Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Going, Going, Gone... Coastal Scents BRUSH CLEARANCE!!!!

I stumbled upon the most AMAZING bit of news while visiting Miss Natty's Beauty Diary... Coastal Scents is having a HUGE brush clearance to make room for their new inventory!!! What does that mean exactly? It means that YOU can get up to 50% off of their already extremely low prices for some good quality brushes.

 I personally LOVE the Bionic Flat Top Buffer Brush 
(which is currently $6.98) 

and the Doe Foot Angle Blender
 (currently $1.98)

So I picked up 2 more of each, along with a bunch of other brushes I'd been eying. This is a great chance to try something new, add to your collection or pick up some backups of your favs before they are all gone. And NO, I am not in any way a paid affiliate of the company... I'm just a sale-loving, repeat customer who spent my OWN money on some great quality brushes for cheap!

If you're interested in picking some up, you can find them here.

What are YOUR favorite makeup brushes?

-Miss Brina

Friday, February 24, 2012

FOTN: Smokey & Bright

Hey guys! I wanted to post my look for movie night with the family. I went for an easy smokey look and decided at the last minute to rock Viva Glam Nicki... still trying to see how I feel about this one LOL Have a great weekend!!!



Products Used:

Inglot AMC Cream Foundation
Yaby Concealer
Milani Rose D'Oro blush
Ben Nye Mojave Luxury Powder

Inglot Gel Liner #90
Almay I-intese (Brown Eyes)- Crease shade: Dark Brown
WetNWild Vanity Palette- Matte Caramel & Cream shades

MAC Viva Glam Nicki lipstick





-Miss Brina

MAC Viva Glam: Nicki Minaj

 

I wasn't one of the many who hopped all over the Pink Friday lipstick that MAC brought out awhile back. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for snatching up the LE items... I just refuse to buy something KNOWING I am not going to use it. And I WAS NOT going to wear that bad boy. Fact is, it would've looked HORRIBLE on me. Could I have freaked it with some liner and gloss and made it work? YEP. But I really didn't feel like spending $15 on a lipstick that I'd have to do some major altering to in order to NOT look ridiculous.


When I got the email with the Viva Glam ad for this lipstick, I immediately thought... here we go again. But I skipped my gut feeling and did a little research anyway to see if this one would be wearable for me. What I found were some comparisons to Pink Friday and a handful of swatches that looked promising; though in the end I had to make an executive decision since there weren't many swatches on darker skin for reference. So, I gave in and bought it since I figured it was for a great cause regardless of how things panned out.

I've had it a few days and have tried it various ways, and I can say that on my skintone, I find it barely wearable out the tube. It does compliment warmer tones better than Pink Friday, but if it had not been Viva Glam... I would be $15 richer for sure. The consistency is a little drier that I expected (I'm a creamsheen woman), but it's certainly full coverage in one swipe, and not drying to the lips. The staying power is great, so be sure to throw a balm on underneath that bad boy to cut down the risk of staining (I woke up the next morning with pink tinted lips even after removing my makeup for the night).

Overall, I think this would look better on fairer skin, or really deep hued beauties, but certainly can be for anyone with a bit of tweaking. My favorite combo thus far is Viva Glam Nicki with Iman Tan liner and Buxom Monica gloss.

What do you guys think about the new Viva Glam Nicki? And... enjoy the swatches!








 ( Excuse the bare face... lipstick not as pale as it appears here )

 Straight from the tube (more True to Color here)

 Viva Glam Nicki with Iman TAN liner (toned it down)

Viva Glam Nicki with Iman TAN liner and Buxom MONICA gloss (My FAV combo)

-Miss Brina

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

EOTD: Valentine's Day Look

Hey everyone! Here's my Valentine's Day look. I decided to keep it fairly simple on the lid and add a pop of color and some bright lips. Please excuse the hair, I was still in the process of getting ready :-) Have an amazing LOVE DAY and I hope you all like!


Products Used:

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation
UltraFlesh under eye concealer duo
Milani Rose D'Oro blush
NYX HD pressed powder

NYX Milk Pencil
Sleek Redstone shadow (Avoir peche palette)
Inglot gel liner #73
Stila Stay al Day liner (black)
Essence Gloss liner (black)
Stila Topaz liner
Essence I love Black mascara

Laura Geller lip spackle
Covergirl lip liner in Smokey
NYX Xtreme Lip cream in Strawberry Jam













I touched up the smudges later but forgot to take close ups...
-Miss Brina

Monday, February 13, 2012

A Quick Rant on recent events...

I normally try to keep my opinions regarding these things to myself, but there has been so much garbage going around that I felt the need to put in my two cents. The first being Whitney Houston's untimely death.


As a HUGE Whitney fan, I was shocked to find out she passed. Even with her history and current struggles, it just wasn't something that I expected. I can remember singing along to my Whitney #1's VHS when I was a child so much that everyday my grandparents had to take it out and let it cool down for fear it would simply melt. There isn't another artist yet who's voice and sheer talent can surpass that of Whitney's. She was just amazing, and regardless of the matter, deserves to be remembered with respect. I say this because I am VERY bothered to constantly hear people blame Bobby Brown for her death. How completely insensitive. That man is mourning her just like eveyone else, and even moreso. They were married for over 15 years, and while it was a lot of drama, they loved each other the best they could. So let that man mourn. And I'm sure that blaming him doesn't help their child cope with the fact that she has lost her mother. To be real, Whitney was a GROWN woman, and responsible for her own choices... good and bad. And she would be the first to tell you, nobody MADE her do anything that she didn't want to do at that time. Throughout the beginning of her career, she had a team of people who micromanaged her career and image so much that we really don't know what she was like before she stepped out with Bobby. And I highly doubt that he introduced her to drugs in the first place, she just had a team who made sure that  anything she did was out of sight. If you want to pass the blame someone, blame the woman's handlers. Because the fact is, if you're working for (with) someone who has a history of substance abuse, then there are certain measures that you need to take to ensure that person's sobriety and well being... if not for that person's care and safety, then at the very least do it to preserve your livelihood since the checks stop when they're gone. But the last thing we need to talking about at this time is whether or not her ex husband (who is 2 years sober btw) is to blame for her death. But regardless of how I or anyone else feels about how or why it happend, I pray that she's found some peace and I pray her family can shut out all the outside mess and get through their loss.

Secondly, I am a little irritated with a post I read on Miranda Lambert speaking out against Chris Brown and his Grammy performances. To be honest, I like Chris Brown, but I wasn't impressed with either performance. So I'd have to agree with criticism regarding that, but that wasn't what bothered her. It's been over 3 years, and people are still trying to crucify this boy for what happened between him and Rihanna. I don't believe a man should ever hit a woman, and I also believe a woman should never fix her fists to hit a man. And 3 years later, you still do not know what happened between them, but that is besides the point. I feel that the Grammy's (and any other awards show) are a representation of what's hot at the moment. Fact is, he had a good album, good sales, amazing airplay.... so why wouldn't he be asked to preform. It is a music awards show, and he is a musician who had a great year. If you want to be mad at somebody then be mad at the people booking the shows, buying the records, playing the music and attending the concerts. People get into mess everyday, and the boy doesn't have a repeated history of abuse, so why do people feel the need to continually bash him? No one is so outraged at Charlie Sheen, BeBe Winans, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson (all of whom have been charged with domestic abuse) for being accepted back into their fields. Hell, even Ike Turner was inducted into the Rock N Roll hall of fame after he beat Tina Turner for YEARS! Give Chris a break, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but at some point you've got to be a little more responsible for your own actions. It's crazy how some people let their own beliefs and dislikes turn them into bullies themselves.

I know this was a bit off topic and a bit gloomy compared to what I usually post about, but thank you for letting me let it out. 

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day and I will hopefully be posting a look soon.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Sneak Peak!

Hey you guys! I've been testing out something new for a little while now, and I thought I'd give you a little teaser on an upcoming post...



I think I may have found the ONE. lol