FOTD: Easy Soft Cat Eye

On the face:
~Pixi Flawless Beauty primer
~Avon Ideal Flawless tinted moisturizer in Light
~Avon Ideal Flawless CC color correcting pencil in Light
~Benefit Watts Up highlighter
~Avon Ideal Flawless translucent loose powder

On the eyes:
~Avon True Color 8-in-1 palette in Not So Neutral-just the metallic taupe shade all over the lid, inner corners, and along the lower lash lines.
~L'oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Eternal Black along upper and lower lash lines.
~Avon Kohl eye liner in True Black to tight line.
~Dior Diorshow Maimizer mascara primer
~L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara

On the cheeks:
~Avon Glow bronzer in warm Glow
~Avon Ideal Luminous blush in Antique Rose

On the lips:
~Starlooks lip pencil in Bare
~Avon Ultra Color lipstick in Canela Nacar
~Avon Ultra Glazewear lip gloss in Tickled Pink

FOTD: Neutral Eyes + Berry Lips

On the face:
~Pixi Flawless Beauty primer
~Avon Ideal Flawless tinted moisturizer in Light
~Avon Ideal Flawless CC color correcting pencil in Light
~Avon Ideal Flawless translucent loose powder

On the eyes:
~Avon Extra Lasting eyeshadow pencil in Shimmering Sand all over lid, inner corners and along lower lash line as a base.
~Avon True Color quad in Mocha Latte- shade 1 all over lid from lash line to brow bone, shade 2 through the crease, shade 3 on the outer half of the lid and lower lash line, and shade 4 in the outer corner of the eye and along upper and lower lash lines.
~Rimmel Scandal Eyes kohl eye liner in Nude on the waterline.
~Dior Diorshow Maximizer mascara primer
~L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara(1 coat)

On the cheeks:
~Avon Glow bronzer in Warm Glow
~e.l.f. studio blush in Mellow Mauve

On the lips:
~Avon Ultra Luxury lip liner in Rosebud
~Avon Ultra Color lipstick in Matte Berry
~Avon Ultra Glazewear lip gloss in Candy Pink

First Time DIY: Depotting Disaster!

So, for anyone who follows me on YouTube and saw my "Perfect Palette" tag video, you know that I have been wanting to depot all of my Avon True Color eyeshadow quads and actually make a palette out of the colors from that tag video to use for a pan that palette challenge next year. I've watched a lot of videos on depotting methods and one common theme throughout was that you need a lot of time and patience to depot more than a small handful of shadows...and I am in short supply of both time AND patience. Then I came across an old video from Wayne Goss where he just popped his shadows in the oven and when they came out he was quickly and easily able to pop the pans out of their packaging with a paring knife. So that's the method I decided to go with for my depotting adventure.

In his video, Wayne said he set his oven to 100 degrees centigrade. That's roughly 212 degrees here in the States, and since I can't set my oven to 212 degrees I decided I would go with 210 to be on the safe side. The video also stated to put the shadows in the oven for 2-5 minutes.

Round 1: 2 minutes at 210 degrees. Results: nothing. I couldn't pry up a single pan. Not one. Not even a little.

So back into the oven the shadows went for 5 more minutes.

And...well...I got the shadows out. Even with the extra 5 minutes in the oven the glue was still really strong under the pans. So strong that I broke the tip off the end of my paring knife(and never found it). So I thought, you know, maybe the oven's not hot enough.

So I put my next batch in at 215 degrees for 10 minutes.

And things went a little smoother...but not as smooth as I would've liked.

The shadows definitely came out easier this time, but I still struggled with them. I was happy that none of them had completely broke apart like with the first batch. Since it seemed like the temperature was hot enough, I did one more batch but left them in for 5 minutes longer(so 15 minutes at 215 degrees) in the hopes the glue would loosen enough that I could pry them out easily.

This time the shadows did come out much easier. Some I still had issues with, but overall they popped out without too much hassle and seemed(seemed being the key word here) to be intact and in good condition.

I wanted to do the project cheaply, so I stuck the shadows to the inside of an old CD case with double-sided permanent tape. Now I can easily see what shadows I'm grabbing for, and I didn't have to drop a pretty penny on a magnetic case.

Now, here's the kicker, those shadows with arrows next to them are the same shadows from the previous picture(where they look like they are still in pretty good condition). Since I have made this palette, the plum shade completely crumbled and I've had to repeatedly press it back together, the deep brown shadow broke and fell out on the floor when I opened the case, and one time when I closed the case that shimmery beige cracked all around the corner.

I now have to keep this palette laying flat, treat it with kid gloves, and use the lightest hand humanly possible with the shadows so that they don't fall apart anymore.

Needless to say, I won't be using the oven method to depot my shadows anymore!

Project 10 Pan: The Mini Series! Finale/Reviews

My two weeks are up! Here's what I thought of the samples that I used up for this mini project pan:

1. John Frieda Luxurious Volume shampoo & conditioner was just okay to me. The smell was nice, fresh and clean, but I wasn't in love with it. As far as the performance, it made my hair feel exactly like the new formula of Avon's volumizing hair care line...slightly weighed down:-( So not a fan of this.

2. Origins Smarty Plants CC Skin complexion corrector had pretty light coverage and a dewy, glowy finish. I think if you have normal to dry skin and don't want or like a lot of coverage this might be something to try. For me though, it was a miss with my oily skin and discoloration.

3. Benefit Big Easy multi-balancing complexion perfector This was a miss for me as well. It had better coverage than the Origins Smarty Plants and with the powdery finish is definitely better for oily skin types. My main issue with this is that it is too siliconey and, much like their Porefessional primer, instead of smoothing over larger pores and filling them in it skipped over them and made them more obvious. Also, because this dries down to a powder finish so quickly it gets cakey if you have to build it up.

4. Agave healing oil treatment is most likely going to be a holy grail hair product for me! I can't believe I let this sample sit around for so long!! It is a lightweight oil that absorbs into my hair so well leaving my hair nice and shiny without looking stringy or being weighed down at all. I only needed a very smell amount to smooth through the ends of my hair, so that tiny sample lasted me nearly the whole two weeks. AND, it smells amazing! Very coconut, vanilla, tropical fruit blend type of smell. Super yummy!

5. Dr. Brandt microdermabrasion skin exfoliant was a decent little scrub. I felt like it was pretty gentle, and I liked the lemony scent. I don't feel though that it worked better than any drugstore scrubs that I've tried, so I definitely won't ever be spending $78 on a full sized tube.

6. Avon Anew Vitale day cream was sort of a hit and a miss for me. I loved the performance of the cream. It made my skin look a little brighter and smoother after just one use. It left my skin moisturized without any greasy/oily residue. My makeup sat really nicely on top of it too. The only thing that's stopping me from running out to pick up a jar of this is that it's a little too heavily fragranced for my taste. The scent is nice, a very clean floral smell, but I could smell it all day. I'm still going to keep this cream in mind for the next time I need to buy a full-sized cream since the only other one that I've tried lately that I like as much as the Vitale is considerably more expensive, but I really do wish this had a lighter scent.

7. Kate Somerville HydraClear hydrating acne gel made my face itch and I broke out the first time I used it. Enough said.

8.Spa Towells body lotion towelette was just...ugh... This felt disgusting to me when I pulled it out of the packet, super slimy! It smelled like celery. The claim was that each towelette contained enough lotion to moisturize the whole body, thank God it only had enough to cover my legs because I don't think I could have handled that smell on my upper body. This were just a miss for me in every possible way.

9. Sephora Orange Blossom creamy body wash was okay as well. I picked up some of these capsules a long while back in different scents for travel purposes and this was the last one I had laying around. The packaging is definitely convenient for travel. The scent was alright, kind of a green leafy floral(I don't think it's even available anymore). The formula was kind of meh. Not bad, but also not that hydrating and creamy. I feel like there are better and cheaper body washes at the drugstore. The only real upside to this product is the packaging.

10. Calvin Klein Endless Euphoria is a scent that's not what I typically go for(a little to floral for me, I like sweet/spicy/woody smells), but I could see myself picking this up in the Spring/Summer. This has a little citrus and woods to it and i do really like that, plus it mixed with my body chemistry well and i got a lot of compliments while wearing it.