I Feel Prettiest When…

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Vanessa

Happy Sunday Beauties!

I’m in my pj’s this morning having leftover tamales that my mom made for Thanksgiving and getting ready to watch a movie with my little sister. My Sunday morning ritual includes reading blogs; I caught a really cool blog entry from Amelia at Sound Bites. Seriously, you have to check out her blog; she’s a great writer and absolutely hilarious on Twitter :-). Her entry today listed the times she feels the prettiest, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I feel prettiest when…
1. I’m laughing with my girlfriends.
2. I’m in a hoodie, skinny jeans, and my old white Vans.
3. I wake up with voluminous hair lol.
4. I’m slow dancing with someone.
5. I’m in a well fitted dress and heels.
6. I first finish straightening my hair.
7. I remember that I have my mother’s hands.
8. I’m doing other people’s makeup.
9. I have no makeup on at the beach.
10. I’m cooking.
11. I get asked for my number.
12. I’m told I’m pretty by someone that doesn’t have to say it!
13. I’m reading, curled up on the couch in a comfy sweater.
14. When I am woken up by the sun hitting my face.
15. I’m cooking with my mom and sisters.
16. I’m dancing with my girls.
17. I’m learning about something I love.
18. I’m listening to my grandma and aunts tell stories.
19. I have a new item of clothing on.
20. I wear black lace.
21. I’m holding a new baby in the family.
22. I’ve cleaned my room and everything is in order.
23. I’ve had a couple of drinks, lol!
24. I do something for a good cause.
25. I stand up for what I believe in, even if it’s not what everyone agrees with.
26. I get an A in class.
27. I stick up for people I love.
28. Someone is playing with my hair.
29. I feel loved as I am, no matter how I look.
30. I get great comments and emails from my readers :-).

When do you feel prettiest? Let me know in the comments!

<3V

Cranberry and Brown Sugar

Posted on November 25, 2010 by Vanessa

Happy Thanksgiving!
How are all of you today? I just finished dinner and I’m absolutely stuffed…thank goodness for stretchy pants! I wanted to do my makeup with colors that reminded me of Thanksgiving so I combined cranberry and brown sugar and came up with this:

Products Used:
-UDPP in Sin all over the lid.
-MAC Cranberry packed on the lid up to the crease.
-MAC Mulch blended into the crease up 1/2 way to the bro bone. Make sure this is very well blended into where the Cranberry color stops.
-Layered Mulch first then Cranberry on top along lower lashes.
-MAC Dazzlelight as a brow highlight.
-Stila Kitten in the inner corners.
-Revlon ColorStay liquid liner along upper lashes.
-Stila Eye Kajal in Onyx on waterlines.
-Covergirl LashBlast on lashes.

I’m very thankful for all of you readers! Thank you a million times for commenting, stopping by, emailing me, adding me on Twitter, everything! I hope you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving :-).

<3V

Makeup for a Quinceanera

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Vanessa

Hello Lovelies,
How are you today? I hope you’re keeping warm wherever you are and that you’ve got stretchy pants out and ready for the feasting that will happen tomorrow!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of doing makeup for a Quinceanera party for a friend. A Quince is a Latin American celebration of a girls 15th birthday, commemorating her transition into womanhood. The parties vary in extravagance and some also include an entire church mass dedicated to the birthday girl. The celebrations brings together families for food, dancing, pictures, and memory making. My friend Paty asked me to do makeup for her, her sister Miney (the bday girl), and their mom. The girls were a dream to work with and I had so much fun doing their makeup. Side note: they have to die for lashes! I don’t remember all of the products used, but let me know if you want me to do a tutorial for any of the looks and I’ll recreate it in an EOTD post :-).

The birthday girl, Miney:

Beautiful Paty:

<3V

Smokey Eyes for $1? Yes, Please!

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Vanessa

A rose I took a picture of at the Huntington Library a few weeks ago :-).

Hello Lovelies!

How are all of you doing the week before Thanksgiving? I’m watching Ghost Adventures tonight while cuddled up in blankets and a sweater :-). I recently did a little therapy walk through Target (does anyone else do that when they need to relax?) and found a cute little palette by e.l.f. for a $1 that I couldn’t pass up. The quality and color payoff were surprisingly good and the colors are perfect for a standard black smokey eye.

The Drama quad comes with a shimery black, shimmery gunmetal grey, a shimmery silver, and a matte white (which seemed weird to me…it looked odd with the rest of the shimmers).

I put together a really fast smokey eye and loved the texture of all the colors, but the silver was REALLY soft so I had to be careful with my brush when I was dipping into the color. You’ll have to use a base under these eye shadows so they have something to grip on to. I also used my MAC Dazzlelight shadow as a brow and inner corner highlight because the matte white looked off to me lol.

To create the look above I used UDPP in Sin as a base, the black shadow along my lid up to the crease and along lower lashes, the gunmetal color along the crease, the silver along the crease closer to the inner corners, and the white along my brow bone with MAC’s Dazzlelight on top and along the inner corners. I also used my standard Revlon Color Stay liquid liner along upper lashes, Stila’s Eye Kajal in Onyx on waterline, and Covergirl Lashblast mascara.

I’ll definitely be picking up a few more of these quads on my next Target trip. They’re a great way of trying new colors without spending a lot.

Have you tried e.l.f. cosmetics? What do you think of them?

<3V

Soft Nudes and Pinks + a Mini Haul

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Vanessa

Happy Halloween Dolls!
How are you all doing? I celebrated Halloween last night so I’m staying in tonight and watching scary movies :-).
For a few months, I had been all over anything military inspired in khaki and olive colors, but the fall sent me in a completely different direction. I’ve started to LOVE all things in nude and nude pink colors; the hue is really flattering and feminine, so girly without being a teeny bopper pink. A recent trip to Ulta fueled my current color crush. I picked up two Essie nail polishes in Not Just a Pretty Face and Eternal Optimist, $8 each; I also picked up two Ulta brand blushes in After Glow and Sweet Cheeks, $6.50 each. The total for these would have been about $30, but the polishes were on sale for buy one get one half off and the blushes were buy one get one free + an extra 20% off coupon…I got everything for about $16 :-). I LOVE sales!

The polishes are beautiful! They are completely opaque with 3 coats each and last about a week without chipping.

I hadn’t tried Ulta brand blush before, but I really liked the texture and color payoff on these. They are pretty finely milled (I didn’t blend them very well in the swatches). I plan on going back and getting more colors soon. BTW, I think After Glow is a pretty good dupe for NARS Orgasm blush, for a fraction of the price :-D.

How are all of you celebrating today? What are your current color crushes?

<3V

Lessons Learned & Favorites

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Vanessa

Last weekend, celebrating birthdays :-).

Happy Wednesday Babes!
I recently discovered an amazing blog by Miss Amelia Pontes called Sound Bites and loved her posts on lessons learned and faves, so I borrowed the idea for my blog. Happy reading!

~Lessons Learned~
-You have to listen to both your heart and your head, a balance is needed to make good decisions. I’m trying to find the happy place between both right now.

-It really takes losing things/people to realize how valuable they were to you sometimes; I’m working on appreciating my blessings while I have them.

-Music is better acoustic. 🙂

-Going to bed late and saying six hours of sleep is enough is a big fat lie.

-You find out who your real friends are when the sh!t hits the fan and they stick around.

~Favorites~
-Sara Bareilles’ Kaleidascope Heart album. OMG. I am head over heels in love with the lyrics and her voice. Say You’re Sorry and Hold my Heart are on replay :-).

-Express v-neck ribbed sweaters. I got it in red, royal blue, and black. They go perfectly with heels, flats, and boots.

-My best friend. I’m so thankful that she’s around. We just get each other :-D.

-Lamb by Christopher Moore. In my top 5 favorite books; absolutely hilarious!

-Short nails! I got rid of my acrylics and I’m thrilled with my short, manicured, dark polished nails. Wearing Material Girl by Essie this week!

Tell me your lessons learned this week and your faves! Hope your week is coming along fabulously :-D.

<3V

Cat Eye Makeup for Halloween

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Vanessa

My sister and I this past weekend at the first costume party of the month. Isn’t she a cute clown?!

Hi Beauties!
How are all of you doing? I’m taking a break from my homework to post some pics of my makeup from last weekend. I’m not much of a dressing up person and would rather buy shoes than a costume, but I needed something easy and inexpensive to wear to parties this month. I picked up cat ears at Spencer’s Gifts for $6.99, a tail at Party City for $6.99, wore all black, and had some fun with makeup.
I wanted a little bit of a whisker effect without actually having to wear them, so I played with my eyeliner and came up with the look below.

Pardon the stray hair that made its way into the pictures lol.

Products Used:
-Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin all over the lid and along lower lashes.
-MAC Knight Divine shadow all over lid, stopping 1/2 way past the crease.
-MAC Silver Ring shadow along crease to soften Knight Divine.
-MAC Dazzlelight along brows and in inner corners of eyes.
-Revlon Colorstay liquid liner in blackest black along upper lashes and winged out, and along lower lashes to create the “whiskers”.
-Red Cherry false lashes (I can’t remember what number they are, sorry!).
-Covergirl Lashblast in Black packed on to upper and lower lashes.
-Cargo HD blush/highlighter.
-MAC Ample Pink Plushglass.

It look me about 25 minutes to do everything, mostly because I’m not a pro with fake lashes yet lol.

What are your costumes this year?

<3V

Sigma’s Indian Girl

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Vanessa

Happy Friday babes!

I’ve been MIA for a week or so now, I honestly haven’t done anything besides my everyday liner/mascara because I’ve felt lazy lol. Now that fall has kicked in, I’m feeling inspired and excited to try new looks. Below is one of my favorite shadows, Sigma’s Indian Girl. I ordered one of their brushes and a full sized shadow came with my order as a free gift. The shadow is so finely milled and soft, I can swipe it on for a quick wash of color in no time.
I wore this over my new Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin; LOVE LOVE LOVE the primer. I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to get it. A must have from now on 🙂

Products Used:
UDPP in Sin all over lid and along lower lashes.
Sigma’s Indian Girl shadow on lid, past crease, and along lower lashes.
MAC’s Dazzlelight as a brow highlight.
Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner in Black.
CoverGirl Lashblast in Blackest Black.

Random, but I love the old photo effect on the Photobucket editor :-D.

I’m excited to kickoff a fab weekend! Celebrating my friend’s 21st birthday tonight in LA and then spending all of tomorrow with my beautiful bff :-). What are your plans this weekend?

<3V

Awesome Express Coupon!!

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Vanessa

Hi Dolls!

Just wanted to share a fabulous coupon for Express. It’s for $50 off a purchase of $150 or $25 off a purchase of $50. It expires 09/30/10. Happy shopping!

http://www.detailsinsider.com/express_offer/

<3V

Fall Fashion Wishlist

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Vanessa

Happy Friday Babes!

Fall is right around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited for the fashion that comes with it. As you’ll see, I very much love the color black, because I’d rather add pops of color to my outfits with jewelry or makeup. Below are some of my faves for this season, click on the pictures for links.