Brown and Blushin' Series: Mineral Concepts Blush

Brown & Blushin' time! And for this post, I just had to highlight not only a brand of make-up that I'm using but a different kind of blush.

ta daaaa....mineral blush!

First of all, mad love to Carol Jenne over at Mineral Concepts who is supportin' a girl's venture into not only mineral make-up but blushes too. After hearing wonderful things about this company, I just had to give it a whirl.

So check out Rosy Raisin.



The velvety smooth texture is to die for. And then when you come back to life, you will be in awe of the amazing color payoff which....uh, lasts all day on my primer-less and foundation-less skin in humid Central Florida.

Here's a swatch..


And check it out on the cheek.


And I didn't stop there with just the blush. I also dapped some of the color on my eyes...

I added some Black matte eyeshadow (MAC's Carbon) to smoke it out a bit.


And theeeen I put on some clear lip gloss and put some color on the lippies too!

Ehhh, a little too dark for my liking but I think it's amazing that I did a full face of make-up with only 4 products:

-Mineral Concepts Rosy Raisin blush
-MAC Carbon e/s
-NYC clear gloss
-Maybelline Black eyeliner




I'm happy about it and can't wait to showcase some more mineral blushes for yall. Anyone else dapple in mineral blushes? Shoot me some of your favorites and recs!

For this posts' Brown & Blushin' beauty we have my girl Ari over at Fashion Devotee rockin' MAC's Full Fuchsia blush.


Hot pink blush is beautiful on for an after dark glam look. My sister is rockin' it! Keep sendin' me your submissions to Brittany@ClumpsOfMascara.com. Stay beautiful!

Brown and Blushin' Series: Berry/Plum Swatches

Yaaaaay, time for another edition of Brown & Blushin'.

*keys theme music*


A lot of you gals were interested in berry/plum blushes. I'm not even going to sit here and front like I own such. I'm a total newb when it comes to those colors. So what did I have to do? Hit up my sis, Jessica from paix all around. She has provided us with some gorgeous blush shots and even swatched them. I know she can't wait to show us the FOTDs either, uh? Hehehe....love you Jess.

The colors are as follows (they are all from MAC):
(l-r) Ambering Rose, Breezy, Lovecrush (discontinued), Fever, Frame (discontinued), Flirt & Tease

Feenin' yet?

Wait...


Yall remember that song?





Oh my fault....had a New Jack swing moment. Let the show continue.




Beautiful, uh? I am definitely diggin' that Lovecrush. And of course. It would be discontinued. No worries....I'm on my mission to find a beautiful berry blush for my brown skin. Say THAT 10x fast. So uhhh....I'm pretty much in love with berry blushes for now. What you gals say? Any recs?



And for this post's Brown & Blushin' Beauty...we have the lovely Danyelle rockin' the MAC's Breezy Blush. My girl is all shy about having me post her pictures and I don't know why because she is gorgeous!!



CHEEKS:
Breezy- sheertone shimmer blush MAC; brush from CVS by Essence of Beauty
MSF Light Flush MAC


Killer brows, uh? And her skin IS that pretty in person. Chiiiile, I'm gon get there one day.
Don't forget.....you can send your blush photos and submissions to me at Brittany@ClumpsOfMascara.com. And thanks to all of you beauty bloggers for their contributions to this series. It has definitely been a collaborative effort and you gals have been so wonderful at supporting me. *tear* Love yall!


Stay beautiful loves!






[image courtesy: amazon.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]

Brown and Blushin' Series

Blushes!

I can’t tell yall how much I love blushes. I wish someone would have told me a long ago that a sista of a darker hue can rock them beautifully. Before then I was sellin’ myself short but now I am truly a believer. And I absolutely adore my little blush collection. It is perfect for a newbie because none of the colors look alike. I decided to start a series in which I will feature a blush that I think compliments my darker skinned sistas. Thanks for the emails that inspired me to come up with this series.

Stay tuned for the series’ updates.

What do you think? Can darker skinned women rock blushes beautifully? Any type of colors that you would like for me to review? Email me at Brittany@ClumpsOfMascara.com.

Ugh, Mondays!

They really do. I felt just like my homeboy, Garfield, this morning. Ahh well. I didn't do much this weekend but pack up and get ready for my move back to Florida. I just got an apartment, so I'm excited about that! Ummmm, so like I promised, here are the list of items I've found that I can stand to part with. If you're interested in purchasing or swapping, send me a message via my Contact info. We'll talk prices--which is why I haven't posted them. I have pictures of everything so if you need to see them, make sure you make that request in your message.


#33 Ardell lashes-never worn. If you buy something else, I'll give these to you for free.
#11 MAC lashes-tried to wear them once, didn't work out.
Holiday 2007 Royal Assets Tan lip palette-only swatched. Never worn.
Duo Surgical adhesive lash glue-used 1x
MAC Lustreglass in Flash mode (holiday size)-only swatched
Johnathan Finish Shine Polishing gloss (vegan)-used 1x

And again, send me a message if you are interested. Still going through some things, so this isn't it.

In other news, I went to CVS and couldn't bring myself to haul any L'Oreal eyeshadows. I, at one point owned virtually all of them before I got into MAC. But dumb me gave them away to my friends. Crazy, I know. So re-buying everything just wasn't sittin' well with me. I did grab 2 new lip colors and my Styli-Style eyeliner (reviews coming soon).

Other than that....here are 3 FOTDs from the weekend. I'm keepin' it simple and really starting to love blush. NARS Crazed is fab when applied with the 187 brush. I know---not really a blush brush but when blended upwards after application on the apples of the cheeks....it's really nice. It doesn't add too much color. NEWBIES NOTICE: The MAC 187 brush or a good dupe is a must have! And I've been rockin' the African headwap all weekend.

I'm gettin' there. Looks like my face is actin 'crazy again (freakin' A, mannnn). I have tiny bumps forming on my chin and my right cheek. I ain't stressin' it. Hopefully they'll go away soon. Shout out to Molly, Julie and other ladies who email me showin' love for Clumps of Mascara. Yall are fab! Witcho beautiful selves. Get iiiiit!

Peace here and peace in Kenya.

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!

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!