Few New Bits of Wet n' Wild

 

Happy Summer!

 Recently I went into Walmart and i saw that Wet n Wild had a few new bits on display. Of course, I am a huge fan of their wallet friendly prices so i picked up some bits. First I picked up make up wipes called Under The Sheets make Up Wipes for under 3 dollars. I have noticed that make up wipes have started being really expensive so when I saw these I figured I'd give them a go. So far, I've been liking them. They are not drying and aren't irritating. Next, I picked up the Coloricon Contour Kit. Personally, this is going to be too light for me in the summer but I think I will get good use out of it in the Fall. Also the formula of both the matte bronzer and matte highlight is very smooth. Lastly, I got the Coverall Correcting Palette. There have been a lot of high end correcting palettes coming out so I thought this could be a good dupe. I was not very impressed with the texture of these. They were cream but almost felt chalky and stiff. I personally would not buy this one again. However, the other two are definitely winners!

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Lots of love,
Rena

My Top Three Golden Globes Outfits

Top Three Golden Ladies by rena-blank on Polyvore

Award season has finally began and there is no better way to start it than with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on The Golden Globes. Those two are completely hilarious and I am so sad that last night was their last time hosting The Golden Globes. As always the red carpet was filled with amazing glamorous dress and sexy man in suits. Honestly, I probably enjoy the pre show red carpet more than the actual awards. These three ladies stood out to me the most along the sea of beautiful dresses. 

Emma Stone In Lanvin: No one but Emma Stone can make pants look so chic and glamourous. From the sequin top to the side bow to the black pointed toe shoes, Emma looks elegant and sleek.  I thought her make up and hair perfect complemented her amazing outfit. 

Sienna Miller In Miu Miu: The plunging necklaine and the dramatically parted hair look perfect on Sienna's petite frame. The detailing on the dress are also so stunning. 

Leslie Mann in KaufmanFranco: Yellow is definitely a hard color to pull off but Leslie Mann looks stunning in the bright yellow strapless dress. The dress fits her like a glove and the earrings are a perfect addition to the look. 

Who did you think looked great at the Golden Globes? 

Lots of Love, 

Rena 

Review: Urban Decay Shadow Box

Walking through Ulta, you can't help but be drawn to Urban Decay's new exclusive to Ulta, Shadow Box. From the travel friendly size to the vivid colors, this palette is definitely an eye catcher. 

This palette comes in a sturdy purple and black orchid petal designed cardboard packaging with a metal UD magnetic closer. The box the palette comes in had the same design with a cute little paragraph on the back talking about the shadows and pictures of what the shadows were. 

When you open up the palette, you see a large mirror with "beauty with an edge" written in the right corner and two rows of 6 colors each. The paragraph on the back of the box packaging says there is a wide range of finishes from matte to sparkly but really there is only one matte color in black with the other 11 being sparkly. The top row colors are Sin, Indo, Bordello, Tarnado, Smog and Black Out. The bottom row colors are Flash, Mushroom, Lost, Freelove, Moonshadow and Baked Cowboy.

Top Row: Top to Bottom: BlackOut, Smog, Tornado, Bordello, Indo, Sin

Bottom Row: Top to Bottom: Baked Cowboy, Moonshadow, Freelove, Lost, Mushroom, Flash

A lot of these colors are well known and loves such as Baked Cowboy. Urban Decay definitely does sparkly colors better than matte colors as you can definitely see that in this palette. The 11 sparkly colors are much better quality than the matte black. The black is hard to work with while the sparkly colors are all smooth, silky and buttery. The colors is the palette are beautiful. You get some nice shimmer golden browns such as Smog and Lost as well as some bright colors as such Flash, a bright lilac purple, Indo, a deep teal, and Moonshadow, a bright navy blue. 

Overall, I think this palette is a great add on but you definitely can't travel with just this palette since it is mostly sparkly colors. I think this makes an awesome gift to any UD lovers. The colors in this palette are definitely going to be fun to play with!

Have you checked this palette out? What is your favorite UD color? 

Lots of Love, 
Rena 

New Lush Goodies

Happy New Years Everyone! I hope 2015 is a great year for all of you :) 

Over the holiday season, I was lucky enough to get gifted some LUSH goodies from one of my aunts. I am super excited to give these a try because I have actually never tried any of these before. She gave me the Winter Garden gift set from LUSH which comes with 5 little goodies. 

Ro's Argan Body Conditioner: I am probably most excited about this product. This is a body conditioner that is to be used in the shower after a shower gel. It is suppose to leave your "velvety-soft" and the best part is you don't need to apply body lotion afterwards! This can be a total time saver as you are pretty much applying your lotion in the shower and this way you're not stuck in your bathroom all cold and wet applying lotion. 

Vanilla Puff: This is definitely the most unique product in this gist set. This is a dusting powder which is suppose to be used by sprinkling it all over your body before getting dressed for silky soft skin. This smells amazing like vanilla frosting. I am curious to see if I actually feel a difference on my skin when using this. 

Snowcake Soap: This is one of LUSH's limited edition holiday time products. I have heard great stuff about this and I am super excited that I get to try this because I know all the limited edition products are going away soon.  I have loved all the over body soaps I have used from LUSH so I expected this one to be just as good! 

Rose Jam: Let's start of by saying this smells so good! The perfect rose scent with hints of vanilla and lemon that is perfectly sweet but not overpowering. This is a shower gel and LUSH does amazing shower gels so I look forward to this. The packaging says that this is limited edition but I don't think this is part of their holiday time limited edition products. 

Ultrabalm: Last but not least, is this multi purpose balm called Ultrabalm. This comes in a cute little tin that is perfect for throwing into your purse. This is all purpose balm that could be used on any dry bits like your lips or hands. This is also made with a bunch of oils so it is super moisturizing. 

What LUSH bits have you been loving lately? 

Lots of Love, 

Rena 

NYE Outfit Ideas

New Years is such a fun holiday filled with cocktail dresses, old friends and lots of music. It is the holiday for which you can get super dressed up for and no one will think twice. Looking back on all my New Years outfits, they are always the same- short little, often back cocktail dresses. This year I thought it would be fun to dress a little different so I've come up with three outfit ideas that I think are perfect for New Years but are a little different from the normal back cocktail dress.

1) The first look I think would be great for NYE is a red playsuit with black and gold accessories. Red is such a bright festive color and I think it would be awesome for New Years Eve. This particular red playsuit from New Look has a lace back accent which is so pretty and feminine . I think black platform boots, a gold bangle and a black and gold clutch would be perfectly accessory this. This look is a perfect combination of girly and edgy. 

2) I think glitter dresses are always a big thing for New Years Eve but I think glitter skirts are under appreciated for New Years Eve. I really like the rose gold one from Alica and Olivia because it is such a great pencil length (Although this one is a little too pricey for me, I would probably look for a dupe in Forever 21). I think with such a statement skirt, it would be best to keep everything simple with a plain black tank, strappy black heels and a little gold necklace and clutch. 

3) My last outfit is a play in the classic little black dress. A leather black dress is a great way to to wear black but be a bit different. I thought it would be fun to add some color with teal pumps and a deep purple black. Lastly, I added little black and gold studs to tie it all together. 

I can't wait for New Years Eve! 

What are you wearing for New Years Eve? 

Lots of Love, 

Rena 

Review: Batiste Dry Shampoo in A Hint of Color: Dark & Deep Brown

I hope I am not the only one out there who thinks dry shampoo sucks for girls with darker hair. No matter how much I rubbed and rubbed, my roots would always have a cloudy white powdery mess. I've tried so many different brand and they all ended up like that. It hit the point that I just gave up on dry shampoo as a whole. This was until I discovered this little beauty. This is the Batiste Dry Shampoo in A Hint of Color: Dark & Deep Brown.

As many of you already know, Batiste dry shampoos are nothing new to the world of blogging. They have been a cult favorite for quite some time and now they are my favorite too. First off, they are wallet friendly, you can buy them at any Target or CVS for under 8 dollars. They also all smell amazing. I'm serious, there are about 8 different types of this dry shampoo and they all smell so good!  Lastly they come in different colors for different hair colors!

Yes! I have never been more excited then when I sprayed the Dark & Deep Brown dry shampoo and it wasn't white! It comes out as a deep brown color with a cool under tone. It is has a little bit of a powdery look but when I rub this one in, the powdery look goes away unlike the white dry shampoos! I've heard about how great this was but I honestly didn't believe it until I tried it out myself. Batiste also has one for blondes, one for medium brown hair and one for red hair.

I honestly think that all dry shampoo companies should come out with colored ranges.

What dry shampoo have you been loving?

Lots of love,
Rena

Make Up Look: Winged Liner and Purple Accent

Hi Everyone! 

Today, I just wanted to share a quick FOTD with you from earlier this week. Recently I've been loving the colored bottom lash line look. I think it is an easy fun way to add in color without it being overwhelming! I hope you like it. 

Products used: 

Stila In The Light Palette

Maybelline Eye Studio Gel liner in black 

Maybelline Master Smokey in purple 

Make Up Forever Smokey Extravagant Mascara 

Maybelline The Elixir in 60 Nude Illusion 

What make up looks have you been rocking lately? 

lots of love,

Rena 

Holiday Make Up Wishlist

Christmas season is a great one in the world of beauty products. Most brand have or are coming out with amazing holiday gift sets and palettes that all girls are lusting over. I think this year has been especially great with sets and palettes from Benefit, Nars and Too Faced. I thought it would be fun to share with you the palettes and gift sets I have been lusting over. I really want to try and get my hands on a few of these but exams are killing me at the moment. Let me know if you have tried any of these out or if you are also lusting over them!

Holiday Make Up Wishlist by rena-blank featuring Stila Beauty product / Nars cosmetic / Stila eyeshadow / Rose blush

1) Stila In The Garden Palette: This one isn't a holiday palette but I really want it so it felt right to include it. I already own the In The Light and In The Know palettes by Stila and I am in love with them. Not only are the colors amazing but Stila shadows also have great pigment and color pay off. They are honestly my most used palettes. However, Ulta and Sephora don't seem to carry these palettes anymore! I know Stila came out with new palettes but I really hope they didn't get rid of these palettes because they are amazing. Maybe I can find them online! 

2) Nars Virtual Domination Cheek Palette: This is one of Nars Limited Edition Holiday Palettes. Can we please note how pretty the packaging is?! I think Nars does a great job keeping thing sleek but still beautiful for the holiday time. This palette comes with my favorite bronzer Laguna, three blushes in Deep Throat, Final Cut and Sex Fantasy and a highlighter color in Miss Liberty. The palette is a little pricey at 65 dollars but when you think about it, Laguna alone is 38 dollars and each blush is 30 dollars. In this palette, you are getting six different products for less than buying just the bronzer and one blush. 

3) Bite Beauty Best Bite Remix: This is a mini gift set from Bite Beauty. Bite Beauty is a cruelty free cosmetics brand that specializes in lip products. This gift set comes with four mini high pigmented jumbo lip pencils in Sablé (nude), Pomegranate (rose berry), Rhubard (plum rose), Winterberry (festive Raspberry red). It is currently sold out at Sephora but normally it sells for 25 dollars. This set is great because you get to test out a nice range of colors for a great price. 

4) Lorac Mega Pro Palette: This is the ultimate palette with 32 dollars with all the basic colors and some amazing unique colors too. This palette is sold out everywhere but it is so nice to look at. Lorac shadows are super pigmented, smooth and long wearing. It is selling for ridiculous prices on eBay right now but if you can find it in store I would definitely get a hold on it! 

5) Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Powder: This is definitely the palette I have been lusting over the most. Benefit always does amazing holiday gift sets and this year I think they out did themselves. The Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Powder is a palette if Benefit's best selling blushes. As you all probably already know, Benefit does some amazing great blushes. The colors are amazing and so is the color pay off. This palette has 5 blushes in  Dandelion, CORAlista, Bella Bamba, Rockateur and Sugarbomb. There is also Benefit's oh so popular bronzer in Hoola and a cream highlighter in Watt's Up. This palette is sold out on the Benefit website but hopefully it will be back soon! It sales for 36 dollars which is such a deal!

6) Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things Palette: This is a Sephora exclusive palette from Too Faced. This palette is the perfect travel palette because it comes with 20 eyeshadows, 2 blushes, 2 bronzers, a mini Better than Sex Mascara, a Lip Injection Color Bomb in Bee Sting and a how to guide. This palette sells for 56 dollars and personally, for all the products in it, I think this is the best deal out of all the bunch. This pretty much can be your entire make up bag! The eyeshadow colors in this palette are amazing. They included everything from nice natural mattes to party shimmery colors! Highly suggestion checking this out next time you guys are in Sephora! 

What gift sets and palettes are you lusting over this holiday season?

lots of love, 
Rena 

Winterize Your Nails

Happy December Everyone! I am so excited for winter to official be here. There is nothing better than cuddling up with a blanket while drinking a hot chocolate watching snow fall down. Seriously, I love winter. I was contacted by the lovely people at Julep and asked if I would like to take part in coming up with some tips to winterize your nails. I was super excited because well no one likes sad nails and Julep is an awesome company. They were kind enough in sharing their tips with me which I am more than happy to share with your guys and I have come up with some of my own ways! I hope you guys enjoy.

1)  Moisture: My favorite tip from Julep is to moisture often! New Jersey winter is no joke with the cold air and even colder winds. There is nothing worse than having dry hands and cuticles. Not only is it uncomfortable but also it can be painful. Julep suggestions using their Mighty Nail and Cuticle Serum. Some other things I use to moisture is Rose Salve. Rose Salve is great because it is in a small tin and can be used on your lips, hands, cuticle and pretty much anything else that is dry.

2) Paint: Winter is the perfect time to try out new nail trends. I feel like spring and summer are always the same bright neon colors but in the winter, you can show off your darker side. I love painting my nails festive colors such as red, gold, and maroon. I also love the look of matte nails for the winter. Julep shared with me some of their hot colors from the winter and oh my gosh! how pretty is Sawyer?! It is actually the perfect color for the holiday season. You can check out all their awesome colors on their nail polish color page

3) Treat Yourself: I think it is important to treat yourself in the winter and go get a nice manicure. I don't know about you but I am really bad at buffing and shaping my own nails. So I think it is nice to get them done every once in a while to make sure they are in their best shape. Nothing is more relaxing than getting a manicure. 

What do you do to winterize your nails? 

lots of love, 

Rena 

September Favorites

Hi Everyone! 

I hope everyone is having a good school year so far. It is only the fifth week and I'm already super stressed out. However, being stressed out hasn't stopped me for loving some beauty bits and pieces this month. Here are my September favorites. Let me know what you have been loving! 

First off, is a candle that reminds me so much of summer. This is the Turquoise Waters candle from Bath and Body Works. The scent is described as sea spray, sunlight and beach grass and let me tell you, that is exactly what this smells like. It really reminds me of the beach at Cape Cod. I also love the turquoise glass jar it comes in. I am excited to clean it out and use it for my make up brushes or lip glosses after I finish this candle. 

Next is another Bath and Body Works product. I think I've taken a few too many trips in there over the past few months. This is from the aromatherapy line by Bath and Body Works. It is the Stress Relief Eucalyptus Spearmint Sugar Scrub. That was actually a mouth full to type. I adore anything mint scent; it is one of my favorite smells. The mint smell is very relaxing. This sugar scrub is really different from any other I've ever tried. I think this is because it is essential oil based so it is super smooth. It leaves my skin feeling so soft and nourished. The sugar in this is also on a thicker side which I prefer. You definitely have to make sure you wash it all off so you're not left greasy though. The sin this is also on a thicker side which I prefer.  I don't know if this is actually helping me relief stress but it is definitely making my shower very luxurious. 

Surprise! Another  product from Bath and Body Works. This is the last one I promise. This product has been a life changer. I kid you not. This is the C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve. It has reached the point that I can't leave my house without this. I use this as chapstick and on any dry patches. I really like how natural this smells. I love fruity lip glosses but I feel like my chapstick needs to smell clean and fresh. This smells like a bunch of roses which is amazing. This also leaves my lips soft and slightly glossy and feeling pretty. I highly advice anyone with very dry lips to try this out. 

Last of the skin products is the Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturizer. I like this because it is odorless, greaseless and dyeless. This stuff gets the job done and doesn't break out my skin. I find that  face lotions filled with perfumes and oils tend to break me out. But this stuff has been very effective at making my skin hydrated and smooth without breaking me out. I don't think I could ask for anything more from a face moisturizer. 

Finally, here are a few make up pieces! First is the Maybelline The Elixir in 60 Nude Illusion. I have found myself reaching for this a lot since I bought it at the end of August. I love this over Rimmel's Nude Delight (my favorite nude!) and just on its own. The finish is a lovely satiny true nude color. This stuff isn't overly shiny but it definitely has a nice glossy finish. It also lasts a decently long time. Overall, it is super easy to wear and very inexpensive. Next, is a mascara I forgot I owned but am so happy I rediscovered. It is the Make Up Forever Smokey Extravagant Mascara. I only have the small travel size which is why I probably forgot about it. I think I got as a reward from Sephora. The brush on this thing is amazing! It gives you such full voluminous lashes. I am definitely going to do a full review on this asap with pictures of before and after application. lastly, is an oldy but a goodie. This is probably the best liquid liner I've ever used. I have tried many but none have ever come close to my Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner. Once you apply this, it isn't going anywhere. I been loving using this liner with the smokey extravagant mascara for a classic winged liner with full lashes look. 

Let me know what you've been loving this lovely September month. I am super excited for October! I love the cooler weather because it means I can pull out all my sweaters and boots! Can't wait to wear dark lipsticks.

Lots of love,
Rena

Katy Perry Concert Make Up && Outfit

Hello Everyone!

I hope you've all been having a great summer while I took a little break from blogging. I couldn't really decide where I wanted my blog to go - more reviews, more fotd, tutorials or what not. I decided I want to push myself more with more tutorials (maybe start a youtube channel) and fotd as well as stepping by my photographs. Hopefully, I can stick to this through this coming up school year. I can't believe I start classes in less than a month. Anyways, let's get down to business.

 Last week, my lovely friend Rikki invited me to go to a Katy Perry Concert with her and two other of our friends, Linnie and Jolie. Never did I expect us to be less than ten feet away from the stage! Katy Perry is an absolutely amazing performer and such a lovely singer. Today, I am going to share with you the make up  and outfit I wore to the concert. Forgive me, but I don't remember the exact products I used. For the eyes, I did a neutral base and then used a matte brown to smoke it out a bit. I decided that purple was going to be my color of choice that night so I added a bright purple into the inner corner of my eye as well as a bit in the inner third of my lid. I then used the same purple on the outer two thirds of my lower lash line. I then used kitten by Stila in the inner third of my lower lash line. I added a thin liquid black line and a few coats of mascara. Lastly, I added a cherry red lip and a little bit of glitter over kitten right before the concert. This is what it turned out like! I really liked this look. I thought it was super fun and very Katy Perry.  As for my outfit, I went pretty simple with a pair of high waisted shorts from Forever 21, a flawy navy blue top that I got from Rikki's mom (Thanks Gayle!), my fairy shoes from Steve Madden, a bright blue heart necklace and a purple flower hairband I made last summer.

Lots of Love, 

Rena

Make Up Look: Bright Blue Liner

Hello Everyone! 

I hope you'll had a great start to July. I know I say this like every month but time is really flying by. I honestly feel like summer just started! Today, I have a quick face of the day post for you. This is the make up I wore on 4th of July.  I created this look using my Stila "In the Know" Palette and a bright blue shadow stick by Rimmel ( I can not remember the name) but you could do this with any bright blue color. I really like how it turned out so hopefully you enjoy it! xx

New Stila Pieces

L to R: Violet, Halfmoon, Intense Black

 Stila is one of my favorite brands when it comes to eye liners and eye shadows. Honestly, it is probably one of my favorite higher end brands in general. Their "In The Light" Palette is a daily staple of mine that has been part of many monthly favorites. Kitten is my go to inner corner and brow highlight color and I own about 8 of their Smudge Sticks already. Needless to say, I think Stila does amazing eye products. This is way I thought it was about time I expanded my Stila collection. I decided to pick up the "In the Know" Palette and Stila Most Wanted Eyeliner Set. So far I am very happy with my selections.

I have had my eyes on the "In the Know" Palette for quite some time now. It has 12 matte shadows in it which I adore. I have been looking for an all matte palette for a while and the Naked Basic palette just does not have enough colors for me. The "In the Know" palette has a great range of colors from light nudes (air, wind, desert, clay) to dark nudes (earth, driftwood) to grays (rain, smoke), a black (ebony) and lastly my favorite of the bunch, a bright reddish orange color called fox. I feel like this palette allows you do to more than just a simple everyday look. I cannot wait to play around with all the colors and see what looks I can come up with. I also love how all the Stila palettes comes with a Stila Smudge Stick eyeliner. The one is this palette is a gray color called halfmoon.

The Stila Most Wanted little set comes with two liners. First is the Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid eye liner. This stuff is amazing. I have been using it for about a year now and it is the blackest liquid liner ever. The Most Wanted set comes with a deluxe sample size of it but honestly it lasts for ever. The other liner is another Smudge Stick. This one is a bright light purple color called violet. I think this is gonna really make brown eyes pop (which I have) so that makes me really happy!

Overall, I definitely think everyone should check out Stila. They honestly have some amazing eye products!

What have you tried from Stila?

The winner of my giveaway is entry 1008 Abby B! Congrats! :) 

Lots of Love,
Rena