Smoke & Diamonds: FOTD

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Well hello there! It's been awhile since I've posted, and since my goal is to give this little ol' blog of mine much more tlc/post more frequently than I did last year.... you get a FOTD!!! This is a look I wore  going out with the family for Papa Bear's birthday. It was a great night out and you all get to see a few new products that I've been trying out over the last few weeks that I'm absolutely loving! My camera wasn't picking up the true color of Smoke & Diamonds, but it is such a pretty silvery, smoked gray that looks AWESOME in a smokey eye look for all eye colors!

Products Used:

Ruby Kisses 3D Face Creator (review/swatches coming)

Ben Nye Banana Powder

NYX Stay Matte Not Flat Powder

La Femme Blush- Russet & Sienna

MAC Smoke & Diamonds eyeshadow

Wet N Wild Vanity palette

Physicians Formula Creme Liner- Black

Sumita Intense Eye Liner- Black

Covergirl Great Lash Lots of Lashes Mascara

Wet N Wild Lipstick- Stoplight Red

Rimmel Lipstick- Bordeaux

Has anyone else tried the Ruby Kisses 3D Face Creator? It's been my go to foundation for the last 2.5 weeks :)

Have the most amazing of Valentine's Days everyone!

-Miss Brina

MAC Party Parrot- and it's accidental DUPE!!!

Let me start this off by saying... I FINALLY GOT MY PAWS ON PARTY PARROT!!!! (ya'll should see me doing my happy dance lol) I've been wanting this lipstick since it came out with the Iris Apfel collection early last year, so when it came out again with the Strength collection I was all set and ready to get my hands on it... but NO... a bunch of greedy heffas beat me to it LOL I almost cried when  it was sold out AGAIN before I could grab one, so after calling several stores and coming up short, I went the ebay route. And to be honest, I actually lucked up and got mine for just a few dollars more than I would have paid in the store (yay eBAY).

MAC Party Parrot

With Flash

 Without Flash

Anyways, upon opening it, my heart kind of dropped a little. I didn't really have anything similar to Party Parrot in my collection, so when it sold out again I happened to stumble upon Rimmel's KATE lippies in shade 06. I thought it looked kind of simliar to Party Parrot, but that "what if" was still in the back of my mind, which is why I tracked that bad boy down and paid above retail for it. But enough of my rambling. While not spot on, the Rimmel lipstick is pretty darn close to Party Parrot, just slightly deeper with a satin-ish finish. So in actuality, if you own shade 06, you can blot the shine away with a kleenex and pretty much pass on Party Parrot and save some $$$$.

Check out the pictures and let me know what you think.

 Comparison Swatches

L-R: Covergirl Fiarytale, MAC Party Parrot, Rimmel Kate 06

Covergirl Fiarytale, MAC Party Parrot, Rimmel Kate 06 (natural light-overcast)

Covergirl Fiarytale, MAC Party Parrot, Rimmel Kate 06 (inside with flash)

After seeing the swatches, what do you all think? Is the Rimmel lipstick a pretty decent dupe for Party Parrot?

Anyone else grab something from the Strength collection?

-Miss Brina

Where've you been????

I know it's been a little bit since I've done a post, but life has been running me ragged! But I did want to take some time and talk about a few items I've been testing recently that I may or may not do in depth posts on.

FIRST! I've been experimenting with mixing and pressing my own pigments/micas from TKB Trading. I have to say I am VERY impressed with their selection and quality. I've researched and watched videos for  months prior to placing and order just to get a feel for the whole process, and I'm in love! The ability to custom make your shadows is so appealing to me, and I also have gotten pretty good at pressing them.  I purchased the sample sizes (which are HUGE!!!) and have not yet run out. I decided to go the TKB way, rather than CS because they have the tin pans (which fit into MAC and ELF pans AND require NO MAGNET) which take less time and provide less bulk when preparing your shadows. I ended up with about 20 colors to start and will be going back for more in the future.

Now, being the foundation junkie that I am, I  recently went back to an old trusty (BOOTS No. 7 Anti Aging foundation in Walnut 45)... and I now remember WHY I love this foundation so much. You get great coverage & a good color selection for reasonable prices! I also tried one of their plumping lipsticks, and they're ok. Color took some building, but it's not drying at all. You get quite a bit for the $9 price tag.

SIDE NOTE: Rimmel Match Perfection in Natural Caramel- Me likey! (even though I need a little CS color corrector to make it perfect!) It's a good stand in for now.

I also was able to try a few items by Victoria Jackson Cosmetics, but I'll have to do a full post on that later.

Just wanted to do a quick "I'm not dead" post  LOL  and see what's been new with you all?

TTYL,
Miss Brina