Weekly Makeup Basket: July 31^st thru August 6^th

^{Hello everyone! Welcome back to another round of weekly makeup baskets. This week, I will be focusing on the following products:}

^{For bronzer, my usual, Lo-Fi from my UD Gwen face palette. I am almost done with this!}

^{For highlight, Inner light also from UD Gwen.}

For blush, I will be using Peaceful from Tarte. I think this was LE from like 2 years ago. It reminds me a tiny bit of Nars Luster, sort of a peachy pink color.

^{Finally, for eyes, I will be focusing on UD Gwen palette. This is one of my all time favorites!}

^{Stay tuned for some looks!}

^{Thanks for reading!}

  

      ^~Naty

Weekly Basket: July 24 – July 30^th

^{Hello everyone! Welcome back! Today, I have a weekly basket for you. This week, I will be focusing on the following products:}

^{The new iSOCiETY Velvet Liquid Lipsticks in the shades Drama, Lotus, and On Ice. (Check out my first impressions here: https://delightfulbalanceoflife.blogspot.com/2017/07/brand-spotlight-isociety-cosmetics.hmtl} 

^{For eyes, I will be focusing on:} 

^.

^{Honestly guys, I love Urban Decay the brand, but I am not as crazy about the Naked palettes as I used to be. When I started trying other brands like Kat Von D and Lorac, I realized these are not as pigmented or as easy to work with. So I must admit, as much as it pains me, that this is just not one of my favorite palettes. I have actually thought of decluttering it but I figured I should give it another shot. So, here we go!} 

^{For face, I will continue to work on my UD Gwen palette, particularly,}

 

^{Cherry for the blush, and Lo-Fi for the bronzer/contour.}

^{Stay tuned for some looks using these products.} 

^{Hope you had a wonderful weekend!}

     ^~Naty

Brand Spotlight: iSOCiETY COSMETICS Liquid Velvet lipstick

Hi All! I am back with another round of makeup spotlight. I got an order from iSOCiETY COSMETICS with their new liquid velvet lipsticks. This was a pre-order event for us makeup hunters. If you are not familiar with the makeup hunters program with iSOCiETY, basically, we are able to try products out before they are released and give you our honest opinions. I do not receive a commission on the sales or anthing like that. 

This new product is basically a liquid lipstick. I received these this past week and was not able to post about them. They are on sale now and available on their website. I got three of the shades, they have 8 shades and they run about $20 a piece. They are basically a liquid lipstick. I have not tried them on the lips yet but I figured I would give you a quick first impressions based off of packaging and swatches.

The products come in their generic black box. The lipsticks themselves are in a clear container so you can quickly see the colors and they have a black lid. The applicator is a basic doe foot applicator that applies just the right amount of product. The packaging is really sleek. 

The colors are very pretty. From the three that I got, I feel drama and on ice are probably the most opaque. Lotus would probably need a couple of coats to build up the shade. But they are all beautiful. If you want every day type shades, I think Lotus and On Ice would be your go to, Drama is named appropriately as it is a more dramatic shade. It kind of reminds me of the lipstick Rebel from MAC with a bit more sheen to it. From the swatches, it seems like they do take a bit longer to dry, but I have yet to try them on the lips. 

Overall, they seems pretty good! I am definitely excited to try these out and put them to the test. Keep on checking for some updates on these. 

If you would like to shop these, go to: http://isocietycosmetics.com/t/velvet-lips 

Thanks so much for reading! 

       ~Naty

Recent Purchases: Sephora and Ulta

Hello everyone! I am here with a tiny haul of things that I have purchased in the past couple of months. Some of these are repurchases but most of these are brand new products that I have been wanting to try out. If you are interested in seeing what I got, keep on reading!

This is an electric face brush from Ulta. It is called Sonic Advanced Facial Cleaning System. It has 3 speeds and comes with 3 different brush heads for each. I got this one when it was on sale. I had been wanting one from Clinique but could not pull the trigger for the price. I figured this would be a good compromise. It retails for $58 and I got it for like $30.

I got the It Cosmetics CC cream in the shade Light. I have tried this foundation before and loved it. I figured I would get light as we are still in summer and fair might be too light for me.This retails for $38 and you can get it at Ulta or Sephora or the It Cosmetics website.

At Sephora I got...

A tiny travel size of the Brazilian Bum Bum cream. Yes, I gave into the hype and I am not afraid to admit it! LOL. I have yet to try this as I am working on a different cream but I did open it and it smells delicious, like I should be lounging on the beach somewhere with a pina colada. Definitely excited to try it out. This size 2.5 oz costs $20, so pretty pricey.

I also got the Sephora Favorites Give me some nude lip. This retails for $28 and includes: deluxe sizes of Too Faced Lip Injection Glossy in Spice Girl, Anastasia Beverly Hills lip gloss in Kristen, Marc Jacobs lip laque in Sugar Sugar, a sample of the Nars Velvet lip glide in bound, Tarte lippie lingerie matte tint in revealed, and full siced Urban Decay Vice long-lasting liquid lipstick in Trivial. I am really excited for this as there are brands/products I have yet to try.

Finally, here are some swatches of the lippies:

This is the Tarte Lippie Lingerie in Revealed.

Too Faced lip injection glossy in Spice girl

Anastasia lip gloss in Kristen

Marc Jacobs Enamored in Sugar Sugar

This is the full sized UD Vice Liquid lipstick in Trivial. This shade is B-E-A-UTIFUL! It is a shimmery mauve-y lip.

Finally, we have the Nars Velvet Lip Glide in Bound. This felt pretty fluffy when I swatched it on my hand.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little haul, it has been a while since I did one of these! I am definitely excited to try out all these products. 

Let me know in the comments below if you have ever tried any of these products or are interested in trying any of these.

Thanks for reading!

     ~ Naty

Wearable Look using Lorac Pro

Hello everyone! Happy weekend! Today I decided to use my Lorac Pro palette and create a subtle every day smoky eye. If you want to know what shades and other products I used, keep on reading.

I started priming my eye lids with Too Faced Shadow Insurance and set that with the shade Cream (a matte pinky nude).

I then took a flat shader brush and packed on the shade Gold (a shimmery gold color) all over the lid.

I took the shade Taupe and applied that in the crease moving in windshield wiper motions and circular motions back and forth.

With a crease brush, I applied the color espresso, a dark cool brown, to the outer V. I used a clean crease brush to blend that into the taupe but only going half way into the crease.

I applied my Josie Maran Argan milk all over my face as my moisturizer.

To conceal my dark circles, I used my catrice camouflage concealer in the salmon shade.

To brighten, I applied both Nars Creamy Radiant in Chantilly and Too Faced Born this way in Fair (the TF concealer is my appropriate shade but I feel this one creases more than the Nars). I blended that in with the smaller end of the beauty blender.

For foundation, I used my It Cosmetics CC Cream in Light. I blended that with the larger end of the beauty blender.

I set my under eyes with my Laura Mercier Secretly Brightening powder and a dry beauty blender (I have tried this with a wet beauty blender and I don't like it as much, I feel like the powder clumps).

To set my face, I used my Physicians Formula in powder in Creamy Natural and a big fluffy brush.

I then went in with a clean angled fluffy brush and removed the excess powder from my under eyes.

I applied the color Sable to my lower lash line.

For eye brows, I used my NYX brow pencil in dark brown and my clear gel in essence.

I skipped the bronzer and applied the blush OC from the UD Gwen face palette (this is an orange-ish shade). A dupe could be Makeup Geek Mai Tai or MAC Motif. For highlight, I used Angel from the same palette.

I set everything with my Mario Badescu Rose Water spray.

For liner, I used my Tarte Amazonian clay gel liner in black. I opted for no wing this time.

For lashes, I combined iSOCiETY COSMETICS mascara intense in hello sailor and L'oreal waterproof voluminous feline.

I lined my lips with Bite lip liner in 022.

I finished off the look with Too Faced glossy lip injection in spice girl.

I hope you enjoyed this look! I think it is very wearable. It could be taken to "night out" with a darker, bolder lip if preferred. 

As usual, thanks so much for reading! Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

      ~Naty