Tha Gabulous Lyfe

A good majority of my followers are makeup artists or aspiring makeup artists and part of the makeup I buy is for my makeup artistry kit, so... each month I will feature a few items that I use in my professional makeup artistry kit for clients-hopefully this will give artists (both professional and aspiring) a good idea of  what products work and what doesn't work. These are the products that I use for lips. LIP LINER I love NYX lip liners. They are inexpensive, available in numerous shades and their color payoff is excellent. The color payoff is equivalent to Mac lip liners to me but they're less expensive and longer. They retail for $3.50 each on the  NYX  website but I bought them as a bundle from a seller on Ebay. It was about $10 for a set of 8 and that included shipping. Three must have colors are: chestnut, current and natural. Colors: Nutmeg, Cappuccino, Auburn, Pinky, Current and Natural LIP STICK/GLOSS I use Kryolan's Mini Lip Rouge palettes. Kryolan Li

Yay!!! I've been officially blogging for 1 year. I started blogging exactly 1 year and 1 day ago on February 18th, 2010. I really wanted 75 followers for my blogaversary and I got exactly that... I didn't think I would have any followers if any when I started this blog because there are so many other beauty blogs out there and I didn't think people would be interested  plus I didn't go "live" with my blog until about 2 months after I started writing posts... but YOU ALL (my lovely followers) have proved me wrong! There are so many more things in store for my blog and some changes, I'm always thinking about ways to improve the content of it (pictures, giveaways, layout, posts, grammar, research, etc) but the changes will be for the better! I have some of the nicest followers and I'm so happy that you all are so supportive ! You all are the best :) Thanks SO much to all of you! Stay Beautiful & Glamorous, Gabriel Photo Credit

Yay me, I won another giveaway from Cosmetic Kay's beauty blog. I won all 4 of the Wet n Wild color icon eyeshadow palettes plus some other extras! I did a look featuring the Pride palette which consists of greens, blues and whites. The palette comes in 6 colors: 3 shimmers and 3 matte shadows. I normally try to keep it simple and use 3 shadows at the least when I'm doing eye makeup but this time I decided to live a little... I used all 6 shadows. PRODUCTS USED Eyes -Elf brow kit in medium -Mac Painterly paint pot as an eye base -matte white in the tear duct and inner eye area -matte green in the middle of my lid -matte blue and shimmer blue on the outter lid -matte blue in the crease -shimmer green above the crease -shimmer white as my highlight color -Elf waterproof eyeliner pen in black on upper lashline -Mark enchanted forest (green) eye marker on lower lash line -Maybelline Falsies Volum mascara Face -Mufe HD foundation in 173 Amber -Black

I've been hearing that Mac's Violetta is a "must have" lipstick. I bought it and didn't like it at first but I tried it again and added a different lip liner and gloss to it and I love it! Sometimes when I do makeup, I just want a flawless face and banging, colorful lips ONLY-nothing else. That's what I did in this look. The focus was the lips. I think a pretty colorful lip is going to be my signature trademark (every artist has one) I love doing a colorful lip on myself and clients-when the need calls for it. What I used. From left to right: Mac Nymphette lip glass, Mac Violetta lipstick and Mac Nightmoth lip liner. What I Used: Face -Mac Studio Tech foundation in NC44 -Mac Vintage Grape ombre blush Eyes -Maybelline Falsies Volum mascara Lips -Mac Violetta lipstick (Bright violet) -Mac Nightmoth lip liner (Blackened plum) -Mac Nymphette lip glass (Sunny golden pink) Violetta is a beautiful color, it is an amplified cream lipst

Exfoliating otherwise known as removing old dead skin cells from your body goes a long way in skin care and even makeup application, I'll give you 2 reasons why... I am prone to black heads on my nose, chin and cheeks and they weren't your average black heads-they were the kind deep in your skin that look like small hairs. I got a facial on my vacation to get the black heads removed (which is painful) and the esthetician told me that I needed to exfoliate at least twice a week to help prevent black heads. Also, while using one of my favorite cream to powder foundations I noticed that the foundation was really hard to apply. I literally had to drag it across my skin... plus my skin was flaking and peeling bad. I wondered why this was happening and did a search on Google and found out that flaking and peeling skin is a big sign that you need to exfoliate your skin. After this second realization, I immediately went out and bought a facial exfoliating scrub and included it in my

This month's featured lip gloss that I'm wearing all this week is another product that I stumbled upon while bargain shopping. CVS had their annual 50% and 75% sale off of select cosmetics. I was browsing and I saw a 75% sticker on this gloss from Black Opal and I immediately picked it up. It's the Tear Drop lip liner and lacquer duo from Black Opal. It normally retails for $6.75. What I love about it- is that it comes with a retractable lip liner and it makes it very convenient for touch ups and you don't have to worry about finding a lip liner that matches. After wearing it for a while it really lasts a good while. I put it on around 9am and it lasted until I ate it off at lunch time around 3pm, so that's a plus. The only thing I don't like is that it's very sticky, you may need some oil or Vaseline to remove it... but that's a minor issue because the finish is amazing. It gives you a glossy-wet finish! The gloss and coordinating lip liner.

The winner of Bundle #1 is Ktun! and  The winner of Bundle #2 is Shala! Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who participated. I will send an email to the winners, please contact me by Thursday or another winner will be chosen.  I wish everyone could have won... but there will be another giveaway soon :)

I'm a a big fan of Nars makeup but I really don't get to buy their makeup to often. I wanted to do a look using the Nars Mediterranne eyeshadow duo which consists of 2 colors: a muted gold and a burnt orange. The orange is so pretty and vibrant. I also used Nars Taj Mahal blush... this blush is very pigmented so I used just a little on my cheeks and blended it out. BTW-Taj Mahal is a blush that I highly recommend for any women! After doing this look, I really didn't like it. It didn't come out the way I wanted it (couldn't find the right camera angle, eyebrows need to be done again, etc)... but I decided to post it anyway :( Mediterranee e/s duo on left, Taj Mahal blush on right. I bought a new camera and still trying to figure out the right angle to take pics, please excuse the cut off parts. PRODUCTS USED Eyes -Mac Painterly paint pot as an eye base -Nars e/s burt orange on the lid -Nars e/s muted gold as a highlight -Mufe #17 Expresso in the crease

Even though I giveaway  freebies on my blog... I also enter giveaways and I win some too. I was one of Project Danielle's  giveaway winners for the Physician's Formula blue eyes shimmer strip. I was pleasantly surprised because the colors are nicely pigmented and the shimmer is not overpowering. I played around with the colors and here is a look that I did. All of the eye shadow colors were used from the Physician's Formula shimmer strip custom palette. Thanks Danielle! Blue eyes shimmer strip PRODUCTS USED: Eyes -Elf brow kit in medium -Mac Rubenesque (golden peachy pearl) paint pot as an eye base -The darkest gold in the shimmer strip on the inner of my lid -The 2 powdered blue colors layered on the middle of my lid -The darkest navy blue on the outter lid -Gold in the crease -Mac Studio Finish concealer in nc45 as a highlight -Elf waterproof eyeliner pen in black on upper lash line -Avon Mark black eyeliner on lower lash line -Maybelline

I have a half a dozen Makeup For Ever shadows that I haven't even worn yet plus I have tons of pigments that I hardly use and are literally collecting dust, so I thought I would do a look featuring my "not frequently used" pigments and shadows. I completely forgot how much I love pigments, I'm going to use them more often! I have small eyes and because of that I normally line my lower lash line two thirds of the way, whenever I line my full lower lash line with black liner it makes my eyes look smaller. PRODUCTS USED Eyes -Mac Painterly paint pot as a base -Mac Quietly pigment (limited edition-lavender color) on the inner half of my lid -Mufe #92 brilliant matte purple eyeshadow outer half of my lid -Mac Saddle (golden orange-brown) as a crease color -Mac NC 45 Studio Finish concealer as a highlight -Elf Waterproof eyeliner in black on upper lash line -Avon Mark eyeliner on lower lash line in black -L'oreal Voluminous Curl mascara in black/bro