Holiday Gift Ideas For Him | Blogmas Day 12

A few days ago I posted a gift guide more geared towards the ladies, and today I have a few gift ideas for the men in your life. For me it’s always harder to shop for a man, but I managed to find some really awesome things for this list. Enjoy and maybe you’ll get some good ideas for the guys on your shopping list.

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Nothing is better than a good smelling man and Gucci GuiltyPour Homme is an amazing cologne. It has a yummy blend of citrus, patchouli, and sandalwood and it creates a scent that’s all at once fresh and clean, while being woodsy and bold.

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Although a bit more pricy, a Daniel Wellington watch is an amazing gift to give. They’re timeless (no pun intended) watches and super elegant, but still low key enough for everyday wear. Plus you can choose between a classic leather band or a more modern fabric color-block band.

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Who says that bath and shower goodies are just for girls? Surprise him with this Jack Black 'The JackPack' gift set. The set comes with a face moisturizer, a shave cream, a hand healing lotion and a soap bar.

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Cuddle up to your guy under this cozy fleece blanket representing his favorite team. If he’s into sports, he’ll love anything with his team on it, so why not get something functional like a throw? Perfect for napping on the couch, or taking to games during the cold weather.

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I love gifting something cozy for the winter month’s so these Ralph Lauren pajamas are a great idea. They’re lightweight but still warm so he won’t have to worry about overheating or being too cold. Gift them with a warm pair of slippers as an extra.

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Nothing feels better than a nice relaxing massage. Men love massages too so a gift certificate for a hour of relaxation would be a welcome surprise for anyone on your list. Treat yourself too and make it a couple’s massage for the two of you.

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If the man on your list is a music or fitness buff (or both!), try gifting him a pair of the Beats by Dr. Dre Powerbeats wireless ear buds. They’re sleek and tangle free and perfect for tossing in the gym bag or for going on a run without the hassle of wires.

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A good leather wallet makes a perfect gift. There are tons of options out there but my personal fav is this gorgeous leather wallet  from Bosca. Its slim and elegant and sure to be a hit.

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Well I know its not much as far as ideas, but hey, my forte is beauty, but I hope you found this post helpful or maybe it at least got the wheels turning about what to gift a special man in your life. Thank you for reading!

xoxo

LivforLashes

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

Find me on Instagram @livforlashes

Email: liv_2008@icould.com

Hooded Eyes | Tips and Tricks | Blogmas Day 2

If you have hooded eyes, you have probably figured out that some makeup looks just don't work on you. I myself have hooded eyes and it took a lot of trial and error to find makeup looks that not only flatter my eyes, but looks that do not accentuate my hooded lids or make my eyes look weighed down. I've compiled a little list of tips and tricks for hooded kids, so I hope you find these helpful. 

1. Brows

Eyebrows not only frame your face, but they can also open up the eyes. Shaping your brows with an arch can really give the appearance of a lifted lid, easing some of the heavy look of a hooded eyelid. Brows that are shaped without a prominent arch, or straight in the bottom can really make a hooded lid look even more hooded. 

2. Blending in the crease. 

With hooded lids, shadows that are blended directly into the crease can often times become hidden by the hood when your eyes are opened. Avoid this by blending your crease shades and transition shades right above the creased hood. Do this by blending while your eyes are open, so you can see exactly where you are placing the eyeshadow. 

3. Defining the crease

Adding a deeper shade to the crease can quickly look messy on hooded lids. Instead of blending your deeper shades directly into the crease, try swirling them on to the outer third of your eyelid and slightly above the outer crease. Blend in a rounded shape. This will help give the appearance of more rounded and wider eyes, instead of weighing the hooded kid down with dark eyeshadows. 

4. Shimmer on the lid

With hooded eyes, most eyeshadows placed in the lid transfer to the crease once you open your eyes. So if you want a little shimmer on your lid, try applying it to just the inner half of your lid or so, avoiding the bulk of the hood. With hooded lids, shimmer shadows that have bled to the hood can reflect light onto that hood, accentuating your hooded eyes making them appear smaller. 

5. Brow bone highlight

The same concept goes for highlighting the brow bone. A shimmery shadow applied to the brow brings attention to the hood, making it look heavy. Using a matte shade avoids this, thus not directing attention to the hood. 

6. Winged liner

Anyone with hooded eyelids who have tried winged liner may know how hard it is. You can have the most perfect line while your eye is closed but once you open it, the hood either cuts through your wing, or completely changes the shape of your liner. Help avoid this by drawing the outer half of your liner thicker, cutting directly into the hood and drawing your wing over it. It may look a little heavy while your eyes are closed, but it really helps give you a perfect wing once you open them. 

7. Waterline

Using a flesh tones or white eyeliner in the water line helps open the eyes up more, making them appear more awake and wider. With hooded eyes, this is especially helpful. When you use a black liner in the waterline, it closes off the eye making it appear smaller, so not you have a hood on top weighing down the upper lid, and black liner on the bottom closing off the bottom. 

8. Mascara and lashes

A good tip for hooded eyes is to use either a waterproof or long wearing mascara, like Benefit They're Real! Mascara. Throughout the day, the oils on your kids and the hood of your lid can cause the mascara to streak into the hood. For falsies, try to stick to styles that flair out on the ends. Even the daintiest lashes can overwhelm hooded eyes, effectively blocking any effort you put into your lid makeup, the a flared style helps give your makeup look a little glam with the lashes, but also still showcases the hard work you put into your makeup look. 

Hooded eyes are a pain, but with the right tips, you can really learn to work with them. While they'll probably frustrate me to no end, I've finally balky learned not to hate them and to embrace my hooded eyes. While I know I'll never be able to rock a perfect cut crease, or have that amazing graphic winged liner, I know that my eyes give me character. 

I hope you found these tips and tricks helpful! Rock your hooded lids and let me know some of your favorite tricks for hooded eyes!

xoxo

LivforLashes

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

Find me on Instagram @livforlashes

Email: liv_2008@icloud.com

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette | Review + Swatch

I'm sure I wasn't the only makeup lover who had a total fan girl moment weeks ago when Urban Decay announced the release of the Naked Smoky palette. Even though I rarely use my other naked palettes, I knew I wanted this one if only to compete my collection. So as soon as I saw that it was in stock at Sephora last week, I quickly snatched it up. 

First impression of the packaging was O.M.G. It's beautiful! UD always has awesome packaging, but I really didn't like the velvet cover of the first Naked palette or the tin cases of the other two. This one is plastic, but it doesn't feel cheap and it has a secure magnetic closure. The plastic is kind of see-threw with a smoke swirl all over it and the logo printed in gunmetal across the top. Like the other palettes, it has a nice full-sized mirror inside. It also comes with a little guide with how-to instructions on four different smoky eye looks as well has some helpful tips and tricks for beginners. It's a little thicker than the other palettes, but it isn't too bulky.

 The brush that comes with it is pretty nice too. Instead of the double ended flat brush/blending brush, it has a pencil brush on one end and the blending brush in the other. The pencil brush is perfect for smoking out and diffusing eye shadows, especially since this palette is targeted for smoky eyes. The flat brush in the other palettes never got much use from me anyway, so this is a nice addition. 

The eye shadows are a nice mix of mattes, metallic shimmers (I'm dying over the shade High) and velvets. Most of the shades are quite deep in color, going with the smoky theme, but there are a few lighter shades for transition shades, such as Whiskey and Combust. There's also a beautiful pop of color with Smolder, a deep purple, thrown in the middle of the palette. 

The eye shadows are quite pigmented and blend really easily. In fact, they are more pigmented and easier the blend than the other Naked palettes in my opinion. A few shades like High and Armor have quite a bit of fallout, but with a shimmery eyeshadow with glitter, it's expected. I did find a couple of the darker shades like Dagger and Black Market to apply a little patchy, so I'd definitely recommend applying a tiny bit a little at a time with your brush and blending it completely between layers, and definitely a primer underneath. 

Final thoughts? I love this palette. If you were to purchase only one of the Naked palettes, I would recommend this one. It's versatile for both day and night time looks and the eye shadows are just amazing. It is a little pricey at $54, but I definitely think it is worth it. It's a nice addition to any collection, big or small, and I actually see myself using this palette on a regular basis, as opposed to just thrown in my drawer of eye shadow palettes like my other naked palettes. 

What are your thoughts on the Urban Decay Smoky palette? Love it or hate it?

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

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Email: liv_2008@icloud.com

New from BH Cosmetics!

New from BH Cosmetics! Two new palettes of baked eyeshadows are now available.

The first one, Baked and Beautiful, includes 10 baked eyeshadow singles and 5 baked eyeshadow duos in a mix of warm and cool tones. That's 20 different eyeshadows for only $11! 

The second palette is a companion palette to their Wild Baked Eyshadow Palettes (which I absolutely love) and it is the Wild and Radiant palette. This one includes four shimmery shades meant for the face body and eyes. Two of them look more bronze perfect for that summer glow and the other two are gorgeous highlight shades for $8.

 BH has awesome baked shadows. They are super pigmented with minimal fallout and I love how they can be used dry or wet for a more metallic and deeper pigmentation. These and more are exclusively available on the BH Cosmetics website. 

Recent Favorites | Lorac, ABH, Nubounsom + more!

Hello again everyone! The last couple of months I did not do a monthly favorites because honestly, there weren't any specific products that I was obsessing over. I had a bunch of new stuff that I was trying out though, and I was able to narrow it down to a few things I've been loving to show you guys. 

The first product is a perfume. I tend to go for lighter scents in the spring and Prada Candy has been my everyday perfume for weeks now. It's light and has a slightly sweet-slightly musky scent and I just love how fresh it smells. Plus it lasts for hours without being too overpowering. 

First up for makeup is this Naked skin foundation from Urban Decay. I purchased this during my recent Ulta haul and I've been loving it these last few weeks. My skin is a lot clearer now so I've been using more sheer foundations and this one is perfect. It leaves a nice satin finish and it doesn't oxidize or break up throughout the day which is awesome. 

I wrote a review on this L'oreal La Palette Nude 2 eyeshadow palette recently, and I've been really liking these different mauve shades lately. I love purples and pinks for spring and this palette has everything for light makeup days and more dramatic looks. And for only $16, its a good deal.

I have about 20 primers but the Smashbox Primer Water has blown them all out of the water (no pun intended lol). It's a refreshing mist and it leaves bare skin kind of tacky so my foundation just sticks to my face but it doesn't cling to any dry patches or sink into lines. And this stuff seriously makes my makeup last all day without budging at all. 

Another palette that I haven't been able to put down is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Artist palette. I wrote a review on this too so I won't go on too much, but I've literally been LOVING this! I love the bright colors and it's been fun paying with new looks with this. 

I've been revisiting an old favorite quite often lately and that is my NARS Deep Throat blush. It's a less shimmery version of Orgasm and it's perfect for spring. It's the prettiest coral pink shade and it just gives the most flattering natural looking flush, like I've been in the sun and I just forgot how much I love it. 

Nearly every day these last few months, I've been wearing a combo of two Milani matte lipstick shades, Matte Innocence and Matte naked. The combo of the two is literally the perfect nude for my skin tone. And these lipsticks are super lightweight and creamy so it doesn't even feel like I have anything on my lips.

Also from my Ulta haul is the Lorac Cheek and Lip palette. This has been my go-to for weeks now because it's so convenient. It has four shades perfect for any makeup look and I love how I can mix the blushes together for a custom blush shade. 

I've put down the Dipbrow for a while and I've gone back to using my ABH Brow Wiz in Medium Ash. I forgot how much I loved this pencil. It's so quick and easy to fill in your brows with this and still have them look natural, which is something I've been really liking lately. 

Of course I had to mention these babies. Nubounsom recently came out with new 3D mink lashes and I picked up the styles Dragon Li and Bella. OMG YOU GUYS. These are simply gorgeous! They are so full and flirty and totally glam, but still super lightweight and comfy to wear. I love that I can throw these on when I'm too lazy to do anything special with my eyeshadow, and they just give my eyes so much life! MannyMua recently raved about these in a favorites video as well. Remember you can use the code "LivforLashes" for 20% off of minks and try them yourself!

 

The next product has been out for a while but it's new to me and it's the Sensationail Fuse Gel polish system. I recently picked up the starter kit with the shade "Elec-trick or Treat" and another shade in "Na-No Way" and I love this. It's a super quick and easy at home kit for gel polish and I really like it. It has everything tuning you need for a complete manicure including the LED cure light and it's so much faster than other gel polishes that I have in that it only takes 30 seconds to cure. Plus it's so small, it's perfect for travel or if you're in a rush. 

Now that it's warming up (85+ degrees here in San Diego!) and my face is getting a little bit of color, I've been wearing more bronzer lately and I've really been enjoying this Pop Beauty bronzer that I received in my Ipsy bag last summer. It's a cooler brown and it has subtle shimmers throughout it and it just gives the most amazing glow. 

The last makeup items I've been using a ton are the Revlon Colorburst Matte balms. They're just a quick to use when I'm in a rush and application is super simple. And they are such summer worthy colors that I can't resist. My favorites are Sultry, Unapologetic and Shameless. I did a full swatch and review of all ten shades recently if you want to check that out. 

That does it for my monthly favorites! See any products that you love? Which products have been your favorite lately? Anything new I should try?