Monday, October 17, 2011

My niece has made her debut...

My gorgeous niece decided to grace us with her presence 3 days before her big cousin (my son's) birthday! I sincerely hoped she'd trump his teenage ass and be born ON his birthday but alas, no luck. Introducing Olivia Marie Elena, the queen who reigns supreme in my cold, black dying heart.




I love you, my darling sugarplum!

Also: her mama (Alisha) and I are hitting up the M.A.C. store this weekend so I'll pick up a few things and do some reviews. Time to really start blogging and getting my writing up to par if I'm gonna grow up and be a beauty editor :)

To new babies and new makeups:
Cheers
Danielle

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The One Where I Fall I On My Sword...




Many years ago when I was just wee lil makeup artist (HA! I was never wee or little...) I was either snobby or naive depending on your perspective of me. I was a die hard devoted M.A.C. fan (still am, don't get me wrong) and my great friend Tammie purchased some makeup online from a company called E.L.F. and I mercilessly mocked her for buying makeup that cost ONE.DOLLAR. Recently I've heard some great reviews of the products so I purchased some last weekend with the intent of trying them out during my vacation weekend in Leavenworth, WA. That did not happen! (read: too much beer, booze and general debauchery) So yesterday while at work I tried out their blush/bronzer duo, and their eyshadow primer. First off, they smell so clean when you open the package! Like lemony, citrusy goodness. I particularly liked the color payoff of the bronzer, sometimes it's easy to overdo the bronzer and frequently they are too sparkly. This one is a great shade and it lasted for about 7 hours before I felt like I needed to touch it up (and I only did because I was going to Happy Hour with some friends). The blush is a really light and sheer peachy pink shade that is obviously very complimentary to this bronzer. Some have said this is a great dupe for the NARS Orgasm/Luna duo which is very, very close however I will say Orgasm is quite a bit more sparkly than the E.L.F. blush. For three dollars you CANNOT, SHOULD NOT pass this up. (more later on the primer, still testing it)I wholeheartedly believe that the 'drugstore' cosmetic companies have significantly stepped their game up over the recent years. Packaging and product have improved greatly from years ago when your older sister/brother/cousin/drag queen was using them.
Rant ahead: while I cannot simply single out E.L.F. cosmetics, as a woman of (some) color but more specifically as a makeup artist, it's so irritating and frustrating that companies don't make bronzers for deeper skin tones. (Exclusion: Iman's line but the ENTIRE line is specific to people of color)Usually we resort to some very deep eyeshadow colors to do contouring/bronzing and it's HIGH time these companies get it together and recognize that men and women of color have the same needs and desires when it comes to makeup. Even typically racially cognizant M.A.C. only goes so dark in the bronzer arena./end rant
That's all makeuppies, hope you found that useful or helpful and if not feel free to tell me why!
**ETA**
I want to point out the products I purchased for this review were from Target. I also ordered some E.L.F. products via their website on 7-29-11. It is now 8-18-11 and I still have not received those products. So, in the future I will likely purchase from Target or if I'm especially excited about something, pay for expedited shipping of some sort. 20 days for a handful of makeup seems preposterous.

Friday, August 5, 2011

My sister's wedding...(Family Friday)

I won't dole out apologies and explanations as to why I haven't blogged because frankly, who cares?! HA! One of my (4) younger sisters got married back in June and of course I did her makeup. We went with a traditional 'pinup' look, except rather than a red lip I opted for a blue based, hot pink one. Enter: M.A.C. Hollywood Nights lipstick:







I think it went well with her spray tan (err...coloring? KIDDING!) and gave a bit more unconventional twist to the look. Behold, Magpie:



CONGRATULATIONS MAGGIE & TOMA!! xoxo
Happy Family Friday!




Let's pretend it's still (Family) Friday!!

I didn't get a post up yesterday but this is me, being diligent. Alisha is one of my 4 younger sisters and she is the first to produce me a NIECE!! She gets lucky stars in my book because I'm surrounded by NEPHEWS! I want to introduce Ms. Alisha and her husband and my niecey niece as well (even though she won't enter Earth until sometime in Sept). Alisha's husband Marcos is in the Army, Alisha works at World Vision and Olivia's job is growing and getting as fat as possible over the next few months!




I love these kids.

Friday, July 1, 2011

In Pursuit of the Dream...

Happy Friday and Fourth of July weekend everyone!
I'm going to showcase my friend Tiffany today.

I wish wish wish I could give an introduction that would even BEGIN to do her justice, but I'll do my best. She was my manager when we worked at M.A.C. a few years back and almost immediately I realized she was not only one of the most talented artists I'd come across, but one of THE MOST genuine human beings you could ever hope to meet. She is so down to earth, so kind hearted so absolutely loving, I cannot help but gravitate toward her sunny disposition. She just recently left the retail makeup world to pursue her passion which is doing Youtube videos sharing her knowledge with anyone looking for great tips. Trust me when I tell you, you will not only learn SO much from her you will be entertained! She is (as I tell her all the time) accidentally hilarious!! Join me in subscribing to this future Youtube guru and prepare to step up your makeup game!
Love and light
Danielle

Friday, June 17, 2011

I love sleep...

I'll be honest here. I love to sleep. I could sleep 12 hours a day, EVERY day. I come by it honestly, my mom is a champion napper. That being said, as much as I love makeup I cannot possibly get up in time to do a full face like I used to when working at M.A.C. Enter: the Stila Trendsetting in Tokyo palette

I have a lot of (ahem) free time at work so occasionally when I'm bored and feel like sprucing up I'll put on my trusty Studio Fix powder and reach for this palette. The big pink color you see at the bottom of the photo doubles as a cheek color and a lip color (a little dry for my lips but meh...). I put a little color in my face and grab a 217 brush and swipe a little of the champagne color over my lid, add mascara and voila! I have a face on! Do you have quick makeup staples that you reach for consistently? In the interest of honesty, sometimes I reach for a lipstick as blush. Shoot me.
Happy Friday!
~DW

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Clarisonic Review/My new best friend

Over the years my skin has been the barometer for all that ails me. As a child I was plagued with eczema on my arms and legs, as a teenager I had horrendous acne coupled with dry skin patches. Oh yes, I was a dermatologist’s dream. Read: MONEY. Once those conditions sort of cleared up (did I outgrow them?) I was happy to just have so-so skin. It was relatively acne free, save for the occasional (ahem MONTHLY) pimple and I found products to combat the dryness. The one thing I really couldn’t overcome however, were these small bumps under the skin along my jaw-line. Couldn’t call them blackheads, definitely not white heads but (let’s get graphic here people) when squeezed, a white substance came out. It was a lot like when you over-squeeze the toothpaste tube. I wasn’t able to get rid of them permanently. They weren’t so bothersome that I felt the need to seek out my lifelong dermatologist (I still see him regularly for eczema) but I would have been more than happy to see them gone. My T-zone is quite oily as well which is new for me, having been the dry skin poster child for most of my life.

          I was recently given a Clarisonic by a dear friend of mine who works for the company. She claimed it would revolutionize my skincare regimen. I heard: ‘blah blah blah’ whatever. But, I turned 32 last March and thought I should probably start doing a little more for my skin to combat some of the damage I’ve inflicted over the years, so I kindly thanked her and began using my Clarisonic. For reference, I use M.A.C. Cleanse Off Oil to remove makeup, Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum at night, and M.A.C.Studio Mositure Cream before bed, and M.A.C. Strobe Cream for day time. The Clarisonic instructions told me I didn’t need to change my regimen as far as products (although they do offer their own line of skin care) so I stuck to what I’ve always used.

The following took place over the course of one week of use:

Day 1: The feeling of the bristles is quite invigorating, very stimulating. My skin felt like I’d done a medium level exfoliation. It was more than I could get with an exfoliation product but far less than I’d have felt with a micro-dermabrasion.

Day 2: It could be all in my head but my skin feels like it absorbs my moisturizer far better than when I was only using my hands to wash my face. My skin feels much smoother to the touch.

Day 3: I noticed a slightly dry, red patch under my eye on the highest point of my cheekbone. I ran out of Cleanse Off Oil and had to use my boyfriend’s Green Gel Cleanser, so this might account for the patch but other than that my skin is really starting to feel really good.

Day 4:  I should have taken pictures from day one (if only to convince myself) but I would SWEAR the pores on my cheeks are nearly non-existent. Had I ever really thought of this as a problem before? No, because as a makeup artist I perfected the art of covering them up!

Day 5: Those pesky little bumps along my jaw-line are COMPLETELY gone except one or two. I didn’t realize how skeptical I actually was until I realized the Clarisonic had totally gotten rid of those bumps that I’d given up on evicting from my face.

Day 6: I’m targeting wrinkles now. The teeny tiny, barely there little lines near my eyes are now my mission to eliminate. The operating instructions show me which setting to put my Clarisonic on to maximize results. These lines are shaking in their boots.

Day 7: I’m going to kick up my serum game and purchase an eye cream serum to really go after those lines and this time I’ll be taking pictures to prove to myself and everyone else how well this thing works because I find it hard to believe myself!