My Sephora FAIL

Happy Saturday everyone!

This post began as a wedding part 2 post, but has ballooned into just my wedding makeup fail!

Since Stacy and were living together, we ended up scheduling all our appointments at the same times so I could drive her during the day and she wasn't stuck with her car later.  We started out at the hair salon, and it turned out Stacy's hair girl is my new neighbor!  Small world haha

Ahhh no makeup!   With our "Bear" faces, a joke we started back when we first moved in together :)

Like I said before I was really unhappy with the makeup I has done at Sephora the day of the wedding.  I was there with the bride, so I didn't want to cause too much of a fuss.  The first girl who did my makeup was done in less than 20 minutes, which would be fine if it wasn't a special occasion and I hadn't bought a $50 gift card!  I was very hesitant about getting my makeup done at all, since I have had bad luck with most mall makeup artists, not to mention I enjoy doing my makeup and do a pretty good job.  However since I was in the bridal party and everyone else was getting theirs done, I figured I should too.

When we got to Sephora we ran into Stacy's mom and her brother's fiancee, and they both looked great.  Since it was just me and the Bride for the last appointments, Stacy's mom asked I make sure she ate lunch and drank water, so I ran over to Starbucks to grab us some water, and when I got back they told me I was not going to be sitting with Stacy, I was going to be across the room at another station.  I already was getting a bad feeling.  I didn't take any pictures of the first makeup job, and since I was faced away from the mirror I was not able to see what she was doing, but I COULD feel it.  It started off with her telling me that every single airbrush machine was broken, so we were not going to be doing airbrush makeup as the bride asked.  I gave her the benefit of the doubt and let her do what she wanted.  She powered through my foundation, skipped any concealer (none for the blemish on my chin or under my eyes), applied my eyeshadow with NO primer (I know some people can get away with that, but I Definitely can't!), didn't do ANYTHING to my brows, not even get the foundation chilling in them out, and lined my waterline with a basic pencil liner (no top liner, and again maybe some people can be ok with that, but pencil liner DOES NOT last on my waterline).  I was also PALE as a mofo... neeeeded some bronzer!  When she handed my the mirror I didn't know what to say.  She didn't ask if I wanted her to change anything, she just asked what I wanted to buy.  I ended up asking for one of the lip products (Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita, I already had a mini of the gloss at home and am not a fan of the color on myself particularly).

I walked over to Stacy and she could tell I was unhappy right away (that's what happens when you live together, huh?).  I told her about it and decided that I would just ask her artist if I could borrow some of her brushes and I would fix myself with products from around the store.  Stacy's artist (who was FAB, Stacy looked AMAZING) looked horrified when I started talking to her about what was and was not done, and instead got another artist to come redo almost the whole thing for me.

So without more excessive talking, here is what I ended up with:

Not the worst, but not the best either. This was after being redone with the airbrush makeup (yea, even though the first girl said all the machines were broken, the one at Stacy's station was fine).  I think the biggest problems were:

• That lip color.  Just not that great on me.  It turned out they used the same lip color on everyone, so one of the other girls had bought it and I used hers for touch up.  I briefly though about keeping it as I tried to make it work the next couple days, but I just hate that matte finish. 
• I was a little between colors in the airbrush pods, so they ended up layering two colors and it left me pale-ish even with LOTS of bronzer, especially in photos

• Those brows!! So dark! but they were better than the foundation covered messes I started with.  In retrospect, I had my brow stuff in my car, I should have brought it in and asked to do my own brows.  Oh well!

This is the end of the night with the top of the cake, and I think It looked better as it wore off a little.

Again, not that bad, but I just felt annoyed I'd spent $50 and all that stress on a so-so makeup job.  I was really grateful to the second girl who redid it though, and she was working on top of the mistakes by the first girl.  The other good thing that came out of the Sephora visit was my second artist applying my Bare Escentuals bareMinerals blush in Vintage Peach.  BEAUTIFUL! I've been gravitating towards cooler colors as the weather cools down, but it is a really great peach blush.  I'll try to remember to do a FOTD with it so you all can see it in action. 

I think at the end of the day, my biggest annoyance was that I could have done a better job myself.  Oh well I guess, what's done is done, but it is going to be a while until I trust any makeup artist with my face for a special occasion!

Has anyone else had bad (or good!) experiences with makeup applications by the artists at Sephora?

xoxo Melanie

S&N's Wedding Rehearsal Pics

Part 1 of 2 of wedding pictures!

Just as a recap for anyone who missed it, Stacy and Nick were our roommates for the last year (we actually moved into new places the week after their wedding!) and they just got married Sept. 24th!  Daniel was Nick's best man, and I was one of Stacy's bridesmaids.

We started the day before the wedding with a group nail appointment with all the bridesmaids, Stacy and the two moms.  I knew we were going to have little to no time to get ready in between our nail appointments, so I planned my makeup to be a look easily transformed for an evening look.  I stuck with a neutral, defined crease and planned to just switch from chapstick to red lipstick for the evening.

Phone pic running out the door!  Do you love the heels in hand and moving boxes in the background?

We headed to their church to get decorations set up and rehearse the ceremony.  Since we ran from appointments, home to change, then to the church, my only makeup pics are car pics!

Sporting my favorite red, Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Rasberry.  I would love to find a better quality version of this!  It lasts ok with several rounds of blotting and reapplying, but I'd love to have something that is a little easier to throw on.  It did help me realize that despite having very warm tones in my skin and hair, the bluer based reds look MUCH better on me!

A nice car pic of Me and Daniel (clearly my favorite kinds of pictures haha!)

Rehearsing!

And to finish this post off, one of us before we headed to dinner from the church!

Look out for S&N wedding post part 2 with pics from the wedding day!

xoxo

Melanie

Bad Blogger Day

I have a confession, I was a bad, bad blogger today.

I had one of those days that (although not the best day ever I must admit) I loved how my makeup looked, I loved how my outfit looked, and I totally fail at taking pictures of any of it!  so yes, total blogger fail.  I'm sure the outfit will make another appearance soon enough, so I can photograph it then, but I am bummed about missing my makeup.  Even when I recreate a look, it never seems to look the same.  Anyone else know what I mean?

Here is some good blogger news!  A couple of quickfire (anyone else watch Top Chef?) reviews!

Chanel Perfection Lumiere (I wear shade B20)
Totally love!  I must say though, a huge part of that love is what a great color match I have.  A color match that good can be hard to find.

I find it applies a little streaky if I use a traditional foundation brush  (I use Sigmas), so instead I tried it with my Sonia Kashuk flat top kabuki from Target, and it is much better.  I can buff it to avoid the streaking problem. I found that I sometimes had trouble building it up to cover the redness in my nose, so I can use the flat top sort of like a stippling brush to push it into the skin, which helps with the coverage.

Perfectly blends into my neck! It sets initially to a semi matte finish, which I quite like, however within a few hours it gets significantly shiny, but not in a terrible way.  More in a natural skin kind of a way.  Not the worst, but I do go ahead and set it with my Chanel loose powder, and that helps (but doesn't prevent it completely)

So overall, I'm really enjoying it for an everyday, light to medium coverage.

**A quick note on Chanel Mat Lumiere, I exchanged my bottle for the Perfection Lumiere because although I liked the more matte finish of Mat Lumiere, it just say very heavily on my skin.  I love my YSL Teint Resist much more for a matte finish foundation with more coverage!

Chanel Loose Powder (In B30)

Speaking of Chanel powder... it is such a nice, finely milled powder, I've been really enjoying it as an all over finishing powder.  The only downside is it does not set my under-eye concealer as well as MACs prep and prime.  Lately I've just been using MAC for my under-eyes and Chanel for the rest of my face.

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals blush in Vintage Peach

The only thing I ended up buying and keeping from my Sephora appointment the day of our roomates' wedding.  I bought Nars Matte Velvet Lip Pencil for potential wedding day touch ups and hopefully future use.  Unfortunately I quickly realized that I am NOT a fan of the finish.  I prefer a glossy (or at least creamy) finish, and it lived up to the Matte part of its name.  I could not get a good swatch picture, but Vintage Peach is a nice subtle peach blush.  It has some definite shimmer, but it isn't overwhelming.  I'd say it just doesn't need a highlighter.



From here on out, I think I will skip these bigger reviews and stick to short reviews with my FOTDs.

Anyone else pick up any new daily favs?

and coming soon... our roomates' wedding pictures!

xoxo

Melanie

Journey FOTD

Hello all!

So I know I owe you some reviews, and as a preview I will say that I am LOVING my Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation!  I've been wearing it almost everyday since I bought it.  More on that and my other new stuff later.  For now, I wanted to share my face of the day (night?) from the Journey concert!

We have had this concert planned for a while now as an early birthday celebration for one of my good friends Jessica.  We went to an awesome Spanish restaurant first for tapas and Sangria pitchers, then headed to Shoreline for the concert!  We had a fantastic time singing along and jumping around on the lawn.  When we first talked about going to the concert I wasn't feeling particularly enthusiastic because I didn't think I really knew many songs, but I realized when we were there I knew more than I thought, and it ended up being a really great night.  Of course they ended the show with 'Don't Stop Believin' which was our SF Giants anthem last year on our way to the World Series and now a sort of anthem with our group of friends, so it was a fun way to end the night.

Alright, enough blabber and on to the makeup!  I've been feeling slightly cooler toned makeup with the change (ish) in weather, so I played with my new Satin Taupe and LOVED the results!

FACE:

Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller (tinted)

YSL Teint Resist #4

Sonia Kashuk Concealer Palette

Origins Quick, Hide! concealer in 01 Light (for under eyes)

MAC Prep and Prime transparent powder (only to set under eye concealer)

Chanel Natural Finish Loose Powder in 30 (LOVE this powder!)

BROWS:

Lingering Eyebrow Pencil

Maybelline Great Lash in Clear

EYES:

Nars eyeshadow primer

MAC Satin Taupe

MAC Carbon

MAC Moleskin

MAC Brule

(A touch of Urban Decay Sin on the inner corner)

Guerlain Terracotta Loose Powder Kohl Liner in Black (my FAVORITE for waterline!)

Clinique brush on gel liner in Black

Dior Diorshow Waterproof mascara in Black

CHEEKS:

Chanel Powder Blush in Rose Bronze

Dior Amber Diamond

LIPS:

nothing in the pictures, but I threw on MAC Evolution Revolution lipglass later

I was really happy with how it turned out, it was the perfect smokey-but-not eye, great for the transition from day to night!

Pictures from Cascal!

None from the concert itself unfortunately, we got there too close to the start of the show and had to grab a seat way at the edge of the lawn.  

Yay for Journey (and Sangria!)  Look out for more posts :)

xoxo

Melanie

It's been a while...

Hello everyone (or no one?)

Long time no blog!  It has been a busy last few months for me, including our roommates' wedding (Daniel was the best man and I was a bridesmaid), moving and everything you can think of surrounding both of those things.

Needless to say it has been a crazy few weeks!  Unfortunately all my pictures are on my camera, and my camera cord is still packed in a box somewhere.  So pictures will come at some point, although we had our makeup done at sephora and I was pretty disappointed.  I will post more thoroughly on everything when I can post some pictures on it also.

I've ended up with a few new products, and I've already returned 2 of them to be exchanged for new things!  So look for some small reviews on Chanel Mat Lumiere, (the new!) Chanel Perfection Lumiere, Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita, and Bare Escentuals Vintage Peach blush.   I returned two of the four things I listed... can you guess what?

Things have been completely insane, but now that we are settling into our new place with our new roommate (Daniel's brother!) I'm hoping to get back into blogging more regularly, not only about makeup but about everything!  I once found writing very therapeutic and I really want to find that peace of mind again... so yay for blogging!

Since a post with no pictures is always boring,  I'll leave you with a picture from our roommate's bachelorette party in SF (I'm 3rd from the right next to the bachelorette)!

and my makeup (car pictures since we were running late of course haha)

I loved how it turned out- the smokey purple-y grey eye was exactly what I was going for, AND it was a perfect opportunity to wear some super long lashes I had been saving for a special occasion

Until next time!

xoxo

Melanie

SF Giants Nails!

Just wanted to quickly post my favorite SF Giants game day nail combo!

One of Daniel's good friends is visiting from Minnesota, and her family has AMAZING seats right behind home plate.  She takes us along when she can, and tonight was one of those lucky nights!  Not only were the seats and company fantastic, it was an important game for the Giants to win against the Diamondbacks.  We ended up winning 6-2!! yesss!

It was Orange Friday, and since I had time last night I decided to go ahead and paint my nails to match.

I'm wearing: Sephora by OPI Hi Def  with Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me on my ring fingers.

I love the gold glitter for a little extra something.  I'm interested to see how long my polish lasts, since in the past any manicure I had was done after one night of work (I was serving in a restaurant), so it's going to be a new adventure figuring out the longevity of all my polishes haha!

Source

Matt Cain pitched an awesome game!  GO GIANTS!

xoxo

Melanie

Some New MAC Products- small haul, swatches, fotd

Hello everyone!

I went to my local MAC counter the other day to gift myself with some new makeup for my birthday, and even though I went there planning on just buying Well Dressed blush and maybe an eyeshadow, I left instead with 3 eyeshadows (All That Glitters, Moleskin, and Sketch), a brow pencil (Lingering), and two new brushes (226 and 211... note well dressed's absence in that list haha).

Lingering Brow Pencil
Despite not buying what I planned on, I have been thoroughly enjoying all my new products.  I was swatching away at the eyeshadows when the MAC artist came by to see if I needed help.  On a whim I asked if she could recommend anything for my brows.  Lately I'd been feeling like they looked a little patchy, and just not a very nice shape, she came over and applied Lingering brow pencil (which I've read a lot about) and despite being nervous when she first suggested a brow pencil I loved the results!  I've been trying my hand at it about every other day, and I havent decided if it is going to be a new daily part of my beauty routine or not.

Me wearing all my new products (wish I could take credit for this look, but the MAC artist applied the eye makeup)

All That Glitters, Moleskin (LE) and Sketch Eyeshadows
All I can say is LOVE.  I've been reaching for All That Glitters and Moleskin for an easy soft look practically every day since I bought these shadows, and I love how easy it is to make it more dramatic with some Sketch blended into the outer corner and crease.

All That Glitters (left) and Moleskin (right, and limited edition with the new MAC me over collection)

swatches in opposite order :) Moleskin on the left and All That Glitters on the right.

Moleskin is just the perfect matte blending color, and it looks so nice in the crease to break up how shimmery All That Glitters is on the lid.

A little shiny after cooking dinner, but with that eyeshadow combination on the lids (and some brown liner).

226 and 211 Brushes
I'm a HUGE fan of gel eyeliner, so when I first saw pictures of the 211 brush on Temptalia I couldn't wait to try it out.  I often find eyeliner brushes are way too thick for me, since I usually prefer a very thin line of eyeliner.  Thicker eyeliner can take over my lid, which is fine is that's what im going for, but usually im not haha.  The 211 is kind of thick, actually, but makes a surprisingly thin line when I turn it sideways, and the brush shape makes the perfect flick with almost not effort.

I'm also REALLY loving the 226.  My eyes are a little on the hooded side, and a lot of the popular brushes are just way too big for my eyelid.  The 226 fits so perfectly into my crease, and it is soooo soft.  I'm thinking about grabbing another one because I've been using it that often!

So moral of the story, loving all my new products!  Of course, I'm still lusting after Well Dressed (and light pink blushes in general) and now Club eyeshadow as well (what is under my eyes in the very first picture... wasn't sure if I loved it when she first put it on, but by the time I took it off I was sold), so I'm thinking another trip to the mall is in my future!  Maybe as a "Congrats your lease ended" gift? haha I'll come up with something :)

Anyone else get anything from the MAC me over collection?  I'm still eyeing Carbonized eyeshadow and Equilibrium blush, but haven't decided if I should go for it or not

xoxo

Melanie

Birthday FOTD Double Feature :)

Hello again everyone!

As I mentioned in my last post, Wednesday was my birthday! Yay! So I figured for my second post I would show you my birthday makeup.

I started the day working for a few hours, so I went for a simple but defined look that I could build on later for my night out (click to enlarge!).

FACE:

Garnier Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller

YSL Teint Resist #4

Origins Quick, Hide! Concealer in 01 Light

Sonia Kashuk Concealer Palette (the two concealer shades mixed together)

MAC Prep and Prime powder (just under my eyes)

CHEEKS:

Dior Bronze Matte Sunshine Honey Matte

Korres Blush in Peach

MAC MSF Stereo Rose (over the Korres blush)

EYES:
UDPP in Sin

MAC Ricepaper

UD Naked

MAC Soft Brown

MAC Haux

UD Buck

MAC Shroom

Clinique gel liner in Black

MAC Carbon (patted over the liner)

Clear brow gel

LIPS:

MAC Strange Potion Lipglass

After work Daniel and I went by my friend's bar for a quick birthday drink before going home to get ready for dinner at La Fondue (SO GOOD!). I just built on the makeup I was already wearing to make it more of a night time look :)

(excuse the car pictures, we were running late!)

FACE:

Blotted my face with a tissue and touched up my concealer with the Sonia Kashuk concealer palette

CHEEKS:

Nars Madly (clearly a night time fav of mine!)

Hoola Bronzer (the contour)

More Dior Bronzer

More Stereo Rose

Dior Amber Diamond

EYES:

More Ricepaper

MAC Center Stage

MAC Hocus Pocus

MAC Carbon

MAC Shroom

Guerlain Loose Khol eyeliner (Black)

and a little more Clinique gel liner in black

UD Naked on brows with some brow gel

And a few bonus pictures :)

On our way to La Fondue!

Happy birthday to me! After we met some friends at Applebee's (our former place of employment) then our favorite dive bar. Overall I had a really great night! It has been a while since I had such a nice birthday.

I hope you enjoyed this post! The next day I went to the mall and bought myself some birthday makeup, so maybe some reviews or more FOTDs coming soon!

xoxo Melanie

My first blog post!

Hello empty internet land!

I am 1 hour and 43 minutes into my birthday, and instead of sleeping like normal people would be right now, I decided to try something I've wanted to do for a while... write my first blog post! After stalking various beauty and fashion blogs for the last two years, I'm finally taking the plunge. So here it is, my first attempt!

The boyfriend and I just attended our second wedding of the summer (of 4!) in LA, one of Daniel's friends from middle and high school. So from that I give you my first ever FOTD!

We flew straight from our Hawaiian vacation to LA before flying home to Nor Cal, so all I had with me was the makeup I had decided to travel with.

(Click to enlarge!)

FACE:

YSL Teint Resist in #4

Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller (the tinted one)

Origins Quick, Hide! Concealer in 01 Light

Sonia Kashuk Concealer Palette (the two concealer shades mixed together)

MAC Prep and Prime Transparent Finishing Powder

CHEEKS:

Hoola Bronzer (just a touch to contour)

Dior Bronze Matte Sunshine Honey Matte

Nars Madly Blush

MAC Prism blush (just barely over Madly)

Dior Amber Diamond to highlight

EYES:

UD Primer Potion in Sin

(Everything from the UD Naked Palette, since that was what I was traveling with)

Smog

Darkhorse

Virgin

(And and intsy bit of half baked on the inner corners)

Clinique Gel Liner in Black

Diorshow Waterproof Mascara

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara

Clear Brow Gel

LIPS:

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Evasion

Whew! So many products! Didn't seem like as many when I was putting my face on :)

Hope you enjoy this brief first post, and hopefully I will be back soon with another!

xoxo,

Melanie