Bare Minerals Eye Liner + Shadow Review!

Okayyyy if you remember from one of my recent hauls posts I picked up a bunch of Bare Minerals make up while visiting Ohio! 

It's my favorite kind of make up everrrr!  I decided that since I hinted towards the eyeliner I was wearing in yesterday's post, I'd talk about it today!

So here's what I've got to review for you ladies today:

Wearable Browns Eye Shadows

ANnndddddd

The Retro Lounge Powder Eyeliner

I'm actually going to do a comparison of the two liners that I picked up that day, the Retro (seen above) and a pencil called Sage that was featured in the Girlfriend collection (seen in my haul post).

I'll just post all the pictures first and then discuss 'em:

Wearable Light Brown, Wearable Medium Brown, Wearable Dark Brown

Artsy perspective...oooh.  These shadows are all used in the pics below (of my eyes...duh)

Up close of the Retro powder eyeliner + brush

My favorite Bare Minerals eyeliner is a powder eyeliner, so I had high hopes for this one!  Not to mention it came with a brush, albeit much wider than the normal liner brush I use.  It, however, was much darker than the liner color I usually use and it was pretty much a jet black:

 

Retro gave a pretty smooth line...it's a little shaky though 'cause I wasn't used to using the giant applicator brush!

Up close of the Sage eyeliner pencil...you can see (and probably tell by the name) it's a brownish-green color!

This was a very unique color for me!  It's a dark shimmery green.  It didn't give as smooth of a line as the Retro, but I think I like it better anyway:

Dark green/gold = pretty.  It would look better with a gold or bronze shadow

Here is a picture of both of my eyes so you can see the differences in the liners side by side:

I think I'm quite terrible at applying and blending eyeshadow.  I used the wearable light brown above my lids and under my brows, wearable medium brown on the lids and wearable dark brown on the crease.  Here's a few more pics of my eyes, open...which covers up the fact that I suck at applying makeup lol:

Sage

Retro

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with all my purchases!  I really like the three shadow colors, I just need to work on blending a little better.  I don't wear too much vibrant-colored make-up so these neutral browns are just up my alley! 

In terms of color and ease, I loved the Sage eyeliner pencil.  It's so much faster just to swipe on a pencil!  I do think, though, that this would be better suited for a colored shadow!  In this case, I did like how Retro looked a little better.  It ended up being a much cleaner line which suited the neutral colored shadows quite nice.

Also, if you're wondering, the mascara I have on is the Maybelline Lots of Lashes mascara featured in yesterday's post (and my giveaway).

Hope you all are well!
<3

Recent Hauls!

I'm going to show you my recent hauls from my trip home!
From my first trip home, the weekend of Oct 21-23rd, I hit up my favorite beauty supply store in Columbus!

Jackpot!  Essie Super Bossa Nova, some Muppets, ORLY Collection, and a holo top coat!

I nabbed all the Muppets I could find: Excuse Moi, a 2 pack with Animalistic and Gettin' Miss Piggy With It and some glittery toe separators, Rainbow Connection, another 2 pack with Pepe's Purple Passion and Divine Swine, and Fresh Frog of Bel Air!

I also picked up ORLY's Holiday Soiree collection (which you saw yesterday!), and a Silver Holo top coat!  I got a GREAT deal on all the ORLY's...$3.75 each!

When I went back again this past weekend (Halloween weekend), I picked up some Bare Minerals Makeup:

A bunch of eyeshadows!  The four on the left are named after cute cocktails (Kir Royale, Strawberry Daquiri, Long Island Iced Tea, and Mojito) and came with a brush (not shown). The three on the left are all shades of brown.

I also picked up an eyeliner set (Retro liner plus brush) and a 7 Piece Girlfriend Collection that came with a mineral veil, blush, two eyeshadows (k.i.t. and b.f.f.) and an eyeliner and double-ended brush!

And here is MY BEST of the past two weeks:

OPI DS Signature, and OPI Ink (Suede version)  I found both of these at a GIANT EAGLE for $8 each!!!  Wish there had been more of the DS collection, I would've bought more.  BEAUTIFUL!

And finally I came home to nail mail!  From a giveaway I won from Carly at Lacquered Lover!

Yay Halloween polishes!!

Woooooo!  What a great past two weeks.  I've really not been buying polish for a while, so this was awesome for me!  I've got a lot of swatching to do :)

Have any of you picked up any of the ORLY Holiday Soiree Collection?? 

<3 Whitney

Another quick post...

Hey lovelies!

Although I am fully aware that it is Pink Wednesday, I just don't have the time this week to paint my nails again.  :(

I'm super super bummed because it was going to be my first one, but my thesis calls.  I had a big meeting today and I pretty much need to double what I've written by Friday.  But that's for me to worry about!

BUT I am going to post some pictures of of Bare Minerals Powder Eye Liner in Tiger's Eye that I took while I was in TN a few weeks ago for an interview:

Liner and the brush I use

Yes, that IS an eyebrow brush that I use.  I know you can get thin, pointed eye liner brushes but I like the angled brush much better.  It allows me to get it all the way to the inside point of my eye and I can also easily drag it out for a "cat eye" type look.  Sometimes I even use the leftovers to darken my brows a bit.

Here's the color on the back of my hand, it's a pretty dark brown.  You can easily make it look darker by adding a few more coatings of it, though! 

That's the liner on my eye with BE Kudos eye shadow.  I *love* the powdered eye liner.  I know most people prefer liquid or pencil, but if you haven't tried this, go to the store and try it out!  It's pretty good at lasting the whole day but sometimes I have to reapply just to darken it again if I'm going to go out for the evening or something.  However, as with all BE makeup, you can add a little water to it to change the color a bit and get it to last longer.

This is usually how I wear it for day time, although when I'm headed out to go dancing or something, I'll apply a bit more to make it darker.  But you know, the only dancing I do is line dancing, which sounds lame but it actually gets pretty intense, so there's no point in whorin' it out too much 'cause I'm just gonna sweat it off lol.  Haha sorry I'm feelin crude today.

All right, have a good week.  I'm looking forward to Friday when I can actually have time to do things again!  Hope you're all well :)

Whitney

PS I won a giveaway from Tracy @ Beauty Reflections and just got the stuff in the mail today!  I'm SO excited to try it out :) Thanks, girly!

Buxom Lips Bambi

Before my review I have a couple of things I'd like to say:First off, THANKS for following!  I appreciate that you guys read this and share your feedback with me :)
Second of all, if you haven't checked them out, some of the other blogs I follow are having some GREAT giveaways!  There's a section on my sidebar specifically for giveaways.

Anyway, onto the lips!

Buxom Lips from Bare Escentuals is by far my favorite lip gloss.  Ever.  I love the color selection and the fact that it's a lip plumper and make your lips a little cold and tingly!  And they all smell great.

Today I'm reviewing one of my favorites: Bambi.

Stock photo from BeautyWorks 'cause the dog got hold of mine and it's no longer pretty

Bambi is part of their Big & Healthy Lip Polish Collection.  It's not a "full color," and by that I mean it's definitely a sheer gloss rather than a lip stick.  It's a lovely pink shade with a peach undertone that looks good on just about everyone.

Nude lips, with no Bambi, = sad lips

Pink and sheer!

Happy lips with Bambi applied

I put a lot on so it would show up in the picture, which is why it looks a little darker around the edges in the second gloss photo.  It usually doesn't spread like that if you only put on one-two coats.  It ends up looking like the first gloss photo most of the time.

It's a very even application and something you can wear everyday since it's light and not too far off from the normal lip color.  I definitely like how it feels more than I care about the color, though!  It doesn't go on too thick and the tingle is great.  It does a decent job of plumping your lips just a little so they looks natural and not swollen. 

One gloss (0.15 oz) costs around $18 on its own, which is a lot for a lip gloss.  However, Bare Escentuals often has 3 or 4 of these glosses in smaller sizes that you can by in a set which is usually a better deal.  They even come in a cute make up bag sometimes!  This is such a good idea especially if you have trouble committing to only one color!   

I hope you enjoyed and I strongly suggest you at least go to the store and sample one of these glosses because they are definitely my favorite!  Let me know if you've tried it and love it as much as I do!

<3 Whitney

PS: Also, I started a twitter for the blog that you can follow at @ElementalStyles.  Annnnnnd if you have a blog and want to be added to my blogroll, send me an e-mail and be sure to add me as well :) Thanks guys!

Bare Minerals Eye Shadow

Hey everyone, I wanted to update again today because I'm going to be busy working on my thesis this week and may not have time to post again (although I do get distracted easily, so it's possible I'll still be on here!).

Anyway, if you've checked out my favorite products page you'll have figured out that I'm all about my Bare Minerals make up!  So while I was bored at my hotel last night, I decided to get some pictures of my make up routine so I could review some of the products I use on the regular.

Today I'm going to be reviewing two of their eye shadows: Kudos, a gold, and Idol, a plum color.  Both of these came in kits and aren't available for purchase alone, at least not on THEIR website, but they are very similar to the True Gold (glimmer) and Heart (glimmer).  You can, however, find the original colors online elsewhere and possibly in stores.

Idol (left) and Kudos (right) Eye Shadows

As you can see, they're both lovely, shimmery colors.  What I like to do for my "everyday" look is use the gold as my base color (sometimes even using it to highlight under my brows) and then use the plum in the crease and the corners.  It sounds a little odd but the purple isn't dark enough to clash with the gold so I think it ends up looking quite nice.

A few sweeps of both on my hand

Here's a picture of my eye, open and closed, with just the Kudos (gold) applied. 

Gold only, pretty subtle and good for work!

A little more added, you can apply more for a darker color

Like the caption says, you can generally apply a nice coating if you want a little bit darker color.  It's decently sheer and if you like wearing metallic colors but don't want them to be too loud, this is perfect color for you.

The cool thing about Bare Minerals make up is that you add a few drops of water it for a slightly different color that lasts a bit longer.  I usually don't have a problem getting my makeup to last all day, but I like having that option!  All of my images are of the dry application, though--I was getting ready to go out last night and didn't want my eyes looking too different!

Here is a picture of JUST the idol on my other eye. 

Idol

Like I said, it's pretty transparent and not "in your face" purple.  I like that it's a more subtle brownish plum color that blends well with the gold (see below).

Idol on Kudos

I was very disappointed with my pictures of the purple and gold together.  You can't really see it, which is unfortunate.  This is my best photo out of about ten or twenty, so I apologize!  It even actually looks like the Idol is on the inside crease of my eye when really I applied it to the outer edge!  Hopefully you can see a little difference between just the Kudos and this picture, though.  Like I said, the plum blends pretty well.

During the day I don't like to have too much of a "shadow" or too dark of a color in the crease of my eye, so this combo works well for me when I'm going to work.  If you're going out at night and want to rock the smoky eye then these colors probably aren't as dramatic for you!  But like I said, I love it for the daytime!  They shine in the sun, which is also a plus.

Let me mention real quick what brushes I use for these shadows:

Brushes!

They both are Bare Minerals brushes but you can use the colors easily with any brush.  The one I use for the gold is actually their Max Coverage Concealer brush and not an eye brush!  I like it because it's really wide and flat which makes for a quick application!  It's pretty thin at the end so I can get the shadow in the spots I want pretty easily!  I like larger brushes for eyeshadow, but that's just my preference.

For the crease and corners of my eye I use their Wet/Dry Eyeshadow brush.  It's small and chunky which helps if you don't want the color all the way across your eye.

Overall, I love these colors!  And the brushes.  Generally their eye shadows run about $13-$18 each in stores and the brushes are $6-$30.  I think that's semi ridiculous, especially because I'm a poor college student, so I highly recommend getting one of their kits!  I've collected about 10 brushes from buying kids which probably saved me something like $200.  Don't buy their brushes alone unless you're desperate!

Their nice concealer brushes and usually an eye brush comes in their starter kit so start with something like that if you've never tried the make up before.  I guess I should also mention that if you can get your kits either online (although then you can't see the stuff in person) or at an outlet mall!

I saved SO much money buying kits from outlet malls, if you get them at the end of the season you still get great stuff for a low price.  I got a $40 kit for something like $13 a few months ago at an outlet store in Maryland!  Love it.

So if you think you can't afford Bare Minerals, I promise you, there are good deals out there.  If you just go in and buy a foundation or eye shadow alone, you're going to spend so much more money.

If you don't already know, Bare Escentuals make up is available at their store, Sephora, online.  Sometimes you can find it at JC Penny if they have a Sephora make up counter!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Have a great next couple of days :)