shine2shawl

I'm not a huge jewelry person because a) I typically find it just gets in the way when I'm typing (I'm a student), and b) I'm usually in a rush in the morning and picking out what jewelry to wear for the day is the last thing on my mind.  Lately, however, I've been favoring a few key pieces on my wrist. Nixon Kensington watch in rose gold Michael Kors tortoiseshell watch (I believe this model is discontinued) Leopard Timex watch Random silver beaded bracelet (I liked it because it reminded me of this Tiffany's one ) My Pandora bracelet (my favorite charms are the stack of books and the Buddha  ❤  ) This hand dish is from Urban Outfitters - link! (I currently have the above mentioned pieces resting on a random silver chain necklace from Forever 21 and on  The Original Ombre from HRH Collection, although I'm not currently wearing those pieces) What have you been wearing on your wrists lately?

Besides occasionally blasting my locks with a blow dryer, the only other hair tools I ever use are curling irons and a straightener. And even then, if I had to put a number to it, I'd say I probably only use them maybe 3-4 times a month. It's funny, because I've always loved long hair and wanted it all my life, but now that's it's the longest it's ever been, I rarely do anything even remotely exciting with it :-/ You can't have it all, I guess! The two hair tools I rely on when my hair needs a bit of beautification, if you will, are the Conair 1.25" curling iron and the Hana Titanium Ionic 1.5" flat iron . Although I also have a Hot Tools 2" curling iron , I typically turn to my 1.25" barrel iron when I'm looking for some bouncy curls, as the 2" barrel is best for volume. I really only learned how to curl my hair about a year ago. Talk about late to the party, right? I started off using it the traditional way with the clamp, an...

With the Sephora VIB sale right around the corner ( November 8th-12th ) and considering I haven't written a favorites post in ages, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone ( hate that expression! ) and talk about some of the things I've been using, loving, and obsessed with, and if any of these products that are available at Sephora also happen to find their way into your shopping basket, cough cough, LORAC Pro Palette , then so be it ;) Clockwise from bottom left: NARS Blush in Sin LORAC Pro Palette Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Volumizing Mascara Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait Buxom Full-Bodied Lipgloss in Mwah Dior Addict Lipstick in Singuliere Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in Black NARS Blush in Luster Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream with Clary Sage MAC Tendertone in Hot 'n' Saucy NARS Sin blush is a must-have to transition from fall into winter. It's a berry plum with gold shimmer that leans much more pink (and less scary purple) once...

So if you follow me on Instagram ( @willworkformakeup ), you'll already know that I dressed up as The Little Red Riding Hood for a Halloween party this past weekend! I really like how my makeup turned out, especially since I don't typically have many occasions to wear a smokey eye and fake lashes and bright red lips, so I thought I'd post about it :) I can't really say the makeup is super Red Riding Hood-like, especially since she's supposed to be a little girl, and I don't know about you, but I don't know that many little girls who frolick through the woods to go visit their grandmothers with a face full of makeup on....grandmother would definitely disapprove ;) Obviously, this is just the more grown-up take on it all. For my face, I used my usual base, which lately has been a mixture of Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in #53 and Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation in 3.0 . I used Revlon PhotoReady Concealer in Light/Medium on blemishes and Maybelline DreamLumi T...

Back in the day (as in since the beginning of time), I used to have really oily skin. No matter what kind of moisturizer, primer, or foundation I used, I'd always have to blot my face (all over, not just the t-zone) at least once an hour. It wasn't the most glamorous life, as I'm sure you could guess ;) I always wanted normal to drier skin since I figured I could always just moisturize the heck out of it and make it normal if it was on the drier side, right? Well, friends, my lesson to you is be careful what you wish for. Ever since moving to Oregon last year, my skin has never been the same. In the summer in Oregon, my skin tends to be the most "normal," but from fall until spring, it's a mess in terms of moisture retention and oil-control capabilities. I think due to the weather, my skin is significantly drier here than it ever was in all my 24 years of living in California. I started suffering from dry, flaky skin since moving here, but the annoying thing i...

I love deep berry lips for fall just as much as the next person, but sometimes they can be a bit difficult to wear during the day and quite frankly, a little too high-maintenance for me, especially if I need to use lip liner and/or bust out a lip brush in order for the application not to make me look like the Joker.  What I much prefer doing most days, if I feel like wearing a darker lip, is dotting the lipstick onto my top and bottom lips and blending it in with my ring finger. Working it into the lips helps to create a stain, especially when using a highly pigmented lipstick, that not only lasts for hours upon hours and is much more wearable during the day, but there is close to no transfer outside of the lip lines whatsoever since there is hardly any product sitting on top of the lips. This method of application, if you would even call it that, requires no time, no liner, no brush, and no skill or precision whatsoever, which is probably why I love it so much :) These two lipstic...

shine2shawl

Hello, everyone!   Remember me?! Sorry I've been gone for so long, but I'm back now because I have to share this new find with you! I got the LORAC PRO Palette a few weeks ago, and SERIOUSLY ?! Seriously, you guys, it's ah -mazing! Size-wise, it's a tiny bit shorter in length than the UD Naked Palette, but it's also a tiny bit taller ( taller ?) ...you know what I mean. It's also thinner. Like all good palettes, it comes equipped with a mirror. She's a beaut! This palette retails for $42 and comes with 16 eyeshadows, half matte (top row) and half shimmery (bottom row). It also comes with their mini Behind the Scenes Eye Primer (not pictured), which works well, much like TFSI and UDPP.  Unlike the Naked Palette, which comes with 12 full-size eyeshadows that are 0.05oz each, each of the LORAC shadows is 0.02oz. It's quite a bit less than the UD, but for people who have more eyeshadows than they know what to do with and rarely ever hit pan on any of them...

What better lip product to use for a statement, going-out lip than a product called Lip Flash , right? I got two  Milani Lip Flashes in the shades  Flashy and In a Flash from Target for $6 each (I think?). In a Flash (left) and Flash In a Flash is a violet with violet shimmer, and Flash is a hot pink with pink shimmer. To say that they are simply shimmery would be a vast understatement; these are absolutely   overloaded with shimmer, which can either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you're looking for.  Personally, I probably wouldn't reach for these on a day to day basis, but for the occasional fun lip on a night out, I'd definitely reach for one of these because they are pretty gorgeous. They go on opaquely with just a few swipes across the lips, and while their lasting power isn't anything to write home about, the good thing is that the pigment and shimmer fade evenly without either settling into lip lines. Wearing In a Flash Wearing Flash I k...

Due to my depressingly sparse, pin straight lashes, I'm always up for trying out a new mascara, and when that let's me down, false lashes never fail to make me feel glamorous on a night out. So when Too Faced released a new mascara duo, or "lash extension system," that claimed to be able to give me lashes that were "better than false lashes," I was both curious and eager to give it a try. The Too Faced Better Than False Lashes Lash Extension System with Flexistretch Nylon Fibers includes two products - the first is an activating mascara and top coat (gold tube), and the second contains the nylon lash fibers (smaller, white tube). The instructions include 3 steps where you first use the mascara as a base, then the nylon lash fibers on top of that before finishing off with a final coat of mascara. Activating mascara and top coat ( steps 1 & 3 ) Nylon lash fibers ( step 2 ) The nylon lash fibers is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. It looks like c...