FOTW: Casual SoCal/Everyday

     As I said in my last post, I went to Southern California for a week visiting colleges and spending some time in Disneyland. It was a ton of fun, and a bit of figuring out what my future will look like. I didn't have much luggage space so I had to keep the makeup products I brought minimal. Minimal products=simple makeup, but this look is probably the look I wear the most often. So this post is kind of a 2 in 1, no?
     My main thing in such a sunny place is sun protection and looking fresh. I do have to say, the change in climate (from cold to hot) took a toll on my skin which hasn't done well in the past couple of months. Basically, I have a shit ton of cystic breakouts, under the skin pimple bumps, a couple black heads, whiteheads along the hair line. All in all a huge mess.

     Sorry for the bad quality, I didn't use my DSLR. As you can see, It's a ultra natural makeup look. In fact, so natural you can see all my flaws (not something I wanted). I wore this look 6 out of the seven days I was gone, on that one day I wore winged eyeliner, nothing special.

     On my face and cheeks I wore...

Shiseido Urban Environment Protection Cream SPF 35 PA+++

Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream 23 or Cover Girl Nature Luxe Foundation 325

MUFE Full Cover (sample) or Josie Maran Argan Blend Concealer in Sand

NYX Cream Blush in Rose Petal or Boho Chic

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder

     On my eyes I used...

A variety of mascaras layered

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero

     On my lips I wore...

Either:

MAC Slimshine in Bare

MAC Lipstick in Shy Girl

Tarte Lip Stain in Joy

NYX Soft Matte Lip Creme in Antwerp

Milani HD Lipstick in Ignition 

     Surprisingly, I didn't have to touch up any of those days. But my foundation definitely faded. I'll put up a more in depth post showing you all the makeup I brought and the makeup that goes around with my everyday. That way you can get a better idea of the situation. Now here are so Disney pictures! :3

 

 Eor made smoochy smoochy sounds when I gave him a hug. C:

Pooh Bear is the cutest thing on Earth. His tush is so cute from behind!

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. :D

Laura Mercier Lingerie Eye and Cheek Palette for Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

     I'm of to SoCal guys! Seeing that I'm a junior I've begun to visit colleges and get a good idea of what type of school I'm looking for. I'm still completely unsure about what my passions are and what I want to major in, but hopefully something might be sparked from this trip. I'm also taking three days in Disney Land while in down in Los Angeles.
     Speaking of traveling, today's post is going to be on a palette that is perfect for traveling. I don't think I'm taking this palette to travel because I don't want to deal with eyeshadow on this trip and I'm afraid I'll lose it. Paranoia is my worst enemy...

(Sorry about the fuzziness of the first picture)

ohmygod, gorgeoussssss.

I hope you guys can guess what is what. But from left column to right column:

(1)buff pearl, tawny apricot, rich cocoa, (2)rose desire, fresh peach, (3) pale pink, african violet, black plum

buff pearl is a multi-shimmer creamy white champagne (long description, yes?). What makes this color stand out is the multi-colored shimmer, but once it's on the eye or if its not looked at carefully, it just looks like a normal cream champagne. The shimmer particles are also quite large.

tawny apricot is a pinky mauve with very small purple shimmers. It's quite a muted color, and I don't see any "apricot" in the shadow. Once again, the shimmers are on the larger end. This is one of the sheerer colors in the palette, when swatched.

rich cocoa is exactly what it says it is, a matte rich cocoa brown. It's not the darkest brown, but I like that. This matte shadow is incredibly smooth and blendable. It applies evenly and it's really pigmented.

rose desire is quite a cool-toned hot pink with a satin finish. It's the first of the two blushes in the palette. It is very smooth, nice pigmented, and I don't have anything bad to say about it. Note: cool-toned pinks are great brighteners for warm-toned skins like mine, just don't go overboard.

fresh peach is a neon-pastel peach with a satin finish. It's the second of the two blushes in the palette. I think that this blush is one of the more true peaches that doesn't lean pink, coral, or orange. However, depending on your cheek's natural tint, this may alter the color of this blush. The characteristics of this blush are same as I described for rose desire, above.

pale pink is a matte pinky-purple creamy white. It's nicely pigmented and can be blended easily. Not much to say about this eyeshadow, quite normal.

african violet is a red-plum purple with a lot of gold shimmer/glitter. This is one of the Laura Mercier shades that gets talked about a lot, but I don't love it. I'll talk about the wear of the product later, but first of all, I had to continually pack on this shadow for it to show and the glitter basically goes away with any blending.

black plum is a matte very dark browned royal purple. It's smooth like rich cocoa, but it applies more unevenly and it's less pigmented.

     The wear of one of the shadows is my biggest criticism of this palette. I've found a good eye primer, so I'm pretty confident that it's not my primer. I just find that african violet fades and loses its purple-ness as the day passes, which bothers me. The other colors are fine though.

     My highest accolade for this palette goes to the blushes. I'm amazed that these blushes last on my skin because I have literally never found a blush that I can truthfully say lasts on me (NARS, MAC, Illasmasqua), even cream blushes. Though they weren't as vibrant as when I applied them, they still remained largely intact by the end of the day. I also did a little duo-blush thing one day by applying fresh peach from the apples to the hairline sheerly, then concentrating rose desire on the apple and the combo was really pretty

     Overall, even though I don't think the eyeshadows in the palette are particularly interesting, I think the palette is a wonderful palette to have. It's everything a neutral wearer would like i.e. me. It's an amazing all-in-one palette and it took me a while to review this because I was really testing out everything so I could give a good review on how the product actually works. There are so many combinations and looks that can come out of this palette, but I really like the simple neutral eye look that can be achieved using only the first column. I definitely recommend this palette, get it while you can!

     Maybe I'll do one or some FOTDs with this palette?...

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment. Byebye. >w <'