Beauty for the Economically Challenged

There’s almost nothing worse than waking up late with only a few minutes to get ready for class/work/whatever.

If you’re like me, this happens to you at least once a week. But you don’t want that to mean that you have to go to class/work/whatever looking like you just rolled out of bed, right? Right.

Because I’ve had so much practice, I’ve perfected the look-good-in-ten-minutes technique. The hardest part of this is that you have to skip the usual ten minutes of crying and self-pity that comes with having to get out of bed and go to class/work/whatever in the morning.
Oh wait, I’m the only one that does that? Whoops.

Anyway, if you prefer to accentuate your eyes in that slim time frame, this post is for you.

Also, I realize that you can’t really see my eyeshadow in the first picture and that’s because my eyes are so deep-set that my eyeshadow pretty much disappears when my eyes are fully open, unless it’s nighttime and my eyeshadow is really dramatic. (If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this without looking like a streetwalker, let me know!)

Start with your usual face routine. That shouldn’t take you too long. If it does, then you should decide for yourself what to eliminate or change, because you know your skin best and what looks best. For example, my foundation has enough coverage that I could skip powder and/or concealer if I needed to. 

Since the eyes are the main focus of this look, you can skip things that might distract from them, like blush. Don’t freak out! It’s okay. 
Instead of blush, just contour your cheeks lightly, with a few swipes of matte bronzer under each cheekbone. If you’ve practiced contouring, and know how to do it, this should take as much or less time than putting blush on. If you haven’t practiced contouring, go do it. Now!
I like contoured cheeks without blush because it looks natural and again keeps the focus on your eyes.  

I also didn’t put anything on my lips at all. I know it’s weird, but as you can see my lips have a lot of natural color so when I’m in a hurry I often throw whatever balm I find first into my bag for when I need it later. If you want some color on your lips, I’d choose a pale pink (pale, not icy!).

Okay, now for eyes. Use a medium gray shadow all over your lids. Grey is really really ‘in’ right now, and I think it’s really chic, hence the title of this post. I used Pistol from my Naked 2 palette.
Then, use a blending brush or something like it with some subtle silver or light gray shadow on it. Without being too worried about precision, blend it on your browbone and down to your inner corner. This adds a bit more dimension to the medium grey. 
Don’t be too picky, this look is quick for a reason, and the shadows do well together so you don’t have to freak out about getting it perfect.

Then, use a black crayon or pencil liner on your top lashline, wing it out just a tiny bit, and  on the outer 1/3 or 1/4 of your bottom lashline. Smudge it out a little.
And last but not least, your favorite mascara.

And you’re done! That was easy, wasn’t it?

xox

Noelle Alysse 

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING. GO TO EYESLIPSFACE.COM OR TARGET OR KMART. AND BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!!!
If that ^ is all the you get from this review, then that is totally fine.
This is going to be a rather short review, because really all I can say is that I love this product. It blends well, doesn’t crease (unless you put too much on, but that’s true for any primer, no matter how expensive/good it is), and goes on really nicely. In fact, even though it comes with a little brush to put it on, I use my finger, just because I like it better and I feel that I have more control that way. 
I’ve used this primer with powder and cream eyeshadow, and purposefully didn’t wash it off at night (bad, I know, but I wanted to test it out) and woke up in the morning with still-perfect eyeshadow. I repeat, I woke up in the morning with still-perfect, creaseless, eyeshadow. Is this stuff magic?!!
The only complaint I have-a very minor one-is that it feels pretty greasy when you first put it on, but the feeling subsides within 20 seconds.
And as a reminder, this is just the Eyelid Primer, not the Eyeshadow Primer. I haven’t tried the Eyeshadow Primer because I don’t feel any need to. 
Also, in true E.L.F. fashion, this primer is $1. ONE. DOLLAR. Can you beat it? No!
I give it an A! 

If you have a different opinion, please please please let me know! As I say and will say in every review, I made this blog primarily to learn, and I would love to hear what you think too!

xox

Noelle Alysse 

I really only use neutral colors with eyeshadow. I’ll talk about why in another post, I don’t want to fill this post with that because it’s kind of off-topic.
So, when I got my Christmas money, I decided to use some of it to buy my first ever high-end product. Yes, I said it. My first ever. Naturally, I wanted to buy Urban Decay’s Naked palette. To save money, I bought it from Amazon for a grand total of $38. The seller had 100% good reviews, and some of the reviews were from people who had bought the Naked palette from them before.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I received it in the mail and realized that it was fake. 
The first and easiest way to tell that it’s fake is if it comes in this box: 

If your palette comes in that box, it is fake. No matter what.
The second way to tell that it’s fake is when you open the palette. It just looks like bad quality. The squares aren’t cut nicely to fit the eyeshadow, and the printed names aren’t centered with the squares. Here’s a close-up. If you look at the edges of the rectangles, they’re kind of jagged and imperfect, and the letters aren’t centered with each shadow.

Another way to tell that it’s fake is the print on the back of the palette. On the real palette, the print is on a sticker. On the fake palette, the print is on the palette itself.

And then, of course, the quality of the shadows is terrible, especially the lighter colors. A few of them, especially Sin, Naked, and Sidecar, don’t show up at all. The darker colors do show up but are kind of odd to apply.

Luckily, I contacted the person that I bought it from, and all was solved. She belongs to a sort of company that buys large amounts of makeup products and then sells them on Amazon. She had turned to a different supplier than usual to buy this specific set of the palette, and wasn’t even aware that they were fake until about two hours before I received mine. She gave me a full refund, AND is sending me Naked 2 for free, and I get to keep the fake Naked. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but whatever.

So, I guess the moral of the story is, if you’re unlucky enough to receive a fake Naked palette, don’t stay quiet! Do something about it. Of course, it’s best to buy your makeup from the store, but I live in a small town in Maine, and the closest Sephora is at least 45 minutes away. If you do buy from Amazon or Ebay, check the seller’s reviews and check the buyer protection policy to make sure you’re protected if you do get a fake.

xox

Noelle Alysse