'Tis the Season for Limited Editions

'Tis the season for limited editions. Christmas is my favorite holiday in some respects and in the same respect my least favorites season. Con = all the shopping for gifts stress. Pro = all the shopping; LIMITED EDITION makeup value sets, palettes, colors, and so, so many deals. 

Some of the limited editions will never return and some will return next Christmas season. Some will continue after the Christmas season but not at the great holiday prices. Overall limited edition value sets are my absolute favorite thing about the Christmas season. I can't stand how cute the sample size items in the Sephora Favorites holiday sets are and all the amazing packaging. I would have loved to have a Benefit Cosmetics advent calendar as a pre/teen. I didn't even know they existed until this year and I am obsessed. So enough about me lets get into the good stuff. I'm going to let you in on all the best holiday limited edition products, sets, and gifts. These items need to publicized or I know tons of you are going to be upset when you see them on Pinterest later only to find out that they aren't in rotation anymore. 

Best Limited Edition Color Palettes: 

1. Bobbi Brown's Warm Glow Palette, $75 - absolutely my #1 x-mas list item! Gorgeous and I do mean gorgeous faux crocodile case. If I miss out on this I will not forgive myself. A little pricey for but definitely worth it. Not really crazy, $$, for Bobbi.

Bronzes, Roses, and Warm Browns. Absolutely Gorgina!

2.  Bobbi Brown's Warm Eye Palette, $48.50- Six beautiful warm shades and a BB dual-ended brush. The brush alone would usually cost you $45. This is a Limited Edition steal and best!

Warm Eye Palette with dual-ended brush!

3. Bobbi Brown Deluxe Lip & Eye, $80- 8 shadows, 8 lip colors, and a mini brush for each. The eye shadows mini versions of the shades from the Warm Glow and Warm palette. If you don't use eyeshadow everyday or don't use a specific palette too often this is the right choice for you. You get the Warm/Glow shades, 2 brushes, and the bonus 8 complimentary lip shades for $5 more than the Warm Glow palette. 

Perfect for your holiday party clutch! 

(OK, let's get away from Bobbi Brown but I do have to give her Surf and Sand line a shout out, gorgeous, not holiday and not really a deal but Limited Edition nonetheless and worth taking a look at before it's gone.)


LE Gifts for your FAVORITE people, ONLY! Otherwise keep it for yourself! 

1.  Urban Decay Naked on the Run, $54- This is a must for a bestie, mom, sister (you) that never has the time to go home before going out after work! Gorgeous and truly everything you need to touch-up for a great price! It is UD.

Bronzer, blush, highlighter, 5 Naked Shadows, liner, lip gloss, and mascara

 2. Tarte Kiss & Belle LipSurgence Lip Set, $34- 8 deluxe sample lip products that can easily be split up and used as stocking stuffers. Great deal, shades, and versatility! I plan on dropping 2 into each stocking and still having 2 left over for myself!

$4.25/product! You cannot get any better than that!

3. Tarte Bon Voyage Collector's Set and Travel Bag, $59- This is a perfect gift or multiple gifts. You can split this up in so many ways or give it whole. It's such an amazing deal. That many shadows by Tarte would usually cost $70 alone. 

Super deluxe sample and full sizes!

4. Benefit Cosmetics Advent Calendar, $99- This is perfect for a family of girls. Each day is a little beautiful and exciting gift. You can also get this and split the 25 items to make small gifts for your friends or anyone in your life.

Each little window opens from Dec 1 to Dec 30...

...reveal all of this!

  Honorable Mention: There are a ton of Limited Edition holiday sets and singles that you should absolutely look at but Nars, Too Faced, and BareMinerals all deserve a specific shout-out. They have done it up completely right; packaging, price, and amount = amazing! I'm just giving you a little taste of the greatness, go to Sephora.com and search "Limited Edition" to see it all! I have many many many times and cannot wait to start buying these LE's all up! Remember the whole point is that they will not be around for long...

Another Steal of a Deal

I know I was supposed to do a series on the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual but it's been much harder to find info about Bronzer colors than I thought it would be, especially by her list of recommendations. Truly, a poorly done general list.

So until I find something that is helpful to us I'm going to be looking at the Spring going into Summer deals.

Lets get our shopping started...

Bobbi Brown, but what shade?

So I'm going to continue my look into recommendations for skin tones. As far as my research goes Bobbi Brown's recommendations are the status quo. I haven't really found an opposing opinion, so I feel safe researching her color guides and find out what brands have a shade that goes with each, some, or none of the listed recommendations for skin tone type. I'm going to list them all below as a guide, and then work on breaking each of those down starting with Bronzer in Monday's post. We all know, by now, that Sunday's are for Tutorials. 

Bronzer Recommendations:

Alabaster (Gwyneth Paltrow)- Pink shimmer or peachy 
Light (Drew Barrymore)- Biegy brown with a bit of pink 
Medium (Sienna Miller)- Brownish pink with a bit of orange or warmth 
Medium-Dark (Jennifer Lopez)- Brownish orange 
Dark (Vanessa Williams)- Brownish Red 
Deep (Venus Williams)- Brownish blue 

Shades to Use by Natural Lip Color:

Pale Lips- beige, sandy pink, light coral, pale pink, & bright red 

Medium Lips- brown, rose, pink, orange, warm red

Dark Lips- brown, deep red, plum, deep chocolate, and deep raisin/berries

Two-Toned Lips- chocolate, blackberry, deep plum, deep raisin, deep red

Each natural lip color and shade has a colored box around it in the book to show what equals pale, medium, & etc and what equals each color; brown, rose, pink, & etc. I'm including an image of the guide and a palette of all the shades kept in her Pro kit. Both will give you an idea of what's meant by the colors and types listed. 

They only give us a very slight idea though and she doesn't really talk about undertone. 

Corrector Recommendations: 

Alabaster to medium (as exampled above)- pink 

Medium-dark to Dark- peach 

Deep- darker peach 

Any blush color seems to due as long as the formula is correct for your skin type; dry, combo, oily. Foundation on the other had has a very detailed selection process and is not defined even vaguely based on  skin tone, that seemed odd considering but maybe it was too complicated to even attempt charting it out. The only chart I found for this had to do with the color of your veins to determine wether or not your foundation should have a cool, neutral, warm, or a combination of those undertones. Foundation color and skin undertone is so important we'll be giving that it's own series. This series will focus on bronzer and lips, mainly, and slightly on corrector unless we find that it needs a deeper look but I haven't gotten that far in my research. I do know that corrector a come in yellow, purple, blue, and pink. Brown does not mention any but pink so corrector may need a deeper look because Brown only looks at under-eye corrector and gives no indication that she acknowledges the useful correcting palettes for face use. 

Tutorial- My Daily Routine

Since it's the weekend I decided that I would do another application tutorial. This one is a look you can apply daily and in several different ways. It can easily go from day to night using any range of products you'd like.

Preparing for application:

Step 1:
I start off each day my adding a little organic fine grain sugar to a hydrating cleanser and exfoliating my face. I do have troubled skin so I use Tretinoin, any acne cream is going to regenerate skin cells quickly, so I need to exfoliate daily to stop from getting that peely look when I apply my make-up. You'll get it no matter how much you moisturize if you need to exfoliate and haven't. I use to think applying a layer of moisturizer on top of my make up would stop the peeling. It did for about 5 minutes, messed my make up all up, and then went back to peeling. Exfoliate!! I cannot say it enough. Use sugar, its a really inexpensive and works like a charm. You can even use regular dominion sugar, the stuff you put in your coffee.

Step 2:
Because I mix the sugar with my CerVe Hydrating cleanser I make sure to tone thoroughly. I would anyway but especially to make sure every drop of sugar is removed from my skin. I use the Mario Badescu Cucumber Cleansing Lotion. It is a miracle in a bottle. No alcohol at all and fairly inexpensive. You can get a Mario Badescu regime kit with the Enzyme cleansing gel (I use this at night to get every speck of make up off), Cucumber Cleansing Lotion, Aloe Oil-free moisturizer, a kaolin face mask, and seaweed night cream for $30.00. Yes, they are travel size but the kit will last you over a month and I've haven't had to replace everything at once. I had to replace the seaweed night cream first ($20), a couple weeks later I replaced the Cucumber Cleansing Lotion ($18), and I've yet had the need to replace anything else. I do use a different cleanser in the morning though. If I used the Enzyme Cleansing Gel it comes with I'm sure I would have needed to replace that by now. I tend to have dry skin in the mornings so I use something hydrating, like CerVe. The Enzyme Cleansing Gel can be a little too drying used twice a day but is great in the evenings and get every single speck of make up off. MAJOR TANGENT!

Step 3:
After toning, I apply my medicated acne cream, Chlyndomicin. I apply a Nivea cream to my eyes while the medication dries because it has a little oil and my mother, who is 63 and only has eye wrinkles, has used it on her entire face since she was 15. That's proof enough for me. The skin under your eyes does not produce oil.

Step 4:
Apply moisturizer. I use the MB oil-free Aloe but if you are dry of skin use something with oil. If you get pimples but they aren't chronic and don't use a medicated cream use the MB acne kit and corresponding lotion. Apply what you need to hydrate your skin thoroughly enough to apply your make up. If your make up isn't quite looking right or your getting an orange peel look after applying your foundation your not hydrating enough. That's a direct paraphrase from Bobbi Brown herself.

NOW THE MAKE UP!
This is the way I do it. Just grab the items I mention for the specific look in the order that works for you, if you have one; except the highlighter.

Step 1:
Wait 2 minutes for your moisturizer to seep in if your applying immediately after preparing your skin then apply a light layer of concealer to your eye lids. Make sure it is no-crease concealer, if not, use a matte shadow a shade lighter than your skin. I use Makeup Geek's Vanilla Bean or Wet N Wild's Crème Brulee. I apply that all over the lid and slightly into the crease.

Step 2: grab a simple contouring shade I use either the crease color from L'Oreal's Cupa Joe palette or Makeup Geek's Crème Brulee (very different from WNW CB). Crème Brulee is a medium sand color and the cupa joe is a taupe color. I apply these either of these in a moon shape in the outer corner blending the least amount of color into the crease, for a light contour. You can apply a satin or lightly shimmering highlight under the brow but I leave this out sometimes for a truly fresh no make up, make up look.

Step 3-
Apply concealer under the eyes and blend out to the temple. Don't apply something too light, just light enough to cover and correct those dark circles. Apply the thinnest layer possible while still covering. I use Dream Lumi Highlighting concealer, MAC Pro Longwear in NW20, or NYX in Fair. Sometimes I need a mix of those. Using a warm finger will get you the best, most evenly thin application. Pat don't drag your finger around the under-eye then set your concealer. This is KEY! It makes everything look seamless. Use a loose translucent powder, a light press powder, or any skin tone powder. I use Physicians formula mosaic press powder. It has a white, pink, natural and several bisque colors. I take a little white and darker bisque for the perfect setting.

Step 4:
I don't apply foundation because I don't need it most of the time after I apply my concealer but if you need some coverage for blemishes (apply concealer on the blemishes, not under-eye concealer, pot concealer) or just don't feel comfortable without some coverage go for a BB cream or Tinted Moisturizer, especially because we're in the Spring/Summer months of the year. Something lighter is better no matter how much coverage you need at this time of year. Emulsify it between your fingers and pat into your skin. After patting the first layer in, take a look and add extra wear necessary for extra coverage.

Step 5:
Lightly bronze your face. Hallows of the cheeks, forehead, temples and very lightly around the jaw line using a matte bronzer. I use NYC Sunny Bronzer.

Step 6:
Apply a matte peachy/coral blush. Peach complements almost everyone. If your complexion is dark apply something more bright orange, it'll come out peachy/coraly. Apply too the apples of your cheeks in little circles then drawn back to the temple. Once at the temple blend down to the bronzer to remove any harsh lines. This will give you such a radiant glow.

Step 7:
Grab your highlighter. Apply a pink-brown bronzer along the top line of the blush with a fan brush or any precise applicator blush. If your using a fan brush, after applying to both cheeks go back and flick the product you've apply downward, slightly. If your not using a fan brush grab any face brush and blend lightly from the top to the center of your blush.

Step 8:
Curl your lashes. Apply 2-3 coats of mascara. This is important, it'll really make your eyes pop with that shadow without any extra product.

Step 9:
Apply a peachy or pinkish nude lip gloss like NYX Maple Blondie.

You should have a really great, fresh, radiant glow but if it isn't enough apply dark shadow (for a more natural look) in your choice color to the upper lash line. If you choose liner apply to the upper outer half of your lash line, then blend out what you've applied to the inner corner for a, guaranteed, light and more natural look. You'll look amazing every time and especially naturally beautiful. 

If you want to go out after work all you have to do is add a little eyeliner or more eyeliner and a more vibrant lipstick with the gloss you used before on top and your good to go. You can even add a little of a lighter shade highlighting powder to your cupids bow, bridge of your nose and center of your forehead. I use Revlon's shimmer brick, using the lightest to really glow in the evening.

Placement: Brown = bronzer. Pink = blush. Baby Pink On top of Blush = Highlighter. Pale Yellow = concealer. Grey = eye shadow contour.