Faces by the Honey B: Halloween Peacock

This year for Halloween, I decided to ruffle some tail feathers and dress as a peacock. Of course, this called for me to do an elaborate bird look for the evening. Armed with my favorite golds, greens and blues,  I went to work on my bird eyes. I started with the gold pigment from my MAC Surf Baby Surf the Ocean stack. For the green in the inner crease of my eye, I used my Sugar Pill Midori eyeshadow and patted After Party in the outer crease of my eye. I took Urban Decay's Flash and blended it into the brow bone along with Urban Decay's Midnight 15. Using my NYX Milk jumbo pencil, I drew white dots to mimik the pattern of feathers around my eyes. After letting my eyeshadow set, I drew on Urban Decay's Heavy Metal Glitter liner in Metal Head on top of Flash eyeshadow and Air Guitar on my lower lashline. I extended my MAC Blacktrack Fluid line up as far as i could wing and also drawing an inner wing in the inner corner of my eye to create a birdlike effect. I then added Miss Ardo lashes in #112.  I bronzed my cheeks with MAC's Refined Golden Bronze and added Rock and Republic's Kinky on the apples of my cheek. Keeping the lips simple, I put on Nars nude lippy, Pago Pago and finished my look by gluing on some craft feathers with Ardell's eyelash glue.  Just to add an extra peacocky feel, I put on amber contacts to make my eyes pop. Picture below is my Halloween FOTD. Did you dress up last night? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Faces by the Honey B: Halloween Mermaid

It's that time of year again!!! With Halloween rapidly approaching, the beautiful Lizette had asked me to do a mermaid look for a costume party she was attending. When I think of mermaids, I tend to think of deep greens and blues. I wanted to create a very wet look for Lizette's mermaid makeup so I stuck to shimmers and sparkly eyeshadows. I primed her eyelid with Pixi eye primer, and added MAC's Vex all over her lid, applying it the darkest in the brow bone. I then took Cargo's Green Bay lime green eyeshadow and applied it to the inner corner of her lid and near the tear ducts. I put Urban Decay's Kiddie Pool, a turquoise shimmery blue, on her lid and brought Urban Decay's Flash in on the crease and outer V. To really reinforce the purple color, I added MAC's Parfait Armor over Flash. I did a simple black winged eyeliner line with MAC's Blacktrack Fluid line and applied very pointy, thick falsies on both bottom and top lashlines. I applied MAC's Light Flush Highlighter all over her cheekbones, T-zone and bridge of her nose and applied My Paradise onto the apples of her cheeks. To finish the look, I added MAC's Cremesheen lipgloss in Fashion Scoop for a wet look. Apply a small layer of Wet 'N' Wild's white glitter down the temples to your cheeks for an extra scaley look. Picture below is the beautiful Lizette as a siren of the sea Mermaid Princess! What are you dressing up as for Halloween? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Sephora Friends & Family Sale

Here it is, honey bees! Sephora's online Friends and Family event. Click HERE to get your code and don't forget to shop the sale section for awesome deals! Happy shopping!

Blush Buzz: Illamasqua Thrust

As an Illamasqua virgin here, I was excited to try out a recent addition to my blush collection. Illamasqua's Thrust is a bright violet berry in the pan, but shows up a subtle cool and warm pink on the cheeks. It is extremely pigmented and would be best applied with a duo-fibre skunk brush, just to give off a nice rosy glow. I actually love that I dont own a single blush that looks like Thrust. Retailing at around $23 at your local Sephora, Thrust is just a touch more expensive than a MAC blush ($18) and around the same price as a NARS blush ($26). The vibrant color can be a little intimidating in the pan, but once applied (sparingly) to cheeks, Thrust is definitely creates a soft and easy matte finish. The blush leans cool but can suit warm tones nicely as well, since the magenta does carry a bit of red undertones. This blush is particularly flattering on WOC (women of color) but would look beautiful on fair and medium tones as well. Thrust is just the right amount of flirty and bold. I'm pretty excited to try more out from Illamasqua since the quality and wear time of this blush is outstanding. Illamasqua offers a pretty gorgeous range of colors to choose from as well. Bottom line? A fun and flirty quality blush! Pictured below is my FOTD using Illamasqua's Thrust. Please keep in mind that I am applying a little bit more blush than I usually wear, so you guys can get a good look at the true color and pigmentation of Thrust.  Have you tried Illamasqua's Thrust? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Fall Trend: Matte Red Lips

Emma Watson & Sienna Miller

I can't help but notice the omnipresence of matte red lips on celebrities this fall. The look is sophisticated and polished while the matte texture makes it a bit edgy and different from your average red lip. Pictured left on Emma Watson (girl crush alert!) and Sienna Miller, the look is bold without being garish. Shop your stash, ladies, for one of the hardest working lipsticks in the business, MAC's Ruby Woo. This lipstick is true red with slightly cool undertones and absolutely no sheen. If it looks familiar, it's because Ruby Woo is known for being Gwen Stefani's go-to retro lipstick. Be sure to prime your lips before using this. Wearing a lipliner helps to keep the lipstick from feathering as well. I like to use MAC Brick lipliner to make it a bit deeper (like Emma's). You don't  need to fuss with heavy eye shadow or blush with this look. Keep it simple and make the lips make the statement. Pictured below, I take on the matte red lip with MAC's Ruby Woo lipstick and Brick lipliner. Do you rock the matte red lip? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Weekend Haul

After spending a few days in NYC, I was able to get my hands on a few beauty must-haves. I was lucky enough to drop by famous London retailer Top Shop (the only one located in the states is in Soho) and picked up powder blush in Pop ($12) and Liquid eyeliner in Rook ($10). Pop is a soft warm coral while Rook is a blue black liquid liner with a fine felt tip. I have been hearing such great things about Top Shop makeup- and the packaging is so cute too! I can't wait to try these out! While in New York, I also dropped by Henri Bendel to grab some Nars lipsticks (among other things!). I picked up the new shade Pago Pago, which was released with their fall 2011 line, and Outsider (both retailing at $24).  Pago Pago is a shimmery and sheer nude pink. Upon first glance, I was not interested in this lipstick. The shimmer looked unappealing in the tube and the color did not look special. With much insisting, I finally tried it on and loved the nude/pink color! Outsider was the perfect color to transition me nicely into fall. The shade is a warm orange that applies sheer. The best way to describe it is that on lips, it appears like a sheer, shiny tangerine. 

When I got home from my trip my BeautyBar.com order had arrived! I ordered Stila Pink Custom Color blush  that came with a free gift, Stila's E!'s Live from Red Carpet palette. The blush is quite the shocking pink in the pan, but adjusts its color to your skintone. I'm not really sure  how it works but it gave me a gorgeous glowy pink/peach after application. The blush is small, but you do not need a lot of product for this to show on your skin. Best of all, it came with Stila's E! Live from the Red Carpet travel palette in Stunning Starlet Palette. This palette retails at $25 (but was free with purchase!) and comes with a travel Stila mascara. I love Stila shadows and the quality of these mostly shimmery eyeshadows are just gorgeous. I can't wait to do a red carpet look with this! Pictured below are my swatches of this weekend haul! What did you pick up this weekend? Leave your thoughts in the comments. 

from LtoR: Pago Pago, Outsider, Rook, Pop, Stila Converible blush in Pink and E! Red Carpet Palette  shadows in Paparazzi, Red Carpet, Hollywood, A List, VIP, Backstage and Kitten