A Kiss of Holly

If you're anything like me, you hate the combination of green and red. Of course, my school colors were green and black, and then for colorguard we wore bright red lipstick and it was just a big hot green and red mess. However, I do think there is a proper way to wear green and red together, and this glamorous look is perfect for any Christmas parties you may be attending this season!

Before doing anything, I took some scotch tape and pressed it on the back of my hand, to get some of the tackiness off. Then, I placed it along my eye, following the lower lash line upward, to help create a crisp, clean cat eye shape.

Next, I took the Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal in "Inked in Pink," and placed this all over my lid, stopping at the crease. On top of this, I took the Makeup Geek pigment in "Sweet Dreams" and patted this all over the lid, again staying below the crease. Then I used the "Fawn" shade in the Anastasia Contour Kit and buffed that into my crease to add depth and help the next colors transition. Using a fluffy blending brush, I took my Makeup Geek eyeshadow in "Envy" (which I totally forgot to take pictures of, but it's like a deep blackened green color) and blended that into the crease, avoiding going too far into the lid. Finally, I took "Corrupt," also by Makeup Geek, on a small pencil brush, and placed that in the outer V to really help give some extra depth.

For my liner, I decided to do a double liner featuring this shimmery liquid liner by Prestige Cosmetics in the color "Envy." With the tape still on my eyes, I did a thick winged liner, not worrying too much about getting a little messy with the wing since the tape was there to help me out! Then, after letting this liner dry a bit, I went over it with my Maybelline Line Stiletto in "Blackest Black" and drew a line that was about half as thick as the first. After the black liner dried, I carefully peeled off the tape to reveal a perfectly crisp winged liner!

To add a bit more drama, I used my L'Oreal HiP Color Truth Eyeliner on my upper and lower waterline, as well as along my lower lashline, which I then smudged out with a cotton swab. To finish it all off, I applied generous coats of the Maybelline The Mega Plush Mascara, and topped it with one good coat of the Maybelline The Rocket Mascara. I definitely would have preferred to add some false lashes to this look, but go figure, I couldn't find my lash glue!

For my brow highlight and undereye concealer, I used my Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer, then set it with the "Banana" shade from the Anastasia Contour Kit. As a contour, I used "Fawn," which is the same color I used on my eyes earlier, then I finished of my skin with the Milani Baked Blush in "Luminoso," to add a beautiful glow to the skin.

And for the cherry on top (-buh dum tss-), the red lips! As a base color, I took MAC's "Russian Red" all over the lips, using a lip brush to keep it from getting everywhere. After I applied this lipstick, though, I felt like it was missing something, so I added the Rimmel Show Off Lip Lacquer in "Big Bang" on the center of the lips. To clean up any edges, I used my MAC Studio Finish Concealer and ran this with a small brush around the edges of my lips.

That's it for this look! I really loved doing this look, and felt it was a cute little twist on the classic holiday tutorials that are going around everywhere right now. What is your go-to holiday look? 

- D. 

Holiday Decor!

This year is my first year all on my own. Well, sort of. I live in an off-campus apartment complex that is owned by my school, so I kind of live on my own, but kind of not. My roommate and I decorated a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving this year, because we knew we wouldn't have a chance after Thanksgiving break because she is playing the Sugar Plum Fairy in our school's production of The Nutcracker, and she's super busy with rehearsal. I thought I would just show you some pictures and tell you all about the various decorations we put up this year, and hopefully inspire your own cheap and easy decor!

My favorite decoration that we put up this year are these super affordable clear string lights that we wrapped all the way around our living room.  It only took two sets of these lights to wrap all the way around the room, and I'm kind of thinking about asking my roommate if we can keep them up till the end of the year, because I just love them that much!

On our floor lamp, we decided to make a super skinny Christmas tree by wrapping basic unlit garland from the bottom of the lamp all the way to the top. Because this garland is on a wire, we just used the end of it to wrap around the switch on the lamp to hold it all in place! 

On the side table, we got these fake flowers from Dollar Tree, which is my favorite place for artificial flower arrangements! We got these pretty red flowers that look like poinsettias, along with a white flower as an accent, and some glittery pinecones! To top it all off, we threw them in a tall, cylindrical vase and wrapped a sparkly gold ribbon around the middle. 

Between our living room and our kitchen, we have this little counter where we place things like tea, fresh fruit, candy, etc. We thought that the perfect way to frame this would be with these adorable blue and white snowflake lights! My favorite part about these lights is that they alternate colors, but unfortunately, these specific ones are no longer sold. The closest ones I could find are these, from Home Depot, or these, from Target.

Last, but definitely not least, is our little tree! This amazing little 4 foot artificial tree is from Amazon! It is an unlit tree, so we used a fairly short 50-ct string light, and of course, we decorated with very simple red and silver ball ornaments! While we wanted to get a tree topper, I'm not really sure this tree is sturdy enough to handle the weight of a topper without falling over. I think it's super cute regardless though!

I'm super excited for the holidays! In just a few days, I will be flying back home to San Diego, and I am very excited to see my family and friends. What are you looking forward to this year?

- D. 

Christmas Beauty Gift Guide

I swore I would wait until after Thanksgiving to do any holiday posts, but then I thought, a lot of my readers are international, and won't necessarily celebrate Thanksgiving, so there is no harm in getting this post out now! Besides, I know lots of people who have gotten a head start on their Christmas lists.

Anyway, if you're here on my blog looking for gift ideas for the beauty lover in your life, look no further! Here, I've listed 15 gift items with a range perfect for any budget. Just make sure to get 'em before they're gone!

e.l.f. Very Merry Collection - $30 (OR $3 with $25 purchase, use code MERRY)

If your friend is a fan of e.l.f. Cosmetics, the Very Merry Collection is the perfect gift! The collection comes with a blush quad (and I personally love e.l.f. blushes), an eye primer/liner sealer, a pinky nude lipstick, a baked shadow, a travel-sized brush set, and a makeup bag to put it all in! The best part about this collection is the price. It's only $30 for the ENTIRE set, although you can purchase each item separately, or, if you spend $25 on the e.l.f. website, you can add the entire collection into your purchase for only $3! 

ULTA The Perfect Wink - $25

This set is a total steal, and my boyfriend actually purchased this for me as an early Christmas gift! In this collection, you receive 3 full-sized products, two deluxe samples, and an adorable little black wristlet! The full-sized products you receive are the Mally Volumizing Mascara (normally $20), the Lorac Front of the Line PRO Liquid Liner (normally $23), and the Stila Waterproof Smudge Stick Eyeliner in Bluefin (normally $20). And if those three products alone aren't enough to sell you on this set, you also receive the Benefit They're Real Mascara (travel size normally $10, full size normally $23) and the Laura Geller GlamLash Mascara (full size normally $24). It's an amazing $90 value packed into a $25 set! 

Sephora Fragrance Sampler for Her - $65

If you have a perfume junkie in your life, this is the perfect gift! It is a bit pricey, but it comes with 14 samples of some of Sephora's best selling perfumes, as well as a cute little makeup bag. The best part about this set? When she has decided which perfume she loves the most, she can redeem a gift certificate that comes with the set for a full sized bottle of her favorite scent! 

Tarte Chic-to-Cheek Deluxe Amazonian Clay Blush Set - $35

Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blushes are probably their most well-known products. They're known for their incredible staying power, beautiful color selection, and a little product will go a very long way. Needless to say, this set is on my own personal wishlist! In this $35 set, you get 4 travel-sized limited edition blushes (full size normally $26 each), in colors that will flatter almost every skin tone.

Real Techniques Nic's Picks Brush Set - $29

Sam and Nic of Pixiwoo make some of my favorite brushes, and in this limited edition collection, Nic created 3 exclusive brushes to include with two of her favorites from the permanent collection. The Real Techniques brushes are always incredibly high quality, thus making this set pretty hard to get a hold of. This set is perfect for someone in your life who is just starting out with makeup, and need some great, basic brushes!

Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Box o' Blushes - $36

This is actually currently on my wishlist! Benefit kills it every single year with their amazing gift sets. In this set, you get 6 of Benefit's best selling boxed blushes, as well as one of my favorite highlighters, the Watt's Up cream highlighter! Each blush is just slightly smaller than their individual boxed blushes, which normally sell for $28 a piece.

Origins Your Perfect World Set - $52

The Origins Your Perfect World gift set features all the products from the "A Perfect World" collection. This collection features 4 anti-aging products, filled with antioxidants to keep the skincare junkie in your life looking young and feeling great! This set also comes with a matching makeup bag.

Burt's Bees Beeswax Bounty - $9.99

Everyone knows just how frustrating it is to have dry lips during the winter season. In this set, you get 4 of the best selling Burt's Bees lip balms, for only $9.99! They also have a set of their original formula lip balm, if you know a Burt's Bees purist who always tends to lose their favorite lip balm. Normally, these lip balms sell for $3.30 a piece, so at $9.99 for 4, you are getting an awesome deal! 

Urban Decay TEN 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil Set - $52

Urban Decay is incredibly well-known for their amazing, long-wearing liners, especially their blacker-than-black, super creamy pencil in "Perversion." In this set of ten liners, you get a full-sized "Perversion" liner, as well as 9 other mini versions of brand new liners in shades that have only been seen as eyeshadows before! You also receive the Grindhouse Double Barrel Sharpener, which has two sharpener barrels, for your standard sized pencils as well as your larger pencils!

Benefit Fun-Size Flirts - $38

Like I said before, Benefit kills it every single year with their amazing gift sets! This set here comes with 10 deluxe sample sizes of their most coveted products, ranging from skincare, to highlighters, to mascaras, and anything in between! If you have multiple makeup lovers on your list, this set would be absolutely perfect to break open and use as stocking stuffers for a few different people! 

Peter Thomas Roth Mini Mask Magic - $20

This set by Peter Thomas Roth is a Sephora exclusive, and comes with three of the best selling Peter Thomas Roth masks. These three masks alone are meant to target any skincare concern -- dull skin, acne, dark spots, anti-aging, etc. This would be another great kit to break open and use as stocking stuffers, if you know people who have very specific skin concerns, or as a whole for someone who loves trying new face masks!

Kat Von D Studded Kiss Lipstick Set - $39

This is yet another set that has found its way onto my own personal Christmas list, and is absolutely perfect for the lipstick junkie in your life. This set comes with 9 mini sized lipsticks from the Studded Kiss lipstick collection by Kat Von D, which is known to be incredibly creamy and pigmented. This set has a great range, from nudes to deep, dark purples, which makes it the perfect gift!

Too Faced La Belle Carousel - $49

This set is actually made to be a stocking stuffer set for all the makeup lovers in your life! It breaks apart into 6 different pieces, 5 of which are palettes featuring eyeshadows, bronzers, and blushes, plus one piece that features their best selling Better Than Sex mascara! Too Faced always has incredibly high quality products, plus the bronzer in this set is their famous Chocolate Soleil bronzer. 

Lorac The Royal 3D Liquid Lustre Set - $28

The Lorac 3d Liquid Lustres are essentially a glittery topcoat for your eyes. Normally, they retail at about $16 a piece, This set comes with 4 full sized limited edition Liquid Lustres for only $28! Obviously, this set is a total steal, and comes with the high quality product you would expect from a company like Lorac.

Charlotte Tilbury The Rock 'n Kohl Smoky Cat Eye - $80

If you have a special someone you really want to spoil with a luxury brand, Charlotte Tilbury is the way to go. This set comes with 3 super smokey products: the Full Fat Lashes mascara, Feline Flick eyeliner, and Color Chameleon eyeshadow pencil, which I've heard amazing reviews on! While this is definitely a pricey set, Charlotte Tilbury is known for being indulgent and luxurious, and worth every penny!

I hope this helps you find something for that special someone in your life! Let me know in the comments what your favorite holiday set is!

- D.