This Week's Wrapup // Leslie Knope's Power Gaze and my The Giggle Guide Article

This week I was terrible at taking photos of my daily makeup looks, sorry!! I started with a few rough days at the beginning of the week, plus a city council meeting yesterday that I had to get all fancy for. And of course I missed out on snapping pics each morning, but I did recreate yesterday's very Leslie Knope style makeup today. Here's what I came up with:

Leslie's power gaze:

My power gaze: (had to take photos in our company's bathroom, which has it's original 1920s wallpaper still...it's very yellow)

With my demon eyes, but no editing whatsoever for these makeup capsule looks! 

Here are two more photos of my look, both with demon less eyes, yay!:

It's soooo weird taking a selfie with closed eyes! 

I think she used more gold eyeshadow that what I did. I went with a pink-ish combo. Here's my version:

Naked2 Palette by Urban Decay, worth the splurge in my opinion.


Kind of similar, right? I love Parks and Rec, so I thought it was only appropriate that I at least try to look like Leslie for a day full of Knope-ish tasks. Unfortunately, I didn't have a power suit to wear, but I still repp'ed the ladies at this all male meeting. I felt pretty good about it!


Some super exciting career news: I got hired this week to write for The Giggle Guide, and I'm very excited about it! My first article was published this week, read it HERE. I might be bouncing up and down with joy right now!! This month has been a lot of hard work but getting another writing gig definitely makes it all worth it. It's one step towards my ultimate career goal, and I'm pretty excited about it! If you are also blazing your own path, please send me an email or comment below with all your achievements this month too. Seriously, list them out and brag away! No matter how small, they are all steps in the right direction. I submitted about 30+ resumes to get one job this month, but one job is worth it. Hopefully this trend continues, fingers crossed.


As far as weekend plans go, the hubs and I have dinner plans Saturday night with some new friends (Paige, the amazing lady behind the blog Healthy Hits The Spot HERE, and her equally cool hubs), then some minor apartment prep work for a walkthrough next week by our landlord (more on that later), and some writing and yoga. Might check out a new church too. All in all, I'm looking forward to the weekend and the month being over, because that means a new budget! I might do some planning for that as well, we'll see how it goes. A book I'm looking at getting is this one HERE, How To Be Parisian Wherever You Are. Sounds like a fun twist on all the typical "being French" books out there. I'll let you know if it's a good read.


xoHM

Makeup: Ups and Downs, Plus Makeup Capsule Product Update

You know those days when you have a really good makeup day, and you are genuinely impressed by how you managed to get your face to look that flawless? Then, the next day after that, you do a 180 and can't seem to get even the simplest of makeup basics right? Welcome to my weekend.

It was all good on Saturday. I didn't even spend that much time on makeup, mainly thanks to this new capsule. Everything stayed put, didn't need touching up, basically it all around rocked.

Then came Sunday, and it was all wrong. First, I did outdoor yoga in the morning without any makeup at all, just sunscreen. And that was a lot of fun, I highly recommend doing that whenever it's offered in your town. (Check a Lululemon in your city, they offer free Sunday yoga here in SLO). But I couldn't get my makeup right for the rest of the day. Very frustrating.

On these days I feel like nothing is working, I just keep it to the basics. Mascara, simple coverup, light blush, natural brows, and Chapstick. Nothing looks better than a natural, healthy face in my opinion. No eyeliner, shadow, or lip gloss. I was excited and a little apprehensive to try these new Chapsticks from Birchbloggers (check BB out HERE, and Chapstick out HERE). While I love a good lip balm, I unfortunately have a terrible track record with what actually works and what just sits on top on my lips. You know what I mean? The balm that just feels waxy? Well, Chapstick has definitely made me a fan. Their sticks are so perfect for moisturizing you don't even think about it. And they are huge! How awesome is that?! It's about time a lip balm was sold in a bigger tube than a tampon! Haha sorry but you know its true! ;) 

I was given two dual end Chapsticks to try (and you can sign up with Birchblogger to try out stuff too) and I have to say I like the Night and Day one better. The other one, Moisture and Renew, I only really like the Renew end. But hey, three out of four isn't bad! They are very absorbent, not at all waxy, and really do revitalize dry chapped lips. Can't beat a product that lives up to what it says on the packaging. 

Also, I'm switching my mascara choice to this one by Urban Decay after getting a sample of it in my Ipsy glam bag from August (see it HERE). It adds a ton of length without clumping. The only downside I've seen is that it kind of sweats off during the day, but it's been pretty hot here lately, and I can't complain about when it happens at the gym (whoops, I workout in makeup!). It's not everyday it does this though, and I like the product otherwise. So I'm going to try it out, and just throw on a little bit of under eye coverup on those days it needs it.

I'm dragging my feet on picking my lipgloss/lipsticks, aren't I? Sorry about that. It's been a million degrees outside so putting anything on my lips thats glossy doesn't sound fun at all. I'll get myself organized soon though, I promise. 

Have a great Tuesday! 

xo HM

*Birchbloggers did not compensate me to write this, but I did get these Chapsticks for free. I highly recommend signing up for this program if you are a blogger yourself. 

Capsule Makeup For Fall '14

You've heard of the capsule wardrobe by now I'm sure. As I mentioned last week, I am currently getting my wardrobe picks finalized, and then right in the middle of it all, I had an epiphany!! Huge lightbulb moment! What if I applied these very same rules and principles to my makeup?! Genius maybe, kinda stupid to some, but to me it sounded like the exact challenge I needed. I'm so damn tired of it taking me 20+ minutes to get my day makeup on every morning, so I'm going to capsulize my routine. It's not that I wear a ton of products at once, I just have about a million options available, and that takes time to sort through/decide on what to wear. My makeup capsule is going to involve a very small (to me) selection of makeup that I will use exclusively for each season. I'm going to not buy any makeup at all during the current season, and I'm even going to put my makeup samples from Birchbox and Ipsy on hold (or I'm going to try to anyway, need to email them about that!). I want to invest in more expensive/nicer makeup, so this will hopefully help me realize what I truly want to splurge on. My philosophy is: you can never know what you need until you get rid of the excess. Here's to hoping this works (and that I don't go crazy for eyeshadow palettes come winter!).

Here's the checklist if you want to do this too:

-One foundation or BB Creme
-One concealer (try to use a universal one if possible)
-One blush
-Bronzer (only if you need it)
-One eyeshadow palette
-One brow filler (shadow or pencil)
-One eyeliner (crayon)
-One eyeliner (liquid)
-One mascara (+ curler, I'm not really counting this as separate from mascara)
-Brushes: keep this as limited as possible, and try to get a multitasking one if you can
-Lipstick/gloss: limit to 3 options only (not including chapstick, that's more of a moisturizer to me)

-Not included: face moisturizers, SPFs, primers, smudgers, etc.

Here's my selection, with links:

(If you look closely, you can see my crappy pedicure...)

Let's see what we've got here: 

-Foundation: L'oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder in Classic Ivory HERE

-Concealer (that poor label, guess I use this a lot): Maybelline Age Rewind/Dark Circle in Light (I think, it's faded) HERE

-Blush: City Color Be Matte Blush in Fresh Melon HERE (Ipsy fave)

-Bronzer: Smashbox Bronze Lights in Warm Tan HERE

-Blush/Bronzer brush: Old, it's Smashbox (it came with the finishing powder I bought for my wedding)

-Eyebrow shadow: Smashbox Photo Op Eye Trio in Focal Point, using the brown shade obviously HERE

-Eyebrow brush: Sephora (old, similar HERE)

-Eyeshadow: Urban Decay palette Naked2 HERE (includes a double sided brush)

-Eyeshadow brushes: the one included in the palette and this one too (I don't know where I got mine but the link is to a very similar one)

-Eyeliner (Crayon): Noir Cosmetics Long Wear Eyeliner HERE one shade available only (Birchbox fave)

-Liquide Eyeliner: Maybelline Line Stiletto Ultimate Precision Liquid Eyeliner HERE in blackest black

-*Mascara + curler: curler is old but mascara is Rimmel Scandalous Curve in black HERE

-Lipstick/gloss: TBD (I need to think about this for a little bit longer)

*This might change, I'm on the fence about it. I'll let you know what I end up with. 

Not pictured: my eyeliner crayon smudger. I love this one, but I don't love the eyeliner it's attached to. So I kept an old used up liner and continued to use the smudger. (Also, I'm being told that "smudger" isn't a word, but that's impossible since I use it just about every day, right? Is that how words work?...)

Also not pictured: this eyeshadow primer. It's a sampler packet from Urban Decay, and I would strongly suggest getting it before you buy the full product to see which one you like best. Plus each sample lasts me about 7ish wears, crazy right? I literally just got a month's worth of free primer! Samples man, I live for them! Ugh, not getting Birchbox and Ipsy is gonna be HARD!

I haven't picked my lipstick/gloss choices yet but I'll have those ready this week. I need to see what I'll realistically wear and what will go with my usual heavy eyeshadow/liner. If anyone is interested in what moisturizers and SPFs I use please let me know and I'll link ya up! 

I'm really happy about dialing down my makeup. And to be clear, I only wear makeup because it makes me happy. I go without it when I don't feel like putting it on. I don't need it in my life, I just like it. It's fun to try new looks and tricks. It's my most versatile accessory and I think of it just like that--an accessory that isn't needed but is nice to have on when you feel like it. Please keep this in mind for all my future makeup posts and for yourself as well. You are way more beautiful as yourself than with makeup on. 

Have a good night,

xo HM