Drumroll Please...Dior National Makeup Artist Kevianno Guerrero!

A couple of months ago a friend of mine Mayra who is a makeup artist connected me with a close friend of hers, Kevianno Guerrero, an amazing Dior National Celebrity Makeup artist.  We had a few conversations on the phone about makeup and he peaked my interest in trying out Dior. I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours chatting it up with him while he meticulously did my makeup.  It was an amazing experience and for those of you who love makeup, I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is to be around someone who talks about makeup in ways that I haven't even thought of before.  He is a true artist who understands color theory in depth and being able to mix colors to come up with beautiful looks.  To give you an idea of Kevianno's experience with makeup, he did tell me that he launched the MAC Cosmetics line in the US back in the early nineties-I was crazy impressed with this as I am a HUGE MAC fan.  I don't recall exactly how many years he spent working with MAC but I know it's well over ten.  He does editoral and countless red carpet events and to say that I know him and I am friends with him is quite an honor.

Check out his Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/Kevianno

Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Kevianno and I - The finished look very natural

Close up of eyes - No flash

Close up of eyes - Flash

One thing I definitely noticed about his work is simply the handling of the brushes, the feathery strokes and the attention to detail on blending and marrying different colors together. 

  The palette he used on my eyes - Dior Night Dusk 790

 

Nail of the day - Or shall I say Nail of the week - Zoya and Essence

So as I have begun purchasing nail polishes that are 3Free I felt the need to check out the Zoya line. Recently Zoya had a buy one get one free sale on their website and I dragged my feet in ordering that I missed the sale.  The day after the sale ended I went to Ulta and it just so happened that the Zoya polishes were buy two get one free.  Not as great as the buy one get one but at least I didn't have to pay shipping so it may have balanced out some.  In any event, one of the Zoya colors I picked up was a beautiful mauve pink called Pandora.  The color stands beautifully on it's own, however, that same trip to Ulta I swung by the Essence set up and saw this adorable color called Space Queen that I picked up.  I decided to pair the two colors up, Pandora as a base and Space Queen on top and voila! A gorgeous and fun combination.  It's a shame, the picture does the nail look no justice.  It doesn't capture the rainbow flecks of glitter that sparkle everywhere.  I did notice that the essence polish went on a little thick.  I didn't mind too much, since it was a glitter top I figured the overall final texture would probably be hidden by the glitter.  And at $.99 for an essence polish you can't complain-and they are 3Free!

I love this look! It's a neutral but fun look!

FYI-I applied the color on Wednesday night and it's Sunday and is not showing much sign of wear :) yay!  What are your favorite polishes of the moment?

Deborah Lippman Nail Polish - Wicked Game - LOVE IT!

Ok, so recently I became increasingly curious about high end nail polishes.  I wanted to see what all of the hype was about. Is it really worth the $18 to $25 a bottle?  I don't know about all that, the verdict is still out on that one.  About a month ago I bought a Chanel polish in the color Black Pearl and although I absoutely love the color I didn't find that the polish had any longer wear than an OPI or even Rimmel polish.  As well, I recently bought the Deborah Lippman nail polish in the color Wicked Game and although I absolutely ADORE the color, I don't think I would necessarily say that these high end polishes last any longer than OPI or some other drugstore brands.  I rarely ever get my nails done anymore as I'd rather spend money on makeup or clothes so I justified these expensive polish purchases to this fact.

Will I continue to buy high end polishes? Probably but I have made it a point to buy colors that are unique.  So my recent love is Deborah Lippmans Wicked Game polish.  This polish is amazing, it's this multidimensional color that looks like a purple, grey or even green depending on how the light shines on it.  Amazing.  I've also decided to buy polishes going forward that are 3Free - Free of Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Fomaldehyde and Toulene.  As well, beware, I have found Talc and Parabens in some polishes too.  I've really started to read labels carefully.  This is a personal choice of mine to try to lessen my chemical/toxins exposure.

In any event, check out this beautiful polish.  I am in LOVE!

I have been stepping out of the box this year as I have been programmed to wear neutrals because I've worked in a corporate environment for a long time, but not anymore: )  So I am enjoying experimenting with fun colors!  What are your favorite colors this season?

Tarte Starlet Collection Unboxing and First Impressions

I was absolutely THRILLED yesterday when my order of Tarte Cosmetics arrived from Sephora.  I've been anxiously awaiting this delivery as I have been eager to try "natural" makeup. I have been migrating my life towards natural/organic products about 6 years ago when I was pregnant with my first daughter.  We've transitioned our food consuption and household cleaning items to about about 70% organic/natural.  I chose to do this mostly for my kids.  Although I've given up soaps and lotions with parabens in it a while ago I didn't think I would be able to give up some of the "harmful ingredients" when it came to cosmetics....until I found Tarte though a friend Jenn, take a look at her blog.


http://www.jennstaz.com/2011/09/parabens/

She's in the process of eliminating toxic ingredients out of her cosmetic useage.  And I'm all for it.  Which is why I decided to put Tarte Cosmetics to the test.

This wonderful Tarte Starlet set has just about almost all eyeshadows you'll ever need unless you want to get super colorful looks that something like a Coastal Scents 88 Matte would come handy.  The packaging is sooooo irresistably cute.  It comes in this miror-like acrylic case that resembles a fancy jewelry box that can actually be reused after you finish all of the shadows.  You get so much bang for your buck with this set for $52 you get (24) shadows, (1) eyelash primer, (1) mascara, (2) blushes, (1) bronzer and (1) shimmering powder.  That is such an unbelieveable deal it's hard not to get excited about it.

One of my friends who's an avid makeup junkie warned me that Tarte had quite a bit of fallout so I was very mindful of that this morning when I was using it.  I made sure I "tapped" my brush several times after I swiped the shadows with my brush to minimize fallout.  I honestly did not find the shadows to have extreme fallout.  No more than my Smashbox shadows which I found to have more fallout than MAC.  The Tarte shadows were powdery as  you might be able to see from the swatch pictures.  The pigmentation is good, I wouldn't say extremely pigmented but I actually don't mind my shadows being what I like to call medium pigmentation because it allows me to build on the look and color.  I primed my eye with a MAC paint pot and I found that the shadow stayed on pretty well all day without any creasing.  Unfortunately the pictures I took of the look I did, did not do the colors any justice.  The colors were so much more vibrantly plummy than the pictures show.  As well, I wore the pink blush and it stayed put all day.  I have to say that I am extremely happy with this Tarte set so far! I will definitely be trying more Tarte products.  And to make it better, it's made with "good ingredients."  Tarte has earned another fan-Me!

Ok, so here is the method to the madness in the swatching, I swatched each row of shadows i.e. top left and top right were row one swatched.  And I tried to include pictures with flash and without.  Hope this is helpful!

 The gorgeous case!

 Swatches with flash of the top/first row of shadows

 Swatches of the first row without flash

 Swatches of the second row of shadows with flash

 Swatches of second row of shadows without flash

 Swatches of the third row/second drawer of shadows with flash

 Swatches of the third row/second drawer without flash

 Bronzer, (2)blushes and shimmer powder with flash

 Swatches of bronzer, (2) blushes and shimmer powder without flash

Close up with flash of e/s-I used the 2nd row plummy quad

  Full face look!

Thanks for reading! Hope this was helpful! xoxo Jen

Dior - 5 Couleurs 708 Amber Design Review

So recently I befriended a Dior Make Up artist and we had talked makeup a few times and he peaked my interest in trying out some of the Dior line of cosmetics.  Dior is obviously one of those "nice to have" things in your makeup collection but definitely not a must.  I do have to admit though, it is quite luxurious.  The packaging alone is solid and luxurious feeling and palette comes with a little slide on velvet like cover.

Right off the bat I could tell that this is an expensive shadow as from swatching it alone the shadows are sooooo unbelievably silky like I have never seen.  I think I chose a palette that may have been a bit "cooler" on the brown side for me to wear as an everyday look, however, I haven't experimented that much with different looks.  The dark brown color that you see is a very cool toned brown, one you could definitely use for smoking out your eye.  When I applied it in my crease it was definitely a little more dramatic looking than I was expecting.  My next look will be to try applying the dark brown directly on my lid and use the other colors on my crease and browbone to see if that produces a more "everyday" look that I was looking for.  The gel liner was firmly packed-just just give you an idea, when you rub your brush along it, it makes no dent whatsoever unlike the essence gel liner and even the Smashbox one I bought recently.  Fall out was almost non-existant and the shadow was extremely blendable.

Every girl deserves a little luxury in their makeup collection, right?

Check out the gorgeous packaging-if you can see there is a CD under laid beneath the blue cover

 Swatches without flash

Swatches with flash - they have a fun glittery color third from the left

Close up of eyes

Close up of eye with flash

Full face look :)

Wet n Wild Petal Pusher Palette and MAC Dupes - Smoky Eye

I decided to try out my Wet n Wild Petal Pusher palette tonight before we went out to dinner.  In all honesty, I used it one time before and applied my makeup at 8AM and by 12:30AM I noticed it creasing on me.  Tonight I used it just for the evening out and I did not have any creasing.  I do believe the colors on this palette are really gorgeous.  When I saw this palette at Ulta immediately I thought in my head, wow, there are a few noticable MAC dupes.  I will point that out later in my post.

I used the three colors on the right from the bottom up and the top left color as my highlighter.  I used the shimmery maroon color on the bottom left labeled "crease" for my lid, then applied the color on top in my crease.  I then took the bottom black glittery color and defined the outer corner of my eye.  Now I did feel that the eyeshadow did have a bit of fall out and was not as blendable as some of my other shadows but overall I was happy about the look it produced.  And even bonus Wet n Wild is so reasonably priced!

As well, I had another fabulous find at Target this week, the Physicians Formula Organic Wear Eye Makeup Remover pads.  I actually bought some MAC wipes last weeked that are unopened that are going back to Nordstrom because I found these!  These little pads are just the right size to do a quick clean up of any fall out.  Some added bonuses are that they are organic and they have a pleasant lavendar smell!

Check out what I believe which are the MAC equivalents

MAC shadows top-down:  Trax, Beauty Marked and Black Tied

Another photo of MAC equivalents without flash

Swatches of colors I used going from L-R is the WnW shadow and then the MAC dupe

As well, white color on the end is the WnW highlight color

I found these were so great for cleaning up the fall out! Small and compact too!

The final look!