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Top 10 Gold and Silver

Happy Top 10 Tuesday! Today I’ve got my top 10 favorite silver and gold makeup items for you.

This wound up being much harder than I anticipated but not for a reason I ever would have guessed. You see, up until maybe 5 or 6 years ago I didn’t like the color gold. I didn’t like gold clothing, jewelry, makeup, nail polish or even hardware accents on purses or jackets. I was 100% silver or nothing. But since I started blogging and have tried out so many amazing gold items, things have changed a bit. I actually don’t really like silver nail polish or eye shadow anywhere near as much as gold now! Plus certain shades of gold make my deep blue/grey eyes pop, so that helps. Luckily I can wear most any silver or gold shades because my skin tone is fairly neutral, so that’s great. And now that we have all these rose gold things, I am even more in love with the color!

NYX Waterproof Extreme Shine Eye Liner in Glitzy Gold, Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Cuff, NARS Eye Shadow in Etrusque, Makeup Geek Pigment in Liquid Gold, Estee Lauder Illuminating Powder Gelee in Heat Wave

NYX Glitzy Gold is just incredibly creamy, smooth, metallic and pigmented. Fab!

Urban Decay Cuff is a perfect, strong metallic silver.

NARS Etrusque is an old antiqued gold shade that has long been a favorite of mine. No primer here!

Makeup Geek Liquid Gold. No primer. I mean do I even need to say anything else?

Estee Lauder Heat Wave is so, so pretty as a highlighter. This is one of my go-to highlighters.

OPI My Signature Is “DC”

OPI My Signature is “DC” is such a great, opaque silver.

Illamasqua Swinger

Illamasqua Swinger is definitely one of my all-time favorite gold nail shades. I love a cool-toned gold!

NARS Desperado

NARS Desperado is really weird and really cool. It’s more of a greenish-antiqued bronze/gold, but I still call it a gold. Old photo sorry!

NARS Venomous

NARS Venomous (the silver one, obviously) is an extremely pigmented shade. You basically only need one coat.

butter LONDON Champers

butter LONDON Champers is an excellent rose gold nail shade. Perfect formula, gorgeous shade.

Beauty Blogger Top Ten Tuesday

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What are your favorite silver and gold makeup and nail items?

-Kelly

September 9, 2014 18 comments

Nail Polish Orly

Orly Smoky Collection for Fall 2014

Press Sample

Orly Smoky Collection

The Orly Smoky Collection for fall 2014 has arrived, are you ready to see the beauty?

This collection features six new shades. Most have a super shimmery, sparkly finish but there are a couple great cremes as well. Here is what they say about the inspiration for the collection “Travel to the dark side of beauty this fall with Smoky, the fall 2014 collection from ORLY. Beauty emerges from the shadowy corners of the imagination, seducing with an enigmatic palette that comes alive as eyes adjust to the light. Dusty tones are blended with matte shimmers creating an alluring and intriguing mix of hues inspired by shades worn on the smokiest of eyes.”

For the most part the formula was really great with all six of these colors. Most were just two coats to cover completely and I didn’t have any problems with any of them.

Orly Smoky Collection ($8.50)

Highlight, Blend, Brush It On

Edgy, Darkest Shadow, Smoked Out

Highlight

Highlight is a pale grey creme. This is kind of a greyish/putty color actually and pretty unusual, I think. It’s what I called a 1980’s computer putty shade, haha! This one was on the slightly more sheer side so I used three thin coats to get it completely even and covered. Love it.

Blend

Blend is a warm-toned taupe creme. This one leans more towards the purple side of taupe rather than brown. It’s a beautiful shade and had a great formula, covering with two coats.

Brush It On

Brush It On is a rose pink/bronze/gold duochrome glitter. Because this is on the more sheer side I used three coats, but you can still see my nail line a bit. It’s a really cool color though. Super sparkly and has a very nice duochrome effect.

Edgy

Edgy is described as an antique bronze shimmer. To my eye it looks more like a murky green/bronze. Either way I love it, it’s really pretty and shimmery. This was two coats.

Darkest Shadow

Darkest Shadow is a black with strong red and pink shimmer throughout. Super dark, super vampy and very glow-y. I really love this shade, it reminds me of lava rocks or something. The formula was great, this was just two coats.

Smoked Out

Smoked Out is a dark green matte shimmer. It’s a really dark base with bright, emerald green shimmer. Beautiful shade and really great formula. This was two coats. But I think it looks much better with a top coat!

Smoked Out with top coat

Isn’t it pretty? Adding the top coat just brings it to life and makes it extra sparkly and glowing.

There are some shades in here I really fell in love with and they are Highlight, Darkest Shadow and Smoked Out. I do also like Edgy and Blend, but they aren’t as unique. Brush It On is really cool, but I wish it was more pigmented and covered my nails better.

You can find these now on the Orly site as well as Sally Beauty, Ulta, etc.

See anything here you need this fall?

-Kelly

September 8, 2014 38 comments

Giveaway

6th Blog Anniversary and Giveaway!

Press Sample

Happy Birthday

Hard to believe it, but yesterday was my official 6th blog anniversary!

I still remember my apprehension as I hovered over the “Publish” button on my very first post in 2008. Boy have times changes since then. I think I have improved a bit. 😉

But where would I be without my lovely, fabulous, amazing, loyal readers? Nowhere! So to thank you, I am running a giveaway for one lucky person to win. The items included are as follows:

September 8, 2014 486 comments

Epic Blend Makeup

Epic Blend Lip Balm Review

Press Sample

Epic Blend

Epic Blend Lip Balm is a Canadian brand that started in 2007. They make organic and vegan lip balms in a variety of flavors and all are petroleum-free, gluten-free, non-GMO and cruelty-free.

Their balms come in three categories which are:

Hemp – This includes organic hemp seed oil, which is a great anti-oxidant, as well as organic coconut oil, organic sunflower oil, organic beeswax and non-GMO vitamin E. These come in flavors Vanilla, Mint, Coconut and Citrus Kick.
More Moisture – This has seven moisturizers including organic Shea butter, organic coconut oil, organic sunflower oil, organic castor oil, organic beeswax and non-GMO vitamin E. These come in flavors Unflavored, Grape, Green Apple and Cherry.
Vegan – These are 100% plant-based and beeswax-free. They use food grade candelilla wax for a smooth texture, as well as organic coconut coil, organic sunflower oil, organic cocoa butter and non-GMO vitamin E. These come in flavors Wild Berry and Pineapple-Mint.

They also have a Tinted Lip Balm in Garnet Star, which is sheer red slightly shimmery shade. They are just $3.49 each or you can buy 4-packs for $12.00 on their site.

Epic Blend-2

Epic Blend-3

What I like about these is that they are smooth and totally not oily feeling. They don’t feel as thick and hydrating as say my beloved Jack Black Lip Balms, but they are really good if you just need a bit of moisture. They are also great for wearing underneath a lipstick that might have a drying formula because they aren’t greasy and don’t change the way the lipstick applies. The flavors are yummy also! My favorites are Coconut, Green Apple, Cherry and Vanilla.

I definitely recommend these to you if you need light moisture, and are looking for organic or vegan ingredients in a balm.

What’s your go-to lip balm at the moment?

-Kelly

September 5, 2014 14 comments

Morgan Taylor Nail Polish

Morgan Taylor The Enchantment Collection for Fall 2014

Press Sample

Morgan Taylor The Enchantment Collection

Morgan Taylor The Enchantment Collection for fall 2014 is a limited edition collection featuring six new shades that were “inspired by the mystical storybook forests we used to dream about,” says Taylor Daniel and Morgan Haile (the namesakes of the brand. “Though the color spectrum is sophisticated, it is lighthearted and evokes the fanciful feelings of childhood.” I can definitely see that in these shades.

The formula was really quite great with these shades. Some of the lighter ones did require three thin coats but most were two. I really love the light creme colors together, they fit together perfectly. In fact I liked the soft palette so much that I did a nail art look using them before I had even swatched them!

Morhan Taylor The Enchantment Collection Nail Art

Using Simply Spellbound, Hocus Pocus and Who-Dini?

Morgan Taylor The Enchantment Collection

$8.50

Simply Spellbound

Simply Spellbound is a nude creme. Because this was on the more sheer side, I did use three coats.

Magician’s Assistant

Magician’s Assistant is a soft pink/mauve with pink shimmer. This one was a little uneven on me, especially on my ring and pinky nails, which are very ridged. This was two coats.

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus is a muted green creme. I love this shade because it’s so mellow and greyed out. I don’t think I have another green like it in fact. This was two coats and it covered nicely.

Who-Dini?

Who-Dini? is a muted grey/blue creme. I am completely loving this shade as well because of the dustiness of it. Is it blue, is it grey? It’s both! I think this is pretty unique to my collection as well. This was a little on the thin side but I used two coats here.

Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a rich chocolate brown shimmer. Super shimmery, super sumptuous. Did I seriously just say that? Hate that word! But yeah it’s creamy, smooth and has an utterly perfect finish and formula. It was nearly one coat but I used two thin ones.

I’m The Good Witch

I’m The Good Witch is a rose gold glitter. This is mostly rose gold glitter in a red/brown base, but it also has pieces of holographic glitter inside. It a full-coverage formula and two coats covers the nails completely.

Another great collection from Morgan Taylor! I am really impressed with the quality of their polishes and the price is pretty great as well. For me the stand-out shades here are Hocus Pocus, Who-Dini? and Now You See Me.

You can find these in salons, beauty stores and LoxaBeauty.com starting this month. To find out more about the brand visit their site.

Did any of these shades bewitch you?

-Kelly

September 5, 2014 19 comments

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Top 10 Tuesday – My Favorite Silver & Gold Makeup Items

Orly Smoky Collection for Fall 2014

6th Blog Anniversary and Giveaway!

Epic Blend Lip Balm Review

Morgan Taylor The Enchantment Collection for Fall 2014