Covergirl smokey shadow blast & shineblast review

So.. I have decided that I am going to use this blog to start reviewing products. Now; keep in mind that I am a single mom on a verrrry tight budget. Anytime I make my own money and put aside a little bit to spend I always end up buying makeup.. I want to buy clothes/housewares/a haircut but I always end up blowing it on makeup. It's been this way since I was 13. So for now my rants and raves will be mostly about inexpensive products. I can NOT afford to splurge.. as much as I would love to. (I have never owned any MAC makeup). But anyways; I know that I base my purchases largely on reviews.. and I have a lot to say about a lot of products! I hate when I get psyched about a new product from one of the major cheaper brands and then I try it and it sucks. So maybe here I can save my friends and whoever else from wasting their money.. which brings me to my first review. But let me say beforehand that I really am hoping that not all of these are negative.. because that would mean that I wasted my money.

So anyways.. about Covergirl's new "blast collection"... Of course in the ads and on the website these products seem great.. and they not expensive so I was excited about it. If anyone that is reading this is in any kind of a rush I am just going to tell you right now that they effing blow. Don't waste your money or time. Don't even waste your time reading this! But if you are really that bored or interested in my opinion of these products then read on. Also; I have included a link to show the price and just in case anyone wants to do the exact opposite of what I advise and actually buy one.. .

So I am a member of an awesome website: BzzAgent; in which you are sent invitations to campaigns based on how much you have participated in the past and your interests.. and they send you free stuff! All you have to do in exchange is "buzz" about it.. AKA introduce the product to some of your friends or write a review or at least have a conversation about it. Some of my friends are also bzzagents. We get so excited when we get the products :) Aaand back on track.. One of these campaigns was the covergirl blast collection. I signed up for it and chose to recieve the smoky shadow blast in "silver sky" and the shineblast in "heat". So I got the products a few days later and I was so excited to try them. I opened them up and they looked pretty much as I had expected.  I tried to shadowblast first. Let's just say it was an extreme dissapointment. Very sheer and greasy. To achieve this look (on Drew) with just this product as shadow you would basically have to use the whole stick. It also broke as soon as my daughter picked it up and tried using it. (she loves doing her makeup and is 1 and a half.. she didn't know to be gentle with it but it definitely was very flimsy.) This totally reminded me of the Mary-Kate&Ashley shadow sticks that I used to get from wal-mart and use as a shadow base. So I guess it might possible be useful for that; but I doubt it because it is so greasy it will probably just slide off. Not worth the money no matter how inexpensive. The lipgloss I feel doesn't even deserve a whole paragraph. I had hardly any pigment whatsoever and smelled like plastic wicked bad. It had huge chunks of glitter in it that I would only be seen wearing if this was 1995 and I was 14. I never used them again. End of story.

PS: the next review I do is going to be a positive one :)

a couple pics

if you're going to be two faced

  at least make one of them pretty!

spring : )

Aunt Dorothy's new look

My Aunt Dorothy lost 20 pounds got a new hairdo and we did another little makeup makeover today! :)

Modern Pinup look

Here is my version of the pinup look, which I love: 

I did a couple different light sources, to show that although the classic pinup look is usually a lot of caked on makeup, the same look can be achieved while still looking natural! One of the most important parts of my version is a strong brow.

I personally think this is a really cool look for Prom.. and even some weddings!

spring fever!!

I can't wait for summer!!!  I know it will be just as beautiful for me as last summer was <3

summer glowy look

 Great for summer brides 

brown smokey glittery eye

Photography by Heather

I am very excited to say that I will soon be working with an awesome photographer and a wicked cool chick that I went to high school with. She can fulfill all your photography needs :) Check her out!

Photography by Heather

Photography by Heather's blog

Aunt Dotty :)

Here is my Aunt Dorothy (holding my little Stella bean right after I had her)

And here are some makeovers I did on her.. hair, makeup, and pictures:

I also wanted to just throw this one in for fun and to show what inspired me to help her look more like her glamorous self after being sober for 5 years now (so proud of her)! This is an old (1983-85) shot of her and my preggo mom.

 

wedding makeup

Here are some pics of the makeup I did for my friend Jill's wedding. I did her and the whole bridal party. Jill normally doesn't wear any makeup at all (and she doesn't need to) so she wanted a light look. here is her without makeup:

These aren't the best quality pictures or what I am trying to show, but I am going to order one of the professional photos to add here soon. They really made my job easy because they are all naturally beautiful.

 The flash on these pics is too high and made their faces a little too shiny, but the professional pictures were taken outside and that's what I designed the makeup look for.

more makeup

some more looks, with myself as a model :) I will have new better pictures soon and will be able to take these down. They are just rough examples. (you can click on any of these to see them full sized and more detailed)

Makeup

So I am currently trying to build my makeup portfolio. I am interested in sharing tips with other makeup artists, finding people who are willing to model for me, and working on my networking. As of right now I am my only model, other than what I did with Imy aunt and on Jill's wedding. Jill and all her bridesmaids were happy with their makeup, and I figure why not try to make some money off of something I absolutely love doing!