Sunday, November 28, 2010

elf brush review.

Hello beautiess! :]] First off I wanna say hello to all of my new followers and all of the sweet comments you guys have left me. :] When I first made this blog I figured no one would probably see it. I'm glad that I'm helping someone and that I am being helpful to everyone who reads this blog! :]

This review was actually requested by one of my followers and I thought it would be an awesome review to do sense so many people love and purchase makeup from this brand! Elf brushes are a good cheap alternative to any other more expensive brush companies. Granted I do not own any MAC or any other designer brand brushes, but I do know that these are awesome quality brushes.


These are the three brushes that I own. There are three different lines of brushes from Elf. There is the essential line, studio line, and the mineral line. I own the studio powder brush, and the essential blending brush and lip brush. These brushes have never shed, even when I washed them. The powder brush is really good for applying the powder deep into your skin so that it doesn't just slide off of your face at the end of the day. I also tried using this to buff in my foundation at one point. It worked okay, but it doesn't work as good as a synthetic brush would. The eye blending brush is a very good crease brush if your looking for an everyday crease brush. This would not be ideal for cutting your crease or if you are wanting a more defined crease. It does define your crease, but to get a more cut crease you would need a smaller crease brush. Wow I think that I used the word [crease] in that paragraph wayyyy to many times! lol! The lip brush, I don't use very much. It seems to be a good lip brush from what I can tell and from how many times I have used it. These brushes really are soft and are not harsh on your skin. They did not irritate my skin when I pressed them against it.

I forgot a brush! I also own the bronzing brush by the essentials line.
Sorry for the orange picture. I took this one in a hurry. This one is not ideal for bronzing to me. This would be a better highlighting brush for me. This is really good for highlighting my cheek bones. The bristles look a little sparse and to be honest it looks very peuny compared to most angled brushes, but like I said it is small enough to be a good cheek highlighting brush. The bristles are not scratchy at all, they are nice and soft. This could also pass for maybe a very small blush brush.

The elf brushes that have the white handle are all $1 which is amazing for the quality of these brushes. I think some of the names can be deceiving, like the bronzing brush for example. I know the eye brushes are of very good quality for the $1 line, but if I was going to buy face brushes from elf I would spend two extra dollars and go for the studio line brushes which are the $3 brushes with the black handles. I know the studio brushes are great. I have yet to try the mineral  brushes which are the ones with the wooden look to them and they cost $5. I plan on trying some soon! 

xoxo -- niki

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Great beauty finds going on right now!



Hello lovelies! :]] I just wanted to make this blog post to let you guys in on some great beauty finds right now! :] I have been noticing that as it gets closer to Christmas there are more and more sales going on which [thankfully] includes beauty products!

The first one that I am VERYY excited for is the e.l.f sale. E.l.f is having 50% off of all their studio line products right now! I LOVEE elf products because most of their products are good and they are cheap cheap cheap! :] I am fixing to go make me a cart right now after I get done with this post. There are also some amazing gift sets with great products in them being sold at e.l.f right now. Go grab them up before they get gone!

 Rite aid is having buy one get one free on their tresseme products and sally hansen products. Their also having buy one get one 50% off on all mascaras, nail polishes, and wet n wild cosmetics. Walgreens is having buy one get one 50% off on L'oreal and neutrogena products. The falsies mascara by maybelline is 40% off!! At CVS all revlon cosmetics are buy one get one 50% off.

Sephora has two of their NARS duos on sale for only $10! That is a crazy deal! Bare Essentuals products are 20% off. Almost all of the Sephora brand body washes and lotions are down to crazy low prices. They have Kat Von D lipgloss on sale for $8! You can get the makeup forever beauty tricks and treats set for FREE! just add it to your cart! :] Kat Von D eyeliner on sale for $8. Sephora brans eyeshadow quads for $6 to $12! Sephora nail polish for $3. Sephora lipglosses are $4 to $7! I mean just go look for yourself. You can get some good deals there right now! :]

I mean these are just a few beauty deals going on right now! You guys need to go check out these sites! :]


xoxo -- niki

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Revlon Super Lustrous Lip gloss in Lilac Pastelle.


This post is going to be about a lip gloss that I recently purchased after hearing everyone elses opinions on them and seeing all of the beautiful colors they had to offer. I decided to just try one first and see how I like it and if I wanted another one or the rest I would get them. Here are some pics of the gloss in the tube.


First of all lets talk about the packaging. The packaging is sleek and really nice looking. It doesn't look cheap at all. It looks like a high quality lipgloss. The lilac color is just beautiful. I decided on this color because I don't have any purple toned lip glosses. I figured that this one would be a nice one to start out with. :] I was right! Here is a swatch of the gloss.
It is absolutly gorgeous. Of course it is not this opaque when it is swiped across your lips, but it does give your lips a nice milky lilac glow. It makes them look flawless. This gloss is far from sticky and glides on smooth. I wish I would have taken a lip shot for you all so you could see what I'm talking about, but I'm sure you can google it and get a better one than what I can show you.

All in all this lip gloss is worth the $6 I spent on it. I will be purchasing more of these and will keep you guys up to date on which ones I get. :]

xoxo
-- Niki


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Everyday Hair Routine.

This is going to be a small blog post on my everyday hair routine. So I do have color treated hair. I used to have highlights but I recently just died my hair a chesnut brown/redish color. My highlights still show through some which gives it a cool effect that I like. :] For shampoo I use the Garnier Fructis color shield shampoo and finish off with the sleek and shine conditioner also made by Garnier Fructis to give my hair some shine and body. Once a week I will use the Clay Pac by Alto Bella violet moisturizer with haircolor enhancers to give moisture to my hair and enhance my color some. :]

This is all the products I use. Now I don't put all of these products in my hair every single day. I do use some of them some of the time for an extra boost. First what I do is I will take my wet hair and run the wide toothed comb pictured above through it to get all of the tangles out. If you use a brush it can pull your hair out and cause it to break off more. After I do that I take a small dime size amount of my Paul Mitchell super skinny shine serum [$16-$20 at select salons] and run it through my hair evenly. After I do that, I take my Beyond the zone kill the kink straightening balm [$4-$6 at Sally's Beauty Supply stores] and run a nickle size amount through my hair evenly working from tip to root. The last step I do every single day no matter what is spray my tresseme heat protectant[$3-$5 at drugstores] all throughout my hair before I blow dry. If I need a little extra volume that day I will add my Advance Techniques volumizing mousse [$4-$6 from an Avon rep.] just at my roots. The mousse lifts up the root which adds volume to the hair. If I am having a frizzy day I will spray my John Frieda frizz ease in my hair to calm the frizz. If I am having some tangles or my hair feels very dry or brittle that day I will spray my aussie leave in conditioner [about $4 at drugstores] to soften it up.

After I do all of that I will blowdry my hair using my round brush pulling the hair gently from root to tip. After the hair is all dry I will spray another coat of heat protectant in it and straighten my hair using my Remmington flat iron. This flat iron is like my baby. It is better than the babyliss flat iron I bought which is sitting in my drawer and retails for almost $100. This only cost me $40 at walmart or target. It's great. :] The best part about it is that I have had this one for about 2 and a half years now and it has not lost any heat or broken on me.  After I straighten my hair I will spray a little tressme tres two hairspray [$4-$6 at drugstores] and style it how I want it using clips, bobby pins, etc .. and Vola! My hair is done. :]

Hope this was helpful to you in getting a hair routine going for you if your looking for one or if your just looking for some new products to try. All of the products mentioned are great and are fairly inexpensive.

Hope you enjoyed! :]
xoxo
-- Niki

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Spruce up your brush holder. :]

This is going to be a post about sprucing up your brush holders ladies! Now I know most of everyone uses the sephora inspired brush holders with the beads and the containers. I sort of use the same thing but mine is a little different. I have a spinning holder that I got from TJ Maxx for $12. It was just plain and all black when I got it.

at first I just stuck a little rice in the holder areas to use as my beads instead of spending like $5 on some little beads in a small bag go spend a dollar on a wholeeeeeee bag of rice. It will last you longer and go a longgggg way. <3 I still have the rice in there. I noticed my brushes kept falling over and wouldn't stand up. So I got some more rice and filled it up more. It now works perfectly.

I went and bought some ribbon from walmart with the demask sort of pattern on it in black and it just looks like 100 times cuter. :]] I love it now. && it spins so it is easier to get to your brushes. Here are some pics:



Sorry for the dirty brushes. They have been used. :] But it looks SOOO much cuter. To me it looks like a new brush holder. :] I used tape to tape the ribbon on instead of gluing it on so I could change up the pattern or color of the ribbon according to holdays, moods, etc .. It is really a great way to decorate your brush holders inexpensivly and make them look elegant! :]

Now to the brush holders that most of you have. Just the glass jars or acrylic containers with the beads. The same idea can still work with the ribbon and the tape. Here is an example:




These are all sooo CUTE! :] I tried to find different ones with different ribon designs and also using different things for the beads to give some ideas. You can use tape to hold it in place for more security or you can just tie the ribbon around the container. It is totally up to you. I love the first one with the big bow on the front. I started to do a bow but it would have been too hard to have room to spin it around to get to the brushes. :/

You can also do permanent things like gluing jewls or rhinestones onto your holder or even onto the ribbon. :] Just do it how you want and make it your own since everyone in the beauty world pretty much has the same brush holder. lol. :] I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I hope that it was helpful!

xoxo -- niki