Super Inexpensive Makeup Brush Holder

Recently I've been on the look out for something to hold my makeup brushes that's really, really cute but also super inexpensive. So while I was making the rounds at my Walgreens today I came across the most perfect things ever...They're two little, I think, 4 inch round porcelain flower pots and I think they're adorable. They were in the garden aisle (I didn't even know that Walgreens had a garden aisle). These were the last two left in my Walgreens or else I probable would have gotten two that were the same. I'm glad I didn't though because I like how they're not exactly the same but still go together. Anyways, the main reason I got these was not because of how cute they are (although that helped), but it was how inexpensive they were. I got each of these for a whopping 86 cents. That's it. 86 cents each. It was amazing. I love great finds like this. They were originally priced at something like $1.29 and they were on sale for $0.86. I would have gotten them for the $1.29 too because that's still an amazing price. I'm also going to get some yummy smelling bath salts to put in them to make my brushes stand up better. So that was my deal of the day that I just had to share with everyone. Ooh! I also did cute paint splatter nails:Love fun nails!
-Jamie

A Review: Mark. Glowdacious and Mark. Keep It Going

Before I get into the reviews, I wanted to tell you all a little bit about mark., since it’s not actually a drugstore brand. Mark. is a sister company to Avon with a focus on a younger, trendier style. They use eco-friendly, customizable packaging and they never use any animal testing. They have good quality makeup at drugstore comparable prices. You can buy mark. products from any mark. representative or any Avon representative or online at www.mymarkstore.com/jgriesinger. Every four weeks mark. debuts a new magalog (mix of magazine and catalog) which contains new products in makeup, skincare, fashion, and accessories along with some of their brand staples. So today I got new makeup from the current magalog and a new item debuting in the upcoming magalog that goes live this Tuesday, April 27.

Mark. Keep It Going:

So the first thing I have to review is mark.’s Keep It Going long wear eye liner and shadow. These are gel-based duos that can be used as either eye liner or eye shadow. They are said to be smudge-proof and waterproof with buildable colors that last all day. They come in five different shades but I only got three of them. The first one I got is called “Entourage” which is a matte black and shimmery silver duo. Both colors are fairly sheer. The silver is practically invisible with only one layer, 2-3 layers are needed to get a definite silver. The black is good when used as eyeliner with a thin eyeliner brush. If you want to use the black as shadow and you really want a true black, you’ll need at least 2 layers. The next shade I got is called “Iconic” which is a shimmery green and gold duo. The colors are good. The gold is a shimmery yellow-gold. It’s pretty sheer like the silver in Entourage, but with a few layers, it’s a really pretty gold. The green is like an olive-ish green and it’s a little more opaque than the gold; you can get pretty good coverage with just one layer. It has a gold shimmer to it that makes it a perfect pair with the gold it comes with. The last shade I got “Exposure.” It’s a shimmery tan and matte chocolate brown duo. These colors are both opaque enough. Only one layer needed for these. The tan is nice and the chocolate is good as an eyeliner. This duo is great for a natural look.

All of the colors are really creamy and smooth going on. They work better when warmed up by the skin a little rather than straight out of the container so I would suggest applying them with your ring finger or if you prefer using a brush then take some product out of the container with a brush and rub it on the back of your hand to warm it up. It goes on smoother and doesn’t dry as fast when warmed up. If you use them with a brush straight out of the container, they dry incredibly fast making any kind of blending nearly impossible. As for their staying power, they really do last all day long without fading, creasing or smudging. These would also be good as an eye primer; the tan from Exposure or the gold from Iconic would be good any color eye shadow or you could use the green from Iconic, the purple from another shade Industria (which also comes with charcoal grey), or the blue from another shade Surreal (which also comes with bronze) as a base for eye shadow looks of those colors. These cost $10 each and again, you can get them through your mark. rep, Avon rep, or online.

Mark. Glowdacious:

The other item I got is the mark. Glowdacious illuminating powder. This item will debut when Magalog 5 goes live on April 27^th. It’s a compact that has three rings of colors that combine a bronzer and a highlighter. It’s a shimmery “illuminating powder” that brightens skin tone and enhances a tan. It is $12 and comes in three shades: Prettied Up, which is good for light skin tones; Shimmied Up which is best for medium skin tones; and Amped Up which is better for darker skin tones. I am super pale so, of course, I got prettied up. Let me just start by saying, this is the first bronzer I have ever used that hasn’t made me look dirty or orange. I swirled my brush through all three colors to use as a bronzer then I took a smaller brush in just the lightest shade to use for a highlighter on the tops of my cheekbones, right under my eyebrows and down the bridge of my nose. This one compact really worked great as both a bronzer and a highlighter and it really made my skin look glowing (in a good way). I also decided to try this compact out as eye shadow because I love makeup that multi-tasks (money savers!) and it looked really good. I used the medium shade as an all over lid shade, the darkest shade in the crease and the lightest shade as a highlight under the brow and in the inner corners of my eyes with just a thin, smudgy, black liner, the result: a gorgeous, beachy, summer eye look. I absolutely love it and (over my Victoria’s Secret Eye Primer) it has lasted 12 hours so far and still going strong. I can’t wait to wear this look out to the beach in the summertime.

Overall I am very impressed with both of these new mark. products and I highly suggest you check them out. If you don’t already have a mark. or Avon representative, you can order online at www.mymarkstore.com/jgriesinger.

Love and lipgloss,

Jamie

CVS Mini Haul

So I stopped by CVS today and had to pick up a few things from the beauty section to review for you guys. I only got a few things because I was kind of in a hurry so anywho, here it goes…

The first thing I picked up was the L’Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara. This is something I’ve wanted to try for a super long time but for one reason or another I just haven’t gotten around to it so I’m pretty excited about trying that out. I got it in the shade blackest black and it was $10.99. For those of you who don’t know about this product, it’s a two step system that acts like eyelash extensions. The first step is a nourishing basecoat, kind of like eyelash moisturizer, it protects, nourishes and strengthens the lashes before you put on the “Ultra Lengthening Tube Top Coat.” The second step is the mascara part. The package says, “As the mascara sets, it envelopes your lashes in small tubes that act like lash-lengthening extensions.” It’s supposed to make your lashes look 80% longer without smudging, smearing, running or flaking. It’s also supposed to be clump-free (no spider-eyes) and long wearing. I haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet but I’m definitely looking forward to it.

The other things I wanted to check out at CVS were some makeup brushes. I’ve heard good things about the brushes from CVS’s beauty brand Essence of Beauty so I wanted to pick some up (specifically eye brushes) to give them a try. So one of the brushes that I picked up is called… well… it says on the package Dual Use Eye shadow Brush but it says on the brush Smokey-Wide, so it’s the Smokey-Wide Dual Use Eye shadow Brush, but we’ll just call him Smokey. So Smokey is a two-sided brush: one side is a pencil-shaped brush similar to the MAC 219 but with shorter bristles, it’s pretty densely packed and comes to a nice point, good for the crease or doing a smudgey-smokey look on the lash line; the other side is a big, fluffy, paddle-shaped brush, it’s really soft and it seems like it would be good for putting on a highlight or one color all over the eyelid but I have to say that this side of the brush smells absolutely horrible. I know it’s natural hair and everything but seriously it’s gross, even after deep cleaning it still smells. Even though the smell of the brush won’t affect its ability to do its job, I just have this thing where I feel like the smell is going to transfer from the brush to my eye shadow or to my face so I don’t want to use it. The pencil side doesn’t smell so I’ll still use that part, but if I can’t get the smell out of the paddle side, I’ll probably never use it. Oh, and that brush was $6.99.

The last thing I got was their brow/lid kit. It was also $6.99 but it has a bunch of stuff in it. It came with 3 different shaped brow stencils, which I’ll never use; a 2-sided brow pencil, black on one side, dark brown on the other; a little compact with 2 colors of brow powder, a taupe-ish color and a darker brown, it also came with a sponge applicator in it, which is kind of ridiculous to use on brows, but I guess you could use them on your eyes; it came with 2 brushes, an angled brow brush that’s fairly stiff, which is good for brows, and a two-sided eye brush, an angled shading brush on one side and a small smudger brush on the other side; and lastly, it came with an eye shadow trio, with really pretty neutral tones in it, a medium grey-brown and a deeper grey-brown and a really good highlighter that also works pretty well on the tops of the cheekbones to give that nice glow.

I haven’t gotten to really play with any of this stuff yet but when I do, I’ll be back to do some reviews on those things. Oh! I almost forgot. I also got the Essence of Beauty Brush Cleaner. It comes in a spray bottle and is just meant for like spot cleaning, but we’ll see how that works out too. So be on the lookout for reviews of these things and also I ordered a couple things from mark. and from e.l.f. so be on the lookout for reviews on those things too!

Love,
Jamie

My New Love!

So recently on Facebook, I became a fan of Caboodles. I have a couple of their train cases to hold my makeup for theater and some of my mark. makeup samples and whatnot. Anyways, like a couple hours after I became a fan they put up this contest on their page and 10 people would win something from Caboodles. So I entered, wasn't really expecting to win, I've never won anything like that before, but they announced the winners later that night and I totally won! I was so excited! This was about a week ago and they weren't really clear on what we would actually get so I had no idea what it would be. Today as my sister and I were testing foundations, we hear this knock on the door. I run down and sure enough, its my gift from Caboodles. I open the box and in it is this HUGE train case. It's called the Goddess and its amazing! I was so stoked! I have two of their train cases already, a bigger one and a smaller one and I thought my big one was big. No, this one is bigger! It's about an inch taller and like 3 inches wider than my big one. Here's a picture of my new baby next to my big one... well not my big one anymore. I seriously cannot stop talking about it. I'm so excited to start filling it up with everything I'm going to be reviewing here and just anything. I really am so excited (if you couldn't tell). If you have a facebook page, go on the Caboodles fan page and become a fan because this could be your excitement the next time they have a giveaway contest. Thank you SOOO much Caboodles!

Love,
Jamie

Comparison Study: Long-Lasting Foundations (First Impressions)

Ok, so I talked my sister into being another little guinea pig to review makeup on because we have different skin type (mine is really dry, hers is more combination) and sometimes products work differently on different skin types, especially foundation.

I really wanted to do my first review on foundations because really without a nice base, none of your other makeup is going to look as good. And I'm not trying to say that you need to wear foundation to have a great base; if you have really nice, even skin then you can most definitely skip foundation. But for me, and for a lot of other girls out there, we don't have the best skin, so we need a little help in that area.

So for me, I have a lot of redness in my cheeks and forehead and chin... basically everywhere, and I get breakouts every once in a while so I like to use a foundation with good coverage to even out my skin tone and help to hide some of my acne scarring and pigmentation. My sister has a pretty even tone in general and doesn't need as much coverage as I do.

Review time: I picked up two long-lasting foundations to compare and review. I looked for the most inexpensive one I could find and the one that claimed to last the longest.

So the first one I got was Rimmel London's Lasting Finish Mineral Enriched Foundation.
It says it lasts for 16 hours and it's transfer resistant (so it shouldn't come off on clothes or napkins or anything) and that it's anti-trace (I guess that means that it blends well and doesn't leave that line around your face? I'm not really sure) and oil-free. On the back it says, "Transfer-Resistant formula looks freshly applied for 16 hours. Enriched with minerals to help energize skin. Comfortable wear." It was priced at $6.49 but there was a coupon attached to it for $1 off, so it only cost me $5.49 and it's 1 fl oz./30 ml.

Ok, first off, I got the lightest color they carry, 100 Ivory, and it's a little too dark for my skin. I do have pale skin but I definitely wouldn't say I'm the lightest person in the world, so it's kind of strange that their lightest color is too dark for me. The formula is on the thick side and it doesn't spread and blend as easily as I'd like it to. It has a really nice scent while it's going on, kind of fruity and yummy; I really like the smell and it goes away after a couple minutes so your not walking around smelling like a fruit all day but it's nice as your applying it. As far as coverage, I'd say it's pretty light coverage. Some of the redness on both me and my sister comes through, especially on the cheeks. It looks like we already have blush on without actually applying it, which is good, I guess, if you don't want to wear blush, but for me I'd like to control my blush since I have so much redness and on my sister, she has uneven redness so it looks a little funny. It's also a little on the cakey side in the dry spots, like around my nose and near my eyebrows. As far as it's claims: I've only had it on for about an hour so I can't say anything yet as far as its 16 hour wear; their lightest color is too dark for me so there actually is a difference between my neck and face (again, not exactly sure what anti-trace means, comment below if you know); and as far as it being transfer resistant: I just wiped my face with a tissue and there is a little bit of tint on the tissue but it still pretty much looks the same on my face so that's pretty good.

So the next foundation I got was L'Oreal Paris Infallible Make-Up.

It says it's "advanced never fail makeup," lasts for 18 hours, has SPF 20 sunscreen in it, and has Smooth-Blend Comfort (whatever that means). Other than that it just says, tap bottom gently before using and apply before sun exposure. So there's not too much information on the bottle. Anywho, it's priced at $11.99 and it's 1 fl. oz/30 ml. I got it in the shade Classic Ivory 603 and it's basically the perfect shade for me, a little too pale for my sister.

The consistency is much thinner/liquidier than the Rimmel one. It smooths on really nicely so less product is needed to cover the whole face so it'll last longer. It kind of has a scent going on. I think it smells kind of like pepper, but my sister didn't smell anything so maybe I'm just weird. The coverage is good, kind of medium to full, I'd say, closer to medium. It covers my redness and evens out my skin tone really nicely. There is a tiny bit of cakeyness around my nose but really not too bad. It's not cakey at all on my sister so it's probably just because it's a really dry spot on me. Also when we first put it on, it kind of showed up in my sister's pores on her cheeks, mostly because the color isn't quite right for her so it looked strange; but it's evened out and smoothed out just fine. I also really like the way this one looks better than the way the Rimmel one looked. My skin texture looks so much smoother and nicer and softer than it does with the Rimmel, same with my sister. Don't know yet about it's long lasting-ness but I will definitely let you know after using both for a while.

All in all, we both agree so far that we'd much rather use the L'Oreal than the Rimmel. We're both going to continue to use both foundations for a while to really give you full reviews on them. So be on the lookout for that in about a week or two. Not sure yet what we'll be reviewing next so if you have any suggestions let me know!

Love makeup!
Jamie

Getting to Know You...(Or At Least This Blog..)

Hey everyone,

I'm starting this blog to give some reviews of different makeup/skincare products to help let you all (and me!) know what's out there, what products do what they say they will, which products are best avoided, and what colors are like from different companies/products/etc. Basically I'm doing the hard part of picking out new makeup products for you. A lot of the process of finding the perfect makeup for you is trial and error and rather than have to go back and forth to the drugstores or makeup counters trying to find what you want, I'm hoping that this blog will help you have a more educated approach to picking out the best product for what you need the first time.

So a little about me.. I am a self-proclaimed makeup artist :). I haven't had any formal training but what I lack in training I make up for in experience. I have been doing makeup on myself and my friends for years and years. I've had a couple classes in stage/theater makeup and have been a makeup artist on a few shows. I absolutely love theater (musicals are my favorite!) and I love doing makeup for the theater (Beauty and the Beast this fall hopefully!). I love playing with makeup, trying out new looks, finding new techniques and testing out new products. I started selling mark. about a year ago just so I can get a discount on the makeup ;). Basically, I'm just your everyday beauty junkie.

So I know there's a million review blogs about MAC products or other higher end makeup but, while I really love those companies and they do have great products, I really wanted to focus this blog on the more affordable drugstore/Target kinds of brands. I know there's a LOT of people out there that can't afford to be spending so much money on everyday makeup (me included!). And, despite what some people may say, you can get good quality products without spending a fortune.

I hope that you guys find this blog helpful. My first review should be coming soon. I think it's going to be about foundations. So if anyone has any suggestions on foundations I should try or if there's anything at all (makeup or skincare) that you would like to see me review just leave a comment and let me know and I will try to get that out to you soon.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jamie