St. Paddy's Day Makeup!

I'm so sorry about the rushed blog post and bad pictures. I went on a mini two-night vacation this weekend and didn't quite get to perfecting this!

Light green base with a touch of peach on the upper half of lid.

Bright green corners

Darkest green on the very outer corners.

Line with brown eyeshadow underneath

Blend top with bottom

Add green liquid eyeliner

My green wasn't quite the right shade,
so I covered it with eyeshadow that was closer to a St. Paddy's color.

This is what your dark corners should look like.

Highlight under your eyebrows with cream eyeshadow

Line with black

I would probably line a little underneath too, now that I'm looking at it.

Mascara and eyebrows filled in

Unfortunately I forgot to take an after picture! But you get the idea :) Here's a couple pics from last year.

Finish off with some green, white and gold nail polish and no one will be pinching you tomorrow!

Daily Makeup Routine on a Single Mom Budget

Just so we're clear, I feel absolutely ridiculous taking pictures of myself and acting like I'm some sort of expert. I learned all these tricks from articles in magazines, things I've found online, Pinterest pins, and YouTube videos over the years. I have no formal training (although I will someday) in makeup artistry, and I have done a LOT of trial and error up to this point. Over time my makeup habits change, so a few months from now I will probably look back at this and laugh at it.

The only reason I made this video is because I have had so many people ask me to show them how I do my makeup. I will never get a chance to actually sit down with these people and show them, so I am settling for this video. I wasn't brave enough this time to make actual video of myself, so it's just a bunch of pictures with captions to give you the general idea. Maybe some day I will get the guts to do the whole thing on video. I'm brand new at this YouTube stuff!

Enough explaining! For whatever it's worth, here it is. Hope you pick up a few things you didn't know before! And, as always, please leave a comment so I know who's actually looking at this nonsense, and share if you feel so inclined. :)




Loves!
Aubrey Anne

5 Favorite Products - July

One of these things is not like the other. I feel no shame about #4 having nothing at all to do with beauty. I admit I have an addiction, and I will share my addiction with you because I love you.


Baby oil

This is probably something everyone has been doing forever, and I just caught on to it, but omg baby oil! I'm the queen of razor burn, and I've decided to Knight baby oil for the best after-shave everrrr.
P.S. You can get it at the dollar store in either the liquid or the gel.

(I've also begun using diluted tea tree oil to shrink my pores after shaving, but this I cannot recommend for everyone. If you try it, be sure you're buying 100% therapeutic grade oil.)

Venus Spa Breeze razor cartridges

Image credit

I am poor. Whenever I go down the razor isle, I have panic attacks. I simply cannot afford good razors. At some stores they want $22 for a package of 4! Are they kidding me? I've been known to use the same razor head for six months in order to save money.

But remember how I'm the Queen of Razor Burn? The only relief I've found is in a GOOD razor. This I discovered when I decided to splurge on some Venus Spa Breeze razor cartridges. Pretty sure they were about $15.99. I had so much guilt about buying them!

My legs thanked me for WEEKS.  Those pink pads of lotion are so awesome I didn't even need to use shaving cream with it, and when the lotion parts run out, the razor is still good for a while. For the first time ever I didn't get razor burn after shaving. You're welcome.


Ulta glitter nail polish

Image Credit

I have three boys. I NEVER have time to let my nails dry. I can't remember having perfect polish since my teenage years.



This is my new favorite polish, because it's super pretty, way glittery (yay shimmer!), and it takes about 5 minutes start to finish to throw some on my toes and leave the house. Several times I have been asked "Are those glitter toes?" and people are always surprised when I tell them no.
(About $4 at Ulta.)





Starbucks syrup

Did you guys know you can buy Starbucks (crack) Syrup by the BOTTLE? Yeah, I didn't either, until Boyfriend surprised me with my very own bottle of Cinnamon Dolce syrup, and I fell madly in love with him. (I admit, that wasn't the reason I fell in love. BUT it was definitely one of them.)

$12.95 (which he gave me on a Starbucks gift card, because sharing coffee means love). I had Cinnamon Dolce coffee at home for probably 2 months straight. It lasts forever. If you consider that ever Starbucks is approximately $5, I feel like I robbed them blind. Yum.
P.S. This is definitely not a health tip. You will consume calories and sugar and stuff.


French Tip Guide Stickers

I'll just tell you the truth, I have only had time to use these once, because you have to let your first coat of polish dry COMPLETELY before using them.

But they are so awesome, I've gotta tell you about them. I've seen all sorts of tips on Pinterest about using tape or those little round stickers you put in your binder paper... but I've tried them and those tips didn't work for me. None of them stuck well enough to make a good line. These tip stickers stick really well, and they're so wide you can even cut them in half and use half as many on your smaller toes/fingers. Pretty sure I paid about $2 for them at Sally Beauty Supply.

Bonus: Another awesome tip comes from my friend Carri, who showed us at the Girls' Day party how to remove nail polish with used dryer sheets (and polish remover). That was a cool trick - the polish came off so fast! You should definitely try it.

My favorite day of the month: When my ipsy Glam Bag arrives!

As always, this post is not sponsored. I do not receive any compensation for the things I write. 

I simply believe in spreading the word about good companies and products.

Each month $10 is automatically deducted from my bank account. In exchange for that $10, I receive a super cute makeup bag full of awesome cosmetics! This fulfills my MUST BUY MAKEUP need, without spending much money at all. Each month there is a new bag designed especially for ipsy, and each bag comes with 4 or 5 full-size, high-end products.

When you sign up (and you should), they ask you to fill out a quick survey about your skin type, colors, favorite brands, etc.

There have been things in these bags I never would have tried on my own, but now I adore and use every day. Each one of the products in the bag is worth at least $10 all by itself. I haven't found another service that is as good a deal as this one. (Although, there are a lot of these out there. The monthly grab-bag is kind of a thing right now. You can even get one for your baby, which comes with their age-appropriate toys and products. Or one for food. Or one for your dog. Whatever you're into. Mine happens to be makeup, and ipsy seems to be the best deal out there for makeup.) 

I have somehow lost the picture from April's bag, which happens to have been my favorite, but I found a review someone else did... you can see it here. I got more actual makeup in April's bag, and it was my style (dramatic black eyeliner, fake lashes, bright pink lipstick, etc.) so that month was my favorite so far. 

May's bag was spring-inspired (below). The bag was green and cream canvas, and came with 5 things: 

1. Some weird spray water stuff for your face... still haven't figured out what that's for. (If one of you gets this for Christmas, just smile and say thank you.) 
2. Hang Ten sunscreen, which I use under my makeup every day I'm planning to leave the house.
3. eva-nyc Therapy Session Hair Mask, which I love. 
4. That Pacifica stuff is pretty great, I use it as my eyeshadow when I'm looking for something really light and natural, or as highlight and bronzer. 
5. My personal favorite from May was the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. This stuff is amazing and I use it every single day. It's made with actual cocoa powder, doesn't make me break out, and lasts forever. Love it. 

May

June was even better. I kinda wish you could have heard me squeal when I opened it.

The bag is nylon, not my favorite look, but it's serving a great purpose holding all my lipstick in one place now. (A few more months and I'll be giving the bags away because I won't know what to do with them... how cute will that be? Little birthday gifts in cute makeup bags?) This is what I got in mine:

1. Be a... bombshell mascara, which is great. (Full-size, yay!)
2. Marc Anthony beach waves beach spray, which I liked more than I thought I would.
3. NYX butter gloss, by FAR my favorite product this month! I will be buying more of this.
4. The shimmer eyeliner is great, but I already have several of these, even one in this very color. I do love it, but will probably end up giving it away, because I don't have a need for more.
5. Skinn Olive and Enzyme Cleanser - this is one of those things I got because I included my oily skin in my profile.

June

My very favorite thing I got from ipsy was Cailyn high-pigment lip balm. I adore it so much I bought two more. Oh, after they send out the bags, they have sales on the products in them, so you can buy more if you liked it. And every time 5 people sign up for their own ipsy bags with my link, I get to choose a free product for my next bag... so if you do sign up, use my link, pretty please? :) 

Is it July yet????? I can't wait for my bright pink package to come to the door!