A few LOTD..I've missed this AND a Crown brush SALE on HAUTELOOK!

This look I did for Christmas. It is nothing special since I worked a double that day, but I still wanted to look nice when I went to my Uncle's for a few hours before work.

Face:

MUFE HD 125

Mac Select cover-up in NC 20 

Cheeks:

Rockin Republic Foreplay
Benefit Hoola Bronzer
Soft and Gentle MSF

Eyes:

Lid, highlight and inner corner- Nylon
Crease- Soft Brow, Cork
Outer V- Espresso, and Brun
Mascera- Dior Show
Eyeliner- BTFL
Lips:

Pro Longwear Lipcreme- Till Tomorrow 

This next look I did was to vist my best friend on Monday. I am so loving the French Quarter shade stick from the VV collection..it is the perfect base for a smokey eye.
These pics are right before I left for her house. I was wrapped up in my coat and scarf because it  snowed the night before..see..it was our first snow




Now on to the look!









This was at my friends house





I'm with her son..he is to cute!

Face:

MUFE HD 125

Mac Select cover-up in NC 20 

Cheeks:

Rockin Republic Foreplay
Benefit Hoola Bronzer
Soft and Gentle MSF

Eyes:

Base-French Quarter Shade Stick
Lid and Crease- Gun Metal from the UD Naked Palette
Highlight- Virgin from the UD Naked Palette
Mascera- Dior Show
Eyeliner- BTFL
Lips:

Brave New Bronze

BTW HAUTELOOK is having a sale on crown brushes!! This brushes are amazing for the price..I am personally going to get on of the sets..I am not sure which one yet..I am so excited!!

Sign up and check out the sale>>>>>>> HERE <<<<<<

OKAY, OKAY...I'M BACK!

SOOO I'm back!! YAY!! I missed everyone very much! I had a super long and stressful semester that allowed me to focus on nothing else but school and I just want to put that semester behind me and move forward from that.

So with that said....I have some new LOTDs that I will posting up tomorrow and I still have a contest to post as well, which I hope to post by the end of the week.

I got an awesome Nikon coolpix 12 megapixel camera for Christmas and I cannot wait to start taking pics of swatches and LOTD.

I have so much to share with you all..I hope you have not strayed too far from me :)

I want to thank everyone who PM me on makeupgeek.com and those we contacted me on my blog as well. It made me so happy to know that I was missed. I  hope everyone had a great christmas and I look forward to keeping in contact with everyone.

Tomorrow is a new day with a new LOTD..hope your ready for it!! LOL..I also can't wait to look at everyones else's blog and stat commenting..I miss that too.

I got a NEW hair Dryer! Jilbere Tourmaline Anti Static Ionic Dryer

So my Solia 1875 W died on me after two and half years of us. The motor died and just stopped blowing out hot air :( I was so upset and with all the hair dryers out, I had no idea which one to buy, so I asked my MUG friends which ones they recommend, and one of the girls recommend the Jilbere Tourmaline Anti Static Ionic Dryer at Sally's Beauty Supply website. I checked it out and fell in love with it

It is such a pretty hair dryer. I love the candy apple red color and it has this rubberized feel to the dryer so it doesn't slip and slide all over your dresser. It also has a 9 foot long cord! This was important to me because my outlet is pretty far from my mirror. It has a high, low, cold and turbo button. The  ceramic ionic technology creates negative ions to dry hair while eliminating static and frizz. It also has 2000 watts of power. These two features were important to me because my hair is naturally thick and straight, and it can get frizzy and take forever to dry. Also it feels much lighter in comparison to my Solia, which is nice too!
However, it is not quieter. I would have liked a quieter blow dryer, but ehhh, no biggie, I am use to a loud hair dryer regardless.
It cost $59.99 or $53.99 with your Sally's card. I paid $40 for it because I had a 25% off coupon!!  Sally's always has some type of coupon going on..so no worries if you missed out on this one

SO HERE IT IS!!









AHH...nice long cord!!


Out of the box..such a pretty color, I never liked my hair dryer for its color before..lol


The Controls


The concentrated nozzle. I love how narrow it is, I use this extra feature when I curl my hair under with a round brush


AND my hair after I used it! I really like how it dried my hair!! It took maybe 10 min to dry my hair fully..I was impressed!!!! It took a tad longer with my Solia

Overall

I am very impressed with this hair dryer. It has amazing reviews on Sallybeauty.com and I can now see why. I am very happy with this hair dryer and the price. It is hard to decipher which hair dryer is worth the money, but for $40 with these features and results, I think it worth it!!

GEL to POWDER NAIL SCAM- BEWARE

This story happend to a fellow MUG, AmethystBeautyVA and she shared her story with us all here about a trip she took to treat herself to a salon to get gel nails. She got scammed on something that no one has really ever thought about. Here is her story:

Ok...as a treat to myself on my 1/2 Birthday today, I decided to go to a highly-raved salon to get gel overlays.


What I received makes me wonder if I was scammed and I'm reaching out to fellow MUGs for advice & opinions.

The salon owner did my nails and this is what she did and/or had me do:

1. Trimmed my nails to my desired length.

2. Used a coarse nail file to rough-up the nail beds.

3. Grabbed one of many identical brushes from a holder which was attached to her swing lamp.

4. Placed the brush into a small bowl of clear liquid to soak for a few moments.

5. Applied an odorless product from a brown glass bottle using the attached wand ala nail polish application. This product dried to a very matte finish.

6. Grabbed a small container of a very finely-milled white powder.

7. Repeatedly dipped the "soaked" brush into the powder and applied the mixture to my nails. When one hand was done, she had me hold it very close to the lightbulb of her swing lamp while she did my other hand.

8. Used a rotary file to smooth things out and taper the edges.

9. She did French tips using regular white nail polish and then she had me hold my hands near the lightbulb again for a few minutes.

10. She then applied a "Mirror Glaze UV Topcoat" and had me do a total of 6 minutes under a UV lamp.

When I asked her about the powder-to-gel she stated that it lasts longer than the liquid gel which requires several layers. She also told me that it would last 3-4 weeks.

I've had two people tell me that I received a set of "glorified" acrylic nails disguised as gel nails. After watching a few videos on YouTube, I'm beginning to agree with them! ALL the vids that I've watched CLEARLY show a clear gel substance being applied to the nail in thin layers with "cooking" time under the UV lamp between layers.

I'm irked that I was scammed and seriously considering disputing the charge ($41!) to my credit card.

So...my questions are:
1. Does it sound like I was scammed? Gel nails ($40 + $1 French) vs. Acrylic ($20 + $1 French).

2. Should I dispute the charge with my credit card company?

I didn't leave a tip because she had stepped away while my nails were doing the 6-minute-UV-bake thing and came back REEKING of cigarette smoke.

There were many relpies that stated, yes, it defiantly sounds like you were scammed, and some stated that this was on one of biggest nail salon scams going on. She then went on to give us this update.

It. Was. EPIC!


So, I stopped by the salon on my way home from the office this evening...owner was very surprised to see me back so soon. There were approx. 6 ladies waiting to be seen and 4 ladies already receiving services.

She asked if I was there to have some nail-art (we had briefly discussed nail art while she did my nails yesterday) and I calmly replied "No, I'm here to request a full refund because I asked for gel nails and what you gave me was standard acrylic nails with a UV gel topcoat which certainly isn't worth $20 when the bottle sells for $8.00 at the beauty supply store."

She replied that she's been doing powder-to-gel nails for 10 years and she "NEVER" gives a refund...EVER!

I then went on to say "There is absolutely no such thing as powder-to-gel nails but there IS such a thing as acrylics with a UV gel topcoat being passed off as gel nails and it happens to be the #1 nail salon scam in the country! Last night I contacted several friends in other states who have gel nails (my fellow MUGS, of course!) and I even went to YouTube & Google to do a search for "gel nails" and "gel nail scams" and EVERY video or article about the gel nail scam was IDENTICAL to what you did to my nails yesterday. Today I contacted two cosmetology schools and they confirmed that there is no such thing as powder-to-gel nails. The directors at each school advised me to contact Virginia's licensing board for more information about filing a complaint and that's what I did this afternoon. You committed fraud by telling me that I was getting gel nails and that's why I'm asking for a full refund."

O.M.G. I thought she was going to have a seizure right then and there!

She vehemently stated again that she doesn't offer refunds and that I don't know what I'm talking about! At this point, one of her techs came running over with a jar that had a home-made computer label that said "Gel Powder" and the tech kept saying "See...gel powder! Gel powder! You wrong! We right!"

I sighed and said, "Ok. When I called Virginia's licensing board I was given directions on how to download this complaint form (at this point I took the form out of my purse and held it up which clearly showed that I had already filled in the salon name, address, etc.) and submit it for an investigation. You've stated twice that you don't give refunds, so I have absolutely no choice but to file a dispute with my credit card company (which I had already done, btw) and submit this complaint form to the licensing board. I also have absolutely no qualms about contacting each of the three local TV stations because I have a very good working relationship with several of the reporters and newsroom directors at each station, so I have no doubt that one of the stations would be interested in doing an "investigative report" regarding this little scam you're pulling on unsuspecting clients."

She stood up.

She sat down.

We stared at each other in a stalemate for a few moments.

She then told me she'd give me a refund after she removed my "gel acrylics" and to have a seat and wait in line. I told her that my time was just as valuable as hers and given that I had already spent over an hour in her salon yesterday, I preferred to sit at an empty station and soak my nails while her staff continued to take care of the other ladies who were already waiting. (One of my local friends recommended that I stick to my guns on this aspect since all they'd be doing is having me sit at an empty station anyhow with my hands in a bowl of heated acetone.)

She stood up and looked at me as if I had two heads. I smiled at back at her and said "I think I've given a fair solution that will satisfy both of us AND allow you to take care of these ladies at the same time. It's called multi-tasking."

She sighed, said a bunch of stuff very quickly in Korean and pointed to an empty station.

I said "Great! But first, let's process my full refund so that when one of your techs has finished removing these nails, I can leave straight away and we won't ever have to speak to each other again."

She processed my refund right then and there, all the while saying a lot of stuff very quickly in Korean (I'm certain she cussed me out during all that talking).

She took a cigarette break and while she was outside, one of the ladies who had been waiting asked me if what I had said was all true. I said, "Absolutely! If you have internet access on your cellphone you can google it and find out for yourself."

In the mirror I could see her typing on her iPhone and a few minutes later she and her friend crossed their names off the list and left.

It took almost 40 minutes, but I have my nekkid nails again and I've slathered my hands in olive oil. Typing with gloves on at the moment is lots o' fun, btw!

Yes, I'm still going to file a complaint with the state because if I don't, this salon will continue to scam people.

Wow..I am so glad she stuck to her guns! I wanted to share this story with everyone because I would hate for this happend to anyone! Not very many people know what actual gel nails look like nor are that educated in the nail salon world. If a nail tech tells me me...oh..it's gel a to powder manicure..I most likely wouldn't think twice about and end up paying twice as much for it!

REMEMBER..GEL IS NEVER POWDER!!

Here are some more websites that cover this scam and give more detail into what a UV gel nail should be:

Not what I asked for
UV Gel Nails
Do you wonder what liquid and powder gels are?


Also, if you feel you have ever been scammed or ripped off by a company, you can report them to:

Ripoff.com
Better Business Bureau

If you have a similar story or know more info on this...please share :)

HEY EVERYONE! Quick update..

I'm still around and I have not forgotten about you! I had to quit my job at the bank and go back to the nursing home full time due to my schedule at school. I was getting incredibly stressed out going to work at the bank before and after school and staying there (at the bank) late to make up hours, that it just wasn't going to work out. Now I am at the nursing home on second shift and it is a tad easier on me with my school schedule because I can work second shift and weekends.

I am currently in my last two weeks of nursing 231, and we still have a paper to write (which I just finished) and two exams to complete. So needless to say, I have been quite busy on focusing more of my energy on that. After these two weeks are over with I will start another seven week rotation with nursing 230, which psych nursing.

I do have some posts lined up, but just have not had time to do anything fun on the internet and I do have all my items for my give away too..I just need to find the time to post it. I also have a UK haul, more LOTD, VV looks and other fun posts. I hope I can post them soon!!

Take care everyone and I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all and chatting about makeup!!
Talk to you all very soon
Love
Jess

Venomous Villains LOTD

This look was inspired by all the looks I saw on the MUA at MAC from the preview party. The eye shadows are all dupes from the collection. LMK what you think!



v

Face:

UD Pore Perfection Primer

Estee Lauder Maximum Cover Camouflage Makeup

MUFE HD 125

Nars Powder in Beach

Mac Select cover-up in NC 20 as an undereye concealer

UD All Nighter Spray

Cheeks:

Bite of an Apple

Eyes:

Lid Beautiful Iris-Her Alter Image Dupe
Crease-Fig 1- Vile Violet Dupe
Outer V-Beauty Marked- Instead of Carbon (that what the MUA were using for the outer V)
Highlight-Naked Lunch
Lips:

Toxic Tale
Strange Potion

Venomous Villains Preview Party..LIKES,DISLIKES,PICS, HAUL

I attended the Venomous Villains preview party this past Tuesday and it was a lot of fun. It was insanely crowded and I think every MAC worker was there!! They had servers walking around serving alcoholic drinks and food (which was actually really good). I was told that for my MAC, they only do these release parties once a year, so I was so happy I got to go to this one! I tried to take as many pictures as possible for everyone, but it was tough because it was so crowded and everyone was of course the most interested in the new collection, so their were swarms of people around it.

ALSO..BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SOMETHING ACTUALLY SOLD OUT!! Can you guess what it was? I really wanted it too!! I'll let you know at the end of the post

ON TO THE PICS of the EVENT!!

This is when I first got there..you have to wait in line till your appointment time


Once they let you in, they give you this card to fill out, to them know what you want from collection. I thought this was pretty cool.



Inside they had the collection set up on two ends of the store. These pictures were from one end








AND these pictures were taken from the other end




ALL the MAC workers were wearing the makeup from the collection and it looked so beautiful on them and they gave me so many new ideas. Also all the workers were so nice and super helpful.

After you gave them your card and paid for everything, they had a dress up center outside the store, where you can dress up as Cruella and the Evil Queen. I thought it would be fun, so here are my pics..LOL :)




haha..I look to happy to be the Evil Queen!!


REVIEW
I just wanted to give you all my honest opinion of the collection and what I thought of it after actually looking at everything and swatching it.

The overall collection is A LOT nicer than I thought. Some things that I actually wanted, I ended up not getting because of the swatches and some things I never thought of getting, I ended up getting once I saw it in person.

I really wanted Vile Violet ES from the Evil Queen collection and My Dark Magic MES from the Maleficent collection, but honestly, the pigmentation and swatch was nothing to brag about and I was really disappointed in them, because just by looking at them in the pan, they are really gorgeous. I was just disappointed in general with the eye shadows, the all looked dupable to some extent and didn't grab me at all. OH and the magical cool liquid powder is WHACK! Sorry to say it, but it not worth the money for some slight shimmer, that you can get from any other highlighter or bronzer.

The lipsticks and lip glosses were great in the collection. The nail polishes ROCKED! They were gorgeous and I loved the two blushes.
The beauty powders were okay... they were nice but for the price, I would defiantly choose the blushes over the beauty powders. OH and FYI..I know A LOT of people don't really know what a beauty powder is, so I will tell you. Depending on the color and shimmer factor, it can be used as a blush, highlighter or all over shimmer. HONESTLY it is a pointless concept to me and is a way for MAC to get more $$$ from you, because a blush is $18.50 and a beauty powder it $28. I always treat them as blushes, so I would rather save the cash and get the blush, UNLESS there is a color I HAVE to have.

WHAT I GOT
Maleficent Collection
She who Dares MES- This MES duo is beyond gorgeous! I was not planning on getting this, but once I swatched it, I HAD to have it!! The color is intense and looks amazing on top of the French Quarter Greasepaint Stick
Bad Fairy Nail polish-This is a beautiful orange-red-gold duo-tri chrome (however you want to describe it lol) and the only color that is not dupeable by the new Oraly nail polishes

Dr.Facilier
French Quarter Greasepaint Stick-Gorgeous black base with silver sparkles

Crudella
Heartless LS-Amplified true red color. I think this color would flatter everyone and because it is amplified it applies and covers like a dream
Wicked Way LG-Red lg compliments Heartless and is pigmented enough to wear alone

Evil Queen
Toxic Tale LS-Satin Orangey red color, lighter than Vegas volt and the color will change depending on the pigmentation of you lips, so try it on before you buy it. A lot of the MUA were wearing this and it looked different on all of them
Strange potion LG-Compliment Toxic Tale, looks very similar to pret-a-paper lg. I will do a comparison in my next post when I do my swatches
Bite of an Apple Blush-This is soo pretty and gives such a beautiful glow. It has no shimmer and comes off pretty matte








Bad Fairy




She Who Dares MES, Bite of an Apple Blush, French Quarter GPS

\\
Heartless


Toxic Tale

PHEW!! That was a lot! I really hope this was helpful..OH and did you guess what was sold out??
It was Push the Edge pigment!! yeah..I was shocked! SOLD OUT within in a HOUR and I REALLY wanted it, once the MUA swatched it for me. It is so beautiful.

I think once the collection releases I am going to pick that up and Darkly My Dear blush..I wanted it and I have no idea why I didn't pick it up!!

So tomorrow I will post a look inspired by the looks I saw on the MUA at MAC and I hope to have swatches and dupes up for you by Monday.

So what do you plan on getting?? LMK
AND if you have any questions..Please..ASK AWAY!!

OH and I was just reminded by another blog that Hautlook is having a HUGE NYX SALE!!! There are a lot of their palette sets and lipgloss sets up there at a discounted price. I'm broke from this haul, but hopefully I can catch the sale another time, but I wanted to pass it down to all of you.
YOU can sign up to preview and buy from the sale  HERE

NYX to MAC Series: NYX Jungle Fever VS MAC Steamy

Now MAC steamy creases on me..which I HAVE NO FRIGGIN IDEA WHY!! I love the color, but is some how it does not love me, so to find a dupe for this color would be HEAVEN!

DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE IS WHICH?




this might not be to hard...




So, MAC Steamy is on the left and NYX Jungle Fever is to the right
You know what? I prefer NYX Jungle Fever!! Maybe because of my beef with steamy, but I honestly like that the color better and I like that it is not as sheen as steamy. Although steamy is a gorgeous color, I really like jungle fever too and the color is quite similar minus the sheeness.



Side by side


NYX Jungle Fever swatch is on top and MAC Steamy is on the bottom

So what do you think of this dupe?

Stormy Eyes..Joyful lips LOTD

I named the look due to my grey eyes and bright lips.I am trying to give all my looks some type of name, but it can be hard, so my sister helped me name this one!!  I hope you like it!!

Face:

UD Pore Perfection Primer

Estee Lauder Maximum Cover Camouflage Makeup

MUFE HD 127

Nars Powder in Beach

Mac Select cover-up in NC 20 as an undereye concealer

UD All Nighter Spray

Cheeks:

Blush Baby
Soft and Gentle MSF

Eyes:

88 Warm Palette
Lips:

Girl About Town

I am INVITED to the Preview of Venomous Villians COLLECTION!!!

I am going Tuesday September 21 at 7:30pm
AHHHH!! I am soo excited!! I have never been to one of these before but I hear that they are soo much fun!! I talked to the MUA at MAC, so that they could put my name on the list and she told me they are going to have food, drinks and people dressed up as the character's! I will for sure be bringing my camera to show all you ladies how it looks. On top of all that, I get to buy the collection before it comes out! wow! Now I really need to get me list in order...I so love everything from the evil queen collection and those nail polishes are MINE for sure..and even though MES are not my fav..these look gorgeous so I may just get one!!!

I CAN NOT wait!! Although I was initially not excited about this collection because I thought they could have done a way better job with the packaging, the actual makeup in this collection looks amazing. With stress from school and work (which I will be updating you all on that soon), this will be so much fun for me to go to!

IS anyone else attending one of these pre-release parties? OR have ever been to one?  LMK how it went and maybe what to expect!! Thanks ladies :)