1 Year Blogiversary/ 200 Followers Giveaway

Happy Sunday, everyone!  It just so happens that my little bloggie hit 200 GFC followers recently, and today is my 1-year blogiversary!  I'd held on to this little prize I'd purchased for my 1-year and it just so happens I'm psyched I've got 200 beautiful readers eligible to win it :-D
I want to thank you guys all once again, also, for your really lovely congratulatory comments <3  I will always have a place in my heart for the supportive, beautiful beauty blogging community.

On to the prize!  I purchased a set of four 88-palettes by Coastal Scents.  These palettes are full of pigmented eyeshadows that last really well over primer and let you play around with colors before committing big money to a full-size shadow pot.  These palettes are full of, for example, Urban Decay Naked Palette dupes (they are the palettes that got me by until I was able to secure my own Naked Palette... remember those days of scarcity, my friends?).  If you've always wondered if red eyeshadow would make your eyes look ultra-lovely or just make you look ill, these palettes give you a selection of reds from primary to cranberry so you can find out without being stuck with a regretted purchase.  The finishes are a mix of shimmery and matte, plus some metallics.  If you only wear eyeshadow occasionally, they are a great alternative to investing in MAC, too.

If you want to win these four palettes, please comment below.  I will try to contact you for two days after the end-date for your shipping info, and no response will result in a re-draw.

This is open internationally! I will pick a number via random.org on August 5th.
Please be 18 or get permission from your legal guardians.
Thanks so much again, lovelies!

Bonus EOTD: Red Smokey Eye

I used the instructions from Karen for a simple smokey eye.

Products Used:
Milani Brow Fix Brow Kit in Light
E.L.F. Eyelid Primer
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Zero
For the red shadow, you could use Sugarpill Asylum (I used an indie brand I can't recommend because they've run into difficulties fulfilling orders)
E.L.F. Exact Lash Mascara

<3 Sarah S.

200+ Followers!

Hi guys! I was just planning to scan my sidebar of fave blogs this morning, and lo and behold I noticed I had hit over 200 followers!  I'd like to say a welcome to my new followers, and thank you to my readers for sticking around even though I haven't been updating consistently lately.  I love reading your blogs and your comments and sharing this completely fun hobby with you all!
I will have a giveaway coming up to celebrate, so I hope you'll stay tuned :-D I have a rather fun thing picked out for beauty lovers who crave variety in their makeup collection ;)

EOTD - Rusty

Hi, gorgeous girls! My computer is driving me nuts as it seems to not register every key I hit, so I hope you'll appreciate the effort that is going into this write up as I have to go back every couple of letters to re-enter (yeah, it's super-irritating!).This summer I've almost completely skipped wearing eye makeup, save for the occasional play-around (which usually winds up here on the ol' bloggie), so I'm afraid my skillz have gotten a bit rusty.  This has inspired a sort of Fall colors rusty eye look on this lovely Saturday.  I hope you're all having a great weekend and like my look <3

No face shots b/c I really didn't wear any other makeup besides a little ELF concealer under my eyes :P

I used:
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy (lid only)
Victorian Disco The Life Binder (dry, lid only)
Victorian Disco The Earth Warder (dry, crease and outer corner)
Victorian Disco Zidane (dry, browbone and blending color)
Victorian Disco Godric (wet, lower lashline)
Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner in Demolition (upper lash line and flick)
Physicians Formula Automatic Eyeliner (brown shade from brown eyes trio, waterline)
Wet n Wild Waterproof Megaplump Mascara (red tube- forgot to curl my lashes but this stuff really holds a curl well)
Note: All items used are cruelty-free and vegan

Can you tell I'm ready for Autumn yet?  Especially apple cider and doughnuts; We've got loads of great Cider Mills in Michigan and they make amazing fresh cake doughnuts lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg (mmm!).
Also, you could probably guess from my color choices that I'm lemming NARS Autumn Leaves sheer lipstick really badly (go to Temptalia to see it - stunning!) but as NARS is not a cruelty-free or vegan brand I'm restraining myself... I'll let you guys know if I locate a lovely sheer rust lipstick that's CF and vegan, as I'm definitely on the hunt now!

Milani Brow Fix Brow Kit - Rave!

Hi guys! It's been a long time since I've gotten excited enough about a product's performance (let alone a mundane product, like for the brows) to write up a review.  However, I had to do a full face of makeup after literally months of mere enhancement so I could feel confident to go take new passport photos.  I realized with full foundation (and my natural, dark brown hair color) that my brows were looking a little anemic.  I decided to try this nifty little palette I'd picked up ages ago at CVS, I think.

The tools can rotate up off the mirror on a hinge.  There's something sort of Batman-y or James Bond-y about it <3

The Milani Brow Fix Brow Kit in Light is $6.99, so a really cheap thrill.  I think originally I didn't buy it for my brows, but for the trio of shades in it I thought would make a great, easy everyday natural eyeshadow look.  I was right about that, but in filling in my brows this morning I realized that the darkest shade in the palette is really perfect for me.  I've never had brow-filling look so natural on me!  Most pencils I have skew reddish (which was fine when my hair was dyed red) and I don't have a wide selection of matte browns in my collection because when I wear eyeshadow, I tend to go for a bit more... pop!  The "hi-lite" shade is also excellent for shimmer in the inner eye corner but isn't too frosty for the browbone (I hate frost on the browbone, generally).  I really haven't done anything with the middle shade yet - it is too light for my brows but I could see it flattering a blond or a paler girl.  I think it might make a nice matte, sheer, skintone shade of eyeshadow, because in the swatch it basically hid in my skintone.

hi-lite, brow1, brow2 swatched using fingertip over bare skin (no primer)

The palette comes with a mirror (which I did use when I filled my brows and found it adequate), a sponge-tip applicator (which I also used for my browbone and tear duct highlight - it worked a treat), and a mini set of tweezers.  The tweezers are so tiny I'm sure it'd be annoying to use them to completely groom brows, but they worked at nabbing a stray hair in a pinch.

I filled my brows around 10 am and they still look freshly done at 5 pm, as this photo shows.

This is a really great little palette, a good value for the money, and widely available.  Definitely worth picking up! (ahem, I think I'll be heading out to purchase a back-up, tbh)

I purchased this palette with my own money.  Milani is a cruelty-free brand.

Consumer Success! Urban Decay Scraps Plan to Sell in China!

Hey guys! Excellent news! Urban Decay listened to the outcry of their current customers and decided not to sell in China in order to comply with the brand's core beliefs!  It makes me feel so great to see such a complete consumer victory!  Though I still feel uneasy that this situation even arose, I intend to become an Urban Decay customer once again because ultimately they did the right thing.
You can see their statement (where I saw it) at temptalia.com. 
They have also been re-certified by Peta and Leaping Bunny <3

Now please excuse me while I go retrieve my beloved complete 24/7 eyeliner collection from my give-to-my-cousin pile ;-)

Apology

Hello out there to everyone who is still around!  I wanted to apologize for how little I've updated my blog this year, and thank you for having been a reader up to this point.  I don't intend to take the blog down or anything, but I find I just have zero desire to write up or photograph for any posts in the recent months.  My makeup purchasing has also dramatically decreased, and I gave away the bulk of my collection (most to Aly of Wonderland Beauty, and partly inspired by the Urban Decay issue and Anna and her very streamlined collection).  I could tell you what I've been using each day and it would fill up a single post... I've been that boring!  Though, I think at some point when I really feel my routine is perfected that I will probably update the blog with a post to share those treasures.

I just wanted to make a quick shout out to you all and let you know that everything is OK in my life because I know you are all so caring and sweet that I would hate to make anybody worry.  I hope you've noticed that I'm visiting your blogs as often as I can and I make sure to comment occasionally so you'll know you haven't lost a reader (and I really appreciate how you guys comment even when my posts aren't makeup/beauty related).  I hope you'll stick around for when my exhaustion lets up a bit and I get my blogging mojo back <3
Sarah S.