Biweekly Makeup Basket Dec 28 – Jan 10

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday, if you celebrate, and if not, I hope you at least had a couple of days off to relax. I am back again with another biweekly basket for this week and into the new year.

The products I will be using are as follows: 

For the eyes, I will be using Stila liquid liner in Java. This liner is kind of like a gel formula. It is very easy to apply, and has a sort of satin-y look to it, not shimmery but not necessarily matte.

I am very excited about using this palette, this is a new addition to the Delightful balance family. I got this baby for my birthday, and I have honestly had my eye on it since they announced it's release. This is the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette. Unlike the other palettes, this one has a few more matte/satin finish-shadows. I am stoked to have this palette and am excited to create awesome new looks for you all, so stay tuned!

 For my foundation, I continue to enjoy Lorac's Natural Performance palette in NP1. I know I promised a review and I am working really hard at trying to keep blogging, but I have been really busy. Maybe when the holidays are over I can get myself back on track. 

 *Spoiler alert! I did not finish this product, nor did I finish any of the products in the most recent project pan :-( But I will continue to use them! This is the Kat Von D deluxe size lipstick in Underage red.

 This is MAC Media, I really like this shade but I can't wear it every day anymore as it is not appropriate for my job. I do like wearing it as a stain though, but not full force. 

 This is my NYX HD concealer, it is very good, but you have to make sure not to apply too much product or else it will crease up terribly (as with most concealers).

 This is my Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil bronzer, deluxe size. I cannot wait to be done with this, in all honesty, I know I am really pale but this is too orange for my liking. It is okay as an all over bronzer but not if you want to contour.

 This is the Mary Kay loose setting powder in Ivory.

 This is my Too Faced Inner Light highlight from the Everything Nice palette (this is not the most up to date picture, but I have made some progress).

Finally, for blush, I will be using my Papa Don't Peach from Too Faced Everything Nice palette.

Thanks so much for reading, keep checking for more posts and don't forget to subscribe, as well as follow me on Instagram. 

Hope you have a great rest of the week!!


      ~Naty

Biweekly Basket Dec. 14- Dec. 28^th

Hello! I hope you are doing well. Thanks for checking out my blog! If you are new to the blog, please subscribe to the right if you have a profile on blogger, or subscribe to the left by email. You can also follow me on Instagram. :-) Now, on to the reason we are here. I completely missed the last 1-2(?) biweekly baskets, I have been doing really bad about posting but I hope to get myself back on track soon.

The products I will be using this week and next week are as follows:

 Lorac Natural Performance foundation in NP 1 or Porcelain.

                                                 
Mary Kay Loose Setting Powder in Ivory.


                                              
 Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer.


                                              
Too Faced Everything Nice palette highlight in Inner Light


                                                     
 Kat Von D deluxe sized lipstick in the shade Underage Red


                                 
Too Faced Better than Sex Mascara

Tarte blush in Peaceful (have really been loving this!)

And finally, for the eyes, Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette

I hope you enjoyed this post and seeing what kinds of items I will be using. I hope to have some more posts up soon, I know I promised a review of the Lorac NP foundation, and that is coming, soon! So keep an eye out for that. 

Again, thanks so much for reading!

~Naty

Finish 6 by Christmas Update 2

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your week. I had not posted regarding my seasonal challenge, Finish 6 by Christmas in a long time; the reason I have not posted is because I honestly have not made a whole lot of progress. I do not believe I will be able to finish any of these products, which is kind of a bummer, but at least I have made good dents! So, without further ado, here is where my products currently stand.

This is my Kat Von D deluxe lipstick in Underage red. The last time I checked in, the lipstick was on the fifth little stud looking thing from the bottom up. Now I am on the third stud looking thing! Yay progress! 

                                     

This is my Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil bronzer. I think I have made progress as I can see even more pan. I am not sure that I will finish this by Christmas but I will surely try!

                                                       

This is my highlight (Inner Light) from the Too Faced Everything Nice palette. I do believe I have made some progress but I still have a long way to go.

                                                           

This is MAC Media, I have definitely made progress on this but not as much as I would like. I have been solely working on the lipstick from Kat Von D so this one has been a little rejected. 

                                                 

This is my body spray Amber Blush; the last time I checked in I was around those blue flowers. I think this might be the only product in this project that I might be able to finish. I am currently where my thumb is, right above my nail.

                                              

Finally, this is my Mary Kay setting powder. I don't know if you can tell, but I am currently where that yellowish green line is, right next to the g. I don't know what I was thinking including this product in my project because there is no way I will even get close to finishing it! 

That was my progress, as you can see, it was not very much. If you would like to check out my previous post to compare, you can check that out here: http://delightfulbalanceoflife.blogspot.com/2015/11/project-pan-seasonal-challenge-finish-6.html

Once again, thanks so much for reading! If you are doing a project pan, please add your link to the comments, I would love to check out your videos/posts! 

Have a great week!

      ~Naty

Too Faced Chocolate Bar: Gilded Ganache Look

Hello everyone! For some reason, I really wanted to wear the color Gilded Ganache from the Too Faced Chocolate bar. It is really weird that I wanted to wear that specific color as it is a little greenish in shade and I don't usually go for green eye shadow anymore, but for some reason, I absolutely love this shade of greenish brown. So without further ado, here is my tutorial for this makeup look.

I started off on a freshly washed/moisturized face and applied my Lorac Natural Performance foundation, I used my fingers to spread this and I believe I used the shade NP1, which is the Porcelain shade.

                                                      

I then used my NYX HD concealer in the lightest shade, which I believe is 05, Fair and blended this out using the expert face brush from Real Techniques.

                                                   

This is a silly picture, but I set all of that with my Mary Kay loose powder in Ivory.

                                                 

For my brows, I used the Tarte Amazonian clay brow gel in the darkest shade.

                                               

Then I contoured my face (cheekbones, jawline, and nose) using my Too Faced Milk Chocolate bronzer and my new Sephora Flatter Yourself Contour Brush set you can see my first impressions post here -> http://delightfulbalanceoflife.blogspot.com/2015/12/sephora-flatter-yourself-contour-brush.html

                                                    

I applied my Tarte blush in Peaceful using my Real Techniques blush brush.

                                             

I used my highlight from the Too Faced Everything Nice palette in the shade Inner Light.

                                                

I then primed my eyes using the Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

                                               

                                                     

I used a flat shader brush (Real Techniques) and the shade Gilded Ganache and applied that all over the lid.

                                               

                                               

I used a crease brush from ELF to apply the color Salted Caramel to the crease and blended it out.

                                              

I lined my eyes using the NYX felt tip liner.

                                              

I curled my lashes.

                                          

                                

I used Too Faced Better than Sex mascara just on the top lashes.

                                   

For my lips, I used MAC Snob, which is a Satin finish blue-toned Barbie pink.

                                  

I set my whole look with my handy dandy MUFE Mist & Fix.

Hope you enjoyed this look! As always, thanks so much for reading!

~Naty

Sephora Flatter Yourself Contour Brush Set: First Impressions

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I am finally back; I have been struggling with keeping myself in check with posting, I hope to get myself back on schedule here soon. I know I missed this week's biweekly basket but I will be starting that back up again too. I wanted to share with you a first impressions post regarding the Sephora Flatter Yourself Contour Brush Set. I got this for the holidays (my husband is Jewish so we open those presents before). This kit is obviously a Sephora Exclusive; I am not sure if it is Limited Edition or not. It is $48. The kit comes in a little glittery gold pouch and it comes with three face brushes, some stencils, and a little instruction card that is supposed to make contouring easy. 

When you open the kit, this is what you see:

On the right hand side you will see three brushes, a stippling brush, a buffing brush, and an angled brush. The stippling brush is aimed at applying bronzer to the cheek bones, the buffing brush is aimed at applying bronzer to the jawline, and the angled brush is aimed at making the application of bronzer to the nose easier. 

On the left hand side, you will see some little plastic papers; these are stencils, and they are each labeled for the area that they are to be used. For example, there is one for the cheekbones, one for the jawline, and one for the nose. They are all different sizes. The point of the stencils is to help you set the bronzer where you want it, by using the stencil as a guide. 

Behind the stensils you can see a handy card with pictures; this card is double sized and it shows you step by step how to use each of the brushes and the stencils. 

Stippling Brush

Buffing Brush

Angled Brush

I must admit, I am in no means an expert at doing makeup, let alone contouring! I did attempt to use this set today to do my makeup, and it is pretty easy to follow. I got the cheekbones done perfectly, and I really liked how it turned out. However, I am not very proficient at all at contouring my nose and jawline, as I do not really do that at all, but I must say, having the stencils to guide you is great!

As for the brushes, I really really enjoyed them. They are dense but oh so soft! I definitely think that with this kit, I will feel more comfortable contouring. For the money, I believe this is a great product, especially for those individuals that are just starting to get into makeup, or even those individuals (like myself) who have been doing their makeup for a long time, but are just getting into contouring. Additionally, I believe you can use these brushes with liquid products, you could even use the stippling brush for liquid highlight or foundation. 

I definitely look forward to using these brushes and experimenting with this set a little bit more.

If you are interested in this product, you can find it here: http://www.sephora.com/flatter-yourself-contouring-brush-set-P384889 

Hope you guys enjoyed this post and once again, thanks so much for reading! Have a great weekend!

~Naty