Vanity Area

I recently have become obsessed with the colors pink, white and gold. They are such girly and pretty colors, and I love to use these colors for my room, especially my vanity area. I did some easy DIY projects where I turned some .99 cent picture frames into trays for my vanity. I bought some glitter paper (yes, this actually exists) from Michaels and put it inside the picture frames. It's something so simple but I feel like it gives my vanity am extra sparkle. 

Xoxo 

JP

How I conceal my under eye dark circles (Best Under Eye Concealer!!!)

Without makeup/With makeup

 

Throughout the years I have searched for the best undereye concealer. I've purchased dozens of concealers from high end to drugstore, you name it I've bought it. But I've had issues with this concealers, they were either too thick, they would crease, they wouldn't last all day, they wouldn't have enough coverage, or the worst not the right color!! Finding the right color is so important when it comes to finding the right undereye concealer. Everytime makeup artist tried to match me for concealer they would pick colors that were my exact color which for blemishes or other parts of my face that is fine but not for my under eyes. I would buy light concealer, but when you get a color that is too light you end up looking crazy in photos. I've even tried pink concealers! Nothing seemed to work.

One day I was at a CCO, and saw the Estée Lauder section, and I thought I would give their concealer I try, I was intrigued by the color, it was light but it seemed to be yellow based. 

Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer in the color 08 "Warm light medium"

 

This concealer is truly my holy grail under eye concealer!!!! It's perfect! I've used up two tubes and I will continue to repurchase. And I set the concealer with Laura Mercier's Secret Brightning Powder. It gives me the best cover have and a beautiful glow under my eyes.Below is my process for covering my dark circles...

Dark Circle: No Makeup

My entire life I have suffered from under eye dark circles, it was a great gift that was passed down to me by my paternal grandmother. I would get made fun of because of my dark circle so once I got into makeup I became obsessed with finding the right product to help conceal them,                         

 

                          

I dot about four dots using the dome sponge applicator from the concealer.

                             

I then use a dense angled brush (this one is from real techniques brush) to blend the concealer, I am very gentle in this area and I do a stippling and patting effect to make sure it spreads and blends well. 

                        

To set the concealer I then use a white translucent powder (Laura MercierSecret  Brightening Powder) using a fluffy blending brushing and sweep it gently under my eyes. 

                        

And here is the end result (please excuse the rest of my face! I have no foundation and had just come of the shower :/

Eye on the left no concealr

                         

You can really see the difference in eyes. I just love how this process and products provide a glow under my eyes. It photographs well and dosen't me look like a raccoon. Here are some selfies and you can see how natural it looks, and no dark circles! 

                                

Natural looking under eye...No dark circles!

                                 

So in all I highly recommend Estée Lauder's Double Wear concealer as well as Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder.

Thank you for reading!!!

Xoxo J

I'm back...for now

Long time no blog! I honestly thought this blog got deleted by Google for the lack of post and log-ins from me. As I have said in many other blogposts where I take a hiatus and come back, my life has changed! I am now a college graduate and I am a preschool teacher!!!!! 😄 I love my job, it's truly a dream come true. My life now consist of creating curriculum, running around chasing 4 year olds, settling arguments over sharing and teaching my kids how to write there names and count in Spanish. I truly wake up every morning with enthusiasm to start my work days. My weekends include sleeping in, and shopping (or window shopping) This school year was my first years as the lead teacher of a classroom of 18 students, I was so blessed and estatic to have been given such an amazing opportunity, and although it was challenging at times, I'm happy to be where I am.


As for makeup, I've become OBSESSED with makeup!!!!!!! My makeup collection is so ridiculous, it went from being in half of my makeup vanity drawer to an overflow and exaggeration of makeup. And unfortunately my taste and interest in makeup has gotten more expensive 😁 I went from drugstore products to super high end, making me broke, products. I will TRY to do more post on my recent favorites and what I love and don't love.

Current Face products 

Here is a picture of my current favorite everyday makeup products.

Foundation: IT cosmetics CC cream: my new favorite foundation, I don't use any primer or moisturizer before, it's an all in one product. I don't even know how to describe it, but this foundation/moisturizer/correcting cream does wonders to my combination skin.  And it has SPF 50! It's medium to full coverage. But honestly it feels very lightweight, I always get compliments about my skin when I wear this product.
I set the CC cream with BareMinerals original foundation, I've been using this product for years it's an old favorite that really gives my skin that great finishing touch.
Concealer: For blemishes and redness I use the Sonia Kashuk concealer palette, another product I have been using for years, it just does a great job at covering up my imperfections, and it dosn't hurt that it's from Target so it's cheap! For my under eyes, I discovered an amazing product from Estée Lauder, the Double Wear Concealer. I picked a much lighter color for me and it's honestly a holy grail product. It gives my under eye a beautiful light glow and also covers up my ugly dark circles. I set the concealer with Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder, it is a white powder with tiny specks of what seem to be glitter but it's very subtle. This powder gives my eyes that beautiful "glow" under my eyes.

Primer: Urban Decay Priner Potion in Sin, I LOVE this! It's so worth every penny, as I've had the same tube for 3 years! It's a champagne color that gives my eyeshadows an extra pop and it makes my eyeshadows stay on all day!

Brows: I've discovered a wonderful woman... Anastasia, if you haven't met her, you need to, your eyebrows need her! She is a famous brow artist for celebrities and has created a line of makeup. Her eyebrow products are the BEST! I use her Brow Powder Duo in the color Dark Brown. It makes my eyebrows look natural, I've let my eyebrows grow over the years so I no longer look like my tweezers won the battle of plucking.

Mascara: Too Faced Cosmestics has really become one of my favorite makeup brands, from the packaging to the names and even the smell?! I just love this brand. For mascara they suckered me into buying a mascara that claims to be "better then sex" as this is the name. And I must say that this mascara is great(not as great as sex 😊) it gives my lashes length and volume two important things I look for in mascara. And the packaging is pink, you can't beat that!

Bronzer:  Too Faced cosmetics wins again!  Chocolate Soleil has been on my wishlist for years, I was intrigued with the name and the smell, yes it actually smells like chocolate! It gives me the perfect bronze look, a little goes a long way witn this product.

Blush: Hourglass recently came out with the most fabulous blushes! I got the color Radient Magenta. It's the perfect for my tan skin tone, it gives me a natural flush glow.

Eyeshadow: and Too Faced Cosmestics is the winner. When I saw numerous videos about the Chocolate Bar palette I was suckered into buying it, because God knows I don't have enough neutral eye palette 😁 first of all, it smells like chocolate and it has the most pigmented and beautiful colors. I really like it, especially the chocolate bar packaging 😋 it helps give me great eye looks.

Highlight: I recently purchased the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette and it's so beautiful I honestly hate to use it because it's so pretty lol it gives me a subtle highlight.


Okay, that's a lot! But I really hope to keep up with more posts, I have so many beauty related things I want to share!

Thank you for reading

Xoxo

What Santa brought me....

I must say that this past Christmas was a good one, I was able to spend it with my family and my boyfriend and that is always a blessing. As far as gifts go, I was also very blessed, Santa (my boyfriend) got me some REALLY nice and good things. I wanted to take pictures of all the things I got but I was so excited I already have opened and used all the products so I cheated and got pictures from Google :-)


1.) Bare Minerals Ready SPF15 Touch Up Mineral Veil in the color "Tinted"

This was in my stocking and I was so happy and surprised to get this because I only mentioned one time that I wanted it but I never thought he was paying attention.

2. Bare Minerals Original SPF 15 Foundation in "Medium Tan"

This was also in my stocking, I was so impressed that not only did my boyfriend or Santa ;) know my exact color but he knew I was running low. So Sweet and Thoughtful!

3.) Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in "Sin"

The next thing in my stocking was this primer. I was at Ulta with my boyfriend and pointblank told him I wanted this because I have been eyeing it for several months. I'm so happy he got it for me!

4.) Ulta $25.00 Gift card

This was the last thing in my stocking along with some of my favorite candy! I am gonna save it until the Naked Palette2 is available at Ulta. It's been very hard and tempting to save it so I finally just gave it to my boyfriend so that he could save it for me.


5.) Philosphy Super-Siize Fragrance 3 in 1 gel and Lotion Duo in "Amazing Grace"


One of my favorite scents is Philosophy's Amazing Grace and I know I talked about it enough that my boyfriend got me the lotion and gel, which to me is so sweet and thoughtful!

6.) Sex and the City the complete series!

I love this show and I was so ecstatic to receive all the seasons of Sex and the City! I am so happy that I got this and I have to admit I am on the last couple episodes...it just never gets old.

I am very happy with everything that I got, I received other things but I wanted to show you the beauty related ones and the main one (Sex and the City)

Hope you Christmas was just as blessed as mine

Dear Santa,

It's Christmas time!!! My favorite time of the year! I did a "Dear Santa" post last year and since I got everything that I asked for I thought it would be a good idea to make another one :-)

1.) Bath and Body Works Enchanted Splish Splash Gift Set $30.00

One of my co-workers introduced me to this winter scent from Bath and Body Works and I love it!!! I have a small lotion for my purse but I would love to get this bath set!

2.) WEN by Chaz Dean Sweet Almond Mint and Pomegranate Duo $39.90

I have woken up to Chaz Dean Wen selling this shampoo...and he sold me! My latest obsession has been QVC which features WEN shampoo, and let me tell you those people on QVC sell the crap out of products, they make you feel like you NEED their products and when they say "limited quantity" you call and place an order! But I love the concept of not having to use other products such as a conditioner, and those before and after shots are amazing!

3.) MICHAEL Michael Kors Quilted Ballet Flat $98

I am in dying need of a good pair of black flats...and yes I could just buy any at any store for less, but the current ones I own are my from Mr. Kors and they have seriously lasted me for such a long time, they are great quality and so comfortable


Or I also wouldn't mind them in this pretty gold color :)

4.)Eco Tools Limited Edition Beautiful Expressions Kabuki Set 

I own several Eco Tools brushes, and I have to say they are the best drugstore brushes, I own a small kabuki brush that came with a set, and it's honestly my favorite powder brush. When I saw that they came out with a set of kabuki brushes I about fainted! I want them so bad!


And I think for now...that is it :-)

I was nice and I hope Santa brings me what I ask for ;)

Happy Holidays

xoxo J

Make-Up Haul

I recently had a crazy makeup shopping frenzy. I keep buying makeup and I can't stop myself! I have not purchased this much makeup in a long time but I am very happy with everything that I have bought. Some of these things I needed badly and others I just wanted ;)

Philosophy Amazing Grace and Olay Complete Moisturizer

Philosophy Perfume Amazing Grace: I have had my eye and nose on this perfume for a while now, I will be honest, the name is what got my attention hence the name of this blog :-) But when I tested and smelled all the Grace perfumes this one was my favorite. I am horrible at describing scents but I love this one because its a subtle fresh scent and I love it.

Olay Complete all day UV Moisturizer SPF15 for combination/oily skin: I already have this moisturizer but I have it in the jar and its a pain to use that way, that is why I thought I would get this bottle instead. I have to say this moisturizer is a great one, leaves my face soft and doesn't make me oily. I was on the hunt earlier this month for a different one but I decided to stick with this one since it also has  never broke me out.

Maybelline Colorsensational lipstick and Burt's Bee Lip Balm

Maybelline Colorsensational lipstick in Coral Gleam 730: I love this color! I gave been wanting to try these lipsticks for awhile now and the color I actually wanted was not there so I took a risk and got this color. I got lucky because I just went off on the picture. But it is a gorgeous coral shimmery color, not to bright but it gives my makeup looks that perfect finishing touch.

Burt's Bees Nourishing Lip Balm with Mango Butter: I have always used Cherry Chapstick but one day I decided to give Burt's Bees a try and I fell in LOVE! This was an item I purchased because I needed it, my old lip-balm was out. It leaves my lips soft and smooth and it dose not make them dry later which other lip-balms do.

Tarte LipSurgence natural liptint

Left to Right: Perky, Glitzy, Flashy, Swank, and Dazzled 

Tarte LipSurgence Natural Lip Tint: DEAL OF THE YEAR!!!! I could not believe the price of these liptints! For all FIVE liptints they cost $29.00!!!! Each one alone cost $24.00. You can do the math! They are great and so pigmented. My favorite now is Glitzy but I love them all! Definitely worth the money!

MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Ambering Rose: I have not been to MAC in a really long time and I wanted to treat myself to some goodies. The girl that helped me at MAC was so nice and super helpful, she help me find all the colors including this blush. It is very bright so a light hand is necessary or you will look like a clown. Gorgeous peach color.

MAC eyeshadows in Phloof, Sumptuous Olive, Saddle, and Satin Taupe: I have been wanting to make myself a palette and when I went I told the girl what I was looking for as far as colors and she helped me. I wanted a dupe to Urban Decay's Virgin so she got me Phloof. I wanted a color outside of my comfort zone(no neutral) and she showed me Sumptuous Olive, I wanted a matte color for my crease and I got Saddle, and Satin Taupe has been on my wishlist for a long time.



I have to admit that I have purchased more products but I had already taken these pictures so expect a second haul :) Thanks for reading!



xoxo
J

September Favorites

This month I discovered a lot of new makeup goodies. I slowly have been buying new makeup products, and now it seems like my makeup collection is so much more bigger. All the products of this month were literally either used everyday this month or every week.

Eyes:
ELF Eyelid Primer: I featured this in my Summer Favorites, I just love it because I feel like it works just as good as any other eye primer. And for one dollar...well you can't beat that :)

Covergirl Lash-blast Volume: I was hesitant about buying this mascara, but so many beauty gurus have said it was their holy grail mascara, so I finally got it. I have to say that I really do like it, but it is not my holy-grail mascara, but as far as a drugstore mascara goes, it is on my top 10 list. I love how my eyelashes look when I wear it, no clumping, and easy to remove.

Left to right: Virgin, Sin, Toasted

Urban Decay Naked Palette: I LOVE this palette and I am so happy that it is so readily available now. My favorite colors have to be Virgin, by far the best highlight color, Sin, great all over lid color, and Toasted, a unique color that I use as a crease and lid color. I have said this before, but I do not use any other eye shadows just this palette.

Face:
Revlon Photo Ready Foundation in the color 006 Medium Beige. I love my Bare Minerals foundation and I still use it everyday, but I wanted something with a little more coverage, and after a lot of research and reviews, I decided to buy it. Plus it was on sale at Walgreens :) I love it and I usually apply this using a stippling brush and it gives me a flawless look. I also put a thin layer of Bare Minerals over it for a full coverage look.

Sephora Perfecting Cover Concealer in 25 medium beige. I am always on the hunt for the best concealer that will erase all of my imperfections and I have found a good one this month.On a trip to Sephora with my friend we asked one of the girls to help us find the perfect undereye concealer. And she showed us this. I have to admit that as far as an undereye concealer goes its not my favorite, but for the rest of my face like blemishes or redness, its amazing.

Tarte: Dollface and Park Ave Princess

Cheeks:
Tarte Amazonian clay 12-hour blush in Dollface: This is a small travel size sample that I bought at Sephora when I was getting ready to check out. I have heard everyone rave about these blushes and I wasn't sure if it was worth $25 dollars. So I got the sample that came with this blush and a Tarte bronzer. The color looks a little too bright but I use it lightly on my cheeks and it gives me a nice pink color.
Tarte Mineral bronzer in Park Ave Princess: This was also part of the duo that I got at Sephora. And this bronzer was raved about by Miss Jen Fabulous. I love this bronzer I think more that NARS Laguna. Its just a nice color on my tan skin. Plus I love the combination of this bronzer with the Tarte blush.

Lips:
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 619 Rose & Shine: I got this lipstick for free when I participated in the Revlon Cancer Walk. I think its just a perfect neutral pink every day color. I wear this almost everyday.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for stopping by


xoxo J