Birthday Beauty & Aztec Nails

I'd like to start with an apology... :(. I guess my excuse is that school started and I was in a bit of a beauty stand-still. I will try to do a tutorial soon, but in the meantime, my birthday was on Monday (Labor Day!), and as usual, most of what I got had to do with makeup or beauty. The only nail polish missing is Lady Like by Essie; I let a friend borrow it. Onto pictures, enjoy, and this blog will not go six weeks without an update again. I hope.


The beautiful makeup! Carbon eyeshadow from Mac (I've only used it as an eyeliner. It's just a matte black, but a staple for eyeshadow.) Blind Date lipstick from Sula Beauty- a pretty pink that's all natural! Rouge Cream Blush in Natural from NYX (again, a pretty pink. Love NYX and all of their products that I have tried, minus the jumbo eyeshadow pencils.) NYX trio in Golden/Rust/Walnut Bronze (right up my alley, I love golds and the like.) UD Eyeshadow primer in Eden- this covers the lid beautifully, like a concealer only better, and a little goes such a long way. Thanks to Angelique for most of these gifts, minus Carbon and the Clinique High Impact mascara, which is better for more of a natural look. I use it as more of a building mascara.


Some poor swatches, I should have taken these in natural light, but when the rare blogging mood strikes nowadays, I take what I can get. From left to right: the three eyeshadow shades from the NYX trio, though really, only the cranberry and light purple-y/hard to pinpoint shade can be seen. The missing one is a golden yellow. All are shimmery and very pigmented. Then we have Carbon, which is not true to color- I had to edit this photo to bring out the other colors, and Carbon sort of got lost. It's just a black. The blush and lipstick are next, followed by UD Eden. All so pretty! :).


Nail polish! Like I said before, Lady Like is missing; it's a beige mauve sort of color, the same kind I'm always attracted to. Essie's fall collection is out (the grey and plum color featured are both from there), and it's definitely unique. Lots of muted, very opaque colors. From left to right, Power Clutch (Essie grey green. Very different, I own nothing like this), Are We There Yet? (OPI, an orange with very light shimmers running through. Gorgeous), Carry On (Essie, a little disappointed with this. I hoped it would look better on me. Very rich plum shade, almost black in certain lights), Turquoise and Caicos (Essie, I love this! So much prettier than For Audrey on me, even if it does take three coats), and last, Disco Lights (Milani. Just a standard glitter). I hadn't gotten any new nail polish for a while, and I'm so glad to be getting back into it. Now I just need to break my worst habit- picking my nail polish off right after I do it...


And here, my attempt at Aztec-inspired nails. Sorry that it looks a bit sloppy, I had just done it and wanted to take pictures before it got ruined. To do this, I painted three coats of Turquoise and Caicos, then, using a nail brush (if you go way back to one of the first posts, there's a picture of it), I painted orange stripes using Lunch at the Delhi from OPI, and small purple dashes with Essie's Carry On. I loved this combination of colors!
Again, sorry for the neglect of the blog! If we still have any readers, try to stick with us for a bit longer :/.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Rhiana