SHE SAID - Fall Look #1 (Green to Gold)

You like Fall?  So do I.   Let's do some makeup.

SHE SAID - How To Know When To Buy (Part II)

First off, if you haven't read Part I of this topic, I definitely recommend you do!  Now, on to more ways that I talk myself out of (and in to) purchasing things!

I mentioned in Part I that I stalk the product.  It's true - I try to not do impulse buys.  Part of my stalking strategy includes watching YouTube reviews/tutorials of the product.  One tip when doing this is to watch reviews done by girls who match your hair color/skin tone if possible.  I realize this isn't always easy - but it'll help you get a better idea of what a particular color of any product will look like on you before purchasing.  This tactic definitely helps when purchasing drugstore makeup since they typically do not have tester items.  

For department store makeup, you have the luxury of testers at your fingertips!  You can swatch to your hearts desire to know instantly if you do/do not like a particular color of product.  At a makeup counter you can also have the workers test the products on you.  If you're not sold completely on a product while in the store, have them put it on you then wear it out of the store, away from the salesperson, out of the fluorescent lights, and in to your every day life to see if it really fits YOU.  You are the only person who can decide that, and sometimes you need to sit with it for awhile to know if you're sold on it.

Now let me tell you my biggest secret yet about buying...ok, so it's not a secret, but it may put a new perspective on your buying.  As I mentioned in Part I, Derek and I budget our spending money monthly.  I usually spend the largest chunk of this money on food, so with whats left over I really can't get much makeup.  SO.......I don't really buy makeup until I have an 'event' happening.  What does that mean?  Well, it means I hold out on buying makeup until it's my birthday, Christmas, or a vacation.  Yes, that's right, I just tell myself NO until I have an event.  Of course there are many items I wish I could by whenever - but I tell myself no now, so later I can tell myself yes (yep, that's a Dave Ramsey saying, hah).  Honestly, all of my 'high dollar' purchases have been during an event, or given as gifts, so the rest of the year I'm typically just buying small purchase items here and there (such as my two new gorgeous Maybelline lipsicks pictured in Part I).  

So now that you know my purchasing secrets, does it change how you'll shop for your makeup? 

SHE SAID - Sleek Purple Eyes

Need a super easy go-to eye that's interesting enough to look like it was difficult to create?.....did that make ANY sense....no?  Well just watch and see what I mean.

SHE SAID - What a Weird Color...

What a wierd color...that's what I thought the first time I saw MAC "Club" eyeshadow at the counter.  And instantly I was in love.  This is a really versatile and fun color to use - here's just one example of an eye look you can do with it!  Also I rig up a neutral lip.

SHE SAID - Where Did You Get That?

So you've heard me gab a few weeks now about products I enjoy...so where do I actually buy them?!  Watch this video to find out!

SHE SAID - How To Know When To Buy (Part I)

Two Maybelline pretties
I bought this week

There's about 45,000 cosmetic products out there.  And if you're like me, you want about 43,961 of them.  Seriously.  So how do you decide when to pull the trigger and spend some cash?  To each his own on when/how/why you want to spend your money, but I want to tell you how I decide to spend.  I've decided to break this up into two posts so I can say everything I want to say on this subject...which is quite a bit!

As you already know from the origination of the blog, Derek and I are Dave Ramsey enthusiasts.  AKA we're stingy with our money.  Kind of.  Basically, we try to budget and not waste money.  Within our budget, we're each allotted $65 of "blow money" every month.  No, that's not drug money, hah, that's blow as in spend-on-whatever-you-want-moolah.  We include eating out individually in that category, so $65 really doesn't go too too far for each of us.  With such a small budget I must choose what I buy very wisely! 

For starters you should know that I do not include my "must haves" in this budget (don't worry, Derek has OKed this!) - for me this means mascara, concealer, and foundation.  If I want to buy additional mascaras, concealers, foundations that DOES count as a blow-money purchase.  Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you the 3 steps I follow when I'm deciding what I'm willing to blow my money on:

1) I think about it - I mean really think about it.  How often will I use the product?  Will it go bad before I use it up?  Do I have other products like this already?

2) I weigh the price against other things I may want to spend my money on - This is going to sound like a joke, but I often times think of money values with the scale of "how many Subway sandwiches will this cost me?" - seriously.  I love me some Subway!  I now also use the weight of 'how many lipsticks could I buy instead?"

3) I stalk the product - I watch multiple YouTube reviews, read articles, gaze longingly at it a few times in stores.

Those steps may sound extreme, but it keeps me from making impulse buys that I'll later regret.  In Part II of this post I'll further discuss how I decide when to spend, and discuss how I choose colors of whatever items I buy (credit to Leah Graham for requesting this topic!)

SHE SAID - Gameday Makeup

Let's Go!  Hokies!  Let's Go!  Hokies! 

If you're a Virginia Tech fan like me, then you can easily hear that chant roaring in your head, see the excitement in the stadium grow as "Enter Sandman" beings, and view a sea of orange and maroon bobbing up and down as the crowd stars jumping.  There's truly nothing like Tech's entrance if you're a Tech fan.  

But you don't have to be a Tech fan to appreciate this gameday makeup tutorial - switch it out for any team colors you choose!  Just watch and learn the strategy!

SHE SAID - Cheap Lipstick Goodness

As I mentioned in my last video, I don't own a high end lipstick.  It's true, believe it or not!  Now, I won't promise that I'll never buy a high end lipstick (I can feel that purchase coming on in the next few months...)  Let me explain a bit why I've yet to make that purchase plunge.  I once watched a video/read an article (honestly can't remember) of a source I apparently trusted that explained that lipstick is super cheap to manufacture because it's mostly wax.  Since it's so cheap to produce, there's honestly no need to pay the big bucks for it.  All drugstore lipsticks I've purchased have been between $0.99 and $6.00 = very affordable.  Often you can find them on clearance for significantly less than their original price.  Do some of them smell cheap?  Yes.  Do some of them need a bit of gloss over top to not feel dry?  Sure.  But each time I buy a drugstore lipstick I'm saving nearly $10 bucks.  So wanna see the goods?  Below is a picture and swatches of the drugstore lipsticks I have.  And honestly, I've gotten great results from every single one!

SHE SAID - Mascara Tips and Bold Lips

There's about 874 bajillion types of mascaras out there to choose from - how do you know which one to pick!?  Don't they all do the same thing?  NOPE!  Who knew?!  So seriously, how do you decide?  Well it depends on what you're looking for in a mascara.  Are you looking for length, volume, or both?  Are you looking for a bold black color, or a natural brown?  The main thing is you have to shop around - try out a few to decide what formula, brush shape, and color you prefer.  One thing to keep in mind is some mascaras have interchangeable wands.  If the brush will fit in the container and will seal closed, you can switch out a brush you don't like to one you prefer more.  Test it out next time you find a brush that you love or hate! 

Ok, now that we've discussed mascara, let's talk about bold lips!  Anyone can pull them off!  All you need is a little courage and a dash of confidence.  So go on, pick out a bold color and WEAR IT.  Don't just let it sit in your makeup box - wear it!  Let me show you how!  ((Just ignore the botchy editing at the end of the video, hah.))

SHE SAID - Brighten Your Eyes Girlllll

Want your eyes to look brighter and more alert?  Let me show ya howwwww.

SHE SAID - My First Time

Some girls fantasize of their first time years before it happens.  Some girls, like me, obsess over it for a few months before biting the bullet and giving in to temptation.  I wanted my first time to be special.  I wanted it to be perfect. I planned out exactly what I was going to do.  Then I finally DID IT....I bought my first MAC makeup.  

I'd heard of MAC makeup growing up, but never got around to buying any.  In 2009, Derek and I moved to Lexington, Kentucky.  Since we didn't know anyone, we spent a loootttt of time online.  This was when we discovered the process of subscribing to people on YouTube and following their video posts.  I learned there was such thing as a 'beauty community' on YouTube - a place for people to review makeup, do tutorials, and share their love of makeup/beauty.  Whhhaatttt?! - I never knew such a place existed!  I would watch beauty videos for hours.  Literally, hours.  After watching so many of these videos, I was craving purchasing some MAC eyeshadows.  

I thought long and hard about which ones I'd purchase first.  Department store makeup isn't cheap, so I wanted to spend my money wisely.  I finally decided on three colors: Carbon (black), Cork (medium brown), and Sketch (darker purple).  With these three colors I can create a plethora of eye looks.  I'll make a video dedicated to these variations if you'd like!  Just let me know!  

SHE SAID - Makeup Brushes

For some reason when I was little I was reeealllyyy into lipstick brushes.  I was such a little diva! - an elementary school kid obsessing over lipstick brushes?!  Ok, ok, do you remember the cheap-o brushes you get with waterpaint sets...well, that was my "lipstick brush".  I would NEVER use it in paint - it was used solely for applying lipstick/chapstick.  I remember this one pot of coconut chapstick that I loved to apply at bedtime using my lipstick brush.  It went on so smoothly!  One day, I couldn't find my lipstick brush.  Ends up, my brother had taken it...and used it....and used it....and used it...in PAINT!  (the horror! didn't he know that was NOT a paint brush?!)  I remember crying to my mom "HE RUINED IT! HE RUINED IT!"...seems so silly now, but it paints (pun intended) perfectly how my makeup addiction started early on.  So speaking of brushes...let me show you a few of my current favorites!

SHE SAID - Makeup Journey

Take a journey with me down memory lane...a makeup journey.  It's probably one of the worst best memory lane strolls many of us could make!  

White Eyeliner - Many of my fellow makeup lovers probably know that white eyeliner can be extremely useful!  I use it almost daily to brighten my inner corner or rim my waterline.  However, in 8th grade, I hadn't learned those nifty lil' tricks yet.  I just used it as normal top-of-the-lash-line eyeliner.  As you can imagine, it looked a bit...odd.  

Not-Exactly-A-Wing-Eyeliner - Yes, yes, another eyeliner mistake.  Years before I comprehended what winged eyeliner was, I was apparently attempting to do it.  Kind of.  All I would do is take a black eyeliner and draw it out past the end of my lash line--just straight out--there was no triangle/wing shape, it was literally just a singular line.  In 10th grade, a boy said to me "Why do you draw those lines on your face?"  I think that was the last day I ever did that.

Black Eyeshadow Blobs - In high school, I remember thinking if I added a bit of black to any makeup look it would make it more dramatic.  I'd do a lighter color on my lid, then just pop some black in the outer corner with my finger.  Looking back, this would have been fine if I'd just blended out the black into a gradient instead of a blob.  But who knew eye makeup brushes existed?!?!  Not this girl!

There, I've told you some of my embarrassing stories...anyone else willing to spill?

SHE SAID - Parts of the Eye

This title is really boring...but it's exactly what this video is about - parts of the eye in relation to makeup terminology.  Many of you will already know these terms, but hey, it's my first video, so watch it anyways just for kicks! :)  

SHE SAID - 7th Grade Magic

7th grade - the magical year I was allowed to start wearing makeup to school.  This was a BIG MOMENT for me.  As I mentioned before in a previous post, I've loved makeup from a very young age, but up until 7th grade I was always playing with makeup.  This was the real deal - I was growing into a young lady...ok, ok, let's be honest, I didn't really blossom until about four years later, but you get my point.  

My mom knew this moment was special for me, so she made a big to-do about it - we ventured to the department store to get my first 'real' makeup.  Fancy, huh?!  I remember approaching the makeup counter, and I swear - I swear - it had a heavenly glow around it and I heard angels singing.  (Ok, maybe that was just the fluorescent lights and music coming out of the ceiling speakers, but let's not go spoiling my glory).  My greedy fingertips quickly found the dozens of eyeshadows that were on display as samples.  I tried to keep my cool and downplay how excited I was, but I can distinctly remember thinking makeup shopping and swatching colors was the absolute COOLEST.THING.EVER.  Funny thing is, fifteen years later testing out makeup is still one of the things that makes me happiest in life!  After a bit of swatching, mom allowed me to get three things: 1) pressed face powder, 2) blush, and 3) a duo eyeshadow of neutral browns. We then went and got clear mascara to keep with the don't-over-do-it-you-are-only-twelve theme (smart parents).  

I carried my shiny new powder compact around with me 24/7!  Bringing out that jade green piece of plastic in public was like a badge of honor for me.   Wearing makeup made me feel pretty-and knowing it was department store makeup-now THAT made me feel sophisticated (ohhlala).  Like I said, my parents had me keep it very natural and basic for starters, so it wasn't until 8th grade when my previously inner makeup-explorer made its outward public debut....don't worry, I'll tell you alllllll about that in another post.

SHE SAID - In The Beginning...

In the beginning God created a girl that loved her some makeup. Ok, so maybe I wasn't a makeup lover from birth, but only because my little baby brain didn't know it existed yet! Once I was introduced to makeup as a toddler, it was all downhill from there.

My mom used to let me play in the makeup she no longer used, so my tiny little kid hands went to work. What I remember most vividly was acting as if I had my own makeup TV show when I was about 4 or 5. I had a lighted mirror that I would cut on after turning off all the lights in my room, then I would place a towel around my neck/shoulders, and my show was ready to begin!  Apparently I thought doing makeup was super messy and towel-worthy (or maybe my mom made me do that come to think of it...who knows?!)  Anyways, I'd begin each show by saying to the mirror (AKA - my loving imaginary TV viewers) "Now remember, your face is your canvas and you are the artist".  Seriously, I would say that - I'm not joking, hah.  I would have so much fun just playing with the makeup and feeling proud of myself for what I'd created. Little did I know (since internet was yet to be widely introduced) that I was going through the motions of what so many fellow makeup lovers would be doing on YouTube 15 years later - sharing makeup tips, exploring creativity, and being all-around-flat-out-no-lie-obsessed-with-makeup.  So I'm late to the blogger/YT game make-up wise.  Oh well, you gotta start somewhere!