Coastal Scents EOTD

Hey y'all!  Super quick post today.  Shortly after I got my most recent order of Coastal Scents Hot Pots, I decided to play around with a few.  You can see my swatches here. 

Unfortunately, I didn't make a list of what I wore other than everything on my eyes....so that's why I titled this an EOTD.  I quite like the combo and have received MANY compliments on it.

Now for the rundown:

Primer (DOH!, forgot to note which one)
Essence Stays No Matter What Eye Pencil in Whipped White Frosting over the lid only
CS Bronze Peach blended into the crease
CS Paprika blended over Bronze Peach
CS Georgia Peach all over the lid
CS Rich Walnut lightly blended into the outer V
Ulta Naked on the browbone

For my liner, I first applied Rimmel Scandaleyes liner in Brown then applied CS Burnt Umber over it.  I did this for the top and bottom liner.  Then I finished up with Maybelline Falsies mascara and Maybelline Define-A-Brow in Medium Brown.

 

So what do y'all think?  I'm absolutely LOVING it with my hair & eye color.  I feel I could pull this off year round.

Coastal Scents Hot Pots

Hey y'all!  If you haven't heard of Coastal Scents, where have you been?  They carry a wide variety of makeup and DIY bath products.  So far I'm loving everything I've purchased from them.  You can see how I used their empty palettes HERE to depot my other palettes into.  The makeup brushes I've tried are amazing....and I plan to get more.  The blush palettes are great, but today I'm going to show you my collection of Hot Pots.

Fair warning though, there will be a LOT of pictures in this post and I couldn't break it down into multiple posts without feeling like I was leaving something out.  

Hot Pots are individual eyeshadow pots similar to MAC and MakeUp Geek.  While those range in price from $5.99 for MUG to $10 for MAC, these retail for $1.95.  That being said, Coastal Scents ALWAYS has some kind of sale going on and you can get these for under $1....which is when I tend to stock up on them.  You can see in the picture above I have them in my CS DIY palette along with 2 MAC and one Urban Decay shadow(which are covered with the splatter brush so you can see just the CS ones.  For the price, you can't really go wrong....even if you don't care for them.  Which, there are a few that I'm not fond of so keep reading to find out which ones.

These swatches took up most of my forearm.  I debated on doing them over primer and/or NYX JEP in Milk, but decided to go on bare skin instead.  As you can see, some are pretty pigmented while others aren't.

Snow Bunny, Bronze Peach, Tuscany, Paprika, Burnt Umber, Volcanic Blast, and Vibrant Red

Neon Bright Pink, Passion Fruit Pink, Python Green, Vibrant Green, Deep Viridian, Georgia Peach, and Rich Walnut

I completely forgot to mention that I took these pictures with my cell phone.  I was having user errors with my DSLR and rather than toss it across the room I decided to put it down and just grab the phone.  It was kinda awesome though since I can just yell at my phone and it snaps a picture.  

Now to what they look like in the pan, and my thoughts.

Bronze Peach

What CS says: A sultry, brownish peach hue with a matte finish.

What I say:  I chose this because I'm LOVING how orange, peach, and coppery shades look on my eyes.  I felt this would be a better transition shade for me to pair up with those as it would have more than just flat brown.  Thankfully it lives up to what I want AND it's wonderfully pigmented.

Burnt Umber

What CS says: Rustic, deep berry hue that delivers a matte finish.

What I say: It's more of a medium-deep reddish brown.  I haven't really played around with this TOO much yet, though I did use it in an upcoming post...but this is absolutely fall smokey eye perfection to me.  I can't wait to play around with this some more.

Deep Viridian

What CS says: Deep green shimmery.

What I say: It's like a deep shimmery teal.  I love to wear this as bottom liner paired with neutral colors on the lid.  LOVE it.

Georgia Peach

What CS says: True peach hue with a shimmer finish.

What I say: I saw one of the review comments stating this pulls more orange than peach.  I wanted it either way, and boy am I glad I snagged it.  It does pull more orange-y peach and looks amazing on my eyes I think.  

Neon Bright Pink

What CS says: Vibrant fuchsia with an opaque matte finish.

What I say: I was slightly disappointed with this one.  It's sheer, but buildable.  That being said, it's probably WAY better over a base than on bare skin.  I still like it though & can't wait to use it more.

Paprika

What CS says: A rich, orange-red hue with a smooth, matte finish.

What I say: This is more of an orange-brown shade.  Perfect, for me, as a transition shade in the crease.  Absolutely LOVING it, and it's completely opaque and matte.

Passion Fruit Pink

What CS says: A bright pink hue with a smooth, matte finish.

What I say: This one is  one of the most disappointing of all that I have.  It's uber sheer, though I have used it over a white base and it was a little better.  

Python Green

What CS says: A vivid yellow-green hue with a matte finish.

What I say: Over bare skin this looks almost like a nasty bruise, but better over a white base.  I look forward to actually playing with it more.

Rich Walnut

What CS says: A lavish, deep brown hue with a shimmer finish.

What I say: I love this deep rich chocolate/coppery shade.  It's perfect for my blue eyes for a variety of uses.  Smokey eyes, crease color, liner, etc.  

Snow Bunny

What CS says: A flurry of soft white shadow with a matte finish.

What I say: If you're looking for a super opaque, stand alone white...this isn't it.  On bare skin you can barely see it, but this would look great over a white creamy base to set it and keep it from creasing.  It could also look great as a highlight color.  I was most disappointed in this shade, but I'll still work it in.

Tuscany

What CS says: A rustic reddish-orange hue with a matte finish.

What I say: Another lovely transition crease color.  The description is pretty spot on with this opaque, pigmented, matte.  It's got a little brown to it, but mostly reddish-orange.

Vibrant Red

What CS says: A siren red hue.

What I say: The picture of the pan doesn't do this one justice.  In the pic of my palette, it shows more true.  Such a vibrant red hue.  Pigmented like crazy, I can't wait to wear this during college football season.  It does look sorta orange in the swatch, but trust me it's a perfect red.

Vibrant Green

What CS says: A brilliant burst of green with a soft, matte finish.

What I say:  This is a vibrant kelly, Kermit, green.  I love how opaque this is and I can't wait to use this for St. Patrick's Day....and possibly Christmas.

Volcanic Blast

What CS says: An explosive, reddish-orange hue with a matte finish.

What I say: Perfect description from them for this shade.  I plan to play around with this when I want to do some more vibrant or sunset type eye looks.  I think the opacity of this will be perfect.

Some are just meh, while most are perfection and just as good(in my opinion) as some of the mainstream eyeshadows I own.  Bronze Peach, Tuscany, and Paprika all look kinda similar in the pan, but they are absolutely different shades/tones.  If you skip any of these, I would probably skip Snow Bunny and Passion Fruit Pink.  

Some of these I ordered in place of purchasing the Urban Decay Electric palette.  While I don't have it to compare and see if they are dupes, I'm pretty happy with the ones I picked.  I mean for $2(or under $1 when on sale) you really can't go wrong with any of these.  

If you haven't tried anything from CS, I would suggest signing up for their e-mail list so you can find out as soon as they load their deals.  Most of what I've purchased from them was during a 50% off Black Friday sale while most of these hot pots came from a recent $0.99 sale on all hot pots.  

These would be great for your own collection or even for someone just starting out with makeup.  It's inexpensive, good quality, and you can fully customize if you want.  

I'll have a FOTD post using some of these soon. :D

Do you own anything from Coastal Scents?  If so what's your favorite product?

Depotting into a Coastal Scents Palette

Hey y'all!  So today's post is something I've been wanting to do for a while.  I couldn't bring myself to spend the money for ZPalettes, so when Coastal Scents had their Black Friday sale, I went a little nuts.  Not overboard, but I got a few wants & a few things to make my process easier, prettier, & cleaner.  Not including shipping, the total cost to make my own palettes was around $6. 

This is the bulk of the space taken up at my makeup desk & I never really see anything without going through it all.  I needed to condense it all as much as possible and to make room for my larger palettes like my NYX Wicked Dream and 2 of my Naked palettes.  

With both orders, I got a few of the 28 Piece Interchangeable Palette.  These come with an insert that is glued in with circular empty spots to put pans into.  They do list on the website that the MAC pans are the same size, but will not stick with the magnet.  So, I found that if you start at one of the corners, you can start peeling up the padded insert.  I did have a few spots that wanted to stay stuck to the palette but a little rubbing alcohol took care of that.  I also kept the inserts off to the side and I'll tell you why later.

I also picked up some magnet sheets.  After seeing a few YouTube tutorials I settled on THESE ADHESIVE SHEETS.  I got the 8.5" x 11" 35mil.  Though next time I think I'll get the 30mil (mil is their term for thickness).  One of this size will cut in half for 2 of these 28 piece size palettes. 

Here you can see the magnet in the bottom as well as the first Wet N Wild eyeshadow trio I depotted.  I didn't clean off the backs of the pans, so I'm not 100% sure if they're sticking so well because of the magnet or the adhesive, but I think it's both.  I will say do not put a label on the back, as it seemed to not want to stick then.  I'm not going to explain how to depot, because there's a TON of tutorials on YouTube explaining how to do it for almost every brand.  I did the heat method using the scented candle you can see in the first picture which thankfully covered the smell. 

And here is the first palette all filled up.  I had some small square labels that I used to write information on then attach to the lid, lining them up.  Because these are WnW Trio's and 6-pans, they don't have individual names, I just wrote the palette name 3times or 6times to correspond to the shadows in that palette.  This way, I know what it comes from to reference for blog posts or repurchase.

My handwriting is horrible.  I put red spots on the corners of those palettes that are limited edition so I would know for future reference.  It would be hard for me to actually forget, but this way at least I can't.

I was able to fit 8 trio's and 5 of the 6-pan palettes in here with a little bit of room left.  I'm sure I could have worked it out better to have more space, but I like it this way.  I have 2 Silent Treatment trio's and since it's my go to, I put them together.  If I get more, I may have to rearrange everything and/or start another palette.  That being said, it's nice to have them all in one spot.  They took up a HUGE amount of space.

This is the 2nd palette that I did.  Thankfully I have more room to put things into because I absolutely LOVE the Coastal Scents hot pots that I have.  Every one of these stuck to the magnet with no problem.  In fact, my fingernail dipped into the UD Perversion shadow as I tried to move it on the magnet.

I'm going to get more materials to make more in the future so I can depot my blushes, press some of my loose shadows & blushes, as well as depot some of my Too Faced palettes.....and the others that I didn't depot yet because I just didn't want to mess with it.

Now, back to why I set the inserts aside.  The bottom of each empty pod area has a magnet.  These are stuck to the bottom layer of the insert.  Once you peel it up and off, you can peel the magnets right off of it.  I saved these in case I have pans in the future that do not want to stick to the magnet, I can just glue one or more of them to the bottom of a pan & it will stick.  Those tiny little magnets are extremely strong & it's a waste to just trash them. 

This all helped in freeing up a LOT of space.  Taking 14 palettes & 12 individual pots and putting them into 2 large palettes.  Yeah, TONS of space.  I will admit that they're probably not as strong as a Zpalette, you can't see what's in them until you open them, and opening can be a little tricky.....but the cost outweighs all of that.  Not to mention, there's no mirror...I have a huge lighted one so I don't need it.  I really liked doing this.  :D

Your Most Beautiful You with IT Cosmetics - QVC TSV 7/13

*IT Cosmetics products in this post provided for review*

Just the other day I posted THIS press release about the upcoming Today's Special Value on QVC by IT Cosmetics for this Saturday, 7/13.  Luckily, I was able to also try this kit out and tell y'all how amazing it is.

I'm not going to include a TON of info about the products on this post, as a good bit is included with that press release.  What I will state is some of the packaging info and how I honestly and truly feel about these.

First off, when UPS dropped off my package, it was kinda crushed.  Thankfully everything inside was packaged well enough that just the product box containing the kit took a little damage.  I love that the box has this quote by the creator, Jamie Kern Lima, on it:  "You are love, you are light, you are beautiful, you are one of a kind, you are worthy, you are a miracle, you are what you believe, you are IT!"  Also, the company is totally cruelty free!

L to R: Heavenly Luxe™ Pointed Precision Complexion Brush, Heavenly Luxe™ Dual Airbrush Foundation/Concealer Brush, YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil, Hello Light™ Anti-Aging Creme Luminizer, Vitality Lip Blush™ Hydrating Gloss Stain in Je Ne Sais Quoi, and Bye Bye Under Eye in Neutral Medium.

Swatched on my hand: luminizer(you can barely see it, gloss stain, brow pencil(heavy and light handed), and the concealer underneath.

Bye Bye Under Eye - This is a 1oz. tube & is a full coverage waterproof concealer that can also be used as an allover foundation.  Using this and the Dual Airbrush Foundation/Concealer Brush I buffed this all over.  I made sure to conceal first then cover the rest.  I picked the shade Neutral Medium and while it doesn't look like it matches on my hand...it totally matches my face.  I'm around a NC25 and this was perfect for me.  It covered my scars, red spots, and almost fully covered my scars.  It's full coverage without feeling heavy and thick.  It almost feels like a BB Cream.  The brush was also amazing for application.  The small end perfect for concealing and getting in tiny spots(eyes/nose) & the larger end for all over the face.  It's synthetic and amazingly soft.

Your Brows But Better Pencil - A retractable pencil & spooley brush in one.  The brush end is amazing and better than anything I've ever used to brush through my brows.  The pencil color is kinda the same color as freckles & I was afraid it wouldn't work for me since I have red hair....but it totally did.  You can see below how natural it made my brows look without making them look all made up.  I have scars in both eyebrows and it concealed those perfectly.

Hello Light Luminizer - The packaging on this is amazing.  The back of the box shows you exactly where to apply this.  The compact is mirrored silver with a mirror on the inside.  The creme looks golden in the compact, but is almost undetectable when swatched.  In fact it's almost like a clear champagne color.  When you use the Pointed Precision Complexion Brush to apply it, it gives a beautiful glow without looking vampire sparkly.

Vitality Lip Blush Gloss Stain (Je Ne Sais Quoi) - The color in the tube looks like a milky baby pink, but changes to a slightly darker(almost a light Barbie) pink gloss once applied.  It's like your lips but better....well if you have pink toned lips that is.  I can't quite pinpoint the scent, but it's not distracting or annoying or lingering.  It feels great on the lips and keeps them feeling smooth even after eating.  The packaging is super adorbs too.  It has tons of good for you ingredients to take care of your lips.  It's more like a balm than a gloss.

Just the IT Cosmetics products.

Just the IT Cosmetics products.

It's just so natural looking and evens out my skin.  I had to add some color to my face & took more pics.

What else I used.....Urban Decay Primer Potion, Urban Decay Naked Palette(virgin, sin, sidecar, half baked, toasted, & hustle as my liner), Maybelline Define A Lash(because my other mascara was so dry it wouldn't go on), Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer in Milk Chocolate, Coastal Scents blush palette(used 2 of the orange-y brown tones, and Rimmel Stay Matte powder in translucent.


I used NO primer with this and the Bye Bye Under Eye did NOT settle into my pores nor did it separate as my face started getting oily.  I love these and can only imagine now much I would LOVE the Bye Bye Pores products...since mine are huge.

Don't forget to check out IT Cosmetics on QVC this Saturday starting at 12am(midnight) EST.  I don't have a price for this kit, but I'm told it's an amazing surprise.

Your IT Cosmetics Most Beautiful You 6-pc Collection is a Today’s Special Value (TSV) on QVC: it’s available ONE DAY ONLY exclusively on QVC and QVC.com on July 13th, 2013!


Have you tried IT Cosmetics?

Note: Products were sent for review for a 100% honest opinion.

Amazon goodies!!!

Since I'm rebuilding my nail polish collection, I wanted something a little different too.  I've seen some YT nail tutorial's using these Konad nail stamping plates & thought OMG I want those!  I am so not artistic, especially when it comes to trying to paint a design on my nails.  I tried on my toenails before Christmas and failed miserably.  

I decided to research these things and about fell out of my chair at the price.  Even Ebay had ridiculous prices.  SO......I went to Amazon to see if there were any knockoff brands that would do the same thing.  I found SHANY Nail Art.for around $15.00 and 25 plates/discs.  IMO, the only bad thing about choosing these is that I couldn't see what designs were on them.  Also, the fact that some of the reviews were absolutely correct.  These "discs" are about 2" in diameter, very thin, covered in plastic on one side, and have extremely rough/sharp edges.  The "packaging" these comes in is pretty much useless. 

Amazon did NOTHING to make sure these wouldn't slide all over the place in the box, and when I picked mine up off the porch to bring it in, I had like 3-4 discs fall out of the edge of the box.  They only taped the top & bottom length wise.  Though I'm not sure they wouldn't have sliced through any additional tape, it would've been nice to at least try.

I'm planning to take a Dremel tool to the edges to kinda file them down to see if that helps as some of the reviewers said.  If not, I'll just be extremely careful.  Luckily I have found a place to store them....a small round tin that I'm currently trying to clean the last of the candle wax out of.  

I really like the designs on these & can't wait to start playing around with them.  If you're curious, just do a YouTube search on "nail stamping art".  It's an easy way to get that cute art on your nails at home!  Now if my stamper & scraper will get here I can play!!


The other item I ordered from Amazon is.......

a Coastal Scents 10 blush palette.  Please excuse the picture.  i think the flash drowned the color out.  However, you can click here to see what it looks like online.  I've heard good things about Coastal Scents eyeshadow palettes & well.......I have a crapton (yes, that's a word...LoL) of eyeshadows.  Other than my BE blushes, I have 2 (3 if you count the ELF contour & blush kit) and wanted some variety.  You can see a better pic & swatches here, I think her pics look much better & I'd do swatches, but I already put up my goodies from today.  I may do some later.  


Here's a couple of pics of both items together.  Again, sorry about any brightness, as I took these late at night inside and the flash just didn't like me using it.  Not to mention I still have no editing software for my photo's.  

You can see the blushes better, but the discs reflect too much.

That's just a plastic sheet in the lid of the palette not a mirror.

I'll say it again........I can't wait to start playing with these.  I've been kinda in a make-up slump the past few weeks & think this will help me!

TOODLES Y'ALL!!!