NYX "Crimson Amulet" Palette--Inspired by "Dark Shadows"

Hey everyone!  Tonight I have the swatches from the new NYX “Crimson Amulet” palette.  The colors in this are inspired by the new “Dark Shadows” movie with Johnny Depp.  It features 24 eye shadows colors, 4 lip gloss colors, 5 blush colors, 1 illuminator, a travel HD eye shadow base and a travel liquid eyeliner. 

I’ve had a chance to try wear some of the eye shadows and am mostly please.  Like my other NYX eye shadows the colors are very pigmented and last as long as any other eye shadows I use.  The only thing I’d really have to complain about would be the fall out which seems to be a consistent problem with NYX.  Other than that I do find this to be money well spent. 

Check out the pictures below and if anyone is interested in purchasing one for themselves it can be found at both NYX Cosmetics and Ulta.

Packaging

Inside front cover

24 Eye Shadow Shades

Top 12 Eye Shadow Shades

Top 12 Eye Shadow Swatches (with primer)

Bottom 12 Eye Shadow Shades

Bottom 12 Eye Shadow Shades (with primer)

Inside back cover

5 Blush Shades

Illuminator

5 Blush Shades and Illuminator Swatches
(L to R:  bottom blush, top 2 shades, middle 2 shades, illuminator) 

4 Lip Gloss Shades

4 Lip Gloss Shades Swatches

Thanks for stopping by I’ll talk to everyone soon! J

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope everyone’s weekend went well, now it’s time to get ready for a new week ahead.  I start a new schedule at work this week, starting 30 minutes earlier which means off 30 minutes earlier which will be nice.  It’ll just take a few days to get used to being up earlier, lol.  Now on to this week’s wrap up.

We had our final weigh-in this week for our “Wedding Weight Loss Challenge” at work.  I was up two pounds from my last weigh in but down a total of 8 pounds from where I started.  I’d say that’s very good personally.   As a team we decided to start a new challenge for the summer to keep up the encouragement to be healthier.  I’d just like to say again how proud I am of all my coworkers who have put so much effort into getting healthy!  We’re AWSOME!!

I have a few beauty purchases this week thanks to another small bonus at work.  From Ulta I purchased the new Too Faced “Summer Eye” palette.  It has 9 really pretty colors, a few pinks, a nice blue and some browns, to put together a some great looks for summer.   I’ll have the swatches up this week (along with the swatches from last week’s “Crimson Amulet” palette purchase).

At Sephora I picked up a new perfume.  I chose “Daisy Eau So Fresh” from Marc Jacobs in a rollerball.  I really love this scent but haven’t been able to bring myself to spend the $70 on the full bottle of perfume.  The rollerball version is only $20 and should last a while considering I switch between fragrances pretty much every day, lol.

Finally, at Target I got 2 e.l.f. cream eyeliners, one in “Midnight”, a dark blue, and one in “Plum Purple”, a dark purple.   I really like e.l.f. products, they’re very reasonably priced (the eyeliners were $3 a piece) and good quality in my opinion.

Also at Target I picked up a bright blue lightweight knit cotton Mossimo scarf to go with the crops I got last week.  The one I ordered turned out to be more of a bright green than the seafoam color it appeared to be.  I kept it though and am trying to decide if it will still look good with the orange color of the pants.  We’ll see I guess, lol.

That’s it for all my purchases this week.  I do have a few other things on order that I’ll go over next week after I actually receive them and can look them over.  Two of the items I’m really excited about and can’t wait to try.

Well, that’s all I have for this week.  Like I said, I’ll have the swatches of the 2 palettes up this week, hopefully tomorrow.  I also have a new tutorial I hope to have up by Thursday at the latest.  Again, if anyone has anything they want to see or want me to review please let me know in the comments and I’ll get on it!

I hope everyone has a great week and I’ll talk to ya’ll later!  J

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hey everyone!  Well, it’s Sunday again, how was everyone’s weekend?  Mine was pretty good, did a little shopping, celebrated Aaron and Becca’s birthdays, now just getting ready to head back to work on Monday.  I was on vacation this week so I’m sure I’ll be a bit behind on things tomorrow but I get to see my awesome coworkers so that makes up for it, lol.

So, since I was on vacation this whole week I really have no idea if I’ve lost, gained or maintained any weight.  I’m gonna guess gained since I have not worked out nor eaten well at all.  Starting tomorrow I’m gonna have to get back in the game.  I’ll be honest, I just really didn’t care.  My plan this week was to sit and not do anything I didn’t want to do, so that’s what I did, lol.  My schedule changes on the 7^th of May and I’ll be getting off work 30 minutes earlier so I’ll have a little more time in the evening to work out and cook healthier things.  It will also give me a chance to use the workout room at work which gives more exercise options.  Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it J.

I did manage to pick up a few beauty items at Ulta on Friday.  I got 3 new eyeliners.  One was a replacement for my Loreal Carbon Black Intense liquid liner.  This is my favorite liner of all time.  It’s just really easy to use and a great starter liner for anyone who’s never used liquid liners before. 

I also grabbed a Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen in “Blackest Black”.  This one is more like a fine tipped marker.  I’ve seen a lot of reviews that state this eyeliner is the best to use for winging so I decided I’d try it out.  It’s very similar to MAC’s Penultimate which I’ve tried before but for quite a bit less money.  I’m hoping it lasts longer than the MAC one did.  That one either dried out fast or had very little product in it to begin with.  I’ll be sure to let everyone know what I think.

The last eyeliner I got was one of NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencils.  The one I got is called “Purple Velvet (623A)” which is a dark metallic purple.  I actually don’t use these as eyeliner but more as base for different shadows.  That’s really what these work the best as.  I have two others, “Dark Brown (602)” which is a matte dark brown obviously, and Rust (619) which is a dark metallic red.

The next thing I picked up was a new essie nail polish in “Sure Shot”.  It’s a bright magenta pearl.  It’s actually what this week’s manicure is so the picture will be below.

The final item I picked up at Ulta was the new NYX “Crimson Amulet” palette that was inspired by the new Dark Shadows movie.  It has 24 eye shadows in a wide variety of colors from darks to lights to neutrals, 5 blushes, 4 lip glosses, an illuminator, a small tube of eye shadow primer and a small liquid eyeliner.  I haven’t tried any of the colors out but from my experience NYX eye shadows are quite pigmented so I have high hopes for these.  I’ll be sure to get swatches up this week and start working on some new looks.

The last beauty item I purchased this week I don’t have yet.  I ordered a new Crown Brush palette from Hautelook.  This one is called “Blizzard” and has 28 “shimmer” (frosted) colors.  I’m really excited about this.  I love my Crown Brush “Smoke It Out” palette and I’m positive this one will be just as awesome.

Moving on to fashion purchases this week I stopped at Target and got some colored denim crops by Mossimo.  The color on the tag says “orange” but I think they’re more of an orange-coral mix.  To go with them I got a white three-quarter sleeve peasant style top and a pair of coral colored sandals, both by Mossimo.  I also have a light/foam green lightweight Mossimo scarf I ordered on the way as well.  I think this will turn into a really cute outfit and will probably end up as the “Outfit of the Week” the first time I wear it, lol.

My last purchase for the week isn’t really a beauty or fashion purchase but I do love it.  I got a new tattoo on Thursday.  My friend Jared helped design it and the tattoo artist, Bryce at Addictions in Ink Tattoo and Piercing, adjusted it some more.  It’s a crow with eyes in the wings, based off the graphic from the cover of The Crow movie/CD jacket.  I chose this as a tribute to my late friend Aaron who passed away 10 years ago last month.  I had it put on my right calf and the detailing in it is absolutely amazing.  I had originally planned on having it on my right wrist but it never would have fit and looked good.  I think it turned out just AWESOME and I LOVE it!

I’ll finish up tonight with my manicure, “Sure Shot” by essie.  Like I said above, it’s a bright magenta frost that looks really great for this time of year.  I’m also including a shot of the cute pedicure I did myself.  I just thought it was pretty!

Well, that’s it for this week, I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  I hope to have a new tutorial up sometime this week.  You would have thought that with a whole week off I’d have a slew of looks to show everyone but really, I did as little as possible this last week, lol.  If anyone has any suggestions for things they want to see or know, whether it be looks or just topics in general, let me know in the comments and I’ll put something together! 

Again, everyone have a great week and I’ll talk to y’all soon J.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hey everyone!  How was everyone’s week?  I hope it was great!  Mine was nice.  Friday was my birthday and even though I spent the whole day at work at least I was with some of the best co-workers ever.  Also, Aaron got me my new Keurig!  I can’t wait to use it tomorrow morning (I don’t drink coffee on the weekends, lol.)  It’s Sunday so you know what that means.  It’s time for the Weekly Wrap-Up!

As always, starting out with weight loss, I’m up 2.8 lbs from my last official weigh in 2 weeks ago.  Seriously guys, I have to get back into the game.  I haven’t been working out like I should and other than my healthy meal on Tuesdays I haven’t really been eating all that well.  I’ve just been snacking way too much and sitting on my butt, lol.  That’s why, starting tomorrow it’s back on track.  That means exercising one way or another 6 days a week, not snacking because I’m bored and watching my portions.  I’m also gonna get to Wal-mart at some point and finally get a bicycle.  Aaron owes me one from 2 Christmases ago and now that my mom and sister have one (along with Scarlett) we can all go bike riding.  So wish me luck everyone, I’m gonna need it, lol.

Moving on to fashion purchases, I dropped by Rue21 yesterday and picked up 4 more shirts similar to the blue and pink leopard-print one I bought two weeks ago.  Two are solid colors: one pink and one teal.  The other two are prints: a grey, black and white leopard print and the other is blue and black stripes.  They were $4.00 each on clearance so I was very excited. 

Then I stopped by Wal-mart because I needed another pair of dress capris.  We have some important people coming into to the office this week so no jeans on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I got a cute pair of light grey ones that should look good with my new pink shirt tomorrow.

Next we have my few beauty purchases this week.   I stopped by MAC to pick up some more of my Mineralized Skinfinish Liquid Foundation in NW20. 

Then it was off to Ulta where I grabbed some new eyeliner.  I got two of the NYX Slide on Eyeliners,  one in Sunrise Blue, which is a bright, dark blue, and on in Azure which is a bright turquoise.  The Azure one is actually a replacement.  A few weeks ago I spilled my eyeliners all over in the bathroom.  I thought I got them all put back away but the Azure one was missing when I went to use it earlier this week.  I think it accidently got into the trash can and thrown away.  Such a waste L. 

I also picked up two of the new Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hour cream eye shadows.  One in Too Cool (a frosted white) the other one is Tough as Taupe (a taupe, obviously, lol).  I’ve heard excellent reviews on these, that they work just as well as MAC Paint Pots for about half the price.  I’m planning on just using them as eye shadow bases which they are also supposed to be excellent for.

I grabbed a new Essie polish as well in Armed and Ready, a dark grey- green with a gold shimmer.  It looks really pretty in the bottle so I have high hopes once it’s actually on my nails.

The last purchase at Ulta was just some Jergens natural GLOW daily facial moisturizer in Fair to Medium.  I grabbed this because my self-tanner comes off my face when I was my makeup off.  Instead of using the regular Jergens natural GLOW for the body I wanted something formulated for faces so I could use it every day without causing break outs.  It’s also SPF 20 so I’ve got the sunscreen part covered as well.

I’m gonna end this evening with this week’s manicure, “Trout Pout” from butter London.  It’s a nice cream salmon shade.  I really like it and it’s perfect for Easter next week.  This is the first time I’ve tried butter London polishes and I have high expectations so I’m hoping I won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for this week!  Hope everyone has a great week ahead and I’ll talk to y’all later!  J

Stila "In the Garden" Swatches

Hi everyone!  All I have today are the swatches from my new Stila “In the Garden” palette.  I haven’t had a chance to come up with any looks from this yet but I hope to have one soon with the pink and blue colors.  Check out the pictures below.

Top row, L to R:  chinois, breeze, bark, freesia, rosette

Bottom row, L to R:  nectar, honey, sage, moss, juniper

Below the shadows:  smudge stick waterproof eyeliner in “starfish”

without primer

Top row, L to R:  chinois, breeze, bark, freesia, rosette

Bottom row, L to R:  nectar, honey, sage, moss, juniper

with primer

Top row, L to R:  chinois, breeze, bark, freesia, rosette

Bottom row, L to R:  nectar, honey, sage, moss, juniper

Below the shadows:  smudge stick waterproof eyeliner in “starfish”

That’s all I have for today, check back soon for some new tutorials, including one or two from this palette.  I’ll talk to everyone later! J

Weekly Wrap-Up

It’s Sunday and it’s the Superbowl, neither of which I’m all that excited about, so I’m spending this evening catching up on the shows I have on the DVR.  I’m quite a bit behind due to spending two evenings this past week filming tutorials for everyone J.   Sunday also means Weekly Wrap-Up time!

Starting with weight loss this week, I was very excited to have lost 3.6 pounds.  I really didn’t think that was going to happen, I’d gotten really off track the past few weeks and hadn’t been working out as much as I should have.  I also had not been eating well at all so I expected to at least maintain my weight if not gain a few pounds.

I’ve been back on track this week and have picked up quite a few healthier snacks.  They even taste good too.  My favorite right now is Nature Valley Granola Thins in peanut butter with a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom.  They are yummy and are only 80 calories per serving! 

My one weakness, however, is Dr. Pepper.  This week I sucked it up and got some Dr. Pepper 10 (yes, I know it’s supposed to be “for men” but it tastes way better than Diet Dr. Pepper).  I generally don’t drink anything diet if it has aspartame in it as it is so unhealthy and causes all sorts of bad stuff, but I only bought it for those times when I’m really craving Dr. Pepper but don’t have the extra calories to spare.  Anyway, should be easier to stay on target now.

Moving on to beauty purchases, my NYX “Box of Smokey Look Collection” arrived this week.  I haven’t really played with it much because I’m still experimenting with my Crown Brush palette,  but there’s lots of potential I can see.  The one time I did use it this week it was for a very natural brown look, not the least bit smokey actually, lol. 

This palette is divided into “Classic Smokey”, “Purple Smokey”, “Bronze Smokey” and “Natural Smokey”.  It also has 12 glitter shadows, 16 lip glosses, 4 concealers, 3 blushes and 3 other colors used for bronzer, highlighter and contour.  The colors are nice and pigmented and I hope to be able to create lots of different looks with it.  Check out the pictures of the palette below and it can be purchased here.

I also stopped by Ulta and was lucky enough to be able to grab the last “Love at First Blush” blush (obviously, lol) by Stila that they had left.  I haven’t had a chance to try it yet but the colors are nice.  I also got a similar Physician’s Formula blush called “Happy Booster” which claims to be mood boosting due to some plant extracts used in it.  I’m weary of this because it has a rosewater scent to it which is something that usually gives me a headache.  I haven’t actually tried it yet either though so I’m hoping once it’s applied the scent isn’t as strong.

I also picked up one of Maybelline’s Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer.  I’ve heard many good things about this so I decided it was time to try this out.  I had been using Garnier Nutritioniste’s Skin Renew Anti-Dark Circle Roller which works pretty good but I’ve heard the coverage of the Maybelline one is better. 

I also got a new jar of Olay Age Defying Anti-Wrinkle night cream and two new EOS lip balms in sweet mint.  I just love both these products.  The Olay makes my skin nice and soft and the EOS does the same for my lips.

Finally, I picked up 3 new nail polishes.  Two were in the clearance bin which was nice.  They were part of OPI’s Pirates of the Caribbean line.  I got “Planks A Lot” which is a light purple and “Stranger Tides” which is a kind of a pale sea green color.

This week’s manicure is the other color I bought, “Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi” by Nicole by OPI’s Kardashian Kolor collection.  It’s a bright red cream shade, perfect for Valentine’s Day which is why I bought it, lol.

 That’s it for this week, hope the upcoming week goes well for everybody!  Talk to you all later! J

Weekly Wrap-up

Sunday has rolled around once again and that means it’s wrap up time.  This week wasn’t very productive so this should be fairly short.

In the weight loss department, I was only down 0.8 pounds.  A little disappointing but I haven’t been working out the past two weeks or so.  I don’t expect to be down any this coming week either, in fact I’ve probably gained some weight.  I was so stressed out trying to get the tutorial up all week all I wanted to do was eat, so I did.  I just know that this coming week I have to get my butt in gear and keep on track.  

As a team at work though, we are ROCKIN’ it!  I’m so proud of everyone I work with and am so glad we all support each other every day!

Moving onto beauty items, I only had a few purchases this week but it was more than I planned.  I stopped at Ulta yesterday since I had a 20% off coupon that was set to expire and there was a new Stila blush in the most recent ad.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have the blush in yet so I’ll have to check back.  The only items I ended up getting were a new Loreal Carbon Black eyeliner, some Physicians Formula Conceal RX concealer (I haven’t bought concealer in years so hopefully this is a good one) and I got two new NYX Glitter Mania eye glitters, one in pink (GP04) and one in purple (GP07).  I’m hoping to use these soon with some new looks.  That’s it for new purchases this week, hopefully I’ll have the new blush by next week’s wrap-up.

Finally, my new Crown Brush “Smoke It Out” palette arrived Friday.  So far, I’m very pleased with it.  There are 36 colors in shades of browns/golds, greys/silvers, greens, blues, purples and pinks.  I already have a new look to show everyone with the pink shades that I plan to have up by Wednesday.  The shadows themselves are quite pigmented and don’t seem to have a lot of fall out.  Hopefully I will stay pleased with it as I experiment with the other colors.  Below are some pictures of the palette.  It, along with several others, can be found here.

Without flash, colors labeled

With flash

Well, that’s it for this evening.  I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  I’ve got overtime scheduled so mine’s going to be long, lol.  Talk to everyone later! J

Weekly Wrap-Up

Wow, it’s Sunday already!  Weekends go too fast and weeks too slow, don’t you agree?  Anyway, it’s time for the weekly wrap up.

Let’s start with this week’s results of the Wedding Challenge at work.  I’m down two pounds!  It seems a bit easier this time to stay within my calorie allowances since I have so much support from the people I work with.  We’re such a GREAT team!  Working out is taking some getting used to though.  I totally got off track the past year or two.  I had been going to the YMCA 3 times a week but I got lazy and stopped going.  Then my shift at work changed to me getting off later and I just couldn’t find the time to fit it in.  Now, with the elliptical at home and Just Dance 3, I can’t blame it on not enough time, lol.  The last thing I need to do is find healthier recipes to make for dinner for all of us, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Moving on to purchases this week, they’re not very interesting.  This week’s shopping pretty much just consisted of groceries and other household or work necessities.  I did order a new some new eye shadow.  It’s a Crown Brush smoky eye palette I found on Hautelook.  Once, I receive it I’ll be sure to post and review.

I did buy one other thing, since Aaron gave me what was left on his Wal-mart gift card.  I picked up the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie.  It’s a really pretty, well, raspberry color, lol.  It’s a bit more opaque than I thought it would be.  All the swatches of other colors I’d seen had been more transparent and gloss-like.  It’s still a beautiful color and I think it should work well with my skin tone.

And lastly this week, here’s the purple smoky eye I was sporting yesterday in support of my Kansas State Wildcats, even though it didn’t help all that much L .  This is one of my most worn eye shadow looks as anyone who knows me knows my favorite color is purple.  Hope you enjoy!

 Products used:

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance Eye Primer

Maybelline Stylish Smokes Quad in Amethyst Smokes (06)

Loreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense Liquid Eye Liner

NYX Slide On Eye Liner in Purple Blaze (SL10)

MAC Mascara X in Black

Face:

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Liquid Foundation in NW20

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Baked Powder in Soft and Gentle

MAC Sheertone Blush in Pink Swoon

Stila “Empowered in Pink” palette Blush in Pink

Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer

MAC Iridescent Loose Powder in Silver Dusk (as a highlighter)

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Cosmo (LG110)

Well, that’s all for this week!  Hope everyone has a great upcoming week!  Also, if there is anything anyone would like to know or any look someone would like to see, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do.  

Talk to everyone later! J