One Day Without Shoes

Hello Lovelies,

There are few things I love more then getting free stuff and supporting a good cause. So when given the opportunity to do both, I jump.

I was so excited to find Essie's Barefoot in Blue in my mail box this week that I had to write something right away! Now the whole premise is that everyone goes one day, April 5th, without shoes so that we can get a taste of what it is like for children suffering from diseases and illnesses contracted from a lack of footwear. Even though I think this is great I live is Los Angeles and am kind of a germaphobe but I well be sporting my Toms and Essie polish and will probably pick up another pair to show my support.


Plus the color is so cute! Definitely going to be a spring favorite of mine.

Until next time!
The Artist

Battle of the Brands: Tinted Moisturizer

Hello beautiful darlings!
Now that it is spring time and my face is not totally hating me, I've switched over to my tinted moisturizers for a lighter fresher feel with more sheer coverage. I have 3 different TM's and so I thought I might share with you my experience with them and tell you which one I will be using this Spring/Summer. My 3 contenders are:


Aveeno Positively Radiant Tinted Moisturizer with spf 30
It says that it "evens tone & texture with natural looking coverage", now I love Aveeno products but this one is definitely not my favorite. You do get a ton of product and I love that the bottle has a pump. However, my biggest problem is that I have a very hard time getting it to spread evenly. It tends to look very streaky and I feel likes it starts to breakdown badly throughout today giving me a somewhat splotchy appearance. Also, likely because the combination of the spf and my oily skin, I have to set it with a powder in order for me to not look like an oil slick. It's also a little pricey, around $17

Elf Studio Tinted Moisturizer with Spf 20
It claims "This lightweight and hydrating formula is breathable and provides anti-aging sun protection with UVA/UVB SPF 20". This was my go-to TM all last summer, which was before I really knew any better. It is a bit greasy because of the spf, so again, I definitely had to set it with powder. But the application with this is pretty easy and it does offer pretty decent coverage. If you have dry skin or don't mind setting your face with a powder I would definitely recommend this, since it is great bargain for only $3. The price was especially great since my skin color ranges drastically in the summer, and I could get several different shades.

Nuance Salma Hayek Flawless Wear Tinted Moisturizer
The Claim, "Flawless wear. Oil-free, sheer coverage delivers a healthy, radiant glow for all skin types". So I picked up this and a blush trio at CVS recently since it was bogo1/2 off, and I hadn't tried any Nuance products. It does have very sheer coverage, but it does have a way of evening everything out nicely. It has a great finish, not oily or greasy at all. It sets/dries pretty quickly. The only times I've used a powder is if I want more coverage. But alone it feels so comfortable, and makes my skin look and feel very soft. I got the light/medium 250 and it blends in beautifully. At CVS these are $13.99, but it seems like this brand almost always has some kind of sale.

Maybe I am just not a fan of things with spf, but in my mind there is a pretty clear winner here and that is the Nuance by Selma Hayek. It has the most natural and comfortable feel. I'm really surprised that I hadn't heard about it before. Did I mention that at CVS now, they have free mini samples of the TM, it's enough to get a color match which I think is great. 


What do you think? Have you tried any of these? What was your experience? Do you have any other TM's that you love?
XO-The Addict

Green with Envy: Saint Patrick's Day Look

I really wanted to do a funny St. Patty's day tutorial for you guys, but I have been feeling quite under the weather and you do not want to hear my voice (it's like a grizzly bear going through puberty). So instead, I put together this quick and easy look. It seriously only took me about 10 minutes to do my whole face! I achieved this look using some tinted moisturizer, powder, Milani Sunset Beach blush, elf 32 Palette-Cool, elf Metallic Olive cream liner, mascara, and Femme Couture Lipstick in Couture Pink.

I used shade #1 (emerald green) on the lid, shade #2 (very dark sparkly green) in the outer crease and out 3rd of the lower lashline for definition, #3 (antique-ish gold) to blend out the dark crease shade and in the middle 3rd of the lower lashline, and #4 (cream with gold shimmer) on the browbone and inner corner.

Spring Into Color: Lipstick!

Hello Beauties!

Since Spring is upon us, I thought I would share with you my favorite lip colors for Spring! This is the time of year to wear bright, girly, fun colors. Nothing perks up a look or an outfit quite like a statement lip color. So here are my picks:

From Left: elf Flirtatious, WnW 967 Dollhouse Pink, WnW 901B Think Pink, Rimmel Pink Blush, WNW 511B Nouveau Pink, Laura Geller Berry Vanilla, Maybelline Baby Lips Pink Punch, elf Mineral tinted lip balm Blush, Milani Mandarina

Now go brighten up those pretty smiles!
-The Addict

Picks of the week!

Hello darlings!
So we just realized me missed the lasts two POTW's. Yeah, we totally suck. So to try and make up for it we'll be doing a double POTW for you! Yay! Oddly enough we both wanted to share with you the blushes that we've been using like crazy :)


The Addicts Pick:
This last weekend I took a very impromptu trip to CA to visit the family, and I literally spent 30 seconds packing my makeup and I only brought one, yes one, blush! But it has got to be one of my favorite blushes, especially for Spring and Summer. It is WnW Pearlescent Pink. It is a very fresh shimmery pink, and it is simply gorgeous. What I love most about the color is that it is super pigmented. If you use a very light hand you can get a nice light flush of color, or you can build it up for a bright pink punch. It's probably the one I reach for the most because it goes well with so many looks.

Retails for $2.99

The Artists Pick:

Lately I have noticed that I reach for the same blush almost every day.  When I want a nice healthy glow that will go well with most any make-up look I find myself going straight to my Elf Studio Blush in Tickled Pink. A lot of the beauty world has talked about this blush being fantastic, because it is. However it doesn’t work great for everyone, Kaci (the Artist) actually has a hard time getting this shade to show up at all against her olive skin tone.

We love Elf here at The Artist and The Addict and this blush is yet another wonderful addition to our favorite products.  Happy Spring Time!

Thanks for reading and be patient with us!

-The Artist and The Addict

Brash Lip Stains

Hey there!
This is the first time I've tried any cosmetics from the brand Brash (which is sold exclusively at Payless stores). I love their shoes, like my sassy new pair of nude platform pumps. But makeup? From a shoe company? I had seen it many times but finally gave in and picked up a couple of these lip stains, I grabbed them because they looked very spring-friendly. I feel like a lot of the stains I've seen/tried were a lot darker. The colors I got are Coral Flame and Pink Lace.

So I don't feel like these had the usual excessively sweet smell or taste like a lot of stains, which I appreciate. I actually didn't notice any smell or taste at all. 

In order to give you an accurate idea of the pigmentation I first applied it to just the bottom lip and left the top lip bare, then applied it to both for the purpose of swatching. Please excuse my chapped lips, they're always very dry in the morning and you need to apply these on clean dry lips.

 Here is Coral Flame 

This is Pink Lace. The Right is with a clear lip balm on top.

These seem to last up to 4 hours or so without fading much, I've been reapplying around lunch time. These are great for people like me who want a lip color but obsessively apply lip balm or chapstick. I'm now pretty tempted to go back and check out some of their other products. They have two other shades (Never Too Red and Bitten Berry) and the go for $4.99.

XO-The Addict

Sally Girl Eyeshadows

Hello loves!
Today we are talking about a line that I don't hear about too often; the Sally Girl line from Sally Beauty. It's a shame too, because They're a pretty good quality and VERY inexpensive. If I'm not mistaken, the entire line is only 99 cents! Today I'm going to be sharing just a couple products, which I think might be the best. First we have the single eyeshadows, they are super pigmented and go on so softly. The ones with the wavy texture tend to have a softer/more powdery consistency (think WnW). I have no complaints about staying power, and they have a pretty decent selection. Here are the ones I have:

Taupe, Cinnamon , Cranberry, Brick, Navy 

Taupe (far left) has got to be one of my favorite browbone shades. I also appreciate the fact that the names are very straight forward.

Next we have the Shimmer Stripes. At first I thought, "what a great multi-use product, it could be shadows or  mixed together it could be a bronzer". They are beautiful as eyeshadows, but I definitely would not wear them as a bronzer! As far as I know these do not have specific names other than the numbers on the back, but here the are:

 This is number 388154. Swatches are from botton to top.

 As you can see, these colors are gorgeous, but are more metallic-which you should not put anywhere put your eyes!

And this is all 4 colors mixed together. It actually looked more like a Rosey Copper in person.

And here is number 388152

 Sadly the corner broke a little bit between buying it and getting it home.

 Again, swatched from bottom to top

And all together is a gorgeous gold.

They only thing I would say about these, is that because they have so much shimmer, I would not use the colors together. Perhaps use them with a matte or satin finish shadow or they will start to look muddy.

I hop you guys enjoyed this, now run and go get some!! :) 

XO- The Addict