DIY Mermaid Halloween Costume

 Happy Halloween guys! Last Saturday, there was a Halloween party at my job which I decided to attend dressed as a mermaid. All the store-bought mermaid costumes were super cheesy-looking so I decided to make my own. A mermaid isn't relatively difficult to do.

I can't sew (but I have been wanting to learn for quite a while) so my best friend made me a simple long tube skirt out of stretchy fabric that I bought. I also bought a yard each of sea green and light blue organza fabric  and I cut them into a rounded rectangle shape. I glued those shapes to the bottom of my skirt to make look like a fishtail. I decided to wear leggings underneath so I can walk and move freely if I felt too restricted in the skirt. And also because it gets chilly at night!

For the bra, I just used a cheap sea-blue bra and glued netting over it to give it the illusion of fish scales. I then glued sequins and small pearls over it. I used netting on my face as well to create a stencil and applied eye shadow over it for the scales on my face. I then glued random sequins using eyelash glue. I accessorized with a pearl bracelet and earrings and I became a mermaid for the night!

I used this great tutorial for my makeup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e22-ZeUuaZs&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLtEzkeAMSSUq7QHohaDGlTg

 with my sister who dressed up as Poison Ivy, I did her makeup as well.

booty-to-booty with the lovely Kim Kardashian

Glam Zombie Halloween Makeup

I LOVE Halloween! The costumes, the candy, the trick or-treating. As a mom, I still can trick-or-treat without looking like a weirdo. I haven't done a Halloween look in two years, the last one I did was this DEVIL one. So I did this glam zombie sort of one for the blog. This is super easy to do. Just keep reading for more info.

I used a foundation a shade lighter than my skin tone and contoured my face with black eye shadow. I then went over the black with a violet color to give it some depth. For my eyes, I did a basic smokey eye. With a blending brush, I applied black and purple to my under eyes for that haunted look. For the wound on my forehead, I just added a glob of lash glue then let it dry. Then, I applied red shadow on it and blended black and purple around the edges. There was A LOT of use of black and purple for this look.

Information on the lace top is in this OOTD post.

PRODUCTS USED

Revlon Photo Ready Foundation "Rich Ginger"

Revlon Face Primer

Maybelline FitMe Concealer "Medium"

Jane Transluscent Powder

Wet n Wild Brow Kit

ELF Eyelid Primer

Purple, black, and red eye shadows from my Coastal Scents 88 palette

N.Y.C lipstick "Retro Red"

Ardell Fright Night lashes "Mesmerizing"

Don't forget to enter my 200 follower giveaway, you can enter by clicking HERE.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

I had wanted to do a giveaway when I reached 200 followers on GFC, now I have 220 and now couldn't be a more perfect time! I like to see this as a little token to show my thanks for all your support! I'm glad you all enjoy visiting my blog and I hope you get something out of it every time you stop by.

The items in this giveaway total up to a value of approximately $80.00 USD. The items are:

Sephora by OPI Trend Tips by Betsey Johnson (pink leopard print design)

Shiseido Shimmering Eye Cream in OR313 Sunshower (picture HERE)

Shiseido Shimmering Rouge in OR316 Perfect Rouge (picture HERE)

Estee Lauder Pure Color Crystal Lipstick in Berry Fizz Shimmer (picture HERE)

All the items are brand new and in their original packaging. Only the eye cream has been opened to be swatched. 

RULES

1. Must be a follower of my blog (you can follow via GFC or Networked Blogs located on the right side of my page.

2. Must be at least 18 years to older or have a parent's consent to enter if under 18.

3. Fill out the box below to enter.

4. This giveaway is open internationally.

5. Giveaway ends November 1st, 2012 at 12:01 am.

6. Winner will be selected randomly and will be notified by email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Firmoo.com Review

Glasses from Firmoo

F21 sweater

on my lips: NYX Matte Lip Cream "Milan"

One random fact about me: I'm not blessed with perfect vision. My vision isn't that horrible, I mainly have a probably with seeing things from a distance, so it doesn't prevent me from going about my daily life. I should be wearing glasses but I don't most of the time. VERY bad because I always end up squinting all over the place. I always put off the tedious task of selecting and purchasing glasses. Ever since I lost my last pair, I couldn't find a pair I particularly loved.

But then...

I was given the opportunity to review some glasses from FIRMOO. Firmoo is an online optical store that sells prescription and non-prescriptions eyeglasses and sunglasses. They are the most popular online optical store and they believe in the motto "Vison and Fashion the Frugal Way.' Gotta love that! They have a lot of fashionable and trendy designs to choose from. Their glasses are very low-priced and they offer a Free Glasses For New Buyers program so you can try out the glasses first.

Firmoo made it very easy for me to get glasses online. All I needed to do was get my most current eyeglasses prescription from my eye doctor and fill out the form they provide with their order. The glasses took only a little over a week to get to me. There's a variety of styles to choose them and you can even upload a picture of yourself to the website to try them on virtually.

 I love my new frames, they're classic yet stylish. The frame is very  sturdy and along with my eyeglasses, I received a case, pouch, cleaning and extra screws. All for under 25.00 USD! Which was how much the glasses I selected were worth. Can't beat that!

Check out the wide selection Firmoo has to offer by going HERE. You will see tons of stylish frames at crazy-affordable prices.

Disclaimer: This posts contains items that were sent to me for free for review consideration.

KKCenterHK Review + Discount Code!

I was contacted by KKCenterHK to review some of their products. KKCenterHK is a website that sells makeup, eyelashes and wigs at great prices. I was sent three items, next to the items listed below are the links where they can be found. For this post, I am doing reviews for the CUICO eyeshadow and the JOJO eyeshadow quad.

CUICU Diamond Powder Eye Shadow "Stone Green": 

http://www.kkcenterhk.com/1-10-colour-palette/c101/p3125/CUICU-Flashing-Diamond-Single-EyeShadow-Stone-Green/product_info.html

JOJO Eye Shadow Quad:

 http://www.kkcenterhk.com/1-10-colour-palette/c101/p3141/JOJO-Make-Up-Colors-EyeShadow-NO.J08-03%23/product_info.html

mimididi Flashing Diamond Powder No 5:

 http://www.kkcenterhk.com/m78/mimididi/p3153/mimididi-3D-Diamond-Powder-EyeShadow-No.05/product_info.html

I really liked the CUICO eye shadow, it was really pigmented and it blended smoothly with my other shadow. It has a matte finish and I just loved how rich and silky it felt on my finger when I swatched it.  I didn't have to layer it on that much in order to get a rich hue. Also, no fallout!

 I swatched the shadow with and without primer and as you can see it showed up very well even without the primer.

I would recommend this shadow for bold eye looks and it could serve other purposes such as being applied as an eyeliner with a wet eyeliner brush. And the price is great, less than five dollars and it contains 4.2 grams of product. Pretty good deal.

 I used this color to do a colorful nighttime look with a strong cat eye. I really liked how it came out, minus the ghost face.

PROS

-VERY pigmented

-Texture of shadow is really smooth and easy to blend

-Inexpensive

-Great selection of colors

-matte finish 

CONS

-Delivery wait (website is based in Korea)

My face came out super light, this foundation does not go well with flash.

Products Used:

FACE

NYX Stay Matte Not Flat Foundation "Tan"

Maybelline FitMe Concealer in 30

Forever21 blush "Pink"

NARS bronzer "Laguna"

EYES

ELF Eyelid Primer

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil "Milk"

CUICO Diamond Eyeshadow "Stone Green" (eyelid)

TooFaced eyeshadow "Stiletto" (blended into crease)

Loreal Voluminous Smoldering Eyeliner "Black" (lower lashline & waterline, crease)

Tan and Ivory Eyeshadows from Wet n Wild "Vanity" palette (browbone and higlight)

Shimmery cream shadow from "Vanity" palette (inner corner)

NYX Big Fat Eye Marker "Black"

Wet n Wild Eyebrow Kit

Maybelline Colossal Mascara "Glam Black"

LIPS

Wet n Wild MegaLast lipstick "Bare It All"

Sephora lipgloss "Flushed"

I wasn't as satisfied with the JOJO eyeshadow quad . I didn't find that it had great color payoff. The lightest color in the quad barely swatched on me. The photos I took testing the colors with and without primer almost looked the same.

swatched without primer

swatched with primer

I did a simple neutral look using the colors in the eyeshadow quad. Pretty good for everyday or you can glam it up by adding a deep red color to your lips.

PROS

-Good selection of colors

-Not too shimmery

-Inexpensive

CONS

-Packaging is annoying

-Colors in this quad aren't that pigmented

Products Used:

FACE

Clinique Even Better Foundation "Toffee"

MAC Select Moisture Cover Concealer NW35

Maybelline FitMe Powder 310

MAC blush "Stubborn"

EYES

TFSI

Wet n Wild brow kit

JOJO Makeup Color Eyeshadow No J08-03

NYX Big Fat Eye Marker "Black"

Maybelline Colossal Mascara "Glam Black"

LIPS

Loreal Colour Riche lipstick "Fairest Nude"

H&Msoft vanilla flavored  lipgloss

KKCENTERHK also has a great variety of other items to shop. And if you enter the code beautywithbrains at checkout, you get 10% off! Shop till you drop!

Disclaimer: This post contains products that were sent to me for free for review consideration.

Smokey Pomegranate Punk FOTD

I just want to start this post off by saying I have THE WORST luck with cameras. Only two years into blogging and I have gone through four cameras already! This time it was Jeremy that broke it :/. I'm hoping I can find a repair shop that can fix it until I can save up for a DSLR one finally. I think it's time that I splurge. Anyway, I've been taking photos with my iPhone and they don't do the "Pomegranate Punk" color tattoo shadow by Maybelline any justice. The pictures would've come out better if I had used natural light but these are pretty decent.

"Pomegranate Punk" is the perfect shade for a subtle smokey eye. Even for daytime! A cool tip I learned was to blend out the black shadow with bronzer. This warms up the shadow for us gals with warm skin tones. I love how soft the black looks with "Pomegranate Punk". Also with this eye look, I was able to wear  a deep red on my lips and not look like a cheap hooker, yay!

FACE

NYX Stay Matte Not Flat Foundation "Tan"

MAC Select Moisture Cover Concealer NW35

Makeup Forever HD Powder 

NARS bronzer "Laguna" (also used for blending in crease)

Latina Bella blush "Peaches & Cream" (favorite for September)

EYES

Milani Easybrow Mechanical Pencil "Dark Brown"

TFSI 

Maybelline Color Tattoo "Pomegranate Punk" (lid) (favorite for September)

TooFaced eyeshadow "Stiletto" (crease, outer v, upper lashline)

NARS bronzer "Laguna" (blend crease)

Wet n Wild Perfect Pair Eye Wand (stick shadow part) "112" (tear duct)

Urban Decay eyeshadow "Twice Baked" (lower lashline)

LIPS

MAC "Diva"

September Favorites

It has been so long since I've done a favorites post. This post has everything I adored for the month of September, you will see A LOT of these products in future posts.

FACE

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream in Medium/Deep

Burt's Bees Acne Solutions Daily Moisturizing Lotion

NYX HD Concealer "Tan"

ELF Studio powder brush

Sonia Kashuk powder brush

Latina Bella blush "Peaches and Cream"

Forever 21 blush "Pink"

EYES

ELF Beauty Eye Book "Natural"

NYX Big Fat Eye Marker

Maybelline Colossal Mascara "Glam Black"

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows "Pomegranate Punk" & "Tough as Taupe"

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil "French Fries"

Sonia Kashuk brushes (part of a 5 piece limited edition set)

LIPS

H&M Soft Vanilla Flavored Lipgloss

NYX Matte Lip Cream "Abu Dhabi"

Maybelline lipstick "Coral Crush"

Wet n Wild MegaShield Lip Color "It's A Girl"

Wet n Wild MegaLast lipstick "Don't Blink Pink"

OTHER

Loreal Elnett Hairspray

Remington Pink Ceramic Clipless Curling Iron

Clarisonic Pore Cleansing Brush

America Ferrera for Cosmo For Latinas

The Fall/Winter issue of Cosmo For Latinas is available on newsstands and it features America Ferrera, the Hondurian-American actress that is famous for embracing her natural curves as well as for her talent onscreen. In this issue she talks about being raised as a Latina and being confident in your skin. Below are some bits from her interview. To get the whole interview, be sure to pick up an issue of Cosmo For Latinas!

On knowing the role of Betty on Ugly Betty was meant for her from the very beginning: “Anytime I walk into something apologetic or wondering if I’m good enough, I never get it. There’s a certain lack of ownership that people can detect. When I walk in and own it, that’s when I usually get it.”

On her daily struggle in an industry that breeds insecurity: “More often than not, I hate photos shoots and I hate being on the red carpet. I don’t think I’m very well equipped for the scrutiny or the pressure to be perfect, and I don’t think anyone really is.” She continues, “People are saying ‘We love you and love what you do,’ and you’re sitting there thinking, ‘I’m not skinny enough or pretty enough.’ It’s taken a lot of work to get over that.”

On her determination to inspire young woman to learn from her past mistakes: “How much time have I wasted on diets and what I look like? Take your time and your talent and figure out what you have to contribute to this world and get over what the hell your butt looks like in those jeans!”

How To Wear Fall Lip Colors

Rihanna with deep plum lips

One of the biggest trends this season is having statement lips. Deep shades such as oxblood (deep red) and plum are particularly popular. When wearing bold colors, correct application is key so your lipstick can last as long as possible without smearing or feathering. Below are some steps to having your pucker looking it's best. I used MAC "Diva" for the picture tutorial below, it's a nice, rich red that is universally flattering. Enjoy!

1. Start with moisturized and exfoliated lips. This ensures that your lip color applies evenly and that there is no dry skin clinging to your lips (yuck!). 

2. Apply lipliner. You can either use a lip liner that matches your lipstick color or you can use a nude colored one. I prefer using a nude color because it neutralizes the natural tones in my lips and makes the lip stick look more true to color. It is also more economical that buying a lip liner for different lipsticks.
3. Apply lipstick (numbers 3 &4 in picture above). I apply it straight from the tude but for the edges of my lips, I like to use a lip brush as it is more precise.

4. Lock in the color (not pictured). After applying the lipstick, blot your lips using a tissue. Then, place another tissue over your lips and using a powder brush, dust translucent powder (baby powder also works) over the tissue. The lipstick will stay in place all night and not smear.

Products Used:

Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm "Quenched"

NYX lip liner "Natural"

MAC lipstick "Diva"

Prevail retractable lip liner

Fall Lip Shades I Recommend (Suitable for All Skin Tones & Budgets):

MAC "Diva"

H&M "Lips to Thrill"

Wet n Wild MegaLast Lip Color "Raving Raisin"

Wet n Wild MegaLast Lip Color"Cherry Bomb"

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick "Berry Haute"