Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

          My brows are definitely the most overlooked part of my face. Since the beginning of using makeup, I always focused on eye shadow and later liner because I thought that my brows are fine as they are. However, I slowly realized that my brows just don't look as nice as I thought (sparse in the end and a little messy) when I started college. My realization was there, but I still didn't do anything to make my brows look better. I have never tweezed my brows before because the tweezing part seems a bit painful. My mom always had tweezed her brows and my older sis has been tweezing since high school. No pain no gain right? I don't remember how this happened exactly, but I might have asked or my mom may have suggested that I tweeze my brow.  So on one summer morning, I closed my eyes and let my mom do the tweezing.  It was painful and I was a bit disappointed when I looked in the mirror. My brows looked cleaner, but I think she pulled out too much hair so my brows were pretty short. 

          I decided to grow them out and start to tweeze them myself. I mainly just tweeze out the little messy hairs growing not in line with my brows. After I started tweezing, I still thought that my brows were not the way I wanted it to be. So, I slowly started filling the sparse areas on my brows with brown eye shadow. That's how I started using makeup on my brows. I later switched from using eye shadow to brow pencil and used the pencil to define it. My brows do look better with the help of my brow pencil. The first brow pencil that I owned was from Korea. It is a dark brown color because black would make my brows look too intense. I think you're suppose to use a color a shade or two lighter than your hair color. 

           As my brow pencil from Korea was almost used up, I needed to buy a another one. I did some research and heard a lot of good reviews on Anastasia's products. After looking at their products, I decided to buy the brow wiz in brunette. Brow wiz is a twistable brow pencil and there's no need to sharpen it. This pencil also has a brow brush at the end. This brunette color looks very similar to my Korean one, so that's why I bought it.  I was a bit surprised when I opened the package because the pencil is very thin, just like pencil lead. I thought it would break easily and not last me long. Therefore, when I used this pencil for the first time, I didn't press hard and lightly filled in my brows. The pencil doesn't feel that fragile when I actually used it. Also, the color when applied to my brows does look like I used my Korean one. So, I am kind of glad that I bought the right color. I've been using brow wiz for a while and it is still going strong. Ever since using makeup on my brows, I felt more confident and my face does look more defined. Nowadays, I don't leave the house without using my brow pencil. 

            Overall, Anastasia's brow wiz isn't too bad, but I think I want to get a brow pencil that is slightly thicker. Even though I tweeze and use makeup on my brows, I still have room for improvement. One day I'll get the right shape for my brows. 

P.s. - Brunette is now called dark brown.

J.R. Watkins Foot Repair Salve

          As mentioned in my post a while ago, I bought a J.R. Watkins lotion and foot repair salve set. Winter is approaching and my foot has gotten more dry and rough. I had to wear socks to sleep just so I don't have to sleep uncomfortably with my dry/crack foot. My dry and rough foot reminded me that I had this foot repair salve and I want to give it a try. 

          The foot repair salve is packaged in a round tin container. It is made with peppermint oil and smells minty. The directions said to apply the foot repair salve at night and wear socks over your foot.  By tomorrow morning, your foot should feel a lot smoother. The salve feels oily, but not super oily to the point that you need to wash it off. I rubbed the salve on both of my foot and wore socks over them. The next morning I certainly did not see much results, but that is kind of expected since I only used it once. I continued to apply this every night and my foot does feel smoother and less dry/cracked. So, the foot salve is a pretty good product because I could see results and the ingredients are simple and natural. This winter doesn't seem too bad since I have my foot salve. 

Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Eye Shadow

          I haven't been shopping for quite some time at a beauty store. So I decided to get myself something little as a treat. I was walking near my favorite brands and I remember seeing this Josie Maran eye shadow before, but at the time I was not really interested in trying it.  The way this shadow separated (water on the top and shadow on the bottom) does not look like it would apply well. Also, I didn't have a lot of time to look at it closely so I didn't consider buying it. 

          This time around though I had a bit more time to look the shadow and a coconut water shadow is kind of interesting since I have never used one before so I decided to give this shadow a chance. The store had four colors and I carefully dabbed a little bit of each shadow on the top of my hand (I shook the bottle to mix the shadow and water). I went with rio de rose gold after testing out the colors. 

           This eye shadow is packaged in a glass bottle and has a cap on it, while the applicator(like ones used in lipgloss) is packed separately.  I shook the bottle to mix the contents well before applying. The directions said that a little goes a long way so I lightly dipped the applicator in the shadow. I used the applicator and dotted the shadow on my eyes. Then, I used my ring finger to blend the shadow. This eye shadow feels cool and is a shimmery pink gold ( looks more like a peachy gold on me). Unlike my shimmery powder eye shadows, the shimmer from this coconut watercolor does not fall out (so nice). I'm actually glad to have tried this out because I got more than I expected. This is truly the most unique eye shadow that I have ever owned so far.

P.s. I thought this shadow was made using coconut oil the first time that I saw it. (-_-'||)

Rimmel Exaggerate Eye Definer in Noir

          My sister used rimmel's exaggerate eye definer eyeliner for awhile and it was because of her that I started using this liner a little more a year ago. The eyeliners that I have used in the past smears a lot and her eyeliner barely smudges so I wanted to give this a try.
          This rimmel's exaggerate eye definer eyeliner is a retractable pencil and has a sharpener and smudger on the tip. Also, this liner is waterproof and said to be able to last for 10 hours. I have never put on just eye liner (always with primer and eyeshadow).  However, for a few days last year I didn't have time to put on eye shadow so I just put on primer and this liner. My sister always put on just eyeliner (no primer) all the time so I figured that I can do that too since her liner barely smears. Unexpectedly, the top of my eye lids was covered with smeared eye liner by the end of the day(wasn't really happy about that...). I thought to myself maybe this liner isn't for me.
          But I decided to use it again since I have not used this liner with eyeshadow.  This time around my lids looked perfectly fine and the liner didn't smear on them.  My waterline did smear though, but it was definitely not as bad compared to the liners I used in the past.  From this experience, I found out that my eyelids are not suitable with just eyeliner and primer.  I have to use primer and eyeshadow together in order to have smear proof eyeliner.
          I generally use this eye liner for quick makeup in the morning, formal events and on the go touch ups.  This eye liner does get dry, but it will be fine after sharpening.  Overall, this eye liner is a good buy for such good quality.

Benefit Stay Don't Stray

          I had a mini benefit's stay don't stray primer for a while, but I forgot where I put it. So, I wasn't able to use it. A few days ago I remembered the primer and searched everywhere in my room in order to find it. I finally found the primer, which was in a drawer near my bed, after I sat down and thought real hard where it might be.

          This primer has an applicator like the ones found in lip glosses and is a light/medium color. At first glance, the color of the primer looks like my UD one. However, my UD primer is colorless when applied, while benefit's primer would leave the light/medium color. Benefit's primer is also more on the liquid side and easy to apply. I think this primer would be a great base color and I later found out that benefit's primer can be used as a primer for concealer as well (pretty nice). Next time when I use concealer, I will use this primer and see how well it works.   

Make Up Forever Mini Birthday Set

          I got this little set as a gift for my b day with the liner and brush that I bought.  This set has a mini mascara and mini lipstick. The packaging looks like a brief case.

          The mascara is called smoky extravagant and it is suppose to increase volume of your eyelashes. The brush has a round base and thin tip that resembles a pine tree. The tip of the brush is said to be able to emphasize and separate lashes. I used this mascara for my look today and was surprised on how great a rounded base is. The base definitely made my lashes look fuller right after I applied it, but my lashes didn't hold up to the volume and fell flat pretty fast. It might be my technique or my lashes might need a bit more curling. Overall, the mascara was not bad.

          The lipstick is called rouge artist natural n9 and it is suppose to be moisturizing and provide a soft shine. I actually didn't want to use this lipstick at first because the color looks really dark. However, I already used the mascara so I thought to myself, why not use the lipstick as well. I applied it on my bottom lip first to check out the color and it wasn't really dark to my surprise. I guess there's no reason to not use it then. The lipstick does feel soft. This set is decent overall! 

Birthday Diamond Candle Ring

          After burning my birthday candle for three times.....I finally got my ring. I was so excited when I saw the foil wrap. The candle smells really good, so that's a plus. I blew the flame out and waited for the wax to cool off a bit. Then, I got a plastic fork and scooped it out. It wasn't too hard using a plastic fork because the wax was soft and warm. I slowly unwrapped the foil and the ring was inside a little plastic bag. I'm pretty sure it's a $10 ring. I was a bit disappointed at first, but I know that not every candle would have a real diamond ring. The thought of the candle is what makes the ring precious to me. The whole process of getting the ring seemed long, but it ended so fast :(... At least I got a new ring (it's actually slightly bigger than my ring size) and a very nice smelling candle.