One glam weekend, two glam makeup looks
/Most days/nights, I find myself at home sitting on the couch with Chooch, avoiding social interactions or acting offended if I see a party on instagram I didn't get invited to. But every once and a while, I have a weekend where I actually have some exciting plans, and this past weekend was one of those!
Saturday night, I had an engagement party for some of my dear friends and was going to a comedy show afterwards, so I took it upon myself to play a little bit.
Sunday night, I went to a wedding, and if you know anything about ya girl Jackie J, she does NOT play when it comes to wedding looks. I knew I had to slay and I had to slay hard. This is matrimony, for crying out loud!
Here are the two looks I pulled off, with all of the hits and misses along the way.
Night one: Engagement party under the stars/Improv show Wife
I wore a new jumpsuit I just got in my Le Tote, and wanted to go for a kind of classic Jackie glam look to compliment it. I have been parting my bangs down the center for the past week and that level of experimentation alone is enough to make a lady feel wild!
I started with my elf Aqua Beauty Aqua primer.
This primer seems to do the trick, but it really sprays you in the face pretty aggressively. If you're into that kind of thing, then you will definitely like this primer.
Then I remembered that I was gonna attempt to do my eye makeup first this time! Which is something I quite literally never do. But I was using a new palette and wanted to once again get wild.
I used the BH Cosmetics galaxy chic palette, which I really liked! The colors are really fun and pretty. I went with a cosmic purple moment. Unfort, this is NOT a vegan palette so I will not be repurchasing. I was given this as a gift at Beautycon and did not realize it wasn't vegan until I was at home and using it.
I love that BH labels their palettes as vegan on their website, so there is full transparency always. Instead of this in the future, I will be purchasing their 88 Shimmer palette which IS vegan!
Then I used my Vamp stamp for the first time! When I had this demonstrated on me at Beauty Con, I purchased it instantly. However, using it on myself was a different story. There is definitely some trial and error which is to be expected. The first wing I did, I put it too low on my eye and it brought my whole eye down and I looked very sleepy. I had to erase and replace, but once I got the hang of it, the wings looked snatched. I still am down with my Vamp Stamp, and I know with more use I am gonna get even better at it!
This is the medium sized Vamp Stamp, which I find perfect and appropriate for a glam moment.
I lined my water line with a new LA girl gel glide liner in "champagne" that I got at Beauty Con. It went on pretty well, but I had to really layer it on. That is usually the case with water lines, though, but it definitely could've been a bit smoother to apply if I'm being honest! WHICH I AM!
I have been having foundation drama as usual lately. I just finished off two of my "cruelty" foundations that since learning about this whole animal testing debacle will not be repurchasing (and need to find some new faves, particularly a high end one), and my supply is dwindling. I still can't quite get a great color match on the vast majority of my current ones.
I love my NYX drop foundation, (I have shade "vanilla") but it's still too dang light for me, and mixing it with my LA girl (which is too dark for me) didn't seem to work well (the formulas didn't mix evenly and I had some weird patches) so I just made a bold decision to wear the LA Girl foundation by itself.
I mixed in some Cover FX custom enhancer drops in moonlight to give my face a little glow and thought that might help off-set the yellowy tone to the makeup.
Well, this foundation was WAY too dark/orange on me. I was already in deep by the time I finished laying it down so I just rolled with it. I knew once the sun went down, it wouldn't be that noticeable, and I vowed to send this foundation to my sister, who seems to always match perfectly when my foundations end up being too yellow toned on me.
For the record, I have LA Girl's second lightest shade (the lightest one after their totally white one) called "Fair."
I trudge forward. I use my urban decay shapeshifter contour palette to chisel some cheek bones. And I also have sad news about this- THIS ISN'T VEGAN EITHER! Someone on my snap chat told me and I was so shocked and annoyed. I thought carmine was only in red and purple pigmented products, but I guess not. I didn't even think to look when I bought this, but guess what- there are crushed up beetles in this, so I will not be repurchasing this, either! Full transparency from Jackie J always.
I used the Marc Jacobs blush that 9 times out of 10 I am wearing if you see me cause I only have two blushes right now (this one and the one in my lorac palette I have talked about many times on the blog.)
This is the only blush that excites me. It has a gradient of two colors, so really you can make so many shades with this one blush. It's expensive, but I love the formula and the pigment.
I put on the Cover FX custom enhancer drops in blossom (a petal pink) as highlight and rubbed that on in. My face looks orange but it's coming together despite that.
I had a major eyebrow drama this night. Basically, now that I am splitting my bangs down the middle, I have to work extra hard on my brows to make sure they look symmetrical (which has been the struggle of my LIFE) and tonight I spent like at least 20 minutes stressing over them. I used my Anastasia brow powder duo in Auburn, but only used the darker color (I have to embrace my dark brows now that they're microbladed!
I did my damn best and just moved on!
I added my huda lashes which have definitely become a favorite of mine. They go on so easily and look glam, but still functional.
I topped it off with an Urban decay stick lipstick that comes with a matching lip pencil called "the ultimate pair" and I am very happy with my lip shape I drew on!
I completed the look off with my dewey setting spray by Nyx!
Here is my completed look. And I didn't Facetune any of these just for y'all!
PROS of this look:
- The Huda lashes
- The (eventual) slaying of the Vamp Stamp
- The Urban decay ultimate pair lipstick and matching liner duo (move over, Kylie!)
- Highlight on fleek
CONS:
- The orange foundation, oh it's SO SO BAD
- The palettes not being vegan that I used (SUCKS SO HARD!) even though I like them very much
- The brows fighting me hard (Sisters not twins, but like, they have to at least be sisters)
I'm really happy with the eye and lip look, but the foundation is TOO DAMN dark and not the right color for me, so my sister is gonna be receiving it in the mail soon. I will revisit LA Girl once their foundation gets a few more shade ranges! I love the formula, though, and the price is right!
You can see in this photo how much my face does not match my body. This is definitely a flashback to high school for me.
I had a lovely time at the engagement party, and seeing my husband perform at Upright Citizens Brigade afterwards in the LapCox show. I highly recommend you check it out if you find yourself in LA and looking for laughs.
Also, shout out to Tyler, a hunnie who approached me at the show and told me she loves Natch Beaut. YES HONEY!
Night Two: A Sunday Wedding of two of my beautiful buddies!
I wanted to look really glam for this, because weddings are the top of the heap in terms of special occasions, so they get my top effort!
I started with my source vital custom "keep your fringe fresh" serum as always, then followed with the cover FX illuminating primer.
I said screw doing the eyes first, cause I had a hard time getting my foundation to not mess up my work last night, and started how I usually start.
I went with my Cover FX foundation this time.
This shade N25 is a great match for me (N as in NEUTRAL! They break each shade down into sub categories based on your undertone, praise GOD!), this is a vegan and cruelty-free formula (everything from Cover FX is, so there is never any guessing or googling while at the store) and this is my only high-end foundation of the moment. After last night's orange face debacle, I went straight to the good stuff. PS, Cover FX is now at Ulta, too, which is fab!
I decided to make this a Cover FX night, and mixed in my trusted enhancer drops in sunlight as well. I used it as a highlighter over the makeup also. I just love these damn drops as y'all all know by now.
I was wearing an orange tropical dress, so I decided to go orange and tropical with my eye look. I have the Yes Please palette by colour pop and busted that out.
OH and before I forget- I finally got an eyeshadow primer after Kat Bardot stressed how important they are to me. I used the urban decay anti aging eyeshadow primer and OMG- GAME CHANGER. It helped make my eyelids look younger and less bumpy, but also, look at this blending! I felt like a beauty guru!
I will say, I love the colors in this Yes Please palette, but it is nothing to write home about in terms of pigment and formula. I think it is good, but not life-changing. I am really into the tropical yellow and orange colors right now, though, and I use this palette a lot.
I did the peachy color "big cocktails" in my crease, then did a semi cut-crease with the metallic shade "Chauffeur". I put the colourpop concealer down to cut my crease, and put the metallic shade over that. The colourpop concealer btw is nothing to write home about. On my under eye, it looks very cakey and makes me hate myself. I think if you are younger or have really smooth under-eyes, you might really like it.
I did the vamp stamp again, and had a little bit of trouble again. I know I will get better with it as I use it more, but had a plan to put on insanely giant lashes so I wasn't too worried that one of my wings smudged a little and wasn't as pointy as I would have liked.
But I was very happy with the eye colors I achieved.
I also ran into some brow drama tonight, but was happy with the end result.
I decided to use one of my new giant pair of lashes from the Creme shop. These are not for the faint of heart. I had a hard time getting them on, which is usually the case for me with the less expensive lash strips, but eventually got them on and they certainly did bring the DRAMA, honey.
Under my eyes I highlighted with my Urban decay naked skin concealer, my go-to always.
I used the Urban decay shapeshifter and marc jacobs blush yet again as well.
For lips, I used my Urban decay primer that has seriously changed my game in terms of liquid lipsticks. The liquid catsuit is a fave, but it certainly can start to feather and now it doesn't at all since getting this primer.
I went with liquid catsuit in Missy and Fierce with my elf liner and lip brush in the shade appropriately named " dark red."
I topped the look off with my Cover FX illuminating setting spray.
PROS:
- The foundation actually matched me (and looks lovely IMHO)
- Eyeshadow went on like a damn dream thanks to that primer
- The lipstick also was snatched due to a use of primer
- Once again, highlight on fleek
CONS:
- Those damn lashes- just TOO BIG.
- The vamp stamp fought me a bit but I am dedicating myself to mastering it
I was very happy with night 2's look, other than the lashes. I knew they were comically big, but these are INSANE. They also flopped down into my eyes all night (I cried during the ceremony and that certainly didn't help. I felt them fill with water and fall into my eyes, and all night they didn't recover) so if I could do the look over again, I would've chosen a smaller pair of lashes. But you know what? It's all trial and error, baby. And I live with no REGERTS!
No facetuning was used in these pics just to keep it real freakin real for y'all.
Each night had it's weaknesses and it's triumphs, but at the end of the day, I looked real cute both looks. Let's all keep experimenting and slowly creeping out of our comfort zones, and have fun!
Love,
Jackie
