15 Pale Girl Problems

15. Even the most designer brand doesn't seem to carry your shade. So you're always at least one shade too dark.

14. Contouring? You will spend forever looking for that perfect shadowy without being gray shade.

13. Fake tan that isn't orange? Good luck.

12. Natural tan? Yeah right.

11. It's hard to wear red lipstick without being compared to a vampire.

10. It's hard to wear dark, bold lips without being called a goth.

9. "Why don't you just tan?"

8. Sunburns and peeling as a side result of your "tanning".

7. American BB creams and tinted moisturizers only give a slight orange cast to your skin.

6. The closest color of powder to your skin is translucent.

5. Finally finding a foundation that matches... except it oxidizes into Lohan tan.

4. (If your hair is dark) Even the slightest bit of hair is noticeable.

3. Spending on a fortune on foundation, and then another small fortune on another product to make the foundation light enough.

2. The "color matchers" always get it wrong. And it's usually laughable.

1. Not leaving your house because you're pale and don't want to blind anyone, but being pale because you can't leave your house because you're so pale.

A Warm Weather Tutorial Despite the Snow on the Ground

The logic here is if I do my makeup like it's warm it will be.

What you'll need:

1. Foundation (Clinique Perfectly Real Makeup in 01)

2. Blush (elf Blush in Bliss)

3. Gel liner (elf Cream Liner in Black)

4. White eyeliner (elf Shadow Stick in Pearl)

5. Black eyeliner (24/7 Glide on Eyeliner in Perversion)

6. Mascara (Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes)

7. Coral lip color (Sephora Glitter Lip Pencil in Glittering Coral)

The Tutorial

Make sure you have a clean, blank face. 

Apply tape to the outside of your eye to make sure

all your lines are nice and clean. It'll make liner 

easier as well.

Prime your eyelid and sweep a light cream/white

colored eye shadow all over your eyelid. I'm using

Urban Decay's Truth form the Vice 3 palette.

Use a small crease brush to apply a cool brown/taupe

eye shadow in the crease. I'm using Urban Decay's

DTF from the Vice 3 palette.

Mix that same shadow from before with a warmer 

brown shadow and sweep/blend that in and above

the crease with a blending brush I'm using DTF 

and Undone from the Vice 3 palette.

Work a darker color into the crease winging it up

slightly with a small crease brush. I'm using Defy

from the Vice 3 palette.

Start to line your eye with a gel liner and brush.

Follow along the tape to get a perfect wing. You

can use any black gel eyeliner for this. I'm using

elf's Cream Eyeliner in Black.

Finish lining your eye tapering it in toward the 

inner corner of your eye.

Remove the tape, liner under the eye with a white

eyeliner. Line the waterline and lash line. I'm using

the elf Shadow Stick in Pearl.

After that pat a blue eye shadow over top of the white

eyeliner. I'm using Gonzo from the Electric Palette.

Work a light shimmery shade from the inner

corner to the blue. I used Angel from the Vice 3 palette.

Tightline your eyes using a black eyeliner. I'm using 

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Liner in Perversion.

Apply mascara to both bottom and top lashes. I'm

using Tarte's Light, Camera, Flashes.

Tape a minute to laugh at yourself for getting 

mascara on your eyelid and nose. 

Apply your foundation however you normally

would. I recommend a sheer coverage, light liquid

for summer. I'm using Clinique Perfectly Real

Makeup in 01 (N).

Fill in your eyebrows with a matte shadow/powder.

Finish with a coral blush and coral lips. I used 

elf Mineral Blush in Bliss and Sephora Glittering

Lip Crayon in Glittering Coral.

And you're done! A super cute wearable look for the Spring/Summer.

Bonus Step!

Work an orange eye shadow into and

below the crease using a small crease

brush. I'm using Slowburn from 

the Electric palette.

Why You Shouldn't Buy Make Up From The Dollar Store

I know it's tempting. You see a product that is normally 6-7 dollars in the drugstore in the dollar store. Obviously it's safe because they sell these products else where. However, while it may seem like the same product it really is likely that it's not. Recently I experienced this with the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips. I saw in the Dollar store a really fantastic palette for a dollar and decided to try it out, when I got home I realized something was off. A quick google search shows you they are in fact not the same product.

Dollar Store "Physician's Formula" Shimmer Strips for hazel eyes.

Actual product

This is just a quick post but I'd like to explain that any knock off brands don't have to regulate what they have in them, so you could be putting dangerous or disgusting bacteria and chemicals into your eyes. There's a reason it's a dollar. Especially when you consider the original Physician's Formula palette retails for upward of ten dollars. Many bloggers and vloggers constantly "haul" dollar store makeup. I recommend even if you are going to use makeup from the dollar store you make sure you wash it off before you go to bed, don't use it in your water line, and spot test it on your skin to test for a reaction. 

My Shameless Obsession With Urban Decay: The Bamboo Palettte

This one... This one was sent to me by a really lovely woman I won a giveaway from on Instagram. She actually sent this one to me about two weeks after I received my first package. Why did she send it? Because I made a post asking for recommendations for summer makeup because I knew I was going to need waterproof things for Warped Tour and our summer vacation coming up. Check her out here and here.

The Bamboo Palette (Sustainable Shadow Box?)
Year Sold- 2009 (Maybe after then)
Year Received- 2015

Packaging- No this is really inconvenient. It doesn't have a magnet that keeps it close so it just swings around. I obviously haven't messed with stability much but to be honest it doesn't have a good mirror, it doesn't have a good closure, and I understand why Urban Decay doesn't make things like this anymore.

Swatches and Color Reviews!

YDK- A really soft cool toned brown with golden

shimmers and a frosted finish. Perfect color for 

darkening up the outer corner without being too

dramatic or smokey.

Flipside- More on the teal side of blue, but not straight

up teal. I'd call this a mermaid blue. It's not as opaque

as you'd expect but it's still lovely.

Grifter- I love everything about this color except

the crazy silver glitter. I've found I can put the product

on the brush and blow the chunks of glitter off,

leaving me only with the color. It's a silver

purple shade that is a nice wash of color that 

still has a nice pigment to it.

Uzi- Similar to Grifter with the nuts silver glitter,

except I don't really like the white. If I had to choose

an Urban Decay white shadow I'd have to say

Bobby Dazzle is much better.

Twice Baked- I actually don't like this color at all

it's chalky and not very well pigmented. Which makes

me pretty sad to be totally honest.

Midnight Cowboy Rides Again- Pretty, champagne, has

obnoxious glitter and is a more beige version of Maui Wowie.

The glitter is slightly more bearable than most of 

the other glitter shadows in this palette

but not by much.

Flash- If you take Grifter and take out the silver

aspect that's what this color is. If you put both

on your lid there isn't much of a difference

except maybe the finish of it.

Half Baked- See my Naked palette review for my

thoughts on this one. 

Kiddie Pool- I adore this blue with my life.

I think honestly I'll use it more as a pop

of color here and there rather than all over

my lid, but it's a lovely aqua blue.

Oilslick- A matte black shadow with glitter.

It's not as black as Blackout and not 

shimmery enough for me to like it more

than the black from the Pulp Fiction palette.

Overall this is a great summer palette. I am once again so grateful to Tina for sending it my way. Look forward to a series we've got in the works to collab on together about makeup for different age groups. Make sure you check her out.

Disclaimer: While this was sent to me it was because someone saw a better home for it, as well as I constantly support her on my Social media way before this was ever sent to me. So I mean... Unbiased review.

5 Reasons Why Lush is The Bomb Dot Com

Image via http://theberry.com/2014/07/27/sunday-brunch-50-photos-66/#.

5. You walk in and it all smells amazing.

I will never be able to describe the Lush smell, but it's just.... luscious (see what I did there). Something about that smell makes me willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money on bath bombs (though I never take baths) and other fresh, handmade goodies.

4. The employees are super nice!

From the second I walked in all four employees were discussing various products with me (the store is probably the size of my living room) and offering to demo their recommendations for me. The employees were definitely some of the most educated sales reps I've met in a long while. Nothing is more off putting than people who are spouting the same script of facts. It was obvious that they actually cared about their products and what they were doing. 

While I was doing my shopping, my little sister was doing her window shopping, and she was off talking to a really nice girl who talked about hair care with her. During my checkout the girl got her a few samples and when we got home I was pretty shocked to look at this sample. This is a hair balm that's supposed to help with the ends of her hair, and it was full to the brim. She's used this sample at least 8 times so far, it's still pretty full. This is amazing. 

A lot of people may call me cheap or fishing for free stuff because a decent sized sample makes me happy, but when I have a sample that lasts one use, especially if it's a pricey item, I can't get a good feel for how I would incorporate that item into my everyday use. 

3. The prices aren't even that crazy. 

It seems like a lot at first. 6 dollars for a bath bomb or face mask? When you go through the math your investiment isn't truly that large. I've seen the large bath bombs be used up to 4 times. And compared to the Sephora face masks, which last one use, the moisturizing mask that Lush sells is much more natural and lasts as many uses as you can get out of it before it goes bad in it's month long shelf life.

When you have a high end product, you tend to have to use less, making the money spent on the product worth it. 

Another plus is that if you return 5 empty Lush black pots, you get a free Fresh Face Mask.

2. The products are all natural.

Next time you're in a lush, pick up an item and look at the back. I promise you will recognize 80 percent of the words. While Lush does use preservatives and frangrances in some of their items, they're pretty far down on the product list, meaning that it is the least used ingredient in the product.

Most of their items are vegan, and those that aren't use honey and beeswax (which some vegans make the choice to use). And they're all cruelty free (yay leaping bunny approved).

1. The products are actually amazing.

I own two products from Lush and I think both are amazing holy grail worthy items. I have the Oatifix mask and the Eau Roma toner. I think both are amazing and I swore I wouldn't spend a lot of money on toner because my Target brand toner was working so well, but for 10 dollars, this item is absolutely worth it. I chose to go with the smaller container just in case and oh my gosh. 

I'm quite addicted to my fresh face mask. When I put it on I smell like baked goods and it's a perfect gentle exfoliator and moisturizer for my extremely dry, flaky skin. I love that it's made from natural items, unlike other masks I've tried that has a crazy type of chemicals and irritants in it. The only thing I don't love is that it has fragrances in it, but it hasn't irritated my skin, which is great.

Disclaimer: Lush doesn't know me. Unless we count that one time they favorited one of my tweets on Twitter. I mean... this isn't sponsored though. I just had an amazing experience.

Urban Decay Electric Palette Unsafe?

So a few weeks ago I had a major freak out, because I thought I had dropped $49 dollars on an eye shadow palette that I couldn't even use. Yes technically, Urban Decay claims that they market the Electric Palette as a pressed pigment palette, but in many of the promotional photos, models and bloggers can be seen wearing the "pigments" exactly where the palette instructs you not to. Obviously, I was ticked.

(Sorry for the pretty blurry quality images, both of these were taken from Urban Decay's Pinterest )

The first model/blogger is shown wearing Savage, the bright neon color. My first thoughts was, "Fine, okay, maybe they don't really realize that they've done this, whatever". Then I found the second pictorial, where they are showing three of the four "not safe for use on the eyes" colors... on the models eyes.

Something isn't right here. A simple google search helped a lot in my findings, and I found one answer that actually made a LOT of sense.

From Beauty Blogger Phyrra:

The full thread can be found here.

This seemed true enough. The US being behind and not doing the testing and approval? I took it a step further because if it's deemed safe in the UK there obviously wouldn't be a warning for it.

This is the US site. The warning about the shadows is very clear. It's not for use around the eye. But ONLY if you live in the US, Canada, or Brazil. So far things seem to be exactly what strangers on the internet claimed. But we have to take it a step further. So let's check the UK site. 

There is no warning on the UK site. It seems that what I read was true. In other comments through various blogs I've also read that while there is a major warning on almost every part of the palette in the US, if I had been in the UK and bought it, there would have been no hint of a warning on the palette.

However, don't think that Urban Decay is the only company to sell pigments in the US that are obviously intended for use around the eye while warning against it.

The above warning is found on the Sugarpill website for some of their neon pigments. I have to say while it says basically the same things as the Urban Decay warning, it makes it easier to find answers as to WHY those in the US are instructed to stay avoid use of these around the eyes. 

Excuse me Urban Decay but...

Why make these shadows with pigments that aren't safe for the eyes? There are plenty of dupes (even drugstore) for these outrageous colors that are perfectly fine and approved for use in the US.

So far I've only seen one report of a bad reaction to the Urban Decay shadows, and even then it's hard to pinpoint if that was exactly the problem. Many people say that they stain, but it's common for shadows with such a high pigment to stain. I find that not only those four colors, but 7 of the 10 stain my skin if I do not use a primer under them.

Obviously, I've come to the conclusion that Urban Decay is covering their butts. Since it's not FDA approved here as eye shadow, they were required to sell the Electric palette as a "pressed pigment" palette. The warnings are there on the off chance that a consumer chooses to use the pigments on their eyes and have an adverse reaction. Thanks to that ever repetitive warning, the company cannot be held accountable. Really, as it's stated on the Sugarpill warning, the shadows are "use at your own risk".

To be honest, the number one thing that I've learned through this little experience of research is that:

What do you think? Comment below and tell me how you feel about the Electric Palette marketing?

Disclaimer: As stated above all things not approved by the FDA are use at your own risk. I am not stating that these are 100% safe, just why I feel safe using them. Like Urban Decay I have to cover my butt so I am not responsible for any injuries due to the misuse of this product in the US, Canada, or Brazil. We have special eyes.