Update!

Hi all! Did you miss me? Because I missed you!

I'm sorry I've been so MIA, I've been focusing really hard on school (I graduate in a few weeks!) and my boyfriend and I have been making a lot of life-plans as of late so I've been involved with that as well.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'll have a haul-slash-review coming up soon. I'm not sure whether or not it will be a video or a blog  post, but I'll keep you updated. I'm waiting on the last few things to arrive in the mail.

Lastly, if you want to stay in the know about when I'll be posting videos or blog posts, follow me on Twitter, because that's where I will likely announce it first!

http://twitter.com/sixth_siren

Thanks for being patient and sticking with me, guys! <3

Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette

Hey guys! So the other day I treated myself to about an hour in Ulta. :P I literally hate myself for being so indecisive about everything. Long story short, I left the store with the Too Faced Romantic Eye palette.

I've always had my eye on this palette. Even though I don't really favor pinks and purples when I'm putting on eyeshadow, for some reason this has always been one of the prettiest Too Faced palettes to me (besides the Boudoir Eyes and Summer Eye). So, after careful consideration I went ahead and splurged on it. I'm not really sure how I feel about it, though.

Too Faced palettes always include a Day set, a Classic set, and a Fashion set of eyeshadows.

The packaging is really, really pretty and girly.

Unfortunately, the second time I opened up the palette, the little tab pull came out.

Too Faced palettes also come with three little "look" cards that correspond with the day, classic, and fashion sets. 

Day: Soulmates, I Do, Un-Veil

Applied over bare skin (left 3) and over Urban Decay Primer Potion (right 3)

Classic: Kiss the Bride, Cut the Cake, First Dance

Applied over bare skin (left 3) and over Urban Decay Primer Potion (right 3)

Fashion: Bouquet Toss, Honeymoon, Ever After

Applied over bare skin (left 3) and over Urban Decay Primer Potion (right 3)

This palette, and all of the Too Faced "...Eye" palettes, go for $36.

What I like:

• The shadows are really soft and buttery, they feel like they would be easy to blend out.
• Soulmates and Honeymoon are my favorite colors in the palette.
• I'll probably end up using this palette (among others) for my wedding makeup someday. :P
• The packaging is cute and floral.

What I don't like:

• I feel like it's very overpriced for what you get. Especially considering how small the "secondary" shadows are.
• As pretty as the packaging is to look at, it's not entirely practical. Plus, my tab came out.
• I hate the way pink and purple look together. That's just me, though! I'll just have to combine the shadows differently.

Overall, weighing the pros and cons, I like the palette. It's not my favorite in my collection, but I would definitely reach for it. I'm excited to use the colors in this palette with other colors that I have to see what I can come up with!

Really Quick Clarisonic Update

Hi all! Sorry I've been away, I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to finish school, prepare for Momocon (which is in 2 days! Yay!), and keep my little Avon business running smoothly.

So basically what I wanted to say is that I've been bad, haha. As with almost any skin care routine (or anything for that matter) I wait until I'm about to go to bed to do anything bed-time appropriate and by the time that happens I'm too sleepy and lazy to wash my face so I prefer to just lazily swipe a makeup removing wipe across my face rather than take a minute and a half to wet my face, apply cleanser, and use my Clarisonic. Well, let me tell you: my face has been pitching an absolute fit over it.

My skin KNOWS! It knows when I'm not using it! Now, let me just say that I haven't stopped using it completely, I just haven't been as consistent with it. So say, instead of every day I do it every other day or every two days. I know, I know, shame on me. Well, not anymore. I'm back to using it every day now. I take my makeup off (if I'm wearing any that day) with a makeup wipe and then I thoroughly cleanse with the Clarisonic. And guess what? Since I've started up using it daily again...no new breakouts. Just the ones that came from my skin being pissed off at me for not giving it all the attention it deserves, those ones are healing up now. But no new ones have showed up.

So yeah, I just wanted to share that with you guys. I'm still overall really impressed with this thing and I still declare it my best investment ever made. And I won't ever skip a day again, I promise! ;)

Don't Be Two-Faced

 I created this look the other day when I woke up and felt like experimenting with makeup. I know this idea has been done before, but I wanted to put my own twist on it.

The look was sort of "hero/villain" inspired. In most types of art, the villains have very bold makeup and strong eyebrows, while the heroes have light, pretty makeup.

Added contacts for effect. :P

What I used:

Face:
Loreal Magic Perfecting Base
Make Up For Ever HD Foundation
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser

Hero Side:
Eyes:
Stila Smudge Pot in "Kitten" on the lid
Urban Decay "Midnight Rodeo" on the inner half of lid
Urban Decay "Snakebite" in the crease
Stila Smudge Pot in "Kitten" on the waterline
Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner on upper lash line
Maybelline Colossal Cat Eye Mascara

Cheeks:
Hard Candy Baked Blush in "Honeymoon" more on the apple of cheek towards temple

Lips:
I don't know what it's called because the label has been wiped off, but it's just a bright pink lipstick with obnoxious multicolored sparkles in it haha

Villain Side:
Eyes:
Sugarpill "Goldilux" on the inner corner
Shiro Cosmetics "Colonel" on the lid
Urban Decay "Blackout" in the crease
Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner on upper lash line and waterline
Maybelline Colossal Cat Eyes Mascara

Cheeks:
Hard Candy Baked Blush in "Pin Up" more along the cheek bone for a strong contoured look

Lips:
Revlon Lipstick in Black Cherry



Contacts are from honeycolor.com:
Red contacts - Super Pinky Bright Red
Blue contacts - Super Pinky Blue


I hope you liked this fun look! Have a wonderful day!

Foundation Swatches + OCC Lip Tar in Hush

I went to Sephora today because I've really been searching hard lately for that holy grail foundation. Let me start off by saying that I absolutely adore the girls that work in the Sephora that I went to, they were really friendly and helpful. One girl approached me to see if I needed anything, so I told her that I was there to pick up some samples of foundation. She immediately got someone to come over and help me out. The girl that came to help was really nice and she really seemed to know what she was doing. She asked me what my skin type was and what kind of foundation I was looking for, so I told her all that and then I told her the specific foundations that I came to try, so she color matched me and then kindly went and filled up some jars for me.

I got 3 foundation samples: the Urban Decay Naked Skin, the Kat Von D Lock It, and the Make Up For Ever HD.

Out of the three, the Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation is definitely the runniest and provides the lightest coverage. Kat Von D's Lock It is the heaviest coverage. MUFE HD is perfectly in the middle, providing full coverage without being too heavy.

 Natural Light

(L-R: Naked Skin, Lock It, MUFE)

Sunlight

(L-R: Naked Skin, Lock It, MUFE)

 Urban Decay Naked Skin - Blended

Lightest coverage out of the bunch

 Price: 3/5 (US $38)

Packaging: 5/5 (Pump dispenser)

Coverage: 3/5

Feel/texture: 5/5

The Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation didn't really impress me. Then again, I'm more of a medium/full coverage type of girl. It is good at evening out the skin tone, I'll give it that. It's not a bad foundation, the look and feel is really quite nice, it's just not for me.

 Kat Von D Lock It Foundation - Blended

Heaviest coverage out of the bunch

Price: 3/5 (US $34)

Packaging: 5/5 (Pump dispenser)

Coverage: 5/5

Feel/texture: 3.5/5

If you love full coverage, and I mean turn-your-face-into-a-blank-canvas coverage, then this foundation is definitely for you. This is my second favorite out of the three. My skin looked awesome with this on. I will definitely be using up my sample. The only thing that was a little off-putting about it was that when I took it off with a makeup removing wipe, it looked like I had just wiped mud off of my face. That's how thick it is. You can see in the picture above of the product in the jar that it's a pretty creamy, solid foundation. It does not run at all.

 Make Up For Ever HD Foundation - Blended

Full coverage, not as heavy as KVD

Price: 1/5 (US $42)

Packaging: 5/5 (Pump dispenser)

Coverage: 5/5

Feel/texture: 5/5

My favorite out of the three! (Isn't it everyone's favorite? Just kidding!) After hearing hundreds of rave-reviews about this product, I was pretty much decided that I wanted to buy it. I wanted to sample it first, though, because it would suck if I dished out $42 for this bad boy and I didn't like it or it gave me some sort of freak reaction. I did try all three foundations on my face, and I liked this one the best. It has held up well and I feel like it will really come in handy for my little side-hobby of cosplaying since it's supposedly amazing for photography. This foundation is lightweight but full coverage, which is kind of rare to find in a foundation I think.

I hope that helped you out if you were wondering about these foundations! 

One last thing: while I was at Sephora, since I can never seem to walk out of there empty-handed, I picked up my first Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in the shade "Hush." I've heard so many good things about these lip tars! If you don't know what they are, they're basically like paint for your lips haha. 

'Scuse the messy brush, I obviously tried it out as soon as I got home.

I just think these are so cute! I love the packaging, you get your little lip tar in a tube and a baby lip brush together in a little zip bag. I was a little disappointed that Sephora only had about 4 colors at the counter (Hush, Memento, NSFW, and Anime), but it's okay because I probably would have suffered some serious buyer's remorse if I had gotten my hands on any more of them.

Price: 4/5 (US $16)

Packaging: 5/5

Opacity: 5/5

Feel/texture: 5/5

I am already utterly obsessed with this. At first, I was a little put off by the price, but after I thought about it, it seems like a decent deal. I still don't like to pay that much for a lip product, but you seriously need NOTHING to cover your lips, the blendability is awesome. In the swatch on my hand above, I used about half the size of the drop on the left to create that big area of product on the right. This tube is going to last me for-freaking-ever. I like the packaging because I can let my friends borrow it if they need to and it's still sanitary. Just squeeze the product out, and they can use their own lip brush. This is the first Lip Tar that I've tried, so I can't vouch for the other shades (but I know people who can!), but the opacity is wonderful. And lastly, it feels very creamy, but not sticky. Sticky is why I hate a lot of lip products, never been a lipgloss girl. I'm definitely looking forward to buying some more colors, including the mixing shades so I can play with colors!

That's all I've got for ya today, guys. I hope you got something out of this and I hope you have a lovely day!

This message has been approved by Jasper the Cat: Professional MUA

The Clarisonic Mia: 1 Week In

About a week ago, I finally broke down and invested in a Clarisonic. I know, I know, you're all:

Well, that, my dears, is why I'm here.

If you don't know what the Clarisonic is, in a nutshell, it's basically like a toothbrush for your face. That probably doesn't sound very nice, but it's supposed to be. The Clarisonic is available in several different forms, the Pro, Plus, Mia, Mia 2, and most recently, the Aria. The Mia, which is the one I have, is just a one-speed, facial-brush-only Clarisonic. I believe it is the cheapest of the bunch at $119. The Clarisonic claims to clean your face 6 times better than traditional washing. The difference between the Clarisonic and other facial cleansing brushes on the market is that the Clarisonic uses sonic vibrations to sort of wriggle the gunk out of your pores, whereas other tools simply just don't get as deep, using only spinning or brushing.

I bought the Mia in lavender with the sensitive brush head. I have used it once a day every day since I got it, and I'm liking it so far. Before I go into details, here are some pictures.

The charger, above, is magnetic. The Mia also came with a trial size cleanser.

I also bought some replacement brush heads, a pack of 4 costs $75, but I got them for roughly $60 with my Ulta Rewards points.

Since I bought it at Ulta, I received a free gift with my purchase: a cute little carrying bag for the Clarisonic with an extra (normal) brush head. I don't know if Ulta is still offering this.

Okay, so, on with the details. So far I am really enjoying my Clarisonic Mia. It's cute and compact. After washing my face with it, it does feel noticeably softer and cleaner. It is waterproof, which I absolutely love, because I'm lazy and I like to knock out my face washing in the shower while I'm cleaning the rest of me. It is a little expensive, but to me, the reviews completely sold me on it. I would end up spending WAY more money on trying new products to see what will work, and now instead I will just continue to use my Clarisonic, because I know that no matter what cleanser I'm using, at least I know that the Clarisonic is helping that product work better by actually getting it into my skin instead of just sitting on top.

How do I use the Clarisonic Mia?

The way that I personally like to use the Clarisonic is to wet my face, then take a small amount of my face wash (I use Philosophy Purity, a very popular choice among Clarisonic users), and I rub it into my face as if I were just going to wash my face with my hands. Then, I take the Clarisonic, wet the brush head, press it onto my skin lightly starting at my forehead, and turn it on. I move it around my face in small circular motions, without using much pressure. After doing lots of research I found that you shouldn't scrub your face with the Clarisonic like it were an exfoliating brush, you should just give it a little pressure and let the tool do all the work.

Recap:

Pros:

• cleans deeper
• the humming sound of the device is really soothing to me
• the best 60 seconds of my nightly routine
• cleans deeper than traditional cleansing
• small and easy for traveling
• cute colors!
• a good investment, instead of constantly spending money on the newest skincare gimmick 

Cons:

• pricey at $119
• takes 24 hours to charge
• the purging stage is no fun (where your skin breaks out since all the bad stuff in your pores is coming to the surface)

I will keep updating my blog as I use my Clarisonic more and more! I might do some before and after pictures if the results are drastic.

Have a lovely day!

I've opened a Store!

Visit my Storenvy shop! I sell lightly used items or items that I bought but never used. Includes nail polish, a couple of makeup items, accessories like wallets and jewelry, etc.

CHECK IT OUT! :)