Thirteen Thursday: Thirteen Spring Break Essentials

Hi everyone! This blog post is going to be about spring break essentials. I know some people have already had theirs, but mine is this week and some people have their's later. If yours hasn't passed already, then keep reading for 13 essentials for spring break!

If you're going somewhere hot:
1. Beachwear. This includes swimsuits, sunglasses, sunscreen, towels, and flip flops!
2. A book for reading while you tan
3. Fun perfume. Buy a travel size perfume, rollerball, or something that is meant to hold perfume during travel.
4. Waterproof mascara
5. Tinted moisturizer instead of foundation

If you're going somewhere cold:
6. Cute boots (Uggs, combat boots, riding boots, snow boots, or rain boots!)
7. A fashionable and warm scarf
8. A bag to put wet clothes in
9. An electric blanket (I really recommend getting one of these<3)
10. Lotion for the cold weather!

For anywhere, even home:
11. Camera
12. Tote bag, to go to  the beach, to carry purchases, or anything else!
13. A manicure!

What's your spring break must have?
xoxo

Fun Tanning Idea During Spring Break

Hi everyone! Are you going somewhere sunny for spring break? Are you going to tan? I have a great idea that I saw on tumblr. If you don't follow mine, here's the link: http://s-u-m-m-e-r-l-u-v-i-n.tumblr.com/. Anyway, put a silly band or other object on your stomach while you tan and the covered spot will show up once you have a tan!

Where are you going for spring break?
xoxo

Swatch & Review: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils are hyped about a ton on YouTube! Their most popular color is Milk, which is white. The 4 colors I have are Milk (white), Strawberry Milk (pink), Pots & Pans (silver), and French Fries (bronze). The pencils make great eyeshadow based but aren't so good on their own. I used to just wear these as eyeshades to school, but by the time I got home you couldn't tell I ever had anything there. In the swatches you can see how pigmented they are, but if you blend a lot that will disappear! People say they crease easily but I haven't noticed that on my eyes. You might want to take their word though of that's something you're worried about!

Things I like:
*They're super creamy!
*Applies smoothly
*Usable for natural and dramatic looks
*Reasonable price
*Blends easily
*Color selection
*Lasts a long time (product)

Things I DON'T like:
*Creases?
*Wears off quickly
*Blends to much (can't see)
*Packing (all the caps on mine are cracked)
*Pain to sharpen

What do you think of NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils?
xoxo

How to Rock Crop Tops

Hi everyone! I love to wear crop tops, and I wanted to show you some different ways to wear them!

 1. Patterned Shorts. I paired this crop top with blue, yellow, and green shorts and a green bracelet to match. The colors in the shorts are really warm looking for the upcoming summer weather.

 2. No undershirt. I usually wear my crop tops with a shirt under it, but you can always take that away. The jewelry I used was a long silver necklace and a silver rose ring. I would only recommend wearing the shirt on its own if it's a longer one.

 3. Long sleeve. If you didn't see my last YouTube video, I said I love the look of long sleeves with shorts. The accessory for this look was bright lips. I used Revlon Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie.

 4. This was just an extra style because it's so obvious & simple, it's off the shoulder. You can just do one shoulder or two.

5. I wasn't so sure about this look. I probably wouldn't wear this but I think others could pull it off! It's a crop top with yoga pants. I think it's totally wearable!

What's your favorite way to rock crop tops?
xoxo

Spring Fashion Lookbook on Youtube

Click here for Spring Lookbook!

I posted a YouTube video! Check it out!

xoxo

NOTD: Bar Glitter

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to show you what's on my nails! I bought these two polishes yesterday from Ulta. They are Sally Hansen White On and Sally Hansen In The Spotlight. I really wanted to find a white nail polish that wasn't too thick and that was opaque enough to wear on its own. I also really wanted to try a bar glitter and when I saw this one it was a match made in heaven! I really recommend both polishes and the whole line of Sally Hansen polishes overall.
Whats on your nails?
xoxo

Ombre Lip Tutorial (feat. Revlon Lip Butters)

Hi everyone! I hope you saw my Revlon Lip Butter review yesterday! If not, check it out before you log off! I decided to do an ombre lip tutorial using them to help you get an idea of what they look like on lips. Enjoy!
Om

1) Apply lip balm
2) Apply darkest color to the outer 2/3 of your lip leaving the center empty.
3) Apply medium color to the center and overlap a little to the dark color.
4) You have three options here
4.3) Be done
4.6) Apply the lightest color to the very very center (that's what I showed in the video)
4.9) Apply white eyeshadow to the center lightly and on the cupids bow to highlight
5) Mistakes? Go back around the edges with concealer

The colors I used for this tutorial:
010 - Raspberry Pie
045 - Cotton Candy
005 - Sugar Frosting

What do you think of the ombre lip trend?
xoxo

Swatch & Review: Revlon Lip Butters

Hi everyone! Everyone knows the Revlon Lip Butters, so I decided to review some of them!

From left to right in the pictures, I have 045 Cotton Candy, 010 Raspberry Pie, and 005 Sugar Frosting. I'll just start right now and say I recommend the dark colors but not the light ones. I bought Cotton Candy & Sugar Frosting at one time, and tried them for about 2 months. I stopped using them after a while because they really didn't do anything for my lips. You can see in my swatches how sheer they are! They really only gave my lips shimmer, no color whatsoever, and were not worth the price. ($7.49 at most stores). I bought Raspberry Pie recently and was shocked at how different it was from the others! It was so pigmented that I had TOO much. It gave me more color than most lipsticks! So if you buy the dark colors, they will really work well, don't buy light ones unless you're going for more of a shimmer.

These are going to be great for adding a pop of color to a neutral school/work appropriate look. It's out there, but not bad like an intense smokey eye.
What's your favorite lip butter color?
xoxo

Left to Right: Cotton Candy, Raspberry Pie, Sugar Frosting

NOTD: Baby Doll Pink

Hi everyone! At the moment, my nails are painted 'Baby Doll' by Ulta. The color is a very pale pink, almost white, perfect for spring. I don't like Ulta polishes very much, it seems very wet, and cheer on that note. It took a lot of layers and took a while to dry. The color is pretty, but I would recommend finding a dupe from another brand?

What's on your nails?
xoxo

Thirteen Thursday: 13 Spring Trends

Hi everyone! This is a new weekly segment I'm calling 'Thirteen Thursday'. Every Thursday, I'll have a topic and I'll tell you 13 things about it! To start off, this week I'm doing 13 spring trends. Let me know what you think!

1. Pleats! Pleats in every form, especially accordion style.
2. Black & White used together. This was seen plenty on the runway, using white with bold black lines and shapes.
3. Bra tops. These are basically corset crop tops, they are like bras that are styled! Check the link at the end of this post to the website I saw this on.
4. Zigzags & Chevrons. Bold, hidden, large, or small, this is the pattern of the season.
5. One shoulder. This was also seen a lot on the runway and you could wear this casually, or dressy! A simple one shoulder shirt or a frilly one shoulder dress, either will get the job done.
6. Blue. Blue is a color that can add mood to any outfit, an edgy mood at that.
7. Exposed shoulders. We saw this trend a lot during 2011 and it's staying strong for spring 2012.
8. Draped pencil skirts. We've gone through the pencil skirt phase- now we're adding a twist. There are pencil skirts now with draped fabric detailing.
9. Crop tops. I love crop tops, although I prefer these for summer, you could totally pull them off for spring this year.
10. Pastels. It's what's expected, every spring.
11. Orange. Bright orange. Tangerine. Orange is the pop of color for spring, you could do this subtly, by painting your nails orange, or adding an orange accessory.
12. Metallic & glossy material. This may seem crazy, but make your fabric glossy, shimmery, and metallic!
13. White heels. These are a great staple wardrobe item to have, they'll match everything!

Source: Click here for 'fashionologie'

What do you think of Thirteen Thursday? What do you think of the spring trends?
xoxo

Beauty Breakdown TAG

This was created by aleexandraaxo on YouTube about 7 months ago, and I decided I would try it! Basically, there are different categories and you say what products you use in each one. Here we go!

1. What products do you use in the shower?

Shampoo & Conditioner (Herbal Essences) (this counts as one product)

Shaving cream (Skintimate)

Shower gel (Bath & Body Works)

2. What products do you use when you get out of the shower?

Body Butter (Bath & Body Works)

Deodorant (Secret)

3. What odds and ends products do you use?

Toothpaste (Crest Pro-Health)

4. What products do you use on your face?

Neutrogena Cleanser

Clinique Clarifying Lotion

Clinique spot treatment

Neutrogena SPF lotion

Covergirl Concealer

Rimmel London Powder

Dream Bouncy Blush

5. What other makeup products do you use?

Wet N Wild eyeshadow trio - Walking on Eggshells

Clinique Lash doubling mascara

Maybelline Brow gel

EOS lip balm

Revlon lip butter - sugar frosting

My total was 18 products! Wow... what's your beauty breakdown total?

xoxo

Swatch & Review: Wet N Wild Trios

Hi everyone! Today I decided to swatch and review some of my favorite eyeshadows, Wet N Wild Trios. Of course, I'm not being paid to do this, I just wanted to share some great products with you!

I have two of these, a dramatic look, and a neutral look. I've only used the dramatic look once, but I've used the pink for a lot of looks. That one is called 'Spoiled Brat' it includes an extremely metallic silver, black with legit glitter flakes, and a hot hot hot pink. All of the colors are so pigmented! They're basically TOO pigmented. You have to use a really light touch with these.

The neutral trio is called 'Walking on Eggshells' and is one of the most popular ones. It includes a shimmery vanilla color, cocoa brown, and shimmery champagne. This is the look I've been using almost every day lately and it looks great.

Both of these trios could work on just about ANY skin tone! Wet N Wild is sometimes hard to find, I've seen it at Walgreens and Fred Meyer, but it could be in other places too. Mine were between 2-4 dollars, I

don't remember the exact price. Wet N Wild also sells these in sets of 6 or 8, and singles.

Overall I really recommend these shadows if you're looking for something inexpensive and pigmented. You can really find any color you need, and I find these are better than lots of Maybelline shadows I've tried.

In the picture to the left, I have 'Walking on Eggshells' swatched. The top is the browbone color, you can tell it's very shimmery, and it's not quite white, it's more cream or vanilla. The second color is the crease color, it looks somewhat matte in the photo, but being a cheap brand, it's shimmery. The bottom color is a little harder to see, it's the least pigmented of them all, but it works really well as a lid color.

In the next picture, I swatched 'Spoiled Brat'. On the left, you can see a metallic silver browbone color, that I really would never wear on my brows, I would use it as an alternate lid color. The middle is a glittery black. You could use this on your outer corner to darken looks, or for a smokey look. Last is a hot pink, the only problem with this one is that it has a ton of fallout. I love the color though! It's not very wearable either, but in a small amount someone could pull it off.

What do you think of these shadows?

xoxo

Spring Nail Polish Favorites

Spring has officially sprung where I live, and here are my nail polish favorites for the season. I don't follow trends, but some of the ones I picked actually do follow trends! I'll list the polishes in the picture from left to right

1. Wet N Wild - Sparked

This color is a glitter polish, with pink and silver glitters. Wet N Wild is sold at drugstores, and I found mine for 99 cents!

2. OPI - Pompei Purple

This color isn't actually purple, it's a hot hot pink with more of a blue-y undertone. It's more of a cool pink rather than a warm pink. Pink is always great for any skin tone and OPI is a great brand!

3. Wet N Wild - Tickled Pink

This one is a pale pink and light pastel colors are in for EVERY spring! Again, pink is something that anyone can wear and Wet N Wild is a very inexpensive brand.

4. Sally Hansen - Coral Reef

One of my recent posts was a Nails of the Day, and this is what I was wearing. The color is just as the name suggests, it's coral! Most Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes are opaque enough usually for 1-2 coats. Mine have been on for 4 days so far with zero chipping! If you don't know what coral is, it's a pinky orangey color!

5. Essence - Wake Up!

This is one of the few polishes I picked that follow trends for this season. It's a bright orange, the only problem with this one is that it's very sheer. You can still use this one well though if you use a white polish underneath to help it stand out. Orange is a trend this season! :)

6. Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow

Yellow is a color I really like for warm days because it reminds me of the sun. For spring, I like this particular yellow because it's not too bright, it's a medium to pale yellow. It's a really sunny color and great for the weather getting warmer!

7. Ulta - High Roller

I like this color it's very shimmery and gold. This color could really work for any season, but again, it's a 'sunny' color you can use for those warm days.

8. Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet

This is another pale color, good for every spring, but mint green is a color I became obsessed with recently. Again, Sally Hansen colors are really opaque and just all around great

9. Sally Hansen - Pacific Blue

Blue is a trend for this spring. I found this color from watching YouTube videos, and sarahbelle93x obsessed with it! It's a really unique blue color, it has a slightly purple tint

10. Essence - Break Through

Bright colors.. love love love 'em! This one is a really bright purple, another one from the brand Essence. This is another one you'll need a white basecoat for because it's pretty sheer. :)

What are you're favorite spring polishes?

xoxo

There's More to Life Than Beauty

Hi everyone! Today some friends and I had a hard core workout of jogging around the neighborhood then heading to the park to play lacrosse. Beauty is nothing unless your body feels good. You can cake on your makeup, but nothing feels better than getting a workout (to me at least). I realize some people aren't going to agree with this blog post, but I wanted to share.

You should find some sort of sport you're interested in. I'm a cheerleader. My season's over now and I need something else to do, so my cheer friends got interested in lacrosse. We're not on a team, we just play with each other. It's great to walk to the park and throw te ball to each other while taking pictures, getting a workout, and gossiping. Oh, and don't forget tanning! After getting exercise, you will feel on top of the world. To add a little beauty to this post, here's what I recommend wearing for sporting activities of some sort:

Makeup:

Tinted moisturizer instead of foundation. You don't want foundation sweating off!

Concealer, for coverage.

Powder, so you don't look as sweaty.

Waterproof mascara

Waterproof eyeliner

Chapstick

You won't need any blush because your cheeks should be flushed from exercising!

Hair:

Any form of updo would work! Braids, fishtail braids, top knots, messy buns, ponytails, or anything really! Stretchy headbands are also great for keeping hair out of your face.

Fashion:

T shirt, you can really just wear any random one you have, I wore one from a cheer competition

Sweatshirt, again, I just used one from a cheer comp.

Athletic shorts. You can go cheap here, or use higher quality ones. I would've wore my Nike's, but they live at school for PE, so I just used some white Soffe's with spandex shorts underneath.

Shoes, you can just wear any tennis shoes from Converse, to Vans, to Nikes, or Cheer shoes (like me :)

What's your sport?

xoxo

NOTD: Coral for Spring

This nail polish is only about $3.00 from drugstores and is gorgeous! It's Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Coral Reef. Of course, it's coral! It's a bit on the orangey side, which is great for spring because one of the spring trends is orange! I think this would look great on tan skin, which I don't have. :) but this summer, this will be a great one to have. I love the consistency of Sally Hansen polish, and the brushes are pretty big to cover your nails! What are your nails wearing?


Xoxo

Beauty Wishlist of the Moment

Hi everyone! I just thought I'd share what I really want right now in the beauty department. Let me know what you want and what you think of the products below!

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half Baked

MAC eyeshadow in Yogurt

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow in Tenacious Teal

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cashmere & Sparkle Nude

Queen Helene Peel off Masque

Revlon Lip Butters in Creme Brulee & Red Velvet

China Glaze Nail Polish in Rainbow

Essie Nail Polish in Brazilliant

Maybelline Eyeshadow Collection Expert Eyes in Sunbaked Neutrals

NYX stick blush

Revlon Nail Polish in Whimsical & Popular

ELF Studio Kabuki Face Brush

ELF Studio Tinted Moisturizer

*I don't expect to get all this but it's just what I wish*

xoxo

Spring Sweethearts TAG

Hi everyone! I wanted to try doing a blog post in video form, so you can watch it as a video or just read this post. In the video I forgot a question so it will be in the blog post below!

1. Favorite Perfume or body splash - BBW Charmed Life & BBW Pink Chiffon

2. Favorite liquid face product - Clinique Acne Solutions Moisturizer

3. Favorite cream product - NYX jumbo eye pencil in milk, Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Hot Tamale, and NYX cream blush in Glow

4. Favorite Lip combo - Clinique chubby stick with Love & Beauty Lip gloss on top (they're both red but don't have color names)

5. Favorite Eye product - Wet N Wild Trio in Walking on Eggshells (the lid & crease colors)

6. Powder face product - Wet N Wild Powder blush in Heather Silk

7. Favorite Spring Nail polish - China Glaze in Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Sally Hansen in Mint Sorbet, Sally Hansen in Pacific Blue, and Wet N Wild in Sparked

8. Favorite Self Tanner- Sun

9. Favorite Hair product - John Frieda root awakening detangling spray <3

10. Favorite Spring Accessory - F21 Ring silver rose with diamond decals

11. Favorite Shoes - Old Navy Sandals with A silver flower

12. Favorite food - Watermelon!

Do this TAG!

xoxo

Spring Cleaning

Spring has officially arrived in the Northwest when we had warmth and sun today! Spring cleaning is something I like to do, and here are just a couple tips.

1. Organize your clothes, if you really have a lot, put all your winter clothes in a storage container. Mix it up by organizing your clothes a different way! In the picture you can see my closet, which I organized by color.

2. Clean out your beauty supplies & reorganize. Throw out any old mascaras, dried up nail polish, or empty containers. No need for the extra clutter! Get organized and find a system that works for you.

3. Look under your bed, what do you see? GET RID OF IT.

4. Do NOT be afraid to throw anything away! Let the memories go if they're doing nothing but cluttering shelves. Recycle anything you can!

Good luck!

xoxo

OOTD March 4

Today's outfit:

Shirt: Kohl's

Cardigan: Ross

Jeans: JCPenny

Shoes: TOMS

Ring: Forever 21

Where I'll be wearing this:

A family dinner! It's fancy enough but casual enough for a family birthday party. I wore very natural makeup and my hair in a ponytail

xoxo

Braided Top Knot

Top Knots are one of my favorite hairstyles. They can be used as a casual hairstyle or a formal updo! They're super versatile. This is a great style to use for spring as the weather gets warmer and you want hair away from your face.

1. Put your hair in a medium high to high ponytail. TIGHT.

2. Braid tightly all the way down!

3. Twist it around the base of the ponytail to form a bun

4. Secure with hair ties and bobby pins, whatever your hair needs. Maybe even hairspray!

xoxo

Fabulous February Favorites!

It's March! February is over and spring is quickly approaching. Yesterday was LEAP DAY and I was out sick. We'll try again in 2016, (I'll be a JUNIOR then!) So here are my makeup, nail, and B&BW faves!

Makeup

1. Wet N Wild Trio in Walking on Eggshells. All of the Wet N Wild trios are SO pigmented! Almost too much! I have another in Spoiled Brat, but the colors really aren't wearable so I picked up this one. The colors are perfect for anyone to wear!

2. Maybelline Baby Lips in Grape Vine. I have two of these, the other is peppermint. My other one smells terrible like sunscreen! Grape vine smells just like artificial grapes, which oddly, I love!

3. Revlon lip butter in Sugar Frosting. The lip butters are really sheer and wearable for younger girls. I've heard some of the darker ones are more pigmented, so you can try those if that's what you're going for.

4. Maybelline Great Lash clear mascara. I've been mostly using this for my brows just to set them, and it does a pretty good job. I also just use it on a no makeup day I feel like it does have an affect on my lashes.

5. Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Pink Frosting and Hot Tamale. Lots of people complain that these aren't pigmented, but I think they're fine! PF is really natural and pretty and HT is a really nice rosey glow.

Nails

Nail polish is my main obsession, and these are my faves for spring! -So far (you'll expect a spring nail polish guide up soon!).

1. Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Pacific Blue. Sarahbelle93x obsesses over this and so do many other YouTube gurus, so I went on a hunt to find it, but Ulta was sold out and I found it at Walgreens. And I love it!

2. Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Mint Sorbet. I've really been loving mint green as a color in general, but the Sally Hansen formula is great and really opaque!

3. Wet N Wild in Sparked. It's a super glittery pink topcoat polish that I love to wear on it's own very built up! This is my 2nd bottle of it so obviously you can tell I love it.

4. China Glaze in Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. this is straight up NEON yellow! It's a great pop of color for spring but it's really sheer :( to fix that all you have to do is use a white polish underneath.

5. Nicole by OPI Drying Drops. I am impatient. I can't wait for my polish to dry and 9 times out of 10 my polish will smudge. This does what it says, dries to the touch in 30 seconds and fully dry in 5 minutes! Completely worth $8.00

Bath & Body Works

1. Pink Chiffon fragrance mist. Okay I'm really bad at describing scents, but here goes: it smells like the stereotypical 'perfumey' smell. That smell when you've smelled to many perfumes at once? That's it.

2. Exotic Rainforest PocketBac. This to me smells nothing like a rainforest and smells a lot like Abercrombie! Yum

3. Midnight Pomegranate Shea Cashmere Hand Cream. I don't spacifically love the smell, more the product. It doesn't feel like normal lotion at all! It's more 'moussey'. If you've touched Bouncy Blush is feels like that

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and let me know in the comments what YOUR Feb Faves are!

xoxo

Blush Bronzer & Beauty

Welcome to Blush Bronzer & Beauty! I used to make YouTube videos under the username xoxokendar, you can still view those videos by clicking here (this will take you to my channel). Since I stopped making videos, BB&B will be my YouTube channel in written form! Expect monthly favorites, TAGs, fashion, nails, hair, makeup, Q&A and more! If you ever have requests you can inbox me on YouTube, comment on blog posts, or tweet me! (@xoxokendar). I hope you enjoy and don't forget to follow this blog for updates!

xoxo