Rainbow Sparkles

Hello Everyone!

Do everything with an open heart and kindness...

June is National Pride Month. I'm a straight woman, but I have friends, family members, and people in my audience who identify as LGBTQ.

I believe that everyone should be able to love who they want without ridicule and or judgement. I was taught to love everyone. My social media handles are places where is everyone is welcomed.

To show support of my friends, family members, and my audience, etc. I wanted to create a colorful makeup look for National Pride Month.
 

To create this colorful look, I used my Morphe×James Charles Palette. 

To create a sparkle effect with the eyeshadow, I used NYX Eyeshadow Base in Pearl 

Sparkle Out Loud Beauties! Love is Love

June 2019 Posts

Freelance Makeup Kit Guide for Beginners

Memories of My Father   

May 2019 Posts

Hello May 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Clinique Skincare and Makeup

A Mother's Day Message for My Mom

Zoya Barefoot Collection: Summer 2019 

Life Lessons

Highlighter CollectionSummer 2019

Summer Beauty Must Haves 2019 

Beauty Influencer

My Life in May 2019

Memories Of My Father

Hello Everyone!

My dad loved lakes and sunsets. This is a beautiful picture I snapped of Lake Murray as the sun was setting. I think he would've liked this scenery. 

This is the first time I think that I've spoken about my dad's death since I took some time off my blog in February 2014 to deal with my grief. Since Father's Day is coming up soon, I thought this would be a good time.

My relationship with my daddy was somewhat complicated.  I don't mean complicated in a terrible way, but that's the best way I can describe it.

When I found out my daddy died I won't lie, my first emotion was anger. I was angry that my dad kept smoking despite having a few strokes. I was angry at all the time he wasted as I became an adult. He missed out on some great things in my life. He missed seeing me go to prom, my college formal, graduations from both high school and college and so on. Now  that he's gone he won't get to walk me down the aisle when I get married. My dad won't get to know his future grandchildren. I do feel sad when I think about the things he missed and will miss as I grow older.

Homemade Apple Pie was one of my dad's favorite desserts.

As you become an adult, you learn to take your part of responsibility. I know that I wrote my dad wasted a lot of time, but as an adult I feel I could've made more of an effort as well.  I made effort, but I wonder sometimes if I could've tried harder to understand my father.

Despite our rocky father daughter relationship I had with my father as an adult,  I do have great memories of him when I was a child. When I was little I was a daddy's girl. My daddy never missed a birthday when I was younger, he even sent me roses and birthday balloons for my 8th birthday. Every Valentine's Day I could look forward to getting a teddy bear, a card, and candy from my dad. I mentioned he wasn't there for much of my adult life, but he did give me a dozen heart balloons and a Valentine's Day basket during my freshman year of college.

I remember one time in particular we went to Sandy's when I was in the 6th grade. I hadn't seen him a few weeks due to work, so he took me out to dinner. We sat for a few hours and caught up. I was excited to tell him all the new things that were going on since I just started middle school. We had such a fun time. To this day, whenever I visit a Sandy's Restaurant I still think of my daddy.

Sandy's Restaurant 

Even now I don't grieve my dad in the traditional I'm so sad how could he die way, but I do miss my daddy. My dad wouldn't want me sitting around crying and being depressed about his passing.  When he died sure I cried, and for about a week I had different unpredictable emotions.

Despite our differences I did love him and I know that he loved me. Daddy I know you're no longer here, I wish you a Happy Father's Day and I love you.


June 2019 Post

Freelance Makeup Kit Guide for Beginners 

May 2019 Posts

Hello May

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Clinique Skincare and Makeup

A Mother's Day Message for My Mom

Zoya Barefoot Collection: Summer 2019

Life Lessons

Highlighter Collection

Summer 2019 Beauty Must Haves 

Beauty Influencer

My Life in May 2019

Freelance Makeup Kit Guide for Beginners

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday I started June by doing a last minute makeup look for a client. Since I've gotten back into doing makeup this year, I thought it would be fun to share some of the products I have in my makeup kit. First let me say that I'm a self taught mua. I've had training from professional muas, but I'm currently not licensed. Will I get licensed ... possibly.  Also, some of the items listed are not shown in my pictures. 

Skincare Products 

- Makeup Remover

- Cotton Rounds/Cotton Balls

- Towelettes/Fragrance Free Baby Wipes 

- Moisturizer 

 - Face Primer  

It is VERY essential that you take care of your skin before you apply makeup. When working on clients a clean and moisturized faced helps apply makeup better. You don't want to just cake makeup on someone's face.

Eye Products

- Eyeshadow Primer 

 - Eyeliner 

 - Eyelashes/Eyelash Glue

 - Brow Pencil 

 - Mascara 

 - Eyeshadow 

Palettes/Eyeshadow  

I focus a lot on makeup, but particularly eye products. There are so many great drugstore products that I use on my clients.

I have different eyeshadow palettes in my kit. Mattes, Shimmer, Creamy, Glitter etc. When I first restarted my kit, I added Urban Decay's Naked Basics and Naked Basics 2 Palettes. You need a good quality basic neutral palette(s) in your kit. You may notice numerous products look familiar. I've purchased duplicates of some of my products for my makeup kit. I've added a few gently used or new products from my makeup collection in my kit as well.

Face Products

- Foundation

- Concealer 

 - Translucent Powder 

 - Face Powder  

It's a good idea to have foundations, concealers, and powders in your makeup kit. Some clients have particular personal face products they like to use, and others will use the face products you provide. I'm still deciding on what face products I want to use in terms of price and quality (I think I'm going to use L'Oréal or Covergirl). Right now I let my clients use their face products.

Face Products

- Blush Palette 

 - Highlighters/Highlighter Palette 

 - Bronzer 

 - Contour Palette  

When it comes to blush, highlighter, and contour I like to use palettes. They're easy to pack and come in a variety of shades.

Lip Products

- Lip Brushes

- Lipstick Palettes 

 - Single Lipsticks 

 - Lip Balm/Lip Primer 

 - Lip Liner  

I also use lipstick palettes with a lip brush when it comes to applying lipsticks on my clients.  I've been using a couple of single tubes of red lipstick  since I didn't have red in any of my lipstick palettes. You should also have a lip balm or primer, and lip liners in your kit.

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

UD All Nighter Setting Spray is in a class all by itself. Hands down this is the best setting spray on the market in my opinion. When you wear this setting spray and your makeup is going to last. I only use this setting spray on my clients.

Makeup Tools

- Makeup Brushes

- Makeup Sponges

- Tweezers

- Sanitizer

I keep a variety of tools in my kit. It's important to clean your tools regularly to prevent bacteria and germs. As you can tell I even keep sanitizer on hand at all times.

Travel Organization

- Makeup Case/Makeup Train Case Etc.

 - Planner  

I did a quick makeup look for client over the weekend, but here a few things you can include for your makeup kit. I'm looking into getting a makeup train case and another larger case from Original Beauty Box

I usually have makeup appointments in my calendar on phone, but I write them down as well. Not all the time,  but occasionally.  You don't have to have a planner book, but you should have something to remember your makeup appointments.

I think I covered most of the basics for creating a freelance makeup kit. Makeup kits don't have to break your budget. Look for makeup sales. I use drugstore and high end makeup products. It's not about the cost, your makeup kit should include good quality makeup products. Also you check out my post for my experience as a Beauty Influencer


May 2019 Posts

Hello May 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month 

Clinique Skincare and Makeup

A Mother's Day Message for My Mom

Zoya Barefoot Collection: Summer 2019 

Life Lessons 

Highlighter Collection

Summer 2019 Beauty Must Haves

Beauty Influencer 

My Life in May 2019

My Life in May 2019

Hello Everyone!

Another month is coming to an end, so it's time for a Monthly Lifestyle post. I spent a lot of time doing clients makeup this month.

Hello May

May is Mental Health Awareness Month 

A pre Mother's Day cupcake for my mama

Mother's Day Gifts for my mama

How beautiful is the Zoya Barefoot Collection?! I really love the colors in this collection!

It super hot in South Carolina, but the days sure are beautiful 

Beautiful Sunset

I haven't visited a Books A Million in what seems like a million years lol, I was looking for a makeup related book, but the store didn't have it.

Makeup Mess. My inspiration for all things beauty 

Thank you for all your kinds words on my Beauty Influencer Post. I put a lot of hard work into my blog, social media, and creating makeup looks for my clients.

Georgia Bound. I mentioned I was busy doing makeup for clients this month. Last weekend I went to Georgia for a client.

Memorial Day Weekend Traffic. I'm not really an outdoors types of girl, but I do like going to a cookout and catching up talking with people. It was just too hot to go outside this weekend. 100 degrees.

When it's too hot to go outside to a cookout for Memorial Day, you go to a Cook Out Restaurant instead.

I'm not a big Subway fan, but lately I've been wanting a cold cut sub so I stopped by.

Krispy Kreme Glazed Donuts

I just tried this Orange Mango drink from CVS the other day. It's so good and it doesn't contain a lot of sugar. This will be a good drink for the Summer.

 Ulta has Tarte's Tarteist Pro Remix Palette on sale for $25.00

 I only paid around $4.00 with an Ulta Gift Card for my Palette, and I used my Ulta points saved. Note this Palette is originally $49.00

May 2019 Posts

Hello May 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Clinique Skincare and Makeup 

A Mother's Day Message For My Mom

Zoya Barefoot Collection: Summer 2019

Life Lessons 

 Highlighter Collection

Summer 2019 Beauty Must Haves

Beauty Influencer

Beauty Influencer

Hello Everyone!

Today I want to focus on beauty. When I started my blog almost 6 years ago I wanted this to be place of influence and a place that I share my love for all things beauty related. I talk about a variety of topics on my blog, but beauty is my passion. I'm a microinfluencer, but it's still surreal when people call me a beauty guru or beauty influencer.

1. Clean makeup brushes and sponges

I used to love cleaning my makeup tools. Not so much now, but I still clean my makeup tools on a regular basis. Clean makeup brushes and sponges keep help prevent bacteria.

2. New makeup brushes and sponges

Quality brushes and sponges are key to creating makeup looks. You don't have to buy expensive brushes and beauty sponges to have quality products.

3. PR samples

Thank you to all the brands that have given me an opportunity to receive pr samples and review products. I am very thankful and humbled. My followers and audience are going to get the truth about products.

4. Getting noticed by brands

I'm always thankful for brands that have noticed my work. Whether I'm working with a brand or a brand notices my work on social media. I appreciate the recognition. I work so hard on my content.

5. Makeup and skincare sales

Beauty products can be expensive. I look out for sales and I used beauty rewards (CVS, Ulta etc.) to save money. Don't forget to sign up for these perks.

6. A neat vanity and skincare area

This is a picture of my the skincare products in my collection from a few months ago. A neat vanity helps me locate my makeup easier and quicker


7. Makeup mess

A tidy vanity is good, but looking at a makeup mess inspires me to create makeup looks and content.

8. Makeup clients

I used to do makeup while I was in college. This was a means of bringing in another source of income I remember countless Fridays and Saturdays doing makeup for others. I also did makeup after college as well. Over the past few months I've gotten back into doing makeup. I'm still building my makeup kit.  Makeup artistry is another way I express creativity and like I mentioned a good source of income. I've even had a few of my clients gift makeup products.

9. Travel Organization

Whether you're going to be traveling, a MUA, it's good to invest in a beauty organizer. I've had this large travel organizer from Original Beauty Box for a few months and it holds so many products. For more information view my review and Original Beauty Box website. Links below
Original Beauty Box Cosmetic Travel Organizer Post
Original Beauty Box

10. Advice

Blogging, social media, influencing etc. doesn't come with a handbook, but you have to have dedication and consistency. You have to take risks and believe in yourself. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm always working towards my goals as a beauty influencer.


May 2019 Posts

Hello May 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month 

Clinique Skincare and Makeup

A Mother's Day Message for My Mom

Zoya Barefoot Collection: Summer 2019

Life Lessons

Highlighter Collection

Summer 2019 Beauty Must Haves