Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's 40!!

I am! :D I don't know what it is, but I don't remember being this excited about a birthday since I turned 16.

My mom and I got a bit of a head start celebrating by going to MAC yesterday where I got myself a birthday gift! I had posted a video a few weeks ago asking for help choosing eye shadows to fill my new palette! Thanks to all the wonderful advice I received, this is what I came up with...

No Flash

 

With Flash

It was so much fun swatching and choosing! I can't wait to do my makeup tomorrow.

Oh, and I got the nice template for the label on the inside cover here. I'll probably do a video to swatch these and the VERY pretty ombre blush I picked up from their Daphne Guiness collection. It's SO gorgeous!

Smile & Be Beautiful!!

Winter Skincare - Morning Routine

I'd gotten some questions on my YouTube channel about what I do to battle dry skin in the winter. Here is my routine and my review of my first experiences using Skin79 Super+ Beblesh Balm BB Cream (Gold Collection).



These are the products I use:

Rare Minerals Renew & Reveal Facial Cleanser
LUSH Tea Tree Toner
Skin79 Super+ Beblesh Balm BB Cream (Gold Collection)
Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream

*** Since I recorded this I've also started using MAC Strobe Cream under the BB Cream and have been VERY happy with the feel & finish of my skin. It feels even more moisturized without being oily and gives a very subtle brightness.

I also try hard to drink enough water to stay well hydrated and use humidifiers to battle the drying effects of the central heating in our home. Also, regularly working up a sweat is not only good for our hearts, but a great way to keep skin healthy and hydrated too!

I hope some of these products/ideas are helpful to you. If you'd like to share your favorite winter skin care products or tips, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Smile & Be Beautiful!

Day to Night Holiday/Party Look feat. Naked2

This look was inspired by a request I received to feature the shadow "Bootycall" from the Naked2 palette and this article about frosted lashes from Beautylish.com.

Products used for this look:

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay Naked2 palette
Anastasia Brow Express kit
Physicians Formula 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eye Liner
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara
Elf Tone Correcting concealor in Apricot Beige
Milani Mineral Blush in Luminous
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in San Paulo

For the night version add:

NYX Glitter Mania in Crystal
Revlon Colorstay Lip Liner in Red
Revlon Colorstay Liquid Lipstick in Top Tomato
Milani Lip Flash in Hot Flash

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! If you use any of these ideas or recreate this look, I'd LOVE to see pictures if you want to share. Please feel free to email them to fibercrazedbeauty@gmail.com or post a video response on YouTube.

Smile & Be Beautiful!

New Videos!

And another week goes by before I know what's happened  and I haven't posted anything here. <sigh>

I've posted a few new tutorials on my You Tube Channel using this year's Limited Edition Wet N Wild palettes. If you haven't seen them, make sure to check them out if you like Wet N Wild because you may have a chance to win them!






I also filmed a tutorial for the Mardi Gras EOTD I posted a while ago. I'll update that post with the video.

Hope you enjoy them!

Smile & Be Beautiful!

Urban Decay's Naked2 Palette!

If you've been anywhere in the online makeup community in the last week or so, chances are you've heard about Urban Decay's latest palette, the Naked2. Their Naked palette last year was a HUGE success and it took many Urban Decay fans several months to get their hands on one. This year's palette promises to be almost as elusive. Since it's release on Thursday (Dec. 1st), it's sold out on the Urban Decay site at least twice to my knowledge, the first time being Thursday afternoon! Thankfully, like many others who hunted for the Naked palette last year I learned my lesson and grabbed up two on Thursday morning. I'd only done a quick bit of research before buying which is pretty unlike me, especially for a $50 palette. But I knew Urban Decay's shadows have never disappointed me and the palette seemed different enough from the first one that I didn't hesitate. I'm glad I didn't.

Here is the video I made when I received the palette. Incidentally, my package arrived Monday - only 4 days after ordering!



And here are the swatch pictures as promised. I don't do swatch pictures often for many reasons, a few being that I don't like doing them (weird for a beauty blogger, no?) and I'm TERRIBLE at it! But, for what it's worth, here they are:

No Flash, Indoor Fluorescent Lighting

With Flash - Indoor Florescent Lighting

With Flash - Indoor Florescent Lighting

 

If you have any suggestions to improve my swatch pictures, lighting, etc., please feel free to leave a  comment. I am always interested in trying and learning new ways of doing things.

Smile & Be Beautiful!

Another FOTD featuring WnW's Bake Off Contest

I DID film a tutorial for the first Bake Off Contest look which I will edit and post tomorrow. But I LOVED the dark blue in that palette so much last week that I really wanted to do something to show it off. So today I used only that on the outer half with Urban Decay's "Sin" on the inner half, a touch of "Naked" in the crease and Wet N Wild's Brulee as a highlight. I used the dark blue dry with an angled brush first, the patted a bit of it wet in the middle of the blue part to allow it to fade out around the edges.

This would be a great way to feature your favorite color shadow. If it's not a baked shadow or one that can be used wet/dry, you could use a slightly darker shade in the middle of the colored area or mix the same color with a tiny bit of black.

On my cheeks I just have a bit of Milani's baked blush in Luminous. No foundation or BB cream today. And NYX's Soft Matte Lip Cream in Amsterdam topped with their Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Cosmo.

If you like Wet N Wild's Bake Off Contest palette and have not been able to find it, make sure you're subscribed to my You Tube channel before the tutorial goes up. Trust me. ;D

Smile & Be Beautiful!

FOTD - Wet N Wild's "Bake Off Contest"

Did you ever have a day when you hadn't planned on leaving the house, but your makeup came out really nice? That's what happened today after playing around with one of my baked palettes from Wet N Wild, "Bake Off Contest". I wanted an icy blue holiday look and I really like the way this came out. I used the lighter marbleized shade and the lightest shade in the palette wet (with some of MAC's Fix+) on my middle and inner lid, respectively. I also added a bit of silver glitter on the inner corner. On my lips I'm wearing a GORGEOUS gloss from Femme Couture called "Angel Kisses". It's a lovely glittery gloss that tastes like vanilla cake batter!

And once again no foundation! Just Skin79's Super+ BB Cream Gold! I really didn't plan on jumping on the BB Cream bandwagon. However, I was struggling with my skin as the seasons changed and having difficulty finding a foundation that worked for me. So I ordered some from Amazon about 2 weeks ago and am a convert! I plan to do a review/video about it very soon! If you've been on the fence about trying it, I'd really recommend giving it a shot. It may not replace foundation depending on the coverage you want, but it certainly seems to have improved my skin's texture and no breakouts!

Now I just need to decided where to go!

I think I'll record a tutorial for this as the next holiday look on my YouTube channel. If you have any ideas for holiday/party looks you'd like me to create (or try to), please let me know in the comments. 

Smile & Be Beautiful!

Blog Neglect

Okay, so blogging is not really something I'm all that good at. I've been neglecting it terribly. Sorry. It's gotten to where I feel weird inviting people from You Tube to come read here when I really suck about updating.

That said, it is what it is and I can't add this to my laundry list of things to feel guilty about, you know? Neglecting my children? Worth feeling (deservedly) guilty about. Neglecting a blog about makeup? Not so much. :D

I'm hoping that maybe in the next few days I will be able to post some pics and write about some things since I seem to have run out of videos to edit and don't foresee any time until next week to record any new ones. I typically try to record when my little one is at preschool, but she was ill today and didn't go. I have a HUGE list of things I want to do videos for, but perhaps I can share some of those things here instead.

Seeing as it's already December (good GOD, how'd that happen?!) I am planning on doing several holiday/party look type tutorials on my You Tube channel so please check them out if you'd like. I'll try really hard to remember to take some still pics and post them here as well.

Right now I need to go wash my face (again) and attempt to get lip gloss out of my eyelashes without getting it on my contacts. Yes, you read that right. It seems my youngest is never too ill to give Mommy a makeover...