I was recently invited to try out the latest eye candy from ACUVUE. It’s their 1-Day Acuvue DEFINE and what I thought was some new technology in the colored contact lenses front was not that at all.

Acuvue did a lot of research on eye color - what we perceive at beautiful, the uniqueness of one’s eye color and what cues we took in different settings. And what they discovered was quite fascinating! They found that those with a strong limbal ring (the dark circle around the iris which gets thinner as you age) were perceived more youthful, attractive, trustworthy and in overall good health to those interacting with that person.

Click below to find out!

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I’m not quite sure if the brilliance lies solely with BARE ESCENTUALS new Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream ($29/1.18oz), the Smoothing Face Brush ($28) or if it’s the combo of the two.

First, let me break down this Gel Cream for you.

What it is: A versatile gel cream that combines skincare benefits and naturally radiant coverage in one. 

• Mineral-based formulation that combines the best of a BB, a CC, and a tinted moisturizer to provide increased skin hydration after just one week 
• Features SPF 30 sun protection 
• 10 shades available

So what’s my take? Click below to find out!

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It never fails, I always find myself needing something beauty-related when I’m in the car going somewhere, so over the last year, I’ve put together a small kit that I keep with me in the front seat, so I’m never without ... anything. Here are 6 of my must-haves in the car. 

1. Nail Clippers, Nail File - REVLON Deluxe Nail Clippers ($2.49 @ bedbathandbeyond.com) – these clippers have been my favorite brand for years. The cutters are always sharp and it never falls apart. Of course things don’t last forever, so glad these are inexpensive. And for a nail file … I have my favorite that I keep in the house, so for the car, I just use the cardboard ones like these Beauty 360 Emery Boards from CVS ($1.99/10 pack @ cvs.com).

2. Tweezers – there’s always a stray brow hair that needs-a-pluckin’ and I’m in a serious relationship with ones from TWEEZERMAN. They’re strong, always there for me and I’m really attracted to their Pink Perfection Mini Slant Tweezers. $14 @ sephora.com.

3. Nail Polish Remover – L.A. COLORS Nail Polish Remover ($1.59/32 pads @ lacolors.com) these handy removers come in 6 different fruity scents and the grape-scented ones I have are actually able to mask the strong scent of the acetone.

4. Floss – I keep floss picks everywhere! In my purse, my car, my desk, hidden in a box on my coffee table. I’m not married to any particular brand but these Complete Clean Floss Ultra Strong Shred Proof Floss in Fresh Mint ($4.29/125 flossers @ target.com, amazon.com) by DENTEK work well.

5. Face Wipes - wipes are soooo handy to have in the car and they’re great for so many other things! After using one, I find myself using it afterward to clean parts of my car interior when I’m stuck in traffic. In my car now is BURT’S BEES Facial Cleansing Towelettes with White Tea Extract ($2.99/30 wipes @ walgreens.com).

6. Clear Nail Polish – great for touching up a run in a stocking, a loose thread on a shirt button and I don’t have a favorite brand. I just use whichever one I’m using on my nails that’s starting to run out. One I like is MAYBELLINE NEW YORK Show Nail Lacquer in Clear ($4.29 @ target.com).

Now when it comes to makeup, yes, a makeup palette will do but remember, we are talking about a very small stash of items for an e-m-e-r-g-e-n-c-y. I found a really cool 2 ½” x 1” x 3” tall kit that houses 4 swippers of eye shadow, a small eye liner, lip liner, mascara and lipgloss. White the products are not your Lancome kind of quality, it will get you by and I so feel like this kit was made just for this story!

It’s called the Majic Kit and is put out by MAJIC BEAUTY. Choose from Golden Peach and Healthy Nude for $19.99 @ amazon.com.

Do you have anything else to add to the Car Emergency Kit?

Disclosure: Some of these items were provided for review purposes. Some I bought.

I picked up this 15” around wood lazy susan at a yard sale for $4 but the light colored wood that pine normally is, is just not appealing to me. So deciding how to redo this piece was almost as exciting as getting it for $4!

Since this was treated wood (it has a gloss over it), I knew I needed to prime it for the new color to stick to it, so I picked up Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer for All Surfaces (I guess this is made by Rustoleum) ($13.99/quart @ amazon.com) and painted 1 coat on the top and bottom of the wood.

Then after letting it dry for a few hours I was ready to spray on the texture with Krylon Marbelizing Spray. I had contemplated for about 1 month on how exactly to paint this lazy susan. I was just going to do it in metallic gold but decided at the last minute on adding some texture to it. When I was looking online at different spray paint effects, I couldn’t seem to find any in Pinterest (I use it like Google) so I threw caution to the wind and bought it.

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Are you familiar with the PIXI BY PETRA line by PIXI BEAUTY that’s made just for Target stores?

They’re just coming out with their Spring 2015 Collection and I have the two Endless Silky Eye Intensify Duos ($15 each @ pixibeauty.com) to show you today.

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I had a few questions emailed to me from readers after this feature the other day on the hows and whats of COVER FX’s Custom Cover Drops so I wanted to address them here. When it comes to HOW to apply it, I consider this product kind of an at-home beauty experiment; a DIY, if you so please, in the sense that you should apply it however is comfortable for you.

Here are a few different ways I’ve tried: above I'm showing a drop next to some plain sunscreen on a tray I use to mix paints on when I’m crafting. On a side note, literally hours after I took this photo, I got Beauty Blender’s Sur.face Pro, which is great because it’s made just for mixing makeup! Now I have a tray for each.

So you can mix your Custom Cover Drops with your product on a tray or add the drop/s to a product in your hand, or if you’re mixing it with a primer, I’ve also put a squirt of product and a few drops on the back of my hand and then mixed them together with the brand's Liquid Foundation Brush ($38). But I nixed that after I started thinking about how the products might just be sinking into the back of my hand so I switched back to mixing on the tray.

So I guess it’s up to you on HOW you want to mix the drops and a face product together.

The other question I received was with WHAT can you mix it with? I’d say 99% of your face products! Like I’ve been mixing a few drops with products I’ve been trying in the past few weeks - Cover FX’s Mattifying Primer with Anti-Acne Treatment ($38/1oz @ sephora.com), Murad’s Invisiblur Perfecting Shield Broad Spectrum SPF 30 ($65/1oz @ nordstrom.com and ulta.com) and Tarte’s Maracuja Neck Treatment ($49/1.7oz @ tartecosmetics.com and sephora.com). And the pigment drops blend in beautifully and tints them all my shade!

If you have any other questions about Cover FX’s new Custom Cover Drops, I’ll be having a Twitter Party tomorrow, Friday, March 20^th from 3pm to 4pm EST, just to talk about them! Join the chat by using the hashtag #dropportunity and looking forward to talking to you then! And I'll be giving away some bottles of the Custom Cover Drops.

Read more @ ulta.com. 

Highlighting and contouring with makeup is all the rage but which palettes do it best? Here are four that are cutting-it for me right now.

KEVYN AUCOIN The Contour Book The Art of Sculpting + Defining - $59 @ sephora.com.

SMASHBOX Step-by-Step Contour Kit - $45 @ smashbox.com and sephora.com.

KAT VON D Shade + Light Contour Palette - $46 @ sephora.com.

COVER FX Contour Kit - $48 @ ulta.com and sephora.com. 

How many times have you ooo’d and ahhh’d upon seeing a Judith Leiber clutch? Yeah, me too. I love her ideas and designs, but not the price tag. So I decided to make my own version above! I just needed to find the right shape to make it out of and took to eBay to find it.

It took me a few to find this hard case one shown here. It’s a vintage Estee Lauder clutch and I just did a search and see quite a few of the one I used selling on eBay right now. Measuring 7 ½” long x 4” x 1 ¾” at its deepest in the middle, I got it for a steal at $14! While I actually liked the deep brown when it arrived in the mail, I tried  not to rethink the project because of that and get to what I set out to do.

Click the link to find out how to make this and what color stones those are! Aren't they everything??

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How awesome is new makeup technology? Well we have some here with COVER FX’s new Custom Cover Drops and they literally made it to go with everything…

Cover FX Custom Cover Drops

It goes with Darla …

It goes with a craft project I’m working on …

But what Custom Cover Drops goes best with are any of your face products. It's pure concentrated pigments made to custom color any of your existing face products. And you control the coverage! 

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Nudes never go out of style and MAC COSMETICS just came out with some amp’d up ones in their Bao Bao Wan Collection. So what exactly is a Bao Bao Wan? (I didn’t know either!). She is one of China’s biggest cross-over stars but probably best known for her jewelry line.

So this collaboration with MAC seems pretty natural and wow, are the colors ever stunning! With rich metallic golds, bronzes, and a dash of bright teal and lavender, most of the items look like they will be perfect next to sun-kissed skin in the coming months. Quite excited!

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