Wet n' Wild Coloricon Eyeliner in Mink Brown!

It's officially the best time of year to be a tourist in Vegas: Summer. It's officially the best time to sight-see and be seen, get in to all the good sold out shows on both ends of the infamous Las Vegas strip, and bar hop 'til you drop a'la lifted vip passes to the most stuck-up kick-backs in the country. It is also the best time to get a great five minute tan, if you catch my drift. Well in the midst of all that, we still have to find time to get our look in gear, and the buzz word of the season is brows. Whether we're filling, contouring, or completely reconstructing them, they have got to be on point. For myself personally, this is the first time I've experimented with my brows; I've always had a turbulent relationship with them because a) they're not congruent in shape, and b) any attempt to tame or maintain them is met with opposition (yes, they've got their own security clearance). If you've been hanging out with me on Instagram, then you know that I have been a good two months at work on my technique, and I'm not open to too much experimentation. While plucking, threading, waxing, or otherwise removing a single hair from my brow line are options I've carefully considered, I don't think they'll be viable options for my perfect eyebrow look in the near future! BUT, I do think I can achieve a happy medium by contouring with a filler. Powder and gel are popular in colder weather, so for Summer, it looks like brow pencils and mascaras are a good option. They are waterproof and add great weight to your brows without the worry of having them smudge or run (from you know, sweat and other saboteurs).

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Color.

   I see a lot of people use a really, really dark color to fill and shape their brows. To each their own, I have forever and the day after said; it looks good on them but I have dark skin and non-black facial hair, so the oh-so-covet-able Cara Delevigne brows that work for others is only passable for me on rare occasions(like New Year's Eve of 2013. yeah). The color I chose from WNW is a dark brown that is more of a happy medium between true brown and brown-black. I like it because is adds low-light to my face without my having to do very much contouring and directs attention to my forehead first.




    Durability.


Yeah, since this is a dual-wield brow and eye liner pencil being used strictly for it's intended purpose; still, it stands to reason that you may encounter some issues with durability. This stuff smudges if you lay it on heavily, so it's best to opt for the less is more look with a fixative. Makeup setting spray or a swipe of food-grade starch works for me, but if you are a face sweater then a professional fixative is a great place to start!


    Price.
It's very affordable, retailing at 0.99USD to start and available a most major drug-store chains. You'll hear it often that Wet n' Wild cosmetics is a cheap brand; and that's in reference to the prices only in most cases. What you get with their products is often more than what's paid for it, and they are a great place to start for beginning artists and enthusiasts alike.


    Ingredients.
      Ricinus Communis Seed Oil (Castor), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Euphorbia Cerifera Wax (Candelilla), Petrolatum, Beeswax, Ozokerite, Isopropyl Myristate, Hydrogenated Soy Polyglycerides, C15 23 Alkane, Zinc Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Tocopheryl Acetate, May Contain (+/-): Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Mica, Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Manganese Violet (CI 77742)

    Overall.

I'm gonna say it's a 5 star buy! I'm pretty satisfied with the look I was able to create too. It's a subtle yet simultaneously striking. Later on, I want to try black eyebrows or some highlighting on my brow bone but for now I really love how this came out!

What do you use to add that wow factor to your brows? Lem'me know on Twitter:@cloud9kollketiv

Hydroxatone SPF 15 Anti Wrinkle Cream!

It's finally, finally here! After a  three week trial of Hydroxatone's AM/PM anti-wrinkle complex, we're just about ready to dish the deets! The product arrived three weeks ago and has been on a test run ever since; I don't like to do reviews for such products with out giving my skin at least a week to react to it. For makeup, I don't worry so much about this considering it doesn't sit on my skin for very long, but skincare is meant for this very purpose so I always give my skin three weeks at most to either adapt or reject a product. That being said, Let's get started with the latest review:

Revlon Super Lusterous Lipstick in Va va Violet!

    

      Pat on the back to me, I've finally done it.. I've finally tried purple and I liked it! It's a very flattering color considering that the undertones both in my own skin and in this lip color are complimentary. If you've been plugged into our instagram, then you know that this review has been a week underway. Pleasantries aside, we should get right to it! I'm really excited to cover this lip color because it performed well beyond my expectations.

CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipstick 245 Smoky Fume!

      This another little milestone on my journey into a brave new world of lip color. It's a striking brown hue that, in my mind, hails complimentariliy to royal hues. It's none other than Covergirl's Lip Perfection Lipstick, I picked up as a gift actually. The person who gave this item to me was dismayed at what they perceived to be their inability to flaunt earthy lip tones (they muddle her complexion, her words not my own), and in so believing, gifted the item to me. A very lucky acquisition on my part! I've secretly been very curious about the whole line, but not without noted reservation. New lip color always makes me nervous, especially anything that isn't red or pink; still here we are with this lip color:

[PICTORIAL] Avon Ultra Color Rich Lip Lacquers!

So this would be the pictorial that I promised in my Avon beauty review from this week. I apologize but I was outside of my service range and none of the blogger modules would publish my post with any styling rich media! While that ordeal is over, I am considering finding a new service in general for publishing because the ones I'm using right now (powered by blogger) aren't working and I can seem to debug them myself or find any source of solace among the volumes of help documents. I will be posting her as per my usual habit but I will be even slower than usual so please bear with me. That being said, please also enjoy the rest of this pictoral!

20130519 Face of the Day!

Hey lovies! It's the end of the week therefore we are due for another look of the week! This look was created using some new items that I'm both please with and excited to share with you guys; continue on after the jump!

Avon Super Lustrous Lip Lacquers!

      Here's this weeks beauty review! Now, I'm going to abridge this review because I'm literally en route to Reno ( but I'm not driving though; gotta conserve that precious battery life). That being said, I'd like it if we could all take a walk down memory lane: did you have a relative or neighbor who sold Avon? and if you did, do you remember what your favorite products were? Maybe you, much like myself, were still fairly young and only just beginning to show interest in makeup. Whatever the case, one thing is certain: We all have at least one item that sticks out in our mind from the beginning of our relationships with cosmetics (that's what throwback Thursday is for, right?). For me, it was the ultra color rich lip lacquers. Each hue in the set represented the different statement, they were perfect, in so many words. That's my way of saying that I hope to do these lipsticks the justice they deserve!

20130512 Sunday Face of the Day!

     Well now I do believe that is has been quite awhile since I last posted for face of the day, and with a kinda lame reason, but it's my own and I, uh, own it: I hit a briar patch in my good skin game and didn't want to bog down my skin with product. My skin is finally coming out of it, so I was feeling brave enough to do a post!