makeup – Page 2 – the Spiff

The Last Eye-Shadow Palette You’ll Ever Buy (Almost)

April 20, 2016 No Comments

eye shadow, urban decay eye shadow palette, urban decay, beauty blogger, knoxville beauty blogger

It must be that the creative minds over at Urban Decay were thinking ironically when they named this eye-shadow palette. I want my eyes to be anything BUT naked when I saw the colors in these gorgeous palettes (ha. but naked).

I heard for years how great this Naked palette was, but I guess I was too set in my ways? Busy being awesome? Yeah, let’s go with that one.

Turns out the cult following and the 30 articles I read about its amazingness, were all correct! This palette is amazing.

There are three versions of the Naked palette out there and in order to choose, I looked at all three and counted up the colors in each one that I would wear the most. Whichever had the most shades I would wear – won. Naked 2 is more about taupes, and Lord knows I’M all about taupes, so that’s what I went with.

My only complaint was that there were too many sparkly shadows.

I love sparkly shadows too much. I want to paint my eyes with them all the way up to my eyebrows. So options that are a little more matte are good for me, especially for a daytime look. Which is why I picked up Naked Basics.

It’s also why the Naked palette is almost the last palette you’ll ever buy. Combine these two power-houses of neutral color and your eye makeup game just won’t be able to quit.

Here’s where you can check them all out… Naked1, Naked2, Naked3, Naked2 Basics (there are about 17 more versions, google them yourself if you’re that interested). I would recommend seeing them in person so you can get a better feel for all the colors – Sephora in West Town Mall is a great place to do that. And now the JCP has a mini-Sephora so you’ve got two great places to check them out!

bare minerals, Beauty, fall, Videos, wbir, west town mall

Give Your Skin a Tall Glass of Gorgeous

October 6, 2015 No Comments

Hydrated skin is really the end goal. Because when your skin is well hydrated, it’s less wrinkly, more glowy.

Bare Minerals is the way to go when it comes to super hydration. They’ve got all kinds of great oils packed into their products – oils with names that I didn’t want to attempt on live TV. It’s not that they’re complicated, it’s just that it’s 8:30 in the morning and live…so there’s that.

Watch this segment for great product suggestions, then stop by the store in West Town Mall and tell them you watched it for a 15% discount!

A couple things I didn’t get to mention about the lipstick….

I’m wearing it in this piece and it’s awesome (still wearing it actually). The color I’ve got on is Reign On.
This lipstick won an Allure Reader’s Choice award
It feels like no other lipstick I’ve ever worn – I don’t feel that it’s there! Which says to me it really is hydrating and not drying.

Beauty

3 Steps to a Clean Makeup Drawer

August 26, 2015 No Comments

Everyday after having a baby is an adventure. Some days you feel as if you can conquer the world and after doing so, typically the next day you feel as if the world has conquered you. While I’m still finding my stride, enjoy this post from last year about how to clean out your makeup drawer.

Because if your makeup drawer is anything like mine, it finds a way to get disorganized from time to time. And that’s purely the fault of the makeup drawer. You have nothing to do with that ;)

A strong advantage to writing a blog about cleaning out your makeup drawer, is that you have to actually clean out the makeup drawer. There’s no excuse.

Good news is it took less than 20 minutes. So whether you have a makeup drawer, bag, box, or crate, it can be easily cleaned in three steps.

Start by pulling out everything. This will help you see what all you’ve got hiding in the corners. In doing this I found bronzers I haven’t touched in over a year, a primer I was hanging onto even though it made me break out, and an unmarked jar of something…I still don’t know what it is.

Now that you’ve got everything out, go ahead and arrange it all into categories (i.e.: eyes, lips, face). This will help you see what you need, what you have duplicates of, and what’s really been so used up it needs to go.

You may not have a makeup drawer, you may have a makeup bag. Whatever you store it all in clean out that container. If you’re like me and you use a silverware divider wash it with soap and water. I found this to be much more effective over a spray cleaner because the water loosens the dirt more easily. If it’s a bag, run it through the washer. Either way, don’t skip this step because it’s going to make everything look/feel/be so fresh afterwards.

It’s time to put your makeup back in your clean container! Now that you’ve cleared out the clutter, streamlined your categories and cleaned out your container, you can put it all back together to make one good looking makeup drawer (I even like to wipe everything down before I put it back).

It’s a quick easy clean that’s going to have you feeling very good about yourself tomorrow morning!

bare minerals, Beauty, beauty products

Flawless Radiance Brush

August 21, 2015 No Comments

Honestly, I really enjoyed being pregnant in the summertime. I don’t sweat very easily and am not often hot, so the 90 degree temps never really bothered me. Not to mention the fact that my husband is quite the opposite so I was finally comfortable in our 60 degree home.

What I enjoyed the most was not having to worry about my tan. I felt as if I could get away with being super white since I was pregnant (you can’t judge me I’m pregnant).

The one thing I didn’t give up (and don’t regardless of the season) was putting bronzer on my face. After applying foundation, I always contour my face with some bronzer to add color and dimension back in (I make an “E” starting at my forehead, hitting my cheek bones and finishing along my jaw line). This brush is one I reviewed last year, but it’s still doing an amazing job at applying just the right amount of color…

Boy, does Bare Minerals know how to name their brushes or what? Who can say no to “flawless radiance“? On top of that, I’m going to go ahead and skip to the even better part, it’s only $22.

Now that I’ve got your wallet and your face considering it, let me tell you why it’s so great…

I’ve always been a big advocate for buying good brushes. Because I truly believe a good makeup brush takes your look from “homemade” to “professional” faster than anything else. This is true with any brush you would use on your face, but most recently I learned just how true it is when it comes to a bronzer brush.

I’ve been practicing what I preach by having great eye shadow brushes for years now. But I was getting a failing grade in the bronzer and blush brush category. “Oh any old thing will do,” is what I thought to myself as I picked up my old foundation brush to wipe the bronzer all over my face. Then I would get frustrated with the bronzer for not looking right…and the cycle would continue.

Then I went to Bare Minerals one day to talk about their new foundation. The girl applied it and some bronzer on my face (the very same bronzer I’d been failing with) and it looked fantastic! The difference? The brush.

You can believe I bought up that brush then and there! Gal pals, it makes such a huge difference. I mean HUGE difference in how the bronzer looks on my face. I’m loving how it blends and even how the bristles feel on my skin – it’s become my favorite part of the makeup process for sure.

Don’t waste any more time being frustrated with bad bronzer – get a new brush!!

Will you consider using bronzer all year?

bare minerals, Beauty, makeup, makeup brushes, west town mall

The Makeup of the Future is Here and It’s Awesome

June 1, 2015 4 Comments

Full disclosure: I’ve left Bare Minerals before to try and find a better foundation. Actually, that’s half disclosure. Full disclosure is that I’ve left them twice in the past 4 years to play the field a little bit.

And “play the field” is the absolute best way to put it (why thank you) because I never had a good reason for leaving. I just wanted to try new things, sew my wild makeup oats.

The truth is I never strayed very far, because in all of my research and in testing other products I consistently found Bare Minerals to be the best.

My number one requirement? Match my skin tone. I switched to Bare Minerals because my last foundation was taking up too much of the spotlight. Not only does Bare Minerals blend well, but the original formula has SPF, leaves a gorgeous glow-y sheen (something I really missed when trying other products), and is made up of only FIVE ingredients.

One of the biggest selling points of this makeup to me was the fact that you can fall asleep in it and it won’t harm your skin. Now, I’ve never fallen asleep in my makeup ever EVER (and neither should you, young lady), but knowing that this stuff is that natural really gave me peace of mind.

But truthfully my goal wasn’t to talk about their foundation, I want to talk about some of their other great products…

They have a new brush bar that’s filled with luxurious brushes you are going to wish were king size so you could take a nap inside them.

Oh yeah and they also work really well to distribute product on your face (you know, that’s kind of a big deal). As I’ve said so many times before, brushes really take your makeup job to the next level and can easily and quickly give you more of a professional look.

And let’s pause for a moment of gratitude for the fact that they’re all reasonably priced around $30 or so.

Next on the list of things to try? Their lip gloss. It’s hydrating and wonderful and think of all the combinations you could create with this set!

Finally, their Primer.

Let’s say you’re not a believer in primer and that you think it’s a waist of time. If that’s the case then you probably don’t have wrinkles you’d like to minimize, or uneven skin tone you’d like to hide. I guess you’re living the good life with perfectly moist skin that’s not too oily and locks onto your foundation all the day long.

If any of those things describe your face – go ahead, live your primer-free life. You deserve it, Fancy Face.

Everyone else? Let’s prep our skin. This stuff goes on so smoothly and, depending on the formula you choose, can brighten your skin, even out redness, control oil, smooth away flakes, and set the stage for a flawless performance from your foundation.

Bare Minerals isn’t paying me to say this. I’m just a consumer truly happy with a product, and I think you will be too. They’ve got lots of great products in their store so check them out in West Town Mall right behind Starbucks.

If my word isn’t enough (as golden and true as it is, how could it not be?) what about a little deal sweetener…this weekend is Friends and Family discount days where you get 20% off (Friday, June 5th – Sunday, June 7th).

The fullest disclosure? That’s a deal.

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