$20 Makeup Challenge

The buzz around the beauty community on YouTube is all about the $20 makeup challenge tag. It's a hypothetical experience that involves the airline losing your luggage, specifically the bag that contained your makeup. You only have a $20 budget to get a full face of makeup and any tools necessary. I've watched several of my favorite gurus do their version and was impressed with what they came up with. So I decided to take the challenge on myself... only I don't use a lot of drugstore makeup. Needless to say, this was definitely going to be a challenge for me!!

I headed out to Walgreens to look for a couple of Milani products that I had been wanting and decided that was the day to start the challenge. I was disappointed with Walgreens because they didn't carry Milani at that location or any of the locations in my county... so to Walmart I went. The first Walmart was beyond picked over and crazy busy. We (my youngest son & I) traipsed down a few more miles to another Walmart only to be disappointed again by the Milani display. We probably spent a good 20 minutes or so trying to come up with the right combination of products. This was the batch we ended up walking out with:

- e.l.f. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen (Black)
           $1.00
- NYC Smooth Skin Powder (702A Naturally Beige)
           $2.74
- wet'n'wild Shadow Trio (335 Silent Treatment)
           $2.93
- NYC City Duet 2in1 Lip Color (422 The Cherry Blossoms)
           $2.74
- Hard Candy Flat to Fab Mascara (Blackest Black)
           $7.00
- NYC Smooth Skin Liquid Makeup (677 Nude)
          $2.74

My total with tax was $20.65... so sue me I'm over a little.



I was pretty impressed with how far $20 would actually stretch... however I was a little nervous about how each of these products would work for me. I'm not one to back down from a challenge though!!

After we got home I hopped on YouTube to refresh my memory of some of the other looks people came up with. That's when I started to doubt some of the purchases I had made... someone else had already used the wet'n'wild trio that I had picked up, I wasn't crazy about a lipstick that had 1 color on each side, and the powder puff in the compact was not so great... So I rifled through my collection and found a few substitute products. Here's what the final combination ended up being:

- e.l.f. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen (Black)
           $1.00
- e.l.f. Hypershine Lipgloss (Berry Cherry)
          $1.00
- Hard Candy Flat to Fab Mascara (Blackest Black)
          $7.00
- NYC Smooth Skin Liquid Makeup (677 Nude)

          $2.74

- e.l.f. Tone Correcting Concealer (Light Beige)

          $1.00

- NYC Ultra Moist Lip Wear (316 Blossom)

          $0.97

- wet'n'wild Shadow Trio (330B Walking on Eggshells)

          $2.93

My total with tax ends up being $19.36. 

I could deal with that! So I went to work filming and editing the video (I'm post it at the end of this blog).  It has now been 10 hours since I applied said products and I think that's enough time to give a fair assessment.

Completed look immediately after application

                             10 hours later...

So, as you can see my skin is seriously shiny... but wait until you see this:

 

 

Clearly this isn't working for me... 

The shadows creased like crazy.

My lashes feel crunchy.

My skin is itchy and oily.

 I'm not counting each of these products out yet, but some I know for sure I won't be using again! I know for sure I won't be using that foundation ever again... I couldn't even get it out of the bottle without using a q-tip, even after shaking it and pounding it on my hand a dozen times. My skin feels just flat gross. Keep in mind that I have oily skin to begin with, so it may work for you. The concealer didn't really do it's job either, not as a concealer or a primer. The powder I may give another shot or two, it's supposed to be clarifying which typically helps with oil. Oh mascara... if you know me at all, you know that I typically wear false lashes. I don't like crispy lashes, bottom line. Lipstick/lip gloss, I'm pretty easy on them. I have 4 or 5 in my purse, I change my mind too often to really give a fair assessment of any lip product. Shadows... I'm anxious to actually try them with a good primer. I'll let you know how that goes. Now let me tell you about this little eyeliner marker business. I was not happy with this guy at all! The product didn't come out as dark or as fluid as I had hoped. I had to reapply it several times to get the darkness I wanted. I'm a liquid or gel liner kind of girl, so I like dark and fast... this however didn't do either.

I did enjoy trying to stretch that $20, maybe I'll try other combinations and see how they work out.

I do have to admit that it did look pretty darn good at first (except for the brows!).

Well enough will all this jibber-jabber, go enjoy the video!!

Love & Lashes

XO

BIRCHBOX Nov. 2011

A few weeks ago I was doing my usual youtubin' and was watching some past videos of LetitiaLaura. She was showing off these super cool samples from something called BIRCHBOX, I was intrigued! I found so many other people on the tube enjoying these super nice samples, in bigger than one use packages I might add, and wanted some for myself! So I signed up on birchbox.com to receive this cute little pink box for $10 a month. I figured I would spend that $10 on something, might as well do it on something fun... and who doesn't like to receive stuff in the mail, not to mention surprise stuff!?!? I've been trying to wait patiently for this day to come... I got an email yesterday that my box had shipped from New York so I assumed it would be sometime next week before it arrived, but here it is!!!

How did they know that pink was my favorite color????

It's bigger than I thought it would be! (I have it positioned on top of my MacBook Pro)

I couldn't wait to crack it open!!!

I was pleasantly surprised when I sliced it open, they put another cute box inside. It's a sturdy one too! Did I mention that the logo there on top was shiny? I like these people already!!!

Then to find this cute little message on the inside.

On the back of this card is a listing of all of the products that I would find inside (see below)


5 awesome products that I can't wait to put to good use!

Here's what I found inside:
1 Jouer - Lip Enhancer
2 Kate Spade - Twirl fragrance
3 Supersmile - Whitening Toothpaste
4 Zoya - Polish in Noel
5 Alex and Isabelle - Classic Hair Tie*

*this is a "treat," an extra goody from the peeps at birchbox

I got right to work on a video to share this awesome new gift to myself!!!

This is such a cool concept and I'm really looking forward to seeing what else will fill my mailbox in the months to come! Have you signed up yet??? www.birchbox.com