Pale Girl Glow!

Hey sorry its been awhile guys, I've been having some computer trouble! Now it's no secret I'm pretty fair (about NC15/20). And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! As a society we are bombarded with a tan white girls as a standard- when that's only one kind of beauty. But as the weather gets warmer we like to get a summery glow. So today I wanted to do a post on how to look naturally glowy and warm with a light complexion.

First I want to give a couple pointers before I do a quick look.
1) Always use a foundation that matches your skin. Even in summer. No buts. It's tempting to use a darker shade to make you look tanner but it never looks good. It'll just make your skin look orange and or dirty. Instead match your shade and then use a bronzer, which brings us to my next point. I'm wearing Nars Sheer Glow in Deauville.

2) Get a nice matte bronzer. I have nothing against shimmery ones- I own quite a few. However a matte bronzer is a staple that everyone needs in their makeup collection, no matter how small it is. I suggest getting one in a medium chocolate like color. A mistake many pale girls make is getting a bronzer thats too light and orangey. It looks really unnatural to have something that orange toned all over your face. I've been really liking Too Faced Chocolate Soliel Bronzer, but NYC Smooth Skin Bronzer.

3) Find a coral or peachy blush that you like. It will instantly warm your face in the most natural way possible. In fact if you don't feel comfortable with bronzer, just a warm blush will bring a little summer to your palor. If you're warm toned I recommend trying out an orange blush I love them because they sort of create your perfect peachy color with your skintone. I'm wearing MAC Honey Jasmine, I also recommend Hard Candy's Fox in a Box Spicy and Sweet blush as a drugstore alternative.

4) Get a golden highlighter. It'll instantly brighten up your face, it's like faux sunshine. Liquid, powder, or cream there are a lot of options so its easy to get your favorite. I particularly like the Balm's Mary Lou Luminizer, but Sonia Kashuk Super Sheer Highlighter is my new favorite and what I'm wearing here.

So darlings what do you think? Let me know in the comments, and stay tuned because I've got a really fun series coming up. =)

Review: Sonia Kashuk Sheer Shimmering Highlighter

Hey there! Today I have a review for you guys, along with a possible dupe! So the other day I was at Target and was sucked into the Sonia Kashuk display. I picked up the Super Sheer Shimmering Highlighter.

L: Straight Up R: Very Blended
You can really control the level of shine

It's a light golden shimmering liquid. As the name implies it can be sheered out easily; however it's fairly pigmented and actually has some coverage! It makes your skin look really healthy and nice, and doesn't have that oily look some of highlighters do.
But the big surprise is that this a pretty good dupe for a popular high end product, Benefit Watts Up.

L: Watts Up! R: SSH

Same: Golden toned, the finish is the same, on the skin they look almost identical.

Different: Watts Up is slightly pinker, Different application, Kashuk is liquid/ Benefit Cream, price.

Overall I think I might prefer the Sonia Kashuk one. It's a bit more gold so it shows up more noticeably on the skin. Another big plus is the price difference Watts Up is $30 USD where the Kashuk one is only $9.79 USD. Now that's a noticeable price difference!

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Dreamy Lilac Look

Hey guys! Sorry I've been a little MIA, I was out of town. It also occurs to me that I haven't done a full look in forever! So today I'm doing a look based on one of my favorite spring flowers, lilacs.

So I started with by eyes for this (which I highly recommend with dark colors or purples) and used an eyeshadow primer all over my eyelid. Then I took a pink cream shadow and patted it over my lid as a base. Over the pink I pressed a light lavender color, I find that this makes the purple pop more.

In my outer corner I used bright medium purple to bring the color out from the lid, and also to give it a bit more of a pointed shape. I thought the contrast was a little stark, so I blended a mauve-y rose color along the outer edge.

For liner I didn't want something as bold as black gel. So I used dark gray shadow to line just the outer corners of my lids, and then applied mascara to finish it off.

Afte that I got started on my face. I used a medium coverage foundation, with a concealer that has a bit moe coverage. Then I used a bit of a contour color on my cheeks, and added a hint of pink blush to wam my face up a little.

For lips I started by concealing a little around the mouth, because I tend to get redness there. After that I put on a pinky mauve, and topped it off with a neutral shimmery gloss.

Products Used:
Face: MUFE HD Foundation in 115 Ivory, Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Light, Hard Candy in Pin Up, Be a Bombshell blush in Sweet Cheeks.

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Inked in Pink, Wet n Wild purple from Silent Treatment Palette, Sugarpill Poison Plum Eyeshadow, Two Cosmetics Eyeshadow Duo in Heartache (rose/mauve side), Urban Decay Foxy, Urban Decay Asphalt Eyeshadow, Maybelline The Rocket Waterproof Black Mascara.

Lips: L'oreal Colour Riche Balm in Tender mauve, MAC Lipglass in Underdressed.

I hope you guys like this look! Leave a comment below or tweet me @spicedropblog !

Quick Review: MAC Underdressed Lipglass

Hey there! This post is gonna be short and sweet, I just wanted to show you my new baby: MAC Undressed Lipglass. It came out with MAC's big summer collection Temperature Rising, which hit stores Thursday. I also really wanted the Feel My Pulse lipstick, but I'm too broke. :,( But this lipgloss is truly stunning, so I don't feel too bad!

So this is the Lipglass in question. MAC describes as a bronzed plum with multi dimensional pearl. I'd called bronzed neutral with holographic gold and bright purple shimmer. It's very shiny and high gloss. It's less sticky than the normal formula, which I'm a fan of. This was really hard to photograph, so I didn't include a picture of it on. I promise the swatch is pretty accurate. Also let's just stop and admire how pretty the bronze summer packaging is. =)
$16.50 at MAC stores and counters. (Sold out online!)

DIY Banana Oatmeal Mask

Hey there you guys! Today I'm going to show you how to make this very easy face mask, out of stuff you probably have in your anyway. p.s I haven't done a post like this before, show let me know in the comments if you like it! :D

So first you have to gather your ingredients. You'll need: 1 over ripe banana, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 plain oatmeal, 1 tbs honey. It's pretty easy, you mash the banana, then mix everything else in. The texture will be chunky, so be patient as you apply it to your face. Leave it on for fifteen minutes or so. You'll look silly, like this:

This mask is great for your skin for a number of reasons. The banana is cleansing and nourishing. The lemon is a astringent and brightens. The honey is anti-bacterial, so its great for ance. And the oatmeal soothes and softens. As well as being one of nature's most gentle exfoliants.

So do you guys want more DIY posts like this, let me know in the comments!

Review: Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette + 2 Looks!

So today I popped down to CVS and got something I've been wanting for quite awhile, Wet n Wild's 8 pan Comfort Zone Palette. I'm a huge fan of Wet n Wild's eyeshadows and this is no exception! At $4.99 USD this is such a steal, and is really well rounded. Let's take a look, shall we?

 

On the left half of the palette are four neutrals. The first shade is a warm white gold with a slightly frosty finish (Not in a bad way!). Next we have a medium peachy pink with a gold sheen, this one has almost metallic finish. The third shade or the 'crease' color is a medium warm brown with a bit of a bronze sheen, also satin. And finally a dark red brown with fine burgundy glitter. All of these are very soft and easy to work with; the second shade is my favorite it's very smooth and pigmented.

The other half has some nice shimmery shades, and a pretty pretty duochrome. The first shade is a metallic silver taupe, not nearly as green as it looks here. The eyelid shade is very green though! Its a bright olive with golden shimmer, another satin. The next shade is a blackened green with multi-colored  fine glitter. Finally possibly the most interesting shade in the palette, a beautiful red-purple/ turquoise duochrome. I'm not very good with duochromes, they never seem to look right on me... but this one is stunning! 

Now I did two looks with this palette, pretty much as directed. The only things I changed were I used the top left shade in my inner corners for both looks. Also I mixed the some in with the top right shade for my brow bone for the second look, the taupe is just too dark to look good a highlight on me. (Still pretty though!) 

So what do you think, five bucks worth of fun? I'll say. I already knew how great WnW's eyeshadows were, and I was still impressed! 5/5 for this one!
 What do you guys think?

My Glam May 13

Hey everyone! I must say this month's bag was fantastic! They've started personalizing them a bit more, and I must say I'm liking it!

So first we have a lipgloss from Juice Beauty. I got the color Champagne, a sheer pearly shade. It's very smooth, I really like the way this lip gloss feels. Also this lipgloss is organic, which is always nice. Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss retails for $15 USD.

Next we have a perfume roller ball from Pacifica. I got the island vanilla scent. The vial is glass and the roller seems pretty sturdy. This perfume lasts a very long time on the skin, without being overpowering. Downside, I'm not a huge fan of this scent. It's a little one dimensional for me. But good product overall. This retails for $12 USD. (Side note, this product is vegan)

Then is Zoya nail polish in Neely, a whitened mint creme shade. I love it so much! This is possibly my favorite item this month. This polish is creamy, opaque in two coats, and a great neutral for spring and summer. Big fan. Retails for $8 USD

After that is Mirabella Color Sheen lipstick. I got the color Posy, a bright sheer raspberry. I really like this. It comes in a lipstick bullet, looks like a stain, but feels very smooth like a balm. I always love a good tinted lip balm and this is no exception. Color Sheens Retail for $22 (!!!) USD.

And finally we have Yaby Concealer, in pan form. I must admit I haven't fully tested this one, because it 's really not my color. I got in the shade Honey, which is a medium color with a very strong yellow undertone.\

My Glam is $10 a month at Ipsy.com