YSL Rouge Volupté Lipstick #3

Oh, my. I think I may have fallen in love. With a lipstick.

YSL Rouge Volupté #3 - $34 (Sephora)

I've never been one to spend a significant amount of money on a piece of makeup I didn't think I couldn't get for a cheaper price and not compromise the quality. That usually includes lipsticks, stains, and glosses as I feel like the drugstore has more than great products. However, after dreaming about this beautiful gold packaging and hearing nothing but amazing things about any YSL lipsticks, one may have fallen into my lap Christmas morning.

Before Christmas, when I was looking at the different lipsticks, I knew I wanted a classic and one that I could wear daily. There were so many in this range that it was still hard deciding which I would want. However, one in particular stood out to me in the perfect, yet cliche "your lips but better" category.

A beautifully creamy and pigmented lipstick, #3, is a perfect everyday staple described as a "mauve taupe". Even though the price tag is a bit hefty, I can already tell that it is honestly worth it. While I do think that you can get great lipsticks at low prices at the drugstore, there's something special in this one. It seems extra-buttery and glides onto the lips with no effort. I don't even feel like I need to make sure I prep my lips so much beforehand because I know that it'll slide right on and look nice. Somehow, this color is a bit darker than a normal "my lips but better" shade for me, but it still works and once I've got some nice color in the summer I know it'll look even better. This lipstick leaves a satin-type finish to the lips, with a shiny, healthy look to the lips.

I personally love this lipstick and think it compliments almost any makeup look that you can go for. I can see it being a much used favorite and makeup bag essential for me in the long-future and I can't wait to think about getting my hands on another YSL product sometime soon.

Gift Guide Part One: Beauty Buys

Happy December first! This is my absolute favorite time of year with the holidays coming around and the festive music, shopping, and food. I personally love buying gifts for all of my family and friends, so I decided to do a little gift guide for you guys to see what I have on my own list and what I'm planning to buy others. I split it into two sections, so today is the beauty guide, with the next part coming in a week. I hope this helps you guys or gives you some ideas as you shop!

Origins Gift Sets Kit / Caudalie Beauty Product / Tom Ford Lips / NARS Cosmetics / Benefit Cosmetic / Sephora Favorites Fragrance Rollerball Sampler For Her / CIATE Caviar Manicure Luxe Set / Lush

DIY Makeup Brush Holders

College is a funny place. Even though you have such a tiny little dorm with limited space, you still end up needing to buy a whole lot and spend way more money than you thought possible. In order to minimize this, I decided I needed to get crafty and work on some DIY projects to personalize my area while not spending an absolute fortune like I gladly could have. In the end, these makeup brush holders that I made are probably my favorite DIY that I did. They're now sitting happily on my desk at school, taking up so much room that my desk resembles a vanity rather than a proper working space. It appears I've got my priorities straight!

July 2013 Favorites

As I say every time I put up a favorites post, I honestly cannot believe that another month has come and gone. This time, it's even more dramatic as this will be my last month before starting a huge chapter in my life: university!! It's so crazy I can't believe it, much less think about it, so let's just get right on into my favorites for the past month (which is much more lighthearted).

Would You Rather - Beauty Edition

This is not a post that needs much of an introduction! This tag has reappeared on the blog scene after Kayleigh from Couture Girl did it a week or so ago and everyone has jumped on board and done it as well. I absolutely love reading tag posts, although I rarely do them myself (I'm not sure why!). Anyway, I've enjoyed reading everyone's take on these questions and decided it was time to do it myself. Without further ado, here's the tag!

Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?

Ah, okay. We're starting off with a tough one. I think, right off the bat, that my gut would be to lose all of my palettes and eyeshadows. I'd be much more comfortable with bare eyes and the rest of my face covered instead of just having a nice eye look. I do love my palettes, but I'm afraid they'd have to go!

Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?

If pictures aren't an indication, my hair is decently long. I've never really had it short (I think it's because I was bald when I was a baby for so long!). Ever since then, I've been determined to keep all of my hair. I don't think I could handle cutting it off!

Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?

No question, a pink cheek! I'm so pale that coral does not typically work well on me, so most of my blushes are in the pink range. That being said, I do love Benefit's "Coralista" in the summer. However, it really only works for me in the summer when I have a little bit more of a tan, so I'll have to go with pink overall!

If you had £1000 to spend, Would you rather buy clothes or makeup?

Clothes. Clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes. I honestly wear the same few things over and over, so if I ever came into money, a major clothing splurge would definitely be necessary. I have to buy my own clothes and makeup, and I used to wear a uniform to school, so I'd always just spend my money on makeup! Now that school is over, I've realized how little clothes I have and the amount of shopping I'll need to do before school! Eek! If only money grew on trees!

Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?

Now, this whole question definitely does throw me for a loop. In terms of a texture thing, neither option seems doable to me and makes me feel squeamish just thinking about it. I know for a fact that I would never be able to apply lipstick as eyeliner because that has the worst connotation for horrible textures, so I guess I'll have to go with eyeliner as lipstick. It would be kind of similar to a lipliner I'm assuming, and hopefully you can have some fun colors to try out!

Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?

This is an absolute no brainer! I'd pick Sephora in a heartbeat without a thought. I absolutely love my Sephora (and have the VIB Card to prove it) and would rather spend my money there over MAC. I've never been a MAC girl, and although I'd like to expand my collection a little, I'm happier using different brands who are just as great. 

Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?

For the first question, I think I'd much rather use only one eyeshadow color for the rest of my life. I almost always just have a natural smokey eye, so it's quite boring anyway, whereas I love to try different lip looks and go super vampy to bright orange. For the second question, I'd rather wear winter clothes in summer only because of the fact that I honestly am so cold all of the time even in winter clothes, that I'd be absolutely miserable in summer clothes during winter. I am not a fan of winter or the cold, so I'd have to always be bundled up.

Would you rather dark nails or bright nails all year round?Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?

I'm a fan of bright nails, so I'd have to say bright nails all year round. I do wear darker colors in the winter, but I've never been a fan of black nail polish or anything of the sort, so most of my nail polish collection consists of lighter colors. 

If I had to give up one or the other, I'd probably chose to give up my favorite lip product. I'm a mascara junkie, and don't think I could ever give away one of my favorite mascaras as I love them way too much. It hurts either way, but keeping my mascara will help just a little!

Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a pony tail or a messy bun?

This question pains me. It literally pains me! If you knew me in real life, you'd know that I absolutely never wear my hair up. It makes me look much younger and it also just does not work with my face. I feel like it makes my face look bigger and highlights my tall forehead, which I've never been a fan of. So, I'd rather not wear my hair in either way! However, if I had to play along, I'd say a ponytail, just because you'd get more possibility with that.

Would your rather never being able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss?

Easiest question yet! I would much rather toss out any lipgloss over any nail polish. I am a nail junkie and own far too many than need be and never ever wear lipgloss. Didn't have to think twice about tis one!

Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all? or sharpie them in everyday?

Not only am I a mascara/eye lash junkie, I'm also obsessed with eyebrows. I've always had a thing for thick, full eyebrows ever since I saw pictures of the model Bambi when I was younger. So, if I had to shave my eyebrows, I would have no choice but to sharpie them in. I could never leave them gone! I'm sure there's ways to make it more natural if you really took your time and perhaps used a brown sharpie? I'd find a way!

Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?

The question I've been avoiding. I love nail polish, yet I love makeup as well. This is killing me! Honestly, though, I think I'd have to do I'd rather live without nail polish. Oh, how that pains me to say aloud (or via blog post)! I'm purely saying that because I am able to live for about a week without nail polish, whereas I rarely go more than a few days without some sort of makeup. Ah, I still feel bad! I think we're just going to pretend this question didn't really happen.


And that's the tag! I hoped you enjoyed reading my take on the questions and let me know if you did this tag yourself! See you next post.