Beauty Products To Take With You Anywhere

"They don't know you like I know you. 

I know they don't."

~ your makeup bag ~

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We all have those beauty items we can't live without. I totally get it. They're a part of you. For me, staples would include an eyeliner, mascara and a few lippies. You never know when you'll find yourself in desperate need of a classic red and a classic nude lip. Some women bring their whole makeup counter to the gym erstwhile others enjoy the minimalist approach. Whatever category you fall into, you deserve to feel happy and confident in your beauty toting decisions. If you're looking for a few small updates for your to-go bag, look no further than these little beauties.

Smashbox Try It Kit, $24
Get it here.

Not only does this bad boy come with a mini smudgeproof, water resistant cream fiber infused Full Exposure mascara, it also comes with a full size waterproof, as black as your soul Always Sharp eyeliner. The self sharpener is awesome, by the way. One can easily make a cat eye without having to be a makeup Jedi. The mini lipstick also easily fits in your pocket and this soft mauve color is universally flattering. One can also multitask by using the Photo Finish primer to tame hair frizzies. It works. We swear. And you're welcome. Heh. Heh.

Dermablend Compact Setting Powder, $27
Get it here.

Ahhh, Dermablend. You're my boy, blue! Dermablend's loose, translucent setting powder is one of the best selling setting powders in the world. Now it comes pressed for all your beauty toting, touching up needs. Allow me to point out that no one, and I mean no one, ever wants to cake on makeup. This powder is a great option for simple oil-absorbing. You can also rub a little on your finger and press it into your lipstick and lipgloss for longer wearability. Who's multitasking now?

Tarteist Pro Glow To Go Palette, $23
Get it here.

What is this? A center for ants? Nope. But it is a center for anyone who wants to tote around some bronzer, highlight and a neutral eyeshadow palette. The contour color is fab for selfies and depending on your hair color, you could hypothetically use it in the brow as well. The two shimmers are also very luxe and look great under the brow and inner eyelid.

Juice Beauty Age Defy Solutions Kit, $40
Get it here.

First things first, this kit is the realest. Perfect for airplane travel or the gym bag, this kit contains minis of the Green Apple line which helps address initial signs of aging and helps to correct dark spots. I've also been guilty of pressing this serum on over my made up face for a quick boost of hydration and radiance. This line is organic, contains malic acid from organic green apples and a potent age-defying cocktail of Peptides, DMAE, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C and CoQ10. We simply can't get enough!

Batiste Cherry Travel Size Dry Shampoo, $2.99
Get it here.

Dry shampoos will help combat a sweaty gym hair situation as well as add volume. Spray your roots, then blow dry and brush your hair upside down. The hidden bonus here is that you'll smell like cherries. Not the pits. At all.

Clarins Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil, $26
Get it here.

Comforting your cracked lips has never been easier. This nourishing lip oil also comes in three semi-transparent, non-sticky shades. You never know when your lips will need a little love while you're out and about. You'll also fall in love with the size of this lip oil. It's pocket perfect.

Take these little guys anywhere and you're

sure to have a rockin' beauty day.

Enjoy, friends.

Style Sighting: Chrissy Teigen Rocks DSquared2 At SAG Awards

The stars came out in full force on Sunday, January 29th for the annual SAG Awards. 

Among some of the nicest red carpet fashions was Chrissy Teigen's black, front-slit dress by DSQUARED2. The black stretch-crepe Alicia gown takes a glamourous spin on classic DSQUARED2 suiting, which is channeled through a long, belted gown with side slit and blazer details.

Chrissy Teigen strikes a pose on the red carpet.

Chrissy rocks a vibrant statement lip.

In addition to Chrissy keeping the dress elegant, she opted for a pair of sleek, strappy sandals. She finished off her look by pairing drop earrings with a long necklace that complemented her plunging neckline.

To replicate her beauty look from the SAG Awards, opt for a pop of color on the cheek with understated eyeshadow. The focus is all about the statement lip. A red lipstick with an orange undertone adds a modern twist on the classic red lip. See below for some of our favorites. Also, check out this amazing article that will show you step-by-step how to recreate her soft curls. 

Ellis Faas Hot Lips in L402, $35.
Get it here.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick, $20.
In Shade Spicy
Get it here.

Chrissy Teigen smiles at the SAG Awards with
Ryan Gosling and husband John Legend.

The cutest couple ever!

Happy New Year: I Publish My Blog Stats Part Two

Hey, world! Happy New Year!


New year, new number. Another day, another dollar. 

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Welcome to part deux of me publishing my blog stats. We're hoping to not stop the feeling and do this yearly since we've put that time in and went through the grueling first four years. We're making an extra effort to show you yearly growth since now we're at a point that it's getting exponential year versus year. We'll go into detail later. We promise. We're super excited and I truly appreciate all of you- friends, followers and readers alike.

Anyway, craziness in 2016 ensued and I kind of sort of took a very long sabbatical on writing regularly. But this is why your social presence is important. Writing amazing? Hashtag no. Again, everyone has a different creative process. I refuse to write when I'm not supercalifragilistic feeling expialidocious. However, it's a new year and I'm back. Please accept my writing hiatus apology. I love yous guys!

Scars make you beautiful and sometimes life happens. Sometimes the poopy emoji happens. But your circumstances will never define you, friends. Anyone that knows me personally knows that 2016 absolutely sucked. Major life events happened meanwhile it seemed like Mercury was in retrograde the whole friggin' year. At least that's what I'm continuing to name adverse circumstances. Feel free to do the same. Lols. Cover up the pain and cut her woes away because cover girls don't cry after their face is made.

In that same breath, pain has made me stronger. It's forced me to become more focused. I'm also getting to know what I'm capable of regardless of any given situation. In that same breath of suckiness, I've deepened friendships and advanced my career. I'm very thankful for that.

JK. I've always had one.
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It's weird because most of you only know me as an online presence. But I'm proud to say that I'm continuing to work in-store doing what I love... makeup. I'm busy not thinking about me and my suckiness. I'm teaching women to feel confident and beautiful through the power of makeup. We're all special, friends. I'd be such a dim light if I didn't get to meet so many amazing women by doing their makeup as a pro artist. There's an inherent reason why I meet women. I feel like there's a greater purpose here than just making myself happy. Yes, there are days I'm not happy. But I leave that in the parking lot and look forward to meeting women in droves. One cried in my chair. One said I made her day. Another told me about her divorce, another about the loss of her baby, another about the loss of her job. It's society's job I believe to throw some positivity into their life. In a way, these women are healing me. Women need to group together, man. I thoroughly thank my girlfriends and family who were there for me to remind me who I am. I'm forever indebted to their kindness during a time when I was so fragile a gentle wind could of blown me away.

Now... onto the disclaimers, disclaimers, disclaimers before the numbers, numbers, numbers.

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- I'm still not tracking Facebook. It's not you, Facebook. It's Twitter. We're in a serious relationship and sometimes you've got to make choices with regards to what your favorite marketing channel actually is. Focus on one, especially if you have limited time. Truth. Be ruthless. Heck, be limitless to how much you focus on that one thing.

- Remember when I said that 2016 absolutely sucked? Well, I focused for a while on Vine and racked those views up to almost a quarter million before Vine announced its impending death. Here is where it's good to have several social accounts so that you're not putting all your eggs in one basket. Anyway, Vine is not dead and from what I'm hearing is that the site will still be up so that they don't erase everyone's hard work. You will soon just not be able to make new videos. Sucky news. Totes blaming this on what? Mercury being in retrograde. Of course. I've also been told, which sounds worse, is that they will let people have time to download their videos before it becomes inoperable. What am I going to do? Put those downloaded babies on Instagram or Twitter itself... or both just to be safe. Most of you know I've been cautious with starting YouTube. I'm already a partner which means I get paid per thousand views. Vine was an easy transition because it's only six seconds of video. How badly can one really screw that up? Oh well. Onto another thought process. I might just go gangster and try that whole several minutes of video thing. 

- Thanks, 2016, for axs.com absorbing all of my examiner.com articles. Not to mention, Mercury was in a hurry to give us loyal contributors time to save or transfer our articles. While I have digitally saved some of the texts, I should of really started from the beginning to print them all so you could see the images as well and then insert them into a binder. A binder full of men binder? Maybe. Shame on you for relying on digital and what you think is a completely unbreakable techy system. So basically... what had happened was (lol) is that if you click on one of my previous examiner.com links, they auto-forward to axs.com homepage with none of my articles present anymore. Bring on the poopy emoji. It's totally relevant here.

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- I started Instagram this year. Cue in the slow clap because you're all thinking I was roaming around with Chris Pratt in the Jurassic period of dinosaurs. I honestly started it while at The Makeup Show in the end of January. I just knew it would be another social account that I would have to keep up with. Lols. Anyway, I do like it and it's actually shorter for me to post a pic of a makeup look rather than make a lengthy YouTube video. My only advice is to hashtag the poopy emoji out of your posts if you have a public account. Kind of like Twitter. Yasss.

- Any stats before 2014 are still unavailable on Twitter and Pinterest. Could of, should of, would of kept track. Wa. Waa. Waaa.

- 2016 was an election year. Say hello to my little friend, @BiglyYOLO! You guys thought #bigly might go away. Heh. Heh. You only live once...

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Again, this blogging experience has been and always will be done in the name of love. In the end, not everyone is going to understand your mission or end game and I'm here to tell you that's okay. Suck it up, honey. You're fabulous and that's all you need to know or care about. This goes for every person on the planet in every career choice known to man. You, my friend, might just be going through something. Those that are not here for a reason or a season will continue to be there throughout your lifetime.

As always and to date, I've not spent a dime on promoting any of my posts, blog or social-wise. Part of what's super cool about what I'm trying to show you is that if you have a will, there's a way. Develop your skills and give yourself some time to become the web superhero I knew you were meant to be. Any person or business with a little time and motivation can do this. Trust me. You got this, bro.

Anywho, without further adieu...

Google + Total Views........................................ 1,172,495

Twitter Impressions Sept 2014 - Dec 2016........... 469,007  

Vine Loops / Views.............................................. 193,112

Blog Views........................................................... 136,504
Pinterest Impressions Feb 2014 - Dec 2016.......... 188,584
Instagram Likes Since Jan 2016............................... 11,116

Total Views........................................................ 2,170,818

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*drops mic*

*walks off stage*

Sit Still And Look Pretty

I don't wanna sit still and look pretty...
Pretty is so overrated if I can't hold a conversation with you. Here. I've got an idea. How about you eat that makeup so your interior can match your exterior? If you've got some good intentions and a beautiful mind, you can be a part of my clique. I ain't sorry. Lemonade. The world is already full of indifference and plenty of narcissistic people. 

What kind of impact will you make on the world, darling?
Think about it.

Videos Of The Week: Holiday Edition

Happy Holidays!

Everything I Do With A Passion: I'm #CRZY Over These Holiday Beauty Sets

I'm just counting, counting blessings

because I'm going crazy over all these 

limited edition holiday beauty collections...

Pur Cosmetics Transformation Eye & Cheek Palette, $32
Shop It Here.

Pur's new palette is life itself. Including a cream blush and bronzer for a radiant, soft look is amazing and super blendable. Also, the five shadows are true to life color without needing an eye primer. Formulated with Moroccan Lava Clay, we enjoy pressing them onto the lid for super pigment and then blending out the edges with a fluffy blending brush. Also, try wetting any of the shadows and applying them as a super vibrant eyeliner. Finally, consider upping your matte eyeshadow game by adding the gold with your finger to the center of the eyelid or the inner eyelid for a sophisticated glimmer. One thing as a pro artist tip, I relish mixing mattes to ground the look and then glamming it up with a bit of shimmer.

Smashbox Light It Up L.A. Lights Blush Palette, $39
Shop Ulta Here.

This blush palette contains quite possibly every blush, highlight and contour a person may ever need. An Ulta exclusive for Holiday 2016, this palette boasts nine shades with an easily sanitized packaging for pro artists and makeup enthusiasts who enjoy wiping things down with rubbing alcohol. One shade is a bronzer while three shades are highlights for a perfect daytime friendly highlight. A pro tip is to try these as shadow. We love mixing the gold highlight under brow, the bronze as a crease color and for the lid pick your fave shimmer. Depending on your hair color, you can also use the bronze to fill in your brow with an angle brush.

NYX Cosmetics Liquid Suede Lipstick Vault, $50
Shop It Here.

These long wear matte lipsticks are every girl's dream. Pocket perfect for the on-the-go application, you can intermix any of these 24 shades to come up with any color known to man on Planet Earth. Daring? No Problem. Nude? Here's your gorgeous everyday color. Rocking the 90's brown trend like a trooper? Your dreams have come true. Classic like Marilyn Monroe? You need this. Trying a poppin' Instagram dangerous shade? You got it, baby. I go crazy. Baby, if they askin'...

Bath & Body Works, Pumpkin Is Back!
Shop Them Here.

Pumpkin is back and comforting you with mixed scents of caramel, lattes and marshmallows. You had me at Hello, Bath & Body Works. Say no more...

Enjoy, friends. 

And don't forget to count your blessings this holiday season.

Much love.