If I had to donate my entire makeup collection, these are the two things I would keep!

Long time no see gals and guys! I need not get into how "the hustle and bustle of everyday life kept me away" or "I was a bit overwhelmed with school, work and planning a wedding"..but I will focus on the fact that I have missed my keyboard and the freedom of expression that comes along with being a blogger =D

I have been wanting to do a beauty post for a while now but I honestly haven't been purchasing many beauty items since I am saving for my wedding (hey, every penny counts!) and aside from a great mascara I switched to and an occasional new lip product, nothing really blog worthy has fallen into my hands. That all changed around the Holidays!

It is safe to say, if you read the title of this post, then you know to what high regard I hold these next two products I am about to show you. These are the kinds of finds that make me shout from the rooftops! (ok maybe we shouldn't take it that far lol) In the past month, I have used these each and every day and they are essentially all I would ever need if they were to never run out :)

Drumroll::::::::::

1. The Guy Bourdin for NARS Holiday Collection Cheek Palette

 

• Included are a bronzer in Laguna, highlighter in Devotee, Blushes in Orgasm, Deep Throat, Mistinguette, and Goulue. 
• The Bronzer is a little light for medium complexions like myself, BUT I make it work by layering and it is pretty awesome. 
• There is a shade of peachy pink for everyone--my favorites happen to be Goulue which is the deep pink and Deep Throat which is described as a "flirty sheer peach"
• For old time NARS "devotee's", they also included their best seller, Orgasm which I have in regular compact form as well. 
• After doing the math..you know what, let's just break it down here: 
• A Full size blush contains 0.16 oz. or 4.8 g's of product and run around $29.00. 
• Each of the blushes in this palette contain 0.14 oz or 4 grams of product and with a total palette cost of $65.00, that means that we are pretty much getting 6 near full size products for only $10.83 each !!!!!!!! After doing the math, I was able to justify the price, heck $65 is a lot to spend in one place on cosmetics. 
• The convenience of being able to grab this and go is awesome too....minus the fact that it has the typical NARS packaging and it gets dirty very easily..NARS, switch  it up please :) 

2. The Lorac Pro Palette

• 8 Matte Shades, 8 Shimmer Shades...does anything else really need to be explained? haha
• There are colors that will give you that sexy smokey eye and also colors that you can wear for a fresh face look---I love them all! 
• "Taupe" is the perfect crease blending color for me and "Cream" is what I have been using as my browbone highlight with "Nude" as a nice inner corner shimmer highlight. 
• The only drawback I see is that "White" can come off a little chalky but honestly I have yet to come across a true white shadow that isn't chalky. 
• This goes for around $42 and comes with a mini eye primer as well--excellent deal as I, dare I say it....prefer this over my NAKED 1 palette which was my HG for a while! 

My final thoughts on these babies are this: I am sorry that the cheek palette is a holiday item as I don't think you can get it online anymore--I have definitely seen some still in Sephora stores though so if you're interested, be sure to go check it out. I truly could give away my entire makeup collection (which is mighty hefty these days) and only use these two palettes and a lip product and mascara for a complete look. You can use the black shadow as an eyeliner!

Lorac Pro Palette  Guy Bourdin for NARS Cheek palette Reviews

Happy New Year Friends, wishing you health, prosperity, happiness and love :)

Grab these babies now or be sorry later,

xox

Bridal Party FOTD

Products I Used On Myself And The Girls: 
 

 

1. Bronzer side of the Elf Bronzer and Blush Duo
2. MAC Painterly Paint Pot to prime the eyelids
3. Urban Decay All Nighter Spray to Set the makeup and make it last all night--which it did! :)
4. Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Smog
5.Makeup Forever Matte Velvet Plus Foundation in #45
6. Garnier Dark Under Eye Circle Roller
7. Covergirl Lashblast Mascara in whatever the blackest one is (I forget the name at the moment!)
8. MAC See Sheer Lipstick
9. Prestige Lip liner in Silk
10. Stila Kajal Eyeliner in Sapphire
11. NYX Jazz Nights Palette --This was the main palette used for all of the girls I did--LOVE the colors!
12. MAC Blush in Melba
13. Miss Adoro Lashes in #600 and #28
14. Duo Lash Glue in the Dark tone
15.L'Oreal Lineur Intense Liquid Eyeliner in black
16. Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Face Primer




Well there you have it, the list of ALL of the products used for all of the makeup I did that day including my own.  The makeup turned out spectacular and we all got tons of compliments on it! I had never done makeup for a wedding or even a large group of girls like this, normally I only do my own! It was very nerve wracking at first because of time constraints, but I made it work.  The other good thing is that I was doing the makeup for members of my own family, which made the whole process much easier because I didn't have to worry about using only products for clients and not mixing it with personal use makeup. My main goal was to make the girls look a little more dramatic for the sake of taking pictures, but also make them look themselves and not too out of their normal style. My second largest goal was to give them a look that would last all throughout the evening, and this was achieved thank goodness! The All Nighter Spray really does work! Staying Matte was a third goal and this was also possible for the majority of the evening.  Toward the end I saw a little shininess here and there, but nothing that a little blotting paper wouldn't help in an instant. 


All in all I had a wonderful time doing every ones makeup and it made me excited and happy that my cousin and my sister liked the outcome as well! 


Wedding Bells & Beautiful Belles of the Bridal Party, 

xox