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Makeup Monday: super easy bronze eye look

Today I'd love to share a super simple eye makeup look with you!  This has been one of my favorite looks lately.  If you saw my instagram yesterday, you'll know that I've been branching out with my browns.  I'm used to doing eye makeup looks with purples (I have green eyes) and blacks (everyone loves a good smoky eye, right?).  What I'm not so used to is using shades of brown.

This might sound kind of strange.  Honestly, most women I know need a nudge AWAY from the browns.  As a Beauty Consultant, I see a lot of neutrals and browns because women simply are afraid of color.  Well, I'm the opposite; I LOVE color on my eyes and I feel weird using neutral shades.  But this is slowly changing.

I'm loving metallics this season and most of all golds and bronze tones.  This is taking that love and simplifying it into a very easy eye makeup look for day that easily transitions for night.  So here's a step-by-step tutorial on my fave eye look lately!

I've started with prepping my face and applying foundation.  

The products I use: Primer // Foundation // Concealer // Highlighting Pen

I am using three eye colors total; one is a cream eye shadow that I use as a base, the other two are metallic mineral eye colors that I blend on top.  The only other product I'm using is mascara (not counting brushes; if you don't have quality brushes, I highly recommend this set!  It will give you the basic brushes you need for all of your makeup!  They are also guaranteed 100%- ask me more about this).

This is a very quick eye look that can be done in a matter of minutes.  I'm starting with this Cream Eye Shadow in Iced Cocoa

This cream shadow is fabulous because it can be used on it's own, or as a base for an eye look, like I'm doing today.  You can use a brush with this cream, or simply use your finger.  Any time you are applying product to your eyes or around your eyes (shadows, eye creams, etc) USE YOUR RING FINGER!  This is the weakest finger on your hand and therefore the best!  You always want to be as gentle as possible with the skin around your eyes and eye lids.  Tugging and pulling and rubbing this delicate skin is what causes most sagging and puffiness!  You must be gentle.

I use my left ring finger to do my left eye and my right ring finger to do my right eye.  The only reason I do this is to allow my color to go on more symmetrically.  Sometimes it's awkward to reach across to the opposite side of your face and try to angle your finger just right.  I also do my left eye first because it is NOT my dominate hand.  If you are like me and struggle with making the color symmetrical and matching both eyes, this is a simple trick.  It is much easier for me to control my right hand and match the right to the left; so I always do my non-dominant side first.

Start on the outside corner of your eyelid and blend inward.  You may feel like you're just smudging color on your eye and that it looks strange but remember, this is the first step.  Eye makeup is all about layering and not every layer will look "pretty".  This is just a base and will be completely covered and blended, so ONLY put the dark cream where you want dark color.  I always concentrate my dark color to the outside 1/3 of my eye lid and blend towards the middle.

a glimpse at our life: date night + Saturday morning

Happy Saturday!  How is your day going so far?  I have to say that I love my Saturday mornings with my husband!!  It's only been a few months since his work schedule changed him to working Saturday afternoon/evenings instead of mornings.  And it was definitely a switch and something to get used to, but it seems to be working well for us.  I love that we're able to take advantage of so many downtown happenings on Saturday mornings.  Or even if there's nothing specific going on... a stroll downtown for coffee or to just enjoy Sundance Square is SO nice.

Today I'm just sharing a quick glimpse into our date night last night and our morning together today.  Our plans drastically changed last night, on a whim, and we ended up going out to dinner.  Chris wanted sushi and we both wanted to try some place new.  Enter Kona Grill.  Yes, I've heard people rave about it and there's been one in West 7th for some time now, but we still hadn't made it there!  It also helped that I had a small gift card from my goodie bag at the Flirt Turns Five party!  So, decision made... last minute... here we go!

I went for semi-festive with my outfit last night... greens and red but "normal" casual clothing, if you will.  I love this green plaid shirt because it's fitted at the top but wider at the bottom.  It's also long enough to completely cover my butt haha, which is something I like.  A lot of clothes look out of proportion on me if they're not long because I am extremely short waisted and long-legged.  It's actually hard for me to find a lot of shirts that look right on me, so a great shirt dress is one of my fave items ever!  I honestly don't know where this one is from because it was a gift (I think a catalog item) but I've linked a bunch of really great options for you!

 Plaid Flannel shirt dress: SIMILAR, SIMILAR, SIMILAR, SIMILAR, SIMILAR, SIMILAR // 

Lipstick // Eye Makeup // Eyeliner // Mascara //

Earrings are from Flirt Boutique // Handbag is Coach

It's actually pretty shocking that I've enjoyed sushi a few times now with Chris.  I am NOT, I repeat NOT EVEN CLOSE to a seafood person.  I hate shrimp, I hate pretty much every fish, I cringe at trying something new... I am an "order the exact same thing at the exact same restaurants" kind of gal.  Chris is slowly changing that.  As he keeps telling me, if it's good, it won't be fishy.  And he's totally right.  I'm actually growing to love it and dare I even say CRAVE it!  Hooray!

Fri-YAY! Random fun in fort Worth

It's Friday.  I'm completely unorganized today.  It's one of those days where if I don't write something down immediately, there it goes, out of my brain, never to return.

Today's post is going to be a bunch of randomness, because well, that's me right now.  So here's some local things I'm excited about today...
Panther Island Brewing GRAND OPENING PARTY!

$200 Amazon gift card giveaway

Hey y'all!! I'm so excited to announce that I'm participating in a Holiday Giveaway with a group of fabulous DFW Style Bloggers!!! There's opportunity for multiple entries, and you'll receive the gift card electronically, so you have it to spend before Christmas if you wish!!!

ENTER NOW:
DFW Style Bloggers Holiday Giveaway!

I'd love to hear what you'd spend the money on!  A gift for someone?  A gift for yourself?  Happy holidays y'all!!

the style club - $10 sale

Ok y'all... time for some major online shopping and stocking up!  If you haven't already, you need to head over to TheStyleClub.com for their $10 sale!! There are tons of $10 items, fabulous items, and also $15 items!! I've selected a few of my favorites below {click thumbnails at bottom for direct link}

While you're shopping, be sure to check out my entire closet!

Um, a white moto jacket for $10?? HELLO!  What's your favorite pick?  Have you ever had an online interactive shopping experience with your friends?  Make sure to check out the chat with friends feature!  This is something that makes The Style Club unique!  Make sure you friend me so we can chat!

Shop these items:

fall in texas

In Texas you have to check the weather every day before going out... ok scratch that... you should probably check it every few hours!!  It's kind of ridiculous how the temperature fluctuates.  Sometimes I contemplate packing up my summer clothes and storing them away during the fall and winter months and then I'm like, oh wait, it could be 80 degrees tomorrow.  I'd love some extra space in my closet but truthfully I feel like I need my entire wardrobe accessible year-round.

It can be annoying but it can also be really nice.  I'm not so much a cold weather person.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE layers... I love sweaters and sweatshirts, I love comfy jeans, I love scarves and jackets and leggings... but I really do hate the extreme cold.  So, it's always nice, to me, when temperatures vary.  I can deal with cold when it's interrupted by warmer days.

Yesterday was one of those days.  According to my car when I was running errands, it was about 80 degrees yesterday in Fort Worth!!  Do you ever feel like you have a hard time dressing for the season because your weather doesn't match the season?  Yeah, I feel like that a lot.  So yesterday's outfit was a combination of the "fall feel" with the comfort of shorts and a t-shirt.

 

I love mixing patterns.  And right now that is so on trend.  I decided to keep the outfit basic and mostly grays and black and then I let my accessories show my flare.  The socks and hat are both from Target from a few seasons ago.  I guarantee you can find many plaid options right now that are similar.

Rainy wedding day

It's drizzling this morning and as I continue my wedding picture posts, I'm reminded of the weather on my special day... also RAIN!  Not going to lie, I was really upset, at first, that it rained on my wedding day.  I know I know, everyone says it's good luck.  But I was really hoping for a beautiful sunny day (total crap shoot in Texas in March... as is the rest of the year except summer lol) but that SO didn't happen.

It wasn't a Texas thunderstorm, but the rain was definitely heavy enough to affect the day.  Transportation was slower, getting ready was harder for us girls due to lack of natural light for our makeup sessions (but my amazing Mary Kay girls made it happen!!), and well, as you can imagine, getting in and out of a limo and moving at all in a huge ball gown in the rain.... yeahhhh not easy!!

BUT, when everything was said and done, the rain actually ended up giving me some fantastic memories (like my girls huddled around me with umbrellas, keeping my dress off the ground) and some even more fantastic pictures!

wedding wednesday: getting ready

Hey y'all!! Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  Did you shop this past weekend??

I'm sorry that it's been a week since my last post!  I've had a few things going on that unfortunately prevented me being able to post the last few days, so, I am sorry for that!  But I'm back and continuing my posts about our WEDDING!!!

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite Getting Ready photos of me and my girls! (I'll feature the guys later) All photos are by my good friend Brandy Bacon of Darmon's Photography!
*photos are not to be reused to reproduced in any way without consent from the owner of the photos, Cassandra (Alwin) Altizer of Texas Sass.

I've linked the details at the bottom!  Hope you enjoy!  Let me know you what you think in the comments!!

It was a nice change having someone do my makeup... I'm usually on the other end!

Red roses are my favorite flowers.  I always wanted red for myself and white for my bridesmaids

tuesday shoes day

Well, I'm thinking that it's about time that I share some of my fabulous wedding photos on the blog!!  Yes it's been a little while since we tied the knot but with about 1200 pictures and family scattered across the country, I really wanted to hold off for awhile.  But there's no holding back anymore!  I'll be sharing all of the pictures with some of the family over Thanksgiving break and therefore,  I'll be posting wedding pictures all this week!  Get excited!!

Today I wanted to start it off simple and dedicate this lovely Tuesday Shoes Day to my gorgeous Badgley Mischka pumps that I wore on my big day.  So here they are!! 

Aren't they stunning?!  I loved all of the sparkle!  I didn't want ivory shoes that matched my dress exactly but I also didn't want to go with a highly contrasting color (by the way, I absolutely love blue shoes for a wedding, it just didn't fit with MY wedding).  I wore a beautiful handmade sash around my waist and I did my best to coordinate my shoes with the sash so my accessories would match and the ivory white dress would stand out.  I bought these shoes thinking they were very similar in color and then discovered, to my delight, that they were the exact color of my sash and looked so beautiful together.  

This is the Pearson II metallic pump... I have found the same shoe for you, just not the same metallic finish.  Unfortunately those are sold out.   BUT you can get the exact same shoes HERE in three different colors.  

I highly recommend any Badgley Mischka shoes as your wedding or special occasion shoes!!  I found them to be extremely comfortable and there is such a big selection of absolutely gorgeous embellished pumps!!  I think they are fancy enough for your big day, while still remaining affordable (sorry I don't pay $1,000 for shoes... not my style)

If you are looking for a metallic finish, I found these SIMILAR BM Pumps and I've also rounded up a few of my favorite Badgley Mischkas below!

{Click the thumbnails to shop directly}

Are you married?  Did you wear fancy shoes that you loved?  Any other huge Badgley Mischka fans out there?