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!

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

New Beauty Guru Tag!

Hello everyone!

Today I have a tag post for all of your eyeballs to see! It is the New Beauty Guru tag that I altered to fit to pertain to not just a YouTube channel but also a beauty blog. Hope you enjoy!!

Questions… 

1. What is your name?

Brigette

2. How many videos/subscribers/readers do you have?

Blogs don't really have subscribers but my page views range from 10-115 (lol!)

3. What made you start a beauty channel/ blog?

I started my beauty blog because I love beauty and writing so I decided to put them together!

4.Who on youtube inspired you to create a channel or beauty blog?

Bethany Mota, Nikki Phillippi, Casey Holmes, EssieButton, Kathleen Lights and many others!

5. What is your overall goal in a making beauty blog?

I really don't have a huge goal for my blog, just to make content that people will enjoy and share with others

6. If you had the chance to be sponsored by a product would you?

Yes!

7. Do you leave messages on other people’s blog or social media to check yours out?

Guilty...

8. What keeps you motivated to continue writing posts when you are just starting out?

I'm still just starting out and making content that people could love is keeping me going, especially when a topic I posted doesn't get many views

9. Do you plan on making improvements soon for your blog?

I'm always working towards improving my blog

10. Name a beauty guru who deserves more views

 Kathleen Lights. She has a YouTube channel and recently hit 500k viewers. I've been watching her for a long time and thinks she deserves a million viewers so go check her out, you won't be disappointed. She's super funny and quirky and sometimes a little over-caffinated but that's what makes her amazing!

Okay guys that's it for today's blog post, I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know if you do this tag and what you think! As always feel free to comment below or reach out to me on my social media!

Xoxo,

Brig

DIY Brush Cleaning Tablet With a Hot Glue Gun!

Hello everyone!

Today is a quick and easy DIY for all my beauties who need to clean their brushes cleaned! It is a super easy project that only requires a plastic clipboard and a hot glue gun!

Basically all you need to do is make dots and random lines with your glue gun on the clipboard and let it dry!

Here's what mine looks like:

Once your clipboard is completely dry, all you need to do is gather up all of your dirty brushes, put the clipboard into the sink with a little soap and run your brushes up and down the clipboard to remove all of the dirt from your brushes! After you think you gotten all the dirt, just rinse your brushes and let them dry!  It's seriously that easy!

Okay guys, that's it for today's post! Please let me know if you recreate this and how it worked for you! As always feel free to reach out to me in the comments or on my social media! Have a wonderful day!

Xoxo,
Brig





Disclaimer: I have been accepted as a Target affiliate! This doesn't affect my opinion of anything I purchase from their stores or my opinion on their REDcard credit program. It's a great credit card option that saves you 5% everytime you shop and you get extra return time if you rethink a purchase! To top it all off you get free shipping from target.com!  http://goto.target.com/c/130274/99528/2092 

My Everyday Makeup Tutorial!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're having a wonderful afternoon. Today's post is going to be a picture tutorial of my everyday make up look (with a slightly more dramatic than planned winged eyeliner). Hope you enjoy!

To complete this look I used my Hard Candy palette in Birthday Suit (I have a review of this on another post!), my Rimmel Londom Scandaleyes eyeliner in black, Rimmel London Scandaleyes mascara in black, some ELF brushes (but you can use any for this look), LA Colors concealer stick and my favorite ELF primer. You'll notice I don't use foundation, I don't like using foundation everyday or really ever, but I wear it for special occasions or if my skin is particularly bad that day. If not, I stick to concealer.

This is what I look like when I wake up, before I wash my face. Notice the awful semi-healed acne right in the center between my eyes...worst part of sensitive skin is acne scars!

After I wash and moisturize my face I bust out my fav matte shadow palette and apply it in this order:

 Applying them in this order creates a look like this:

Once im done with my eyeshadow I'll either just put on some mascara or do a winged eyeliner like this:

It's a little uneven today but I evened it out with my concealer stick. This stick from LA Colors is really good at making a precise line and it has very full coverage! I get mine from Family Dollar for around $2-3. 

Okay as a reminder here's what I look like before and after to show how great these products are at transforming my skin without foundation! 

Okay guys, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! As always if you want me to review anything, have a tutorial idea  or if you just want to say hello, please don't hesitate to leave a comment! I reply to all of them:)

Xoxo,

Brig

My Hair Care Routine!

Hello everyone!

I hope you’re all having a fabulous morning. I’m here to bring you my haircare routine! I’m going to include everything from what I use to wash my hair to what I brush my hair with. So let’s get into it!

I think we should start with my hair background. I have pretty long and thick hair that is starting to look damaged from heat styling and just because it's so long. Does anyone else notice that when their hair gets to a certain length it starts to look damaged? I don't know, maybe it's just me. Anyway, let's get into what I use on my hair.

I think it's important to say what I use to brush my hair because brushing your hair can have damaging effects if done with the wrong tool. I use a wide toothed comb 99% of the time (unless I am combing through my hair after applying argan oil which I will explain later!)  Combing this way protects my hair from splitting because if you comb your hair from root to tip, the knots that are further up on the hair shaft are dragged through, which causes split ends.

I brush my hair before my shower because doing this lowers the risk of my hair snapping while in the shower because of untangled knots. Hair is much weaker in the shower because it is wet and wet hair is much more susceptible to snapping, this causing split ends.

In the shower, my hair routine isn’t anything complicated. I only use two products; Suave damage control shampoo and Naked Naturals Citrus & Keratin fortifying conditioner. I buy this conditioner from Job Lot (it's like a local bargin outlet with some amazing stuff!) a from the price sticker you can see another reason why I love this stuff so much! For $2 I get a thick moisturizing conditioner that makes my hair super shiny and healthy looking, even when my hair is looking crappy. Also it's all natural and cruelty free! One more thing: the smell of this shampoo is freaking heavenly! It smells like you just filled whatever room you're currently in with a million oranges! If you have the chance to smell this, you will definitely buy it!

I start by wetting my hair and using the conditioner all over my head.

I let it sit for a few minutes and then shampoo only the scalp of the head. This both cleans my roots and washes out the conditioner. 

I then apply more conditioner only to the tips of my hair  (from the nape of my neck down) and let it sit for however long I want. I’ve noticed time doesn’t make a difference when conditioner is on my tips. Double conditioning protects my hair from the shampoo and leaves it extra soft and UNTANGLED which is major for my thick hair!

After I get out of the shower I wrap my hair in a towel (I can’t get a hold of putting a T-shirt on my head, still trying though!), I get dressed and then take the towel off and shake my hair (much like a dog..) to untangle it before I comb it.

Then, I take a dime sized amount of argan oil and apply it from ear length to the tip of my hair. I know a dime size amount seems like a lot but my hair is very long and very thick so it sucks it all up. 

After I put the oil in my hair I take a normal (fine toothed) comb and comb my hair to distribute the oil. Sometimes but not very often I'll take a palmful of the argan oil and distribute it from root to tip and throw it up in a bun. I leave it in for as long as I can before I need to shower (if I have to leave the house) or I'll sleep with it overnight.

Once everything has been applied and combed I usually let my hair air dry because I hate using a blow dryer. However if I need to go out soon I’ll go old fashion and “scrunch” my hair with hair gel which encourages my hair to dry with the shape of my natural waves/curls.

Okay guys, that’s all I do for my hair care routine! If you have anything you think I would like or anything you would like me to review, as always leave a comment and I will definitely reply! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!

Xoxo,

Brig

My skincare routine!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend, now stop whatever you are doing and read about how I take care of my skin! Just kidding you can actually read this after you finish what you're doing. This is only my sixth blog post, I don't expect anyone to fangirl over me...yet:) 

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my blog goals, you want to know about my skincare regimen, so here it goes: 

My skincare routine varies based on what my skin feels like that day so all of the products I'm going to list could be used all together but I usually use them on different days or some in the morning and some at night on the same day.

Face Wash:

The first product I use to remove any make up I'm wearing or if my skin just needs a gentle wash is Dickinson's gentle foaming face wash. This is a wash that really needs to be mixed with water to become foamy, but once it foams up a bit, it really gives a good clean. More often than not (beause I'm very lazy in the morning) I'll just wash my face with this, moisturize, and then put my make up on. Dickinson's gentle face wash is very gentle (like the name says) and doesn't irritate my sensitive/ dry skin at all!

(Btw, I'm sorry that the pics are a little dark, it's snowing outside so there was no natural light)

Face Scrubs: 

I currently have two scrubs that I use interchangibly. Since I don't use scrubs often in the winter, the way I pick which one I will use is by grabbing whichever is closest to the sink at the time, haha! The first one I use is one by the Target brand Up&Up. It is their apricot blackhead scrub. This scrub is good for blackheads and clearing clogged pores. It is also good for breakouts because it has salicylic acid in it.

The second scrub I use is a Christmas present from my brother. He has a friend who recently started an etsy shop for homemade skincare and this scrub in amazing! It is a pumpkin spice sugar and coconut oil scrub. The oil makes my skin feel moisturized after use and the sugar really exfoliates my dry skin, but because I of how my skin is in the winter, I still moisturize after. The girl who makes these skincare products charges $10 for each product but you get a lot of product and it works really well! To keep this mask fresh and at a nice temperature, I store it in the fridge.

     

Honey Milk Mint Mask

This is also from my brothers friends etsy shop. I apply this with a flat foundation brush that I got from ELF for $1 on damp skin after I use any of the products mentioned above. More often than not, I wash my face with the Dickinson's wash and then apply this. I let it dry until no longer sticky (about 10 minutes) and then I wash it off with a warm washcloth. This mask leaves my face feeling so freaking smooth that it looks flawless after I apply my toner and moisturizer! I also store this mask in the fridge, the cool temp mixed with the mint in the mask makes it har an awesome cooling sensation on my skin.

  

Toner

My aunt works for Jafra cosmetics so the next few products were given to me by her but don't worry she doesn't know I'm writing this, I wasn't asked to or anything. I'm only mentioning them because if I don't my skincare routine would consist of three products which would be weird. From the subtitle, the first product I own from Jafra is a balancing toner. This is great for calming my red blotchy skin after each washing. I apply this between my face wash or mask and moisturizer. So if I were using my Dickinson's wash and mask that day, I would wash my face, apply the mask, wash of the mask, apply the toner and then moisturize. All I do to apply this toner is put some of it on a cotton pad from my local dollar store and wipe it all over my face. Jafra products are a bit pricey but for the quality and quantity, I think they're well worth it. Jafra is also a cruelty free company so that's a bonus got me! The only complication about ordering from them is that you need to use a consultant, but they have a "find a consultant" option on their website if you don't know someone who is, so that makes it a bit easier to make an order.

Moisturizer 

The moisturizer I use is the Jafra balancing night cream. This is a heavy moisturizer that's perfect for my winter skin. I use this daily but sparingly beause if overused it will clog my pores and leave little bumps on my cheeks. That being said, this cream makes my skin glow, especially is I use my wash, scrub and mask beforehand. Overall this is my perfect skin finisher for my crazy red, dry skin!

Eye Cream

Even though most people don't start using eye cream until they see (literally) a need to, I think it's better to prevent wrinkles than try to kill them once try appear. Since stress takes a toll on a college girls eyes, I decided to take precautions! I just take a small amount f the cream on my ring finger and par in on my undereye area and on the area where crows feet appear because I can't be too careful haha! This cream leave my undereye feeling smooth and moisturized. It also helps with my dark circles.

Okay guys, that was my skincare routine! If you use any products you think I would like or if you just want to leave me a comment feel free! I reply to everyone's comments:)

Xoxo,

Brig

My current favorite eyeshadow palettes (and swatches)!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all having a great second day of 2015, today I'm just lounging around photographing eyeshadow palettes and swatches just for you guys! :)

The first eyeshadow palette I use on a regular basis is one of the Hard Candy top ten trendsetters eyeshadow collections in Birthday Suit. This palette is the perfect mix of nude and pastel colors with a gorgeous navy blue thrown in! The colors I use on a day to day basis when I'm not doing anything special are the first three colors on the left side (the beige, light brown and dark brown). If I want to deepen up the look I'll throw in the reddish brown (sixth color from the left) on my crease or the navy blue on my outer V for a nice smokey look.

These colors are insanely buttery and blendable! Half the time I don't put enough on my brush and blend it away, that's how soft they are. The pigmentation is also awesome!

I'll put some swatches below so you can see how they look without a primer, but the lighter colors are harder to see because I'm so pale during the winter!

These colors have no name, but I will attempt to describe them (LOL). One thing I want to say first, these colors are ALL MATTE! I was so happy to see that they were all 100% matte because I didn't own many matte colors and they're basically all I wear.

Anyway, the first color is a very natural yellow beige, that you can't even see in the swatches!

The second is a gorgeous light brown that I use as my daily lid/ transition color.

The third is a very deep brown that I use in my outer V/ crease, it is so soft and blendable!

The fourth is a very light pink that I've only used once as a base for the light brown (it made a very pretty combo!).

The fifth color is a light purple/grey color that isn't as pigmented but it is buildable which is always nice.

The sixth color is a camel brown that I use to deepen a look further or I'll throw it in the crease if I'm doing a bronze look.

The seventh color was also not showing up on the swatches but it is a more peachy version of the light pink. I haven't used this color yet, but by the way it felt when I swatched it, it should be buildable with a primer and a big fluffy eye brush!

The eighth color is a gorgeous light grey! I used this when I was fooling around with colors and it works beautifully with a smokey eye with a navy outer V and a thin winged liner! Ugh, I wish I had a picture to show you guys of that look!

Anyway, the ninth color is that amazing navy blue! It is so pigmented in the picture without a primer, you can just imagine how it looks with a primer!

The tenth and final color in the palette is a creamy off-white color that I use for highlighting under my brows and my inner corner.

In the top left picture (with the swatches) you can see the pretty packaging in the background. It has a cream colored faux-leather with a snakeskin like pattern and studs on the right side. It is pretty but also somewhat bulky but overall this palette is still sleek and easy to hold, if that makes any sense!


My other favorite eyeshadow palette is one that I use along with the Hard Candy palette because this palette has nothing but amazing shimmer! It is the Eyes Lips Face (E.L.F) prism eyeshadow palette in Naked.

These colors are so freaking pigmented, soft and blendable that it is completely worth the $10 I paid for it! I know $10 sounds a little pricey for ELF but these shadows are amazing, shimmery, and cruelty free! How can you get any better than that??

By the way, this palette didn't arrive at my house broken, I dropped it like on the floor an idiot right after I got it out of the box! Oddly/ thankfully the mirror broke but the shadows didn't! I rarely ever use palette mirrors anyway, however this mirror is a VERY generous size that I actually use it when I tweeze my eyebrows between threading appointments.                                                     

Peek a boo!

 Okay so here I go again trying to describe nameless swatches to you all, but at least you can see them all (pretty much) for this palette! I didn't use a primer for these swatches either.

The first color is a pretty white that I use to add extra highlight to my brow bone.

The second is an amazing yellow shade that I use in my inner corners.

The next three colors I use on my lid when I'm doing a bronze shimmer look (I pick one of them each time, I don't use them all at once haha). The third is a light copper (like a penny) color that I usually use a wet brush with to make it more metallic looking.

The fourth color is a light brown that I sometimes add very lightly to my crease for a teeny bit of extra sparkle so my look doesn't have a metallic lid and matte crease.

The fifth color is a deeper version of the light copper color. Sometimes I'll mix the lighter and darker copper shade for an extra bronze look!

The final shade is a beautiful chocolate shade that I'll use in my outer V for a deeper/smokey/extra metallic look. It is so pigmented I was shocked when I first tried it out!

 Overall, my rating on both of these palettes is 10/10 because they are so versatile and can make any daytime look transition into a nighttime look whether it be a matte or shimmery one. Both of these companies are cruelty free (they don't test their products on animals), are very affordable (the H.C palette was around $6!) and the packaging is sleek enough to carry in your purse or even backpack if you want! The ELF palette has a larger mirror, but I like how you can see the eyeshadow from the outside of the H.C packaging, so I guess it's all about personal preference on that one.


Okay guys, thank you so much for reading my post, and I hope you all have a great day! Don't forget to find me on social media!

Xoxo,
Brig