My First MAC Cosmetics Purchase

Okay, so recently I've been totally obsessed with this one tutorial Missglamorazzi did in one of her videos. I mentioned it in my last post. It's a tutorial she did on an Aria inspired look (from Pretty Little Liars). So I seriously thought that makeup look was the best look I'd ever seen. Like, no joke. So I tried to replicate it with my ELF Beauty Book. I failed miserably, since I used the same color about three times as a substitute for three completely different colors.

I then thought that maybe if I bought the base she used, the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, it would look a little better. I bought it and the similarity improved slightly. But it still wasn't even close to the actual look. So I figured, why not just try the eyeliner she uses, to make it even more similar? So I went out and bought the eyeliner, figuring it was just a couple dollars. But I was still using those same eyeshadows! And the look just wasn't right. So I looked at the eyeshadows she used. They were all MAC.

So I went and looked them up on the MAC website. I looked up reviews on Makeupalley. I checked all the bargain sites I knew for the colors. I checked bloggers' reviews of the colors. I stared at the price tag online - a whopping $49. Plus tax. I had a free shipping code - not that it really changed much. I looked up more reviews, and watched the tutorial again. Then I stared at the price tag again. And after much internal debate and thought, I purchased them. Naked Lunch, Folie, Handwritten, and Era. My first MAC eyeshadows. They're going to come this Friday. But seriously, I love that look ridiculously much. I send myself on a guilt trip every time I think about how much I spent. But since I'll be wearing this look every day for the next year except for special occasions and when I occasionally want to switch up my look for a couple days, I'm thinking it's an investment. Though that is what every makeup purchaser says, every time...the colors are all gorgeous neutrals that can be used for plenty of looks. I hear Naked Lunch is a staple and Handwritten is a favorite crease color of many, so fingers crossed that I get my money's worth!

The Perfect Black Eyeliner

Black eyeliner...used for dramatic looks, daytime looks...incredibly versatile, a staple in every makeup collection. Yet used the wrong way, it can become smudgy, causing dark circles. It can make you look goth (unintentionally). It can look disastrous. Every since I got into makeup, I have been in pursuit of the perfect black eyeliner. The first one I tried was the Sephora brand Nano Eyeliner. It was a rich black color. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it on my waterline, it smudged. If I even attempted to put it on my upper lashline, I looked, well, scary. I tried to sharpen it, and it got stuck in the sharpener. That was my first experience with black eyeliner. After that, I (mistakenly) decided never to use black eyeliner again. However, it was unavoidable. I was shopping for a white eyeliner at Rite Aid and picked up one that was called "Vibrant Pearl". Does that not sound like it would be a white eyeliner? In any case, I thought so. I bought it, took it home, and opened it. It wasn't white, it was black. I mentally groaned and then (literally) dropped it into my makeup drawer.

The eyeliner stayed there until about a week later, when I used it to do a look from a Youtube tutorial. Unfortunately, it only made thick lines. It still made me look scary, and it was just plain unblendable. So I decided that since I loved the tutorial look, I would just try a different type of black eyeliner. I decided to purchase a gel liner. I heard the Maybelline one was good, so I got the Maybelline gel liner in "Blackest Black". It was also waterproof, which was a bonus for me because I have fairly oily eyelids, and a lot of eyeliners fade on me. I loved my Maybelline one. I could use it subtly, obviously, whatever, and I could use it to look non-scary. My only issue was that it was ridiculously easy to make mistakes. And since I always put eyeliner on last so I can see it instead of it getting covered by my eyeshadow, whenever I messed up with my eyeliner, I would have to take it off and with it would come all my hard work. Owch. I have since improved my gel liner skills, but still, I prefer pencils. So missglamorazzi on Youtube did a tutorial I loved on how to get an Aria inspired look from Pretty Little Liars. She used a black liner called the Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Black Eyeliner, and so I went out and bought it, hoping it would be my HG liner. It was. It stayed all day, blended and smudged beautifully. And that concludes my thoughts on black eyeliners. I now use my Rimmel liner every time I need a black liner (which is often, now that I know how to use it!). I love my black liner now. :)

Review: Physicians' Formula Organic Wear Natural Origin Jumbo Mascara

So, I watch Youtube makeup videos. I watch a lot of them. And the other day, one of the beauty gurus I follow was absolutely RAVING about this mascara, the Physicians' Formula Organic Wear Natural Origin Jumbo Mascara (long name, sheesh). And I usually don't buy stuff from PF, because it's super expensive for drugstore stuff. I shop at drugstores for a reason, right? So this was my first PF purchase. I was really excited, because I had looked up the rating on Makeupalley (love that site to death!) and it got pretty decent reviews. So I splurged, I'm a little ashamed to say. And I bought it. Honestly, I liked it. It didn't give me dramatic definition or volume, but it didn't fail either. It gave me very defined lashes that don't exactly look natural, but are fairly long, especially after 2 coats, which is what I did.

If you want a natural look, just put on one coat - it defines your lashes without making them look like they have mascara on. I really liked how easily it came off when I washed my face. It also did not smudge during the day, or if it did, I couldn't see it. I loved the brush, it applied the mascara well. And the best part of all was that the mascara just really didn't clump. I think it was definitely partially due to the brush - I tried using a sample brush from Sephora to apply the mascara, and it clumped - not seriously, but a little. All in all, I found it to be a very good mascara. Definitely pricey for drugstore mascara, though. My complaints are that it really isn't very dramatic, and it requires 2 coats for anything beyond natural definition. The tube has also made me wonder if there's a straight tube within, or if the tube is squiggle shaped. The wand is straight, so I would assume the tube is too, but still. It makes you wonder. It also doesn't hold a curl, unfortunately. I wouldn't repurchase, because I have high end mascaras where I can just brush on a coat and have more dramatic results - I get my money's worth with those. Here's a picture I took of the PF mascara.

Here's a picture of my lashes before:

Here's a picture of my lashes after: