Hello friends & Merry Christmas! To celebrate 100,000+ views on this blog (in just a few months!) and 25,000+ followers on Tumblr, I thought it would be fun to host a little giveaway. I received the Vice 4 palette this Christmas as a gift from my awesome grandma, and I have been absolutely loving it. I love the variety of colors from the bold jewel tones to the wearable neutrals. Urban Decay is my favorite brand of eyeshadow, and I also love the pigmentation and quality. Because I love the UD Vice 4 Palette so much, I decided to purchase one to give out as a giveaway!
Check out the widget above for the three ways to enter. All you have to do is comment on this post & let me know what your favorite part of 2015 has been! I will be checking all answers and entries. The winner will be announced on January 1st at 2:00 PM, and the palette will be sent out the following week (the winner has 48 hours to email me back, as mentioned in the terms & conditions). Thank you so much for all of the encouragement and love I have received over the past few months. Blogging has given me the coolest opportunities in the world and has really given me the ability to express myself- so this is my little way of saying thank you & happy New Year to all of y’all!
I hope you all are having an incredible day & a happy holiday!
There is nothing I love more than the beach. Every Christmas, my family heads to Maui for some rest & relaxation. For the past six years or so we have stayed at the Ritz Kapalua, which I absolutely love. This year we decided to do something different and book a room at the Montage. We have been absolutely loving every second of this gorgeous resort so far. My sister and I decided to take a few quick pics near the ocean before enjoying an awesome dinner at Merriman’s– one of our family’s favorite restaurants on the island. I had fun being behind the camera and snapping some pictures of my sister twirling in this Free People dress [also featured here]. She paired the tunic dress with brown lace up sandals and a simple necklace. For dinner, I wore a blue halter blouse paired with some flowy, black shorts. I also added some gold sandals as well. For my makeup, I decided to use my favorite lime green eyeshadow that is super glam and sparkly. I also added some ardell lashes just for something different! To finish it off, I went with Too Faced’s lipstick in the shade ‘Juicy Melons‘. It’s such a fun shade for the beach, and it definitely reminds me of summer time.
Follow me around this week on Maui by following my Snapchat (Mackenzieken) & my Insta (mackenziekmiller). Thank you so, so much for checking out my blog! I hope you all are having a great week!
Sephora is my happy place. It would be probably be impossible for me to leave that store without my hands covered in hundreds of swatches. When I was shopping with my sister this weekend, it was too hard to pass by Sephora without trying out a few new things (and picking up an old favorite).
I absolutely love Urban Decay, and their eyeshadows are probably my very favorite out of all the brands I have tried. Even though I am an avid collector of the Naked palettes, I have never once purchased any of their individual shadows (mostly because they are around $20 a piece!). However, after swatching all of the Moondust Eyeshadows in my local Sephora, I just couldn’t say resist picking one up for myself. They are so incredibly unique and gorgeous, making them worth the $21 price tag, in my opinion. I decided to go with Solstice, a gorgeous duo chrome. I love this shade because I’ve never seen anything just like it before. From one angle it looks like a berry, burgundy tone, and from the other angle it appears to be a bold turquoise/teal. This eyeshadow totally makes a statement, and I plan on wearing it packed into the center of my eyelid. In the pictures above, I just did one light swatch on the back of my hand. If you apply the eyeshadow with water or MAC Fix+, it creates a stunning, ‘wet-like’ effect that is incredibly pigmented. This eyeshadow can also be worn as an eyeliner, which I think would be super fun on the upper lash line. My sister decided to pick up one of these Moondust Eyeshadows as well, and she was torn between Zodiac and Ether. She decided to opt for Ether, which is another duo chrome shadow. We decided the light purple 3D glitter in Ether would make her green eyes really pop. We both plan on purchasing Zodiac next!
The name of this mascara may be a little ‘out there’, but this mascara totally rocks. One of my best friends raved about this mascara to me for months. I eventually gave in and tried it out for myself not too long ago. It was love at first swipe. Unfortunately I was not blessed with naturally thick and beautiful eyelashes, but this mascara really makes the world of difference for my lashes. It adds tons of volume, drama, and length without any clumpiness whatsoever. I love the formula because it isn’t too wet, but it isn’t too dry either. Mascaras that are too wet can end up in a clumpy mess and all over your eyelids. Mascaras that are too dry, on the other hand, can flake throughought the day, also leaving a huge mess. The Better Than Sex Mascara has such an awesome formula that honestly looks great for hours and hours. It is very rare for me to repurchase a product, especially a mascara, because I love trying out new things. However, this mascara is a product I will constantly repurchase.
Over the past year or so, I have become something of a lipstick addict. Lipsticks can totally change up your entire look and are fun to add to your makeup collection. I’ve been on the hunt for a perfect everyday, neutral lipstick- something not too nude, but not too bright. After swatching probably thirty lipstick shades on the back of my hand, I decided to go for the Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in ‘Rush’. ‘Rush’ is pretty much a ‘your lips, but better’ kind of shade. It has a pinkish-mauivish tone that pairs perfectly for day or night. I think it’s especially great for winter because it has a very cool undertone which goes great with any cool toned eye look. I absolutely love the formula of this lipstick. It is very pigmented, but also very comfortable to wear. It goes on smoothly and lasts on the lips for several hours. I also find it to be very moisturizing, which is always a huge factor for me with finding the perfect lipstick. The Revolution Lipsticks also have a nice sheen to them, making them very flattering on the lips. They also don’t have any scent whatsoever, which is something a lot of people prefer. I also love the price of these luxurious lipsticks. They are not drugstore price by any means, but they are a lot more affordable than a lot of other lipsticks at Sephora (Dior & YSL, I’m looking at you). I would definitely purchase another one of the Revolution Lipsticks in the future. There is such a great shade selection, and the formula is just awesome.
Let me know if have been trying out/loving any new products lately! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend & a great Thanksgiving.
P.S. – who else is excited for Cyber Monday in just a few hours?!
Hey friends! So this has been highly requested, and I just wanted to share my makeup routine with y’all. This is the makeup I wear on a daily basis if I am traveling, spending the day with friends or family, shopping, going out to lunch, or attending a day time event. It usually takes me between ten and twenty minutes. I will skip a lot of the steps depending on how my skin is that week and how much time I have. When I have class or errands to run, I will typically only apply concealer and blush!
I start by applying face primer and eyeshadow primer. If you have oily skin like I do, primer can make the world of difference in helping your makeup stay all day! I then apply my foundation with my beauty blender sponge, and then I apply concealer to my blemishes and around the eyes. I then set it with setting powder. Next is color. I apply blush to the apples of my cheek and lightly down my nose and forehead. My very favorite blush is NARS ‘Exhibit A’. It looks really scary in the pan because it is bright red, but it looks really nice if you use it with a light hand. I then apply bronzer to the outsides of my face and cheeks. In addition, I contour my nose a little on the sides. My favorite highlighter is MAC ‘Soft and Gentle’. It’s super shimmery and looks really nice on the cheekbones and down the bridge of the nose. It’s definitely worth the money because it will last you ages. I then fill in my eyebrows with a pencil because they are naturally sparse. Anastasia Beverly Hills makes the best eyebrow products. Eyeshadow duos are so easy for day time, and NARS ‘Key Largo’ is my very favorite. It has a peach tone on one side and a beautiful bronze on the other. After applying a little eyeshadow, I curl my eyelashes and swipe on some black liquid liner to the top lash line. I put on two layers of black mascara after. The final step is setting my face with setting powder. I use my large MAC 150 brush to apply my powder, concentrating on my t-zone. Lastly comes lipstick. My go-to is ‘Naughty Nude’ by Too Faced. It is the one nude lipstick I have tried that actually doesn’t wash me out. I definitely plan on purchasing another one of the Too Faced La Creme lipsticks- they are gorgeous!
Let me know what your favorite makeup products are! I always love trying out new ones. Hope you all are having a terrific Tuesday!
