For Christmas, my friend Jami surprised me with this palette.

Because she's the best.

Because she seems to have this knack to know what colors would look great on me.

Because she firmly believes that some of the best makeup you can find is at the drugstore.

I agree with her on that one...only because I've never bought expensive makeup to compare. #Cheap With the vast amount of makeup knowledge she has, I'll take her word.

Ain't this purdy?

I've worn no other eyeshadows since opening the package. I'm sold. I'm committed. Give me these colors for the rest of my life and I won't sway from them.

I considered doing make up videos using this palette on my channel, but for whatever reason, I can't seem to motivate myself.

Actual Reason: The past makeup videos I have done I've been grossly unimpressed with how I portray myself.

I come off sloppy, unintelligent, distracted...even though those three words make great adjectives to my day-to-day life, that doesn't mean I need to be like that on camera, for crying out loud. 

#MotherOf3

(#WasLikeThisBeforeChildren)

But then another part of me is all, "Well, you're being REAL, so."

...so, in other words, I may do these makeup looks in the future, on my channel.

#TheStruggleIsReal

But for now I'm going to show you how to make a subtle, but sexy, smoky eye, using three colors from this palette.

If you'd like to see a video of me with this exact look, click here! In this video I talk about how I create the perfect eyebrow color to match my red hair; answering my most frequently asked question.

Do you have this palette?

What are your thoughts?

What are your favorite colors?

A sweet friend of mine gave me this palette.

"You mentioned in a video that you have struggled finding the perfect gray eye shadow and well...this one has two," she said with a smile.

This has easily become my most favorite drug store palettes.

If you follow me on YouTube, you'll see that I've been trying out different eye shadow palettes from the dollar store (Dollar Tree) and so far have been pleasantly surprised.

But this past week I've found myself running to this palette more than any other. I am also wearing it in my most recent video (at the end).

Since I've been trying out different dollar store eye shadow palettes, I feel as though I've been walking around with many-a-color on my eyes.

And then bring on the Fourth of July when I sported this eye look:

I mean, c'mon, when can I wear bright red and bright blue on my eyes together and not feel silly? Confession: I was going to do one eye all red and the other eye all blue when, just as I was about to apply the eye shadow, my husband walks into the room with, "Hey, can you make a run to the store for me?"

So I chickened out and did this.

(Follow me HERE on Instagram!)

Needless to say, I needed a break from the bright/bold/deep colors. 

I found myself craving the more natural look, the more nudey colors. 

Here is a mini-demo on how I acquired that. You don't necessarily need this palette, just a cream/white and a neutral/light brown eye shadow will do!

Sooooooooo.......let's get started:

A couple of examples below. Very natural, very serene. Very much a "no makeup makeup" look (LAWLS, that is, for someone like me who loves a good drama on the eyes and wears it on the regular).

 

Here's how I created the look. Like I told ya, super easy. The liquid liner is optional. You can replace it with a pencil liner, or no liner at all. But since I've been sporting "wings" for five years now, I literally feel naked without them and will end up not being able to look myself in the mirror, no matter what time of day it is, until I put them back on. Even if it's bedtime (but I never last that long). #pathetic

Here's a close up. I placed the cream eye shadow on brow bone and then on my lid. The brown I put on the crease and blended it upward towards my brow bone (for a smooth transition between colors and because I have hooded lids--#blessed--and if I don't do that, my lid will look heavy and I'll look tired). I also applied the brown toward the outer corner of my lid before dragging it along my lower lid and although it's not too noticeable, it's subtle enough for me to like it better than without.

Oh and that white that is under my eye that looks like the eyeshadow on my brow and lid, that's concealer because 30 happened and if I don't cover my bags, those 6 hours of incredible sleep I got, will show up as a lie.

Here's a breakdown of the products:

Milani Smoky Essentials: between $8-$10

L.A. Colors Brown Liquid Eyeliner: $1 at Dollar Tree (I freakin' LOVE this stuff)

Maybelline Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara: $8 at Walmart. This stuff is BOMB.

Elf Bronzer and Blush colors Turks & Caicos: $3 at Walmart

So let's say you still want a more "nude" look with warmer, perhaps deeper, all-around more inviting colors AND with a cheaper palette?

I've got you covered!

Welcome L.A. Colors Haute Palette

(Source. I also adjusted the colors to be more true to the palette in real life.)

Here's the look I created with this. While Milani is my favorite drug store palette, Haute is my absolute favorite dollar store (Dollar Tree) palette.

(Potential thumbnail for a recent video. Girl needs to sit up straight!)

Here's how it's done (below). If you are interested in seeing a mini-demo of me using this palette, let me know in the comments! I'm more than likely recreating this look at least twice a week anyway and--as you can tell by the picture below, I already beat this palette up quite a bit before saying, "Oh yeah, maybe I should take a picture of the palette now before I hit pan (which I did a few days ago)."

I love creating these looks! Are there any palettes you enjoy to use for the more "natural", "no makeup makeup" look? Please let me know in the comments!

Have a great one!

Here's this exact post in a "short, sweet, and to the point" form.

But for those AWESOME READERS of mine, here's the meat of this lookbook. :)

On December 23 I went to the thrift store, in hopes of finding ONE outfit. I had an idea in mind. I wanted a gold party dress. One with sequins on the bodice and the skirt to poof out in ruffles. 

I could do so many things with an outfit like that to give it so many different looks.

But I looked through the dresses and found nothing that came close to what I wanted.

But the store made up for it by providing four other options that I had to have and will be remaining in my closet FOREVER.

Outfit number one: Retro is the way to go-go

This doesn't exactly go with the gold theme I was shooting for, but there's gold threaded all throughout this top. I imagined that if I were in the 70s that this would be the outfit of choice to ring in the new year.

And rich colors like that should NOT be left on a hanger for someone else's hands to take them home.

I stuck with one eyeshadow palette for this whole lookbook (ELF Golden Goddess $2). One, because it kept with my gold theme; two, it took the guess work out of figuring out what to wear on my eyes; and three, it made the process of doing this photoshoot much easier.

The only thing I changed up was my lip color and eyeliner (using different colors and different thicknesses).

This lip color I made using the regular dollar store, nude lip gloss that I put on nearly every day and over it dabbed some gold eyeshadow.

Did you know there's this site that shows you how to make your own lip gloss using Vaseline and eyeshadow?

People are pinning it like crazy and acting like that is the most genius idea ever.

YouTubers were trying it out too and here I'm watching them thinking:

"HELLO, I did that when I was eight years old and I didn't like the colors of lipsticks that my play makeup had so I figured out that trick on my own and was wearing blueish-purple lipstick with pride...even if Mom thought I looked like I was going through shock."

I straight up love these next photos.

Because you can see my set up. You see the wall I pose next to, how my kitchen it just off to the right. You can see the yellow filing cabinet my friend gave me and the piano that I lean against that we're trying to get rid of as I got a newer one for Christmas.

I love how these show more of me and of my little world.

Outfit number two: The comfy sweater.

Honestly, this is me. Right now.

I'm not at a party. HA! I'm writing to you guys so of course I'm not doing anything "fun" in the New Year's Eve sense.

But I LOVE writing you. To me, this is fun, this is my jam, this is how I party.

Now this outfit and the last two were done on the same day.

I know, spilling my secrets isn't cool. I didn't do these on four different days and wear them the whole day, I'm sorry. I did wear the last outfit for the rest of the day though. 

I was on a time crunch, what can I say other than the truth!

The heart socks were put on on a whim and I'm so happy I did it. I love it. I wanted to show you all that just because you're not out partying, that you can still celebrate at home in your own way.

Or you can totally wear this out. I would be all for that too.

I am wearing Maybelline's Red Revival lipstick in this shoot as well as wearing ELF's liquid eyeliner in Coffee, painting on a small wing.

I wanted a softer eye, a more relaxed look while keeping it rich with the bold lipstick

This necklace was a Christmas gift from my friends Jessa and Tinisha, also YouTubers. It's breathtaking!

Outfit number three: Stripes and scratchy sequins.

This is my least favorite outfit.

Because it's not comfortable.

Next time I put this on, I'll remember to wear a shirt under it.

C'mon, you can see my bra in the photo below. Another reason to wear an undershirt. I should've known.

I also was having massive hair issues this day. It was a Saturday and my hair had just been washed the night before.

I loathe clean hair days. My hair is uncooperative and not in the way I like it.

Hence the reason I PUT IT UP. It was either that or yank it out. ;)

For my lip I kept on the Red Revival but added a little bit of gold eyeshadow over it, to warm it up and make it sparkle.

I also went over the brown eyeliner to make a bolder wing, in NYC's black liquid liner.

Outfit number four: The DJ

I had no name for this look until a couple hours after this shoot, while still wearing this, my son said, "Mom, you look like a DJ!" to which I made some pathetic, record-scratching noises leaving my son to ask what I was SAYING.

"What is a 'wick-uh'?"

Me: "You know, record scratching, wick-uh, wick-uh!"

His squinting eyes in my direction explained that I went from looking cool to weird in about 3.33 seconds.

Now this lipstick...

I removed the Red Revival and BONUS, the rubbing of the towel on my lips gave them a good plump.

I went back and used my dollar store lip gloss but I think I put on too much to which had me putting on too much golden eye shadow over the top and then I had to line my lips with brown because I lost the outline of my lips and they looked gargantuan. The brown helped keep them from looking like I just got lip injections.

But I sure felt like I had a solid layer of sludge resting on my mouth.

(WHY AM I SHARING THESE SECRETS WITH YOU?)

So far, this has been the favorite outfit from my viewers. Which makes me over-the-moon ECSTATIC because I truly do think it's a great look and fits my style best. I feel like it is a nod from my viewers to how I style myself. And while I will wear what I like, what an honor it is to see that others like it too. <3

HAPPY NEW YEAR, my friends! May you life be filled with nothing less than GREATNESS. This is your year to have happiness, freedom, love, loyalty, truth, friendship, you name it. This is YOUR YEAR. 

And thanks for following along with me through mine.

If you missed my last post about about my thoughts on 2015, as well as my thoughts about this coming year, please read it here.