Fall Inspired Makeup Look

Hello everyone! I am finally back, and man does it feel good to use my makeup again! I decided to go for a brick red lip and a fall inspired eye look with a winged liner today. This is the look I created:

The eye shadow is very soft and subtle and goes perfectly with a red lip and the liner. If you would like to see how I came up with this look, keep on reading!

I started off by concealing my under eye circles using my Tarte CC undereye corrector. I am not sure how I feel about this product; it is thick and creamy, but hard to blend out using just your fingers... I may need to try using the beauty blender or a small brush. I also do not see that it actually covers that much, so we will see how it works out.

For foundation, I used my It cosmetics CC cream in fair (this one is still pretty light for me right now, so I look like a ghost!). I blended this out using my Ulta sponge. 

I set everything using my new Besame translucent brightening violet powder. This was really difficult to do as my powder brush is currently wet so I had to use the little sponge that comes with it...not a fan! The powder is interesting though, not sure if I really achieved any brightening effect, so we will see!

For eye brows I used my Nyx brow pencil in dark brown.

I set my brows using my essence lash and brow clear gel.

I primed my eye lids using my Too Faced 24 hour Shadow Insurance.

I used the color cream from my Lorac Pro palette and a flat shader brush and applied this all over the lids to set the primer.

I then went in with the shade Light Bronze and the same flat shader brush and applied that to the inner half of the lid.

Using the other side of that same brush, I picked up the color Garnet and applied that to the outer half of the lid and a bit into the crease.

I used the shades Taupe and Sable on a crease brush and blended that into the crease.

I then took the shade Nude and a flat shader brush and applied that as a brow bone highlight.

For my liner, I used my new Tarte clay pot in black and a Makeup Geek bent eyeliner brush. I love this brush, it is bent at the end so it helps you get really close to the lash line and makes application of the liner super easy.

I then picked up the shade Black on a different eye liner brush and set my gel liner.

For lashes, I used a sample of the Tarte camera lashes mascara and applied it to the top lashes.

For bronzer, I took the color Lo-Fi from my Urban Decay Gwen Stefani face palette and the real techniques expert face brush. If you use this brush, make sure you pick up minimal product and use a light hand to apply as the bristles in this brush are a little denser and tougher, so you definitely have to work a bit more to blend the product out.

For blush, I used my Tarte amazonian clay brush in peaceful and applied it using the real techniques blush brush.

For highlight, I used my laura mercier matte radiance highlight on a small blush brush.

For lips, I used Kat Von D everlasting liquid lipstick in the shade Project Chimps (limited edition).

Finally, I set the whole look using my Mario Badescu rosewater spray.

That's it! I hope you guys enjoyed this look. Thanks so much for reading!

 ~Naty

Current Palette Collection

Hello everyone! I am here for a quick post about my current palette collection (both eye and face). Due to my recent *forced* declutter, I had to get rid of *throw away* a bunch of my palettes. I wanted to show you all what palettes I still currently have and talk a little bit about how I go about making sure I use all my palettes. (Granted, I have not been using any makeup recently due to my little eye allergy incident check out that post here ---> http://delightfulbalanceoflife.blogspot.com/2016/08/eyeallergy-makeup-declutter-time-hello.html 

In order to make sure that all my eye palettes get some loving, I make a list of every single palette that I have. I then just use them in order, starting from the top of the list. If you do not want to go in order, there are ways you can randomly select the palettes; One way to randomly select the palettes could be to go to the website random.org and list your palettes in the little box provided and click the "randomize" button, this will then output the palettes in a random order. You can do this every time, or after every rotation, or whichever way works best for you. 

Now, on to the fun part...the palettes! The following are the palettes that I currently own:

This is the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani eye shadow palette. I got this palette for my birthday last year. It was limited edition, so I do not believe you can get this anymore, unless you were to search for it in Ebay perhaps. I loooove this palette. I think it is a perfect combination of neutral shades along with some pops of color. I love that it has several transition shades as well as several deeper shades to deepen up your look.

This other palette I did not think I was going to get. It is the Gwen Stefani face palette. It is the only face palette that I own...and it is sad to say that I have not worn this at all since I purchased it. At the time, I was focusing on using up my face products in my Too Faced Everything Nice palette but since the TF Everything Nice has since exited my collection, I see myself reaching for this more. I have to admit, when I saw this palette online I did not think it was that amazing, but I saw it go on sale at Ulta and decided to bite the bullet. After having seen the colors in person, I am definitely glad to have made the purchase! Again, this was limited edition so sadly, it is no longer available.

This other palette, I am sure most of you know and have seen it before; it is the Lorac Pro (first one). I absolutely love this palette. It is a great assortment of neutrals. The top row is matte and the bottom is shimmer. You have a great selection of lighter colors, transition colors, and deeper/darker colors. 

This next one is a new addition to the Delightful Balance family. It is the Ulta + Jenny Fox Miss Fabulous palette. I got this palette because I honestly have nothing like it in my collection. These colors are rich, and warm and nothing like what I currently have. Although I have not used this palette yet (thanks eye allergy! haha!) I am most looking forward to using the colors Arizona, Frankie, and Guru which are all rich orange/sunset colors. I think this palette is perfect to reflect those beautiful summer sunsets but it is also perfect for the fall time. I believe this palette is still available at Ulta and retails for $20.

This next palette I also got last year. It is the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette. I also love this palette. I like that unlike other UD Naked Palettes, this one has a great selection of matte and shimmer shades. The only downside I see in this palette is that there are not enough transition shades so I find myself pulling from some of my other palettes, which is not necessarily a bad thing!

Finally, this palette I must admit is my least favorite palette (Sorry It Cosmetics!). Although I really love the formulation of these eye shadows and absolutely love It Cosmetics, I find that the lighter shades in this palette are all very similar to each other, so I seem to find myself ending up with the same eye look, which is not entirely bad, I just wish the shades were not as similar. 

That is all that I currently own. I still feel it is a lot of palettes, but not as many as I would have if I let myself buy every single palette that I liked. Hahaha. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed browsing through my palette drawer. Let me know if you like these types of posts as I can definitely take you through a tour of my lipsticks, which is the other beauty category that I am absolutely obsessed with!

~Naty

Recent Beauty Purchases

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. I wanted to share with you some things that I have currently purchased. In case you are new to my blog, or have not been here in a while, a few weeks (?) ago I posted about this severe allergy that I got on my eyes that has prevented me from wearing makeup for the past month. As a result of that allergy, not only was I unable to wear makeup but I had to throw away a bunch of products as well. I made a post about that and you can check that out here ->

http://delightfulbalanceoflife.blogspot.com/2016/08/eyeallergy-makeup-declutter-time-hello.html. 

Since then, my eyes have mostly recovered, but I am still staying away from makeup for about another week. Since I did have to throw away a bunch of products, I went ahead and replaced some of the essentials. Here are the products that I have added:

This baby is a new product to me.... It is the Besame Brightening Violet Face Powder. I have been wanting to try this powder for quite some time now but never had the guts to go ahead and purchase it. I went ahead and bit the bullet and got it anyway. The violet coloring to this powder is supposed to brighten your face. The packaging is also very very adorable! I got this at Sephora and the price is $22.

This next item was not necessarily a item that replaces another one in my collection, it is more of an addition. I saw this liquid lipstick from Kat Von D called Project Chimps. It is described as a warm brick red. This is limited edition and 20% of the proceeds go to Project Chimp, a non-profit that works to stop the use of chimps in biomedical research. The price for this is $20 and it is available at Sephora.

  

This I got using some of my points. It is deluxe sample size of the Bite Amuse Bouche Lipstick in the shade Gazpacho. This lipstick goes on creamy and it is a berry red shade that will be perfect for fall.

This other lipstick is also a deluxe sample that I got using my points. It is Rouge Dior 999 Matte. This is a medium red with pinkish and berry tones mixed in. Although it is marketed as a "matte" lipstick, I feel it glides on very creamy and easily. I do not see this clinging to any dry patches on the skin. 

These three are the sample options that I chose. The first is Viva La Juicy Rose. The smell of this perfume is floral and citrus-y, perfect for spring (too bad I got it during the late summer/fall time :(). It definitely has a fresh smell to it, so I am looking forward to using that. The next sample is Josie Maran moisturizer. I am pretty excited to get this as I have been itching to try products in that brand. FInally, the last sample that I got from Sephora is an L'Occitane perfecting cream. Full size of this retails for $42. It is a multitasking moisturizer to help skin feel hydrated, smooth and soft. It also claims to reduce pores, fine lines, and imperfections. So we will see how that goes.

I also purchased the following from Ulta:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance... I have used this product before and I know that I really like this. This item retails for $20

I also repurchased the Say Yes to Cucumbers face wash. I absolutely love this wash. It has a very soft sent, it is creamy, and deep cleans. It is perfect for sensitive skin! It retails for $8.99.

I also purchased a gel liner from Tarte, Clay Pot in black. I was actually surprised by how small the jar is...the big box definitely fools you! You get 2.5 grams of product. The price is $21, so definitely save up your Ulta points! It is a bit pricey for a liner.

Lastly, I purchased the Tarte colored clay CC undereye corrector in the shade light-medium. This is a peachy sticky undereye corrector to disguise your dark circles. The consistency is creamy and glides easily. I also thought this would be a bit larger but the packaging seems pretty small. You get 2.30 grams of product for the price of $24, although I did purchase it for Ulta's 21 days of beauty at a price of $15! Definitely looking forward to using this product. 

With the ulta purchase of Tarte products, I was able to get a free gift with purchase. I got the following:

This is a deluxe size sample of the Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara. I can definitely say that I loooove this mascara. Before Tarte was the strong brand that it is, I had purchased this mascara from them (this was about 2009-2010) and fell in love. If it was not for the high price tag, and the fact that you should replace your mascara every 3 months, I would definitely purchase this mascara over and over again. The other product that came in this product is the deluxe sample of Tarte glossy lip paint in the shade Goals. Ever since Tarte came out with the lip paints, I have been wanting to try them but the price tag definitely deterred me from trying them out. So I am pretty excited to try these!

That is everything that I have purchased. I will definitely be saving some money for the next couple months as I did make a big hole in my wallet recently. I am looking forward to getting back into makeup and enjoying beauty once again.

Thanks so much for reading! I look forward to posting some more in the coming weeks and months.

~Naty