Clinique Chubby Sticks

I wanted to do a quick post on one of my new favorite products:  Clinique's Chubby Sticks.  I would have probably never tried them except I got a small one for free at work.  I absolutely love it.  I have never been much of a lipstick girl mainly because they always dry my lips out sooooo much and look all cracked and gross and it just doesn't work.  These things are soooo moisturizing and stay on all day.  I find myself putting more on, not because I need to spruce up the color, but because my lips are dry.  There are two kinds, the original and the intense.  The intense are a lot more pigmented and give a bolder color, while the original are a little more sheer, but still have good pigmentation.  They leave an almost matte finish which I absolutely love, so that is another added bonus of this product.  Also, they are fairly inexpensive for how much you are getting.  I have four of them now and I am so excited about them.  They even have one called Pudgy Peony that I will be wearing at my wedding to match all my flowers!  It is the perfect pink that gives a pop of color, but isn't too bright!

Eyes

Did a little photoshoot today with my friend Danielle.  She has the most amazing blue doe eyes so I couldn't resist taking some long overdue photos of them.  I drew some inspiration from some photos I have found on Pinterest and Instagram and I'm really happy with the outcome...still learning, but getting better every day :)

I drew a lot of inspiration for these looks from Instagram and Pinterest and I will post a side-by-side photo of the original with my interpretation on my IG account linked above.

As always, please tell me all of your questions, comments or concerns!  Also let me know what you would like me to post next!

Contour/Highlight

I had a couple people ask me to do a contour/highlight post so here it is!  This is for an every day contour/highlight; It is nothing to dramatic, and it is really not as hard as people think. I do this routine daily.
First things first, start with a blank face.  I don't have any makeup on in this picture (clearly).  I then went ahead and did my eye makeup, and applied my foundation/concealer and set it with a powder.

 

 I then start with the contour.  The first thing I do is take the product I'm using to contour (I almost always use Tarte Cosmetics Chocolate Soleil bronzer...which I just realized I have never posted about so I will get that up ASAP because I'm obsessed with it) and I put a bit of the product on my middle finger and blend it in right under my lower lip.  This gives the illusion of a fuller lower lip.

 Next, I take my MAC 168 large contour brush and really pick up a lot of product and make a line about 1 1/2 to 2 inches right under my cheek bone coming down from the top of my ear.  This isn't the greatest picture of this because I was using my cell phone and crapy bathroom lighting.  You really want to make a pretty dark line.  This will give the illusion of a more slender face and more predominant cheek bones.

You're then doing to go back and use and up and down motion to really blend that line out.  You want the line dark enough that you are getting the right illusion, but not so dark that it looks like you drew a brown line down your face.

 Next, you go in with the contour color, just picking up a little this time, and blend it in along the bottom of the jawline...

 ...into the forehead area.  Up the temples and along the hairline.

If you have a large forehead, like me, then you are going to want to go all the way across the forehead creating more dimension making the forehead look smaller.

If you have a smaller forehead, then you are only going to want to contour the outer corners, not go all the way across to really open up the face.

 You also want to apply some contour to the sides of the nose.

 Now for the highlight.  This picture sucks so I'm sorry.  I use MAC Cream Color Base in Diamonds from the RiRi collection.  Since it's a cream I just use my finger because I feel like that gives me the best results and the product is a lot easier to work with when it is warm.

I first pick some up on my pointer finger and dab it right along the top of my cheekbone.

 I then bring it right down the bridge of my nose...

 Above the outer 1/3 of my eyebrow to give it a more lifted affect...

 And on my cupids bow to make my top lip look fuller as well.

And then you're done! Piece of cake!

I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope it was easy to understand!  Contour/Highlight is not as hard and scary as it initially seems and is something that is VERY wearable and not just for a more dramatic look.  Of course the darker you make it the more dramatic it will look, so be weary of that.  As always, please subscribe here and check out my instagram page linked above as well.  Leave me posts of questions, comments, concerns, etc!

Dupes

I found an awesome post on Pinterest last night of a whole list of MAC lipstick dupes, so I went out to Walmart today and picked a few of them up. The dupe list is here at The Ultimate MAC Lipstick Dupe List by Brooke Turney.  I picked up two Revlon Super Lusterous Lipsticks in Coralberry 674 (creme) and Nude Attitude 001 (matte) and Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids in Fuchsia Flash 865.  These colors are soooo pigmented and creamy!  Plus the Maybelline one smells good :)  For cheap drug store brands I am super impressed.

Nude Attitude dupe for MAC Peachstock

MAC Peachstock

Coralberry dupe for MAC Vegas Volt

MAC Vegas Volt

Fuchsia Flash dupe for MAC Candy Yum Yum

MAC Candy Yum Yum

It is seriously so crazy how exact these colors are.  (Brooke Turney you rock!)  I feel like usually drug store brands aren't as creamy and pigmented and smooth, but I think I am actually going to like these better than the MAC lipsticks I already have.  Granted I don't have that many, but I'm working on my collection.  Actually one of by biggest turnoffs of MAC lipsticks is they tend to dry me out so much so I don't wear them.  I put chapstick on every morning and night when I am doing my skincare and still, I end up dry in the middle of the day.

**Note: my skin has been getting super dry this winter, much dryer than usual, I have been slathering on my Planscription Oil every night, but I have been noticing I am still so dry.  So, I switched my face wash to one meant for people with dry skin, Origins Pure Cream.  I also am adding on a night cream and switching up my day cream.  I had been using the same face moisturizer day and night, it was really my summer lotion, but I had some left and was trying to finish it before switching, but its getting too bad.  I will save it until next summer.  I am now using Origins Perfect World face moisturizer in the morning and Origins High Potency Night-a-mins at night.  I was previously using GinZing, which I still love, it just wasn't enough for me this winter**