20 already?

I'll be turning twenty on the 23rd of this month and I'm having quite the reality check as a result. It's crazy how fast time has gone by for me since I've started getting older, and it's quite strange thinking that I've been a member of earth for that many years, days, hours...minutes! OMG! :p Anyway, I just wanted to make a fun little wish list post with some pretty photos and reflect on how I've grown as a person and what I hope the future holds for me.

Wishful Thinking...

Kodak EasyShare M532 or a Canon of some sort!

Sadly my camera that I received for signing up for college (what a gimmick, huh?) has finally died on me. She only lasted but a year, but I expected nothing less. As a result, I NEED a new good quality camera, and though I'm more about the price than the technical abilities, I want a camera with substantial quality for my blog and personal photos!

Apple MacBook Charger

As my significant other will tell you, I have broken the charger / attachment cord to every electronic I own. I couldn't tell you how it happened but it's seriously a problem when I can't get to my computer, phone or camera. 

MUST HAVE ^^^ I absolutely adore this bib necklace

Forever 21 

Just like most girls, I have a die hard love affair with Forever 21. I'm currently loving loose fitting garments including tanks, tees, and off the shoulder tops. Another favorite as of now? High waisted shorts, but I'm thinking of getting some thrift store levi's and cutting them up.

Lighted Makeup Mirror

I am in dire need of a lighted makeup mirror. Unfortunately, I have no area in my home that provides good enough light to apply makeup /: I would love a lighted mirror to make my life a little easier!

Family Time

The best part of my birthday is definitely going to be spending time with my loved ones. It's always a good time no matter where or what we're doing. I'm quite the creature of habit and every single year for my birthday my family and I head over to Shogun Restaurant (it's like a Benihannas where they cook teppan yaki in front of you) it's my favorite food in the world and I even get excited just to eat there! Aside from the food, my loved ones are the most fun and exciting people I know, I always enjoy spending time with them and find that it's hard not to have a smile on my face when I'm with them. Just writing this is making me so excited to spend time with them I can't wait! I'll report back after my birthday with photos.

Reap What You Sow

As for growing up I think I'm doing a decent job. I'm almost ready to graduate school, get my first "real" job and move forward with more education. 5 years ago I had no idea where I would be, I didn't think about the future or who I wanted to be as a person. It's been a complete turn around and I'm happy to say I'm proud of where I'm going and who I'm becoming. I have an amazing family and support system to help me through any trial that comes my way. I'm lucky to have a wonderful boyfriend who also supports me through everything I do. My family is going to freak upon reading this, but I'm considering getting a small tattoo in representation of my personal growth, resilient faith, and positivity for the future. This is just an idea so nothing is set in stone yet! But I do think a nice reminder of who I am and who I want to be (with the help from the Big Man Upstairs, of course, I couldn't be anything without him) would be a lovely little way of expression (; I won't bore you longer with my life story but it's just a strange reality check for me turning 20. It's like a milestone I never even thought about. I can't wait for what the next 5 years hold, but I know one thing for sure, I'll be going there in style (;

Have you achieved your dreams? Or have any special plans with your life for the future?

I hope your birthdays and everyday are filled with happiness, love, and good people <3

XOX,

- Mj

Goldstone Mother

My mom and I keep making plans to head over to the mall and check out the MAC counter. Unfortunately, our schedules conflict so much it hasn't happened in some time...I now know this was for a purpose. That purpose? MAC Semi-Precious Collection's Mineralise Skin Finish in Goldstone was made for my mother. Let me explain...

The reason we were heading to the MAC counter initially was because my mom was always asking about how I got my skin to "glow", I explained how I recently fell in love with MAC's Cream Colour Base in Pearl and it's now a staple in my makeup regimine. And that I was needing to kill my lem for MAC's Face & Body Foundation (review to come soon!). I wanted her to get a piece of the pie so we headed out to the counter. While walking up to the Cream Colour Base's a sales associate pops up and asks us if we need anything, my mom explains her situation and she brings my mothers attention to the loose pigments. (A bad idea for mature women) However, the sales associate didn't seem to think about that and readily popped on some pigment to my mothers cheekbones (which are amazing by the way) and says "Oh that looks great!". Mom turns around and I am suddenly noticing that she has wrinkles I'd never noticed before, I immediately turn her attention away from this product. I don't know if the MAC girl didn't quite understand what we were looking for but this was not it, our goal was to find her something to give a youthful glow. Not to accentuate features that otherwise are invisible. I turn my mother around to distract her from getting sucked into purchasing this, and point her attention to MAC's latest collection Semi-Precious. I really didn't think we'd find anything too amazing her but lo and behold Mineralise Skin Finish in Goldstone.


"A luxurious velvet-soft powder with high-frost metallic finish. Smoothes on; adds buffed up highlights to cheeks, or an overall ultra-deluxe polish to the face?" (Source: maccosmetics.com)

(Source: Temptalia.com)

MAC describes this as having a brown base with a rosey pink, white and gold inner circle. I find this product especially wonderful because of it's double features. You have the warm shimmery bronze surrounding a perfect pink highlight or blush depending on application. Or you can mix the two for a customized cheek color. A $28 two-in-one limited edition product from MAC isn't so bad. There's also two other Mineralize Skin Finishes and a few other bits & bobs I'm sure you'll enjoy. Here's my beautiful mother wearing it! Notice how the light hits her cheek bones and gives that amazing glow. 

I definitely recommend this product for women over the age of 30 (and under as well!) it's so wearable and seems it would enhance both warm and cool undertones. I know a lot of mature women are a little hesitant when it comes to wearing shimmery makeup, it's been dubbed as something only young faces can wear, MAC has changed this concept with Goldstone. I think I'll have to get some of this for myself now (; Check out temptalia's review of this, she has amazing swatches and photos that'll give you a great idea of what your purchasing before you even decide to. Her link is here. Anything from the Semi-Precious Collection is sure to turn up a gem in your makeup bag...I had to heheheh (;

What's your new favorite product?

XOX,

- Mj

New Stuff for Cool Girls: e.l.f. haul

e.l.f. (eyes, lips, face) is a company sold at target and a couple other similar stores. Their prices are just about the cheapest you can get when it comes to makeup. Usually when we think of things being very cheap we also assume they're low quality or bad products. In the case of e.l.f. this is completely untrue. I did a little research on the company and here's what I found:

"e.l.f.'s philosophy is that beauty comes from within and it's our goal to enable every woman to look and feel her personal best through the perfect blend of both the inner and outer person. With that goal in mind, e.l.f. cosmetics was born - a line of simple, luxurious, problem-solution tools... We at e.l.f. believe that innovative technology, quality ingredients, and supurb delivery systems should not be limited to prestige retailers. Every woman should have the opportunity to participate in innovation, without sacrificing her budet."


I really liked this philosophy and it's very similar to mine; beauty comes from not only the outside but from an inner confidence and way of carrying one's self. I really do love this company and the products they produce. Upon reading a little about what others thought of the company I've learned that people do like some of their products but it's either a hit or miss with them, keep in mind this is with most cosmetic companies even high end. I'm going to be doing a day one review of the products I received from them. The items I received are:

• Mineral Infused Facial Primer 
• Luscious Liquid Lipstick [Strawberry]
• Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder Duo
• Brightening Eyeshadow Quad [Drama]

This wasn't the full of my order, I had actually ordered a second Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Baby Lips, but it was out of stock. I also ordered the Studio Blusher in Peachy Keen which I was quite looking forward too, there was a bit of a billing discrepancy so that definitely brings down my feelings for the company. But I won't speak too soon, I might change my opinions on the company (only ordering from the web, this is not reflective of in-store products) depending on how the problem is resolved. I received this order a few weeks ago but I wanted a good amount of time for me to figure out how I felt about each product. Typically, I LOVE everything I get the first couple days I have it, but after the exciting part of having a new product wears off the true feelings come out. That is what I tried achieving with this order, and it seemed to work well!

Here's what I thought
Mineral Infused Facial Primer I have to admit this was the first primer I've ever owned. That being said, I was hoping I fall in love with it because everyone always speaks so highly of primers and how much they love them. Unfortunately, this product didn't sit well with me. It make tiny dry spots I frequently have look much more large and noticeable. Also, the staying power of my makeup wasn't really any different that when I didn't use a primer. So all in all this just came off as another step in the morning that I just don't have time for. If I'm going to try another primer, I think I'll go for a more hydrating primer formula. UPDATE: Change of plans! I just found using this under my M.A.C. Face & Body Foundation makes it last so much longer and creates a really nice base for the makeup to stick to. I totally changed my mind and use this everyday now. (;

Luscious Liquid Lipstick [Strawberry] What I love most about this is the moisturizing formula. Although, I wouldn't call it a lipstick, it's more of a pigmented lipgloss. So, aside from thinking it would be a little more opaque, I really fell in love with this. To make it last a little longer and be more opaque I put a base underneath it MAC Lipstick [Myth]. I love the color turnout (especially with a base). It's a great pop of color for summer and great to take with you on hot days when you're afraid your lipsticks might melt in your bag.

Contouring Blush & Bronzer Duo It's like this duo was made for me! The blush gives me a perfect pink peachy flush and the bronzer is just lovely. The only thing I will say that could be considered a con about this product is that the bronzer isn't my type of contour, I like my contour to be matte, which this is not. Both the blush and bronzer have flex of sparkle and some shimmer in them. But as a bronzer for days when I'm not in the mood for blush, it's an amazing color! It seems that this duo has potential to work well for a large array of skin tones, as long as you apply it the right way (if you have lighter skin, just be sure to apply with a light hand). This is a really great product that I definitely recommend. The price is amazing too!

L/R: blush, bronzed applied over primer, blush and bronzer applied without primer

Brightening Eye Shadow Quad [Drama] This quad contains the ingredients for a perfect, budget friendly smokey eye. If you're always playing guessing games when figuring out what to use for a smokey eye, this quad was made for you. It comes with four triangle shaped pots; a matte white, a shimmery silver, a darker gray with large sparkles, and a black with large sparkles. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good photo of my swatches for this one and I don't really use these colors (I'm not a smokey eye kinda gal) so I don't have any photos of a look using this quad. The pigmentation is okay, for the price I didn't expect anything much better. But I do love the white, it's a great inner corner highlight. I also loved mixing the silver with the gray as an all over lid color. I apply this really lightly and it gives a really pretty turnout.

All in all I was happy with this order. I did end up receiving my missing products which I'll review in the future for you. I really enjoy e.l.f. products because they offer great items for amazing prices. They're a great brand if you're just starting to play in makeup and figure out what you like and what you don't. Remember to check makeupalley.com for reviews, they have just about every e.l.f. product reviewed on there with helpful insights and thoughts. Before I buy anything I always check it on MUA (however, don't not buy something you really think you'll love just because it got bad reviews, you never know, you might love something that's not too popular with others!)

What are some of your favorite e.l.f. or budget friendly brands?

- Mj

Two Looks, One Face

I just got a new no name eye palette from a dollar store and it's full of some amazing sheer and shimmer eye shadows. Last night I chose to try two different looks, they're similar and the idea behind it was that you could do one look in the morning for work / school / daytime and then just by adding a couple extra things you could take it up a notch for an awesome evening look. Note: I have no mascara on in these pictures so it's incomplete, I think mascara is what really pulls everything together so just use your imagination. This is just a reference tutorial if you would like to try a similar look.

This is the day look, I used the highlight color from Wet'n'Wilds Walking On Eggshells Palette for an all over and browbone highlight. Then I went through with a golden peach with gold shimmer, I applied this under my bottom lashline as well. This was done using a MAC 217. In the crease I used a bronze / copper shimmer shadow to give the look some depth, my inspiration was a sort of tropical sunset toned down for a work appropriate look, to achieve this I used Sephora's Angled Crease Brush. I finished everything off using a MAC 266 Angled Brush and NYX's matte black shadow, I ran it across my upper lashline and gave it a soft 'flick' at the end for some drama. 

Now, bring on the night!

For this look, I took the crease color from the day look and pulled in closer into my inner corner and beneath my lower lashline. I really love this color with brown eyes, I feel like it brightens everything in a seductive Keira Knightley way. Obviously, I added lots more liner, I used an NYX pencil to line my upper and lower waterlines. I also added more liner to the top and smudged it with, what else, a smudger!

By the way! 

Sorry I've been gone for so long, I've recently been accepted as an extern at a business I've been trying to get into for quite some time now. I'm having to invest a lot of time into the externship which leaves me little time for my blog, makeup, and other things that make me smile /: It's quite saddening to me, but I'm trying to understand it as a sacrifice that has to happen. I'm not stopping my blogging in anyway, so don't fear! And I'll still try to keep up as much as I can I just wanted to share what was going on. Thank you everyone who reads and takes time out of their day to see what I have to say, it's so crazy (: So again, thank you thank you thank you!!

XOX,

- Mj