Dia De Los Muertos/Sugar Skull Inspired Make Up!

"Next year, I'm going to have my Halloween costume planned out so I'm not rushing last minute again."

Does that statement sound familiar? I find myself saying it every year and I think I procrastinate that much more the following year!

Well, last weekend I went to a Dia De Los Muertos themed event and I thought I would share what I chose to do for makeup. Hopefully this might be helpful to other fellow Halloween procrastinators if you need something simple and easy to do.

I love the endless creative possibilities that you can do for a sugar skull make up look but I couldn't commit to a whole face of make up at the time, so I opted for a simple half mask look. I did a very basic look that can definitely be amped up and be very intricate (I only took about 30 mins to finish my look). The best part is, it costs close to nothing to achieve because chances are you own everything already!

**I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos. I didn't plant to actually post about this so all of them were taken on a shitty phone and filters had been added to most of them.**

What you'll need:

White face paint (I purchased the cream kind in a tube at Rite Aid for 99 cents!) 

Concealer or Foundation in a color several shades lighter than your skin tone. The lighter, the better!

Black liquid liner

Black gel liner

Black eyeshadow

Red Lipstick

Angled brush

Foundation brush

Optional: Setting Spray

Optional: White or Translucent setting powder

Optional: Rhinestones & Lash Glue (I just placed a rhinestone at each end of my eye for a touch of sparkle but you can incorporate them into your mask as well)

Tip: I tried applying the white face paint by itself and it was awful! If you decide to use a cheap brand like I did, make sure to mix in some concealer or foundation. This will make it apply much smoother and I found it applied best with a foundation brush. 

I used the gel liner for my nose, the line that goes from my mouth to ear, and the scallop detailing on the tops of my cheeks. I used the liquid liner for all the other line detailing and lower lashes that I drew below my lower lash line. 

The pictures blur out the detail but I also used black eyeshadow to contour over the gel liner on the sides of my cheeks.

*I did apply a translucent powder over the mask portion of my face and also used a setting spray all over my face. Everything stayed in tact for the 7 hours that I had this on.*

For the flower crown, I just went to the dollar tree and picked up some fake roses. I simply pulled off the flowers and hot glued them to a black elastic headband. You could also glue them to a ribbon if you have a larger head or for more secure wear. 

Actual Products Used for the half mask:

Rite Aid brand White Cream Makeup

Hard Candy Glamoflage in Light

ELF Studio HD Powder

Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Liner in Blackest Black

Jesse's Girl Liquid Liner

Black eyeshadow from Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette

Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Icon

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

*Some direct links have been provided via ShopSense*

Birthday Week[end]

It feels like ages since I have posted something...7 days to be exact. What is this madness?!

Well my birthday was on Saturday, the 17th, so I was a little pre-occupied with party prep and pre- celebrations this past week.

On my actual bday I had an evening bbq at home with some of my very best friends. It was wonderful. 

So wonderful in fact, I didn't take many photos. FAIL. What started as an intimate, chill, bbq, turned into a night of drunken shenanigans that I can barely remember. Jameson was flowing, beer pong was going, people taking shots out of a beer bong, and enough food to last a week! So in a nutshell, it was a great night!

Here are a few photos that were taken before the festivities:

Tarte: Maracuja Lip Exfoliant

Dry, chapped, flaky...words I never want someone to utter when referring to my lips.

I could never get myself to spend money on a lip scrub so I always went the DIY route: olive oil, honey, and sugar as well as the occasional tooth brush on the lips. The homemade scrub worked but it was pretty messy and I was always too lazy to make a new batch every couple months (sad, I know). The toothbrush method worked as well but it didn't always exfoliate my lips as much as I wanted it to.

So I was always back and forth: should I get the Lush lip scrub, or maybe the Fresh one, or maybe the Sara Happ one, or maybe my favorite from back in the day; The Body Shop Lip Scuff... ahh, it was just annoying really that I couldn't get myself to spend the money on any of them! Of course, put anything that has a panda on it in front of me and I'll justify the purchase. Ridiculous.

Anyways, a few months back, Ulta had their 20% off anything in the store coupon so of course I had to decided to pick up some new products to try. One of those items: Tarte's Maracuja Lip Exfoliant for $16! What? How? I don't know what I was thinking, well I wasn't thinking...I swear, that rare 20% off makes you feel like you have gold or something!

Not gonna lie, I mainly bought it because I thought the packaging was super cute and I like almost everything I have tried from Tarte, and again that damn 20% off...it made me do it.

So the verdict?

Perfume Samples: Getting Organized!

Let me first start off by saying I loathe perfume samples....if you subscribe to any of those monthly beauty subscriptions (mainly Birchbox), I'm sure you feel my pain on receiving perfume samples that you can get for free pretty much anywhere. I am also a big Sephora online shopper, so I have obtained quite the collection of perfume samples that just get stashed in some drawer or put away in some black hole, never to be seen again....until now.

During a little cleaning session today, I came across a bunch of those "useless" perfume samples and was determined to make them Useful, or at least store them where they would have the potential of being useful. That's when I decided I would have to store them in a way I could see them, still look pretty, but without getting dusty or being a cluttered mess. So here is my solution and it cost me less than $2!

What you'll need:

• An empty clear jar with a lid (I just cleaned out a used Bath & Body Works candle)
• Self Adhesive Rhinestones (I purchased a sheet of these at Michaels for $1.19)
• A butt load of perfume samples

During my recent visit to Michaels, I found these sheets of self adhesive rhinestones on sale for $1.19. They were in the Quincenera section (I should have been from Latin America in another life, all the glitter and sparkle in that section...heaven). These were great because you can individually use the rhinestones or just pull the whole strand and apply it which is what I did for the lid. 

Talk about a time saver! It literally took me less than a minute to apply and viola! I was done! So simple right?! Now I might actually use these samples because I can see them all in one place! They are actually great when you are using a small clutch or going on a short trip...You could even place one of these jars in a guest bathroom for others to enjoy! Cheers to cheap DIY's, recycling, and smelling good!

xoxo,

Kristina