Beauty Thoughts: My Wishlist

Hello my dear readers!

Sometimes, the best part of make up is looking at different things you may want and compiling a wish list. I wanted to share what I am currently lusting after and I’ll probably add a note on when I plan to purchase certain items from my wishlist. If I don’t mention when I want to buy it-it probably means I don’t plan on buying it’s just pretty to look at. =)

Too Faced The Return of Sexy Palette

Too Faced Return of Sexy Eyeshadow Palette (Birthday): I’ve never owned a Too Faced Palette before in my life. I never wanted all of the 9 shadow palettes they’ve come out with…but this one really caught my eye. Not only in packaging but swatches as well. Sephora posted a picture of the shadow on various skintones and they all looked amazing!!

MAC’s ravishing

Next, I have really been enjoying Mac lipsticks recently…all three that I own. I was watching pinksofoxy’s youtube videos on her favorite mac lipsticks and dupes for them and the one color I really fell in love with was Ravishing. It’s a beautiful pink coral color that is perfectly within colors I absolutely adore. I plan on buying this around my birthday so that I can also pre-order from the Marilyn Monroe collection. (Thank goodness I am on good terms with the ladies at my local MAC counter.)

MAC’s Gingerly

This blush I have been wanting to try for quite a while. Totalmakeupjunkie101 on youtube is always raving about this color being the perfect “perk your cheeks up” color. She also has a bit of a darker skintone than I do. I think after watching her mention this blush in so many of her videos I’ve started to want to try it. I do love neutral toned blushes that I can just throw together. I also plan on getting this with I pick up Ravishing.

MAC’s Cleansing Oil

Like I mentioned before, I am on a total cleansing oil kick! I really want to try this one from Mac! I will probably get it in a MAC haul because I want to compare it to the Philosophy Cleansing Oil I have.

Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil (pink)

Another cleansing oil I really want to try, the Shu Uemura’s Fresh Pore Clarifying gentle cleansing oil. I thought out of all the cleansing oils, this one would also tackle my pores and maybe help with my oily skin without making it too oily. (Plus it’s so pretty).

Eyeko Mascara

This mascara I heard about from the pixiwoo sisters. It looks interesting and I adore the squeeze tube design. They are now available online at Sephora (which is nice that those of us from the US won’t have to pay an arm and a leg to have it shipped from the UK.)

Those are my high end item wish list. I will probably make a drugstore wishlist soon. I just need more time to weed out the items I kind of want to the items I really want (since there are so many drugstore products.)

Thank you for reading,
Binny

 

 

In My Head: My Heart Hurts

This morning the news was bombarded with the story about the horrendous shooting at Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Many of my readers may (or may not know) that I am from Colorado. I grew up in Denver and now live in Thornton (about 20 minutes north of Denver.) I have been to the Century 16 theater and know quite a few people who frequent it often.

More often than not, when I hear about shootings-it’s usually happening in other places. I had the mentality that it happens to other people, not here, not this close to home. The last time anything this tragic of this magnitude happening here was Columbine. I was only in middle school when it happened and was too young to really understand the lasting impact that event would have on daily life. (To me, it didn’t really have an impact…I didn’t think it would ever happen to MY school.)

But this morning all of that changed. This even opened my eyes that regardless of where these tragedies happen-I will impacted. I now understand that I don’t live in this safe haven bubble where my world is protected from the heinous crimes other people choose to commit. I am in their world just as much as they are in mine. It’s a scary thought; one that makes me feel extremely vulnerable.

But I also begin to see that my world is interconnected with the victims as well. Hearing about the young children who were hurt or killed breaks my heart and I can barely compose this entry or myself without crying. Knowing that there are parents who had their entire worlds shattered because of one person’s heartless act. There are young adults who had entire futures unexplored because of this.

I don’t know his reason for committing this crime and frankly, I don’t care. Lives were changed forever. People here will no longer feel safe doing something as innocent as going to see a movie…in a state where I always thought I was safe. I always thought “no one in Colorado would have the pure evil inside them to commit a crime of this magnitude.” And yet here I am, scanning new headlines and every social media I am connected to to find out if I knew someone there (No matter how distant it may be…maybe a fellow classmate from highschool.)

But it also taught me to appreciate. To not let the minute details of life bother me. To be grateful for the family I have and to be able to hold them and tell them I love them. Something I hope I never forget again.

Thank you for reading,
Binny

In My Head: Study Tips!

Hello Everyone!

So as I mentioned before, I am preparing to decide my future. In preparing for my future, I have come across a few little tips that help me focus and study and get the most out of my studying. I hope this helps some of you who may still be in school, are taking a test, or just learning in general to look at yourself and start to understand how you learn best.

The first things I learned were:

–I completely and utterly lack the ability to multitask. I cannot be someone who has the TV going on in the background, Facebook casually opened, or others around me talking and study at the same time. I just get too distracted too easily and I can’t study or retain any information from that study session.

–I know how I learn best: For me, I remember and retain information(and integrated it into my schema) best when I am able to listen to someone say it and write it down while I’m listening. This is why lectures really work well for me. I don’t do well with “practicing” concepts if I don’t have time to simply hear someone explain it and for me to write it down. I am an auditory learner but only when I can also write it down. Visuals don’t really help me cause I can’t recall visuals like some others can. I only know it if I remember writing it (in tandem with someone saying it to me…I can’t stress that enough.) This is why taking notes from a book helps me…but not as much as taking notes during a lecture.

–Take BREAKS! This is the most important thing and the hardest thing for me because I have a very odd way of focusing. I tend to hyper focus for HOURS at a time. I mean completely focused, I can’t take in anything going on around me because I am so focused on what is before me. I feel like once I get in the “zone” as my family calls it I just want to keep on studying. The side effects of being a creature of habit fur sure. But as many of you already know, most people remember things at the beginning and end the best-I’m not exception. Therefore, by taking breaks I am able to have more beginning and ends to remember.

–Have a bottle of water near by. One of the biggest distractions for me is that I like to snack while studying. It’s an easy way to distract myself because…well my snacks eventually run out and I go search for more. So I switched to having a bottle of water with me so that I can always just go re-fill it and no worries there.

–A white board. I have a giant white board I use for writing up key concepts and points that I need to remember. Using the colors and writing it after writing it in my notes really helps me see things I didn’t see just on paper. Plus, using the colorful markers are just fun and anything that makes studying fun is a win.

These are just 5 quick little things I do to make sure when I sit down to focus-I get the most out of it. I hope this helped you all a little bit. Please, if you have any tips leave a comment. I am always looking for ways to improve how I study!

Till next time,
Binny

Beauty Thoughts: Cleansing Oil

Hello My Darling Readers,

Today, I wanted to take a break from massive swatches and reviews. (I am in the process of writing reviews for some of the palettes I recently obtained which include but are not limited to the Hello Kitty Parisenne Palette, tokidoki airways palette, tokidoki love from london palette, and theBalm balmbini vol. 2 palette…plus other things from hauls.)

I wanted to discuss a bit about something I have been using lately-cleansing oils. I bought the purity cleansing oil from philosophy awhile back during a sale they were having. I thought the cleansing oil looked very interesting and had seen a few youtube videos and read a few blogs raving about these products. I tend to have oily skin, it can be acne prone but usually not, and I will get dry around the lips if I don’t drink enough water each day. So, I was looking for a gentle way to remove my make up at night without agitating the dry skin (which is more often during the summer). I was using unscented baby wipes, but I noticed that it really agitated any dry spots I would develop from my bad hydration habits.

That’s when I heard about the cleansing oils. I have seen quite a few people raving about the MAC cleansing oil (which I plan on purchasing soon) but didn’t want to pay the $26 for 5 fl oz. Now it’s not that most expensive cleansing oil available, but I was able to get 1 fl oz of the Philosophy cleansing oil for $3 during a sale. So I ended up paying $15 for 5 fl oz. rather and $26.

I initially was only using it remove heavy make up-and I still do mainly use the oil to remove my make up when I have a full face/night out make up. But I have also started using it when I develop eczema around my lips. Not a pretty site, but I know I have to be extra gentle with cleansing. So far, I really enjoy using the cleansing oil at night. It removes my make up without feeling like my skin was also stripped along with it (which was how it felt after using the baby wipe.) I still wash my face with a normal cleanser afterwards, but it’s nice washing my face knowing I am going to actually be cleaning my face and not just washing off the make up.

Using the philosophy cleansing oil has started a small and growing obsession with cleansing oils. The two I am desperate to try are the cleansing oil from mac and the pore clarifying oil fro Shu Uemura. I am trying to wait till Shu Uemura has a sale or some sort…maybe a friends and family sale. The MAC one I know I am going to get in September when my birthday rolls around. (This is also a ploy because I know my MAC counter lets people pre-order collections when they come in to buy something. I know the Marilyn Monroe collection is coming out in October, so going in September I have a feeling they’ll let me pre-order from that collection and I am going to MAJORLY Haul things.)

Thanks again for stopping by and look forward to reviews, swatches, and general non-sense,

Binny

Beauty Thoughts: theBalm Balmbini Vol. 2 Palette Swatches

Hello dear readers,

I promised I would get this posted as soon as I can and so here it is: the swatches from the palette I won from theBalm.

If you don’t know, theBalm gives away one product to a fan every day 5 days a week. You simply post on their facebook wall what is one product you would like to try. They randomly select a winner every day and then send it to you! Which is pretty awesome in my opinion because I love theBalm and I think they are worth every penny.

You can sometimes find their products discounted at TJMaxx or Marshall’s. They also go on sale at Hautelook and sometimes have freaking amazing deals like buy one shady lady palette and get the other two for free.

But on to the good stuff.

Like I said earlier, I won the balmbini palette vol 2.

The outside of the Palette

The inside of the palette

So as you can see, the palette comes with a highlighter, a liner (and shadow), three eyeshadows (that can also be liners), a lip/cheek tint, and a lipgloss.

This palette was designed to be compact, but still give you everything you need to touch up on the go. It was described as a mini face palette, which I thought was adorable. It really does give me everything I would need on the go. I can easily fit it in my purse or bag. It’s a wonderful size for traveling (my boyfriend even said it would be perfect for camping because it’s so small and he knows I love my make up.)

On to the swatches!

Promiscuous Pearl and Jinxy Jasmine

Promiscuous Pearl and Jinxy Jasmyne

The highlighter is a really pretty neutral highlight. It’s a bit more pink that Mary Lou (the other popular highlighter from theBalm) but I think it balances well with the other colors in the palette. Jinxy Jasmyne did not swatch as well as I thought it would. It was really dark and pigmented on my finger, but when I swiped it on my arm it just didn’t come out as pretty. Hopefully it matches my finger and not my arm. It’s really creamy (almost wet feeling…)

Eyeshadows: Manic Maribel, open to offers olwen, and lavish latoya

Manic Maribel, Open to Offers Olwen, and Lavish Latoya

These eyeshadows definitely delivered like I expected. TheBalm has AMAZING eyeshadows and these definitely lived up to my others. I haven’t worn them yet, but I think they are all wonderful, shimmery colors. They don’t have any large pieces of glitter, it’s mostly shimmer and it looks amazing. They’re very creamy and swatched super well (both on my finger and arm.)

Lip/Cheek Stain and lipgloss: Strawberry and nude

Strawberry and Nude

The lip/cheek stain in strawberry is bright coral pink. It’s a wonderful cream blush and loved how it felt. I haven’t worn it on my cheeks yet, but I will soon so I can do a more in-depth review of this palette. The gloss is a typical nude gloss. It’s very nude and almost blends into my skintone. I wonder if it’s going to wash my out…we’ll have to see.

Well, those are the swatches from theBalm balmbini vol. 2 palette. I will let you know my first impressions on this product when I get a chance to wear it!

Thank you for stopping by,
Binny

Beauty Thoughts: Face of the Day

Hello my wonderful readers,

I wanted to do a quick face of the day for you all. I apologize for the messy hair in the picture, I just got back from running a couple errands.

FOTD 7/11/2012

The run down of items I used:

Face:
Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation in 370 Natural Tan
Concealer: theBalm Time Balm Concealer in Medium (with Pixi Eye brightener under the eye)
Powder: Milani Even Tone Powder in 03 Natural

Eyes:
Lid: Snobby from theBalm Nude ‘Tude
Crease: Sultry from theBalm Nude ‘Tude
Outer Corner: Silly from theBalm Nude ‘Tude
Eyeliner: Wet ‘N Wild Gel Liner in Black
Mascara: tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes

Cheeks: Mac’s Gold Trace
Lipstick: Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle (which is faded thanks to drinking orange julius…no regrets.)

Those are the products I’m wearing today. I’m trying out the Revlon Whipped Foundation. I might do a review…but with so many out there I’m not sure I want to.

If you have any questions about the products I’m wearing please let me know. Also, if you have any thoughts on the products I’ve used, leave a comment!

Thank you for stopping by,
Binny

Beauty Thoughts: Tokidoki Love From London Palette Swatches

Hello my loves,

I posted a tokidoki haul picture yesterday of everything I bought from tokidoki’s 40% off sale at Sephora. One of the items I bought was the Love from London Palette. I really love the package of the palette because even though it is shaped like a phone booth (the stereotypical red ones that every tourist takes a picture of when they visit London) it is unique. I think that even though it might be a bit harder for me to store, it’s worth it because I just like the way it looks. It is a bit bulky though. I think it’s mainly thicker to house the little toy most tokidoki palettes comes with.

Confession: I bought this palette mainly because I wanted the limited edition collectable of Mozzarella in the adorable hat. I know…I’m a sucker for toys.

Here’s the inside of the palette:

The inside of the Tokidoki Love From London Palette

The collectable figurine I was lusting after: (toooooo cute!!)

The cuteness in the palette

Now on to the good stuff-the swatches:

Sloane Square

Sloane Square

This is a light pink with a darker pink sheen to it in the pan (the picture doesn’t show it because my camera is such a high maintence drama queen.) But when swatched it comes out looking pretty matte. I think the sheen will come off better on the eye with a primer underneath.

Baker Street

Baker Street

This color is a matte peach/cream color. The picture makes it look almost white/grey, but in person I swear it’s more cream and warm. I apologize for the funky lighting. This is a beautiful matte color (and super creamy). I think it would be a good color for both the lid or highlight.

King’s Road

King’s Road

This is a pink/copper color with silver glitter in it. It’s quite pretty for an all over lid color. It is also quite pigmented (Like most of Tokidoki’s glitter colors tend to be.) I’m not a fan of the glitter, but I am hoping that it doesn’t have too much fall out.

Park Lane

Park Lane

For some reason, the photo of the actual eyeshadow is way more gray than it is in person. Int he pan it is actually a yellow (almost pastel yellow) with gold glitters in it. The swatch is bit more true to color (thank you yellow skin!) The gold glitters don’t show up as well when swatched (as you can tell by the picture) I am hoping it shows up a bit better in person because it gorgeous! It’s probably going to be one of my new favorite eyeshadow colors.

Berwick Street

Berwick Street

This is my absolute favorite color in the entire palette! It’s a nice purple/brown color with green duo chrome/glitter. The duo chrome comes off better in the palette but the glitters take over in the swatch! I’m not a big fan of glitter, but this color is just too awesome not to love!

The Strand

The Strand

This is a light blue with grey tones (if that makes sense…which it probably doesn’t…my bad.) This eyeshadow also contains silver glitter. I think it’s a pretty, creamy, and wonderful light blue to add to the palette.

Savile Row

Savile Row

This color is has a satin finish. It has no large chunks of glitter but it has a very nice satin sheen finish when swatched. Like all the other colors, it is very creamy and pigmented. This is the perfect neutral crease or lid color for me. I am a big fan of neutrals so I think this color is fantastic.

Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street

This is easily the brightest color in the palette. It’s a very striking blue, that appears a bit lighter in the pan picture than in person. The swatch is a bit truer to color though. This one has finer blue glitters in it than the glitters found in Berwick Street or The Strand.

Parliament Square

Parliament Square

This is marked as a bronzer…but looking at the swatch and the pan…I think it’s too pink to be used a bronzer (I think it would just make me look a very odd color.) But I think it would be perfect as a blush. It’s the perfect neutral pink color I could use everyday as a blush. It has shimmer in it (like most tokidoki blushes do) and is quite pigmented. It has some golden glitter in it, but the glitter is fine and similar to the glitter in Carnaby Street.

Those are the swatches and my impressions from the swatches! I’ll post a more indepth review after I’ve had time to use it. Next, I will swatch the balmbini vol. 2 palette from theBalm! So Be on the look out for that!

Thanks for stopping by,
Binny

Beauty Thoughts: Tokidoki Haul! (+ theBalm)

Good Morning everyone!

I know I just posted a Target Haul, but the items I ordered from Sephora also just arrived.

I wasn’t planning on placing an order, but as some of you may know Tokidoki is currently 40%. I believe this is because they are discontinuing sales of tokidoki make up at Sephora. (This also makes me incredibly sad because tokidoki is one of my favorite make up brands ever.)

But let’s get on with what I ended up buying from this sale!

Tokidoki Haul and the balmbini palette!

So starting with my tokidoki haul:
Love from London Palette
Gelato Lip balm lip stain in Donutella
Lip gloss Trio in Medium
Punk Lash Mascara in Cactus Rocker
Prisma Gloss in Rondine Love
Perfetto eyeliner in Sabochan

theBalm product in the picture I won off their facebook daily giveaways. If you want to try a certain product from theBalm, post it on their facebook wall. They pick a random winner everyday (Monay-Friday). I really wanted to try a few things so I requested the balmbini vol 2 palette! I was picked as the winner on July 5th! I got this package in on Monday July 9th! So I was pretty excited about it!

My first reaction to the balmbini palette is that it’s a small easy to travel palette. It comes with one highlighter/shadow, one liner/shadow, three eyeshadows, one lip/cheek cream, and one lipgloss. I will put swatches in a different post by itself (as well as the tokidoki love london palette.) =)

That was my mini haul….my heart breaks that Tokidoki will no longer be sold at Sephora, but I hope that Ulta will pick up the line (or the sales go to their website tokidoki.it)

If you have any experience with the products, please let me know. I would love to hear what you think of the tokidoki line or thebalm!

Thank you for stopping by,
Binny

Beauty Thoughts: Small Target Haul

Hello Wonderful Readers!,

Just another quick entry. Today, I needed to make a Target run for some cotton balls (I’m literally down to 3 cotton balls left…) But while there, I decided to use up some Target and manufacturer coupons I had to pick up some other things.

The small Target Haul I had

As you can see, I did end up picking up:
my usual Up&Up cotton balls (which I had a coupon for $.50 off)
the Up&Up sun screen (with a $2 off coupon)
the Revlon Colorstay Whipped foundation (with a $2 off Revlon coupon)
the new L’Oreal lip product (with $2 off L’Oreal as well as a $3 off 2 beauty products from Target coupon)
and of course no trip to target is complete without Hello Panda cookies!!

Not a large haul, but I picked up two things I have been wanting to try for a wile. I also bought the sun screen because I am going to have Orientation for my internship in August where I’ll be outside for 2-5 hours everyday. So I needed sunblock and I was running out of my Neutragena one.

I will probably report back on my own thoughts about the foundation and lip product once I get to try them out more.

Until then,
Binny

Beauty Thoughts: Face of the Day-Green Challenge

Hello Lovlies,

I usually don’t post this late at night but I wanted to share a quick Face of the Day with you all.

As a challenge to increase my skills, I agreed with a “weekly” challenge set up by a few lovely ladies I talk to on Facebook. This week’s challenge (our first one) was to incorporate green into our look. It could be anything-eyeshadow, eyeliner, lipstick, blush, etc. There just had to be green in the look.

This is my take on that look:

My take on the Green Challenge

A quick run down of everything on my face:

Foundation: MUFE HD Foundation in 127
Powder: Inglot Pressed Powder  in 14
Concealer: theBalm time balm concealer in Medium
Eyebrows: Elf eyebrow kit in Dark
Lid: Naked 2 Chopper
Crease: Tokidoki Airways Palette Hong Kong
Outer Corner: Tokidoki Airways Palette New York and Wet ‘N Wild Comfort Zone Palette Right Crease Color
Eyeliner: Wet ‘N Wild gel liner in Black set with BE Eyeliner in Legit
Mascara: tarte Lights Camera Lashes

Lipstick: Rimmel Kate Moss 08
Lipgloss: UD gloss in Naked

Tell me what you think of the look! I  don’t usually use greens in my looks so this challenge really helped me expand out of my comfort zone!

Thanks for stopping by,
Binny