Hey, remember me??

I'm so sorry I've been such a lame-o and not posted at all this week!  Bad Sonja.  I really haven't worn too much makeup partially because it's been so stinkin hot here and I've been working outside (weeding my gardens and tedious stuff like that) quite a bit and partially because I haven't really been inspired.  I have done a few looks, none of them are anything amazing or have been anything that I really love.  But here are the looks:

I did a bronze look because I wanted to try out a lipgloss that I bought (Revlon Super Lustrous lipgloss in the color Pink Pop, it's so pretty) and I was wearing a really bright shirt.  So I think this is just the bronze color from the Kat Von D tattoo chronicles palette with Urban Decay's "Twice Baked" in the outer v.

I wanted to do something with yellow.  And then I decided I wanted to use pink too.  And this is what came out of that.  I'm not a huge fan but it was ok for something a little different.  I used primarily Ben Nye pigments for this.

I like teal/turquoise with black so this was me playing around with those colors together.  Haha this look (in real life) totally reminded me of something Olivia from Jerseylicious would have done(yes, it's a guilty pleasure haha).  The blue color is NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in "Turquoise."

And then lastly this look was me wanting to use a warmer color, so I picked Inglot's 450p eyeshadow (very similar to NYX's "Rust", just slightly more purple) and I was trying to choose what color to use in the crease and I chose MUFE 92 (I know, I know... again?) but I really like the way those colors work together.  This is my favorite look of the bunch.

That's my makeup excitement for the past week.  I'm sorry again that I've been so boring!  I attempted (especially in the last 2 looks) to use different techniques on my eyebrows to see how I like them to look.  Usually I just use a powder shadow from Inglot to do them but I used some of Meme's tips (she has an awesome tutorial HERE if you want to check it out) and did them a little differently.  I don't have a brow pencil so I used the coolest toned brown eyeliner I own for them haha.  I think I'll have to practice some more to get them right.

I hope to be posting more but my inspiration comes and goes so I can't promise anything haha.  Thank you all so much!  And I'd like to say hi to my new followers as well!  Thank you so much everyone!  Your support means soooo much to me!!!

FoxyAries is having a giveaway!

I don't usually do a post about bloggers giveaways but I definitely think more people need to check out FoxyAries blog!  I've been following her for a while and I definitely enjoy her blog.  You can check it out by clicking HERE!

Teal(ish) and purple!

Hey guess what!  I used the MUFE 92 again!  Haha I keep thinking, 'what colors will look good with this?' and today I wanted to use my Inglot 372 M (definitely a favorite of mine) with it.  So here's what 372 looks like

Isn't it sooo pretty??  I love it!

And here's the look I did today!

 

On my eyes:

TFSI

NYX "Milk" JEP

Inglot 372 M

NYX Ultra Pearl Mania "Turquoise" 

(over 372 because I wanted it to be shimmery)

NYX "Black" eyeshadow

MUFE 92

Inglot 352 M (skintone for blending)

Inglot 395 P (highlight)

Bobbi Brown "Black Ink" gel liner

L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara

Cheeks:

ELF blush/bronzer duo

NYC "Sunny" Bronzer

Inglot 395 P for highlight

Lips:

MAC "Myth" lipstick

MAC "Viva Glam Gaga" (the first) lipstick

NYX "Nude Pink" lipgloss

Have I mentioned that I really think MUFE 92 is a beautiful color?  Because I do.  I like the way this turned out.  It reminds me of a look I did like a year ago with the 88 palette (inspired by my Pandora bracelet) 

but I like the one I did today more.  I think partially because of how vibrant the colors are.    

So that is my look for the day today.  I hope you guys like it!  Thank you all so much!

MUFE 92 where have you been all of my life??

Amalia (from Dear Makeup Diary, who's sadly decided to stop blogging) had a blog sale I think last week and I was super excited when I saw that she was selling the famous Makeup Forever (or MUFE) 92 eyeshadow and also Benefit's "Coralista" blush so I contacted her and now they're mine!  They came in the most beautifully decorated, sticker-covered (compliments of her son) package.

The MUFE eyeshadows retail in Sephora for $19 (they contain 2.5g of product, the same as an Inglot square shadow).  I'd heard such great things about this shadow and I'd swatched it when I had been to Sephora but I had a hard time justifying spending $19 on one eyeshadow.  Let me tell you, this color is sooo beautiful.  It's the most gorgeous blue-based purple ever.  I just love it.

I swiped my finger around the pan one time

 Benefit's Coralista blush retails in Sephora for $28 (contains 8g of product, a NYX blush has 6.4g).  I'd looked into getting it before but, again, had a hard time justifying spending that much on one blush.  The color is really pretty and I'd read reviews where people loved the "glow" that it gave them.  I, however, am not a super big fan of colors that have this frosty-ness to them.  If they have a sheen/highlight quality to them, I can't really apply them on my cheeks where I usually apply blush because I feel like it screams "look at my pores!"  Luckily this color is light enough where I can use it on top of my cheekbones and slightly onto my cheeks.  I love the color but the frosty effect it has made me glad I didn't spend $28 on it.

I swiped my finger once around the pan on this guy as well

 Swatches:

Here's a look I did using both of these products (and some more too)

I'm gonna be honest here, the MUFE shadow was a little harder than I thought it would be to get an even wash of on my lid.  I had to go back quite a few times with more shadow to get it so the color wasn't splotchy.  But if I do say so myself, it's most definitely a color worth fighting for.  It did stain my eyelids a little bit, and that's with me using TFSI and NYX "Milk" JEP.  But again, I think it's worth it.  I've worn it 3 out of the past 4 days (because I already had makeup on the day it came) if that's any indication as to how much I like this color.

So thank you Amalia for your awesome blog sale but I'm sad you won't be blogging anymore!  I hope you guys are all having a great week!  Thanks so much everyone!!!

Maybelline Falsies Flared TV Commercial

I saw the commercial for the new Maybelline Falsies Flared mascara the other day.  I HATE that mascara commercials and ads allow their models to wear false lashes and act like they're their natural lashes and the mascara gave them that effect.  It drives me crazy.

So I saw this commercial (which I cannot find a video of) and the one model is holding a pack of false lashes in her hand and the commercial says "no false lashes required" as she crumples them.  Umm.... she's wearing SUPER dramatic false lashes.  Here's a video I could find (it's a behind the scenes look) where you can see the lashes they're wearing.

They're bananas, right? 

Here's a picture of the print ad

The commercials are so misleading.  

One time I changed my Facebook profile picture to this:

And my sister commented, "Your eyelashes remind me of those commercials for mascara."  To which I ranted back about how that's because I was wearing false lashes and so many of the mascara commercials have their models wearing false lashes.   

Haha I just had to rant a little to my fellow makeup lovers. 

What do you think?  Do you think it's fair that they're allowed to wear false lashes in mascara commercials?  Am I overreacting?  Just wondering!

Thank you for hearing me out haha!!

Oh how I love purple!

I think that, in terms of eyeshadow, purple is one of the best colors out there.  I think it looks amazing with every eye color.  You can do a natural purple look or you can go dramatic.  You can wear purple almost up to your browbone without looking like you're straight from the 80's.  I think if someone is thinking of dabbling in a colored shadow, purple is the way to go (green is a good one too).

So when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do today, I went back to my comfort zone and did some purple.

haha I look snotty in this picture (it was VERY bright outside), but I think it shows the colors well.

I have to admit that when I used to take my pictures in my bathroom, I got much better closeup pictures but I like the way my pictures look better in natural light.  I'll have to work on that.  And sometimes I look like a brat because I have to squint because of how bright it is.

I used Inglot shadows for this (go figure, right?) on top of NYX JEP in "purple" which is a blue based purple and has kind of almost a metallic finish (so it makes matte shadows not look matte).  The Inglot shadows I used are: 

388 M on my lid

 AMC 71 in and slightly above the crease 

379 M above that 

and 351 M as my highlight color  

Liner: Bobbi Brown "Black Ink" gel liner

Mascara: L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black

Cheeks: ELF blush/bronzer duo, NYX "Taupe" and "Peach" blush

Lips: MAC's "Myth" and "Viva Glam Gaga" (the first one) lipsticks

If I didn't think it'd be boring I probably would wear purple eyeshadow every day.  What is your go-to color?  

Thanks so much for checking this out and I hope you all are having an incredible day!!!

Navy Smokey Eyes with NYX's Tokyo Soft Matte Lip Cream

I knew as soon as I got NYX's soft matte lip cream in "Tokyo" that I wanted to try it with a navy smokey eye.  But have I worn smokey eyes???  No.  Shame on me.  But I changed that today and finally did what I've been itching to do since I got this.  So here it is!

I'm a fan.  What do you think?

So on my eyes I used NYX JEP in Black Bean as a base (just a thin layer so it kinda looks grey because one time I did too thick of a layer and it creased sooo fast!  And that was over a primer), then I used Inglot shadow AMC 61 (a dark navy with blue sparkles), the navy blue from my 88 palette, a light matte blue also from my 88 palette, and then Inglot DS 496 as my highlight (a matte white with tons of little sparkles).  

Also, I wanted to say that when I initially swatched the soft matte lip creams, the NYX UK page on Facebook decided that they were going to take on of my pictures and use it.  Which would have been fine if they had asked for permission.  I am lucky enough to have great ladies in my life who look out for me, in this case it was Natalie from NOTD who let me know that they were using my picture.  I commented on the picture twice, once saying that they should have asked permission, and then a second time with a link to the blog post that they took my picture from.  Well, they removed the picture from their wall (it's still in their album though https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=222083544491403&set=pu.155544267811998&type=1&theater) and they also removed my blog address.  Nice right???  Well Miss.Natalie then replied with the most awesome comment (thank you!)!  I don't know how to watermark my pictures so that people can't just use them without permission.  All I ask is that you ask permission, you know??  I'm more than willing to let them use my swatch, just ask!  Oh well.

That's that!  I hope you all are having a wonderful week!  Thank you so much for taking time to check this out!  I appreciate it so so much!!!

Randomness

My makeup has been super super lame lately.  I'm not kidding.  Seriously, it's been a lot of makeup for me to even put mascara on lately.  This is the most exciting look I've done haha

See, I told you!  I do love pink lips with grey on the eyes though!  I can't even remember what eyeshadows I have on, but I know I have a layer of MAC "Pink Friday" lipstick with NYX soft matte lip cream "Addis Ababa" on top.

But I have been having fun with my crazy kiddo, hubby, and puppy lately.  It was hot outside so we broke out the sprinkler and Briana had a blast playing it in.  I've always wanted to have a professional photographer come and take pictures of our family but that's super expensive so we haven't done that so I had fun trying to make my pictures look professional-ish.  So here are a couple of my Briana.

This cracks me up.  I just love it.

Aw, little buddies.  My daughter told him to lay down just so she could put her head on him.

I think this is a cool picture.

And my dog

Haha, I was trying to get pictures of his eyes and I got this one but I actually like it

He has the coolest eyes.

And then I decided to be a good North Carolinian wife and make some southern food this weekend.  I made some Southern Sweet Tea, BBQ Pork Spare Ribs (which the hubby LOVES!!), baked sweet potato fries (which I love), and some peach cobbler yesterday.  I'd never made peach cobbler before but it was so yummy!  I have been on a wicked peach kick lately so I thought it was a good time for me to try my hand at peach cobbler.  It was along the same lines of an apple crisp.  Definitely a keeper!

Sorry this is a picture of the container of leftovers!  I totally forgot to take a picture when it was fresh and warm!

If anyone is interested, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

     - 9 (it called for 8 but I knew all 8 wouldn't make it in haha, so I used 9) fresh peaches peeled and sliced.  I also learned that to help peel peaches, drop them into boiling water for about a minute, then put them right into cold water and that helps loosen the peel.

      - 1/4 C. white sugar

      - 1/4 C. brown sugar (I used dark brown)

      - 1/4 tsp. ground cinammon

      - 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

      - 1 tsp. lemon juice

      - 4 tsp. cornstarch

      ~ 1 C. flour

      ~ 1/4 C. white sugar

      ~ 1/4 C. brown sugar

      ~ 1 tsp. baking powder

      ~ 1/2 tsp. salt

      ~ 8 tsp. butter chilled (I used salted butter so I only used 1/4 tsp. of salt) 

      ~ 1/4 C. boiling water

      - 3 T. white sugar

      - 1 tsp. cinammon

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425

2.  In a large bowl combine all ingredients from the first ingredient list group (peaches, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, cornstarch).  Pour that into a 9"x13" baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.

3.  While that is baking, combine the second group of ingredients except the boiling water.  Cut the butter into the other ingredients until it resembles coarse meal.  Then stir in water until just combined.

4.  Remove peaches from oven and drop the topping by spoonfuls over them (it won't be totally covered).  

5.  Combine 3T. white sugar and 1 tsp. cinammon and sprinkle on top.  

6.  Put back in oven and bake an additional 20 minutes or until the topping is a golden brown.  Serve warm (and preferably a la mode???  I'm just sayin... haha).

But that's what I've been up to.  I just wanted to do an update and show you guys some of my pictures that I like.  I hope you guys are all doing well and enjoying (if you live here in the United States) your summer!  Have a great day everyone!!

4th of July/Cocktail Challenge Look

Hey guys!  I was thinking and really wanted to kill two birds with one stone here.  I wanted to do a fun, dramatic look for the 4th of July but also do an entry for the Makeup Geek weekly challenge which is to do a look inspired by a cocktail.  So here are a couple of drinks that I was inspired by

This is the only one that I know what it is, it's a "Patriotic Margarita"
If you want to make it, it's HPNOTIQ liqueur topped with a red layer made from strawberry puree, dark rum, coconut milk, pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, and crushed ice (sorry, I don't know amounts!)

I like the colors and the stripey-ness of them.

So here's the look I came up with:

I think it came out pretty well, I'd never done anything with stripes before and it was fun to try but they keep kinda blending together when I open my eyes. 

I used NYX JEP in "milk"

the navy blue and red color are from my 88 palette

the white is a mixture of Inglot DS 496 and NYX's "White" eyeshadow

Revlon Colorstay "Black" liquid eyeliner

L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

And I have NYX's smooth matte lip cream in "Amsterdam" on my lips

Now if you know me, you all know I went and wiped that red lip off and wore it with a nude lip.  It's a little crazy but it was a fun look to do.  We're celebrating our 4th of July today because my husband has to work on the 4th so I figured it was a good day to do my literal patriotic makeup.

I hope you guys all have a great 4th of July weekend!  Be safe!