Easily Change Day to Night Makeup Look for the Elvis Costello Show

Hello Lovelies!

       Hope everyone's week is going well; I know mine is! 

     SO. My dad's birthday is January 10th. Being so soon after Christmas makes finding gifts that he (a) wasn't given, (b) wasn't given a gift card for and bought himself can be . . . difficult. But this year I KNEW what to do! I got tickets for him & me to go see Elvis Costello. So happy! Dad had seen him several years back, but it was a first for me. It was a really awesome thing for us to do together. Anyway, the show was last night and it was so much fun. I'm a little bit in love with his current opening act Larkin Poe. They're really comprised of a full band, but this is Elvis' solo tour, so only the Lovell sisters (Megan & Rebecca) preformed. But let me tell you what. These ladies are AMAZING. So beautiful. So talented. And so So SO nice! Seriously, go like them on Facebook, then head on over to Amazon & get some of their music on vynil, cd, or digitally. 

     After their set I had to grab up their new (first full length) album on vinyl and a tee. They were kind enough to sign the record for me (as you can see) and they were both complimenting me on my nails. I loved the look on their faces when I told them these were just "cheap" Kiss fakes from Walgreens!! This pattern just feels so on trend for spring. It's geometric and a little bit tribal, and you can never really go wrong with black, white, and gold.

    Anyway, on to the makeup!
    Yesterday was a busy day. I get up and ready for work around 6:30am, and I knew I wouldn't have much time between work and dinner, or dinner and the show, so I had to do most of my makeup first thing, then plan just a couple little tweaks to turn things up for a night out. Cause hey, even Tuesdays can be a fun night!
     I decided my best/easiest/most time efficient course of action would be to spend my morning doing my full face / flawless skin routine.

flawless face 3/10/15 by kirby921

I followed this up with a quick swipe of my Benefit They're Real mascara to my lashes and Billion Dollar Brows Hint of Tint in Taupe on my brows, then I was off to work!

(*This was actually taken after work, but you get the idea)

Thanks to this excellent foundation (hahaha see what I did there ;) ), all I had to do to get ready to go to the show was rim my eyes with a really soft eggplant  eyeliner that I kind of smudged about with my pinky finger, slap on another coat of mascara and dress up my lips with the Rimmel London Show Off Lip Velvet in #307 Meteoric Matte. Annnnnnddddd..

(* Woah my left eye looks wonky here haha)

Tada! That's all! I'm all sassy-fied and ready for an awesome show using only 3 products! Seriously, I think it took me a grand total of MAYBE 3-4 minutes to get ready. So great.

MAC Cinderella Collection 6 Pan Eyeshadow Palette - Review and Swatches

Hello Lovelies!

       I hope everyone is doing well today & that you all had a wonderful weekend. I know I did! I spent Saturday evening out on the town celebrating the birthday of one of my all time favorite people, Amber of History & Pearls. I was also extra excited because I was finally out & showing off a look using the new Cinderella "Stroke of Midnight" Palette from MAC!

     Like so many beauty junkies out there, I was elated when I heard the news that MAC had teamed up with Disney to release this collection based on the new live action version of Cinderella. ALSO like so many others, by the time I was able to try and get items from this collection on the MAC website basically everything was sold out. The collection released in stores and at MAC counters (Memphis doesn't have a MAC store so I have to go to Macy's) this past Thursday and was selling out just as fast. Luckily, when I went, although many things were already gone, they did still have this palette which is what I was wanting most anyway. Read on to get some more details on this product and my thoughts about it.

Comparing! Duochromes from Urban Decay, Kat Von D, & Wet&Wild!

     So, a few weeks ago I was watching a video about the Urban Decay Moonstone shadow singles from the lovely Phyrra Nyx. After seeing her swatches I immediately fell in love with the shade Solstice (described on Sephora.com as a "metallic pink-red w/ green 3-D sparkle and shift"). It looked GORGEOUS! I had to have it, so I popped over to the Sephora site. Sold out. Darn! I set it up so Sephora would email me when it came back in stock. A few days later it did, and I bought it straight away. And I was so glad I did because it sold out *again* that same day. Craziness. 

     The day it arrived, I was so excited. Then I took it out of the box. I'm looking at it, and I'm swatching it, and it really IS beautiful, but all I could think is, "wait, don't I already HAVE this color from somewhere else??" That's when I went looking in my collection. Wouldn't you know it, it seems I was right! I found my Kat Von D single duochrome shadow in  On the Road that I got last fall during the Sephora 20% off sale. And a few days after THAT I watched the beautiful Kathleen Lights' video using the Wet & Wild Comfort Zone palette which I ALSO have and realized the "Define" color from that palette is very similar as well. So I decided I wanted to do a compare & contrast post of all three for you guys!

FOTD 2/24/15

I'm just going to say it: I felt GORGEOUS yesterday! Seriously y'all. And, while I like to think I have pretty solid self-esteem, yesterday was an 11 on the "feeling good" scale.
Here's my face:

Right?....RIGHT?!?

I went for something, that was soft enough for my conservative job, high impact enough to be noticable & beautiful when I saw some people after work, and between those two things, it absolutely HAD to last ALL day, as I put this on at 6:30am and didn't get home till almost 9:30pm. 

I am SO SO pleased with the end result and will make a point to use this one again!

Here's what I used:

FOTD 2/24/15 by kirby921 

I gotta tell y'all, that Smashbox Smokebox II palette is a DREAM! I used my Chanel quad & Espionage Cosmetics anything shadow just as lighter grey transition colors. And I used every color in the Smokebox II except for the bottom left one. I am in LOVE. This palette (I think) was from the Fall 2012 collection (someone correct me if I'm wrong!), it is still available for purchase on Amazon for $37, but I snached it up from a Hautelook President's Day sale for only $15! Oh yeah! But I tell you, it came as part of a Smoke and Mirrors set, that included the palette, a makeup bag, a big eye crayon and their signature O-Gloss in gold-peach. So I absolutely would have spent $37, & it's still totally worth getting if you don't have it.

If you'd like a tutorial on how I did my eye look, or if you have any questions just comment down below.

And keep your eyes peeled, on Friday I'm going to be comparing three popular shadows from Wet & Wild, Kat von D, and Urban Decay!!

xx

K

Trying out Napoleon Perdis for the First Time

     SO! Here's a little confession about Kirby: I *LOVE* T J Maxx. Seriously. Love it. I have bought something from every department the offer at some point in my life. Just this week I snagged a GORGEOUS Rebecca Minkoff grey ultrafine merino wool cardigan (original price tag of $89.95 still attached) for $19.99! But the area I ALWAYS have to check out, is their beauty department. As with anything else at T J Maxx, it's hit and miss. But I pop in almost once a week just to have a quick look-see. Normally, if I get anything it's a brand I know and love, just on a good discount (in December, I snagged a TEN piece Kat Von D eyeliner set for just $6. Seriously. Amazing.), but sometimes I take advantage of their good deals to try out things I never have before. That leads us to the topic of this post!