Chanel Illusion d'Ombre Shadows

These shadows are my newest addition to my makeup family, and like always with Chanel...

i'm. in. love. 

I picked up Mirifique, particularly for the holidays, and Epatant. 

First of all, the colors are beautiful. 

Mirifique is a black with silver glitter and multicolor shimmer. It reminds me of the glitter in my car paint! :) 

Epatant is a greenish-silvery-taupish kind of color. It's very hard to describe because it's kind of like a chameleon color. It changes between silver, gray, green, and a mix of them all! 

The texture of these shadows is almost like a mousse... but not so whipped. It's a good amount of whipped.... if that makes any sense at all haha! It's fluffy and light. They are creamy and bounce back when you put pressure on the shadow. The easiest way to apply is with the fingers. I can't seem to pick up enough product on my brush.

I wore Mirifique all over my lids with a bit of silver on the inner corner on Christmas Eve and I loved it!  I put Bobbi Brown hot stone eyeshadow as a base to make sure I had the intensity I wanted for the black. It'll be my new "go to" smokey eye when I go out!

These can be worn over shadows, under as a base, alone, or as a liner! I get much more use out of Mirifique as a liner than a shadow. It makes for such a fun liner compared to the regular plain 'ol black!

As always, Temptalia has great swatches and reviews on her blog!

WITH FLASH - you can see I've been using Mirifique as a liner!

WITHOUT FLASH

What's YOUR most recent makeup purchase?

***Just a tid bit extra*** 

I made some more of my favorite pumpkin spice cupcakes last night! 

They are so easy to make! 

All you need is:

- box of spice cake mix (add eggs, water, and oil as directed on box)

- 1 can pumpkin puree 

- 1 bag of milk chocolate chips

- cream cheese or cheesecake frosting are my favorite to top with 

... and TA DA!!! 

Ulta Nail Polish

One of my stocking gifts from my little sister, Sarah, was this set of mini nail polishes from ulta. These are my first ulta brand polishes... actually they're my first mini nail polishes ever!

This set comes with an almost black green with gold flecks, which I'm wearing now, a vampy red, purple/pink with gold flecks, and a dark almost black navy.

I'm really into the almost black colors, reds are classic, and the purple is unique... So I knew I would be getting good use out of this set! The formula when I applied this was thick, yet easy to work with. I only applied one coat and it went on evenly and easily. The color is unique ... I love it!

Props to my sis for such a good little stocking stuffer gift! Thank youuuu lil sista! :)

Naked2

Have you gotten NAKED2?!

I have!

I can't tell you how excited I was to finally to pick up my Naked2 on the UD website! It's currently on the Sephora website, but not in store until January. 

I don't have swatches of all the shadows or a huge comparison between the two, simply because my camera is not the best of quality, and there are SO many reviews and comparisons out there, and with much better pictures! It would be much easier to link you and check the "real" beauty bloggers out!

All I really have to say is ... LOVE! I enjoy it more than the original. I get more use out of the "taupey" shades than the browns in the original. It's not that I don't like them ... I think it's just that I already have so many shades of brown! I also prefer the packaging of Naked2. Either way, I think both are must haves! 

Naked2 on top, Original Naked on bottom

Temptalia Naked2 swatches & review

Bloomin Beauty swatches and comparison to original naked

Kandee Naked2 Review

OOTD 12/28/11

I thought I would show ya'll my outfit and makeup before heading out to lunch and the movies today! It's pretty cold here ... so I don't mind busting out a new sweater and my boots! 

I didn't have much time to get ready this morning, so I left my hair curly. 5 min vs 30 min sounded much better! 

Outfit

*Sweater: Boatneck Cable Poncho from The Loft --- I just got this on sale and I love cable knit sweaters as well as the "poncho" and "cocoon" style! What I did not like about this sweater were the fuzzies got everywhere! 

*Long sleeve T: The Gap

*Jeans: Candies jeans from Khols 

*Boots: Frye Paige Tall Riding Boots --- I don't think I'll ever buy leather boots from anyone besides Frye again! I think this shows how much I love these boots! 

Face:

*Lancome Teint Idole Ultra mixed with Estee Lauder Double Wear

*MAC studio finish concealer

*Laura Mercier Mineral Powder

*NARS Dolce Vita blush

*Dior Amber Diamond highlighter 

Eyes:

*Laura Mercier eye basics in wheat

*Chanel Safari on lids

*Bobbi Brown Taupe in crease

*Urban Decay Demolition liner

*Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara

Lips: 

*Benefit Lana liner

*Hourglass Grace lipstick

Jewelry:

*Tiffany's Elsa Peretti "v"

*Silpada smoky quartz ring --- I am obsessed with Silpada jewelry as well! I've hosted a few "parties" and gotten so many others hooked as well! Mua-ha-ha! ;)

*Pandora charm bracelet

*MUDD earrings from Khols

Thank you so much for stopping by!
xoxo

Chanel Spring 2012

The Chanel Spring 2012 Collection is heeerreeee! Of course I just had to get my makeup filthy hands on a couple of those limited edition gems!

This is what I picked up ... for now. ;)  I'll save the best for last!

Glossimer in Bonbon
This is my second Chanel glossimer (Mirifique being my first). Loving these glossimers so much is *no bueno* for my wallet! This glossimer has 0 glitter in it. It's a very light pink, almost clear on the lips, with a golden sheen. A perfect *topper* of nude and pink lipstick! It is the perfect icing, if you will.

Lux. Chanel. Icing!

Eclosion Eyeshadow Quad

Just like glossimers, this is my second of Chanel quads (Topkapi being my first <3 <3 <3). I've heard this quad is making it into their permanent line, but I couldn't wait. Eyeshadow is my weakness. I either go all out on eyeshadow, or love a simple and FRESH look to my eyes. Fresh is the perfect adjective for Chanel Eclosion... though it can definitely work the smoky eye as well with that little plum number! 

I am a sucker for purples, plums especially. I think plums and greens do brown eyes wonders! (I need Chanel Vert Khaki single eyeshadow next:)) And that peach ... unlike anything I have! The beige is ok ... nothing super special. The ivory... well the ivory has the most beautiful golden gLiTTer that the camera does not catch! 

Temptalia has a great review on this quad... as always! Swatches and beautiful pictures as well... MUCH better pictures!
(I love checking temptalia before, and after I buy! I'm sure that goes for all beauty gals, and guys, though!)



Cue the angels please!!!! ................




Chanel Horizon Blush 
This blush takes my breath away just looking at it! A gradation of rose, champagne, coral, and pink. On the cheeks, it's the best *pop of pInK* I can think of! Most pink blushes I own have a warmer undertone and always turn peach on my warmer skin. This blush is a tad bit on the cooler side, which gives me the true pink flush on the cheeks I'm always looking for! It has a slight golden sheen and can be built up for more color and beautiful luminosity. I have a feeling I will get a lot of use out of this one this Spring! Heck ... why wait 'till Spring!!!

Temptalia's review and swatches here.



The Chanel Spring 2012 Collections continues to read FRESH to me! Nothing too BAM and nothing too blah. It's the perfect elegance. Just classic colors. Don't get me wrong, I love BAM, but not every day.


Plus, I love love love Chanel packaging. It's so luxurious. 


I am tempted to pick up the pink "May" polish. Yes, just because my birthday is in May haha! 

Cheesy much? 

Come on ... it's Chanel! It would be my very first Chanel polish... but I'm wondering if I already have a shade of pink similar. We will see... 

On a side note : Cheddar's is one of my favorite restaurants! It houses one of my most faaaavorite meals and most faaaavorite little beverages! Jerrid, the MAN, and I, took a stroll down there last night to make our tummies happy!

I love me some "Painkiller" drink! I looked up the recipe so I could be specific...

2 oz dark rum

1 oz cream of coconut

4 oz pineapple juice

1 oz orange juice

sprinkle of nutmeg on top

Cheddar's drizzles honey all around the edges, shredded coconut, pineapple wedge, and a cherry to dress it up! Mmmm mmm!

I always order the same thing ... Dijon chicken and mushrooms over a bed of rice. Mashed potatoes with white gravy and broccoli and cheese casserole on the side. I'm getting hungry again! 

My friends always make fun of me because I'm an obsessive mushroom eater! 

Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful Tuesday!

Rose Gold Gifts

I've been loving rose gold these days! Mixing rose gold and silver, to be specific. The special man in my life, the BF ;) , did REALLY good this year! 

I've been obsessing over the Michael Kors Rose Gold Runway watch ever since he gifted me my first  MK tortoise shell watch last Christmas. Yes, I got hooked! Don't we all! They are not cheap, so I think Christmas is the perfect time to ask for these beauties! 

Drum roll ..... 

I played around with my photo editing skills... not to shabby eh? ;) Here's the nordstrom pic and link to watch. 

This beauty was not all though......

If you don't know who David Smallcombe is ... you might want to check him out! He is a jeweler located in Kalamzoo, MI and I just love his braceletes! They were introduced to me by YouTube's Lorraine Stanick who advertises her jewelry for her family boutique in Florida. Instead of paying a higher price from her, I ordered from him directly! He is so genuine and truly insists that his customers be 100% happy with his work! Why yes, Mr. Smallcombe... indeed I am! 

• I already owned the silver bracelets, but received the small rose gold to mix it up ... and match my watch of course! 
  
  
  Ahhh... love sits on these two wrists! :) 
  
  
  I think I'm addicted to watches at this point! Bad... bad, bad, bad! 

Well HELLO there beautiful....

Glitter, fireside, red polish, cozy blankets, scarves, boots, and winter candles... mmmm. It's that time! Merry Christmas! What a perfect time for my favorite 'lil sister, Sarah --- Scissors and a Whisk, to convince me to start BLOGGING! Yikes! 

I'm Victoria... and yes ... I love aLL ThiNGs bEAuTy! Feel free to read the "about me" section to learn about what *sparked* my obsession as a chid. I have YouTube and the blogging community to blame it on today!!! 

I plan on blogging about cosmetics, skincare, fashion, a tiny bit of cooking, maybe more, maybe less... we'll see, and my life!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I have enjoyed mine with my family by my side, the fireplace keeping us warm, lots of food, and puppies... many yorkie puppies running around like crazy!

Until soon... Have a beautiful day!