NYX - Champagne and Caviar

I've been wanting the Urban Decay Naked palette for a while, but it is so popular UD are having supply issues and it's very hard to find in stores. NYX do a palette called Champagne and Caviar that has similar colors. For $9.99 it seemed like a good deal.




The shadows are just lovely, nothing too daring but lots of very useful colors. I was a tad disappointed at the matte colors as they didn't seem quite as pigmented as the shimmers and satins and felt a little chalky. Not all of the shades are blow-you-away pigmented but you don't always want full on color, sometimes you just want blending colors and neutrals.




All of the shadows benefit from being applied on top of an eyeshadow primer, particularly the matte shadows - difinitely the pure black and white. The swatches to the left are on top of ELF mineral eye shadow primer. The swatches to the right are on bare skin.




Another noteworthy feature is that the mirror is the same size as the entire compact - no squinting in teeny mirrors here - BIG plus. The palette is compact but you get a decent amount of each shadow, 14g total.

I can't wait to create a look for you. I think these shadows will combine really well with the jumbo eye pencils as a base.

NYX Cosmetics - Jumbo eye pencils

Having heard and read (and seen on YouTube) all about NYX, I was eager to try them out. I'm not a fan of shopping online as you can't touch or swatch the products so when I found out that my local Ulta store (www.ulta.com) stock NYX I was excited to go shopping. I started out with two (Milk and Cottage Cheese) so I could see if I liked the product.

Despite the names -I mean who wants to put cottage cheese on their eyes? eww - I just loved them. They are very creamy. They glide on smoothly and don't drag the delicate eye area at all.





Milk is a very opaque white and Cottage Cheese is a lovely iridescent white, perfect for highlighting the inner corner of the eye, giving that nice wide awake look.

Happy with the formula I went back for more... I bought Pure Gold, exactly what the name states; French Fries, a luscious bronze to use as a base for my favorite Urban Decay eyeshadow Smog; Black Bean, an intense black; and Rocky Mountain Green, a shade I don't really need but it was just so PRETTY!






I don't know how well the black will do as an eyeliner as it's very big and you might be able to see on the photo that it bleeds a little (click the photo to enlarge). I plan on mostly using them as a base for eye shadows, they make it last so much longer than normal primers and they boost the color really well. At around $4 a pop, they are a very affordable, versatile product that I use a lot and will definitely repurchase.

A little makeup review

So anyone that knows me, knows that I love makeup! Shallow as it may be, I just love all the amazing colors and the satisfaction of leaving something looking better than I found it. I'm not good at drawing or painting but makeup allows me to be a little creative without all of the raw talent!

Anyway, I was shopping at my local Ulta yesterday and realised that I keep going back to certain brands. I don't like to spend a lot of money on products so I try to search out the best value and the brands that offer a bang for my stay-at-home mom buck.

So in the next few days I'll be reviewing my top picks from specific brands that are very affordable. I hope you find it useful.

Cheeky Beauty's amazing giveaway

My friend Stina has an amazing beauty blog. She frequently updates with helpful makeup, beauty and product reviews and includes lots of stunning photos (it helps that she's gorgeous!) Right now she is generously giving away some lovely products. Please check out her blog!

http://sweetcheeksramblings.blogspot.com/

Awkward silences

You know when someone emails you and you forget to reply and the longer you leave it, the more awkward it is to send? You feel silly for not sending it, so you just don't send it at all and then in a few months you send a random email pretending that nothing happened and that you didn't go silent for a while? No? Well anyway.....

I bought a new purse on Sunday. It's very pretty. See?

First day of school

Yes, yes, they're totally overdue - first day of school was a month ago. Sorry!

Max is now a first grader (actually he turned 7 today and I swear he seems taller overnight) and Lily is a brand new pre-K student! Max is so happy with his teacher, she has been teaching for 27 years and seems to have it all down. Homework is scheduled a month in advance and perfect peace reigns in her classroom - HOORAY for Mrs. Tyson!



Lily has a friend (Lucille) who rides with us to and from school every day. They are not in the same class but are happy to be at the same school nonetheless. Unfortunately Max's school doesn't have a pre-K program but the two schools are less than 2 miles apart. A typical Lily-ism "Mommy, I thought you said I would go to school to learn. Mostly we just play and eat." I pity her poor Kindergarten teacher if she doesn't learn fast enough.......

She doesn't look too thrilled in this photo but it's her "posing-hurry-up-and-take-the-photo-smile"



See?



But she really was happy, I promise:

Back in the groove!

There has been a LOT going on since I last posted. The trip to DC took a lot out of all of us, especially considering that we got home late Sunday night, had open house at both of the kids' schools on Monday morning and then had first day of school on Tuesday! I'll be posting the first day photos - albeit very VERY late - later on tonight.

Now that we're into a good routine and the children have recovered from the inevitable germs they brought home from the first few weeks of school, business should be resuming shortly :)