It’s Adventure Time! (A Makeup Haul)

The following was purchased with personal funds.

1. I love Adventure Time. (I was LSP for Halloween last year.)
2. I still shop at Hot Topic. (Hey, they’ve got some cool stuff.)
3. Adventure Time + Hot Topic? (So there.)

A few months ago, I saw some Adventure Time nail polishes at Hot Topic, but I didn’t pick them up. Last month, Hot Topic had a BOGO free sale on clearance accessories, and some Adventure Time beauty stuff was there. Let’s just say, this is probably the one and only time I’ll do an Adventure Time makeup haul. (However, if they ever have any more makeup collections, I’ll pick it up!)

You know I just picked this up because I love Adventure Time. My favorites are the Princess Bubblegum lip balm (bubblegum flavor) and the polishes (pretty opaque for basic colors). The other lip balms are kind of weird because they’re tinted, but they don’t show up as tinted (fun colors like blue and green). I have not tried the eyeshadows yet- they look cool, but it’s kind of hard to pull off a Jake the Dog eye look. Mathematical!

Finn and Jake eyeshadow

Princess Bubblegum lip balm

Finn and Jake, Princess Bubblegum and LSP polishes

Finn and Jake, Fiona and Cake lip balm

Polishes at 1 coat (L to R- Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, LSP)

Polishes at 2 coats

ELF Get the Look Beach Beauty

The following was purchased with personal funds.

Hello!

First off, long time no see! Back again, and I’ve had a nice vacation from the blogging world. As always, please follow me on Instagram @niftyba – I updated that almost daily!

Second, lookie: eyeshadow! On the same day I purchased the Sinful Colors from my past post, I picked up this ELF palette that was near the same shelf. I love ELF. It was one of the first beauty brands I tried when I got into makeup, and most of their products are great for the price. It’s the affordability that lures you in. I haven’t purchased ELF in a long time, but $6 for a compact palette is tempting.

This is the ELF Get the Look Beach Beauty Day palette. It has 28 pieces, including eyeshadow, blush, bronzer, lipgloss, and applicator.

I tried on a couple shadows and a lipgloss. You can’t tell very much, but I’m wearing a pink glittery shadow and a green eyeshadow. My thoughts? Great for a travel palette. All you need in one place, and I end up choosing palettes like this when I’m traveling light. I do not wear blush or bronzer, so I cannot discuss those, but for $6, the shadows are nice and I was surprised about the lipgloss. I am wearing the darkest color from the palette on my lips, and it is a very nice berry shade.

The Professional

I’d like to say I love my job. Especially since I have the freedom to wear whatever I want!!! (Within reason, of course!) That is actually a major yay for me- almost every job I’ve held before required a uniform, and I love choosing my clothes and being allowed to wear funky colors on my hair, eyes, and nails. I am quite lucky in this aspect, but really, I lack a professional touch. I’m never one to be classy looking. Meh. :/

But I tried! Last week, I do-presented a slides how at work, something I have never some before. In honor of the occasion, I decided to dress up. I purchased this dress from Sears (I am the only one who buys anything from Sears!) last month, and totally had nothing to wear it to. It’s a dark green dress from the line Studio 1. I got a super good deal on it, and I was surprised it look good on.

I felt good!

OOTD
Sears Studio 1 Sleek-cut Dress

NOTD
Essie Power Lunch

EOTD
UD Naked palette

Testing: Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

I am a horrrrrriiiiibbbblllleeeeeee makeup wearer. You know how it is: in an ideal world, you totes wash your face twice a day, washing away the grime of the day. And this is why I don’t wear makeup a lot, and of course my eyes get irritated! I sleep in all that eyeshadow! Boo on me!

Anyways, I have been trying to work through my immense collection of beauty samples, and last week, I decided to try out my sample of Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes.

In a nutshell: not my fave. The wipes weren’t too dry or too wet, and were not irritating when wiping away my makeup. What’s holding me up? Probably the fact that my favorite $1 Epielle wipes already does such a great job! The Simple wipes cost five times that at around $5. Not only do I prefer Epielle because of the great price, but they. are. always. so. nice. and. moist. Yay. I like that in a wipe. Sorry, Simple. I will not be buying you.

I just love Epielle.

And my cat who helped me review.

My First Matte EOTD

My absolute favorite part of playing with eyeshadows are all the amazing shimmery colors! I just love it, but it can look over the top most times. For one of my EOTD looks, I decided on a whim to just use matte eyeshadows. When I first started, I didn’t know if it would turn out ok- the lighter matte colors looked horrible on my skin color. I think it turned out fine! I would definitely turn to this look for work.

Project EOTD

As a beauty blogger, I surprisingly do not wear makeup everyday. Nail polish aside, I am rather plain when it comes to my face. I’m very “wash and go.” I wasn’t always like that, but for the most part I am. But I love eyeshadow! I love using color as a way to express oneself, not cover. So, one of my resolutions for 2013 is to wear more eyeshadow. I sure have enough to last me a while!

Here was my first EOTD for 2013, keeping it simple with Revlon Grow Luscious mascara. Hope this resolution sticks!

Respect Regina!

I went to a Regina Spektor concert last night, and there was this guy who kept yelling “Orlando loves Regina!” and “Respect Regina!” right behind us. I did not like that, but it sure made it memorable. Just so you know, she sounds exactly the same love as she does on her albums. LOVED IT!

I decided to put some makeup on before the show, so this was my look for the night. I used Inglot eyeshadow, Laura Mercier mascara, Kissable Couture lipstick, and AJ Crimson foundation applied with a makeup sponge.

Regina

Sweetest Downfall

Princesses

A Quick Look from Across the Pond – featuring Sleek & MUA

I did a quick look yesterday to test out the products I received from a Superdrug haul. I did not swatch everything, but 1) the colors *look* nice (doesn’t mean they’re awesomesauce) and 2) I can tell you now, that teal MUA shadow is pigmented! I’ve not seen great things about the primer palette online, but I’m sure if you use it with another primer, it can intensify any eye look.

Recap, this is what I got: MUA shadow singles in shades 1 (beige, pearl finish), 8 (teal, pearl finish), and 18 (purple, matte finish), along with a Sleek eye primer palette.

Before I continue with the look I did, here’s a swatch of MUA 8. Clockwise from the very top, swatched alone, then on top of TFSI and Sleek primer in green, then on top of only TFSI.

After applying TFSI, I tried the black primer color under MUA 8 (the teal).

Then I tried the white primer color under MUA 8.

I then applied shade 1 to the inner lid and shade 18 to the crease. To finish it off, I used a Jordana InColor FabuLiner liquid liner and L’Oreal Carbon Black Voluminous mascara.

I don’t wear makeup much anymore (that used to be soooo different), and my eyes were agitated right after I applied everything, so I took it off. It looked nice, though! I’m no pro, but hey, no one looks bad in teal eyeshadow… right? I love the colors in eyeshadow that my in-laws chose for me, and the variety in primer color is very nice. I could not tell much of a difference in using the white and the black primer base with the teal eyeshadow, but I can tell that it made the products apply creamier on the eye. On its own, I bet the primer palette shades would crease instantly, but when sandwiched between a regular primer and powder shadow, it should hold for a while.

Say what? NiftyBa wears some makeup?!

I kind of gave up on makeup this entire year. I started off 2012 with sensitive eyes, and backed away from my heavy love of eyeshadow. Oooooh, how I love eyeshadow. But yesterday… I wore some! Slowly getting back in the saddle!

Two Ways

This was a day in two outfits.

First, I had work.

OOTD 1
Thrifted top
Old Navy dress from Plato’s Closet
Gap city flats

NOTD 1
One of my first lemmings, finally slayed!
Sally Hansen Forsythia

Later that day, I had book club. We stopped reading the same book, instead we eat. The theme was “fancy,” so here is me fancy after changing into curls and lace.

OOTD 2
I would never pick this for myself nor wear this usually, but my mom sent this to me. It was so skanky, lol, I wore a skirt underneath to make it longer.
Dress from Mom
Skirt from Forever 21+
JCP heels