Primer Comparisons

Happy Thursday, loves!! Can you believe that the weekend is almost here? Yessss!!! I figured I would drop a vid on one of my newest experiments. I haven't actually compared them side by side like my girl Julie has but one can't help but be intrigued by the idea that Too Faced's Shadow Insurance may one up Urban Decay's Primer Potion.

....to my newbies out there, don't even think about applying eyeshadow without a primer. The cult fave is Urban Decay Primer Potion (also known as UDPP) but I have also found success in concealer. I just recently purchased Too Faced's Shadow Insurance and haven't played around in it much with am glad to see that Julie has done the comparisons.

Check out her video by clicking on the link below.

CLICK HERE!

.....do you have a preference in primers on your lids?

....and have you checked out Clumps of Mascara's column on MahoganyButterfly.com? I am so fortunate to be able to contribute to a website by and for Black women.

....I have 3 winners from Monday's contest but I am lookin' for oooooone more. Guess where I was born win a Palmer's Lip Butter. Here is the post.


Big love to JulieG. Her YouTube Channel is amazement!

Stay beautiful, lovelies!

...ooohhh and here's that wonderful v05 Flirting game again. I've already played 6 times today.

UDPP has been holdin' out!

Yall see this?

Guess the product.

Now I know I'm a newbie and just learning some things but pleeeease tell me yall knew about this!

We all know Urban Decay's Primer Potion, right (did you guess right?)? It is one of my HG and most beloved products. Even if I use a Paint Pot, Paint, concealer or even a Shadestick, I still start with UDPP. We all know that it is also a bit pricey and the shape of the bottle is just.....beyond frustrating. The wand can only go straight down into the tube. Never mind the sides. However, my friend showed me how we can get more product by cutting the tube in half. Now when she told and SHOWED me this I was thinking, "Ehhh....okay, a bit more would be nice." A "bit" is an understatement. Chopping your UDPP in half will give you about 2-3 more months worth of product. Don't believe me? Lemme show you!

What you'll need:

UDPP (of course)
A pretty big knife
A not so big knife
Something to put UDPP in. I was going to use an depotted MAC pot but duhhh, it has holes so I settled for a random empty jar thingie. Sample pigment jars would be perfect though.


[STEP 1]
Start by cutting a knife straight through your UDPP. It may take some time. Make sure you use a cutting board. Forgot to take a pic of this. Sorrryyy..

[STEP 2]
Pull apart your UDPP and get angry at how Urban Decay has been ripping us off.

[STEP 3]
Scoop what you can OUT and place in your new jar. Hmmm, ice cream.

[STEP 4]
But ohhh chile, you ain't done yet. Start slicing the base of the packaging too.

[STEP 5]
Scoop like hell and place everything in your new jar.

Can you believe this? Look how much of the product was still stuck inside of there. This took me all of 5 minutes to do. I say we all start emailing Urban Decay and suggest they find some new packaging for UDPP because this here don't make no damn sense. What do you think?

Random post, I know. But in the midst of packing, I got into a depotting mode and then UDPP scooping mode and decided to share with my blog fam. Have a fab weekend, yall!

Peace and fists to Urban Decay!

[thanks Ms. Riss. Get back on the blog updating thang, sis b/c I miss you!]

Pucker Up!

So yeah….pimples are back. And they brought a little partner called Seborrheic dermatitis. It’s the most random thing ever. My face gets all hot and it looks like a flesh eating bacteria has taken over. It’s awful. Hydrocortisone cream helps. Anywho. I’m getting patches of that again. So in the next few pictures you may see that. I think I’ve gotten it under control for the most part, but still….

OH---and for those that are using MAC’s Prep-N-Prime, I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I honestly like the product, but it’s leaving my face a bit ghostly lookin’. It looks white after I put it on….I’m using a brush and applying it as lightly as I can. What’s the prob, mayn? Anyone got any application ideas? Or maybe this just isn’t for me….I don’t know. The next time I go to MAC to ask questions about this, but I’m getting a bit pissed off at MAC in the Skincare department. First the Strobe Cream now me. I can’t the pearly shimmer stuff they put in some of their skincare products. Definitely not brown skinned folx friendly----or it could be me. I don’t know. We’ll see.

So….I tried something different the other day. A colored liner on my waterline (or is that the lower lash line? I get an F in facial terminology). It’s pretty fun…

And here are shots of me after getting’ my lips done at MAC Pro.

Oh…and there is Stylistics.

I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money on products that didn’t really WOW me. Or maybe I'm in denial because I'm a broke ass and just can't afford it. Who knows. Maybe Santa will bring me something. But if not, life will move on. Passing on Metal X and The Stylistics ain’t THAT hard.

On to the lips….
I’ve decided to return my Chestnut Lip pencil. Don’t think I have much use for that. Especially since I have a pretty decent brown from Milani.
Here are my FOTDs…..you have been warned of the dermatitis on the left cheek (your right) so yeah….it sucks. So sad. Still blaming the harsh elements of LA smog. I can’t do this city thing. I need to go back to my clean Floridian air. Ha!

FACE:
Mommy’s Homemade Honey cleanser
Olay Complete moisturizer
MAC’s Prep-N-Prime
Mineralized Skinfinish in Deep Dark
Fix +

EYES:
Revlon Colorstay eyeliner
Loreal Cream liner in Blue
MAC Fibre Rich mascara

LIPS:
Burt’s Bees Lip Balm
Night Moth lip pencil
Culture Class lipstick/Ultra Madame in last pic
Contessa Lipglass

(yikes...Blurville. My bad, peeps)

I really like not putting a mess load of products on my eyes. I never realized how time consuming it is. I have 20 minutes more in the morning!

On a good note….the brows are growing back! I’m elated. They are looking better. It’s 34 days since the incident and I’m so happy at how fast they are growing. Still not perfect but at least I don’t walk around looking super duper surprised anymore. And I seriously don’t want to draw them in anymore. Because my brows are so thick, I am confident in thinking that I can have decent arched brows without the assistance of liners, stencils and things like that. But we’ll see how I feel in a month or two. Ha.

Peace and Decision Making

Updates

So a sista has been gone for a minute and I do apologize. But I do come back to you as a COLLEGE GRADUATE!!


Yess yessss, I have walked the stage and it was so wonderful that I want to do it again. LOL, seriously. After my AmeriCorps service I'm headin' on to someone's grad school. So yep yep, that's that.


Aaaaand, I got a digital camera as a gift so now there will be more updates with better quality photos. The only one I have today is:

Yesss, I was beyond excited. My eye make-up was "ehhh...." Nothing to brag about. The look here was my favorite pigment combo...

-Melon on the lid
-Coco beach on the crease
-And I took out my ex-BFF Vex as my highlighter

....and then I put on the StudioFix because I knew I was going to be taken a ton of photos. It lasted pretty well. But then a day later, I noticed freakin' small bumps all over my face. (sigh) Could be a coincidence, but whatever. I'm thinking I need to completly retire that StudioFix and try StudioTech...or somethin' else. It clearly isn't for me.


Over the past week or so I've been to 2 MAC stores, 2 MAC counters, an outlet, Ulta and Sephora. So I've been out and about. Got some new stuffs and got some reviews.


First:

BRUSHES

The Novel Twist basic brush set is such greatness....well, for me at least. This is the most I've spent on brushes. I think it's great for a beginner like myself. The entire set costs $48 and includes smaller handles of the 129, 190, 224, 242 and 266. Now of course it came out 'bout a month ago but I was waiting until I copped some graduation money before I got it. Hehehe.....anywho the 224 is an amazing blending brush. And the 242 is GREAT for eyeshadow application.


Still playing around with the others. And then I purchased a 222 brush from an outlet for only $11. It's the white tip blending brush that I haven't played around with much and only purchased out of excitement. Any ideas on how to use this one?



Okay noooow.....

EYE SHADOWS

Antiqued
Anyone familiar with this one? It stuck out on me for some reason and I think it is so divine. MAC describes it as ash brown with bronze cast. As a veluxe pearl, it goes on very nicely....especially with Woodwinked.



Chrome Yellow
Purchased this because I want a diverse make-up collection. And uhh...I'm not too sure if I like it just yet. It takes a looong time to get it to do what you want it to do. I'm assuming this will only be GREAT with a primer similar to its color. Other than that I wasn't too big on it. But I think it's great to have nonetheless. I also pulled Humid and finally Woodwinked. Which is 10x better than that bright ass Amberlights, I might add.



My "to be purchased soon" shadows:
Flashtrack-what I'll do this this royal blue, I don't know...but it calls my name EVERYTIME I go into MAC. Next time I'm getting it. It's sooo pretty.

...and Star Violet, Sushi Flower and Parfait Amour.

PRIMERS

Hush Color Cream Base
Has anyone used MAC's CCBs before? Wellll, this is my first and last purchase of these kids. The artist did warn me that CCBs are NOT for folx with oily lids. Welll....I never considered mine to be so oily, but apparently they are. A few hours after having put this on, the whole "where you blink your eye" crease part was completely jacked up. I mean, I had NO make-up there. It looked awful. Definitely not for me. So what have I learned from this? Urban Decay's Primer Potion is the best...better than CCBs, shadesticks and paint. The end. I should probably mention that MAC says this product has many uses so perhaps I'll find something else to use it for. But for the lids...nooooope.







....I got some other stuff like Elaborate Lip glass (not to be worn alone...too much glitter)....my beloved MAC Vanilla piggie (plan on order more samples before I move to LA) and some non-make-up goodies like Carol's Daughter hair oil.

Tis it for now.....look for mo betta photos!