Feel The Burn...

I am an Italian girl If you couldn't guess that already, and us Italian girls are hairy beasts. I am not exaggerating. Actually, now that I think about it .. I should just stop blaming it on my heritage because I would probably be a hairy beast even if I wasn't Italian..I have no shame..I will admit it. I think the worst part about it, is that my hair is dark. Which actually is a nice feature to have in terms of my hair style, however in terms of grooming it is such a pain in the butt! More specifically keeping up with the whole facial hair situation. Now, I know most girls will not admit that they get facial hair for fear of being looked at by guys as gross, or other girls just just manly. Here is a piece of advice ... just admit it .. you have hair in places that are annoying as a female. I'm not talking random obscure places, and for purposes of this post I am mostly talking about the dreaded upper lip hair. Now, I didn't realize that I had a problem with upper lip hair until about my 2nd year of college (I was a sheltered child). Actually, now that I think about it .. I used to be made fun of by these girls in marching band who would always look at me and then look at their friends and point to their upper lip. (I know that sounds like a silly story .. however .. this is my life .. true story) I used to think .. we are in marching band .. there is enough to make fun of .. why make fun of something else, but however because I realize I was a major loser in high school .. I just let it go.

I have definitely moved on since then, and grown up..and If I was the person I was now back in high school .. I probably would have told those girls to shove it. Needless to say, over the years I have tried many kinds of hair removal products. I sometimes will get my upper lip waxed when I get my eyebrows waxed but I think to myself .. $7 for that? That just seems a bit pricy. I have used facial hair removal creams such as NAIR which smell like rotten vomit, and the fact you have to put it under your nose doesn't help. I have also purchased one of those facial hair grooming vibrating little razor doohickies .. which was a complete waste of money. I have plucked .. and I hate to admit it but I have even quickly gone over with a razor in a pinch. So when I saw this product hanging in the beauty care isle at Wal-Mart I thought to myself .. this would be awesome. So for $2.49 I picked one up

Now ultimately in theory this product seems like it would make all my facial hair woes disappear. It looks quick, painless, stink-less, and practically fool proof. I couldn't wait to try this puppy out. I read the directions, which were easy. To take one of the buffer pads, peel off the sticky backing and attach it to the tool that you buff your face with. (Insert amazement here)!

I took it, and i started rubbing in light pressured circular motions above my lip as the directions suggested. I looked in the mirror, and no results. So, I pressed a little harder and I could see a few hairs buffed away. After about 10 minutes trying to get this (Supposedly Amazing) product to work I gave up after seeing no results. BOO! I thought to myself.

About 15 minutes later, I felt this intense burning on my upper lip. It almost feels like that wind burn you get if your upper lip is moist in the winter and the wind blows and then causes that almost wind burn/frostbite feeling. As time passed, it got more intense to the point where I had to go look into the mirror...and to my HORROR I looked like I had completely missed my lips with a bright red lipstick. The entire area of my upper lip was not only still hairy, but bright red, burning, throbbing, and almost looked like it was peeling and scabbing over. Because I know how my life is, it really does not suprise me that this happened. I took some ice and kept it on my upper lip for a while to numb the area, and then i put vaseline on it to keep it moist. It took about 4 days, and a lot of concealer in the morning for this reaction to go away.

Before you call me stupid or dumb for having this happen, I am going to reiterate that I did read the directions and did exactly as they instructed. I did not misuse this product in any way shape or form!

Needless to say, I do not recommend this product. It is not the magical solution to my lip hair woes. So if you see it, do not get sucked in like me. Keep on walking.. I guess it's back to rotten vomit scented products for me ...

Thanks For Reading!

Jenn
xoxo

Lets Get Festive..

I know, I know .. It is still early, especially here in the US as we have not had Thanksgiving yet, but I felt festive. I have been wanting to do a look like this for a while .. It has taken me some time to come up with it the way I like it, and I think I have. I don't really have a name for it..I was going to call it Holly Berries but that just sounds kind of weird. I won't get too holidayish for you all yet!

Eyes:
Kat Von D Primer
MAC Delft Paint Pot
MAC Artifact Paint Pot
Revlon 025 Peacock Lustre
MAC Cranberry
Urban Decay BOS III Last Call
Urban Decay BOS III Maui Wowi
Urban Decay 24/7 Liner Zero
Cover Girl Lash Blast

Face:
MAC Refined MSF
Rimmell Natural Bronzer Sun Bronze

Lips:
Urban Decay Ultraglide Lust

Hope you like it!


If you would like to see a tutorial on how I created this look visit my Youtube channel at: www.youtube.com/jenny04105


Thanks For Reading!

Jenn
xoxo

Wet n Wild Holiday Palettes

I am a sucker for anything holiday! I love the holiday season! The smells, the feelings, the crowded malls (as weird as that is) and of course the first snowfall! This to me is the best time of year .. so magical!

So when I heard about these palettes I knew I had to find them. Wet n Wild has defintely stepped up their game in terms of their newest products and Color Icon line. I don't think that people give it enough credit. If you own some of the regular Color Icon palettes you know how awesome the pigmentation is. You will also know how comparable to MAC some of these shadows are! There are great dupes in these palettes and for around $5 for 6 colors it is a great deal!

I found these palettes in Walgreens. I really wasn't expecting to find them as I feel like we never get the limited edition stuff around here and if we do there is only a chance for 1 or 2 people to pick up the stuff! Yesterday must have been my day because I ran into a brand new looking display showing off these really gorgeous limited edition palettes!

I had a hard time choosing which one to get as they were all beautiful, so I decided for $4.99 why not just get all 4.

The 4 Palettes Are..: Snow Sprite (Blue's and Green's), Golden Goddess (Gold's), Night Elf (A Cool combo of taupe, red,green, brown and black) , and Sugar Plum Fairy (Purple's).

I definitely have to say after swatching these that these palettes are definite mus haves! They are smooth, creamy, and super pigmented. There is not 1 color in all 4 of these palettes that is a dud!

Snow Sprite (Blue/Green)

Golden Goddess




Sugar Plum Fairy




Night Elf



Visit My YouTube Channel to see my Vid on these palettes! www.youtube.com/jenny04105

Thanks For Reading!

Jenn
xoxo

MAC HOLIDAY 2010: A TARTAN TALE

So last night I had the opportunity to go to the unveiling of the MAC Holiday 2010 collection. This collection was very festive and inspired by the history of Scotland, shown through the theme of plaid. Prior to going to this event I had not heard much about this collection so I was definitely looking forward to seeing what products MAC had conjured up this time.
I arrived a bit early after my nice magical brisk walk through the Boston Commons and the Public Gardens. On my way I passed by the stores that make all girly girls drool .. Burberry .. Chanel ... Cartier ... I finally came upon my little MAC store in all its gloriousness. The MUA's standing outside in a circle in their all black attire highlighted by plaid accessories having their pre-party pep talk. There was one other girl standing outside when I arrived who I briefly talked to about the event. It felt like I waited forever for the doors to open.

At 7pm sharp those magical clear glass doors opened the gates to every make up lovers dream and they let us in. At the booth we gave our name, showed our ID and got a product order list and a booklet telling the "Tartan Tale". Fortunately I was one of the first people inside and was able to make my way to the first part of the collection before the crowd multiplied.

Inside scantilly clad men dressed in plaid sashes played the violin and served hors d'oeuvres and drinks. As I approached the display a MAC MUA that had helped me months ago remembered me and welcomed me to the event. I knew at that point everything was going downhill..at least for my wallet. I asked her what the MUST-HAVES for the collection were to which she replied the plaid shadows and the blushes. I took a gander around swatched the shadows and made my selections. I then moved to the second set up where the brush holders and makeup sets were. I was not originally planning on purchasing anything from the holiday sets but the eyeshadow's were very very pretty. I had a hard time picking which one I wanted as they were all definitely unique. It was a toss up for me of the 6 Reelers and Rockers shadows and the 6 Beauties play it cool. I then asked my personal MUA what she thought, and she agreed the purple themed shadows were the best choice. I checked it off on my list and moved on.

I decided not to get any brushes, but the sets were very beautiful. The pouches they come in were also pretty unique as I was told they could be used as makeup bags or as cross body purses..if sporting around a plaid purse that says MAC on the front tickles your fancy.

I also opted for one lip-glass however that was definitely a impulse for me. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and I immediately thought Christmas .. how appropriate for a Holiday Collection.

All in all this was a pretty awesome, festive, and unique collection that MAC has put out. It definitely makes up for the latest VV collection they just had. Way to go MAC..

Semi-Precious Eye Shadow

Enviably Fun Eye Shadow

Swatches: Semi Precious on Top/ Enviably Fun on Bottom

6 Beauties Play it Cool Packaging

6 Beauties Play it Cool Eye Shadows

Top Row: Silverwear, Hold My Gaze, To The Ball (Bottom to Top)

Bottom Row: Altered State, Magic Moor, Heather Belles (Top to Bottom) 

Dazzleglass Creme: Radiant Jewels

Dazzleglass Creme: Radiant Jewels 

I definitely had a great time at this event, and I really like my choices. Cannot wait to see what you guys pick up!

If you want to see my YT vid highlighting this collection .. visit my channel: www.youtube.com/jenny04105

Thanks For Reading!

Jenn

xoxo

Finding Ways to Become More Storage Efficient..

I like things to be organized for many reasons; However one of the biggest reasons is so I will actually use what I have. About 6 months ago I found myself at the Container Store looking for storage solutions and I came across a Bisley 10 drawer  organizer (which I will blog about in another post). I thought to myself .. "There is no way I will fill this up". Even my boyfriend who was with me staring at this storage unit for hours while I tried to make a decision stated that it would give me room for growth of my collection over the years. So, I bought it. And 6 months later .. its practically full. I constantly reorganize it but no matter what I do, I cannot seem to make any space.

While sifting through my stash, I began to see a lot of products that I love but rarely use. In trying to determine why that is, I came to the conclusion it was because even though it was organized .. It was hard to access. I also noticed a theme. The products that I rarely used, were from the drugstore.

If you are an avid makeup collector/obsessor like me you know that Maybelline has  some of the nicest quality eyeshadow out there. I can say they have definitely stepped up their game in terms of quality and pigmentation. I know many of us out there have the Stylish Smokes quads among other trios/duos/and other single eye shadows. While these shadows in my opinion are fantastic, the packaging leaves much to be desired in terms of storage. They are bulky and hard to store and take up a TON of room.

I have wanted to come up with a solution for storing these shadows as I love them, and want to start using them again! I toyed around with the idea of depotting these, but never really knew of how I would store them. Or if they could even be de-potted.  I know there are items like the Z-palette etc. out there but for $20.00 I felt it was too expensive for what I was looking for.

I can't say I came up with the original idea for this, but I thought that maybe storing these shadows in a CD case would be a cheaper option. Not only cheaper, but CD cases are reasonably sized so I thought it would be perfect for traveling, and storing a wide variety of colors. 

So .. I decided to take the plunge and depot these babies. At first I was not sure how to do this, but since I have had experience depotting MAC shadows, I didn't think it would be that hard. I used a lighter, melted the bottom plastic and pushed the shadows out. Poof. super easy. I then took the shadows and stuck them into a CD case, I like that the glue was still warm and stuck to the bottom of the individual eyeshadow, because it killed two birds with one stone for me. I then peeled off the label and stuck it to the back. Voila! Really it could not have been more simple ... although I did burn my fingers a couple times, get glue stuck all over my fingers, and drop the shadows multiple times (I am a klutz lol!) 

The Back.

I am really happy with how this came out because it freed up some room, made my shadows easily more accessible and even easier to travel with. I am definitely going to try this with some other brands, and maybe will post on my YT channel about my depotting method. 

The Final Palette with room to spare!

I definitely think this is a great solution if you find these palettes accumulating in your collections! EVEN BETTER! Now I have space to buy more stuff! :)

Yay No More Bulky Palettes!

Thanks for Reading!

Jenn

xoxo