Christmas Makeup Look 1: Red Lip Classic

This lashy, dewy look creates the perfect background for a red lip, if you’re looking for inspiration to wear to a holiday party or really any evening out, especially this time of year.

It’s just my go-to base paired with a classic red lip. The liner itself is a little warmer, but the gloss is a blue based red, which looks good on basically any skin tone and gives the illusion of whiter teeth.

Products used:

Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup (in the shade 4.0)

Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer (in Light Neutral

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette (Faint on brows and smudged along upper lash line)

NYX HD Finishing Powder in Banana (only where absolutely necessary)

Essence Pure Nude Highlighter in Be My Highlight

Jordana EasyLiner For Lips in Sedona Red

NYX Butter Gloss in Red Velvet

(If you’re wondering why my lips look juicier than usual, I’ll have an upcoming post detailing my liner/gloss routine.)

What do you think of this holiday makeup look?

What makeup look(s) are you wearing to Christmas parties this season?

Please leave your lovely thoughts in the comment section below.XO, T

Autumn ’17 Loves & Let Downs

These were originally going to be my Summer L&L’s,  but (in keeping with my perpetual lateness), they’ve been bumped back until now.

Loves

Physicians Formula #InstaReady Super BB Cream
This product has an SPF of 30, which is pretty unheard of in a drugstore (high street) BB/CC product or tinted moisturizer. It also sets to a demi matte finish, which is great for us combination-oilies.  Physycians Formula does have a notoriously narrow shade range, but the shade Light/Medium happens to suit my skin tone quite well in the warmer months. (I’ll probably be switching to Light in the next couple weeks.) Those with deeper, very fair and/or cool-toned skin may need to pass on this product, since there’s only one additional shade in the range: Medium-Deep.

Colourpop Echo Park Ultra Satin Lip
Colourpop’s Ultra Satin formula wears similarly to a traditional creme lipstick. It feels a thousand times more comfortable than its matte counterpart but doesn’t have nearly as much staying power. (It’s here for a good time, not a long time.)
The shade Echo Park is a warm toned neutral that passes as a darkish nude on me but might appear  more orange-y on fairer/cooler skin tones.

NYX Tiramisu Butter Gloss
Sticky enough to last without feeling uncomfortable, NYX Butter Gloss is basically my ideal gloss formulation. Tiramisu is the perfect neutral nude: light but not white. I’ve been especially loving it popped [onto the center of my pout] over Echo Park. This has been my go-to lip combo since like March, especially with a smoky eye.

ELF  Ravishing Rose Moisturizing Lipstick
The shade Ravishing Rose is a great summer alternative to a classic red lip. As the name implies, it’s a perfectly wearable deep-ish rose hue. My favorite way to wear it is as a stain, which exemplifies that lived-in, (dare I say European?) cool girl aesthetic.

Milani Brow Shaping Clear Wax

I’m preferring fluffier, unkempt brows over the crispy look/feel of using brow gel/mascara. I ignore the inner like half of my brows (or even backcomb them),then draw this wax under only the outer tail. This same little stick has lasted forever and is so well loved that I’m honestly just guessing the brand and product name, based on the packaging.

Alba Botanica Coconut Cream Lip Balm
I’ve decided to purge all petroleum products from my routine, and this balm has gotten me through the adjustment/detox period.

Banana Republic Fringe Earrings
These have been my go-to statement earrings since I got them. I love everything from the faceted grey stone to the obnoxious gold tassel. They’re equally lovely for dressing up a t-shirt or full-on with a maxi.

Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt
This is the perfect guilt-free snack to satisfy my sweet tooth before bed. It contains zero calories, zero sugar, and zero artificial sweetener. (It does contain stevia, which I honestly haven’t researched enough to know if it’s secretly killing me ala Diet Coke.)

RawBeautiKristi

When this username first popped up in my recommendations, I was like ‘What is this? Another vegan bitch?’ Turns out not only is Kristi not some pretentious vegan food vlogger, she’s a beauty girl with a hilariously raw brand of honesty regarding products and application. Like, can we be friends IRL?

Stranger Things
Obviously. Dustin continues to be my favorite character, although Bob has my heart.

I Prevail’s Blank Space
This hardcore cover of a beloved pop song is everything I didn’t realize I wanted. (I can make the good girls bad for a weekend.)

Let Downs

Maui Moisture Heal & Hydrate + Shea Butter
I had pretty high hopes for this shampoo and conditioner, but they didn’t deliver the hydration my (admittedly dry) hair so badly needs.

What do you think of my Autumn Loves & Let Downs?
Have you tried any of the aforementioned products?
Please share your lovely thoughts in the comment section below.

XO, T

FTC: This post contains affiliate links, the use of which is detailed in my full disclosure policy.

Smoky Eye Saturday: Easy Step-by-Step Single Shade Smoky Eye How-to-torial & My Fave Stand-AlonEyeshadowsi

More often than not, beauty gurus over-complicate things and try to convince you it’s necessary to buy some crazy pro palette and a full brush set [using their Morphe/Sigma affiliate codes] in order to create even the simplest of makeup looks. I’m here to debunk those complicated tutorials and prove that, in actuality, all you need to achieve a smoky eye is one eye shade and a little patience.

The shadow you use should be at least as deep as your skin tone, but it can be as bright or dark or natural as you prefer and any finish, although satin shadows tend to provide the most dimension.

Eyeshadow can be applied using fingers, cotton buds or the little sponge-tip applicators that come in most eyeshadow packaging. However, I recommend using a shader brush for packing color onto the lid and a fluffier brush for brow bone and blending purposes.

Prep lids from lash line to brow bone.

1. Apply a matte shadow in your skin tone or a bit lighter from the brow bone downward, stopping shy of your mobile lid (the part of the eyelid that opens and closes).
   This sets your primer, makes blending a cinch, and provides a subtle highlight. (Setting powder works fine for this, if you don’t have an appropriate eyeshadow.)
2. Pat smoky shade all over mobile lid and blend whatever’s left on the brush to subtly define the crease, beginning at the outer corner and sweeping inward, following your natural eye shape.
3. Apply 1-3 coats of your favorite volumizing mascara to both top and bottom lashes.Product Recommendations:

• Selfish, Seductive, and Sophisticated from the Balm’s Nude Tude palette
• Wet n Wild Nutty single
• Wet n Wild Lagoon single
• Ulta Twilight single

I would love to see your take on a single color smoky eye, either as a comment on this post or on social media using the hashtags #lipstickandalatte and #smokyeyesaturday or tag me @tarynandalatte

What do you think of this look?
Is your smoky eye method similar to mine?

Please leave your lovely thoughts in the comment section below.
XO, T

*Okay, so I technically used two eyeshadows, but only one of them is an actual shade (and if you use the setting powder hack, it’s literally only one eyeshadow.)

Autumn ’15 Loves

Murad Acne Treatment Concealer in Light
I’ve recently become a convert to Lisa Eldridge pinpoint concealing, and this full coverage stick concealer is perfect for disguising zits with a teeny brush.  (I like the Sonia Kashuk No. 31 Pointed Pencil Brush.)  The formula consists of 2% salicylic acid, so it actually helps to diminish active breakouts but def doesn’t belong anywhere near eyes or dry skin.

Milani Powder Blush in Romantic Rose
This brown based pink provides the perfect subtle flush, especially now that my summer tan has faded.  It’s neutral enough to compliment pretty much any eye or lip look and is especially lovely with the 90s browns and mauves I’ve been super into lately.  Speaking of 90s browns:

Milani Power Lip in Creamy Cafe
You already know how I feel about this formula, and this brown-y nude shade has been my go to lip with anything from a smokey eye to “no makeup” makeup.

TheBalm Stainiac in Beauty Queen
This berry liquid stain is a great alternative to Benetint–which isn’t actually cruelty free.  My favorite way to use this is to apply a few dots onto the center of lips and then kind of pat it into the rest of my lips with my fingers (quickly, before it dries.)

Burt’s Bees Pumpkin Spice Moisturizing Lip Balm
I know pumpkin spice everything is very basic betch, but that doesn’t keep me from loving all of it.  As its name implies, this balm imparts plenty of moisture, and it’s a nice departure from my go to Burt’s Bees Pomegranate.

e.l.f. Cream Eyeliner
Since Halloween, I’ve fallen back in love with this liner, especially in the shades Coffee and Midnight (navy.)  Using a bent eyeliner brush, I’ve pretty much mastered the whole winged liner thing.  For a long-lasting smokey look, I like to go over the liner with a coordinating eyeshadow.

Brahmin crossbody
This gorg pink croc embossed bag is actually a lender from my mother’s ever-chic wardrobe.  (Hi, Mom!)  There’s something so liberating about switching from a small purse to a giant one that can hold everything with room to spare.  Because I really need to carry a magazine, a full face of makeup, and a pair each of sun- and eyeglasses.

The Voice
This show consistently has the best coaches, guests, and talent of any of the singing competition shows (1000x better than AGT.)  Gwen Stefani is my queen, and my favorite contestants this season have been Zach, Emily Ann, Maddie, and Amy.

What do you think of my Autumn ’15 Loves?
Please let me know in the comments what you’ve been loving the past few months.

XO, T

FIF: Hard Candy Look Pro Neutral Eyes Eyeshadow Palette

This palette retails for $8 and has been touted as a dupe for the Too Faced Natural Eyes Collection palette.

The Hard Candy palette comes housed in a cute gold tin and includes sample sizes of both their Eyes the Limit Eye Shadow Primer and Take Me Out Liner (in the shade Soy) along with nine matte, satin, and shimmer neutral eyeshadows.  The lid of the tin houses both a decently sized mirror and a little fold out how-to pamphlet.

The Primer is a pretty standard translucent nude shade and applied similarly to Urban Decay’s Primer Potion.

I wasn’t particularly inspired by any of the suggested eye looks and instead opted for my go-to tricolor smoky crease look using shades 1 (matte cream,) 5 (shimmery rose gold,) and 2 (matte tan.)  I skipped the liner and applied a couple coats of Tarte’s Lights Camera Flashes Mascara.  I’m also wearing Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Plumrose.

The shadows are nicely pigmented and blendable.  This quality of this palette is on par with (Dare I say?) Wet ‘n Wild eyeshadow, which is my long time drugstore favorite.

I highly recommend checking out this palette, and I look forward to trying more products from the brand.

What do you think of this palette?  Have you tried anything from Hard Candy Cosmetics?

XO, T

Summer ’15 Loves & Let Downs

It’s still hot enough down here that I’m pretending this post isn’t extremely late:

Please excuse my dirty Complexion Sponge; it’s extremely well loved.

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
When dampened, this sponge gives my foundation and concealer the absolute most seamless, natural looking finish I’ve ever been able to achieve.  I prefer to use it in kind of a sweeping motion, rather than the beauty guru bouncing method which looks nice on camera and with professional lighting but in real life is a bit too high coverage for my taste.

Origins Stay Tuned Balancing Face Makeup
This is a light-medium coverage foundation, and I’ve been loving it really sheered out with the Real Techniques Sponge. This foundation doesn’t contain any SPF, which I prefer for evening wear.

Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara
This is obvi more money than I usually shell out for mascara, but it’s actually kind of worth it.  One coat is defining and a bit lengthening, although it can be built up for more drama without getting clumpy/spider-y.  The formula is long-wearing but not waterproof, which means it lasts on my watery eyes but is easy to remove at the end of the day.

It Vitality Lip Flush in Je Ne Sais Quoi
This goes on like a sheer balm but quickly develops into a gorgeous, subtly mauve-y light pink flush, which is supposedly unique depending on everyone’s ph balance or body temp or something (idk, science.) This is like the real deal “my lips but better” shade.

Best Fiends
This strategy game consists of connecting like colored tiles to kill evil slugs, which sounds ridiculous but has kind of turned me into a crackhead.  (I’ve been stuck on level 107 for like three days.)

30 Rock
I was never an OG fan of this show, but I went back and (re)watched the entire series on Netflix.  I don’t know what to say except that it’s laugh out loud hysterical and Liz Lemon might be my spirit animal.

Jurassic World
I actually didn’t even want to see this, but I’m glad I let my mom talk me into going. Apart from Chris Pratt’s absurd level of attractiveness, it had a pretty decent plot and I got really emotionally attached to those velociraptors. (They’re like puppies, ok?)

Let Down:

America’s Got Talent
I’ve been a pretty big fan of AGT in past seasons, but the results didn’t make any sense this year.  The final acts should’ve 100% been Piff the magic dragon, Siro A, and the Professional Regurgitator.  How Paul the (obvious mouth-moving) ventriloquist won is beyond me.

What do you think of my summer loves and let down?
What things have you been loving lately?

XO, T

FIF: Ulta Sculpting Palette

Today’s First Impression Friday is on Ulta brand Sculpting Palette in the shade Astoria.  This palette retails for $10 on Ulta.com

Half of the palette is made up of a bronzer, which is quite a bit more orange than I prefer in a sculpting powder.  It’s also kind of a satin finish, as opposed to being completely  matte.  I used it on a fluffier brush around the perimeter of my face and a bit under my cheekbones

The blush is pretty sheer but does impart quite a bit of sheen to the cheeks.

Because of the shimmer in the blush, I skipped highlighting my cheeks but popped a bit of the highlighter on my cupid’s bow with my pinky.  This provides a natural but buildable luminosity.

Overall: The highlight shade is beautiful, definitely my favorite of the trio (Does Ulta sell this solo?)  However, both the blush and bronzer shades leave something to be desired.  This palette might work for someone who likes warm bronzer and a lot of shimmer, but I wish I’d passed.

XO, T

FIF: A Trio of Milani Products

Today’s First Impression Friday is on three of Milani’s newest products:

Milani Fierce Foil Eyeshine in 03 Florence
This went on looking really pretty–so pretty that I was willing to overlook the weird sticky formula.  I was ready to fall in love with this and sing its praises from the rooftops, until I noticed the glitter bomb of fallout down to my cheeks. (Can I even call this fallout?  More like grease-out thanks to its “ground-breaking gloss technology.”)

Milani Powder Blush in 01 Romantic Rose
This blush is really pigmented, if a bit powdery.  I love this shade, kind of a pinky nude.

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in 61 Matte Naked
I love the idea od this mauvey nude shade, but it gave me straight up corpse lips. Like if I were playing a dead teenage hooker on SVU (which would be kind of amazing.)  That said, the formula is beautiful.  I def need to try a couple of the other, more normal shades in this line.  Matte Naked might work for you if you’re very fair and into the whole 90’s grunge revival thing.

Can you see that crazy oily glitter explosion?

Have you tried any of these products?  What do you think of them, or Milani Cosmetics in general?

XOXO, T

FIF and FOTN: Marsala Madness

Today’s First Impression Friday and FOTD will document my first shot at incorporating the new 2015 Pantone color of the year into my beauty arsenal. When Marsala was revealed as the COTY, I was initially unimpressed, thinking it was just a watered down version of oxblood, but now I might be in love this warm red.

Anyway, today I decided to try out Pur Minerals Soul Mattes palette and NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in Burgundy.  This pinky-marsala look would be great for Valentine’s Day, although I plan on incorporating Urban Decay Coax.

Please ignore the creepy side angle; I’m strategically hiding a blemish on the opposite side of my nose.

Soul Mattes
This palette contains eight matte shadows ranging from pinks to marsala(s) to neutrals, with cheeky shade names such as Alter Ego (my favorite.)  This is the first Pur Minerals product I’ve ever tried, and the quality of the shadows is excellent.

NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in Burgundy
I’d actually never tried a single NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil before today, which may be surprising considering I have a dozen or so of their Jumbo Eye Pencils.  Burgundy is a rich, opaque, true Marsala shade that would be beautiful on a multitude of skintones.

What do you think of this look?
How do you feel about the color marsala?

XOXO, T

This or That Thursday: Sonia Kashuk Chic Luminosity vs.Benefit Watt’s Up

I originally considered calling this series Thurs-dupe but decided that was a bit too corny.  Anyway, today’s battle is between Benefit Watt’s Up and Sonia Kashuk Chic Luminosity Highlighter Stick in the shade Sparkling Sands (which is also available in more of a cool toned pinky shade.)

Both products are creamy twist up highlighter sticks that impart a golden sheen onto skin.  Watt’s Up may be just a hint warmer, but the two are practically identical once blended.

A full size Watt’s Up costs $30 for .33 oz of product, while Chic Luminosity is $10.99 for .37 oz.  It’s also worth mentioning that although Benefit markets itself as cruelty-free , it is actually sold in China which means the company funds animal testing.

The verdict: Sonia Kashuk Chic Luminosity Highlighter Stick in Sparkling Sands is a cruelty-free dupe for Benefit Watt’s Up for roughly 1/3 the price for slightly more product.

Have you tried either of these products?
What’s your opinion on Sonia Kashuk cosmetics?

XOXO, T