Berries!

Ohhhh la laaa, I've been all over berries this summer. Aside from making delicious blueberry, strawberry and raspberry protein smoothies every other morning, I've been all over berry colored lippies. I decided to have a little fun and showcase them by categorizing the intensities: low, medium and high color concentrations.

Sound too technical? HA....well, hopefully my silly pictures make up (get it...make-up? *crickets*) for the professional word usage.

First up. let's start with the loooooow.

[LOW]
L'Oreal HIP Jelly Balm in Luscious

.....what's better than a MAC Tendertone? Nooo, I'm just kidding. I've actually never owned the Tendertones but I don't feel like I'm missing out. Especially since I got them 2 for $8.99. I find these perfect for a little color tint. Like when I'm at work and don't have time to run to a mirror.

[MEDIUM]

CoverGirl's Wetslicks AmazeMint #625

I absolutely love this lippie. This has to be one of my favorites! The color in the tube isn't as dark on my lips so it works out beautifully. The minty taste doesn't hurt either. It isn't too powerful but it is absolutely pleasant applying on the lips. This is a great "gotta run into the mall" or "out to eat with the co-workers" look.

I'm a nut for giving that lipgloss

its own photoshoot, uh? HA!

[HIGH]
NARS Afghan Red

If you are lookin' for a serious berry-licious look, I'm thinkin' that a highly pigmented lipstick is the way to go. NARS Afghan Red is seriously one of my favorite lipsticks. I know, I know. I say that about all of my products, but this baby here has me goin' around pokin' my lips out every time I wear it. It is great for ladies' night out!



How do you feel about berry lipsticks? Yay or nay?





[image source: http://www.inforochester.com]

Brown and Blushin' Series: Types of Blushes

[NOTE] I'm workin' on some HTML/CSS so the page may be lookin' funky for a day or two. Excuse the messs.

Welcome to another post of the Brown & Blushin’ series. I am excited to see many of you involved in sending me your pictures, requests and proclaiming your love for all things blush! Remember, you can send me pictures of you wearing your favorite blush at Brittany@ClumpsOfMascara.com. If your blog has posts about blush for women of color and you’d like me to link you, I am more than willing to do so. Hit me up!

This post is about the different types of blushes out on the market. I know you didn’t think that powder was the only kind. Come on, girlfriend…get with the program. But since you are so in hip with the powder blush, I guess we’ll start there.

The most traditional form of blush, powder, is great for for all skin types, but especially oily/combination skin.

Plus, it’s the most dense of all blushes which means it will give you long lasting color. I absolutely adore powder blushes (well shoot, it’s the only kind of blush I’ve ever used) because I find that if you apply too much, you can always “take a step back”. How? By dusting a bit of translucent face powder or bronzer on your cheeks. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

My favorite powder blush? NARS Cosmetics make the BEST blushes ever. But for a beauty on a budget, I recommend Milani.

Gel Blushes

Ohh la laaa....I am swooning over Tarte's Cheekstains. How beautiful are they? They have won awards as "the best blush" from Cosmo, InStyle and Self magazines. I hear that the color payoff is intense and long lasting and get this....many of them are water resistant. Now that's hot for Floridian beauties who like to jump in a pool at a moment's notice. And since the cheekstains are oil-free, you don't have to worry about getting that oily face look. That also means that they won't be clogging your pores. Definitely adding this to my long list of "beauty products to cop".

Cream Blushes

One of the products that I was always afraid to try when I first got into MAC Cosmetics was their cream blushes. Now that I have this slight obsession with blushes, in general, I think that I may give them a try sooner rather than later. Cream blushes usually offer more color than powder blushes but since the color pay off is so rich, it takes a bit more effort to blend in. The great thing about cream blushes is that they are ideal for those of us with drier skin. They are a bit more emollient and therefore provide more moisture than powder blushes. This would be perfect for the winter months. I don't wear foundation but if I did, I would imagine that a cream blush would be absolutely divine for a nice evening look.

Bronzers

Let's have a moment of silence for the fabulousness that is bronzers. If you've been a reader of Clumps of Mascara for awhile, you know how much I Iove Bobbi Brown's Shimmerbricks. When I tell you this product is love at first swipe (to be taken literally), I'm not even playin'. Bronzers look absolutely beautiful on brown skin. It gives us a nice and natural glow. On days when I want to feel pretty without much effort, I swipe bronzer on the cheeks. Instant glow!!

This site will also give you more information about other types of blushes. It is a great resource for newbies. My girl Erin from The MAC Fetish (and ScandalousBeatyOnline.com) has a post here where she shows us that you can wear eye shadows as blush. I've also heard that you can swipe lipsticks on your cheeks for added color too. Who would have thoooought? Yall know I'm going to be trying that out.

And for this post's Brown & Blushin' Beauty, my lovely author, PBW from Forty is the New 20 shows us her beautiful FOTD with her wearing Dior Sunset Fiesta blush.

Lookin' gorgeous, uh? Love it! Send me yours at Brittany@ClumpsOfMascara.com. Stay tuned for more posts from the Brown & Blushin' series. Smooches!

[Photo Courtesy: tartecosmetics.com, narscosmetics.com, maccosmetics.com]

Eyelashes and skin

Soooo, for once in my make-up life, I actually stuck went to the mall and swiped exactly what I said I was going to swipe. That's the first. I tend to loose my damn mind in Sephora, but yesterday I only got the Shu Uemura eyelash curler. However....on my way out, I took a peek at fab NARS blushes and I'm not too big on Crazed.

A lot of ladies in the Beauty of Color forum on Specktra.net seem to think that
Crazed (NARS defines this color as a Raspberry red with shimmer) is just absolutely fab. A little too pigmented for my dark skin, I think. And far too pink.

However, I so fell in love with Outlaw (defined as rose with shimmer). I think that may be my next purchase. But really no purchasing of any more blushes until I learn how to correctly apply. Ohhh, I love NARS. Why oh why is that brand so f-ing expensive?

.....okay, I've gone on a tangent once again. I'm diggin' the Shu Uemura eyelash curler. It's still giving me a crimp and not a curl but not nearly as bad as the others ones do.

And I loooove my MAC green gel cleanser. It is really clearing up my skin something wonderful. And not too drying. I'm excited about that. Bad skin really depresses me.

I've also gotten Fix + coming to me in the mail via a Specktra sale. Can't wait to play around with that!

Stash (pics)

Sooo....time for some updates.

But first....

Glad that you've jumped up on the bandwagon of make-up blogs, Ms. Riss!! I can't wait to learn all the secrets and tricks of the trade from a professional like you!!



Okayyy....so after best friend left, I ran to MAC and picked up:

Some friggin' Concealer....I have 1 fugly dark spot on my face that I am proud to announce is invisible with this stuff! My very first concealer. A special moment in a young woman's life. *tear* LOL!

And then I got an eyebrow pencil. Scuse my moment but OMG, it's like totally the best thing I've ever freaking come across! No seriously.....that pencil is the ish. It's thin and the color is sooo close to my natural eyebrow color. I'm definitely mastering the eyebrows little by little. I'm so proud I could spit. Hehe...

And then I got another StudioFix compact because mine broke during an unfortunate incident at some hood-ass club. But I don't even know why I purchased it because I'm staying away from face make-up for awhile. Except that concealer which actually looks okay alone. My skin needs a break. And I've gone back to my natural face care wash, toner and moisturizer.



Ohhhhhhhhhh......and my pigments came in on last Friday and I was so excited. I ordered 9 from miss lady off of Specktra (1165Cheryl....yall need to look chick up. She's on point!). Her prices are extremely reasonable and she gives you an amble amount. I was so happy! And she hooked me up with one free piggie. I took a pic of some....

I absolutely love them! And then folx kept ravin' about Vanilla pigment (which I forgot to order), but I got a sample from MAC when I picked up my other goodies. I am so excited! The Vanilla looks great on the lips. Anyone got any recs on some "must have" piggies for Women of color?

OH....here's my FOTD for Thursday night's awful.terrible.will never again go to that damn club experience:

Seee....and I know you can't tell from this pic, but I was trying to go for some extreme cat eye look that I saw once and it just didn't work out. I have to do some more practicing.

I ordered MAC's FIRESPOT today!!!! From the Moothbathe collection. I know. I'm like 10 years late. 'Bout time. I've been wanting that color forever.

Oh....I also purchased NARS' Emmanuel. Did I mention that I am in LOVE with NARS' colors. Why are they so beautiful?

I ran into a bump today while putting on some make-up. I've come to discover that virtually all of my colors are poooow....in yo face....see how purty my make-up is kind of stuff. Nooo, I don't want that! I need some tone down colors and looks. Bad, like really bad. So I ended up wearing some boring ole' Mythology and Vex and called it a day.

Boo and Boo's Momma...I look boring and boring. HELP, I need some everyday pretty looks.


Deuces for now.....I don't exactly know what else to buy in terms of products except a good mascara. I think I've hit a bump. Until I find some neutal looks, I'm going to be sad, depressed and withdrawn from MAC.

......my dramatic self. I know. The Academy Award goes to...................

Blue & Passion (pics)

Wooooop! I'm excited because I got some new colors. *doin' a dance* So excited. It's about time because it had been a long looong loooong almost 2-3 weeks since I've purchased my last color. So thrilled. So, here's what I got...

Orange (might be going back)
Ricepaper (also might be going back)
Big T
Romping
Nocturnelle
Coopering
.....and I purchased some color from Milani that is similar to Firespot.

.....no one has Firespot and I'm sooo saddened because I REALLY want it.

So yeah, I don't like how Orange feels....doesn't go too well on my eyes and Ricepaper (WTF was I thinking?) I went a little overboard so instead of exchanging them, I may return them. IF I have THAT much will power....which I doubt I do.

--------Oh, wait. I also got an eyebrow pencil with Milani that is wonderful!! I'm doing so much better with my eyebrows!!!!----------

So I tried 2 new looks which I've named Blue and Passion. The quality of the pics are terrible because I used my camera phone, so please beware---for some reason the enlargement of these pics make my face look like HELL. I'm not even lyin'.....my skin ain't as good as it normally is, but it certainly doesn't look as terrible as the damn Sidekick makes it seem.

So......the colors from Blue are all MAC colors which include:
-Electric Eel on lid
-Tilt on crease
-Vex on browbone (yall know I love my Vex up there)
.....this was a BOLD, in yo face....."check out the chick with the loud ass blue eyeshadow on" kinda look. And of course, I rocked it, loved it, felt confident, got compliments, and smiled at the hatas alllll at the same time. For some reason, I really don't care what people think about my eyeshadow. I got some funny looks yesterday, but I shrugged it off and came strollin' anyway.

Not too bad, uh? Here's a pic with closed eyes....



Here's a full face pic:


Now remember......my skin is NOT THAT BAD! I have to keep reiterating it because enlarging this picture depresses me. LOL!!

Okay, sooo passion--I absolutely love. I went and played around with C-Shock colors again yesterday and not only can AFFORD to get the entire collection, but I'm just not in love with all of them. Eyepopping.....ehhhh. Fab & Flashy.......ehh. I mean, I like them. But I'm not tryna go bankrupt tryna get them. I'd rather go bankrupt for something I REALLY want. Ahem, like Firespot from the Moonbathe Collection.

Anyway.....Passion's colors include:
Big T-inner V
Swimming-middle
Romping-outer V (I freakin' love this damn color!!!!!)
Nocturnelle (liner)
Amberlights-crease
Vex (you know it.....browbone)

.....this is what I got:

*screams* My faaaaace!!! Ugghhhh, I swear I don't look THAT bad. And of course, I may be being overly critical, but I'd admit if my face looked like I had a flesh eating disease. But it doesn't---so I don't know why my phone has to exaggerate to the 194th degree. I'm not wearing any Studio Fix----remember? I'm trying to ween myself off of foundation. Don't want to become too dependent on it and feel like I have to wear it every day.

When I first got into make-up----it was supposed to be eye make-up designing. And of course, that entails the WHOLE face (obviously I didn't know that before) but still....my focus is the eyes.

Ohhhh shooooot......I went in Sephora yesterday and checked out NARS Exhibit A and Taj Mahal blushes and that Taj Mahal is GORGEOUS!!!! Exhibit A is nice, but it looks a little orange. I'm defintely going to have to indulge in that some day.

And then I checked out Urban Decay's Heat which is a RED (okayyyy, I thought for the longest that red shadows didn't even exist!) that I absolutely love. I'm going to go back and get it one day. It's intense. More intense than NARS' Emmanuel.

So yeah....that's that!