March 2015 Favorites!

Hello everyone!

It is currently 9:15pm on March 30th and I'm going to try to get my March favorites up before March is actually over! I cannot believe that March is actually over and there's only 30 days standing between me, finals and SUMMER! I can't wait!

Aaaaaaaaanyways, here's what I loved during the month of March!

First up is a bronzer by ELF cosmetics. ELF has been ALL OVER my blog recently but that's because they are my favorite makeup brand and they are amazing! This is the same bronzer I used in my "One brand tutorial", and it's the Pressed Mineral Bronzer in Caramel Cabana!

When this first arrived, I thought that this color would be way too dark for my very fair winter skin, but once I applied it with the brush shown below and then went back and BLENDED it out with a fluffy powder brush, the result was flawless! This color will definitely be on my skin all summer because once I get some summer sun, (safely, of course. Always use SPF!), this bronzer will look good without any other face product!

My next favorite is Rimmel London's Colour Rush Balms! I recently did a whole review on these so go check that out! However, only one of them has really stood out to me this month and that is "Sunkissed". This is a beautiful coral color perfect for the nice weather that is finally here after what seems like 10 years of winter!

I also figured out the other day that if you let these balms dry on your lips, they dry matte, which I love! They do however feel very drying, but I'll deal with that because of how gorgeous the coral color looks matte, and it lasts hours before it starts to fade and I need to reapply! So that's awesome:)

Another product I have been loving in March (I actually almost typed "May" here, like woah, let's not get ahead of myself here!) has been a favorite of mine since the beginning, and it's my Hard Candy Eyeshadow Palette in "Birthday Suit". Any of you who have seen me rave about this can feel free to skip this part but if you haven't heard about this then feel free to read on! :)

I bought this palette at the end of 2014 and it's still going strong which is surprising since I use it daily! I also did a review on this palette so if you really want to know in depth about this palette and see swatches then you should go check that out as well!

A haircare product that I have been obsessed with during March is Got2be's "Guardian Angel" heat protectant. Basically what this does is protect your hair if your going to use any kind of tool on it like a blow dryer or straightener. I picked this up in February because I ran out of my usual one and I actually like this more! 

Miss Glamorazzi on YouTube used to rave about this so I figured it would be good and she (as usual!) was right. This spray really does protect my hair from the damage of my straightener, the smell however, isn't pleasant. No worries though because it doesn't linger in my hair. The picture below is not mine, but it is the same product. Sorry, I usually use content that is all mine, but I just didn't have time to snap a pic of this product and edit it and get it up here before I pass out from exhaustion, haha!

Not my pic! Got it from drugstore.com!

A huge waste part of my time recently has been spent on Pinterest. If you've never heard of it, (although that's probably rare in 2015), Pinterest is a website/app where you basically create giant online collections of your interests. Every time you "pin" something that interests you to one of your boards (like you would on an actual cork board) it saves under a category on your profile so you can go back and look at it later.

I've been really building up my profile, I think I pinned well over 300 things this month, so if you like Pinterest as well, I urge you to follow me because I pin everything from blogging tips to make up, to fitness tips and workouts! 

Okay, that's all for my March 2015 favorites! I'm sorry it wasn't much but school has been CRAY! Do people still say that? Oh well, I'm bringing it back! Thankfully it's almost over! Thank you so much for reading and as always please feel free to comment down below or find me on my social media! You can find my social media by clicking the pretty new icons I installed on the right hand side of my blog! :)

Xoxo,
Brig



My ikatehouse affiliate link: http://www.ikatehouse.com/?mw_aref=8161f5d154a17e1412f65b4eac1cd80e 

This company has many makeup brands for an affordable price, including NYX, L.A Girls, Jordana and more!

Eyes Lips Face Mineral Eye Primer Review and Swatches!

Hello everyone!

Today I'm reviewing my holy grail eyelid primer. It is the ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer from their studio line. They also have one from their "essential" line which is $1 which used to be my favorite but I feel like this one is better and here's why!

In the tube, this primer looks like it would be a concealer, but once you blend it, it basically disappears and has a nice matte finish! I actually also use this as a very lightweight concealer for days where I don't need a full on concealer or as a primer for concealer for days where I need more than the usual full coverage (i.e. for nights where I was up until 1 am finishing a paper and I have to be in class at 9!). As you can see from the swatch below, this primer completely blurred out the lines in my hand which is insane for a cheaper-than-drugstore brand concealer!

The lasting power of this stuff is amazing! I have dry skin but for some reasons my eyelids are extremely oily so eyeshadow has always been hard to keep from creasing. This stuff helps my eyeshadow to not crease for at least 5 hours which is awesome, and even when it does crease and I'm not in a situation to reapply my eyeshadow I just blend out the shadow that creased with my finger just so there's no more harsh lines and that helps until I get home.

Overall this primer is a great one! For $3 you can't go wrong, even if you don't like it!

Okay guys, that's it for my review on the ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer!

L.A Colors Lipstick Review and Swatches!

Hello everyone!

Today I have another lippies post for you! This time it's for the L.A Colors Lipsticks. I recently picked up 3 of them at my local DOLLAR TREE! Yup, that's right, 3 great quality lipsticks for a dollar a piece!

At first when I swatched them on my hand, I didn't expect  much because they were very patchy and sheer. Once I applied them to my lips though, I was pleasantly surprised!

The first color (on the left) called "Coral Sheen"is a beautiful coral (duh!) color with some very tiny micro glitters in it. Actually all of these lipsticks have a sparkle to them, although it doesn't look sparkly on the lips, it just looks like a shiny lip color, so keep that in mind if you want to try them! Coral is my go to color for the nice weather that's supposed to be coming to the East Coast at some point this year and this lipstick helps me get excited for it!















The middle color is called "Dusty Rose". It's basically a mix between a mauve and bubblegum pink color. The application is very smooth and the finish is a strong shine just like "Coral Sheen". I'm not in love with this color, not for any particular reason, I just don't love it. I guess I'm in like with it! I like the formula and color, but I just don't think it works for my skin tone!

The last color is a purple that looks so much darker in the picture than it actually is. It's called "Frozen Berries". This is my least favorite color because it has the most sparkle and the least shine which makes it look super cheap (even though it was!) and it's super patchy, as you can see in my lip swatch below! It barely stayed on my lips even minutes after I applied it, and it clung to my chapped patches worse than the others. I just swatched it on my hand, and yeah, it was super patchy and it looks like a lipstick I had as a child during the 90's. Okay, that sounded harsh and I'm sorry but this particular color isn't good. The other's however are awesome!

Okay guys, that's it for my thoughts on the L.A Colors lipsticks! They can be found at Dollar Tree and at Family Dollar and are great for girls on a budget or beginners looking for a starter kit! As always, feel free to reach out to me on my social media listed on the right side of my blog. Also, comment down below and tell me if you've ever tried L.A Colors and tell me what you're favorite product is!

Xoxo,

Brig

My ikatehouse affiliate link: http://www.ikatehouse.com/?mw_aref=8161f5d154a17e1412f65b4eac1cd80e

This company has many makeup brands for an affordable price, including NYX, L.A Girls, Jordana and more! 

Rimmel London Colour Rush Balms Reviews and Swatches!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all having a great day! Today I'm talking to you about my new favorite lippies, Rimmel London's "Colour Rush Balms". I'm not sure if these are still available in stores, I bought them at my local Job Lot. I just checked, they are available on amazon, but the prices vary a lot!

Here's the basics:

These balms are super glossy and sheer on the first swipe, but they are definitely buildable as you will see in the swatches! To wear them on a day-to-day basis I put the product on the center on my lips and blend it out with my fingers.

The colors I bought are 120 All You Need is Pink (left), 610 Sun Kissed (middle), and 110 Make Me Blush.

"All You Need is Pink" is definitely more of a sheer red than a pink but that's okay because it's still a really pretty color! As you can see, the more you apply these lippies, the more pigmented they become. I definitely wouldn't wear this color like I swatched it because it just doesn't work with my lip color but sheer, it's amazing!

"Sun Kissed" is my favorite lip color of all! Even heavily applied, this color stays smooth and beautiful. It's a gorgeous coral pink and could work well on all skin tones. This is my go-to color for spring and summer which is good because it's a color that never goes away, it always makes a comeback!

"Make Me Blush" is the perfect bubblegum pink for the springtime! It matches my lip color very well, it's about one shade darker than what looks super natural for me. I love this color as much as "Sun Kissed", but it does seem to cling the chapped part of my lips, as you can see. This being said, as long as I really exfoliate before I use this color, it applies like a dream, as do the rest of them. When I can, I'm definitely going back for more!

Okay guys, that's it for my review on Rimmel London's Colour Rush Balms! I love these things so much, they are perfect to just throw in your purse when you're on the go. As always feel free to reach out to me on my social media listed on the right side of my blog or leave a comment below!

Xoxo,

Brig

My ikatehouse affiliate link: http://www.ikatehouse.com/?mw_aref=8161f5d154a17e1412f65b4eac1cd80e

This company has many makeup brands for an affordable price, including NYX, L.A Girls, Jordana and more!

Eyes Lips Face Flawless Finish Foundation Review and Swatches!

Hello everyone!

As most of you know, I hauled a TON of ELF makeup a few months ago! I think that it has been a decent amount of time to test out the foundation I bought and tell you what I think about it. I know I used it in my last tutorial but I didn't tell you in depth what I think about it!

I bought this foundation in the color "Porcelain" for $6 which seems a bit pricey for ELF but in terms of drugstore prices, it's a pretty good deal for a  medium-full coverage foundation. Also, the color Porcelain isn't a porcelain shade at all..much more of a "light" shade.

As I said I bought the color Porcelain which has a very yellow undertone, comments from other ELF lovers have told me that shades darker than this one are very orange and just get worse the deeper the foundation shade is, so be aware of that if you want to try this foundation.

That being said, the yellow undertone of Porcelain works well for my skin tone! The coverage of this foundation is really good! One light base layer covers up a ton of my dark spots and undereye circles. As I said it is buildable, so another thin layer covers whats left of my dark spots without needing any concealer!

There are two ways I apply this foundation, depending on how much time I have. One way is to just use my fingers, dot it on my face and blend it in. The other is to pump the product onto the back of my hand, take some on a dense brush and buffer it in using circular motions. The "powder brush" from their studio line works very well! Also, if I don't like how it's applying on a particular day, I'll use a combo of these two methods, apply with my hands and blend with the brush.

The wear of this foundation is also very good, no matter how I apply it! I've worn it on days that I know are going to be LONG and it looks just as good as it did as it did 5 seconds after I applied it that morning! It doesn't oxidize or anything which I'm amazed at. When I first tried this foundation, I thought for sure it would oxidize, can't remember why now but....yeah.

Overall, I am in love with this foundation over any drugstore one I've tried. It doesn't cling to my dry patches, crease in my undereye area or make my pores look huge! If it wasn't already obvious, I highly recommend this product! This is how my face looks before with nothing on my face and after with one layer of product and nothing else on my face:

Before

After

Okay guys, that's all for my thoughts on ELF's Flawless Finish Foundation! Comment down below if you have a foundation that you think could beat this one and I may check it out! As always feel free to reach out to me on my social media, listed on the right side of my blog:)

Xoxo,
Brig


My ikatehouse affiliate link: http://www.ikatehouse.com/?mw_aref=8161f5d154a17e1412f65b4eac1cd80e

This company has many makeup brands for an affordable price, including NYX, L.A Girls, Jordana and more!

10 Uses for Coconut Oil!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all doing well and aren't forming an angry mob to come after me for not posting in a while! I HATE not having time to post for you guys but unfortunately school comes first. I cannot wait for summer when I'll have endless time to post content for you guys and play with makeup. I'm done with my junior year in about a month and a half and then I'm a SENIOR! I cannot believe it I still remember freshman year!

Anyways you're not here to hear about my college experience, you're here to read about my uses for coconut oil! I use coconut oil in so many different ways so I thought I would type a post about them!

1.) Makeup remover
Honestly I think any oil will help you remove your makeup, but you can get the most bang for your buck with coconut oil. Where I live I pay around $8 for a 30 ounce jar, I don't think that's a bad deal because a little bit goes a long way! To remove my makeup I take a little bit and rub it between my fingers to melt it (coconut oil is a solid and melts with body heat). I then massage it all over my face and eyes until I feel that my makeup has been broken down. Then I continue with my normal face wash and moisturizer.

2.) Moisturizer (face and body)
During the summer (when my skin is slightly dry to normal) I use coconut oil as my usual face and body moisturizer. I've tried to keep this routine during the winter but my skin gets way to dry and needs something heavier. To use coconut oil as a moisturizer all you need to do is take some from the jar you have and apply it to your skin. I find applying it to your skin and letting it melt and absorb while your rubbing it in is the easiest and least messy way to use it.

3.) Cooking and baking
Many times, I prefer to use coconut oil to grease baking sheets and frying pans instead of any other oil because it has more nutrients for your body. If I'm not using coconut oil, then I'm using olive oil which a WHOLE other post! Anyway coconut oil is also a good substitute for butter in many recipes but just be sure to experiment and see if it will work in your specific recipe before coming back here and yelling at me!

4.) Cuticle care
Like my skin, my cuticles have a rough time during the winter! A neat trick I learned is to cover my hands in coconut oil and sleep with fuzzy socks on them! You could also use moisturizing gloves but I like fuzzy socks better. I also use that trick on my feet to get them ready for sandals! If you don't want to cover your entire hand, you could just put a little bit on your cuticles and rub it in.

5.) Acne treatment
Coconut oil has natural antibacterial properties that work great at treating and preventing acne. This use is kind of mixed with others methods because both taking your makeup off and moisturizing with coconut oil exposes your acne to the antibacterial properties.

6.) Hair masks'
Coconut oil is a great source of moisture for your hair. This is super simple! All you have to do is cover your hair from root to tip, put it up in a bun and either leave it in for at least and hour or sleep with it. Shower as usual after you use this mask. Coconut oil is also a great base for other masks. Pinterest has some great ones!

7.) Health supplement
Many people swear by oil pulling (more info found here http://fashionista.com/2014/03/oil-pulling) but the whole concept grosses me out so I add a teaspoon to my morning tea instead. Ingesting coconut oil is supposed to help digestion, detox your body and help your skin from the inside out!

8.) Face masks
Coconut oil is a great base for face masks like they are for hair masks. I found this website (http://healthmunsta.hubpages.com/hub/Coconut-Oil-Face-Mask-Recipes) from Pinterest and the honey lemon mask is amazing! It helps with both my dry skin and acne scars!

9.) Hair growth
Coconut oil has also been shown to promote hair growth! I don't use it on my head often enough to test that out but that's what I've heard. I've also attempted to grow my brows with coconut oil and it worked pretty well! I'll probably give that another shot and document it for you guys! Let me know if you would like to see that!

10.) Lip balm
Coconut oil, as I've said has some awesome moisturizing qualities that also really help your lips if their chapped or just need some love! It also makes a great base to a lip scrub, just add some brown sugar to a little bit of oil, rub between your lips and your'e good to go!


Okay guys, that's it for my 10 uses for coconut oil! I hope you all enjoyed it!  Comment down below and tell me what your favorite uses for coconut oil are! As always feel free to interact with me through my social media listed on the right side of my blog:)

Xoxo,
Brig

One Brand Full Face Tutorial Featuring Eyes Lips Face (E.L.F) Cosmetics!

Hello everyone!

Today I have a full face makeup tutorial using ONLY Eyes Lips Face (EL.F) products! If you don't know who ELF Cosmetics is, they are a vegan, cruelty free makeup brand that sells amazing quality makeup at a VERY low price! There's a lot of hype about them from many youtubers and other beauty blogs so if you want to know more, check them out! That's how I originally discovered the brand and I've never looked back!

Today's look is a pretty neutral, spring time look with a nice pop of color on my lips, so let's get into it!!

What I did first was wash my face with my Dickinson's face wash and Target brand apricot scrub to kill any dry patches that my foundation may stick to. I then used my new favorite Jafra dynamics hydrating moisturizer and let it sink in. Here's my bare face so you can see what I have to work with!

As you can see acne scars and discoloration from dry patches are ruling my face at the moment! ALSO PLEASE EXCUSE MY CRAZY HAIR! I just really wanted to get a post up for you guys and didn't think about my hair:)

Here's an overview of the products I used:

The first thing I do before I put any makeup on my face is apply my holy grail E.L.F Mineral Primer in Clear. I love this primer, it works really well. I even use it on days where I don't wear any other makeup! It keeps my dry skin at bay and helps the appearance of my pores.

After primer, I apply my E.L.F (duh!) Studio Flawless Finish Foundation in Porcelain. This foundation has a nice medium coverage, but it is buildable without getting cakey. Word of warning though, people have told me that the deeper shades have a orange tone to them so if you want to try this foundation, I would buy it from a store if possible and not from their website. That being said, this foundation isn't a traditional porcelain shade, it is at least a shade darker than porcelain and had a yellow undertone to it which luckily works well for me!

I usually apply the foundation with my hands but if I need it blend it more or just feel like using a brush, I use the E.L.F powder brush. This brush is super dense and blends everything from liquid foundations to blush and bronzer like a dream!!

Next I applied my eyelid primer, which also works really well as a lightweight concealer FYI! After eyelid primer, I applied my baked eyeshadow in Enchanted! This is a super nice golden color that is perfect for a low key look or a smokey eye! Any shadow I apply to my lid I apply with my E.L.F Professional Eyeshadow Brush. Their studio line also has a brush like this but I think it's called their C shaped brush, or something like that!





























Since I don't own any matte eyeshadow shades from E.L.F, I used the same bronzer that I'm using on my face, in my crease! That's what I love about makeup, no rules! You can use bronzer as eyeshadow and lipstick as blush, it doesn't matter! :)

After my eyeshadow look is finished, I move on to eyeliner and mascara! The eyeliner I used is their Cream Eyeliner in Black. I didn't do anything special, just a simple look, no wing or anything. The mascara I used is their Lengthening and Volumizing Mascara in Black. Normally I would use a way more volumizing mascara but since this is a one brand tutorial, I used this one!

After eyeliner and mascara is brows! I usually use an eyeshadow from Hard Candy to fill in my brows because it looks more natural but today I used my E.L.F Eyebrow Kit in Light, which I think is a teeny bit too dark for me, especially for spring and summer! For special occasions though, this is really nice! The way I applied this is a little backwards because usually people use the wax and then the powder. I used the powder and then the wax because the powder is too light to set the wax which is darker. I find that it sits the same as if I set the wax with the powder.

















After brows, I apply blush and bronzer! I don't do any intense contours, partly because I don't like the way they look, but mostly because I suck at it! I used their Baked Blush in Peachy Keen and their Studio Pressed Mineral Bronzer in Caramel Cabana. I applied the blush with a giant fluffy brush so I don't look like a clown when I'm done. I applied the bronzer with a tapered blush brush first and then blended it out with the same fluffy brush that I applied my blush with. I also used this bronzer to contour my nose, but this time I used their Studio Angled Contour Brush.

Last but not least is lipstick! I'm using a lipstick from their "essential" line in the shade Charming. This color is a very nice one for spring and summer! I apply a base layer and blend it out with my fingers to get the best look!

Okay guys, that's it for my one brand tutorial featuring E.L.F! I had so much fun doing this for you guys! There will be much more of these kinds of posts coming once school is done in a little over a month! I'm so excited for summer to start so I can interact with you and work on this blog more! I've had many blogs in the past and I just lost interest with all of them! But not this time!! I love you guys and I'm so grateful that you read my posts! I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon and as always feel free to comment down below or reach out to me on my social media listed on the right side of my blog!

Xoxo,
Brig

February 2015 Favorites!

Hello everyone!

Yes, it is that time of the month again...no not that one (lol)...it's that time for monthly favorites!! Oh my gosh, February went by so fast and I always think that and I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that February is so short! That being said, where the heck is summer?? I'm already over this semester and I just want to lay out in the sun and relax! Okay, enough for my whining, lets get into my favorites!

I don't think any of you know, because I have yet to get a good selfie, but I got my hair cut about a week ago and I am super committed to keeping it healthy so I'll have long gorgeous hair for the summer! They took off about 6 inches and I'm loving the layers and I'm gonna get it trimmed to keep them but I do want my long hair back. To do that I'm using my argan oil from Organix. I mentioned this in my hair care routine post and I still love it! I apply this from ear length to tip after showering, after heat styling and at night before bed after a long stressful day for my hair! I'm almost out of this and I'm definitely getting more of this. I originally bought this from Wal-mart for around $7 and I hope that it's the same price when I get it again!



My next February favorite a recent purchase but I love it! It is another hair product, this time a heat protectant. It is the Got2B Guardian Angel heat protectant. Like I said I'm really trying to keep my hair healthy and this stuff is definitely helping! Since my hair is shorter I've been straightening it more for a few reasons. 1.) it's easier to maintain throughout the day when it's straight, 2.) if I were to let my hair air dry right now, I'd have a white girl afro! and 3.) heat styling it and other way would take way too long in the morning! Using this product keeps my hair shiny, tangle free, and keeps my ends from drying out. The smell of it isn't the best but it's not bad and I'm getting used to it to the point where I kind of enjoy it now... is that weird? I don't know, let's move on! The only picture I have of this product is from my Instagram feed so I'll post it:

My next favorite is the Eyes Lips Face (E.L.F) baked eyeshadows! I did a review of these on my last post so I'm not going to say too much about them except for that they are amazing and for $3 awesome quality of both the product and the packaging!

My final favorite for February is a lipstick I picked up from Walmart. It is Dark Wine by Wet n Wild. It is kind of middle ground between a dark red and a vampy lip color, for those of you who either can't or won't wear super dark lips. It is literally what it says, a lip color that looks like wine! It's a super pretty semi-dark red. It is a seriously gorgeous color and I've been wearing it a ton, although I don't layer it on like I did for the swatch pictures! For a daily look, I apply some to the center of my lips and blend it out with my finger. By the way, Walmart has Wet n Wild products for a little bit cheaper than Walgreens, so when Walgreens isn't having a sale and I feel like checking out whats new from WnW I go to Walmart! Also it seems (at least in my area) that my Walgreens isn't up to date on what's new either which bugs me, but what can I do? lol and I'm so sorry about the crappy picture of the lipstick on the left, it's snowing like crazy here and I have NO natural light! I hope the lip swatch gives you a better idea of how nice the color is!

Anyways guys, I'm sorry that I didn't share a lot of stuff this month but not much has changed with routine because school's got me like (fill in the blank!). I hope you enjoyed this post and keep an eye out for my very first lipstick post (it will have lip swatches!). As always you can reach out to me on my social media, I comment back to everyone:)


Xoxo,
Brigette