Makeup Monday: My Real Techniques Collection

Happy Makeup Monday!

Now, if you are like me and are obsessed with makeup, you will understand the frustration that is finding the perfect makeup brushes at a reasonable price and good quality. Well, thanks to the fabulous Tanya Burr and her soon to be sister in law, Samantha Chapman, I have found my perfect brush(es) match!

 

I found these brushes at Walgreens (in the States) and could not believe the prices! They were so reasonable and the quality was amazing! I am in love with my Real Techniques brush collection so much that I refuse to buy any other types of brushes!

 

 

So for Makeup Monday, I've decided to share my Real Techniques brush collection and tell you about how I use them. Sorry they are a little dirty because I use them on a day to day basis so its hard to keep them in mint condition..

 

 

So lets start with all of my face brushes:

 

 

Expert Face Brush: $8.95 at Walgreens

 

This was the first brush I bought and it is one of my favorite ones because it is quite dense and blends well. I used this mainly for primer, because I have such red skin, it helps to blend the primer beautifully into my skin without any streaks. You can also use this for foundation.

 

 

 

 

Powder Brush: $8.83 at Walgreens

 

This is a brush that I used everyday and it's one of my must haves because its sets powder without it looking too powdery.

 

 

 

 

 

Blush Brush: $8.99 at Walgreens

 

This is another brush I use everyday and it sets the blush without it looking too harsh because of its light bristles.

 

 

 

 

 

Core Collection: $15.18 at Walgreens

 

The Core Collection comes with the Contour Brush, Pointed Foundation Brush, Detailer Brush and the Buffing Brush.

 

 

 

The Contour Brush is just like its called and is used to contour. I like this brush, but it is not one that I use everyday because I don't contour my skin, but when I do it works really well.

 

 

 

 

The Pointed Foundation Brush is normally used for liquid foundation, again I don't use this brush too often since I use other brushes for foundation, but again I do really like this brush.

 

 

 

 

The Detailer Brush is great for little spots that you need to cover up with concealer.

 

 

 

 

The Buffing Brush is my #1 brush of them all. I use this brush for my foundation because it blends and buffs it into my skin to make it look natural and flawless, which is something I need!

 

 

 

 

Now on to my eye brushes:



Shading Brush: $5.99 at Walgreens

This is a great brush if you want to go for a great smokey eye. I find, because of its dense bristles, it makes the eye pop more and with it you can create some beautiful looks.

 

Starter Set: $15.49 at Walgreens

The Starter Set comes with the Deluxe Crease Brush, Base Shadow Brush, Accent Brush, Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush and the Brow Brush.

The Deluxe Crease Brush is another one of my favorite and most used brushes. You can use it to blend eye shadow into your crease, but I use it for under my eyes for my concealer. I find that it is light enough to not pull on my skin but blends and wakes up my skin flawlessly.

The Base Shadow Brush is another brush I cannot live without. I used this everyday all over my lid and its fluffy enough that it makes blending colors easy and effortless.

 

The Accent Brush is what I use for my brow bone and under my eye if I put shadow there.

 

The Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush is perfect for gel eyeliner. It's extremely dense so it doesn't smudge eyeliner all over your eye.

The Brow Brush is great for filling in your eyebrow with eye shadow.

 

Overall, these brushes are incredible! I have nothing bad to say about them and everyone who I've talk to just obsesses over them. I haven't completed my collection yet, but I will someday!

I hope you enjoyed this weeks Makeup Monday! Leave a comment below to let me know if you want to see a tutorial or another "collection" of mine. Also, please go and follow this blog, my Polyvore, Tumblr and Instagram.

Have a great week and come back on Friday for a new Fashion Friday!

~Nicolina xx

Fashion Friday: Top 10 Looks from Spring 2014 Haute Couture Collections

Happy Fashion Friday!

So this week was Spring Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris, a week when the best of the best of fashion present the most magnificent outfits and gowns that only the elite are able to wear. Most of these outfits and gowns are one of a kind making them priceless and memorable.

There are only a handful of designers that are considered to be "Haute Couture" which means high sewing, some being Chanel, Christian Dior and Givenchy. To become a couture designer, you have to be a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and your pieces need to meet certain standards.

I went through all the collections from this past week and I decided to pick my Top 10 outfits and gowns, but I'm only choosing from designers that are members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture or who are correspondent members.

Top 10:

Atelier Versace

 

 

This suit is absolutely gorgeous! I love the tailoring and the hood just adds a chic touch to this beautifully made suit. Donatella Versace said that her inspiration for this collection was a strong and powerful woman, like Grace Jones, and this entire collection definitely embodies that look.

 

 

Top 9:

 

Giambattista Valli

 

This collection was fun and youthful with its extremely high hemlines and bright pops of color. This dress was my favorite it because its different, yet stunningly beautiful and I could see Blake Lively wearing on the red carpet.


Top 8 and 7:

Valentino

 

I LOVE Valentino because when I think of the brand, I think of romantic gowns and stunning embroidery, and that's exactly what was presented in this collection. Valentino's inspiration was the opera, having the opening piece be a gown designed with the score of one of the opera's that inspired the collection on it. I though that these two gowns embodied the romantic essence that I love from Valentino.

 

 

Top 6:

 

Armani Privé

 

 

This gown by Armani Privé literally made my mouth drop to the floor. Usually Armani is very striking with his collections, using intense fabrics and colors to leave a memorable impression, but this dress was just the opposite. Its color, fabric and detailing took my breath away making it one of the most memorable dresses in my eyes. I pray that someone wears this to the Academy Awards and if not... I might cry.

 

 

Top 5, 4 and 3:

 

Elie Saab



What can I say? Elie Saab is literally a fashion God! His collections are the ones I look forward to seeing the most during fashion week, and he never disappoints. His dresses are always red carpet ready and always make the best dressed lists because of their classic silhouettes and glamour. He used some beautiful colors in this collection, including soft blush rose and different shades of purple. If no one wears any of his pieces to the Academy Awards (which I highly doubt no one will) I will also cry...


Top 2 and 1:

Chanel

 

 

 

As you will probably come to find out the more I blog about fashion, Chanel is my all time favorite designer. I have studied Chanel for a few years now, both in college and on my own, and I just cannot comprehend the genius that is Karl Lagerfeld. With this, in my eyes, being one of his best shows yet it makes me desperate to see what this man comes up with next. Now I know Chanel isn't for everyone, but to me there's just something so mysterious about Chanel and I love how Lagerfeld takes pieces from Coco Chanel's older collections and revamps them into show-stopping outfits and gowns like these two dresses. I don't think I will ever stop loving Chanel and hopefully someday I will be able to see one of Chanel's show in person.

 

 

 



I hope you enjoyed this weeks Fashion Friday! Make sure to follow this blog, my Tumblr, Polyvore and Instagram!

Have a great weekend!

~Nicolina xx

 

 



Makeup Monday: Queen Elsa Tutorial

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

And also Happy First Makeup Monday!!!

I have been working on this tutorial for about two weeks now! I went to the movies two weeks ago to go see Disney's Frozen and since then I haven't been able to get the characters, music and story out of my head!! The movie was incredible and all I do now is sing the songs and watch clips of the movie, aka I'm addicted...

"I'm Olaf! And I like warm hugs!"

While watching the movie, I took mental notes on Queen Elsa's makeup, because it was just so beautiful and she is also my favorite character! So I decided to do a makeup tutorial based on Elsa's makeup. This makeup tutorial is really simple and fun! So I hope you like it and if you have any ideas for a future tutorial, leave a comment below!



Queen Elsa

These are all of the products I used in the tutorial:

 

 

So I first started off with a fresh face (and of course Elsa's hairstyle):

 

 

 

Starting with my face I used Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Foundation in the color 10 Classic Ivory. I then used my Real Techniques Buffing Brush to blend it all over my face.

 

 

 

 

Next I used my Rimmel London Match Perfection Concealer and Highlighter in the color 125 Fair, using my Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, under my eyes to brighten any dark spots.

 

 

 

Next I used my Rimmel London Stay Matte Powder in 001 Transparent to set the foundation using my Real Techniques Powder Brush.



 

 

Lastly, for my face, I used my L'Oreal Paris True Match Super-Blendable Blush in the color True Match C5-6 Rosy Outlook/La vie en Rose. I used this on the tops of my cheek bones, lightly brushing this on with my Real Techniques Blush Brush.

 

 

 

 

I then went and filled in my eyebrows to fill in any gaps with my MAC Charcoal Brown Eyeshadow, using my MAC 266 Brush.

 

 

 

 

Now for the eyes: I used my bhCosmetics Cool Shimmer Eyeshadow 88 Color Palette. I used four colors circled below (unfortunately they do not have specific names, so I labeled them by number).

 

 

 

Using Eye Shadow #1, I used my Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush to blend it all over my lid, crease and brow bone. Then I used Eye Shadow #2 on the inner corner and middle of my lid, blending it out towards my outer lid. I also used Eye Shadow #2 under my eye to make the color pop more.

 

      

 

Using Eye Shadow #3, I put it on the outer corner of my lid, blending it with Eye Shadow #2. Next I put Eye Shadow #4 into my crease, while blending it in with the other shadows.

 



 

 

 

Next I used CoverGirl Perfect Point Plus in the color 200 Black Onyx to line my eyelash line and my water line.

 



 

 

Next, I used my Too Faced Lash Injection mascara on my top and bottom lashes.



 

 

Lastly, I used one of my favorite products, Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in the color 010 Raspberry Pie.

 

And this is the Final Look! 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial and leave a comment below if you have any ideas for future tutorials! Also remember to follow me on my Polyvore, Instagram and Tumblr.

 

~Nicolina xx