Lashes & Lingerie

Recently, I realized just how much I love bustier style bras and bikinis. In fact, a few weeks ago, when my school did this big end of the year celebration that we call Beaux Arts, I wore a bustier bikini as a top! The celebration was Rio Carnival themed, so we got to have lots of fun and dress up (luckily, no one showed up in anything too revealing). However, after wearing my less-than-modest outfit all day and night, I realized just how confident bustier bras made me feel, which is why I think they're perfect for any day when the sun is hot and you want a little extra confidence boost!

After reading this post, you should go check out Adore Me, which is a lingerie website full of sets that range anywhere from cute and innocent to sexy and daring!

For this look, I was inspired by the summer music festival outfits that I've seen all over Tumblr and Pinterest. While boho chic isn't exactly my style, I can definitely appreciate just how cute it is, and this outfit gives a subtle hint of boho without going full on hippie chick.

This lacy Daisy Contour balconette bra is a long line with lace, and reminds me a lot of the bustier bra style. It's from Adore Me, the lingerie website mentioned above. To keep the midsection covered, I chose to go with these simple, high waisted denim shorts from H&M. For when it gets chilly, I would throw on this flowy, oatmeal colored cardigan from Forever21, and I would add a hint of edginess with this geometric layered necklace, also from Forever21.

For this look, I would go with simple and natural looking makeup. Of course, with some bold lashes to amp it up a bit! On my lips, I would wear my MAC Lipstick in "Shy Girl," and on my cheeks, I'd go with a subtle peachy glow and use Milani's Baked Blush in "Luminoso." To finish everything off, I'd use these amazing lashes from Ardell, the Curvy 415 Black false lashes!

Shop the Look:

Daisy Contour Bra :: High Waisted Denim Shorts
Oatmeal Cardigan :: Edgy Layered Necklace

Ardell Lashes :: MAC Lipstick

Milani Baked Blush

How would you style lingerie to be worn every day?

- D.

Sephora Birthday 2015

If you've been following me for a while, you know that my birthday is coming up in about a week! This year I decided to do a post on the Sephora Beauty Insider Birthday Gift, which seems to only get better and better every year. A few years ago, we received a highlighter and mascara from Benefit, which I loved, then last year we got some products from Make Up For Ever, and this year, it's two deluxe sample sizes of NARS lip pencils!

When I saw what this year's birthday gift was, I was incredibly excited. If you aren't a Beauty Insider yet, you can sign up on Sephora's website. Be sure to input your birthday so that you can receive the free gift every year! Anyways, for those of you who haven't received your birthday gift from Sephora this year, this is what you can look forward to.

In this year's Beauty Insider gift, you'll receive two NARS Lip Pencils, one in the Velvet Matte finish, and one in the Satin finish.

The top shade is the Matte Lip Pencil in "Cruella," which is one of NARS' best selling lip pencils, and one that I have been coveting for as long as I can remember. I'm so happy to finally have a hold of one! This shade is a slightly cool-toned true red -- the kind that looks so classic on every skin tone. The finish of this is matte but not too drying, and it glides on smoothly and opaquely. 

The bottom shade is the Satin Lip Pencil in "Rikugien." I'm not super thrilled with this one, mostly because I don't love the texture. This specific lip pencil seems to almost smear during the application because it is such a moisturizing formula. It's fine for this rosy pink color, giving a shiny "your lips but better" appearance, but I can't imagine the formula working too well with brighter, more vivid colors. However, the shade "Rikugien" is very pretty and perfect for natural days. If your lips are less pigmented than mine, it may show more of a difference on your lips and give you a healthy, pink flush to your lips.

All in all, I am still very excited about this little duo from NARS! With the full sized NARS Lip Pencils costing $26 for 0.086 oz of product, and this duo giving you 0.06 oz of product per pencil, you get more than half the product for free. 

Final Thoughts? Sephora just seems to be getting better and better birthday gifts for their Beauty Insiders, and this year, between the quality of the pencils and the amount of product you get for absolutely no money (you seriously don't even have to spend any money to become a Beauty Insider), you'd be silly not to take advantage of this free gift! 

- D. 

Pink Lemonade Cut Crease

I'm baaaaaaaaack! No, seriously, I'm back to blogging! My first year at UNCSA just ended, and now I'm back in sunny San Diego (not really, it's been raining all day), and trying to get back into the swing of things. Of course, I'm going to be a bit rusty with all this, considering that, not only have I not done this in a while, but I'm also working on a computer that I'm not quite used to. My old HP laptop finally conked out on me, so as of right now, I'm typing and editing photos on my parents' desktop computer, waiting for my new Macbook Pro to arrive on my doorstep. Luckily, my parents' computer still has my photo editing program on it, so I can still get by!

Anyways, I thought, what better way to welcome myself back than with a fun, bright cut crease look that's perfect for summer!

I was shopping in Walmart at some godforsaken hour a few weeks ago, and spotted this amazing bright yellow eyeliner by Revlon that reminded me so much of the Stila Smudge Stick in "Canary" that I just had to have it! 

For this look, I used a handful of different eyeshadows in order to achieve just the right about of depth. Bright pink eyeshadow can be hard to pull off, because it can often just make you look like your eyes are swollen and that you've been sick or crying. A great way to combat this is with a bold liner and lots of depth in the color to make it appear as more than just some irritation.

To start out, I placed a layer of tape along the outer corner of my eyes, to help ensure a sharp cat eye with little cleanup. As a base, I used a thin layer of the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Milk." Then, I used Makeup Geek "Beaches & Cream" all over the lid and up to the brow bone. In order to make blending easier, I then used Milani "Bella Caffe" in and above the crease, avoiding blending down onto the mobile lid to begin creating the cut crease effect. With a small, clean fluffy brush, I used Milani "Bella Rouge" and buffed that into the crease, again avoiding getting the color onto the mobile lid, blending upward. With a small detail brush, I applied Makeup Geek "Simply Marlena" eyeshadow into the crease, really focusing the color between the more feathered out "Bella Rouge" shade and the creamy "Beaches & Cream" color, creating a more defined cut crease. Because "Simply Marlena" is just slightly darker and more matte than "Bella Rouge," it also begins to create some depth in the crease. To deepen that color even farther, I took Makeup Geek's "Unexpected"  on the same detail brush and pushed that into the crease, flicking upward to help blend the color out. Then, using the same brush that I had "Bella Rouge" on, I blended upward and out, until I got a subtle gradient. When the hot pink gradient seemed to blend too far upward, I took "Beaches & Cream" on a stiff blending brush, and blended the pink shadow back under control.

In order to redefine the mobile lid, I took "Beaches & Cream" on a flat stiff brush and really carved out the contour of the lid,  mixing with Milani's "Bella White," and using "Bella White" as an inner corner highlight. After filling in my brows, I also used "Bella White" under my brow bone to really bring the look together. 

For the fun, bright yellow eyeliner, I used Revlon PhotoReady Kajal Matte Eye Pencil in "Matte Lemon." Making sure the tip was sharp, I created a thick winged liner, using the tape on the outer corner of my eyes to help keep the creamy pencil where I wanted it to be. For my tutorial on creating the perfect winged liner, click here. I also used the "Matte Lemon" liner on the lower water line. This bright yellow is a fun twist on the classic white or cream liner that you would normally apply to the lower water line to open your eyes up. In order to define the eyes even more and make the yellow really pop, I used the Maybelline Line Stiletto Liquid Liner and created a very thin winged liner along the lash line. I then used Milani "Bella Caffe" along the lower lash line to give the look a subtle smokiness, and then topped it all off with the Mally Volumizing Mascara.

To give my cheeks a subtle hint of color, I used the Maybelline Fit Me Blush in "Light Rose," then finished off the entire look with Milani's Color Statement Moisture Matte Lipstick in "Matte Orchid," which added an extra pop of color to this already colorful look. However, when I wore this look out and about, I went with a nude lipstick to make it more wearable.

It was crazy bright outside yesterday, so very few of the open eyed photos actually turned out alright. So you get this silly "it's too bright to open my eyes" photo instead!

I hope you enjoyed this look. I'm so glad to be back to blogging. I missed it dearly and I can't wait to share all of my fun new looks!

- D.