Long Time, No See

It has been far too long since our last blog update. My husband and I moved to a new home, I had my daughter, Jordan started her new job. Things have really changed around these parts.

Okay, I lied maybe a little. Things haven't really changed that much. We literally moved down the street to a bigger house for a cheaper rent. The addition of an infant hasn't changed too much since the hubs and I were already homebodies. I'm sure the new job has brought on an entire slew of changes for Jordan, the biggest of which may have been finding a sitter. Let me tell you, there are some real winners out there trying to scam you out of your dollar for the substandard level of "babysitting" these sitters offer. However, that's neither here nor there.

Jordan and I decided today that we really need to work on reviving our blog. This was a great way for the two of us to connect and enjoy some adult time while our husbands were deployed. We aren't sure where this next year will take us so we're going to live it up while we have our time. It's been a long time since the two of us have been able to get together without distractions from a toddler or an infant. Don't get me wrong, children are amazing. I never knew how incomplete my life was until my daughter entered into it. I will not lie, though, sometimes it is just nice to have adult conversation.

Tonight, I was able to do something I haven't done in a loooong time. I played with make-up! Almost all of my eye make-up has been due for a chucking and needed to be replaced for at least a month now. I finally decided to take the plunge, spend the money and do what needed to be done. It's not an easy thing, throwing away make-up just because it's older than 6 month. Especially when you know how much you'll need to spend to replace it. The plan had been to find some other women to purchase some MK products so I could place an order and fill my needs through them. That plan didn't work out so well. Long story short, I will no longer be any kind of MK consultant. That's when I decided to try to find a store nearby that sells ELFcosmetic products. Target is my hero. After a quick search on the ELF website, I found not just one but two local Target stores that carry ELF. I visited both to see which has the better selection. Sadly, neither had everything I needed but, between the two, I was able to get enough to hold me over until my order from the online store arrives. That story I will save for another day. It's a good one!

Now onto the make-up. I wanted something quick, easy and natural looking for a casual luncheon I had to attend. I wanted to look polished and put together without looking like I was wearing any make-up. Here's how it turned out:

This look is almost entirely ELF cosmetics, using only an eyeliner crayon and mineral foundation from MK (2 of the items I was able to keep and continue using).
Always be sure to wash your face. You wouldn't paint on a dirty canvas, don't apply make-up to dirty skin. After washing my face, I started with tone correcting concealer under my eyes. My daughter is going through a growth spurt and you can really tell by looking under my eyes. Next, I lightly applied MK mineral foundation all over my face. In the picture below, you'll see my brushes lying directly on top of two eye shadow colors in the eye shadow palette. Those would be the colors I used on my eyes, along with the brushes I used to apply the shadow. Taking my eye shadow brush, I applied a light, matte brown over my eyelids. Using the crease brush, I added just a small amount of a matte white to the center of my eyelid (think wanting to create the appearance of light naturally reflecting off the eye), to the inner corners and just under my eyebrows. I applied the MK eyeliner crayon in bronze to my tightline (also referred to as "waterline," the inside line of your eyelids). Using the ELF waterproof eyeliner pen in black, I applied a very thin line of eyeliner above my lashline on my upper eyelids. I finished my eyes with ELF waterproof lash lengthening and volumizing mascara. I used the ELF eyebrow kit to darken my eyebrows, applying first the lighter powder and then the darker waxier color to set my eyebrows in place. I finished the look with ELF hypershine lipgloss in berry cherry.

After playing with my own make-up, I had the itch to keep going with something fun. After spending the afternoon together, I convinced Jordan to come have dinner at my house and let me play with her face. She's never turned me down for a free make-up application. Knowing we had nowhere to go, I wanted to play with cotton candy colors. I absolutely love bright color eye shadows and my ELF 100-piece eyeshadow palette has plenty of bright colors to choose from!

I started this one with a shimmery peach (5th from left, 5th from top in palette) over her eyelids followed by a medium purple hue (6th from left, 2nd from top in palette) in her crease and her outer corner. I found the perfect cotton candy blue (4th from left, 5th from top in palette) for the outer corners of her lids and lined the outer corners of her bottom lids with a deeper blue (4th from left, 3rd from bottom in palette), using a pale shimmery pink (1st on left, 2nd from top) to highlight under her eyebrows. I also used the eyebrow kit on Jordan's eyebrows just like I used it on my own and had her finish her eyes with the ELF lash lengthening and volumizing mascara in black (disclaimer - do not share applicators! As a former make-up consultant, I have a slew of leftover disposable applicators for just about everything. Man, am I going to miss that convenience).

Always be sure to keep your brushes clean! ELF has an anti-bacterial brush shampoo that I recently purchased and fell in love with. For just $3 a bottle, too! That is totally affordable. No excuses! You don't want an eye infection, do you?