New Look with bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0

Hello again everyone!

Sorry about the delay, my boyfriend came back into town so I got a little distracted - whoops! Anyway, after getting some feedback about my first couple of posts, I got some requests to do a look with the bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 palette I got at Sephora (I picked out Soundtrack). Now I went for an everyday, work appropriate look with this quad because I felt like it's pretty easy to do an over the top night time look with this palette but that some may struggle with toning it down for an everyday look.  Also please excuse my state in the pictures, I was about to start getting ready to go to work, but decided to try to do the look before I headed out! If you guys like it enough, I'll do a tutorial!! And please excuse my learning curve with this whole posting about looks, as I'm still learning! Any advice is always helpful! Enjoy!

I do have a couple comments about the quad/some things I noticed:

• This was not the first look I did with this, and the reason being that the copper color (Louder) and the gold color (Remix) kept getting muddled, and it was VERY difficult to discern which was what color! Remix was very overpowering when I tried to blend Louder into the crease, and was severely disappointed when all I saw was Remix - even in the picture, Louder (placed on the outer 2/3 of the lid) seems to have a gold sheen
• Due to my original problems with Remix and Louder, I opted to use little round sponge applicators instead of my normal brushes and found MUCH better results in seeing clear definition in the colors Remix and Louder, and allowed for much more control in the placement of these colors
• I didn't need as much shadow as I would have expected - with a good primer this shadow holds well and blends over the eyelid smoothly and beautifully, and the best part was at the end of my shift, it still looked amazing!

If anyone has any comments or questions, or are interested in a full tutorial on the look, leave a comment, shoot me an email or tweet! I'm loving any and all feedback! More posts to come soon, and thanks for all the support!

xoxo,
Harrison

Ulta & Sephora Mini-Haul: Part 2

Hi everybody!

So for the Sephora part of the haul, I had a coupon for 10% off a purchase, due to my recent eligibility for VIB status of their rewards program - if you're not already a Beauty Insider, make sure you join next time you go in - you can get GREAT little bonuses!

1. bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Soundtrack - $30.00. Sold at Sephora

Sometimes I feel like bareMinerals is kind of overlooked here in the world of beauty blogging. I understand some folks just aren't fans of the whole powder foundation thing, which I can understand, but I do like it for myself on cooler, not going to sweat-my-face-off days here in Florida. Now I got two of their loose eyeshadows in a holiday set given to me by my sister a couple years ago, and I was actually quite pleasantly surprised. Recently, bareMinerals has expanded into the pressed products - pressed powder, eyeshadows, blushes, etc - called their READY line. I have tried the READY foundation, and found I preferred the loose powder, but I was always intrigued by the eyeshadow quads the READY line had. In buying the pressed eyeshadows, I have found everything I loved about the loose eyeshadows, and more.

The shadow is so velvety, and the color combinations are quite lovely. Now I picked out the color combination called the Soundtrack for one main reason - the shade Speaker Box. It's an incredible almost-olive gunmetal color. Here's a breakdown of the colors included:

• Rhythm - a matte cream shade - not quite as pigmented as the others, a little more chalky as well, but these shades are a dime a dozen, so I'm not really too upset
• Remix - a shimmery burnt gold - highly pigmented and a lot brighter on the skin than I originally expected
• Louder - a shimmery burnt copper - once again, very pigmented, could be misinterpreted as rose gold in the pan, but definitely copper once put on
• Soundtrack - a shimmery olive-y gunmetal - online it's described as "shimmery gunmetal" but it really does have a hint of olive green, to the point that i would categorize it as a green, not a grey, but once again, very pigmented, creamy, and just a stunning shade

Other than the letdown of Rhythm, my only other issue with the set is the names! I just find it so cringe inducing, but regardless of how embarrassing it is to tell others you're wearing an eyeshadow called soundtrack, I would highly recommend this little quad to others! It's nice enough that you can dress it up for a night out, or keep it simple for the day. Hands down, LOVE IT!


2. Sephora Outrageous Prisma Chrome Metallic Eyeshadow in Beige, Taupe, Lilac, and Purple - $7.00. Sold at Sephora

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Emily from the Beauty Broadcast blog (if you haven't heard of her before, go check out her blog NOW!)!!! She mentioned these eyeshadows in one of her recent youtube haul videos, and I knew I had to have them. Now do know that the actual names of the shadows are all prefaced with Outrageous Metallic [fill-in-the-blank-color], but thought that listing that every time might make the title a little too lengthy!They are literally the smoothest, most velvety eyeshadows I own to date. They are almost duo chrome eyeshadows, so you can put it all over the eyelid, add a little extra to the crease with some blending, and it looks like you used a bunch of different shadows to get the look! Basically, an intense eye with half the work?? Right up my alley.

Here's the breakdown of each color:

• Beige - a simple shimmery beige, great for highlighting or when you want a more simple look
• Taupe - a shimmery taupe (sorry, I need to work on varying my word choice!) that can be built up quite well, but when seen from different angles can seem to be different shades
• Purple - a shimmery brown-ish purple, that unfortunately seems very close to taupe in my pictures of them in the pan, I was hoping for a deeper purple, but I do still like it
• Lilac - a shimmery baby blue purple, where once again, I was disappointed in the actual lack of purple in the swatch, but it is still a beautiful shade

The best part though?? THEY'RE ON CLEARANCE!! When I went to Sephora to grab them, the pickings were kinda slim, so I just grabbed whatever I could find, but I'm gonna be keeping my eyes out for more shades from this type of shadow! Overall, these shadows are amazing and totally worth the $7, and honestly even if they were still at the full price ($13.00), I would definitely still have bought the beige and the taupe, but probably would have skipped out on the purple and the lilac.

3. Buxom Full-On Lip Cream in Kir Royale - $19.00. Sold at Sephora

I am a huge fan of anything that plumps and tingles when it comes to lip products, and Buxom has a huge range of options that do both those things! I have always been a fan of Buxom's Full-On Lip Polish - I've already been through three tubes of one shade alone! These are those amazing lip products that tingle, cool, and plump your lips, which I personally love, but if you're not a fan, steer clear of Buxom products! They all seem to have at least one of those facets within their product. But anyway, I thought I'd take a look at their lip creams - everything that the lip polishes have and do, except minus the sparkle and glitz. I don't own any glossy products in a deep shade like Kir Royale, so I thought I'd branch out and try something new, and I'm so happy I did. 

Kir Royale is a sheer kind of wine red that can be left very sheer, or can be built up for a more intense color payout. It's really nice to have this color without the sparkle of the lip polishes, as I feel that with this color, any sparkle would just distract from the beauty of the color alone. Now the lip gloss is kind of sticky, but not anything uncomfortable or obnoxious. One part of it that can be a hit or a miss with people depending on their preferences, is the scent - it is the most heavenly mix of vanilla, marshmallow and cupcake. You open it up, and it hits you in the face. Now I personally love it, and I don't seem to really notice it when being worn, but to those more sensitive, Buxom might not be the best idea. The only down side to this product is the lack of color selection - I had a very difficult time picking a color out mainly because there weren't very many to choose from.

So that's the end of my recent haul, and overall I will say, I think I got pretty lucky in that I basically love everything I purchased. If you have any recommendations, thoughts on the products mentioned, or any feedback, leave a comment or shoot me an email!

xoxo,
Harrison

Ulta & Sephora Mini-Haul: Part 1

Hello again everyone!

So this past week, I've been on a couple shopping trips, due to some awesome coupons I recently acquired! I had gotten the Ulta coupon through their mailing subscription - 20% off all non-Prestige cosmetics, and 10% of all Prestige cosmetics!  For my Ulta purchases, most of the haul actually went to my younger sister for her birthday, but I still got a couple nice little things for myself! I was going to make it all in one post, but decided I didn't want to kill everyone with a wall of text, so I broke it up into two parts so I could make sure I could go into enough detail about each product! Hope it helps!

Here are my Ulta purchases:

1. Real Techniques Starter Kit Brush Set - $17.99. Sold at Ulta

So after hearing so many amazing things about these brushes, I finally broke down and got them. They are AMAZING - so soft and fluffy! It includes what they describe as "a base eyeshadow brush, a deluxe crease brush, an accent brush, a pixel point eyeliner brush, and a brow brush". In general, a very nice kit. As much as I really do love these brushes, the actual holder was kind of a bummer - the tie part that makes it into a stand broke before I could even try it, but luckily it's an easy fix that I'll eventually get around to. My other issue that came up with this purchase was the size of the eyeliner brush. In my opinion, it was a little larger than what I would want in an eyeliner brush, but I do also prefer minimal eyeliner in general, so that may be part of it as well.

I'm probably going to end up using it as another smudging brush rather than it's intended purpose, but I think I have to play around with it a little more. Overall, I'd definitely recommend them and would purchase again - but on one condition, if I have another coupon. I'm still not too comfortable spending that much on brushes, even though I know they're of good quality at a decent price. I guess I'm just used to my ELF brush prices! Now in the picture, you'll see one other brush stuck in the holder that isn't included in the set, but is the next purchase I'm going to discuss!

2. Real Techniques Fine Liner Brush - $5.99. Sold at Ulta

So since I wasn't too happy with the original eyeliner brush sold in the starter kit (the pixel-point eyeliner brush), I decided to go ahead a purchase one I felt fit more into what I expected in an eyeliner brush. Now THIS brush is fine, and I'm so happy I decided to buy this one as well. At first I was afraid it would have too much give just due to the sheer length of the actual brush hairs, but upon opening I was delighted to see that the bristles were perfect! It has just enough firmness so you can have precise and tight control over your lines, but still enough give so that you're not poking your eye out, every time you go to line.

3. Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Naked - $22.00. Sold at Ulta

I finally caved and had to buy this lipstick. After reading many wonderful things from the blog Temptalia, I decided I HAD to have one. Now I am already a huge fan of Urban Decay, so I had quite high standards and so far, it has followed through! It really is a super creamy, rich lipstick with very nice pigmentation. In my opinion, it was a nice balance of enough pigment that you could swipe it on once and have a good level of color, but then you could go back and layer on one or two more swipes if you wanted more impact. It's quite moisturizing as well, and I didn't feel like it dried out too quickly. One thing I will say though, is make sure your lips are fully exfoliated, or have a layer of chapstick underneath or something, because it will settle into all the fine lines and get goopy with any excess skin on there, but that's usually a given for most creamy lipsticks. As for the packaging, I personally like the minimalist approach they took, but the best part is the weight. I love the weight of the bullet it comes in - it feels sturdy and heavy, not anything ridiculous, but when you hold it, its just a very nice weight and feels good in the hand.

The color I selected was Naked - a nice nude-y pink. I picked Naked not only because it is just such a gorgeous shade of pink, but because I wanted to make sure I got a color I would LOVE and use all the time. Overall I really do like this lipstick, and would love to add some more to my collection, but it's definitely not the best lipstick I've ever owned. Next time I think if I do purchase another, I may try to get a darker color because the color is a little light for my usual liking, and UD always seems to do well with those more intense colors. I think I may try to do a look soon with all of my Naked themed UD products!

4. NYX Gel Eyeliner & Smudger in Scarlette (Dark Brown) - $7.99. Sold at Ulta

This purchase was for a couple of reasons - 1. I have barely any experience with gel eyeliner, and I figured I should work on that, 2. I wanted something to use my new brush with, and 3. because I had a coupon :) I haven't really ever read or seen anything about this in all my internet readings, so it was kind of a blind purchase, but I do love a bunch of other NYX products, so I figured I couldn't go too wrong. I originally wanted the black shade - Betty - but they were sold out, and compared to their other brown shade, Scarlette could pass as black from a distance. It says it can be used as a smudger as well, but it seems a little dramatic for my usual likings, but I think I'm gonna try it soon!

Look out for the second half of the haul in my next post!

xoxo,
Harrison

Bloglovin'

So, in an attempt to help with the startup of the blog, I setup an account with Bloglovin'. It's a website where you can keep track of all the blogs you follow in one easy place! You can follow me through there so you can get an update every time I post something. And if you use Google Chrome, you can even add an extension so that you have a little notification in the corner of your window on your address bar! I never realized how involved blogs were when came to this stuff, but hey, I'm learnin'! Anyway, I do have to post this link below to confirm that the blog is indeed mine, so if you'd like to follow click on the link below and help me out! :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin' today!

xoxo,

Harrison

Welcome!

Hello all, and welcome to Harrison Darling! 

P.S. I swear I'm wearing clothes in this picture...

I am Harrison. And yes, it really is my name, I promise! With this blog I hope to explore and develop two of my greatest loves - writing and make-up. Whereas I may not be a professional make-up artist, I do feel as if I have a significant amount of knowledge on the subject and can adequately write about such. I'm so excited and so nervous as well to do this! On here, I plan on doing reviews of products, photos of things that inspire me, maybe even tutorials eventually! In the beginning, I will mostly be doing reviews of products I already own, posting favorites of my *quite intense* collection until I gather up the courage to branch out. Anyway, I'm so excited for this, and if you have any feedback, please feel free to email me at harrisondarlingbeauty@gmail.com at any time!!

xoxo,

Harrison