Makeup Geek pigments! Swatches and review!

Recently I received a message from a Makeup Geek employee asking me if I wanted to try out their new pigments.  This was a no-brainer.  I stinkin love pigments.  They make me very, very happy.  So of course I jumped at the opportunity to try them out!  And since they are brand new, I figured it would be a good time to show them to you and tell you what I think about them!

So onto pictures!

Here's the packaging:

It's the normal, cute Makeup Geek packaging, just in blue.

And here are the pigments!

These do not come with a sifter.  So be prepared for that because you can make quite a mess!  And just a note, some pictures were taken with flash, some without, some with both.  I wanted you to see as clearly as possible what they look like in person.  All swatches were done with no base.  The left swatch is dry, the right swatch is applied wet, just using water.

"Afterglow"

Makeup Geek site's bottom line: "Soft shimmery champagne"

What I think:  I think the MUG's bottom line description is a fair one.  Definitely one of my favorites.  It's got a gorgeous shimmery glow to it!

"Birthday Wish"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "Shimmery light gold peach"

What I think:  Definitely another favorite!  I couldn't wait to use this one!  I'd call it more of an orangey-peach than a gold peach though.

"Enchanted"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "Light plum shimmer"

What I think:  To me, this color comes off a bit more neutral than it appears on the MUG site.  Still a beautiful color, though.  I was impressed with how well this one applied dry.

"Insomnia"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "A dark chocolate brown duochrome with blue/teal reflects"

What I think: Pretty color.  I expected a lot from this seeing as how I have another very similar color from Glamour Doll Eyes called "Dino Spotz."  This is a beautiful teal color when applied wet, very disappointing dry.

"Liquid Gold"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "True Metallic Gold"

What I think:  It's not a pure gold, it's got a little olive in there.  Definitely one of the best performers dry.  A very interesting, unique color.  Just beautiful.

"New Year's Eve"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "Light Gold Reflective Glitter"

What I think:  Super pretty.  Definitely more of a glitter than a pigment, but not a glitter that you need a glitter glue for.  Would be perfect for a sticky base like Lime Crime's Eyeshadow Helper.  It's a great way to dress up everyday makeup.  The worst one when applied wet, it got very streaky and milky.

"Paparazzi"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "Glittery Smokey Grey"

What I think:  MUG's bottom line is a very fair description.  It's a charcoal grey with glitter.  It's super pretty!  I can't wait to try it over a black base!

"Prince Charming"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "Metallic Cool Silver"

What I think:  A true silver.  Gorgeous, gorgeous color.  I did notice, though, the more I rubbed the color onto my skin, the more apparent the black base of the color became, you can see it in the dry swatch.  Not a big deal, just something to be aware of.  If you don't want that to come out, be sure not to rub too much.

This color is a good example of why I show some with flash and some without, so you get a good idea of what it actually looks like! 

"Sweet Dreams"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "Light flesh toned beige pink with slight shimmer"

What I think:  This is the least shimmery pigment of the bunch.  This is perfect for everyday wear, as it's a beautiful, soft color.  You can wear this anywhere and not look overdone.  When applied wet, it really brings out the gold in the color.

"Utopia"

Makeup Geek's bottom line: "A mixture of deep brown and antique gold shimmer duochrome glitter"

What I think:  This color is to die for!!!  Love love love.  In the jar, it's very chunky looking, the more you pat it on, the more it breaks down into a more fine glitter.  You need a sticky base for this, or to apply it wet. You will get fallout but it is so worth it.  

Makeup Geek pigments retail for $6.99 for 1.4g of product.  In comparison, MAC pigments retail for $21 for 4.5g of product, Sugarpill loose shadows are $12 for 4.5g of product, and since I mentioned them, Glamour Doll Eyes shadows retail for $6 for 2-2.5g of product.  This chart is from the Makeup Geek site to show you how they compare:

However, I don't think this is a totally fair comparison as the bottom of the MUG pigments say they contain 1.4g of product and they did this math saying they contain 2g of product.  You can check out their swatches and descriptions here.

Overall I think they're really great.  I mean, it's not hard to sell me on pigments or loose shadows anyway as I just love them, I think they're so versatile!  I actually like that they only have 1.4g of product in the jars because it will take me many lifetimes to use up the three MAC pigments I own haha.  I will honestly have them the rest of my life and that seems almost wasteful to me.

I did a couple of looks using these pigments (I've done more than what I've photographed, I just don't always remember!).  So here they are:

For this I used "Birthday Wish" applied wet on lid.  I blended it up slightly with some dry "Birthday Wish."  I used a little bit of MUG's "Cocoa Bear" shadow in the crease and I used "Afterglow" pigment as my highlight color as well as on my cheekbones.

For this I used "Utopia" over Lime Crime's Eyeshadow Helper primer (because it's such a good, sticky base).  I blended that up using MUG shadows in "Pretentious" and "Hipster" with "Bling" as my highlight color.  I wish this picture showed how sparkly and amazing Utopia actually is.

If I had to pick my very favorites that I say you must own they would be Utopia, Birthday Wish, Afterglow, Paparazzi, and New Year's Eve.  The only one that I felt kind of let down by was Insomnia and that's just because it didn't apply as nicely dry as I was expecting it to.

I hope this is helpful to someone out there!  Are you planning on getting any Makeup Geek pigments?  If so, which ones?

A post with a little bit of everything

So today I guess I have a lot to say haha.  Now since this is supposed to be a beauty blog, I guess I will start off with the makeup portion.

I have been doing so much better wearing color.  I'm proud of myself for getting back into it a little bit more. Still nothing crazy but I've definitely been playing more.  This is just a basic green look that I did.

What I used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

All eyeshadows by Makeup Geek:

"Poison Ivy" all over lid

"Shimmermint" on inner 2/3 of lid

"Envy" on outer 1/3 and outer v area

"Corrupt" to darken outer v

"Latte" to blend up 

"Bling" as highlight color

I liked this look.  I thought it was pretty and wearable but still had a little punch of color.

Now I don't think I ever told you guys that in January I had a CT scan done.  It's always so nerve-wracking to have one done.  The last thing you want to hear is that they found something.  As much as I felt they weren't going to find anything, especially since I had just finished my IV chemo, you just never know.  So I met with my liver surgeon to go over the results and he came back and said everything is good.  My CT scan review read, "no evidence of metastatic disease."  I was thrilled.  And then he told me that I could continue doing my follow-up scans closer to home if I wanted to and that I could forget he ever existed.  I told him that it is impossible for me to forget he existed one, because he helped save my life, and two because I have some nice scars from him on my belly.  

I'm really self-conscious to do this, but I'm going to show you my tummy so you can see what I mean when I say I can never forget him haha. So here it is:

The top scar is from my liver surgery.  As you can see, it's a pretty decent sized scar.  It goes up a little more than what you can see.  The lower scar is from my left hemicolectomy and that goes down a little farther than my pants line.  And then the random other little scars are either from my laproscopic surgery for my bowel obstruction or they're from drains from the more major surgeries.  I'm lucky that apparently I'm a good healer.  My scars have faded a lot.  The lower scar is a little over a year old and it's really not terribly visible.

I am not embarrassed of my scars or of anything I've gone through.  I'm just not a belly show-er haha.  

Now, on the day I got my CT scan results back, I was so happy.  Until I went on facebook to post about it. There I saw that my husband's cousin had lost a friend to cervical cancer that same day.  It is unbelievably difficult to be happy for yourself when someone else just lost their fight.  And this is something I'm really really struggling with.  I'm so so grateful for being cancer-free but I cannot understand why I am and other people aren't.  Why did I respond so well to chemo and other people don't?  I mean, yeah, I fought, but they fought just as hard as I did.  Yeah, my family needs me but their families need them too.  I almost feel guilty for being healthy when other people who have been through the same thing I have aren't responding the same way I did.

But I am doing everything in my own personal power to make sure my cancer doesn't come back.  As I said in my last post, I've changed the way I eat and have started juicing and drinking a lot of green smoothies.  So I thought I'd share one of my favorite juice recipes with you!  I'm telling you, it's soooo yummy.

What it calls for:

4 oranges, peeled

1 medium sweet potato (you can peel it if you want, but I leave the skin on for the nutrients)

3 stalks of celery

a chunk of ginger

Juice them all up and here's what you get!

Why is this juice good for you?

Oranges support your immune system, combat cancer, protect your heart, and support respiration.  Sweet potatoes protect your eyesight (better than carrots, even), combat cancer, lift your mood, and strengthen your bones.  Celery fights cancer, lowers cholesterol, aids digestion, alkalizes the blood, lowers blood pressure.  And ginger fights nausea, maintains normal blood circulation, strengthens immunity.  All of these ingredients do so much more than what I've listed.

And the main difference between juicing and smoothies is that with juicing, you remove all of the fiber.  There are debates all of the time about what's actually best for you.  I do both so there's no debate for me haha.  Juicing helps you to directly absorb the macro-nutrients in whatever you've juiced since your body doesn't have to break it down.  This is great for people who have digestive issues.  One of the benefits of smoothies is the fact that it does have the fiber and it slows the rate at which you absorb the sugars and your blood sugar won't spike like it could with a juice.

One of my followers, Sylvia, suggested I read "Eat to Live" and I fully intend on doing that!  Any other recommendations are more than welcome!  I really feel blessed that I've had support in learning what foods can do for me.  One of my friends actually got her certification in holistic nutrition and she has been incredibly helpful to me.  I'm always asking her questions haha.  I've just been so frustrated with the fact that I specifically have asked all of my doctors and the dietitian at the cancer center if there were foods that could help and they all told me no, that nothing had been proven.  I've learned differently.  I was not looking to substitute the chemo, I just wanted something in addition to the chemo to help my odds.

I want to thank you all for being so amazing to me throughout everything I've been through.  Your support has meant more to me than I could ever explain to you!  Thank you all so much!  I hope you're having a great week!

Where have I been?

Gosh, guys, I suck.  I haven't blogged in about 3 months.  That's not good.  But I have to be honest with you, I haven't been paying any attention to my makeup hardly at all.  Seriously.  If you can see my makeup in this picture, this is pretty much what I look like every single day.

Since finishing my IV chemo treatments, my focus has been on what I can possibly do to make sure my cancer never comes back.  Being diagnosed at 26 and finding out you have a 6% chance of making it to 31 really makes you reevaluate some things in your life.

So what have I been doing?  I have been researching the heck out of what I can eat or drink to make my body as inhospitable to cancer as it can be.  I have watched documentaries like "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", "Hungry for Change", "Forks Over Knives", and "Food Matters." I loved them all.  After watching all of them and researching a bit online I have come to the conclusion that having a primarily plant-based diet is the way to go to give myself the best odds to keep this cancer away.

I bought myself a juicer ( http://www.amazon.com/Breville-800JEXL-Fountain-1000-Watt-Extractor/dp/B0002VAFVG) and I juice fruits and vegetables about once a day.  I LOVE my juices.  I bought myself a NutriBullet (http://www.target.com/p/nutribullet-by-magic-bullet/-/A-13969043#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=nutribullet) and do a green smoothie about once a day.  My other meal is usually something pretty healthy, I've found myself loving some quinoa.  I eat it all the time as like a substitute for oatmeal with bananas, blueberries, and almond milk.  It's so yummy!  I've started venturing into Hispanic and Asian markets.  I love them.  They have so much more produce than the American markets do, at much more reasonable prices.

So lately my focus has been completely off of the makeup scene and totally into the healthy eating scene.  I just really feel like my health and my family's health needs to be my main focus.  I have learned so much about how food can help or ruin your health and so I'm really trying to practice relatively clean eating.  I'm not going to become a full-on vegetarian or a vegan but I don't mind making more vegetarian or vegan choices.

However, I did do something a little out of my norm today for Autism awareness day.  So here's what I wore today!

It's not anything super special but it's a lot more color than I've worn in a long time!

I would like to get back to blogging more but I'm not sure if my blog might shift focus a little more toward the healthy eating spectrum and little off of the beauty.  I'm not sure.  If you have any questions about what I'm doing, please feel free to ask.  

Thank you, as always, for hanging in there with me!  I appreciate you all so much!