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Affordable Beauty Giveaway!

If you've been following me, you know I had an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday.  So... I'll be updating this giveaway as I can and adding more details, but for now....  here are the pictures and rafflecopter to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

* "Eyes The Limit" Eyeshadow Primer
* Glamoflauge concealer in Light
* NailPolish in "Just Dance"
* TopTenTrendsetters Palette in Guilty Pleasure

* "Brows Now" Brow Gel in Medium / Dark 

$8 Palette of Awesomeness!!!!

$8 Palette of Awesomeness!!!!

This is the Natural Eyes - Neutral Eyeshadow Palette by Hard Candy

I paid $8 at Walmart (Where Hard Candy is sold exclusively)

I LOVE the packaging! This gold tin reminds me of packaging from some of the more expensive cosmetics brands, like Tarte and Too Faced.

NOTE: If you're on this site on your smart phone, the pictures might look a bit blurry. If so, they get clearer when you click on them.

The tin is held shut with magnets and opens to reveal 9 shadows, a mini primer, a mini eyeliner, double ended applicator sponge, mirror, and pop-out instructions (which is GENIUS!)

I also LOVE that they have named the shadows! (Please ignore the fact that I spelled Girlie wrong.... ugh!)

Each row of shadows is a different look with instructions included. I played with each one, and while I strayed from the guide a bit, they are three looks that are thoughtfully and successfully put-together.

All of the following swatches were created with an eyeshadow brush over the primer included with the kit

THREE LOOKS!

The DAY look

The first row of eyeshadows is "Day" makeup using the colors Tease, Toying, and Minx

Tease and Toying are matte and Minx is a shimmer. All three are soft and pigmented.  Tease is almost the exact shade of my skin, so it is the PERFECT brow bone color!

The EVENING look

The second row is "Evening" makeup using the colors Bashful, Girlie, and Philander

Again, soft and pigmented. Bashful and Girlie are shimmery and Philander has a subtle gold glitter. These colors still create a natural look, but have the shimmer for that little extra glam at night.

The DRAMA

The third row is "Drama" makeup using the colors Chatty, Coy, and Frisky

3 more soft and pigmented colors. Chatty is matte, Coy is shimmer, and Frisky has a pretty gold sparkle. Chatty might be my favorite transition color of all time. This picture does NOT do it justice! If it was sold as an individual shadow, I would buy multiples! LOVE! IT!

Here is my version of DRAMA without primer.  It stays subtle but still has impact! Bear in mind, this was built on top of the other 2 looks. SO it's not done exactly as they say. I was just playing at the time and snapped this picture without putting much thought into it. I will try to get this post updated with the other looks and with this one using primer. 

More Swatches!

In an attempt to show you how gorgeous these colors are (despite my crappy phone camera), here are a couple more pics!

Soooooo pretty!

And that's all for now! I hope you found this helpful and I'd love to hear what you think below!

As always, thank you for checking out my blog! Feel free to follow me on Bloglovin so you can be notified whenever I post new junk! 

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time!!!   

SOHO Disney Princess makeup brushes and sponges at Walgreens

Ok.... I'm going to jump straight to the most exciting point!!! One of these princesses is not like the others! Does this mean Belle will be the next Elf Cosmetics / Disney princess!!??!!    EEP! I hope so!

Ok, on to pictures!    : )

First up! ARIEL!

NOTE: If you're on this site on your smart phone, the pictures might look a bit blurry. If so, they get clearer when you click on them.

Next is JASMINE!

Princess BELLE!

Princess AURORA!

And finally SNOW WHITE!

Dramatic Eyeshadow in Simple Steps

I don't think applying makeup has to be complicated or expensive! I'm not a professional makeup artist, so I don't pretend to have all the answers. However, I will still happily share my somewhat sloppy, simple, and effective methods.    : )    If you find them helpful, then yay! That's what it's here for. If you have suggestions for a better way, I'm open!

So.... here goes!

For this eye makeup, I did the following

NOTE: If you're on this site on your smart phone, the pictures might look a bit blurry. If so, they get clearer when you click on them.

Step 1:
I smear on a layer of Maybelline's 24hr Color Tattoo in Leather.

I don't know if this was a limited edition color or permanent, but really any dark color will do. I just LOVE the staying power of the Color Tattoos as a base!

I don't do anything fancy or particularly careful here. Just smudge it on with my fingers across the lid from the lash line to the crease. I smudge a little under my eyes with my pinky too. The under eye is optional.

Step 2:
Still using my fingers, I smear on my base colors. I have no idea what prompted me to put purple in the inner corner, but I liked it, so I went with it. Again, you can be messy. I'm all about doing a little cleanup in the end instead of being super careful the whole time. Lol!

These colors are from the e.l.f. palette I picked up in the holiday section at Wal-Mart. I believe I paid $10 for it.

These are the 2 colors I used. (They're much prettier on skin than in the pan)

Step 3:
With Nyx's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, I created a "light spot". This will give the illusion that you have really shiny eyeshadow with lots of depth. I like using this pencil because it's incredibly opaque and makes any color over it POP!

(I had fake lashes on when taking these pictures, so ignore the mess I made on the lash band. I would normally put those on last)

The other thing I've done in these pictures is start to smooth out the color where it was messy. I just take my $1 e.l.f. brush, and start rubbing in a rainbow motion above the crease. Just keep doing it till the color blends evenly and then work your way out.

This is the brush I used: (e.l.f. professional eyeshadow brush)

This is what I mean by a rainbow motion:

Step 4:
Add your light color over the white pencil (I used my finger) and rub lightly to either side of it to blend the dark and light together. You can also rub a little into the center under your eye. I did, even though it's not done yet in this picture.

This is the light color I used:

Finally, Step 5:
Finish blending your color out with the brush and motion mentioned in Step 3. Use makeup remover to wipe off the fallout from your checks and then apply your mascara and the rest of your makeup.

Ta-da!!!! You're done!   : )  The first time I did this look, I took more time and did a better job. When I redid it to take pictures for the step by steps, I was running out of daylight and hurried a little more than I should have. But hey... it still looks pretty good and you get the idea!   : D

This is makeup that will stay put for hours on my very oily lids. I hate having to do touch ups! I hope somebody benefits from this quick how-to! I enjoyed putting it together.

Thanks for stopping by!!! I'll see you again later!!!