NYX Makeup Artist Kit Review!

Hi friends, 

Today I'm sharing my thoughts with you on the NYX Makeup Artist Kit. I purchased this kit from Ulta a few months ago and have recently been playing around with it. This kit is sold only online at Ulta and the cost is $29.99.

When you open it up, the first things you see are the shadows, then slide the shadows part to the right and under that, you have some blushes, bronzers, highlight and lipsticks. I have to say that I was surprised by the pigmentation, definitely better than I thought they were going to be. What I did find however is that the formula is very powdery and can be a bit messy when applying so be careful (I did my eye makeup before I applied my face makeup so I could avoid fallout all over my cheeks).

This is the look I decided to go with, very neutral bronze look with a pop of color on the lips. I used a few of the more neutral colors to create this look, I applied them over a NYX jumbo eye pencil to give them a stickier base.

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Iced Mocha

These were the shades I used to create my eye look. One of the downsides of this kit is that none of the shadows (or anything else) are named, therefore I can't tell you exactly which colors I used. As you an see, the colors are beautiful and pigmented, you just have to be careful when applying them so you don't have tons of fallout.

Here is a picture again for reference.

I used the middle bronzer (top row middle) there are actually two colors there that I mixed together and for the blush, I used the berry colored blush (second row from the top all the way to the left) and for highlight, I used the white (top row, add the way to the left).

My thoughts on the bronzer and blush are the same, beautiful colors but can be a bit hard to blend and definitely need to be careful with fallout. I suggest setting your liqud foundation with a powder to make the blending of the blush and bronzer easier otherwise it will look blotchy and not blended. As far as the highlight, it was not very good. The highlight was a matte white that came off super powdery and there was no highlighting done whatsoever! I would rather use the white as an eyeshadow, won't put it on my cheekbones again that's for sure! 

Here are the blush, bronzer and highlighter swatched (blush to the left, bronzer in the center and highlight on the right).

And I figured I would share what's on my lips since they are pretty noticeable, L'Oreal LeMatte Lipstick in 408 "She's so matte" topped with  Revlon Just Kissable Balm Stain in "Lovesick".

This is the whole look (hope the lighting is ok) so now here are my final thoughts, 

Beautiful colors with good pigmentation and I love the range of colors in this kit, you can create tons of different looks with them, from neutral looks to smokey or even a bit more daring with some of the brighter colors. However, they are quite powdery and especially the face colors, are very hard to blend. This would be a good kit for someone just starting to explore with makeup but not something I would give to someone with an extensive makeup collection. I personally wouldn't repurchase this kit but since I do have it, I will continue to play around with it some more and keep you all posted. 

I hope you found this helpful!!

Wine for Drinking & Cooking!

Hi friends, 

Today I wanted to touch on a question I am asked over and over again on a regular basis and that is, "What Kind Of Wine Do You Cook With?! The answer is very simple, any wine that you enjoy drinking!! Years ago, I was told that if a wine isn't good enough to drink, you shouldn't use it in cooking and when you think about it, that makes total sense. When you cook with wine, it intensifies the flavor and therefore the better tasting the wine, the better the outcome of your dish will be. I am no wine expert by any means but I know what I like and I am the first to admit that walking into a liquor store and browsing over to the wine section gives me a bit of anxiety, too much to choose from and I end up just grabbing what I always do for fear that if I try something new, I won't end up liking it.

I recently came across Club W which is a monthly wine subscription that tailors to you and your palate. When I found out about Club W, I did at first question how this worked, but after filling out my personal palate profile I was pretty confident that I would end up liking what was sent to me and I am happy to report, I was! I received three bottles of wine last month, two whites and one red and the cool thing about this is that after you've tried the wine that was sent to you, you can go back on their website and rate them. If you're not a fan of one (or all) the bottles you have received, they will use your ratings on that particular bottle and work on sending you something a bit more up your alley the next time. I have truly been enjoying the wine I have received. I've cooked with them as well and the flavors have been delicious!! 

I recently made a big pot of Chicken and Dumplings and used the Pinot Grigio that came in my box this past month and loved the subtle yet bright (you can tell I'm not a wine specialist by how I describe them haha) flavor it brought to my dish. Chicken and Dumplings traditionally is pretty heavy and can be a tiny bit bland if you don't add some good ingredients, and just like in my chicken noodle soup I always add a good glass of white wine to bring a little life to the dish.

Another great recipe I made recently Is my Mini Ravioli Soup and in that video I added a good glass of the Red Wine Blend that came in the same box as the Pinot Grigio, the Red Wine Blend delivered such good depth of flavor in a relatively quick cooking soup.  I never ended up cooking with the Riesling that I received this past month because we drank the whole bottle at dinner, it was out of this world!!

Using good wine makes a big difference in the final outcome and the reason why I (and some of my friends that are subscribed to to Club W) have been so pleased and impressed by it, is that I can try new bottles of wine monthly without worrying that I'm spending an arm and a leg on a bottle of wine I might not like. Plus, It's like Christmas every month when they show up in the mail!!

Since I loved it so much and thought you would too, I asked Club W for a promo code that you can use to get a discount. If you use our promo code you will receive three bottles for the price of two. Either use this link http://www.clubw.com/vitale or promo code 'vitale' (no capital letters).

The wines I used in these recipes are:

                                   
2011 Score Red Blend             2012 Sonoro Pinot Grigio

It really depends on your palate and what you like, but I really enjoyed these! My dad loved the Red Blend (as you may have seen in my vlog!).

DIY Coconut Sugar Scrub

Hi friends, 

So today I wanted to share with you the coconut sugar scrub I use on a regular basis that not only smells incredible, but makes my skin feel amazing and because I make it myself, I get to control what ingredients go into it. I have been making this scrub for about a year now and I have even made it as gifts for my girlfriends who love it as much as I do! 

Here is the cast of characters you will need,

1/2 cup of Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (I actually found this Trader Joe's brand on Amazon since I don't have a Trader Joe's anywhere near me), Zest of 1 Lemon, (this is optional but I love adding some lemon zest to it because it truly smells amazing especially when paired with the vanilla beans) Seeds from 2 Vanilla beans (scrape the seeds out) and 3/4 of a cup of Granulated Sugar. 

Start off my adding your sugar, vanilla seeds, and lemon zest in a large bowl and set aside.

Scoop some of the coconut oil in a microwave safe cup and microwave it until the oil is just about all melted.

Add the oil in the bowl with the sugar mixture.

Mix together to combine. I wanted to point out something, when you first start stirring the mixture, it will feel and look very thin and runny but resist the urge to add any more sugar, keep in mind that as the mixture cools, the coconut oil hardens leaving you with a creamy and thick mixture you see below.

Place your mixture in a tightly sealed jar and keep it somewhere cool and slightly dark (I keep mine in the corner shelf in my bathroom)

These are my favorite scrubbing tools, the brush is just a scrubbing brush I got online but I just take out the handle and use is as a hand held brush and the foot scrub is perfect for scrubbing the heels of your feet leaving them soft and tender. This will keep for months and trust me when I tell you that It's the best scrub out there! 

Hope you enjoyed this little DIY project, it's super easy and quick to do and it truly works wonders on my skin! 

Bare Minerals Kiss and Tell Lipstick Set Review

Hi friends, I've been getting tons of questions lately on my social media networks and youtube about doing more reviews on mostly beauty products but just anything I come across. I am happy so say that you can expect quick reviews on my blog from things I try or things that are recommended to me by you! I'm starting my first official review today with the Bare Minerals Kiss and Tell Lipstick Set. These are the new Marvelous Moxie Lipsticks that Bare Minerals came out not too long ago and when I saw this little set, I immediately got them because I love trying out new products and I especially love little package deals where you get smaller sizes of each item but you get multiple items in one. So let's get on with the review..

This is what the box they come in looks like, the pink packaging totally got me, the set is sold for $29.00 and I purchased mine from Ulta. So these claim to be vibrant, pigmented and ultra hydrating and I can totally agree with those claims 100%. I am loving these lipsticks and I am so glad I saw this set for sale! I have been wanting to try these for a while but didn't really want to spend $18 on one since I hadn't heard much about these and saw no reviews. I am happy to say that these babies are everything they claim to be! 

As you can see, each one is pretty small, I placed it next to a regular tweezers and it's safe to say that the lipstick is quite a bit smaller than the tweezers. 

Here are the 5 shades that come in this set, as you can see from the picture, they are very pigmented and and feel really creamy on the lips! Love the color selection although I would have preferred a red or coral color in place of the "Break away" color, it's too dark for my lips and I really don't see this as looking flattering on very many skin tones, way too brown! 

Here are the shades from left to right, Speak Your Mind, Break Away, Get Ready, Go All Out, Be Bold.

I do really love the rest of the colors, you get a good range of shades from a neutral pinky nude, to a fushia and deep plum.

I totally took this last picture backwards so please forgive me that the colors swatched above are swatched  from right to left (the picture above the swatches is correct and and lined up with their name) I have to say that I love their silver packaging, so sleek and fancy looking! 

Overall I am really happy I purchased these, I have been wanting to try them for a while now and I'm super glad I saw this set for sale, I love that i was able to get 5 different shades to play around with! These are definitely worth every penny! If you're a makeup lover and love trying out new products, these will fit perfectly in your collection! Creamy, smooth, pigmented and very comfortable on the lips!