Wet N Wild Baked Not Fried Palette

A while back Wet N Wild released three limited edition baked eye shadow palettes (Walgreens Exclusive). A palette of blues (Baked Not Fried), a palette of pinks (Baking a Cake) and a neutral palette (Baked Not Fried). The baked palettes were all paraben free. I was into neutral colors at that point, so I bought the neutral palette called Baked Not Fried.

Wet N Wild's Baked Not Fried Palette

$4.99 - 0.06 oz / 1.8 g

Presents I Paid For in the Mail!

I have a love hate relationship with shopping online. On one hand, I risk my credit card being stolen and breach of privacy. On the other hand, I get all giddy when my purchases arrive. Even though I paid for it, it feels like Christmas morning (I actually can't wait until morning and open my presents 12 am midnight). The anticipation almost make the products more special. I blame delayed of gratification for this. Well Cyber Monday happened recently. If you were "in the know", you probably heard of some pretty cool beauty sales going on. I was especially psyched for Milani's 50% off sale and Jordana's 25% off sale WITH free shipping. Shipping is the reason why I don't shop online regularly (my wallet is thankful though). I digress. I really wanted the "holy grail" eyeliner so many bloggers have been talking about, i.e. Milani Liquif'eye and Jordana Color Xtend. So I put in my order in the morning of Cyber Monday on their INCREDIBLY SLOW website. My friend didn't even order anything because of how slow it was. Fast forward 7 days and my purchase arrive! I was going out when the mail man came. I opened the box in the car on my way to the mall. YEAH, I was that excited!

Milani Cyber Monday!

NOTD - Blue and White Dots

Being the nail art newb I am, I've actually never successfully made "pretty" dots on my nails before. I've tried using a toothpick once and the mani ended up looking like swiss cheese. I don't own any dotting tools and didn't want to spend my money on buying one. The other day I was prowling the interweb and saw a nail blog. This girl (I assume) used the back end of her makeup brush as a dotting tool. "GENIUS!" was my first thought, followed by "Why didn't I think of that?" and "I'm going to try this NOW!" I used the dollar concealer brush from elf, though I really use it for my gel liner. The brush has outlived it's use, it's all shaggy from the constant washing. If you own an elf concealer brush, you'll see that the end is a bit fat. The dots ended up bigger than I expected. Not a problem since I was going to toss it anyways. It's living another life :).

Blue and White Dots

Five Words Most Associated With Beauty Blogs and Channels

From the title, it is obvious I'm about to list the five words most associated with beauty blogs and channels. If you have a beauty blog or channel, you have mostly likely used these words. I daresay ALL beauty blogs have used at least one of these words. I love youtube vloggers and bloggers. This is all for fun so please don't hurt me ><!

All rights belong to Roy Lichtenstein
Edited by me

NOTD - Guess what I was going for!

I confess, I'm horrible at painting nails. I tend to have polish all over my fingers, creating that coagulating pool in the valley between flesh and nail. Nail painting with me gets real messy. Imagine the mess when I try to do free hand nail art. Those stories are the type you tell on a campfire trip to scare the bejizzle out of children. Exaggeration? Come and observe, if yee dares. Muahahaha.

Now let's get to the NOTD (nails of the day). This is my first time using the sponging method (using a cosmetic sponge to dab nail polish on the nails). It turned out very well! I will definitely use this technique a lot. It's very very very fool proof (yes, the 3x very is necessary) and looks amazing.

For this NOTD, I was imitating another blogger's nail art. Look at the pictures and guess what I was trying to achieve! She was going for a starry sky look *highlight the black rectangle for the answer*. I think I kind of achieved the look. It is more sparkly in person so it's a lot prettier in real life.

Up close look at the thumb

OPI Serena Glam Slam Duos @ TJ Maxx

Today I had to babysit my little cousin after he got off from school. He lives quite near a TJ Maxx, so I decided to swing by after I was done. To my surprise, I found Serena Willam's OPI sets for only $7.99! I know TJ Maxx and Marshalls sell many brand name stuff for cheap but it is another thing when the product is something you lemmed for. I remember these sets came out shortly after OPI's immensely popular black shatter. Shatter/crackle was still a rarity so I totally lemmed after the white shatter that was only available in Serena William's duo set. For those that have missed the Serena's Glam Slam set or thought it was too expensive, here is an opportunity to grab one. I am actually gunning for the multi-fleck sparkle (servin up sparkle).

OPI Serena Glam Slam Duo - $7.99
Spark Of Triomphe
White Shatter

OPI Serena Glam Slam - $7.99
Grape..Set..Match & Servin Up Glitter
Barielle - Nail Protect Plus Color (Trio) - $9.99

OPI Serena Glam Slam - $7.99
(L-R) Pros and Bronze, Love is a Racket, Your Royal Shine-ness, Servin' Up Sparkle

Claire's Dollar Accessory Sale!

Hi, my name is Theresa.
(Hi, Theresa)
And I'm a Claire's shopper.
I know I'm an adult and their target audience are the "tweens". But I can't help it. I can't resist a good deal. I realize I'm the only person without a chaperone in the store. I realize all of this and yet I cannot stop. Will I seek help? No. It's a good deal and I'm not ashamed to be a Claire's shopper at this age! (Preach! Theresa! Preach!)

Claire's Bow Earrings - $1

I love accessories. I rock just about anything, flower hair pins, earrings, dangly necklaces, bracelets etc etc.

When Claire's have their 10 for 10 sale, I always pop in check it out.

• You don't have to buy 10 accessories to get each for a dollar. You may just buy one item for one dollar if you want (most people don't know this!)
• ONLY accessories that are redlined is part of their sale..
• If the original price is under 10 dollars, the final price is automatically one dollar
• If the original price is over 10 dollars, it is an additional 50% off the red-marked price
• Example: 
• Original price is $10.50. It is redlined and adjusted to $5.50. The final price would be $2.25
• Original price is $9.00. It is redlined and adjusted to $4.50. The final price is $1!

• I have bought glasses, hair pins, earrings, necklaces that all follow these rules

Limited Edition: Wet N Wild - I Heart Matte Palette

If you haven't heard of Wet N Wild's I <3 Matte palette you probably do not read a lot of beauty blogs (I tell it like I see it *snaps snaps* >:].. lol just kidding). I <3 Matte is an 8-pan all matte palette that has been getting quite a bit of attention since the official announcement. Drugstore eyeshadows are always very sparkle sparkle so I was very excited to finally have some mattes to play with! I'm a frugal woman whose makeup addiction has not yet escalated to the point of spending 14 dollars on a single eyeshadow (I'm broke ala joke :[ ). I am also a cautious woman who is afraid of alleged harmful chemicals. With my particular standards, you can imagine how hard shopping is.

When I first saw the announcement of the 8-pan matte palette, I was very excited but also sad because the other 8-pan palettes had parabens. I know I haven't officially sworn off parabens, but I've been trying real hard not to buy any products that contained them (it also gives me a reason to spend less). When G from Nouveau Cheap (one of my favorite blogs EVER) posted up ingredients for the palette, I squealed after scanning the ingredients to see NO PARABENS listed! That's right! Wet N Wild, the holy grail of cheapie makeup, has no parabens *cartwheels in the air*! I immediately planned a trip to Walgreens. Turns out I didn't even have to search very far, the first Walgreens I went to had the beauty bar set up!

Wet N Wild  I <3 Matte

0.3 oz/8.5 g - $4.99

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss is my absolute favorite lip gloss! I've only started buying makeup about a year ago so my makeup stash isn't very large. I only focused on eye products in the beginning of my makeup buying escapade. I started to branch out to lip products about half a year ago. I own some Revlon Colorburst lipglosses, Physician's Formula glosses, Lip Smackers and NYX Mega Shine Lip Glosses. I have also tried plenty of dollar brand lip glosses.Mega Shine Lip Glosses are PARABEN FREE.
 

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss 

11 ml/0.37 oz - $5.50

Top to Bottom: Nyx Mega Shine Lip Gloss
Natural, Pink Gold, Beige

Happy Halloween! -- Costume Pic!

Happy Halloween everyone!

It's a late post, but here's my costume of the evening. I actually dressed up on Saturday as a doll but I only have a full length picture of this costume. It's kind of scary, you have been warned. I also did my own makeup! I love Halloween.

Older Women

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday I was dressed up as a doll. I did a smokey eye with thick white eyeliner under my eyes for that "doll" look. My mom saw my makeup and liked how my eyes looked larger so she asked me to do the same for her. She was heading to a Halloween party. I just did the same smokey eye I had done for myself that evening. While I was putting on the silver shadow, I noticed the wrinkles and droopy eye flaps I had never noticed before. When I finished, the makeup was horrible. It didn't match her the slightest. At that moment, I realized how much my mother has aged. After years of the "me" phase and then going off to college, I never noticed the changes. The skin on her eyes is considerably looser. One day she was a vibrant 30 year old and this evening she looked 50. She is still a gorgeous woman, but I must admit she aged. I felt horrible after I finished putting on her makeup. She's beautiful but I also know she's sensitive to her age.

I started researching on how to put makeup on older women. I wanted to show my mom techniques that would make her feel beautiful because I obviously don't know how to do it. Not surprisingly, there weren't that many websites about older skin makeup applications. I have also noticed people have been requesting tutorials for older women on Makeupgeek.com. Women are looking for advice, we just aren't giving it to them.

Tokidoki Robbery Palette Swatches + Review

Guess what I bought at the Sephora Friends and Family sale?
Yup you got it! Tarte Limited-Edition Lipsurgence Collection!
Oh, you wanted me to say the Tokidoki Robbery Palette? That was a robbery palette, for both my wallet and well.. there were robbers on the tin.
What?! It's on sale at Sephora.com for 25 dollars when it is originally 50 dollars PLUS the friends and family discount?! Now that is robbery, to Sephora that is!

So guess what? How'd you know I got the Robbery Pallete?! Damn, you have esp powers or something!

Tokidoki Robbery Palette with magnet

NOTD: Glam Rock Nails

Hello everyone!

Haven't posted in sooo very long, I've been busy :). I finally painted my nails because I'm done interviewing for jobs. I put myself on a nail polish ban because I didn't want to paint my nails then remove the polish when I have a job interview the next day. The first impression is the only impression, so no wackiness for me! Now that I'm done interviewing (didn't get the job yet lol), I decided to reward myself by painting them :).

I used Wet N Wild's Everybody Loves Redmond, China Glaze Black Crackle and Essence Silver Polish (thin brush one). In the beginning I had another idea, but after a failed halloween mani (I'll post the picture up ><, DON'T JUDGE PLEASE lol), I decided to go the easy route.

Glam Rock Nails

Favorite Brush EVER

My favorite brush ever is E.L.F.'s (eyes lips face) powder brush ($3). It is a flat top brush about 1.5-2 inches in diameter. It is super soft and I love pressing it against my face :). The bristles are average in density, not super packed but not sparse either.

It is very cheap and multi-purposeful.  Before I used this brush I hated foundation. My foundation always settled in fine lines. When using this brush, I get a flawless airbrush look. All I do is dab foundation around my face and buff it in. It saves product too because the brush spreads foundation better. Another reason why I love this brush is because it applies blush well (this sentence is a lil like a tongue twister haha). It gives my cheeks a very natural wash of color. I like how this brush can be used on different texture of products and gives even application. I use it for my liquid foundation, blush, bronzer and matte powder :). Let me know if you like this brush too or if there are any secrets to this brush that I haven't unlocked yet!

Wet N Wild Ultimate Mineral Blush (Paraben Free!) + Paraben breakdown

(Scroll down for Wet N Wild review and pictures)

Paraben Breakdown

In the past few months, I've been trying to weed out parabens in my daily products.

Parabens are used as preservatives in cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals. "Measurable concentrations of six different parabens have been identified in biopsy samples from breast tumors", according to Breastcancerfund.org. "Parabens are estrogen mimickers, with the potency of the agonistic response being related to the chemical structure." In other words, parabens may cause breast cells to mutate which may lead to cancer. 

Note that the chemical is linked to breast cancer and may not be the cause of it. Research is still being conducted on parabens and we may never find out whether if parabens cause or contribute to cancer. Since there is no definitive answer yet, I decided to try my best to stay away from such chemicals (though I haven't succumbed to buying paraben makeup products yet, I've been thinking of that Urban Decay Naked Palette :X). I am definitely not using parabens in my moisturizer, body lotion and body wash, since those products cover most of my body and you can find easy cheap alternatives (st. ives body lotion for one is cheap and paraben free).

To read more about parabens:

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-glossary/parabens.html

Here's a link to chemicals breastcanerfund.org has found to be linked to breast cancer:

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-linked-to-breast-cancer/cosmetics/

TJ Maxx Cheap High End Makeup Sighting (Pic Heavy)

Here's to my first beauty blog post!

If you haven't heard by now, Marshalls and TJ Maxx has been selling many high end stuff for the cheap, i.e. theBalm, OPI, Nicole by OPI, Shiseido etc. I'm talking 50% off man! If you haven't heard about TheBalm, they are a relatively new high end makeup brand situated in San Francisco, CA. You can buy their makeup from Sephora (not sure about Ulta). Their Shady Lady palettes has gotten an A from Tempatlia!

Shady Lady Palette info from Sephora:

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrances
- Petrochemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

I'm not sure if they are cruelty-free though. The back of the palettes does say "wear faux fur" and the fact that they are in SF makes me think they are cruelty-free, but you never know! I'll email them directly later tonight and I'll update my post! BTW, some of theBalm makeup has parabens like their lipstains. So if you are trying to be paraben free look at the ingredient list!

I bought two Shady Lady palettes, vol. 2 and 3 so I'll swatch, review and all that jazz another day.

Without further ado, pictures! I'll list the prices I remember and name of the products.

Baby blogger in town :)

Hey everyone that is reading this!

I'm so excited to start my new blog :)! It'll consist of mostly makeup and beauty related posts but occasionally there might be other posts unrelated to those things. I'll try to have loads and loads of pictures because I love blogs with lots of pictures (sometimes I don't even read the words :X). Here's a picture right now! Check out my paint.net skills yo!

Can you tell I'm excited for this?! Please excuse the noob blog template, I'll fix it up when I have time or when I'm not feeling lazy ><. I'm just super excited to post up these TJ Maxx pictures so I decided to restart my blog. I started this blog (in January 1, 2011) but haven't really posted anything since the 30th. It was supposed to be a place to keep my thoughts in order but I never updated. Since I read beauty blogs everyday, I decided to try my own.