Simple
Quick
Elegant
Quick
Elegant
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Could it be that I've finally fallen in love with a MAC mascara? I'm a colossal fan of so many things from the brand (among them, Face & Body Foundation, Volcanic Ash Exfoliator, and just about any lip gloss item), but the mascaras have never, well...moved me.
Until now. Haute & Naughty is MAC's latest mascara offering, and while it has a ridiculous name - not to mention a tube that looks like it was designed by Christine Taylor's character in The Wedding Singer - the mascara itself ROCKS. Haute & Naughty gives you two application options in one tube. Unscrew it from the sparkly purple cap, and you'll reveal a fat, fully-loaded brush. Unscrew from the pink cap, however, and it's a whole different ballgame. This action will pull the brush up through a narrow tube, wiping off most of the excess product. This process is actually rather fascinating; I stared, open-mouthed, like a four-year-old, as the same brush appeared from the tube looking either fat and loaded up, or skinny and clean. So how well does it work? Well, Sparky Purple, as I like to call it, delivers fat, bold lashes in just two coats. Awesome if you're a mascara application pro and/or you don't have the time or patience to carefully apply coat after coat. Relatively speaking, though, the formula is rather "wet," so if you're not careful you can end up with a gloppy mess. Just keep your hand steady and go for it. Swoop, swoop, and you're done. On the flip-side, Hot Pink allows for a much more controlled application. With one or two coats, you'll get a natural look, but keep building, and you can achieve some serious volume and length. The best part about this lighter application is that it manages to maintain AMAZING lash separation, coat after coat. To recap: if you're going for a natural look, or looking to add just a touch of mascara to lower lashes, 1-2 coats of Hot Pink'll do it for ya. And if you're looking for length, volume, and separation -- and have some time and patience to apply several coats -- Hot Pink delivers here too. So, if you're looking for multiple options in one sparkly, 80's inspired tube, go for Haute & Naughty. Available now from MAC and Nordie's for $18. OMG, can we talk peel-off masks? Seriously, just thinking about them reduces me to tweenspeak. During my high school years I LOVED a good peel-off mask; I used to raid my mom's skincare stash on the regular, looking for something I could slap on my skin and then slowly peel away.
Right! Moving on. Boscia's new Luminizing Black Mask satisfies the nostalgic craving for a peel-off mask in a major way. It goes on thick, black, and shiny, and you can feel it drying and tightening up. I love that feeling! Instructions say to leave it on for 15 minutes, but depending on the humidity level and the amount you've applied, it may take a little longer to dry. Here in Hawaii, even in my air-conditioned house, I needed 25 minutes because of the incredibly high humidity. And upon peeling it off? I'm gonna have to break out the OMG again. I could actually see little bits of dry skin and well, crap, for lack of a better word, attached to the mask. It was like a light version of a Biore pore strip, but for my entire face. And afterward, my skin felt smooth and soft, not tight or dry. Now, a key point: the secret to a great peel off mask experience is to resist the urge to blend or "feather" the edges as you would with any other face product like moisturizer, primer or foundation. If you apply the mask too thinly at the edges, it'll be difficult to peel off evenly. Make sure to apply a thick, even layer, and pay attention to the edges, around your hairline, jawline, eye sockets, and mouth. Thickness is the key! That said, you might have a few stray bits stuck to your face after you peel the whole thing off. Not to worry; just rinse with warm water and you're golden. Overall, I'm loving this mask for both nostalgia factor and effectiveness. Highly recommended! In this tutorial we’ll teach you how to make your nails look like turquoise stones, but instead of using black as the accent color (which would make it quite literal) we’re using gold for a slightly softer and more glamorous look. Here are the 6 simple steps:
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