face of the day #1

Welcome to madeleine says’ FIRST “face of the day” post. I’ll be posting these every week to show you what looks and products I go to for all the different happenings in my life.

Today was a pretty boring day, a ran a few errands, had my dishwasher replaced and mostly sat on the couch job-hunting… and yes you guessed correctly, after being in Florida for a month I’m still unemployed! YAY for jobless adventures? Anyways, I digress. So for my makeup I kept it pretty simple. I used my favorite foundation of the moment, Benefit’s Oxygen Wow (my shade is “im so money, honey”). It has a natural, glowing finish with great coverage. I used my favorite beautyhack, Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream in “medium/dark”, to warm up my face and add a subtle contour (see the beautyhack post for more on this!), and then went in with my Garnier roller ball to conceal and brighten my under eyes and the high points of my face. Didn’t feel like setting with powder today so I just added some color to my cheeks with Benefit’sDandelion blush. For my eyes I used one of my favorite palettes, the Lorac Pro Palette. From it I mixed “white” and “cream” for my all-over lid color and put “light bronze” in the center of the lid. Then I just put “taupe” in the crease, the outer corners and along my lower lash line. I finished the eye look off with one coat of the CovergirlBombshell Volume mascara in “ very black”. For my lips, I just put on some Burt’s Bees Wax Lip Balm.

And there it is! Hope you liked it!

FOTD Breakdown:

Base: Benefit Oxygen Wow Foundation // Garnier Skin RenewAnti-Dark Circle Eye Roller

Color: Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream // Benefit DandelionBoxed Blush

Eyes: Lorac Pro Pallete // Covergirl Bombshell VolumeMascara

Lips: Burt’s Bees Wax Lip Balm

Tools: Real Techniques: Blush Brush // Expert Face Brush // Contour Brush // Base Shadow Brush

:) ttyl,

madeleine

review: maybelline color elixir

So I know these lip glosses have been circulating all over the interwebs, but I made the educated decision to hold off for a little bit and let the initial hysteria die down before I would strike with my own review.

I am not typically a lip gloss person, the stickiness doesn’t appeal to me and I usually prefer a more balm-like texture on my lips that feels hydrating. With this said, I was pleasantly surprised when I tried the new Maybelline’s New York Color Elixir. It goes for $6.94 at Walmart, which is a decent price.

I bought the shade “085 Hibiscus Haven” which is a bright blue-toned fuchsia, also out of my comfort zone. I usually go towards more natural colors but this one called to me for some reason. So I went with it, and I’m glad I did. The color payoff was highly pigmented and opaque  on my lips and really gave me the “BAM” I hoped for, but it was also very wearable, which I love.

The gloss feels very thick on the lip, and definitely hydrating. Although the gloss wears off after a few hours, it does leave a bit of stain that is really nice and I almost like it more when it’s worn off a bit. I personally am not crazy about feeling thick shellac on my lips so usually I will blot it with a napkin. It takes the thick, high-shine gloss off but it still looks lovely and pigmented. the doe-foot applicator is also very nice and makes application easy and precise.

 

^ gloss as it is ^      

^ gloss after one blot ^

The way I prefer to apply it is I use a lip scrub first, like this one from Lush that tastes like mint chocolate, then a put a balm like my favorite Burt’s Bees one to make a nice smooth canvas for the gloss, put the gloss over and then blot once with a napkin.

^ Burt's Bees Lip Balm, Lush Mint Julips Lip Scrub ^

All in all, it’s a really nice product. The smell is nice but not overwhelming, the color is opaque, wearable and stays put on your lips and it definitely was hydrating. My only cons are that I don’t really like how thick it feels and it will cling-to and show any dryness you may have, so you should make sure to exfoliate your lips prior.


What do you guys think of the elixirs? I definitely want to buy more. Tell me your thoughts and suggestions in the comments!

:) ttyl,
madeleine

beautyhack: bb cream contour

Now I love a good contour just as much as the next beauty junkie, and there are a ton of different ways you can achieve a contoured face. You can use matte powder bronzers, cream bronzers, darker foundations and concealers etc. I have tried everything and realized there are pros and cons to all of those options. While they all give you the chiseled cheek bones, powders can tend to look unnatural in texture on your skin, especially in daylight. I’ve noticed a few crème bronzers look a bit orangey or muddy, and that using a dark foundations or concealers can cake up your face. So I’ve gone in a slightly less conventional route in the search for a natural looking contour that will let my skin breathe and that I can wear in the sunlight without feeling insecure.

This is when I noticed a bb cream in my makeup drawer that was too dark for my skin tone and a little light bulb shaped like a well-defined cheekbone went off in my head. Using a bb cream is perfect for a more natural contour because it’s meant to be a subtle tint of color without heavy coverage. It wont cake up your face or leave a powdery and unnatural finish on your skin. It just blends in perfectly, but creates the shadow affect you want from a contour. I use this everyday as either just a bronzer for my cheeks and forehead or use a little more product and concentrate it where I want to create a shadow and chisel out my features. 

The BB cream I’ve been using is the Maybelline Dream Fresh8-in-1 Beauty Balm Skin Perfector ($7.59) in the color Medium/Deep. It gives the perfect tint of color without caking up my face. The brush I used to apply was the Real Techniques Contour Brush. Its the perfect size to concentrate the product in the small contour of your cheek and the tapered synthetic bristles blend the product out to a beautiful and natural finish (the brush comes as a part of their "core collection" set of 4 brushes for $18.00).

Shop the rest of the brushes. They're all perfection! http://realtechniques.com/

:) ttyl,

madeleine

a guide to beauty guru’s & blogs PART 1

I have been an avid reader of beauty blogs for several years now and have come to know “my girls”, as I affectionately/creepily/pathetically refer to them, quite well in terms of their personality, writing tone, and tendencies in terms of what types of products they write about. With this sage beauty guru knowledge, I feel as though I have a responsibility to spread it ‘round to those of you who may have only just discovered the magical treasures the beauty blogosphere hold. So here it is, a user’s guide to beauty guru’s & blogs! (disclaimer: this is all in the name of personal opinion).

Since there are quite a lot of beauty guru’s I wanted to include, I am going to make this a bit of a series. I tried to think of a particular order or category for these parts but it got a bit overwhelming so this is in no particular order.

Essiebutton- Estee is a funny and endearing Canadian living in London. She writes about a wide range of products, from drugstore (high street) to luxury. She talks in plain language too, not using too many big scary scientific words when talking about formulation and she gets her point across well, while being entertaining. Since she is based in London, she uses mostly European brands but they are all recognizable and well known. Overall: she is good for a laugh and an easy read with solid knowledge to share.

Her Links: http://www.essiebutton.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/essiebutton 

It’s Judy Time- Judy is a mother of one (soon to be 3!) living in a suburb of Seattle, WA. If you are curious about a product, but don’t know if it’s worth buying Judy is the one to go to. She is the queen of reviews, mostly drugstore products particularly foundations. But she does also do high end product reviews as well. Her video reviews are the best. She shows her impression from the moment she puts the product on the back of her hand ‘til when it’s 12 hours later. Overall: she gets to the point, doesn’t fuss around and does great and informative reviews.

Her Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/itsjudytime , http://itsjudytime.blogspot.com/

Glamlifeguru- Tati is a professional makeup artist living in Los Angeles, CA. She has great Youtube channel (not a blogger) where she has a range of content, from hauls, “hot or not” reviews, to hair and makeup tutorials. Since she is a professional you can tell she is a lot more knowledgeable on how the products actually work and can give you really trustworthy information as opposed to a general opinion. She talks about mainly beauty but also goes into hair and skincare products. Overall: great reviews and tutorials, trustworthy formula information, slight allegiance towards drugstore products in terms of reviews.

Her Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/GlamLifeGuru

Vivianadoesmakeup & Lily Pebbles: Now I know these women are individuals and have their own style and personalities and I do really love them and their blogs, but I’ve grouped them together because they are quite similar in terms of their content. They both live in London and focus on mainly luxury products, with a few drugstore items every once in a while…Oh and they’re bffls. But I like that about them. They discover so many interesting European skincare and body care brands that I’ve never heard of but now instantly NEED. They also do videos for a Premium Youtube channel called Daily Mix with other well-known British beauty bloggers, aside from their own respective Youtube channels. Overall: both very charming and passionate about beauty. Discover unique luxury products of a wide variety, although mostly European.

Ana’s Links: http://www.viviannadoesmakeup.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/ViviannaDoesMakeup

Lily’s Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/WhatIHeartToday , http://www.lilypebbles.co.uk/

Pixiwoo- British sisters Nic and Sam Chapman are professional makeup artists and Youtube veteran goddesses. They’ve been in the YT grind for years and give the best makeup tutorials from natural looks to celebrity inspired looks and just crazy fun looks with a new eye shadow palette they found. Regardless the looks are always beautiful and they do a lovely job of walking you through the look and also just chatting to you while they do it. They have a great amount of product knowledge and because they are professionals, they really know what they are talking about. They also have an awesome makeup brush line that I love called Real Techniques. Overall: unique and fun tutorials, pretty much use only high-end luxury products, trustworthy and very useful knowledge.

Their Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/pixiwoo, http://www.pixiwoo.com/,  http://realtechniques.com/

Tanya Burr: Tanya, formerly Pixi2woo is the girlfriend of Sam and Nic Champan’s younger brother. She also happens to be a makeup artist who blogs and has a Youtube channel. Her blog has a mish mash of topics from recipes and pictures from her vacations and adventures to makeup swatches, reviews and tutorials. She is very endearing and funny (without trying to be) to watch and always posts really wearable and pretty makeup looks. She doesn’t post terribly often on her blog, but her Youtube channel is all about beauty and she uploads at least once or twice a week. Overall: fun to watch, wearable tutorials, uses both high end and low end products.

Her Links: http://www.tanyaburr.co.uk/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/pixi2woo

Look out for Part 2 Next Monday Jan 27!

:) ttyl,

madeleine