Coastal Scents 26 Shadow Blush Palette

This palette from Coastal Scents has quickly become one of my favorite I have ever gotten from them. When it comes to a palette of natural colors I think this is their best. Not only are you getting lovely colors for the eyes you're also getting a great mix of blushes. One of the blushes is a very light pink and works perfect as a highlight.. especially for darker skin tones. There is a good mix of shimmer and matte shadows, awesome choice of browns and a couple of beautiful oranges & purples. This is an excellent palette for everyday use, and it's wonderful for brides. You can create a multitude of looks from this one palette. There are two cons, but they are in my opinion very small. There is no actual white and no black. The palette it economical enough that buying those to accompany it isn't a problem...  most people likely have a good black & white already.. For myself the two blushes on the far right more than pay for the whole palette. I love them! They are excellent! I tend to favor La Femme blushes and these are on par with them. Then you get all the lovely eye colors as well. This easily gets 5 stars from me. I got it on sale for about $15. There is always a sale going on their site. I recommend checking for a sale before buying, there is one every week.

I am wearing: eyeshadow - 4th on row 2, 6th on row 2, 5th on row 3  
contour - 7th on row 2.  highlight -   1st on bottom row
blush - the 2 end blushes on the far right                                               

IMAN Cote d' Azur Palette

I have long been a big fan of IMAN's foundations & powders but I had yet to delve much into her other products. I decided to give the eye shadows a shot and what way better than to start with a palette. The one that spoke to me right off the bat is the one called Cote d' Azur. That translates to The French Riviera for us Americans lol. Well just as with the other products I fell in love with these are of similar quality. The set comes with four eye shadows, two lipsticks, two lip glosses, a blush and a cream bronzer. It becomes quite apparent why IMAN's products are called luxury, they are infinitely luxurious. 

(top row: 2 lipsticks, blush, 2 eye shadows. bottom row: 2 lip glosses, cream bronzer, 2 eye shadows)
The lipsticks are moisturizing and long lasting... the red is one of the most dynamic blue based reds I've ever had. And, the glosses are rich and very pigmented and not sticky. The blush while too light for me is good for someone lighter.. it has a nice delicate shimmer. 
The cream bronzer is really nice. Once applied it dries to a nice smooth powdery consistency and doesn't even feel like it's there. The eye shadows, oh the eye shadows! They are fab! The black is very very black with little glitters reminiscent of MAC's Black Tied. The purple eye shadow (my favorite shadow color) has tiny shimmers of gold through out. The sliver is a high shine luster that packs even more of a punch when wet. And the final shadow is a champagne color which works great as a brow bone highlight for me. Everything really has excellent pigment and decent staying power. It's well worth the $20 that it costs. There's an accompanying palette to this called St. Tropez. Same layout but the colors are more neutral, like earth tones. Cote d' Azur gets a 10 from me! 

I'm wearing mostly IMAN Cosmetics. The Stick Foundation, Oil Blotting Powder, Blush, Eye Shadow & Lips from Cote d' Azur Palette.

Oh Vanessa!

The exquisite Vanessa Williams photographed for Prestige Magazine. Photographed by Mike Ruiz, makeup by Sam Fine. To Die For! She is so damn beautiful! Let this be your inspiration for the weekend. 
                                              Brittany xoxo

Orange-U-Purple

I loved wearing this look. Very colorful eyes. Very orange. Very purple. The colors on the eyes are entirely NYX, I will be posting something about NYX very soon... I'm obsessed! NYX is now my favorite when it comes to eyeshadow. Sorry MAC, I Love NYX now ;) Not to say I don't love other products with good pigment ie: Makeup Forever, Inglot, NARS,etc. But when it comes to price & quality... it's NYX all the way baby!
                                                                            Brittany xoxo

Navy Eyes & Brown Lips

Dramatic navy blue smoky eyes with my favorite thing of the moment a bold brown lip. You can soften the look by lessening the liner and shadow under then eyes and a sheerer application of the lipstick and less lip gloss. I always say.... more! ;) xoxo

Making Faces: My Latest

First I have one of my closest friends Jamie. The objective was to give him the non-makeup look. Accentuate the positives and give him a glow without it being readily recognizable that he's wearing makeup. Not only was Jamie a joy to work with and a perfect model he's so damned handsome it was a breeze! ;) 

Next I have Jamie & Donatella. Working with Donatella was rewarding in that I learned a lot about  working with a hooded eye. I have read a lot about it from my inspiration Kevyn Aucoin and watching the amazing Wayne Goss but this was my first on hands experience. I love this pic of them together!

Jamie. Gorgeous!
Thank You to Donatella & Jamie!! 


Brittany xoxo

Gorgeous Iman, The Talented Sam Fine

Celebrity Makeup Artist and in my opinion absolute genius Sam Fine posted this picture this morning of his latest work on the iconic beauty Iman. His artistry never ceases to amaze me. This is so gorgeous...and timely. Neutral makeup looks are so popular right now, Urban Decay capitalized on this with their wildly successful Naked Palette. This look Sam did on Iman is so simple yet high art... it's sheer perfection. I remain in awe of Sam Fine and my foremost inspiration Iman.

Holiday Look #3: Partying!

This past Saturday I went to my agents annual Christmas party then out to meet friends at my favorite club in Manhattan. Here's the fun, colorful look I wore that night. As many of you know... I love color! ;)

Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope your enjoying the season! xoxo

Holiday Look #2

                    This holiday look is green & red.. classic Christmas colors. 

  I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season so far! It's my favorite time of the year!
                                                    Holiday Love! Brittany xoxo

Holiday Look # 1

This is my first holiday look of which there will be four. Every week this month I'll be doing a look thats good for all the holiday parties of the season. This first one is a pink smoky eye with a striking lip. I keep getting requests to show the use of E.L.F. eye shadows. The eyes are entirely done with the E.L.F. 32 Piece Eyeshadow Collection Palette. 

Other products after the jump...

Smoky Eyes

Hi Everyone! Using the E.L.F 32 Eyeshadow Collection I did a smoky eye look. I tried to keep it only E.L.F. products.. only deviated slightly. 

Next will be a look using NYX products. A complete list of products used after the jump. xoxo

My 'Wearable' Dare To Wear Look

One of my favorite Blogs & one I follow is having a Dare To Wear Challenge. Here is my entry. After considering to go all out with a Runway look I decided to take another angle. I decided to take the extreme looks from the prototype photos and do something you can wear almost anywhere. I kept certain elements... the bold Orange, the exaggerated contour & highlight and made it something a bit more relatable. I added an extra pop of color with a Burgandy brow! It is still a statement look... live a little and try it out! ;-) Visit Alicia's Blog "FunnyFace Beauty" and enter if you DARE !
Here's a link to the contest: FunnyFace Beauty's "Dare To Wear Contest"

Labor Day Weekend

This is the look I did this past Labor Day weekend. Using the new colors I got last week from my Mini-Drug Store Haul. The new Revlon Primer I got is pretty cool. I'll admit I've gotten so used to the Smashbox primer but it's a nice dupe. I absolutely LOVE the Wet n Wild Creme Liner! It really is amazing...especially for the price. It's $3.99. Much better than the one by HIP which is $15! Big thanks to Tatiana Ward for that recommendation, her site http://www.beatfacehoney.com   
I used the Prestige Duo on the eyes and also added Makeup Forever's Blue Eyeshadow to give the Prestige blue an extra pop. And I used e.l.f.'s Pink Kiss lip gloss. Here's the link for new products I used: Drugstore Mini-Haul
more detail after the jump...

Ready, Set, Go... Out!

I took this shot right before I left on my way to a good friends birthday party. It was a fun night had by all. I'll be having my own birthday party this coming weekend and I will post some great pictures from that. I have an idea what makeup look I want to do for that night... stay tuned!


Makeup:
Foundation & Powder-IMAN
Eyes-Revlon: Lilac Shimmer Cream Shadow, Mac: Silver Micro Glitter, Mac: Black Tied Shadow, Makeup Forever: Blue and e.l.f.: Soft Pink, Blush-Covergirl: Raisin Shadow, Contour-Bobbi Brown: Black Plum Shadow, Lips- Tropez Deep Red Gloss & Tropez Magenta Gloss

Light Smoky Eyes

Foundation:

IMAN - Earth 4/5

Powder:

IMAN - Clay Medium

Highlight:

IMAN - Sand Light Medium Pressed Powder

Countour:

Bobbi Brown - Black Plum Shadow

Picture 1

Picture 2 (cell phone pic)

Eyes:
HIP Loreal - Shimmer Purple
MakeUpForever - Brilliant Matte Purple
MAC - Black Tied
MakeUpForever - Pearly Pale Pink
MAC - Smolder (eyeliner)
Lashes - NYX
Blush:
CoverGirl - Raisin Eyeshadow
Lips:
Max Factor - Deep Pink Lipstick
Rimmel - Burgundy Lip Liner
NARS - Giza Lip Gloss 
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