Recreation: Lily Collins

Recreation: Lily Collins by ariellezbellz featuring flannel shirts

Hollister Co flannel shirt
$15 - hollisterco.com

Barbour
£153 - josephm.com

Hollister Co. cuffed jeans
$30 - hollisterco.com

Black sneaker
$55 - dsw.com

Yves Saint Laurent Crème de Blush -2: Powdery Rose
$38 - barneys.com

Bobbi Brown Dark Brow Kit
$45 - lordandtaylor.com

Napoleon Perdis 'Geranium' Faux Lashes
$10 - nordstrom.com






Lily Collins was so beautiful on Abduction. My jaw literally dropped when she came on the screen. She was so gorgeous! (Obvious girl crushing on her right now)
 
Even though there was so much going on in this action flick, I could not stop noticing how amazing Lily Collins looked. Everything about her was so natural. From her tousled, beachy waves to her natural fresh faced makeup to her comfy clothing. And for obvious reasons, I included the brow kit!
 
These items I felt were perfect to get that effortless look.

Sigma Sigmax Brush Review!

So, I got the Sigma Beauty Synthetic Duo on the Sigma website a few weeks ago because they were on sale! It's a $32 value, so getting them for $24 was definitely a steal! I also used the 10% off code Sigma releases every month so including shipping, it   under $26!

About the Products: This duo comes with the F82 Round top Kabuki and the F84 Angled Kabuki. They're synthetic bristles and come from the Sigmax collection

My first impression: A lot smaller than I expected them to be even if I've seen a lot of the videos for them on YouTube. They were incredibly soft and dense. I knew they'd be perfect for any type of foundation (cream, powder, liquid, mineral for the round top) as well as powders like bronzer and blush!

Review: These brushes easily overtook my brush collection and I use them for EVERYTHING. The angled brush became my go-to foundation brush for my liquid foundation. It just leaves a flawless finish and is NOT streaky at all! Even when I mix my foundation with moisturizer. I also love using it for contouring because it makes everything look so natural since it blends so well. The round top brush was a lot smaller than I expected, but it's still a great brush. I use it to set my foundation and also use it with my Laura Mercier Mineral Powder! On occasion, I'll also use it to contour since it's so small and the perfect size for that as well.

I'm definitely going to buy the rest of the Sigmax face brushes and hopefully the eye brushes too! They're amazing quality and worth the investment. They're even better than the MAC brushes I've used and own!

Get the Smoothest Lips You'll Ever Have!

AQUAFINA Hydrating Lip Balm - $4 for 4

I purchased mine $1 for 2 at the 99 cent store, but you can purchase it at Walgreens or Walgreens online by clicking the link above

I know it may sound like I'm over exaggerating, but this lip balm changed the way my lips feel in ONE night. My favorite lip balm before was Nivea Kiss of Moisture (which is also amazing), but this is BETTER AND CHEAPER! I love that it's flat and fits your lips a lot better for a more precise application. I literally brushed my lips for a mild exfoliation and put on this lip balm and when I woke up the next morning AND the morning after that- My lips were silky smooth! Not only that, it gives a really cooling/minty sensation that I've only experienced with Bath and Body Works minty lipglosses and Burts Bees Lip Balm (which I hate -_-), so yeah! I really recomment this lip balm!

Boys like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch

ANGEL SCHLESSER FEMME BY ANGEL SCHLESSER 50ml - $30

Yes, I got the title from LFO's song "Summer Girls" except it goes "I like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch..." haha, btw the perfume is Out of Stock Right now :/ But it's the cheapest one I found with high ratings!

I know most people aren't fans of Abercrombie and Fitch's prominent smell of perfume when you walk in, but I LOVE IT! If you love it, then you should try this perfume. It lingers for ages and ages and it really reminds me of Abercrombie's scent! (I don't know if they use Abercrombie Original or Fierce, it just depends on where you go) But I really recommend this perfume. It is strong at first, though, so you have to wait a while before you can really get that Abercrombie scent.

DON'T THROW OUT YOUR LIQUID FOUNDATIONS!

This works for all liquid foundations, all moisturizers, and all skin types! I'm just putting it in my experience so I can't speak for things I haven't tried.

We all sometimes buy foundations that aren't exactly to our liking. That's $20-$40 dollars spent! (Drugstore foundations too, I don't discriminate! Haha) But just because you can't use it as a foundation, it doesn't mean it's totally worthless.

What you do is take one pump of your moisturizer and half a pump of your foundation and BAM! It's wearable.

This trick works really AMAZINGLY with pore-clogging and/or heavy foundations that you just can't wear anymore. It thins the foundation AND makes a more coverage tinted moisturizer. It's great with really full coverage foundations as well because you only need a little bit of the foundation and it gives you great coverage even when you thin it out! It's perfect for the summer and saves you a lot of money.

I just take a bit of foundation and cover my whole face to even out my complexion. Then, with the rest, I dab on the tinted moisturizer lightly to my problem areas and stiple it with a dense stippling brush (I use the RealTechniques by Samantha Chapman Stippling Brush) so it blends in, but still gives coverage.  Of course, the moisturizer will never really be full coverage but it's still amazing!


I learned this from Goss (gossmakeupartist on YouTube) who does not believe in tinted moisturizer and sees it as just a waste of money when you can just take a bit of foundation and a bit of moisturizer and there it is!

Studio Gear Studio Matte Foundation

STUDIO GEAR Studio Matte Foundation in Praline - $23

You can purchase this at Ulta or any Studio Gear counter

My skin: I have very oily skin. My skin isn't acne prone or sensitive, so most products don't break me out. I do have big pores on my nose and around my nose so my pores do get clogged easily.

Pros:

• Full coverage
• Affordable
• Stays matte
• Long lasting with the right primer and setting powder/spray

Cons:

• Clogs pores
• Transfers on clothes
• Hard to work with, doesn't blend easily

For my first high-end foundation, I really expected more out of this foundation. I like it, but it's definitely not my holy grail item! It's a really good foundation for the price though and I love the coverage!

What saved my hair!

CHI Keratin Mist - $12+

I purchased this at Walgreens, but you can purchase this at most drugstores (Walmart & Target that I know of), Ulta, and salons/hair specialty stores that sell Chi.

I have extremely damaged hair from all the coloring I've done! I started dying my hair in 6th grade (5 years ago) and I bleached my hair 4 times this year and dyed it even more. It didn't feel as brittle or damaged until my last dye job. After I last dyed my hair black, it felt so damaged and coarse. I thought it would break off every time I brushed my hair! And it did. I found this product at Walgreens for $3.50 (originally around $14) and I had to get it! It said it strengthened hair and I didn't really care about that much. After all, it was a Chi product for only $3.50! After about a week spraying my hair religiously after showers and before bed, my hair is back to its original silky smooth and shiny, manageable state. It seriously saved my hair and I never thought something so gimmicky like a mist (which people think is just water in a sprat bottle) would really work, but it did and I can't thank this product enough!

Pros:

• Easy to work with
• Effective right away
• Big size yet affordable

Cons:

• NONE!

ELF Duo Cream Eyeshadow Review

ELF DUO CREAM EYESHADOW - $1

Butter Pecan (Left) & Mocha Swirl (Right)

I purchased this at K-mart, but you can find it at your local Target, K-mart or eyeslipsface.com

You don't understand how much I wanted to fall in love with this product. I think ELF is a pretty trust-worthy company and with their products starting at $1 - you can't really go wrong. Right when I opened the product - I was really impressed. The cream shadows are beautiful colors and they just blended out great and were highly highly pigmented. Here are the swatches!

I was impressed! I tried out the products and within the first hour, it faded. I tried it with primer (ELF eyelid primer) and within two hours, it faded. Maybe with an amazing high-end primer like Urban Decay Primer Potion, it wouldn't fade as quickly, but I can't base it on what-if's. Did it crease? Within the first couple of minutes I applied it, but the creasing wasn't a problem for me. It would only be noticeable to somebody who is literally observing the crease of your eyelid. HOWEVER, I did find a solution! It makes an AMAZING base. These two duos match perfectly to the ELF Butternut quad I have and all the colors have a match! When I use the cream shadows as a base, it doesn't budge and makes the colors POP! But it still does crease a bit, but even less than with the cream shadow alone.



Do I recommend this product? YES. It may be my very oily eyelids that makes it fade or melt off so quickly. But even so, it makes a PERFECT base.




Pigmentation (Color pay off): 5
Wear (How long it lasts): 1
Creasing: 3
Price: 5
TOTAL: 3.5