nose, and forehead using a taupe shade from my Coastal Scents 10 Blush Palette. I went easy on the eyes by using my Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette (Walk of Shame all over the lid, Naked 2 in the crease, and Faint in the outer corner) and skipped the strong winged liner, opting instead for a little smudged black liner (I used NYX Slide On Pencil in Black), and a matte inner corner highlight (NYX Slide On Pencil in White). I added more brightness to my eyes by using Rimmel's ScandalEYES Liner in Nude. Finally, I curled my lashes and used UD's SUPERCURL Curling Mascara for clean, curled lashes.

Though strong brows were rampant in the 1940s, I guess didn't pay that much attention to mine for this look. They look a little sparse here. I should have filled in my eyebrows a little more with a darker eyeshadow to give them a more polished, defined look because the lighting I was in really washed them out. 

Finally, my favorite part of this look is the most obvious--the red lip. I decided to go for a more modern red lip by ditching the cool-toned reds and reaching for my NYX Matte Lipstick in Indie Flick. I love this color because it's a hot red coral that commands attention. It almost works out that I didn't fill in my brows for this look because of how bright this lip is. 

I did my best to color-correct this in Photoshop. It's insanely close, but the photograph simply doesn't catch the vibrancy that the lipstick has in person! (Also, my skin looks great here. This was before the big jawline breakout of 2013, I'm afraid...)

Here's a quick rundown of all the products I used:

NYX Dewy Finish Setting SPray, NYX HD Concealer, UD Naked Basics Palette, Rimmel Stay Matte face powder, Coastal Scents 10 Blush Palette, UD SuperCURL mascara, NYX Matte Lipstick in Indie Flick, Rimmel ScandalEYES Liner in Nude, NYX Slide On Pencils in Black and White, Revlon Nearly Naked foundation, NYX Photo-Loving Primer in Lavender, ELF Powder Brush, Coastal Scents fluffy brush, Coastal Scents brow brush, and one of those disposable spoolies I accidentially took from Sephora.

What's your favorite decade, makeup-wise?

Also, please don't forget to follow my blog on Bloglovin' so you can get notified whenever I post something new!

So, I had knee surgery.

Hello everyone! As you may have noticed, I haven't been active on the blog recently (save for posts that are automatically scheduled to post at 5 AM). This is because I had some knee surgery on Tuesday morning.

In the car on the way home, still wearing my surgery swag. (Pardon pulling the photo right from Instagram--I've been bedridden all week and not up to taking real photos.)

I have what my Doctor says is plica - a buildup of tissue in the knees that easily become enflamed. I've been dealing with painful knees my entire life, and only in the past two years has it gotten so painful that I've had to see doctors about it. I was first diagnosed with patellar tendonitis, and as a result was given pain medication to ease inflammation of the tendon. Unfortunately, whenever I would try to wean myself off the medication, the pain would come back. In addition, I've been to physical therapy several times to strengthen the knee, but to no avail. In the meantime, I had lived for two years with constant chronic knee pain. 

Finally, when the same pain started happening in my other knee, my Doctor gave me an ultimatum: he told me that I could have surgery, or I could deal with the pain for the rest of my life. 

Being only twenty and already depressed enough that I could no longer walk extended distances, run, dance, or climb stairs without suffering and needing to rest for the next few days, I knew what the right decision to make was. I was terrified, of course--but I had hope that my quality of life would significantly improve afterward. 

Has it yet? I'm not entirely sure. I've spent the whole week bedridden, hobbling to the bathroom on crutches, being uncomfortable all the time, taking intense pain medication, sleeping for maybe two hours at a time, getting migraines, and vomiting. I start a summer full of physical therapy on Friday (today) and have a followup appointment with my doctor next week. However, I was able to hobble over to a different room in the house to sit on a different sofa for a little while yesterday. Little victories!

Hello, toes. 

In the meantime, I'll post updates as I see fit. Thanks for your patience and your continued support! 

Also, shoutout to my mom and dad who's been here to wake me up at awful hours to take medicine and have been coercing me to eat when that's the last thing I want to do. You guys are real pals. Thanks for dealing with me! 

Thanks, everyone! See you soon,

Em

Outfits of the Weekend: Graduation/Fathers' Day

As I mentioned in some earlier posts, I went away this past weekend. My sister had a commemoration dinner for her graduation of the grad school program she was in on Saturday in Rhode Island, and the next day we went to brunch to celebrate Father's day. I thought I looked pretty snazzy, so I wanted to show what I wore!

A not at all watermark brought to you by yours truly!

On the left is what I wore to the dinner on Saturday night. I got to see my sister give a speech, get her diploma, and mingle with her friends. I was also the designated picture-taker, but I managed to get in a few of the photos, like the one above! Both the creme-colored blouse and the black/creme skirt I'm wearing are from LOFT. The cardigan is from Target. For makeup, I went with a neutral smokey eye with winged liner. I was totally wearing bright pink lips, too, but it came off during dinner and I stopped caring what I looked like as soon as I had a glass of wine. (Also, my hair got really, really long. When did that happen?!?)

On the right is what I wore to brunch with the family! I wore a blouse by Valerie Bertinelli that I found at Marshall's last summer tucked into my new pair of Marisa cropped pants from LOFT. I'm pretty much only wearing foundation and mascara--I didn't sleep too well the night before, so my dark circles could not be tamed that morning. Ah, well. I was wearing coral lip product, too, but then I ate. I like eating better than I like reapplying lipstick. 

So, if it wasn't obvious before now, I'm a big fan of neutrals. I mean, look at that color variation. Wow. What colors do you like wearing the best?

Also, if you have a minute, please follow my blog on Bloglovin! That way you'll be able to keep up with my posts as well as posts from your favorite blogs all in one place.

Thanks for your time!

Em

Wishlist Wednesday #5 | Sephora Disney Collection, Zoya, Wet N' Wild

I truly can't believe this is the fifth post I've done in the Wednesday series. Half of me is legitimately proud of myself for sticking with something for so long, but the other half of me is absolutely appalled that I constantly long after products in such an unhealthy way. Oh well.

Summer is upon us! And you know what that means--bright colors, the beach, and staying in to watch your favorite movies in the air conditioning. All three of these items on my wish list this week will get you in the mood to enjoy summer in your favorite ways!

Onto the things! Click through for more about this week's picks.

Getting a Pop of Color: Lorac GloGetter Eyeshadow Palette

A week or so ago, I was out shopping with my mom for the day. We ran a few errands in the same general area that Ulta is in. I didn't recall having a need to go to Ulta, but I remember that I had recently tried to buy the GloGetter palette online after eyeing it for so long that the limited edition palette was no longer available. I thought that I might try my chances looking in the store itself for any stragglers.

Boy, was I lucky. I quite literally picked up the last GloGetter palette that was in the entire store. Score!

After going crazy with my Lorac Pro palette, I leapt at the chance to have another quality Lorac product in my collection (and at a steal for $20!). This is a colorful collection of ten shades that feature a good mix of brights as well as neutrals to pair them with. 

Its packaging is sleeker than that of the Pro palette, being made of hard plastic. Although this is better than how the Pro's packaging smudges easily, it can be pretty slippery. It also shows scratches very easily.

Though this is being marketed as a palette of brights, this is surprisingly accessible to those who are more comfortable with neutrals (like myself!). My favorite of these include the shimmery peach, the warm matte mid-toned brown, and the satin-finished navy blue. These wear really well, and as with all Lorac shadows, application is a dream. The shadows are buttery and last for a long time on the lid (with primer, of course.)

Swatches, without primer. 

I reach for this palette more often than I thought I would. Maybe this is just the nudge in the right direction I needed to play with color!

Anyone else get to snag this palette when it was available? Which colors are your favorites?

Also, don't forget to...

:)

What's in my travel makeup bag?

I know exactly what you're thinking. In fact, I know exactly what's been plaguing you, dear reader, ever since stumbling upon this blog of mine. You've been spending countless nights without rest because there were some things about my travels that you did not know... Well, no matter. I'll be divulging that information shortly. Feel free to relax now. 

I spent some time away this weekend. For beauty addicts everywhere, this can be both a blessing and a curse. Weekends away may be fun (mine was! I got to see my sister graduate from grad school), but deciding what to take into a teeny tiny makeup bag can be dreadful. However dreary the task, it must be done. I guess I managed. 

I don't work with Benefit or anything (I just wish I did!)-- I got this makeup bag as a gift with purchase at Ulta.

What's in my travel makeup bag? Click through for pictures and the list!

Crabtree & Evelyn haul!

I had the greatest time out with my mother yesterday. We went downtown and spent the day browsing through stores and having great conversations! She suggested that we pop into a shop called Crabtree & Evelyn, which I had never heard of. She mentioned that it was a relatively exclusive bath and body product store, which I was totally okay with looking around in.

And, of course, we ended up picking up a few little things.

Wishlist Wednesday #4 | Urban Decay, Maybelline, Jordana!

Hi all! It's time for another Wishlist Wednesday blog post. I'm a big fan of these posts because I try to discourage myself from buying makeup, since I'm a big fan of buying more beauty products than I will ever use in a lifetime. These are some products I've had my eye on for a while.

Click through to read more about this week's picks!

TheBalm's What's Your Type? Body Builder Mascara

TheBalm's The Body Builder mascara certainly has a lot to live up to. Supposedly formulated with Vitamin E and Bamboo, this is supposed to strengthen and condition your lashes. 

The real question is, does this mascara live up to its claims?

Favorite Etsy Finds!

One of my favorite things to do is shop online. Another one of my interests, however, is supporting independent businesses and smaller companies. My favorite place where these two interests of mine meet is Etsy, one of my latest obsessions!

One of my pet peeves, however, is when I see bloggers credit a piece as being from Etsy, but not remembering which store it came from. So, here are a few of my favorites that I've found on the site so far and the stores in which they were found! I haven't purchased from any of these sellers yet, but these items are so beautiful that I might just have to do it soon. 

Read more under the cut!

Moving madness--and why unpacking is the worst part.

I recently moved back home from school for the summer. I was originally supposed to stay there for the whole summer to work and to be a summer Resident Assistant, but that's a story for another day. The point is, I needed to step down from both positions, pack up my entire life, and move back home. 

In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure how any of my things fit in the car. But today marks the start of putting everything back where it belongs. I don't really know where most of this stuff came from, let alone where I'm going to put all of it, but here's what I'm dealing with so far.

Oh, okay. A few boxes. Not bad.

Oh. It spread to outside the bedroom. Well, it's still not as bad as it could have been...

I--Oh gods. Why.

It was even worse a few days ago, but since I've managed to put some things away. This will be my project for the next few days. The struggle, my friends, is real.

Anyone else moving home from school feel my pain right now? 

Packin' Trash: Thayers', Bath and Body Works, Yes to Cucumbers

Bonus toe. You're welcome.

I've been hoarding some trash for a while, and with moving home this weekend, I decided that I should get rid of as much as I could. Here's what I finished over the semester! 

Read more behind the cut!

HEY, STELLA: a NYX Round Lipstick review

I'm not new to NYX's like of Round Lipsticks. In fact, I have several of them in the old packaging that I still love--including Doll, Tea Rose, and Louisiana. So, when I received a NYX.com gift card code from NYX, I chose this lipstick.

Read more and see more pictures under the cut!

Wishlist Wednesday #3 | Macadamia, Too Faced, Neutrogena!

Wishlist Wednesday #3 by nerdgrlsquared featuring Neutrogena beauty products

Who else out there loves to shop online and fill up a cart of goodies to buy, but then abandons them? Not necessarily because you don't want to pay for it, but because you're so indecisive that you'll just let the items sit for a bit until you decide? Well, you don't need to be as indecisive as I am for it to be relevant. Oh well. Long story short, it's time for another Wishlist Wednesday!

Click through to read more about this week's picks!

May Favorites 2013! ♡ "Really Great" edition

It's June! You know what that means? May favorites.

Here they are!

What have all y'all been loving this month?

Saving Face: An Old Favorite

My skin has been freaking out recently, and I really can't figure out why. I get hormonal cystic acne about once a month, but the active breakouts themselves don't last very long. My only problem that these breakouts leave are the hyperpigmentation marks that follow and last several months.

However, I've recently been getting whiteheads and blemishes all over my face--including my nose, forehead, and cheeks--in addition to the cystic acne all over my jaw and down onto my neck. As you could imagine, it gets pretty gnarly.

This month, my trusty Revlon Colorstay foundation (I wear the shade buff!) has been saving my face. Well, maybe not saving it per se... maybe hiding it would be a better phrase to use. Even though this foundation is a little heavy for the warmer months, I can still dab a little bit on the problem areas on my face and blend it in to get near-flawless coverage. If I need a little more coverage in a certain area, I can easily build it without getting cakey. If I need even more coverage, which is usually on my hyperpigmentation, I go in with my MAC Studio Finish concealer (NC 20). Usually, I just leave the foundation on and go.

Anyway, this has really been making my skin look better than it feels. This foundation hasn't failed me yet! I'm already on my second bottle (after using the first one on-and-off for two years), and I'm still in love with it.

What are you all loving this week?