My Favorite Pink Lipsticks and Glosses

In honor of valentine's day, here are my favorite pink lip products -- including natural and bright pinks. Yesterday I wore MAC Impassioned, the brightest pink I own, and today I wore NYX Tea Rose a softer pink that is still a step up from MLBB.

The lighting is rather bad in the first set and last set of swatches because it was really cloudy yesterday when I was taking the pictures. I tried to adjust the color to make it as accurate as possible.

NYX Tea Rose, NYX Fig, Revlon Pink in the Afternoon, MAC Sweetie, MAC Hue lipsticks

NYX Tea Rose, NYX Fig, Revlon Pink in the Afternoon, MAC Sweetie, MAC Hue lipsticks

Tea Rose is an opaque rosy pink. Fig is nearly the same as Tea Rose but a bit brighter and slightly more coral. Pink in the Afternoon is one of my favorite pinks, a nice neutral pink great for everyday wear. Sweetie is a pinky plum with silvery shimmer/glitter that gives it a slightly frosty finish. Hue is a sheer milky pale pink.

Now onto the in-your-face brights!! :D

Click past the jump to see bright pinks, lip glosses, and me wearing Impassioned!

Quick Taupe Smokey Eye

I needed to do a smokey eye in a hurry so I applied all the eyeshadow in this look with my fingers! I've realized that I am actually better at apply non-matte eyeshadows with my fingers than with a brush. For me, it makes blending so much easier and everything apply much more quickly. Plus no brushes to wash!! (speaking of which... need to wash my brushes asap!)

Here I used my favorite taupes, WnW Nutty and MAC Satin Taupe (which may or may not actually be a taupe?). I kept my skin simple and dewy (thanks to glycerin and some highlighter!) with a natural lip. I haven't layered lipstick and lipgloss in MONTHS and forgot how nice it looks.

My creases were being weird/normal! The one that is usually a semi-monolid creased today which made wearing and applying a darker eye look much easier. Normally, my lids are mismatching which makes darker eyeshadows harder to pull off without looking like a crazy person. My eyes will sometimes crease weirdly to match. No idea why it did that today, might've been the liner I was using?

Click past the jump to see more photos and products I used

Rainbow EOTDs: Red

This week I wanted to branch out from my usual neutral eye makeup looks into bright colors. I have so many color eyeshadows but I almost never use them as I prefer the ease of applying a bright lipstick over bright eyeshadow.

Today I decided to start with the first color of the rainbow, red. Now red is notoriously difficult to use as an eyeshadow because it tends to make you look sick. I have never worn true red eyeshadow so this is my first attempt! I'm not convinced it was a success though.... :/

Excuse the super cool-toned lighting because of the cloudy weather. I am not this pale and blue in real life!

 

Click past the jump to see more photos of the look and the eyeshadow I used!

FOTD: Nutty Taupes

Taupes are a beautiful hybrid of grey and brown. Many makeup lovers are weak at any sign of taupe. I love taupes but rarely use them because I find it hard to pair blushes and lipsticks with them without it clashing on my warm, yellow-based skintone. 

I tried giving my favorite taupes another try today. Wet n Wild Nutty is a beautiful shimmery warmed taupe that is a wonderful shade for all over the lid. I usually like to wear it by itself for an everyday sort of look but decided to go all out with taupe today and so I added MAC Copperplate to the outer 1/3 of my lid and in the crease. Copperplate is Matte2 and is one of my favorite matte eyeshadows. It is a medium-dark taupe that is cooler than nutty. Both shades are wonderfully pigmented and apply really smoothly. 

Clockwise top left: WnW Nutty, MAC Copperplate, Revlon Vintage Lace

Click past the jump to see what other products I used and more pics! :)

My Top 5 "Winter" Lippies

Following up on my tips to rocking bright lips post here I wanted to show you some of my favorite winter lip products. Of course what do I really know about the mythical season known as winter? *looks outside window to see 75 degree sunny weather* I'm currently sweating in a tshirt and jeans in LA. But who cares if it looks like it's time to go to the beach, I'm going to be proudly wearing my winter lippies!

So anyways from what I hear, "winter" lip colors traditionally include darker shades such as berries, plums, and reds. Now this sounds excellent to me because I cannot resist a bright/in-your-face lipstick. Most of my favorite winter lipsticks can be worn year round though.

Here are swatches of my favorites. Obviously because I am ridiculously obsessed with red lipstick I just had to include three.

Revlon Fire l/g, MAC Russian Red, Chanel Dragon, Revlon Raspberry Bite, WnW Sugar Plum Fairy

1. Revlon Colorburst Fire lipgloss 
I rarely wear lipglosses but this is a SUPER pigmented bright red gloss that verges into liquid lipstick territory. The pigmentation on this is similar to the Illamasqua intense lipglosses. In one swipe it is full impact red. The lip swatch looks rather odd because of the shininess. 

Revlon ColorBurst Fire lipgloss

Click past the jump to see pics of me wearing the rest of the lipsticks!

What's in my travel makeup bag?

Or rather, bags. I've been away from my makeup stash for a month and this is what I brought with me. Amazingly, I've discovered that I can survive on less, but lets be real, I can't wait to be reunited with all my makeup pretties on Saturday!

My Harajuku Lovers and LeSportsac makeup bags

 I like the Harajuku lovers bag more because the opening is much larger and allows me to find things much more easily.

Clockwise, top left: Tarte Exposed, MAC MSFN, Milani Luminoso, MUFE Face & Body, Revlon Age Defying Concealer

These are some of my favorite face products, including MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (which I use as a natural foundation), MUFE Face & Body foundation, Revlon Age Defying Concealer (in two shades which I mix to match my skintone), Tarte Exposed Amazonian Clay blush (my current favorite everyday blush, I can't stop using this!! My old favorite Rock & Republic Call Me is probably crying as I type this), and Milani Luminoso baked blush.
 

For eye products I brought my favorite Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette, a freestyle palette I made containing WnW Vanity, Night Elf, Silent Treatment, and Walking on Eggshells palettes, WnW creme liner (which I use for my brows), Clinique gel liner, UDPP, Revlon Colorstay liquid liner, and CG Lashexact waterproof mascara.

Now that I think about it I didn't really need to bring my homemade WnW eyeshadow palette, Comfort Zone was more than enough.

L-R: WnW Stoplight Red, MAC Jubilee, MAC See Sheer, MAC VG Cyndi, Chanel Dragon, Chanel Mademoiselle, Revlon Coral, Revlon Raspberry Bite, and Revlon Nude Lustre lipgloss.

And of course, where I always go overboard, lipsticks!!

The only ones I didn't use were the two Revlon lipsticks so I'd say I brought just enough lippies. I love the holidays because they're such a great excuse for wearing red lipstick ;) So many pretties!!

Revlon Nude Lustre, MAC Jubilee, Chanel Mademoiselle, MAC See Sheer, MAC VG Cyndi, Revlon Coral, WnW Stoplight Red, Chanel Dragon, Revlon Raspberry lipstick swatches

Thanks for looking!

Did I go overboard? What makeup do you bring when you travel?

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Welcome to Victoria's Makeup Secrets!

I've been thinking about starting a blog for ages because I love sharing all of the makeup knowledge I've learned over the years. I first discovered makeup when I was 12 and quickly fell in love with makeup in high school. Now through trial and error and learning from others I have so many makeup tips and products that I'd love to share with you! I'll be posting application tips, my favorite and least favorite products, product reviews, my makeup stash (which has gotten a little larger than I would like :P), and makeup looks. To all you makeup lovers out there, enjoy!!

My makeup obsession for the past 3 months: red matte lipstick :)

One of my favorite reds, Wet n Wild Stoplight Red!