Thoughts about Life and Birthdays

So every year when my birthday rolls around, I always remember the Milton poem   Sonnet VII On His Being Arrived at the Age of 23

Now, here I am, just having had my 27th birthday, and I've realized nothing really turns out how you plan it to. My life certainly hasn't. We all remember that high school paper about where you saw yourself in so many years.  I'm not any of those things. I'm not even remotely close to any of those things.  Sometimes I think 17 year-old me had it more together than 27 year old me.  My life has had so many twists and turns. It's like a labyrinth complete with booby traps and false paths. And now, being 27 I have no clear vision of my future. I don't really know where it is that I'm going any more.  I mean, sure, I know some things. Like I'm going to work tomorrow. I'm going on a trip in November. I know things, but I don't have any big picture ideas. Nothing earth shattering or life altering. Just more of trying not to fall in the booby traps and avoiding dead end paths. I think those are the worst. The dead ends. Booby traps aren't too terrible, but a dead end path means you have to walk all the way back to the beginning and start again. Ok, I can't be utterly depressing. I've picked up a few life lessons along the way. And, for being a single 27 year old, I think I'm doing all right.  I've moved out of one career for something else. It's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I'm no longer working in call centers.  Still though.  Nothing earth shattering.  Now don't get me wrong. I enjoyed my birthday. It was a great day filled with family and birthday happies. To me birthdays are kind of like a Christmas of sorts. You eat a lot of food with family, get some presents, and have a good time.  Anyway, this has no real point, just me rambling to myself about the way things went. Would I change it.  Yeah.  I'd change a lot. So when someone invents a time machine, let me know first so I can go back and fix some things.  Anyway, here's what I always try to bear in mind. 

Shannxo Palette Review

So for roughly a year now I've been watching Shannxo on Youtube. She's one of my favorite Beauty Youtubers. A while ago, she came out with her own palette in compilation with BH Cosmetics. It's a really nice palette that comes with 9 eye shadows and 9 lipsticks. 

Normally it retails for roughly $22.00, but I bought it on sale on $14.50. I felt like it was a pretty good buy, even if I had paid $22.00 it would still only be $1.23 per color. Buying it on sale, I only paid $0.81 per color. 

They're clinically and allergy tested. Non-irritating and paraben free. I want to say, she says it's not tested on animals; but I don't remember. To see her debut palette video click here. 

It comes in a dual sided compact with the lipsticks on one side and lipsticks on the other. I like how small it is, which makes it easy to take with you in a purse. (That's what I did as I was doing my 10 Looks.)  

First well talk about the lipsticks. 

The lipsticks come in a wide variety colors. Pretty much all the colors general you need for nearly every look, unless you're doing something wild, but even then. They have almost a gloss texture to me; rather, it's not like an actual lipstick. You can use your finger or a brush to put it on. Personally, I prefer a brush, just because my I don't like to stain my fingers. (95% of the time I get anything on my fingers on my clothes.) 

The colors don't necessarily have staying power, but they work a lot like a lip stain. They do have a lot of transfer, but you will still retain the color on your lips, especially the darker ones. The lipsticks are supposed to be moisturizing, and I will say yes, they feel really good on the lips and have a nice shine. 

Next the Eye shadows. 

 

These are all pretty pigmented. They're all pretty colors, but I wish there were a little more variety. There are a lot of shimmers and browns. It does have one due chrome. The 8th shadow either has a rust color or a green color, depending on the light and if you have another color under it. This is good for doing a lot of neutral looks. You can get a few more dramatic looks, but I feel like all the warm browns just naturally lend themselves to neutrals, at least they do to me.  

Another nice thing is you can use the second color as a highlight. It's really pretty that way too. So I either use it for that or for the inner corner. So that's a neat little two-for. 

They have really good staying power. I can wear them nearly all day with little wear off--and that's with out a primer. 

So I'm pretty satisfied with this buy. I like how easy it is to transport nearly your entire face with you. I intend to take it when I travel. 

If you want to buy the palette yourself, you can go here. 

Enjoy!

Ten Looks from the Maybelline Brights Palette Youtube video Part 1

Again, just in case you want to see a more step by step tutorial on how I achieved the first five looks. Yes I know I put out the Part 2 first, but that's because quad 1 wanted to be difficult. I had to film it three different times. 

Anyway, At the bottom are the links to the video exact times. (They will take you to YouTube.)

Quad 1--Purple Night Time Look
Quad 2--Green and Blue
Quad 3--Blue and Magenta
Green and Purple Look 
Purple Anytime 

10 Looks from the Maybelline Brights Palette Part 2 Youtube Videos

Just in case any of you wanted to see specifically how I did the videos on my last blog post here is the YouTube Video with five looks from part two.  If you're looking for a specific look, you can click any of the links below. (This will take you to YouTube) Turquoise Pop Smokey Purple Under eye Black and White Halo  Neutral Eyes  Black and Brow Professional Look 

10 Looks from the Maybelline Brights Palette Part 2

PART 2. 

Here is the second half of the tutorials for you. 

Turquoise Pop

Take the Taupe (1) color with a fluffy blending brush slightly above the crease to be the transition shade. Take an angled fluffy brush and the black (4) blend that out into the "Outer V". Use a lid brush to pack the gold (2) onto the eye lid. (You can apply it wet.) White on the brow bone and inner corner.

Apply the liner. Take an angled brush and heavily pack the turquoise (3) on it. Take the black (4) on a liner brush and put it on the water line and tight line. 

Mascara and Done!

Smokey Purple Under Eye

Start with the Brown (3) on a fluffy brush lightly. Just enough to be a transition. Put it also on the "Outer V" enough to deepen down the color. On the lid pack Taupe (1) and then put the Cream (4) over it. The point is to keep the upper eye less dramatic. 

Apply your eyeliner. 

Under the eye put the purple (6) with a fluffy brush extend it to the edge of the eyeliner. over that Magenta (2) trying to bring it down under the eye. Lastly, take the light purple and dust it under the eye. Put Gold in the inner corner and the white on the brow bone. 

Take Black put it in the waterline.

Mascara and Done! 

Start with the Brown in the crease and little bit above for a transition with a fluffy brush. Take an angled brush put the black on the outer v and outer third of the eye. Then put it on the inner third of the eye to create a halo effect. 

On top of that pack white on the lid. Take a blending brush and blend the two colors together. Put white on the brow bone and inner corner. Apply eyeliner. Under the eye apply black. Mascara and Done!

Neutral Eyes Professional

Place Brown (4) in the crease as a transition color with a fluffy brush. Then, take the Brown (4) shade again and put it in the outer V. Build up the color until you get a desired color. Pack the Taupe (2) color on the lid. Put Cream (2) on the inner corner and White (1) on the brow bone. Then take Brown (4) and run it lightly under the eye. For this look I didn't wing out my eye liner. 

Black and Brown Professional

Take a fluffy brush and take the brown and put it slightly above the crease. Take an angled fluffy brush and lightly dust it in the Black and put that on the outer V up into the crease. Pack Taupe onto the lid. Cream in the inner corner and brow bone. Use an eye liner brush and gently run the black under the eye. 

DONE!

There you have it 10 Looks from the Maybelline Brights Palette. 

10 Looks Using the Maybelline Brights Palette Part 1

So, I've kind of got an idea for something new. I want to take time and do different looks from different palettes to see how versatile they are. Personally, I feel like I see Youtube that only shows me one look, or swatches. I have no clue what to do with them. I figured if I'm like that then other people probably are too.  I had the Brights Palette already and decided to start with this one. 

You get twelve colors. Some are pigmented, others require more building up. It's a pretty decent palette and fairly versatile.

So. Here we go. So, the palette comes with suggestions on the back to give you different ideas of how to use it. I decided to start there.  So here you go.  Quad 1

Start with the Brown a little bit above the crease to act as a transition shade. I used a fluffy blending brush to do this step. Next, take a angled fluffy blending brush pick up the black and then blend it out on the "Outer V" Pick up the dark purple and put it over the black blending it out as much as possible. Take the light purple and pack that on to the lid. I went back and added more color to marry the colors. 

I put the white on the brow bone and the gold on the inner corner. Apply the black liquid liner. Under the eye put down the black with the purple over it, blending it out. Mascara. Done. 

Quad 2

This one is fairly simple too. Taupe color in the crease and blend that with a fluffy blending brush. Blend that down into the "Outer V". Pack the green on the lid with a lid brush. Take a stiff angled brush and put the dark blue on the outer v lightly. I went back into the taupe and blended out the blue a little bit in the crease.  White on the brow and Cream in the inner corner. Take the dark blue on a liner brush and underline the eye with it. Put on the black eyeliner and let it dry. Take the dark blue and put it on top of the liner. Mascara. Done. Quad 3

Take a fluffy brush in the brown and apply it in the crease. Take an angled fluffy brush with the Magenta and apply it to the "Outer V". From there, pack the blue on the lid. White on the brow bone and gold on the inner corner. Under the eye put the Magenta down and then the brown. 

Black liner. 

Mascara. Done. 

Purple and Green

Put Dark Purple on the crease and the "Outer V" with an angled fluffy brush. Take the light green and place it on the lid. Take the purple again with a fluffy blending brush and put it over the line between the purple and the green. Take black on stiff angled brush or liner brush. Put purple over the black. White in the inner corner and brow bone. Liner. 

Mascara. Done. 

Purple Anytime

Take a fluffy brush in the brown(4) and place it slightly above the crease to be the transition shade. In the crease and outer v use the dark purple (1) with a angled fluffy brush.  Light Purple on the lid. (2). Under the eye Magenta. (3). Black liner. Mascara and done. 

So to keep this from being ridiculously long. I'm only going to put the first five in this post. I'll put the second half on another post. 

As Always,

Colorful Summer Eyeshadow Look

This is a colorful makeup look inspired by BangerBeauty 

Base: White from Maybelline Brights Palettes 

Inner Third: Sunny (yellow) from Ulta Palettes sprayed with NYX setting spray

Middle: Mimosa (orange) from Ulta Palettes sprayed with NYX Setting spray

Outer third: Impulsive (pink) from Ulta Palettes

Crease: Ecstasy (light purple) and Rockstar (Dark Purple) from Urban Decay NYC Palette

Waterline: White Sally Girl liner

Under eye: Haight (blue) from Urban Decay NYC Palette 

First Half of the Eye: Aquarius (Light Blue) from Urban Decay NYC Palette 

Inner corner of under eye: Green from Maybelline brights palette

Eyeliner: NYC black liquid liner

Lips Cover Girl Guavalicious