It's about quarter after seven--less than five hours to go for me to enter 2012! This year has been a short one full of fun and exciting dreams. 2012 promises to be a much better year for me as I begin to push into dream fulfillment and start living for real.
(I'll have more about my dreams and fulfilling them on my personal blog. (click the link to visit it!) and my personal YouTube channel).
I hope you all feel inspired to chase after your dreams! Have a fantastic NYE (if you are reading this!) and be safe, healthy, and happy!
Here's my semi-editorial makeup look for NYE (*note* it may not be that wearable, but I definitely created it just for fun. If you want to make it more wearable, skip all the sparkles and glitter and you have a beautiful metallic look for a night out!)
The products used in the video are listed below it:
Eyes (in order of application)
ELF Eyelid Primer (nude)
Urban Decay Twice Baked
Copper colors (from my 88 matte palette--picture below)
Urban Decay Half Baked
Sephora silver color from Flip Palette--picture below
Urban Decay Uzi
Urban Decay Oil Slick
Benefit Highbeam (to-go version)
Fantasy Makers Cream Glitter Stick (makers of Wet 'N Wild--Halloween product)
Duo Lash Adhesive (clear)
Any silver cosmetic-grade silver (don't remember the brand; it came with a pair of false lashes)
False lashes (I think mine were either Ardell or Fantasy Makers--Halloween edition)
ELF black liquid eyeliner
Benefit BadGal Lash Mascara in black
Palladio white eyeliner kohl pencil
Face
Mac Studio Fix foundation NC15
Stila matte bronzer in Shade 01
Shimmery rose blush from Sephora Flip Palette (picture below)
Lips
Stila 24K gloss in Vintage Merlot
1st color on left; 2nd on the right (88 matte palette)
Silver color
Rosy shimmery blush
Have a sparkly and amazing new year! I'll see you ...NEXT YEAR (I have always loved that little joke/pun)!
Thank you all for your amazing support and well wishes. You all are truly appreciated.
As we are just days away from the end of 2011 and embarking on a new year, I wanted to share with all of you my go-to viral beauty websites for the year. I am just a fellow enthusiast and am not being paid or sponsored in any way to promote these sites, nor share them with you. I am personally in love with these sites and find a lot of inspiration from other amazing fellow makeup enthusiasts and artists, beauty forums and websites, as well as just beautiful art on these sites.
In no particular order:
Of course I could easily say that YouTube is my number one place of inspiration, but it isn't the main place. There are so many talented artists who share their brilliancy with the rest of the world and I don't even have the time to share all my favorite makeup gurus here for you (however, I may do another similar post for my favorite YouTube beauty gurus in the future). I love interacting with all my subscribers and finding new friends and social contacts by being a subscriber on another guru's channel. I've actually made some pretty awesome friends via YT this year! I have learned a lot from professional makeup artists via video tutorials, and some valuable tips. =) (I have three separate channels, but mostly comment under my personal YT--emalyce89. I am also known as simplybmakeup & allthingsemmy.)
Yes, it's the one for Glamour Magazine. They have a plethora of beauty junkies who post blogs for the site and several forums for various topics. Since the magazine spans from women's health all the way to how-to/DIY topics, they are an amazing conglomeration of fun information. Not to mention that you can sign up for daily emails that give you updates on new articles of interest. For example, the other day, I received an update with a link to a blog about the 10 best celebrity hairstyles of 2011. Loved it! Found some more inspiration for my own hair. They also promote YouTube Beauty Gurus. Pretty awesome, right?! (I am listed under emalyce89 there.)
So this is my newest beauty addiction. I just recently signed up for a Beautylish account and I am very saddened that I didn't know about the site much, much sooner! It combines the social networking powers of Twitter and Facebook, adds in an e-magazine layout, and incorporates YouTube in its platform. When you upload a YT video, you can choose to have it shared on your Beautylish profile. You can find so many more talented gurus and enthusiasts from YouTube on here without even having to filter through YouTube's hierarchical system. Yes, that's what YouTube is--a hierarchy. All the searches bring up YouTube stars and Partners before anybody else, and Beautylish helps diminish that on its site. I can also upload my own photos and share them with my followers...yes, you have them too! (Follow me? I am SimplyBMakeup there.)
This is a great site to share your makeup creations and ask questions--they have a huge interactive forum and most of the ladies there are so respectful and helpful in answering questions, regardless of content. Not to mention that they get involved in so many giveaways and contests! I have entered more contests/giveaways here than I have on YouTube. So many different companies (ie BH Cosmetics, Sugarpill, ELF, etc.) have sponsored giveaways on the site. So awesome! You can also link your Facebook to this site to have it generate status updates for you if you are interested. Also, their Facebook page is updated regularly so that if you allow yourself to see their feed, you also get updated on the new, hip & happening articles and contests on the site. (I can be found under emalyce89.)
While this may not be a 'beauty' site per se, it is definitely addicting to me. This site allows you to become a stylist, be it for fashion or interior design. You can create sets for different looks and outfits, as well as a customized wardrobe. How this works is you can use what they have stored on their online database, basically everything that anybody else has imported to the site for their own collections. I find that it is a compliment when someone uses what I've imported. So here's what is so innovative and cool about this site--if you want to import your own items, say from Nordstrom.com, etc. then you can download their tool bar--I have it and love it. If you are shopping online and don't want to bookmark a page, you can "Polyvore" a single item by clicking the "Clip to Polyvore" button on your toolbar, then click the picture of what you want to import to the site or 'bookmark,' and it automatically detects the price, site, and name of the item. It's super fun. This is another site that I have recently become a member of...and I could spend hours searching online for vibrant, bold, and unique items to use in my collections. =D (I am known as emalyce89 on the site.)
For now those are the only ones I can think of at the top of my head--but they are most certainly not the only ones I visit and participate in. I may have a 2.0 version of this blog in no time. =) So if you are interested in any of these sites and adding me as a friend or following me, check them out!
Stay tuned for an upcoming New Year's Eve look--I have a pretty sparkly look in mind and I might even upload another nail art tutorial soon.
Hi there, my lovelies! I hope you're having a fantastic holiday season...I have a last minute beauty tutorial to show you today...and if you have about an hour to spare, you'll be able to get cute candy cane nails too!
What I used:
Base: Nail Tek Xtra (formula)
Red: Sally Hansen Maximum Growth formula in Ruby Clarity
White: LA Colors Art Deco in White
Green #1: Sinful Colors in Show Me the Way
Green #2: Sephora by OPI in Leaf Him at the Altar
Gold: LA Colors Art Deco in Gold Glitter
Top Coat: Wet 'N Wild Clear Nail Protector
Follow the tutorial (my very first nail art tutorial EVER) here:
Let me know if you would like me to do more nail tutorials. I do have a surprise--once my sister (whom I introduced to you all on my Facebook page (click HERE to check it out)) gets her computer fixed, she will be Simply Bellezza's very own hair AND nail art guru. I do basic art, but she is much more creative and clever than I am with these skills. =) She will also take requests for specific looks and 'do's. So when she is up and running, I will make an announcement on the FB page and here on the site for you all to check her out.
I will be uploading another video here for a New Year's Eve look, so stay tuned!
Until then, have yourselves a MERRY little Christmas, a joyous time with your family and friends, as well as an incredible time eating goodies and watching old movies,
If you are blessed to live in an area that gets snow every year without fail, and you always get to have a beautiful, white Christmas, count yourselves lucky. I live in the Pacific Northwest where it does snow, but we almost always a green Christmas here (well, more like brown and gray! lol) For this look, I was inspired by the frosty winter snow scenes that you see on Christmas cards and in old movies. Also, I wanted to incorporate the freezing winds that come at this time of year by drawing in a new crease and creating thick lines off of them to resemble the swishy wind.
The title was inspired by Sugarpill Cosmetics, who is having a private giveaway/contest on www.makeuptalk.com: Colorful Winter Wonderland. Just for kicks, I am going to upload my photo to the forum, perchance I will get more YouTube exposure at best. There are so many amazing entries, most are so extravagant and beautiful and mine is more on the simple side compared to theirs...however, mine is more wearable and a smidgen more practical...! hehe
To plan out how I would create a "colorful winter wonderland" on my face, I created a crappy face chart (no I won't embarrass myself and show you my drawing haha!) which was more of a scribble. What came to mind was intense blues and purples with some shimmering white...Your basic snowy Arctic feel (I guess?). I have wanted to do a more intense and playful looks with makeup recently (aside from all my Halloween tutorials) and this was the perfect opportunity to pull out some of the inexpensive pigments I own and use them in a tutorial!
What you may find interesting is that I don't ever play around with the makeup and do a rough draft on my face before filming. I just end up doing a first take and that's it. I will, however, go back and fix a mistake or redo a shot if I feel that the makeup looks awful. Yay! When I threw this look together, it was executed in the one-shot method without me having to redo anything, which shocked me as cut creases are NOT my strong point in makeup at times.
Oh yes, a cut crease. Ever heard of one before? It's where you visually create a new crease above your natural crease. In the video you see me doing that with a turquoise colored eye liner. I explained that I do that so you can see the contrast in color--the turquoise versus the white lid. I have a slight hooded eye which prevents me from applying makeup simply into the crease without issue. (There is a slight skin fold that hides most of my crease when my eyes are widely open...to a point where my lid is barely visible as well.)
It used to be that I had trouble with my makeup disappearing when I would apply it incorrectly (long time ago). It has since been learned that I needed to create a new crease. If you would like more information on makeup for hooded eyes, I would gladly make a tutorial specifically for that...(comment below if you are interested!)
So, here's the Windy Winter Wonderland look for you!
PRODUCTS USED:
EYES:
Urban Decay Primer Potion (depotted)
Avon Big Color crayon in Vanilla (B02)
Jordana Easyliner in Mint (weird name as it comes out in a turquoise color)
Mac Fix +
Bon Bons turquoise shimmer pigment
Bon Bons white shimmer pigment
Jesse's Girl Eye Dust in Ultra Violet
Hightlight: Mary Kay White Lily
Mac Fluidline in Blacktrack
Palladio white kohl pencil
Jesse's Girl Sparklers in purple
Avon Super Curlacious Lash mascara in brown
Hard Candy Curl Up & Dye mascara in Venus
FACE:
Mac Studio Fix Foundation NC15
ELF concealer in Light Beige
Maybelline blush in Nude Flush
(highlighter is the white pigment from before)
See? In the video I told you that the pigments I use are very inexpensive! If you aren't sure what BonBons are, it's an very inexpensive brand that can be found at WalMart. I actually had gotten each pigment for about 88¢. I needed a cheap pigment for a Halloween look and bought them. Little did I know that they would give so much color payoff! I have been thrilled about this purchase since, but since they are super shimmery, they sit in a drawer of pigments that don't get a lot of use...until now!
I hope you're feeling inspired! When I say 'colorful winter wonderland' what do you think of? Let me know in the comments...
Hi there, my lovelies. Many months ago, I stumbled upon a blog entry from another notorious beauty blogger who had posted a blog entry about the wasteful packaging of the Urban Decay Primer Potion. I thought it was crazy since you (at the time) had to pay $18 for one ounce of their best selling product. They changed the applicator wand to accommodate an angled doe-tip, but apparently this change still hasn't helped much in the waste. They have since revamped the packaging to a squeeze tube, which is not only easier by any means to access the product, but far more hygienic (and makeup artist friendly!). Before buying the brand new package, I wanted to first show you how to get your money's worth. If this isn't your first time learning this trick, then you can just take this as a friendly reminder. If not, then be prepared to be amazed and excited to save yourself $19 (the new packaged UDPP is now $19 instead of $18 like before...I don't know if that's a ripoff or not, but only time will tell).
As you will see in my video below, there is a lot of PP left in the bottle after the top broke off. If you are like me and pinch every penny you have to make it stretch further, I can guarantee you that you'll be running off to the kitchen to grab a sharp knife to cut this baby open.
What you need:
~A flat, clean surface clear of anything to get in the way
~A sanitized container (can be a sample jar from Mac, Lush--like mine, etc.)
~Sharp knife
~Small spatula or tool to scrape with
~Permanent Marker (for labeling)
Follow the steps in the video, and Voila! No need to buy another package for another few months! Phew! =D
Here's the video:
I hope you guys are inspired! What kinds of things do you do to make your products stretch further? Share it below in the comments and the most innovative one might get a feature in a future video! =)
Have a fantastic day and don't forget to enter my giveaway! It ends this FRIDAY (the 10th) at 11:59 pm PST. Any entries thereafter will not be considered. Also, if I can get to 100 subscribers by the end of December, I will have ANOTHER giveaway in January with some high-end prizes. So go subscribe and share your favorite videos! =)
This post is long past overdue, but regardless, I wanted to provide this review despite the fact that it may be long past the availability of this limited edition product. The information I provide can still be of use to many of you. =] After all, having obtained this product (yes, I purchased it myself, and no, I am not being sponsored by Sephora...although, I would love it if I could be) almost two months ago and experimenting with it means that I have enough time to give a fair review, right? =)
What?
Well, if you cannot imagine what a "flip palette" is...well, it basically is a palette with drawer-type-levels that, instead of pulling outward, flip upward instead. The Sephora mini-flip palette is a tri-leveled mini palette with eight eye shadows, eight lip glosses, and two blushes. (Note, on the Sephora website, it was stated that there was one blush and one bronzer).
Because the video at the end of this post says mostly everything I wanted to share with you, I won't have an annoyingly long post. I only wish to share swatches and individual information about each color/product that would have made my video nearly half an hour long. (and no one wants a 29 minute video to watch on just a simple product review...least of all, me! ^.^)
The palette not opened. It's about the size of a deck of cards.
Eyeshadows: three matte (or almost matte finish) five satin-shimmery finish
Eight LOVELY lipgloss colors. VERY pigmented!
Two blushes OR "one blush, one bronzer," according to them.
Let's start with the eyeshadow swatches. They are in order in a clockwise manner, starting from the upper left and ending with the bottom left. Click each individual photo to enlarge. I did not use any primers for any of the swatches. Each swatch is a true representation of what is in the palette.
This color is great for a highlight. On my fingertip, it appears to be an off-white, but is actually a light tan/golden-hued shadow. It has a satin-matte type of finish and while appears super pigmented on my finger, isn't as vibrant using a brush. It had to be layered. I use it for my brow bone highlight in the makeup tutorial. Blends well. Smooth and creamy. Velvety.
I also used this color for highlight in my inner tear duct area. It is a delicate light pink color with flecks of a silver glitter. The glitter causes bit of fallout when applying this shadow and once applied, you do not see the glitter whatsoever. The color is so light that you cannot really tell that it is a pink. It is a satin finish and blends well, best used for highlight. If you have darker skin, then this color may not be a good option.
This silver is an amazing shadow. It is extremely pigmented and very smooth, creamy, and velvety. Obviously this is a shimmer color, but with an underlying texture that is a bit more on the satin side. I really like how this color blends out smoothly, not leaving a chalky finish or residue.
I love how this is a matte finish color! I don't have a lot of highly pigmented matte colors, and when I realized that it was a matte finish, I was clearly over the moon. This teal is decently pigmented, but does feel a little chalky. It blends well if you use a good brush. While a tad chalky, it is fairly soft and I am quite pleased with this shadow. I do use it in my tutorial in the video located below.
This is another matte finish shadow. I found it to be a very nice olive tone to use for the fall, and also in the winter. Many of the olive colored eye shadows I have come across a either satin-finish or a little chalky, and this color is neither. It has a very soft and velvety feel, as well as a decent blend quality (using a good brush, that is). It does need to be layered a little bit to create its vibrancy here in this photo, but is of good quality.
While this shadow appears to be a gorgeous purple in this swatch, I had a great difficulty working with it and it is my least favorite in this palette. It is not very pigmented and a great deal of effort was required in layering it for a decent swatch of the color. It isn't very easy to blend out (as you will see in my video). It is a satin-matte type of finish and I am very disappointed that it isn't as good quality as the other shades. Even with a brush, you really have to work into the shadow to get any payout of color.
A gorgeous satin-finish plum color. This shadow is packed with pigment and it is very soft, smooth, creamy...velvety. I love it's blend quality and its slightly shimmer quality. This plum color is very versatile--it can be used in a bright smoky eye, or even in a neutral way. This shadow is a great addition to the Sephora palette and once depleted in my palette, I will be on the hunt for a full-sized version of this shadow. Probably my favorite in the whole palette.
This is such a soft golden/taupy brown color. It is a shimmer/satin finish and is great for a light pop of shimmer to the lid. It isn't as potent as I thought it would be, which I actually found to be favorable since it might have been more difficult to use as far as fallout goes. It does have smooth application and is creamy and soft to touch. Using a stiff brush pulls up a lot of pigment, however, which may waste more product than necessary, which is my biggest complaint about it, but it's a lovely shade, perfect for most people and is a great addition to the Sephora palette.
This next portion is for the lipglosses. I was very surprised to find how pigmented these babies really are. I haven't had ANY good experiences with glosses that come in palettes prior to this experience, so I am pleasantly surprised. Even the baby pink color on the bottom left is very pigmented (and is my favorite from the palette). It reminds me of Mac's Viva Glam in Gaga (version 1) but just a tad lighter. As you can see, each color is super pretty. The only color I can say isn't as pigmented is the second one from the left on the bottom. I had attempted two layers there.
Blushes...Now there may be a little confusion about these two colors. According to Sephora's website, this had included one bronzer and one blush. Look at the swatches. Can you tell which one is which? I can't. They are both so pink and shimmery that I don't even see how one of them can possibly be considered a bronzer. So, for this purpose, I am reviewing both of them as blushes since it makes it easier for me. I am not a big fan of these blushes, and that is because I don't look very good in mauve tones as much as I do a peach or coral color. I have a lot of yellow undertones and a bit of natural redness to my cheeks, so a lighter color looks better on me...more natural. The deep pink seemed to be formulated to be similar to NARS' Orgasm blush, sans subtle shimmer. Both of these blushes are super shimmery, which I find to be a little distracting when trying to wear shimmery eyeshadows too--especially if they come from this particular palette as there are only two true matte shadows. Add in one of the glosses, and you've got a super shimmery face...too much shimmer! I still stand by my thought that they should have included a matte peachy color (since it flatters a better range of skin tones) and a matte version of the mauvy toned blush on the left. If they had wanted to include a flattering bronzer, they should include instead, perhaps a marbleized blend of subtle golden and bronze shimmer flecks in a matte medium brown color. That would be flattering on a lot of people.
So here is the video and I hope you enjoy!
Thank you for all your support! Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY! Click the link for more information. It ends at 11:59 pm, December 10 PST so don't forget! Winners will be announced shortly after! =D
