ABH

beginners makeup "kit", brushes and tips!

16:38

Good afternoon everyone! So in light of recent events, in which I had posted my second most recent blog post for family and friends to see, a lot of people have been asking me to give them tips on how to start into makeup. I need to do a disclaimer before I continue however. I am by no means a makeup artist. I learnt how to apply makeup through watching Youtube videos, and gaining my information and tips from there. It's been a good 3 years of learning and collecting. I also have the very basics of a makeup collection. Some people think it's a lot, and others think it's a healthy amount for someone to have! I just wanted to start this off by saying that. 


So to start, I laid out some of the best starter products I think are a great investment, and most are drugstore. 



^^
In the first photo, you can see everything laid out. I will do a little break down. I put out my favourite drugstore lightweight foundation and good coverage concealer as they are both drugstore, and the foundation is quite a light coverage, meaning you can add a small layer and you won't feel you have too much on. (I'll list the best way to apply this foundation further down the post.) This foundation is ideal for normal to dry skin as it gives a dewy affect, meaning your skin is left looking very glowy and with a natural "shine". If you are more oily, Maybelline just released a very similar foundation but it is called the "Fit me: Matte and Poreless". This one is better for those with oily skin. 

Blush and Bronzer: These are very, VERY simple products that are very easy to apply. The bronzer is the matte light one from the Sephora collection, and it's more of a grey tone, which means when applying it with a light hand, you won't have a "orange" face. The blush is something that I just had from NYX, but that brand also has AMAZING picks for blush that would work with your skin tone. Just apply this to the apples of your cheeks and sweeping backwards with a brush that I'll show below. 
Also a translucent powder just sets your foundation from sliding, but that is optional as some people don't want to powder their face, but it doesn't make you look 'cakey'.

These three products are a few of the easiest things to ever use and will make one of the biggest differences in your everyday routine. 

Brows: If you don't know by now, filling in your brows is a huge thing on trend. I use the brow Wiz from Anastasia in dark brown (i think it's brunette now?) It is a very waxy pencil with a very fine tip and a brow brush on the other end. Using this with very light strokes is the best way to get a natural but fuller looking brow. Follow the natural curve of your brow when filling it in. 
Eyeliner: if you want to try a little flick with your eyeliner, this Loreal one is THE BEST ONE. It takes some time to get the little flick, but it gets easier. 
Mascara: Any mascara that will give you either volume or length. This one is just one of my favourites right now.

If you want to invest in anything, I recommend an eyeshadow palette. You can get this Naked by Urban Decay palette at Sephora. It is pricey, but the looks you can do with any 2 of their Naked palettes are endless. This one i find is great for people starting out and just need the basic neutrals for their eyeshadow. I often like running Naked through my crease and on my lid, and then Buck through the crease again to darken it up and then half baked on the lid. I blend half baked out by using the brush I used with Buck on it to blend it out. Then I'm done! I do run the colors lightly under my lower lash line, but that's up to you!


For lips, I just gave you 3 drugstore options and one MAC lipstick as these are some of my go-to colors.

In order: Touch of Spice, Kate Moss 107, Relvon Matte Balm in Elusive, and MAC's Coral Bliss (which is very sheer so good for everyday)

I just chose these to show you that there are so many options when it comes to lips and to not feel the need to branch out and try a dark lipstick, but that you can even just wear a sheer lipstick. 

Now onto the beginners brushes that I recommend everyone should eventually have.

Foundation brushes: These are very important if you want a good even coverage. Yes, your fingers work just as well! But if you don't want to get your fingers dirty, these brushes are very affordable. The gold handle is Real Techniques Buffing Brush, which you can find at London Drugs if you're in Canada or most drugstores I think. The whole Real Techniques brushes are FAB. 
The flat top kabuki brush beside the buffing brush is part of a BH Cosmetics set. (please excuse the random cat hair coming out of my brush .. thanks cats.)

I HAD to include this for people who don't understand how to get a foundation brush to work for them. This is also from Real Techniques and it's called something like their Miracle Completion Sponge. I know what you're thinking; SPONGE? REALLY? Yes, really. This is one of the only things I use to blend out my under eye concealer because if you just bounce it off the skin, it gives you amazing coverage and a great flawless finish. I use this sponge with the Fit Me foundation I mentioned earlier. This just helps make that foundation apply beautifully.  If you want to see this in action, just youtube it and a lot of people use it. 

These are two great bronzer and blush brush options. The one on the left is a Duo-Fibre brush meaning it doesn't take too much product. I often will use this for all over bronzer. Both of these brushes are again, Real Techniques. The second one is a multitask brush which is one of my favourites because it really is a multitasked brush. Not sure why BOTH brushes have a strand of hair sticking out, but my apologizes! I do use these daily so they are well loved.

Two powder brush options here. Both are Morphe brushes, which is a brand I am in love with. I did a review on them previous, so feel free to check that out. The smaller brush I use to set my undereyes, and the larger one I just dust the powder all over with it. Very simple! Some people just use the smaller one depending on the size of their face ;)

Hello eyeshadow brushes! These are my favourite brushes to collect! Both of these are again Real Techniques, and I love them. They are both great for all over colour as they are able to blend out the colour very well all over your eyelid. One is just a little bigger and fatter than the other one. 

This one is a Morphe brush, and this one I used today, which apologizes for the dirty brush but you know. I often take a nice soft brown and run this brush with the product through the crease of my eye and just blend it so it doesn't look very harsh. Go in sweeping motions and at the outer corner of each eye, do little circular motions. I highly recommend you watch Rachel Whitehurst's video on "Blending 101". She does swear, so warning! But her technique is very simple.


THE LAST SET. These are going to be your best friend if you want to get into eyeshadow. The pink handled brush is from Sedona Lace, and it was my first blending brush and I would be so lying if I said I didn't use this everyday. I use it to buff out any eyeshadow to make it look seamless. The other brush is a very similar blending brush from Morphe Brushes. One of their gun metal eyeshadow blending brushes. (The name rubbed off .. whoops)
If you get any of these brushes, these are a great option. 

ALRIGHT. Well then. That's my long but hopefully very helpful post on some basics when starting off with makeup. 

If you have any questions and/or wanting links to who I watched and learnt a lot from, let me know and I'll link you up! Thank you so much and I hope this was very helpful to some of you!

Toodle-doo! 

benefit

FOTD / everyday makeup routine

12:22

Hello my loves!

It's been a while, but here I am making another post, but this time on my everyday makeup routine lately.

The palettes I use will often switch out, as I like to rotate them, but for the most part, the colors and the other products stay the same.

I have very small lashes, keep that in mind when looking here! i look like i didn't use mascara BUT I DID


I also often swap out my lipstick, but it's been a fairly neutral lip lately.


Products used:

For my base:
Nars Sheer glow in Monte Blanc
Mac pro long wear Concealer (it looks dark but it matches my skin and hides my under eye bags PERFECTLY)
Powder is the Rimmel one in translucent 
Bronzer is sephora brand matte one (name rubbed off)
Blush is a sample size I got in the shade fearless

Brows:
Brow Wiz in Dark Brown (which is now just brunette?)
Maybeline brow drama in the medium shade to set them

Now, this ladies and gents is my favourite part. The morphe palette. I so badly want the Jaclyn Hill Faves, but this pre made Morphe one is PRETTY DAMN GOOD. I used the two on the second row for my transition, more of the orange one. The color on the fourth row I used all over my lid, then going back with the transitions shades to blend it all in. The color at the bottom I used in my crease. Blended it all out and used the first shade for my brow bone!  (If you want a review on this palette, let me know.)
Eyeliner/Mascara:
I used an older Avon eyeliner in black to tightline
Tarte Lights Camera Lashes mascara in a teeny tiny size

Highlight:
I used the Benefit Watts Up 

Lips:
Maybeline's Touch of Spice (not shown in photo as in handbag)

And that is my face done! I posted this on the makeupaddiction subreddit, and I got one comment that stood out to me that said I had done my makeup wonderfully. One of the best compliments!

Let me know if you use any of these products and if you like them too. 

Have a good weekend!

Toodle-doo!



2015 review

Morphe Brushes Review - first review of 2015!

21:28

Hello everyone! Review for you today! I ordered off of MorpheBrushes about 2 months ago. I got a brush set, and also one of their pre-made eyeshadow palettes. (I can make that into another blog post if requested.)


I wanted to do a review on the brushes today, as I really enjoy using them in my everyday routine. The pictures I'm using aren't mine, only because my sd card has melted somehow (?? so silly) so I am unable to use that one and find my other one within mounds of boxes. I purchased the 11 Piece Pro Sable Set, and so far I have been enjoying it. 

I think my favorite is the Duo Foundation Brush, as it is DUO fiber, so it's very soft on my skin, and I like to use it as a blush brush because it applies my blush so nicely on my cheeks.  It is the second one in on the right. This set comes with 4 eyeshadow brushes, and I use all four of them for different things. The flat shader I use to apply my highlight on my brow bone. The little white tapered brush, i use to apply eyeshadow right under my bottom lash line, and the other two I use literally everyday. I use the small black blender for my transition shade (usually buck from the Naked palette), and the round blender I use to place a full lid color on. I love those last two brushes so much. They have been well used and loved. 

There are two liner brushes, and neither which I use, only because I don't use a gel liner on a daily basis, and I haven't gotten around to use the angled liner yet, but they feel very soft! 

The angled blush/contour is one I don't use daily, but I highly enjoy using to apply blush. It picks up the perfect amount of product for me. I haven't tried using it for contour yet! 

The two black bristle brushes I use for bronzer. The smaller one is called their bronzer brush, and I actually often use this to contour my cheeks just slightly. It's not too harsh, which is what I prefer. I then use the powder brush as an all over bronzer, which I find blends it all in so nicely. I do find I get slight shedding with these, but it's nothing too crazy. 

And the one I don't use is the pointed foundation brush, but I honestly love these for applying my face mask, and this brush is one of the softest brushes EVER. To me anyways. I love this brush, but I don't like to apply my foundation with these brushes too often, so these usually get used for face masks, which is great for me!

All in all, I have to say, these brushes are a great addition to any beginner. I would consider myself a little higher than a beginner, but I still enjoy using these very much. Morphe does a great job on their brushes and their brush lines. I will be purchasing from them again, as I can't wait to try some from their gun metal line.

Thanks for reading, and if you wanna see the review on the palette, let me know! Have a great weekend everyone!

Toodle-doo!   

beauty

Favourite Affordable Makeup Brushes

10:00



Real Technique Brushes. Need I say more? These babies came into my life almost a year and a half ago, and honestly I don't know what I would do without them. I have the eye brushes pack, the core/face collection, and the pack with three. 
I'm going to go over the ones I use on a literal daily basis! I have two multi-task brushes (the pink one) and two buffing brushes. 

Foundation brushes: 

This is the expert face brush: This is smaller than the buffing brush, and much more dense. I find I switch up from this one to the other one I'll show below this one. This one is really amazing with Nars Sheer glow, and it's great for my face because I have a ridiculously small head. The brush is so soft, and YES SHOCK HORROR, they are all going to be dirty because god forbid I forgot to clean them before deciding to queue up this blog post. 

The buffing brush: Throws hands in the air and bow down because this is one of the best brushes I have EVER used. The application on my face in particular is amazing! I just love it. Get it.


Face Brushes:

The Multi-task brush: Literally what the name is. I use it for blush or bronzer or highlighter. It's got such a great shape and it just flows so nicely on my face when applying blush. And, it's pink. What more could you want? 


Contour Brush: I will be honest, I do not use this for contouring, simply because I'm a rebel and why use a brush just for what it's meant for? I love to blend out my concealer with this brush. It's got such an amazing shape that fits under my eyes so perfectly. /Insert essiebutton enthusiasm here/ Gotta love this brush.

Finally, the eye brushes. 


Eyebrow brush: I'm placing this brush under the eye category because it came in the pack! Welcome to my holy grail eyebrow brush. Everyday this little sucker gets used on my eyebrows and I love it. It's not too thin and not too thick, it fits along my natural brow shape wonderfully. I feel like you should just go to the website to read all these descriptions but seriously, I love this brush. 

Domed Shadow Brush: Yup, it's dirty. I used it today and it blended my eyeshadow wonderfully! I clean this and the other eye shadow brushes very often because I use them everyday and they just blend everything so nicely! Such a great starter brush for eye shadow!


Well, I promise you I am not paid for this, just that I love these brushes as most people do, and because I am usually on a budget, I love these because of how affordable they are. I highly recommend them for a starter kit! I know that my descriptions may not be super helpful, but obviously you can watch pixiwoo do their lovely demos on their youtube channel, which I religiously watch.

Anyways, to end this blog post, I just want to say thanks for reading and let me know if you guys use these brushes too!! Have a great day!

Toodle-doo!! 

beauty

Favorite Foundations

18:00


Hello everyone! Long time no post!
Well today I decided to do a blog post on my current three favorite foundations. One is a higher end foundation, one is a BB cream and the other is a drugstore medium coverage foundation.



Yes, I have the lid to the Rimmel Wake Me Up on my Nars, BUT, it's the worst having no pump for that darn thing! 
I'm going to go through each one with pros and cons of each and why I like them! The photos are purely so you know what they look like!

Loreal True Match Lumi: 
Okay first off, this was the first foundation I ever bought MYSELF. My mom used to buy me this covergirl one and I had it for ages and it never seemed to end and then I took a break from wearing foundation and then one day I wanted to try some again and I came across this bad boy. I know there is just the True Match foundation in a similar bottle, but we don't have it in that type of bottle, which is super weird. 
Okay pros:
  1. It is build-able coverage with a medium to full coverage on me with the right application.
  2. It gives the face a glowy look and I love it
  3. You can easily apply it with a foundation brush, in which I like to use the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, or you can use your fingers.
  4. It's a good reasonable price range, if you find it in the right place. Some places have it higher up where as places like Walmart have it around 12-15.
Cons:
  1. It does cling to dry patches if you do not moisturize before. I have learnt this the hard way.
  2. It has a weird application if your brush is dirtier than it should be, but this is true for almost all foundations.
All in all, this is one of my all time favorites.

NARS:
This foundation is so god damn pricey but my god is it amazing. This is probably my holy grail foundation. 
Pros: 
  1. Amazing coverage
  2. super build-able
  3. blends well and matches my skin beautifully
  4. comes in light shades
  5. leaves your skin glowing
  6. i could go on and on and on
  7. I've had this bottle since last October and it has lasted through almost everyday application.
Cons:
  1. It's very expensive :(
  2. It can let in some shine but just use a blotting powder and you're set.

Rimmel Stay Matte BB Cream:
This one I blame Gemma (from gemsmaquillage) for. I saw her talk about it and out I went to go purchase. 
Pros:
  1. It's perfect if you like a matte finish
  2. It adjusts to your skin, or at least to mine
  3. Blends lovely with your fingers
  4. Keeps your skin looking like skin
  5. It's around 8-9$? 
Cons: 
  1. It is a matte finish so can sometimes look too matte and too drying
  2. Only comes in two or three shades, but it seems to be adjustable(?)
  3. It is a light coverage BUT it is a BB Cream, so no surprises.

I just wanted to share my three favorites with you all and if you have any suggestions based on these pickings, please let me know, I love to try out new foundations! I hope you are all doing great and I hope you're all having a very great easter! I'm by myself as my parents and brother went up island for a camping trip they do every year. Either I go, feel like I'm babysitting or don't fit in with the adults, or I stay home, so needless to say I picked the third one.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!!

Toodle-doo! 


Oh! Also follow me on bloglovin! 

american eagle

random OOTD

15:52

I was trying on different things, and naturally, as you do, I took some pictures. And of course, when you go back and look at them all, you wind up deleting the majority and keep maybe four. I kept two in this case. I always think I look fab in the mirror, and then the camera tells me otherwise.
I was planning to go out for the day, but plans fell through, so here I am blogging about it and going to show you what I decided to wear.



Yes, I look like a proper idiot in the first one, but that's me for ya! 
I'm wearing a cardigan from Dynamite, my London tee is from Forever 21, the leggings are from H&M, and my hat is from Urban Behavior or Planet, whichever it is now.  I was going to wear a pair of my ankle booties, but since plans fell through, it looks like I won't be needing them. 
The hardest thing about these boots is I need really tight jeans around my ankles for them to work, so usually I wear them with tights and a dress or skirt, but that's not too often, so when I wear my American Eagle black jeans, they are too big around my ankles! It drives me crazy, because I have such wide hips, I need a "larger" pair for them to fit over them, but then for some reason, they're big at my ankles and calf's. It's so weird. Anyways, so I had settled for leggings at the time, when I am much more comfortable in the jeans, but oh well. 
If anyone has any tips on how to wear jeans like those I described with boots, let me know! Cause I'm having the WORST time. 

I hope you're all having a great weekend and enjoy!

Toodle-doo xox 

early childhood

schooling and practicum! am i ready? feat fotd

18:31

Well I have broken one of my new years rules, which was to blog more, but the last few weeks have been really crazy for me. As the title of this post says, I start my practicum tomorrow. If you don't know what that means, since I'm in the early childhood program, basically, for 10 weeks I go out in the field to a daycare and I basically put all I've learnt from the class into action and make activities for them, and get them to do them and do circle time. You're all probably reading this and thinking "yeah yeah, blah blah blah," so I'll stop now, but that's why I haven't been blogging as much as I would like.

I'm really nervous for tomorrow, but excited at the same time. I don't know how it's going to go over, and I still feel like I should be in class tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, but instead I have to go to the daycare for 8 am. Let's just say that my body doesn't like to sleep in without giving me a headache now. I feel like a mom, ha, jokes.


I thought I'd throw in a very crappy webcam picture of my FOTD today.

ouu what kinda pose is that jena

I'm wearing Loreal True Match Lumi as my base, a revlon blush, which you can't really see, and I used the Loreal super liner for my cat eye flick. I've also got three colors from the Stila in the Light palette, which I'm in LOVE with, but granted it's the only higher end palette that I've got, for now. 
Excuse the mess of my hair; it's chalked full of dry shampoo and texture spray today, as second day hair can look a little gross, haha. 
I'm thinking about going lighter for my hair color come summer time; thoughts?

Anyways, off I go to print off the little extra things I need for tomorrow! Have a lovely week everyone! 
Toodle-doo xox 

boyfriend

the weekend: productivity

18:56

Sunday funday is really just sunday chores day. I went up island to visit my best friend Sam for her birthday on friday, which was most excellent, let me say. Then yesterday evening I went to stay at my boyfriend's place for the night, and I really didn't get anything done there to be quite honest, but it was really nnice and relaxing, even though he just gamed for the majority of it.

We did, however, try and cook. When I say try, I mean try out different things. He's a great cook actually, he thinks that I don't like his cooking, but I really do. He's probably better than I am. Anyways, we tried out to make our own "chips" or more like sliced potatoes baked in the oven for fourty minutes. I had managed to cut a few really thin pieces, but other than that, they were just like round potato slices, but they were good!

Today, being a Sunday, after getting off my ass and stopped watching youtube videos, I did some laundry and tidied up a bit, and helped my mom cook dinner. I do live at home, for anyone wondering. I also cleaned my brushes, which I took a picture of because well, why not?

Ouuu yeah so clean and soft!

I love washing my brushes. I do a spot clean every other day basically, but every few weeks I do a huge clean and scrub my brushes and use some conditioner to keep the bristles nice and soft. 
I had no real reason to post today, I just realized I haven't in a while. I figured that I may as well tell you what I did today and my weekend. I think I'll share a picture tomorrow about my everyday makeup, Estee style. Have all the products scattered beautifully. 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Enjoy your week everyone! 

Toodle-doo! xx

camera

Product Review!

19:41

Hello! So I decided to go out shopping the other day, and it may have led to a few purchases! Regardless of how upset my bank account is with me, I finally went to the Mac stand and may of bought a sneaky purchase of one of their eyeliners. I went with "coffee" for the color, and I found that once I got home I loved how well it applied but it seemed to "fall down" as the day went on.


People had been talking about it, and I saw it in enough tutorials and I wanted to give it a try but when I had the problem of it not seeming to stay throughout the day, I started to wonder if it was just me and if there was anything I could possibly do about it not giving me that saggy, tired look? I loved it otherwise, just not when halfway through my work day I looked in the mirror and it looked like it wasn't there anymore! If anyone has any tips, that would be wonderful, but as for now I'm sticking with my Avon eyeliner that has been my best friend for years now. 

I'm also planning on filming sometime soon! I managed to get a camera, and I'm so happy about it! I want to be able to film something within the next week so my fingers are crossed that I will actually have time off for it! 
Anyways, I hope you all have a great day/night! :)
Feel free to follow me on twitter @jenarichelle!

imagine dragons

break?

22:31

Hello again! It's been a while, whoops on my part! I've been so, so busy with work lately I haven't had much time for anything! Which is why I'm calling this post "break" because that's what I need more than anything. I just got back home from going to Vancouver for the night to see Imagine Dragons, which was INCREDIBLE, and if anyone is interested in photos or anything, just leave a comment! I would love to make a long post about it but I'm not actually sure who would be interested in it. Anyways, I recently watched Zoe's (zoella as you all know her) video on a pamper night. And that has been my best friend since my store opened. I've been working non stop and my feet have been killing me! I took some of Zoe's little lovely tips, and even though the place I'm currently living has a horrible ugly bathtub, I still took a nice soak with some lush bar mixed in there. I must say, relaxing like that helped me so, so much. I was able to calm down and enjoy myself for a little while without being stressed out.
I shouldn't be complaining much about work, I know people work much more and much harder, but seeing as it's such a step up from what my old job was giving me before and it's still the first month of us being open and people are still pouring in everyday; it's exhausting as heck!
So if you're ever having one of those days, take a relaxing bath. Wash your face, hair up in a bun, maybe grab some nice music or anything like that, but just enjoy yourself. It's helped me a lot more the last week and a bit! Also taking three days off was beyond wonderful!
I do want to make a post about my sort of everyday makeup routine, but I'm not sure yet. I don't have any fancy brands of makeup products, but I just want to show you the types of things I use and what I really love and any feedback on that would be amazing if you guys wouldn't mind!
Anyways, I will leave you with this wonderful picture of Dan Reynolds, who is the lead singer, if you aren't sure, and it was just taken with my iPhone but it sort of shows where we were. Which was actually right along the barrier to the stage along the left hand side, I touched him. We will leave it at that!

If you want you can follow me on my twitter @jenarichelle !

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