The Drop of Shame

Unfortunately in the beauty world there are many products out there that aren't worth ranting and raving about. I have a handful of products that have taking the drop of shame into the dreaded trashcan. Just like most of you, I love reading about products that others have tried and love.. but even more than that would have to be reading reviews on products that I SHOULD NOT Purchase. So I've decided to share my not so fortunate experiences with you guys. Close your eyes and this page if you don't want to hear my fairly strong opinions about these loved-by-some products.

This would be Neutrogena's SkinClearing mineral powder with Micro Clear technology. This is by far the most horrible product I have EVER used. And let me tell you, I've used a ton of products. The packaging is nice, and it comes with this odd powder puff applicator. One side claims to be for fuller coverage, and the other for mild. Neither one did anything for me. I couldn't even get this powder to stick to my face. You might think I only used it this one time, maybe I did it wrong, maybe there was something that I had put on my skin that caused the repulsion.. but no. I tried this product about three different times and never had anything close to success. I obviously can't even comment on the whole "skin clearing power" considering I couldn't even get it to go on my face.

ELF shadows. Most love them.. I, on the other hand, do not. Yes, they are extremely affordable, but I don't care for these shadows at all. If they were all you could afford I would buy them over nothing, but they really aren't all they're cracked up to be. They aren't pigmented at all. The few times I tried wearing them it took forever just to get something that looked like color to appear on my lid. Once I was able to get it built up enough they were very inconsistent and would be very dark at one spot and barely there on others. And no, it was not the application that ruined it.. I used MAC brushes every time. I'm not completely dissing this line, but I just don't care for it. I would spend a little bit more money to get a much better quality product for sure! 

Every few months I always end up giving a different drugstore product a chance in hopes of saving some money. Unfortunately my most recent attempt failed miserably. About a month ago I purchased Covergirl's Cheekers Blush in Snow Plum. Now before I unleash my hate towards this product I have to say that it was only $3, so it's not like I broke the bank to get this. With that being said, it is completely worth investing more for a better blush. This doesn't even show up on my skin. Not even in a swatch on my hand. It's just a tiny hint of shimmer and an extremely strong perfumey smell. The smell is awful, and made me feel like I had sprayed perfume on my face. I definitely would never reccommend this product.

     I'll leave it at those three for now only because this post is getting a little long. I'll do a part 2 sometime in the near future!

Saturday Update!

So I just left Ulta and I got several great items for the giveaway! And of course I got a few things for myself too! A hunt for a subtle yet bright coraly-pink lipstick was set in my mind.. and I think I found just that! NYX's Femme has hopefully solved my problem. I also grabbed Benefit's Carmella Eau de Toilette. It's in a cute little margarita bottle.. and Carmela is my best friends name, so I had to purchase it :) I got a sample of the Macadamia Deep Repair Masque, and some NYX shadows! I'm super excited about these products and can't wait to give you guys reviews on them!

Blood Orange Summer Lovin'

Blood Orange Summer by LaurrElizabeth featuring satchel handbags

 I love everything about blood oranges. The color, the taste, the smell.. I love it all. And I find them to be even more fabulous in the sweet summer time. Spicy orange and red are such fierce colors and they accent any summer glow! Pacifica's Tuscan Blood Orange line is absolute heaven. I have the roll on perfume, the body butter, and the body wash. I use all three every day. It's an indescribable smell.. fruity, but not so fruity you can't wear it as a scent. I get complements every time the smell lingers from slathering on these products. The Bliss sugar scrub is something I've never tried, but when you're wanting silky smooth legs for summer this would be great for exfoliating! Corals, Oranges, and Reds are super hot this season! From your lips to nail polish to accessories.. anything goes! I can't go through this post without including Ciao Bella's Blood Orange Sorbet. Oh. My. Gosh. This is hands down the BEST ice cream/sorbet/gelato of any sort that I have ever put in my mouth. Plus, it's a lesser calorie option for cooling down on those long summer days.

(I'm not sure why the orange crop top wasn't linked, but it's from ASOS!)

New Things Are Fantastic!

 I am most excited about my two new polishes.. Brazilliant and Absolutely Shore! I know you guys know what these look like in the bottle.. but I completely forgot to take a picture to upload earlier. A picture of my nails will be posted tomorrow! Promise :) I can tell you this though, these will be the two colors I will be wearing ALL summer!

     JewelMint's Aqua Bomb Ring was my discounted piece that I picked out last week. I chose a ring based off of how I usually wear jewelry.. I don't wear many necklaces and I wear the same Tiffany's bracelet and earrings every day, so I picked this funky ring! It's a bold yet minimal piece. I love the aqua ends too.. they are great for summer! This piece was only $9 I believe which is incredible. Also, if you do purchase this ring and can't decide on a size.. go bigger! This ring is slightly adjustable, always a plus! 

About a month ago I purchased several Lorac items from Hautelook, and they finally came today! Yes, the wait was killer, but completely worth it! Each item was only $2! That's about 80% percent off! So I bought 7 thing.. an On Screen Duo in Fame and Fortune, two eye pencils in black and brown, three lipglosses, and one Baked Matte Satin Eyeshadow in Posh. Unfortunately, the Lorac site no longer has the lipglosses that I purchased available. I will post a picture tomorrow though.. one was for me, one for my aunt, and one for my mom. The On Screen Duo and Shadow are both on sale on the Lorac site for $2, and the eyeliners are $3! These products are being discontinued, but you can still get your hands on them for now! The On Screen Duo is fabulous! It has a shimmery powder highlighter in the top and a creamy liner in the bottom. I wore both of them along with the Posh shadow today, and they all worked great! The reason I say "creamy" liner instead of gel is because it's honestly not a gel. I don't want to lead you in the wrong direction. The consistence is awesome though, and it stays on just like a gel would! Posh is a good summer's day shadow. You could use it as a highlight or a crease color, so it's very versatile! 


As I mentioned in my post earlier today, I also received a bracelet from BaubleBar. The picture of it is unavailable on the site until you are offered the free gift.. so I can't really show it to you guys. But it's an absolutely adorable light brown leather wrap bracelet with little gold studs on it. I only had to pay shipping for this item, a mere $4! It's a great layered look for summer and very on trend. If you want this free offer you HAVE to be invited by a current member.. so here's my invitation link if you are still interested!



I hope you guys enjoyed my post :) I will be doing reviews and pictures of these products soon enough. Let me know if you've made any new little purchases lately! Getting a great deal is so rewarding!

Ahhhh!

Today has been fabulous! I received my free gift from BaubleBar, my discounted piece from JewelMint, and my Lorac makeup from Hautelook! Essie's Braziliant and Absolutely Shore are now in my possession after scouring every store in knoxville, and of course my nails are debuting one of the summer shades! I can't wait to take pictures and show you guys! And there will definitely be a review coming for the makeup! Get excited :)

Lippy of the moment!

I am a chapstick-aholic. I'm constantly slathering up my lips with something and right now my go to tube would have to be the Sally Hansen Vita-E Lip Soother. The lipstick shape lured me in, and I haven't stopped using it since! This would have to be the first lip product that I've ever ran out of. It's silky smooth and has just a hint of Vanilla sent that I love. I put this on under any lipstick or gloss and the light texture gives the perfect natural, not dried out in the least bit, look! To top off the incredible product, the packaging doesn't get much better than this! Recommending this product would be an understatement.

Lulabell Loves: JewelMint!

JewelMint is having a 70% off sale on any one piece of jewelry! All you have to do is sign up through my invitation code at the bottom of this post, choose a piece of jewelry from your showroom, and plug "jewel8" into the coupon code at checkout. This means you'll get one of JewelMint's gorgeous pieces for only $8.99! And a little extra bonus.. FREE SHIPPING! But act quick, the sale is only going until tomorrow! Happy Shopping :)


My invitation:
http://jmnt.me/kPU2Oo

Everyday Eye Tutorial!

     After trying several times to get this just right, I have for you.. a tutorial! I'm not completely comfortable doing videos yet.. that might be taken into possible consideration down the road. But for now I have taken pictures throughout my routine and will give details for each step below. This was a bit of an iffy thing for me, so please give me feedback.. positive or negative! Well I hope you enjoy!

     By the way, I desperately needed my eyebrows waxed when I took these, but I thought you guys would probably want to see them anyways. My eyes are really puffy because I did this at 5 in the morning, and the lighting is crazy because the sun was coming up. And.. Yes, I have really big pores. I never claimed to have perfect skin :) I'll also go ahead and apologize for the lengthiness of this post! 

    

   

Apply any brand of eyeshadow primer from your lid to your brow bone. My favorite is Urban Decay's Primer Potion.

Apply any medium goldy/pinky color. I used Benefit's Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP. I use a cream shadow brush from Bobbi Brown, but any stiffer brush would work.

     

Next, Apply any brown shadow into your crease. I wouldn't use anything too dark. This is MAC's Tempting and a MAC 275.                                      

     

Apply a light color from your crease to your brow bone, blending out any harsh crease lines. I chose to use Too Faced's Heaven, a matte cream color, with a MAC 217.

 I use Urban Decay's Half Baked and Midnight Cowboy Rides Again as accent colors for the lid. This will just bring a little more depth and pop to your shadow. For this I just used a stiffer drugstore brush.

 I apply Midnight Cowboy Rides Again in the center of the lid, just above my lash line. The Half Baked is used in a triangle-like shape from the upper corner of my crease down to where I put MCRA. 

                               

 

 I line my upper lash line with Urban Decay's LiquidLiner in OilSlick. Then I use a Sephora white eye pencil to line my water line for a fresh daytime look. 

 

Then I go on my lower lash line with NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yogurt. I meet that line with a Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk and take it up around my inner corner. I also apply a little of the Milk under the arch of my brow and then blend it in with my finger

Sephora Macro Eye Pencil in white. NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in Yogurt and Milk.

  

      

       I use the same drugstore brush to make the crease a little more dramatic with Too Faced's Ever After. This is applied just on the outer corner and blended up into the crease. My finger comes in handy when I apply Too Faced's Satin Sheets to my inner corner over the Milk.

   

       

I curl my lashes and apply two coats of L'oreal's Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara. 

The finished look :) 

     Again, sorry for the funky lighting, but I hope you liked it! Comment and let me know! But cut me a little slack, considering it is my first try :) I also forgot to mention at the beginning that I don't use any particular brushes. The MAC brushes I have are from a set I got a while back. I just gave you guys the numbers because I know some people pay attention and believe strongly in that.. I on the other hand do not.

Lulabell Loves: Bauble Bar!

Honeysuckle Bib from BaubleBar!

If you don't already know about Bauble Bar, I definitely recommend you check it out! Right now if you sign up you will receive a free piece of jewelry! You will still have to pay $4 shipping, but it's definitely worth it! I love their stuff, and from what I've heard it's very good quality. Here's my invite code to access your free gift! :)

http://baublebar.com/index.php/rewardsref/index/refer/id/8050/

PS- Thank you so much for following! It means so much to me. If I can get to 45 or 50 followers I'm going to do a giveaway that I'm really excited about! So spread the word :)

Set Inspired By Essie's Summer Collection!!

Essie's Braziliant by LaurrElizabeth featuring handcrafted necklaces

Braziliant Babies!

Essie's new summer polish collection came out today! You guys know how in love I am with polishes, and I am so so so excited about these colors! I don't have them yet, but I will be on the prowl for them this and next week until I have all six colors.

 The headlining color is Braziliant. It's a super fun, bold shimmery orange. This is THE color for summer, and I think it's gorgeous. Very tropical and exciting!

This is what I am expecting to be my favorite color out of the six. It's Absolutely Shore, and it's a really light seafoam green. I think it's absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to try it out!

 Super Bossa Nova is a super bright pink with blueish and purple undertones and shimmer.It's so pretty.. this would definitely go in my toe polish stash.

This is Smooth Sailing, a calm light blue that reminds me of the ocean. I love blue nails so I'll be sporting this color throughout summer for sure!

Meet Me at Sunset is very similar to Braziliant, but it's a more bold and solid orange. Really beachy! I love it!

Kinda like Super Bossa Nova is Too Too Hot, a bright coral color. This has a bit more red in it than most classic corals, but I think it's perfect for summer!