So up until a few weeks ago I was using a purple Caboodle On The Go Girl makeup case that I literally have had since middle school.  My collection has grown this past year and I found that I had to keep some of my larger items outside the case because they were too large and didn’t fit.  Also, when I closed the case (the latch broke off years ago) it got quite tight.  Long story short, it was time to buy something that fit all my makeup comfortably and kept it organized.

I really wanted a Clear Cube (or something similar) but the closest I could find was from Muji and with the shipping it got quite pricey.  I looked high and low for an acrylic storage unit but I couldn’t find anything so I decided to go the Wal-Mart route.

The organizer I got is one of those universal Rubbermaid units that although plain, can hold a lot of stuff, especially if you get compartments to break it up and keep it organized.  The product comes in two sizes, a smaller one that would be perfect for holding desk supplies, and this one.  I obviously went with the larger one (it cost me $18.97 CDN I believe). Alright, so on the top I keep my larger bottles that stand up as well as my brushes.  I also have my moisturizers, makeup removers, deodorant, Urban Decay Setting Spray, and my Holt Renfrew Paramount Beauty Bag that I put cotton pads, Q-tips, etc. in. I have the first drawer separated into three different departments.  In the back I have my larger palettes like my Ed Hardy one, my Tokidoki Chromatico in Devil Girl palette, my MAC Pro palette, and my UD Naked palette.  In front of that I have some large powders and beside that in the long rectangular compartment I have my face powers like my Bare Minerals ones and my Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder.  In the rectangular compartment near the front I have eyelashes, my Laura Mercier foundation, a retractable kabuki brush, eyelash curler, and a sponge.  Just random items really. In the second drawer I have four compartments.  One for my lipsticks and another for my lip glosses.  In the third container I have foundation primers and eos lip balm spheres and then in the fourth I have eye items: concealers, Urban Decay Primer Potion, sharpeners, a gel eye liner, and Clinique All About Eyes Serum. Finally, in the third drawer I have two larger compartments (one for cheek products like blushes and bronzers and another for single, duo, and quad eyeshadows) and one smaller one.  In the smaller compartment near the front I have mascara and lash products on one side and then liners on the other.  In front of the smaller compartment I have a few hair removal products.

So that is how I store my makeup, I can’t believe that the majority of those things used to fit in that little Caboodle case, crazy!  I think altogether the whole unit cost me $50 which isn’t bad considering that a Clear Cube costs $300 and up.

How do you store your makeup?  Leave me a comment below.

The holiday season is officially on!  There is fresh snow on the ground and the mall has the Christmas decorations up and all I want to do is shop!

Anyways, in honour of the holiday season, I thought I would do the typical December look: shimmery eyes with red lips.  It’s been done before numerous times and is the unofficial look of the season but I thought I would show you guys how I do it. I’m not a red lipstick kind-of-girl at all, but for the sake of this tutorial I thought what other colour could I possibly pair this with other than a gorgeous blood red?

Let’s get started! So like always, apply a foundation primer to your face.  I used Laura Mercier Foundation Primer.  After the primer I used YSL Touche Eclat under my eyes and on my brow bone to highlight those areas. Now apply your foundation.  I used MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NC15.  This is the whitest foundation I own and I chose this foundation over my other ones that are a bit darker because I wanted “Snow White” skin.  I applied the foundation with my Body Shop foundation brush.

After your foundation is blended I highly recommend grabbing a flat top brush or a kabuki and buffing it in to make sure it stays on your face and to smooth it out.  I did this using my ELF Flat Top Powder Brush ($3 at Target). Once you are done applying your foundation and buffing it in, grab a powder and set it.  I used Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder using a Bare Escentuals Full Face brush. Now we are moving on to contouring.  I used NARS Laguna bronzer and worked this into the hollows of my cheekbones and onto my temples. Next is cheeks!  I wanted my cheeks to be very subtle and pink so I grabbed NARS Angelika blush (I got my Laguna/Angelika duo from the NARS Lose Yourself set from Sephora).  Apply the colours on the apples of your cheeks and blend back towards your ears.  I used a Quo blush brush. Next I grabbed my It Cosmetics Brow Power Lift and used the matte side on my frown lines (the sides of my mouth), and the lines between my eyebrows. I also applied this over my eyebrows.  I used a Bare Escentuals concealer brush to blend it. To fill in my brows I used Clinique’s Sable eyeshadow, a matte brown colour. I got this trio in a previous gift with purchase and it’s the most perfect brown for eyebrows and the brush that comes with it is excellent to apply it with. Moving onto eyes!  I primed my eyelids up to my brow bone with my trusty Urban Decay Primer Potion. For my lids I used Lancome’s Color Design Style Section Metallic, a shimmery silver colour.  I applied the eyeshadow using a ELF eyeshadow brush from their Studio Collection. For the crease I used a gunmetal colour, appropriately called Gunmetal from the Urban Decay Naked Palette. Moving onto the lower lashes.  I used a white eyeliner by NYX for my waterline and then used the silver colour from Lancome to go over it.  After that I grabbed some Gunmetal on my eyeliner brush from Quo and lined my lower lash line. For eyeliner I used MAC Liquid Eye Liner in black and lined my entire top lash line winging it out at the end.  From there I also lined my lower lash line about halfway in and then connected it to the wing.  You can do this with either liquid or a gel liner, I wouldn’t really recommend a pencil one. Moving onto lashes!  I curled my eyelashes with my Sephora eyelash curler and then used my mini Shu Uemura curler to get the lashes I missed.  From there I used Dior DiorShow Maximizing Lash Plumping Serum and Primer and then YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils mascara. For a highlight I used the pearl side of the It Cosmetics Brow Power Lift.  I applied this on my brow bone and on the inside corners of my eyes.

If you have fall out from the grey eyeshadow apply a concealer now to clean it all up. To finish up the look I used this dual-ended lipgloss/lipstick from Clinique.  The lipstick is their Different Lipstick in the colour #33 Raspberry Glace and the gloss is their Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 in #13 Fireberry.  If you have a red lip liner, as always, apply that before your lipstick to prevent the colour from bleeding out.  I don’t own a red lip liner because I hardly ever wear red, but it is definitely a staple to have in any collection.  

After I applied the colour I grabbed my NYX white eyeliner once again and highlighted my cupid’s bow, the area right in the middle of your upper lip. And we are done!  I think this is the perfect holiday look that you can either rock during the day, night, holiday party, etc.  Just grab some glittery stuff and you are good to go!

Do you plan to rock shimmery eyes and red lips this holiday season?  Leave me a comment below :).

Happy Black Friday y’all!  Us here in Canada don’t have Black Friday (unless you count shopping online) but for all my American readers have fun and be safe!

I haven’t done a Nails of the Day (NOTD) in a while and I have been loving this colour so I thought I would do a post on it.  This polish is actually my friend’s but she let me kindly borrow it (thanks Allison!) because I’ve been wanting to try Deborah Lippmann polishes for a while now (they are so pricey here in Canada, anywhere from $19-25 for one polish). This beautiful grey shade was actually created for the Narciso Rodriguez fall 2011 fashion collection.  I believe that this is the colour that the models are wearing on their nails on the runway at his show.  It is also part of Deborah Lippmann’s fall 2011 collection as well.

Now grey is a hot colour for fall but I often find that because the holidays are coming up and that means glitter, and a lot of greys this season have shimmer in them.  Not this polish. This is the perfect matte cement grey and it’s so gorgeous on nails. As for application, this went on like a dream.  The consistency in these polishes are fabulous and I only needed two coats to get the perfect coverage.  The polish itself is very creamy and I have to admit, I may be addicted which is not good for my bank account.

As always, I applied Seche Vite base coat and top coat to finish the look. Have you tried Deborah Lippmann’s Stormy Weather?  If so, what were your thoughts?