highlighter

Ulta, CVS and Marshall’s Haul

~ SeriouslyStyled ~ 3 Comments

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Last weekend I went shopping with a friend of mine. I found a few goodies at Ulta, a few at CVS and a few at Marshall’s for a steal.

 

I got the Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter and Too Faced Tutti Frutti Razzle Dazzle Berry palette at Ulta for a total of $22 for both (I used about $18 worth of points and a 20% coupon for non-prestige items).

 

At CVS I had $5 in ExtraBucks I used for the Elf Highlighter and a 40% off coupon I used for the Milani, so it ended up being about $6.

At Marshalls I got the ABH liquid lipstick in Rio for $6 and the ABH Blush trio for $9.99! I also got the other Makeup Revolution highlighter there for $3.99.

 

So far I’ve used the palette for about a week and LOVE it, it has the creamiest shadows and gives the prettiest berry looks! I’ve used the Vivid baked Revolution highlighter a few times and the triple baked once. I’ve used the blush about three times and enjoy it, even used the darker blush as a bronzer a few times and I’ve used the liquid lip once. I haven’t broken out the Elf or Milani yet. I am very pleased with my purchases. For a grand total of about $47.98 I am very pleased with my new goodies.

 

Until next time.

 

XO

-A

April 2018 Boxycharm (and March 2018 Boxycharm reviews).

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I have been very impatiently awaiting the arrival of my April Boxycharm. I knew there were five Colourpop palette variations (3 of which I was interested in) and the option between a MAC lipstick or Tarte liquid highlighter. I knew there was also the option between an Adesse liquid lipstick and a set of brushes.

My box arrived today and I could not be more excited about what I received.

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1.) I got the Tarte Tartiest Pro Glow Liquid Highlighter in the color Stunner. In the super pretty LE packaging with the colorful turquoise and pink and blue cap. Even though I love MAC products, I was hoping for this version because I’ve almost bought this product several times and have been wanting to try it. This retails for $29.00

2.) I got the Colourpop My Little Pony Eyeshadow Palette. I am super pumped for this, as it has a good mix of pretty colorful shades and neutral shades. This was one of the three I was hoping for (the other two being Golden State of Mind and Semi-Precious). This retails for $16.00.

3.) I got the Dr. Brandt Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner mask. I really liked the scrub from them we got last October, so I have high hopes for this as well. This retails for $47.00.

4.) I got The Browgal Instatint Tinted Brow Gel in the Color Brown Hair 02. I am interested in trying this, as it seems like a good shade match for my brows. This retails for $22.00.

5.) Finally, I got Adesse Hi-Definition Liquid Lipstick. Not sure of the shade, as I don’t see a name but it’s a pretty neutral mauve color. This retails for $24.00

 

This brings the overall value of my box to $138. Not too shabby for $21 a month!

 

I will now also report on my thoughts in what I got in my March 2018 Boxycharm.

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In March I got:

1.) Boxycharm X Pur Baecation Palette which was a collaboration with Boxycharm and Pur. This retails for $36.00 and you can purchase it at Ulta. These are not the most pigmented shadows in the world and are a bit powdery but all things considered I still quite enjoy it and will continue to use it. I probably wouldn’t purchase this if I didn’t get it in my Boxycharm though.

2.) South Mane Eye Gel packs which I believe retail for $10.00 for three. These were super fun to do with my husband. I think these worked all right, nothing crazy different. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to seek these out but if I saw them again or on sale I may pick them up to use again.

3.) I received the 3-piece brush set from The Vintage Cosmetics Company. These are pretty cute. I enjoy 2/3 brushes so far. The small, dense shadow brush I thought I’d love the most I find really aggressive with my shadows and tends to push a little harder than any other shadow brush does. I really like the small size and density so I’m going to continue to try to use it and see if it’s just a learning curve. The other two brushes are super nice and I quite enjoy them. This retails for $21.50 (not sure of exact change but I know it was around that price).

4.) I got the Pretty Vulgar blush in Hush Blush. I’m actually one of the weirdos who wanted that bright pink color so bad but I actually really like this. It’s a nice rose/teracotta on the cheeks and it’s very similar to my favorite blush ever, which is an Hourglass blush from the 2016 holiday palette. This retails for $26.00 and the packaging is so dang cute. It also has a good amount of wear time. The packaging does feel a bit cheap but I don’t find that a huge deal when the product is really nice. I would consider purchasing other colors.

5.) Finally, I got the Double Decker mascara from Butter London which retails for $21.00. I’ll be honest the first few times I tried this I wasn’t terribly impressed/didn’t really like it. However, after using it for a bit I really enjoy the look it gives my lashes and it doesn’t flake! You do have to take a little time to build it on your lashes, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you always get ready in a hurry but overall it’s a lovely mascara after you get past the first few applications. I would consider repurchasing this.

That makes the total for this box $114.50, still pretty good for $21.00 a month!

That’s all for now.

 

XO

-A

BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic first impression

~ SeriouslyStyled ~ 1 Comment

So I went to Ulta today to get my brows done and did a little stress shopping. There are exciting, scary, amazing, terrible (not really) things happening that have my stress levels through the roof. Last weekend was my best friends wedding and it was so fun and beautiful but also stressful and time consuming so I’m starting to decompress. Today I snagged this bh cosmetics baby for $16 which is an incredible deal for a palette these days. Especially when a crappy Maybeline palette is $14 (looking at you, blushed nudes). 


This BH palette has 18 shades which makes these colors less than $1 each! You can get a stunning variety of looks too! These shadows are baked so they work best with a mixing medium of your choice (I chose to use fix plus). Though they swatch fine dry, I don’t see them applying well without liquid. 

  

That being said, the look I achieved was quite vibrant and stunning! I used Earth, Neptune, Milky Way and Aphrodite. I also used Saturn as my face highlight.

There’s some pretty shades in both the warm and cool toned families. I will say there are two blues and two purples that are so similar I’m sure they’ll be indistinguishable on the eye but that still leaves 16 unique shades. However, this palette is all shimmers so if you are one of those people who refuses to use a shimmer in the crease because of ~rules~ (I get you if you have hooded eyes or small lid space) then this isn’t for you or you’ll need a companion palette of matte transition colors. 

I find this palette so aesthetically pleasing and totally dig the galaxy/space vibe and the marbelized shadows. I feel that this was a good buy as I had no issues applying or blending these shades and found them to be vibrant on the lid. I’m looking forward to creating more looks with this guy! 


XO

-A

Special Occasion Makeup; A Spring Wedding Guest Look!

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For me this seems to be the year of exactly four hundred thousand weddings. Okay, four as a guest and one as an artist (that I know of so far) but that’s a lot! The first of the year was my cousin’s wedding in April. She got married on a Saturday in a stunning Catholic Church. Here is the look I created for that occasion. I’m honestly in love with it and plan on doing variations of this look for the rest of the spring/summer weddings. Although, I’m a bridesmaid in the next wedding on the books so I will probably tweak more to theme.

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Here are the products I used:

Glamglow moisturizer in Nude Glow

Lancome Teinte Idole foundation in light bisque

Maybeline Age Rewind concealer in Brightener

Benefit Erase Paste in shade 2

Lorac I love brunch palette (Jelly donut, sorbet and pancakes).

Lancome Art Liner

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer in Soft Brown

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush from the 2016 holiday palette (the tan/peachy shade).

Laura Gellar Gilded Honey Highlight

Covergirl Supersizer mascara layered with YSL The Shock mascara

Rimmel Provacalips in Wish Upon A Berry

Maybeline Master Fix Setting Spray

Here’s a pic of my outfit and my oh, so handsome date. Doesn’t he look thrilled? Lol.

This look lasted all day through a long drive, ceremony, dinner, rain, etc. Unfortunately, we had to leave before dancing but I have confidence it would’ve lasted fairly well, as well as any full face can when you’re moving your body.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and a very fun day as well! Can’t wait for the next wedding (ahh and bachelorette party in Chicago ) coming up here very soon!! Eek! My best friend is getting married; I’m so excited!!

XO

-A

VIB Sale Haul 2017

~ SeriouslyStyled ~ 10 Comments

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As, I’m sure a lot of you know the VIB sale started last week and continues through Monday. Though I’ve been VIB/VIB Rouge for a while this is my first time shopping the sale. These are the things I picked up!

Viseart petit pro palette (pictured above); I wanted to try a handful of Viseart shadows without paying $80 so this is what I landed on. It’s a beautiful selection of dark/earthy mattes and shimmers. I’ll do a full review when I’ve been able to play with it for a while. For the longest time I wasn’t on board with this whole “omg warm tones” trend but now I’m finally getting into it so I thought this was a perfect little palette to pick up!

 

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Becca Prismatic Amethyst: I’ve been debating this one for a while, as I already have rose quartz. With my birthstone being amethyst combined with the collector in me said I have to have this. It is a beautiful more subtle opalescent white highlight with a lavender shift and it is honestly perfect for my skin tone, so no love lost!

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Stila Magnificent Metals Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadow in the color sunset cove: This is a stunning holographic eye glitter that is wearable in the daytime. I already had molten midnight which makes a stunning smokey eye; but not something I could wear to work, whereas I can create a super fun look that’s office appropriate (well, at least in my office) with this! Lol.

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Finally, I cashed in 100 points to try this YSL The Shock mascara. I’ll report back and perhaps even do a full review after I’ve tried this!

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So, I didn’t pick up too much as 15% is honestly barely a discount unless you’re buying a lot/very pricey items, so I just picked up some things I was planning on getting anyway. Let me know what you picked up during the VIB sale in the comments!!

XO Amanda

Aurora glow kit review 

~ SeriouslyStyled ~ 6 Comments

As soon as I saw the first images of this glow kit I knew I had to have it! Everything about it is beautiful the packing, shades, layout, names, etc. I’ve also become a big fan of the Anastasia glow kits over the last year falling in love with first the sun dipped and then the Nicole Gurrerio glow kits. I never picked up the moon child (I probably will in the future because that baby gets raves) so this is my first experience with Anastasia’s highlighters in the square pans. 

This kit is $40 and when you buy on the Anastasia website you won’t pay tax or shipping so it’s a flat $40 which is fantastic! There are six shades in this kit:

Eclipse; a peachy orange

Luna; an iridescent silver 

Spectra; a cool tone lilac with pink shift 

Helia; an iridescent cool tone green 

Orion; an icy baby blue 

Lyra; a warm honey with gold glitter 

There’s not too much to say about this; it performs beautifully overall. However, Lyra does have quite a bit of glitter in it that leads to fall out and will emphasize texture/look chunky unless it is foiled onto the skin. I have lots of texture on my skin already so I avoid Lyra if I’m running low on time. The rest of the shades are smooth and stunning; silky and long lasting. I am obsessed with this, just as I am with all of my other glow kits! 
My skintone is probably the third shade in every foundation range I use and I would describe it as fair-light but I think these would be even more stunning on complexions deeper than mine. 

These are also very pretty over lipsticks and to make eye looks pop! After I took the following photo I topped my lipstick with Orion. 


Here you can see spectra as my face highlight in my nose and cheeks! I decided to go full unicorn with the blue lips. 🦄 
Overall, I highly recommend! It’s fun, functional and so pretty to look at! 

Too Faced Sweet Peach Glow-Review

~ SeriouslyStyled ~ 6 Comments

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So I’ve had this bad boy for a while now so I thought I’d share my thoughts with you all! I waited in that insane virtual line for hours to get my hands on this only to find out later it’s super easy to get your paws on. This sweet peach glow kit retails for $42 and contains a blush (or blush topper, rather), bronzer and highlighter.

This smells like peach rings candy. While I find this pleasant, I find the chocolate bar and other chocolate scented palettes overwhelming and off-putting so if you’re not into fake peach this is a hard pass. Also, the whole makeup smelling like food thing slightly weirds me out, I always wonder if that means it lessens the life and will expire sooner, maybe that’s be over thinking it but ick!

That being said I really like the blush, I enjoy the highlight and the bronzer isn’t for me. The blush is light and glowy and the perfect wash of peach for my cheeks. It applies well, as the product is not heavily pigmented which I find to be a positive thing for blushes. The highlighter is pretty and gives a natural glow to my face, not quite as subtle as hourglass highlighters but definitely not the crazy glow you get with Anastasia glow kits.

This bronzer could probably be pretty on the right person but for me it is far too orange. I have cool-toned, fair skin and this bronzer gives me more of a soft kiss of Tropicana (no pulp) rather than the sun-kissed bronze I was aiming for.

So if you consider that I’m not really a fan of the bronzer, that’s $15 wasted which is pretty steep. I say if you love this blush color, skip this and scoop up the papa don’t peach blush (which is gorgeous!) and if only the highlighter tickles your fancy, I’d opt for a a single peachy-toned highlighter instead.

Though I am satisfied with my purchase, I’d think this one through before dropping $42 on this baby.

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XO

Amanda

Top 16 Beauty Picks of 2016

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1.) Lorac Pro Eyeshadow (Eyeshadow). $44
Smoother than a baby’s bottom. 

I could gush about this eyeshadow formula for ages! These do kick up quite a bit of powder, but the way they blend like butter is well worth a little kick-up. I love the Lorac Pro original the most, as I find it the most versatile for every day. If you’ve been debating picking this palette up for a while, go ahead and take the plunge!

2.) Regis Hydrating Balm (Hair Mask). $15
A real tall drink of water. 

I don’t even have words for how incredible this makes my hair look. I have really thick, dry hair. It gets knotted and dry and damaged looking rather quickly from heat styling or hair coloring. I had been having serious split ends and a huge problem with my ahir looking dry and straw like. This was recommended to me by a stylist at a Regis salon and oh my gosh does it work. The stylist told me I could use it as a daily conditioner or as a mask I leave on for about 15 minutes at a time. I choose to use it a few times a week as a mask and the day after I use this (since I shower in the evening) my hair always, without a doubt, looks healthy, hydrated and just plain phenomenal!

3.) Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub (Body Scrub). $16
Seriously smooth skin. 

Not only does this smell lovely but it has the perfect size scrub exfoliants and is just the right balance of abrasive and gentle. The only thing I would change is I would put it in a squeeze tube, rather than a tub. A tub is hard to get in and out of while showering.

4.) Juliette Has A Gun-Not A Perfume (Fragrance). $28 for travel size
Simply scent-sational.

I got this fragrance as a deluxe sample in I believe a Birchbox earlier this year. I have never gotten so many compliments when wearing a fragrance before, I always feel so lovely and flattered when I spray this on. It is made of only one element Ambroxan/Cetalox. Supposedly this means the fragrance smells different on everyone, on me it is light and fresh with a slight musk and I love it!

Read more about Ambroxan/Cetalox 

5.) Glamglow Super Mud (Face Mask) $69
Clear as day. 

I know this stuff has quite the hefty price tag ( but you can find it for less than $69 if you do a little digging) but trust me when I tell you it’s worth it! I’ve used this both as a face mask and as a spot treatment.

6.) Maybeline Age Rewind Concealer-Brightener Version (Concealer) $8.99
The bright of your eye. 

Wow! This concealer has made all the difference for me. I have huge blue-black dark circles under my eyes (because I’m a vampire, duh) and this beautiful pink-toned concealer color corrects and makes me look awake and alive! This stuff is budget friendly and incredible.

7.) Estee Lauder Double Wear (Foundation) $39.50
Poreless perfection. 

This is a beautiful coverage that never looks heavy or ages the skin. I have rather dry skin myself and this foundation makes my face look airbrushed.

8.) Conair Infiniti hair straightener (Hair Tool) $33.99
From groove to smooth. 

I got this as a gift from my fiancé at the beginning of the year and wow is this incredible! It gets really hot and straightens every little bit of hair. My hair has never been straighter or smoother. I’ve had many high-end straighteners (Chi’s) that didn’t last nearly as long or perform nearly as well as this!

9.) Goody Tanglefix (Hair brush) $5.98
No more knots. 

I don’t know what to say other than I love this! It takes all the knots right out of my hair with ease. I find this best to use on my wet hair (blasphemous, I know) an it leaves my hair tangle free the next day when I go to style it! An excellent little brush that lives up to it’s name.

10.) Makeup Monsters Liquid Lipsticks (liquid lipstick) $15
Scary long-lasting. 

Eat, drink, laugh, this liquid lipstick is not going anywhere. Not only is the liquid lipstick long-lasting and opaque. It’s also reasonably priced and has the cutest packaging! You can grab two of these for the cost of many high end liquid lipsticks!

11.) Kat Von D Tattoo liner (Eyeliner) $19
Ink that stays. 

This liner is all in the name! It really doesn’t budge and has full opacity at first swipe. It stays all day without smudging, living up to it’s “tattoo liner” name.

12.) Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders (Highlighter) $46
Stunning sheen. 

I swear these powders can do no wrong. My sweet fiancé bought me the palette trio of these powders for our anniversary and holy cannoli are they gorgeous! They add just the right amount of luminosity to your face without being glittery or shiny. If you’re like me and have texture on your skin, these powders are for you!

13.) Maybeline Lasting Draw (Colored Eyeliner) $7.99
Courageous color. 

Most of the time I like simple black liner, usually with a wing but when I want to change things up these colored liners are so much fun! They stay beautifully on your waterline and are creamy enough to glide on with ease. The perfect liners to transform a look!

14.) Biore Deep Pore Charcol Cleanser (Skincare) $5.99
A real cool clean. 

This cleanser has a cooling effect on your face that really leaves it feeling clean and refreshed. Even when I was changing diets and medications that usually effect my skin this cleanser kept everything clear and beautiful. You can’t beat it for the price!

15.) Maybeline Better Skin Pressed Powder (Powder) $8.99
Fearlessly flawless. 

Wow! I can’t even believe this is a drugstore powder. It’s very finely milled and glides onto the skin with ease, leaving such a beautiful finish. It’s also not heavy and does not leave the skin looking cakey. Definitely invest in this powder if you’re in the market for one.

16.) Covergirl Supersizer Mascara $6.99
Supersize your lashes. 

Even if you already have long, voluminous lashes like I have been blessed with, this mascara will enchant your lashes. This mascara is magical. I was skeptical because I’m usually a fan of a larger brush and this one is really slim but it really just performs so beautifully.