Camera Chatter (recommendations?) and a couple new MAC eyeshadows added to my collection

Hey Everyone!

Happy April! I hope your week is going by smoothly - If you follow me on Twitter, a few days ago my camera spontaneously stopped working. It was a pretty decent camera, but I was having problems with it right after I purchased it. I'm almost positive it was a defective camera. Anyhow, it doesn't turn on now, so I'll be resorting to using my old camera (which seems ancient and is incredibly bulky) for the time being.

If anyone can recommend a good camera, I'm all ears. A DSLR isn't quite in my budget right now, so for the time being, I'll need a pretty good point-and-shoot camera. I've got my eyes on the Nikon Coolpix L120 or the slightly more expensive Nikon Coolpix P500. I like the fact that they have a great amount of zoom in comparison to other point-and-shoot cameras, which is great for product photos. If anyone has any experience with either model, I'd love to hear your opinion about them.

Onto makeup, shall we?

Alright, so, MAC Shadows. To de-pot or not to de-pot. That is the question. To be quite honest, it wasn't until recently I decided to depot all of my MAC eyeshadows. I always thought that maybe some day I'd regret de-potting them, so I always kept them in their little black pots. Well, keeping them in the pot is nifty and all, but I realized I wasn't getting much use out of any of my MAC shadows, and I was reaching for them less and less, and using my eyeshadow palettes more and more. Now I reach for my MAC palette almost every day and I've been getting much more use out of my shadows. It's only now that I see my shadows in palette-form that I feel like I'm missing quite a few essential colors - a couple being Woodwinked and Soba.

Have you gone the route of de-potting your MAC eyeshadows?

Yes!

No!

I can't decide. Maybe one day.

I'm sure some of you MAC fanatics won't believe I've never owned either of those colors, but it wasn't really until a year ago I started wearing eyeshadow every day. Yep! I've always been a foundation, blush, mascara and liner type of girl that only wore shadow on special occasions. Now I barely ever go without it!

 MAC Woodwinked and Soba

READ MORE!

Illamasqua Mislead Eye Liner Cake Review, Photos and Swatches!

Illamasqua Eye Liner Cake in Mislead

Have you ever heard of "cake liner" before? The first time I ever heard of it was several years ago when I became interested in learning more about theatrical makeup (Ben Nye, Graftobian, Cinema Secrets, etc) and came across Ben Nye Cake Eyeliner - well, I never got around to trying it, but it's a product that's always sat in the back of my memory of products to try one day.

Cake Eyeliner is pretty much the only type of liner I haven't tried before. I've for the most part tried all of the liner options out there - pencil, cream, gel, liquid, kajal, powder, you name it. My preferred choices on most days are gel and liquid.

When I stumbled across Illamasqua Eye Liner Cake ($23), I decided I had to try it, despite there not being too many reviews out there.

Illamasqua Eye Liner Cake is a pressed powder formula, that when comes in contact with water/liquid, becomes an intense liquid-liner.  

There are three (3) colors in total: Mislead (black), Zeal (pine green) and Danger (navy). I chose Mislead, because one could never own enough black liners, right? haha

You can use water to mix the product with, but when using water, I notice the color isn't as vibrant and the lasting power isn't as good. There are of course other options in order for it to last longer - such as MAC Fix Spray, Illamasqua Sealing Gel, Benefit SheLaq, Visine, etc. I usually use Visine and it works great.

The PMD Personal Microderm Microdermabrasion System.

PMD Personal Microderm Microdermabrasion System

I have what you call "high maintenance skin". My skin isn't in very bad shape overall - actually, I have pretty good genes, but as soon as I start skipping my skincare routine, my skin goes haywire. When I stick by a daily regime, my skin looks in tiptop shape - but it's pretty rare that I actually stick by a routine for more than a couple weeks at a time. Why? 'Cuz it's so much easier to just wipe my face with a makeup remover towelette and go to bed. Yes, laziness is the key word here.

Once upon a time I did have some blemish scars, but they soon faded after using an exfoliating brush regularly, along with creams containing alpha hydroxy and glycolic acid.

Right now, my main gripe with my skin is basically the sunspots I have on my upper cheeks from not wearing adequate sunscreen. I never really had freckles until I started exfoliating. I knew your skin becomes more susceptible to sun damage when you're exfoliating and exposing fresh skin to the sunlight, but after seeing first hand all of the speckles on my face, now I know for sure - SUNSCREEN IS KEY!

The PMD Personal Microdermabrasion System is an at-home, handheld device used to exfoliate your skin, not by an exfoliating brush (like the Clarisonic or similar products) but with actual aluminum oxide crystals, like used on expensive machines you'd find in your doctor's office.

What is the purpose of Microdermabrasion? Microdermabrasion is a mild exfoliation of the skins surface, to remove dead skin cells and uncover the fresh and radiant skin cells that lies beneath. Your skin naturally lets go of the dead skin cells on your body, but exfoliation speeds up the process. Doing so, skincare products will better absorb into your skin, working more efficiently. With time you'll notice your skin feels softer, looks smoother, your pores are less visible and scars and spots will diminish.

The machine is very simple to use. It comes with an instructional CD, which is very helpful and should answer all of your questions prior to use. Despite how anxious I was to try it out, I watched the full video twice to make sure I understood it correctly.

READ MORE!

Milani Sweet Rose Minerals Blush Review!

Milani Sweet Rose Minerals Blush

I recently picked up three of the four Milani Minerals Blushes once they were marked clearance (75% off) at CVS. (View the post here, with swatches) Well, a couple of weeks ago, I walked into another CVS and noticed they still had several of the clearance products without clearance tags. So, I scanned them, and sure enough they were 75% off. I grabbed a couple of powders, a bronzer and the only blush I didn't purchase prior; Sweet Rose.

Sweet Rose is a dusty plummy-pink with rosy undertones. It's a very natural, every-day kind of color that won't clash with most of your makeup looks. I initially skipped purchasing this blush at first because I figured the purple tone would make me look ashy. But, I was very wrong. You don't see much red in the pan, but once the color hits my cheeks, it mimics the rosy hue my cheeks would turn after a jog.

All of the shades in this range are pretty pigmented, especially Mai-Tai and Sunset Beach, and I expected the same from Sweet Rose, but it's actually a little less pigmented with one tap of the brush. It doesn't lack in pigmentation overall - it does pack a good amount of color, and is very buildable. It's just not one of those blushes you have to be nervous about over-doing.

It's my favorite blush from the range, as I easily favor shades that can be worn the most often.

Milani puts emphasis that this blush is talc-free and non-irritating. So for those sensitive to talc, this may be a range to look into. (For the full ingredient list, scroll down to the end of the review.)

Milani Sweet Rose Minerals Blush

READ MORE!