Featured Fashion Diva of the Day: Chantal Harris

Hello Beautiful People,

Everyday I am influenced and inspired by everyday divas who work hard and definitely have fun with fashion and makeup so I want to share some of those ladies with you. My first featured Diva of the Day is my best friend who you've seen on my blog before she is my living black barbie  who I love to help dress up and apply makeup on. She has an excellent sense of style and with a little bit of my influence ( I love color all the time) has really pushed the envelope and plays up her beautiful skin with pops of color on her skin.  Check out some of my fave looks from Chantal here. Follow her on twitter @LilbitNSum

SWATCH ALERT! NEW Aqua Shadows from Make Up For Ever

Hello Beautiful People,

       As Spring and Summer make there arrival alternatively (I call it emotional weather) Lots of brands are launching their Spring and Summer collections. I was able to go out to the Make Up For Ever Boutique in NYC to check it out first hand. My fave color is the gray that is unlike any other color I have in my current collection so I picked it up. What colors are you going to get? I will say this in terms of "budgability" these Aqua Shadows have great staying power so these are a "Merli's Must Buy".  I also saw some of my great friends too so I'm sharing those photos with you also. Enjoy!

Here are the New Aqua Shadows

Here are the lovely swatches

All the Beautiful Colors

Here are the Aqua pots swatched the Yellow, Lime Green, Pastel Blue and Pastel Purple the NEW Shades plus others that I wanted to check out. Reminisce of the swatches stayed on my hand for two days. WOW!


 

Bethany and friends

Bella and Bethany I love these ladies

Bella and me she's off to France soon to go to the Make Up For Ever Academy Go Girl!

Illamasqua's Human Fundamentalism Collection FOTD: Smoked Purple Look

 Hello Beautiful People,

 Feeling a little purple today. So I decided to translate that into a beautiful look using Illamasqua's Fundamental Palette and gloss in Fierce. I'm certainly in love with the pigment in Illamasqua that is no surprise what you see is certainly what you get. Check out the rest of the collection below (which I'm tempted to get the rest God help me) as well as another purple look that Illamasqua created for their campaign.

So to  subdue the brightness of the Fierce Lip gloss on my lip I first lined and filled in my lips with the Inception shadow (purple) that is in the palette then I layered a thin layer of the Fierce lip gloss in the middle of both the top and lower lip and pressed them together.

For my eyes I put Inception all over the lid using my eye shader brush (Royal and Langnickel Silk Pro) and in the crease I used liquid metal Surge from the palette and with my smudge brush and blended it half way into my crease and up just a smidgen. I then lined my eyes with MAC Graphblack pencil and finished my eyes off with MAC False Lashes Extreme Black.

 For my face I used the usual suspects Make Up For Ever Primer #4, HD Foundation in color 178 and HD concealer in #365. I didn't use powder on my face as the weather is wreaking havoc on my skin, but on a normal day I'd finish everything off with Kevyn Aucoin Gossamer powder and Make Up For Ever Mist spray.

Neutral Palette, Fundamental Palette, Nomad Nail Varnish, Stance Nail Varnish, Burst E/S, Pivot E/S, Cancan E/S, Sex E/S (Behind) Precision Ink in White, Intense Lipgloss in Fierce and Box Lipstick

Sunday Styles: Singin' the Vintage Thrift Blues

Hello Beautiful People,

Happy Easter to Everyone! Wanted to share my Sunday's best that just so happens to be a thrift buy, minus the shoes which I purchased deeply discounted on my birthday. What's so awesome is the entire outfit including the accessories cost me $56 dollars! Yup as you will see in the breakdown nothing was over $46 dollars. So without further delay here is the look.

L'Bel Couleur Luxe Expressive XP Palette, Revlon 3D Volume Mascara, Clinique Lower Lash Mascara, MAC's Morange Lip Stick & Revolution Evolution Lipglass (Limited Edition), Make Up For Ever HD Foundation #178, Make Up For Ever HD Primer #4 and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Deep Dark

   



 *Disclaimer The L'Bel eye shadow palette was received as a gift. Everything else was purchased with my own hard earned cash.*

Sunday Styles: Houndstooth Dress

Hello Beautiful People,

         You know a girl like me doesn't dumb down the fashions no matter where I go. I believe fashion is a creative representation of you and I take that very seriously. So church is no different of course I'm conscious of the things I wear so I wanted to share with you my choices that  I make and how I supplement sometimes too short situations. Check it out.

Pro Artistry Month with Make Up For Ever in NY & LA

Hello Beautiful People!

I've missed you guys so much and what a month it has been I'll share soon what I've been up to but I wanted to share the information about FREE yes I said it FREE education at Make Up For Ever in NYC as well as Los Angeles.  Which classes are you going to choose? 

Make Up For Ever Pro Event Halloween Style

Hello Beautiful People,

     I have some pictures that I wanted to share with you guys from the Halloween pro event that I went to two weeks ago. I love going there and seeing fellow make up artists as well as discovering or rediscovering some great products that Make up For Ever have in their arsenal. I picked up some products for my halloween look which you can see here.

Kept it natural that night nothing outlandish

Things That Make Me Go Oh La La: My Week in Pics Oct 30- Nov 5th 2011

Hello Beautiful People,

      Just wanted to share my week in pics it's a little late but hey its been a long week thus far. How did you guys spend Halloween? I was hell bent on not buying a costume but just doing something wicked beautiful to my face. So I did... let me know what you think of course. I also had the opportunity to go to a OCC meetup pro event which was great and I met some awesome ladies as well as the brain child of the operation, David Klasfeld of course you know I picked up some lip tars I'll share that with you guys soon. I also went to Make Up For Ever Pro event for Halloween and picked up some goodies there. (I need help I know!)  All in all a nice and productive week. I'd love to see some pics from Halloween please share with me at lovemerli@yahoo.com and I will post some of my favorites right here on the blog. Have a great rest of your week people.

My purchases made at the Make Up For Ever Event, MAC, and Sephora

                        October 28th 2011 Going to a get together with friends I didn't want to buy a costume so I costumed my face.

For the look I used the following items:

MUFE Color Cream in Bronze, NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean, Kevyn Aucoin Eye Pencil in White,  Kevyn Aucoin Eye Pencil in Black, MAC prep and Prime transparent powder, and Kiss Lashes

Halloween Around town in Soho October 31, 2011

FOTD on Monday Oct 31st

Some of my finds and looks from the mags I love

I'm mad at Kim but I'm not at the turtleneck which I love

This makeup look is so fab! 

My FOTD on Sunday going to Church Yup I turn it on for the Lord too! 

I surely want to see this show

Loving these boots from steve Madden

I love all these boots  Can I have them please!