Fashion Friday: Floral Prints!

I don't know how many times I've written about my love for floral prints...Too many to count.

Now that it's spring and the weather here has finally warmed up, I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to talk about one of the biggest trends this season, and by now you should already know what it is. But if you don't, I'm talking about floral prints.

Now ya know.

When you see floral designs, the first thing you probably think of is the spring time. The flowers from the design just make you feel happy when you remember the warm weather, the feeling of the sun on your skin, no more jackets! I find that if you incorporate a floral piece into your outfit, it automatically makes your clothes look playful and full of life!

The perfect floral piece for this season (in my opinion) would hands down be a floral dress or romper! They are just so cute, and I think boat shoes, Keds, Toms, or Bobs would be the perfect shoe to go with your outfit!

Image from: http://littleladylookbook.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/yogo-ego-full-floral-print-prom-dress-c2a330.jpg

xx Mandy

March 2013 Favourites!

Hey guys! I thought it would be a great idea to start posting some favourites posts at the end of each month to keep all of you updated with my preferred beauty products!

MAC False Lashes Extreme Black Mascara
So back at the beginning of the month, Rachel took me out for a belated birthday celebration. One of the things that we did was go to MAC and get makeovers. The only other time I ever had my makeup done was when I was four and was about to be a flowergirl in a wedding. While at MAC, I learned a some new and helpful tips, and at the end of the makeover I received a free mascara! They gave me the mascara they had used in the makeover, which was the False Lashes Extreme Black Mascara. I have been using this mascara everyday ever since I got it! It has become one of my holy grails!

MAC Lipstick in Coral Bliss
I fell in love with this lipstick when the makeup artist put it on my lips! When you swatch it on your hand it looks like it would be an extremely shimmery lipstick but when you apply it to your lips, it comes off more as a sheer colour that is fairly pigmented. It helps make my eyes POP when I do a brown/bronze smokey eye look. Everyday  I pair this lipstick with my next beauty favourite....

Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake
These new lipsticks from Revlon have been raved about by pretty much every beauty blogger I've seen, so of course I had to go out and buy one for myself! These lipsticks offer the moisturization of a lip balm while adding a burst of colour to your lips! When I mix it with my MAC lipstick, I get this really nice pinky coraly beigey colour that is stunning!

Bath & Body Works Shower gel in Secret Wonderland Jardin
My final favourite of the month is an amazing shower gel from none other than Bath & Body Works (every beauty blogger's favourite soap and candle store). The picture down below is of my second bottle this month...that's how much I love it! It has this sweet smell that makes me feel like I'm drifting away into some exotic land. Mmmmm

Hope you guys have an amazing easter with your families!

xx Mandy

Beauty Wishlist!

This is just a quick post for today, but I wanted to share my first Beauty Wishlist with you guys! It's sort of a long one [in my opinion]... 
     (not in any particular order)

Top Ten Eyeshadow Palettes from Hard Candy 

 

 Jumbo Eye Pencils from NYX

     Eyeshadow Palettes from Wet n' Wild

Baby Lips from Maybelline

Infallible Eyeshadow Pots from L'oréal Paris

Outlast Nail Polishes from Covergirl

 

 ColorStay 16 Hour Eyeshadows from Revlon

 Colour Tattoo Eyeshadows from Maybelline

Colour Riche Lipstick in British Red from L'oréal Paris

 

Queen Jumbo Gloss Balm from Covergirl 

Hopefully I will be able to purchase some if not all of these products! If someone has tried out any of these products, please let me know your opinions on it! 

Understanding Makeup Part Two: Lips

I hope you all enjoyed my first Understanding Makepup post!

Tonight's topic is lips. Now, there aren't nearly as many lip cosmetics as there are eye cosmetics. But here are some stuff you may find interesting when dressing up those smackers!

Lip Stick and Lip Gloss
When you want to make your eyes stand out by wearing makeup, you automatically think about what eyeshadow to use, right? Eyeshadows, eyeliners, etc. can help your eyes pop, but did you know that lip stick and lip gloss can also help?

For example, if you have blue eyes like myself, opt for nudes, pinks, and bright reds. For brown eyes, red lipsticks with green, orange, or gold undertones are your bestfriends. And for those green eyes, go for lipsticks that are pink, and ones that have green, red, or brown undertones.

Lip Liners
A must have for all of you lip stick lovers! If you have lips that are a little uneven in one section, a lip liner can save the day. These pencils help fill in those areas, creating fuller looking lips. Also, it stops your lip stick from "bleeding" (moving off of your lips, sort of like smudging on its own... bleh). Try to make sure your liner is close to the shade of lipstick you are using, unless you are going for the "outlined" look, which I personally find a makeup no-no. 

Red Lips

Kim Kardashian

One of the biggest trends out there right now. Red lips give off a bolder, sexier look. I love wearing red lip stick because it makes me look a little older, but not too old.

When wearing a brighter shade of red, try not to over do your eye makeup. The way I see it, it makes you look like a clown. A great combo is a pearl/ beige shadow over your lid, with a simple winged eyeliner to go with your bright red lips.

     
Darker reds are best for night time looks. This is when you can go a bit heavier with your eyeliner and shadows. Try a smokey eye!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! And remember to keep your lips hydrated by applying a good chapstick with SPF so they won't dry out. I apologize for not posting this the day after my eye makeup post, but school does come first. Hopefully I can get up my last Understanding Makeup post (Face) tomorrow!

xx Mandy

Understanding Makeup Part One: Eyes

Earlier, I decided I was going to do an Understanding Makeup section of the blog, made up of three different posts: Eyes, Lips, and Face. For each post, I will talk about what kind of makeup you can use for the certain area, give descriptions of some of the products, the tools used, and some different looks that you might be interested in.

Eyes
Honestly, any kind of eye makeup is my favourite makeup. I love playing up my baby blues and trying out different styles and colours to make them pop [more].

Eye Shadows   
So many colours, so little time- right? I get extremely overwhelmed when I try to decide what colour I should use that day. Do I want to go blue? Maybe bright green? Ugh, this shouldn't be so hard.

Eye shadow is applied all over the eye lid, the crease, and right under the brow. It adds shape, depth, dimmension, and can sometimes create illusions to make your eyes appear a different way than they are. It can come in many different forms, which are the following:

• Sheer- a very faint shadow, comes in pressed form
• Matte- solid colour eye shadow
• Powder- comes in pressed form and is the most common type of eye shadow used
• Liquid- applied with a sponge or brush specifically made for this shadow; comes in matte or shimmer
• Shimmer- has a sparkle or metallic tint to the colour
• Pigment/Loose Powder- applied the same way as powder shadow, but is not pressed
• Baked- pressed; marbleized and baked in an oven; can be used dry or wet
• Cream- creamier than powder; can be shimmery or matte; commonly used as a base on the lid 
• Pencils- cream eye shadow in a pencil form

Pigment/ Loose Eye Shadow

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Eyeliners
Oh, the eyeliner. So bold and so much fun to use. I prefer liner over shadow because it finishes everything off and can make such dramatic looks. But, you can use an eye shadow as a liner, using a liner brush (see Eye Brushes below).

• Liquid- hardest to use; best to buy in pen form because you have more control over them
• Pencil- great for lining your water lines; make sure you have a sharpener for these
• Gel/Cream- a good creamy eye liner is very bold and shows well

 
Eye Brushes
There are so many different eye brushes that you can use when it comes to applying eye shadow.

Liner 

Applies a thin line of colour on the lid and defines the eye; apply right above/on the lashline

 

All Over 

Great for any area of the eye and most types of eye shadow

 

Smudge

Blends colours and expand smudge lines   

 

Crease

Adds colour to the crease; great for smokey eyes

These are just a few of the many brushes used for eye makeup.

Trends

Next time you want to switch up your look, try out these trends!

  Cat's Eye

Often seen on actress Angelina Jolie. While applying eye liner (opt for liquid or gel) on your upper lash line, sweep it out right to where your crease stops (or go farther for a more dramatic look).

Winged Eyeliner

Very similar to the Cat's Eye look, but when you sweep your liner out, bring it up to make a wing. My personal favourite, aswell.

Smokey Eyes

Probably the most popular look of all, not to mention simple. Though it is hard to describe in writing, there are many tutorials on youtube, and it's likely that I will be uploading my own tutorial at some point :) 

Wow, that was a long post. I hope this gives you a bit of an idea of how to use eye makeup. Tomorrow, I will write about how to use lipsticks and how to get that perfect red lipstick look that is in right now. 

xx Mandy

 

Eye Shadow Types:
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-are-the-different-types-of-eyeshadow-eyeshadow-101

All Eye Brushes are from Sephora:
http://www.sephora.com/