EYEBROWS! My Best Tips, Tutorial, & Fav Products

So today we're talkin' brows. Everything brows. From my favorite tried and true products, my best tips, and of course, my go-to brow tutorial.  I love doing these every now and then because products change, methods change, and like everything else, it sort of just improves and evolves. So of course, I love sharing all the details with you all!
It's basically a big ol' brow video.

What makes brows so interesting is that they are so unique from person to person.  Different shapes, sizes, shades... SO different. You've probably heard this said a million times before, but they really do frame your face. Just like other facial features, everyone has different brows for a reason. They go with your face!

So that's why brow tutorials can be tricky. I always say that you've got to work with what you've got. So while there is no exact right or wrong way to do them because everyone needs something a little different, you can hopefully use some of my tips I've learned over the years (mostly from my own trial and error), to help you get your most perfect brows!
Hope you love it!

Products mentioned in video...

Sigma Beauty Brow Powder in Light  

Brow brushes  

*Save on both of these with code NOV2013*

What I wore in this video...

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A Peek Inside Our Guest Bedroom

First of all, I've got to address your love for the home posts. A big thank you to all who are reading the blog period, but I've got to say how overwhelmed I am by the amount of love I've gotten for these home posts! You guys seem to be really enjoying them and that makes me super happy because I really enjoy them too. 

I've been doing home decor posts pretty regularly on the blog for a while now, but I feel like rather than just an odd post here and there, it's really become a part of the blog. Which has always been my goal here.  I never wanted it to feel too limited to JUST one thing. This is my little happy place to share all of the things I love- from beauty to fashion to home decor to my life! And I'm so glad you guys are loving it too.

Ok, enough with the warm n' fuzzies.  Well, actually, we can keep going with them because to me, that's what a guest bedroom should feel like. 

Comfortable, warm...

n' fuzzy.

I realized a few weeks back that this is actually one of the few places left in the house I haven't really shared on here. 

So come on in and stay a while...

...or at least until the end of the post. ;)

I really love this space. It's almost an exact copy of our old guest bedroom because we used the same furniture, curtains, and bedding. But mostly because of all the little personal touches.

I love how the colors are calming, but still a little fun with the black and white elements. Of course, a plant or two doesn't hurt either. This one above is the fiddle leaf fig (and table) that normally lives in our family room.  Two guesses as to why it's been temporarily relocated up here.
Hint: It rhymes with shrismas shree.
Don't judge.

Something else I love about the room is the mix of textures. That always helps a room come together. For example, the walls and curtains feel very tone-on-tone, but because the curtains are very plush and velvety (plush is a word I don't use nearly enough), it gives it more interest.
Let's talk about the curtains for a minute.  They're basically my favorite.
I purchased a ton of these about  four years ago at our last house. They lived in almost every room, no joke. This color and fabric just works everywhere.  Every time I see them, it just feels like "my home" to me. People always comment on how nice they look and feel when they're here. There's something just so cozy about them.  You may recognize them from our dining room too from this post.

These were seriously a unique find. I get them (and all my curtains really) from a website called "Half Price Drapes". These are called the Velvet Blackout Curtain Panels. Consider my secret, shared.

Anyway, about three or four years ago, I picked up the leopard "throw" and pillow on the bed. I found it at Ballard Designs during a really great online sale and bought it on a whim because I love leopard, but really thought the more subdued leopard was really pretty. I was so pleasantly surprised when I got it. It's SO soft and comfy.  It's actually a twin duvet set.  Basically, I ordered the twin because it was kind of ridiculously expensive and I cheap'd out.  However, looking back, I probably would've sprung for the full/queen knowing how soft and nice it is. It's like a really cuddly flannel material.

I kind of dig it just as an accent though.

The "fuzzy" bench... funny story. That bench is totally the plain little bench that was a part of our old breakfast table set. I decided to sell the table and four chairs at our recent garage sale, rather than keep it in the basement like we had originally planned.  But I thought, why not keep the bench? So it lived all plain and sad at the end of this bed for a while, until I had a great idea to throw my long sheepskin rug over it since I hate actually stepping on that furry guy on the floor and Waylon loves to rub his face all over it (amongst other things) in the morning. So I thought it worked better on the bench.

This next photo of the opposite side of the room really helps you see the true color of the walls...

This was the first room I painted in this house when we moved in.  I've wanted to share it with you for the last 6 months or so, but it seems like other projects always come up. The paint color is called "Edgecomb Gray" by Benjamin Moore. It's a really calm gray that isn't too cool or warm. Actually, in this room, it reads a little more gray than I've seen it look in other rooms (on Pinterest for example). This paint came with us from our old house. I bought the can two years ago waiting to use it in a particular room there, but always changed my mind at the last minute. Looks like it worked out perfectly!

Those double doors lead to the closet space and through the door to the left you can see the guest bathroom, which you may recognize from this post all about it's transformation.

Here's a peek at it:

For more details allll about that bathroom (and lots of before and afters), check out this post.

The chair was one of those lucky TJ Maxx finds. I love the whitewashed wood and the deep chocolate color. It's really comfy too! I love having a chair in a bedroom so people don't feel like the bed is the only place to sit.

So I consider every single room always "in progress", as depicted by the dresser below...

Totally not bad, I'm just constantly changing it up. Not really thinking anything on it is staying in this room or exact place (hello, lens cap), but it's what's there for now. The lamps are from Pier 1 (you probably recognize them from our last house's family room), and all of the furniture (bed, dresser, and night table) are antiques that belonged to my grandparents. I LOVE them.

As for what I'd like to change about this room going forward, obviously, I'm constantly changing decor around, but the main feel of this room is usually the same. While the white bedspread and leopard throw and pillows always stay, I love how I can change out the throw pillows when the mood hits me. Sometimes instead of the black chevron, I put out some pretty linen coral pillows that brighten the room up a lot when I feel like it. Same with our bedroom, I love being able to change throw pillows on a whim to change the feel of the whole room without changing big stuff like an entire bedspread. You can get a peek of our master bedroom in this post. It's still VERY much a work in progress. As in one side (the side never photographed) looks the same as it did the day we moved in.... Awesome. Another post for another day...

I also considered changing out the fan for something a little more fun. But this is a small bedroom that does get a lot of sun, and I feel like the fan is just practical. Plus, it's brand new and actually really nice, so I'd feel silly replacing it at this point because it actually doesn't look bad.

Also, after the holidays, the table and fig will head back down to the family room. However, I'm really digging the plant in there. I think I'll have to find him a replacement that can always live in that room since the light is so great in there.

I know I covered a lot in the post, but if you're curious about anything else, here's a little reference list for ya!

paint: Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore
furniture: antique
chair: TJ Maxx
sunburst mirror: Kirklands
leopard bedding: Ballard Designs (twin duvet and pillow set)
black pillow cases were a gift, monogrammed by my mother in law
sunburst lamps: Pier 1
white ruffle bedding: Target (shabby chic collection)
chevron pillows: TJ Maxx
black and white pillow: Target
sheepskin rug: Overstock
bedside lamp: Target
lamp shade: Pottery Barn

So tell me... Do you all prefer a more bold and fun or more subdued and calm guest bedroom?

Current Foundation Routine & OOTD

Hello and happy Monday, Loves! Today I'm bringing you an updated foundation routine video. In this one, I focus mainly on how I perfect my skin and the products I've been using and loving lately.  This routine is crazy long-wearing. Which for me, is really saying something since I've got oily skin which can cause some major problems where my makeup's staying-power is concerned.
I hope you all enjoy it!

Products used and mentioned:

Hourglass Veil Primer

Hourglass Immaculate Foundation

Dior Undereye BB Cream

MAC Prep+Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders in Diffused Light and Lumious Light

NARS Translucent Crystal pressed setting powder

Too Faced Sun Bunny Natural Bronzer

Chanel Bronze Universal Bronzing Makeup Base

Benefit Rockateur Blush

Lorac 3D lip gloss in Polished

Sigma Brushes (F84, F63, F25, F35, F40, F50, F40 from Bunny Kit)

*The eye look is coming up soon in a future tutorial!

I also thought I'd combine this with a little OOTD from the day I filmed this. Nothing crazy... Just snapped a few pics before I left the house.

details:

Zara top, 7 For All Mankind "the skinny" jeans, Chanel ankle boots, Louis Vuitton bag, Ray Ban sunglasses

Here are some similar  (and exact) options below:

So let me know what you guys think! Are any of you loving the Immaculate Foundation as much as I am? I can't believe I hadn't tried this stuff before!

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Sephora VIB Sale 2013 Wishlist (haul items)

It's that time of the year again! Time for the Sephora VIB sale!

As usual, I like to share with you all my wish list items to give you an idea of what I recommend and want to pick up, and maybe give you a few ideas of your own!

The sale runs at Sephora (online and in store) November 7-11. If you are a Beauty Insider, you can enter the code they provided you to save at check out. You can also take the little cards you should have received by mail to save in the actual store during the sale dates!

**EDIT: SHOP HERE and enter code "VIBTOPIA" at checkout! Some people are saying it's working for regular Beauty Insiders too, although some are saying it isn't. haha, worth a shot! xox-Tiffany

Check out my video below for all the details! Also, some Chanel beauty haul items and an OOTD. Big video, guys. :) Hope you enjoy!


 My recs/wish list items:

Worn in this video:

So what's on YOUR list?? Spill!

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Let's talk organization... In my basement.

The creepiest post title award may or may not have just been given out.
Extra points if you saw creepy basement sloth in your mind too...
Just me? Let's move on then.

So keeping with my tradition of putting up one home post a week, I had planned on sharing this baby last week around Halloween.

Because basements are scary.

Well, MAC Holiday collections happened and those kind of took over. So here we are. Creepin' it up on a Tuesday.

So just a little warning... If you don't like wordy posts about organization and seeing people's junk, this post may not be for you.  haha

So today we're talking organization. Basement organization. I'm proud to say that now, we only have a few small areas of storage that consist of all our holiday stuff and a small area under the basement stairs where we keep boxes for things we may want to hang on to.  Pretty huge accomplishment considering our last house's attic was piled higher and more strategically than a game of Jenga. It was enough to keep me up at night. We didn't have a basement at our last house and storage space was basically nonexistent. I always held on to extra decor and things of that nature thinking that one day, we would have a bigger place and would need it. So when we moved here into our "bigger place", I got rid of EVERYTHING we weren't using. If it didn't have a place here, I didn't need it.
Things I hadn't thought about or used in years went straight to the garage sale pile. Anything we didn't sell, we donated. It feels so much lighter around here!

So you may actually remember that recent  home post a few weeks back where I mentioned our basement a lot and the whole cleaning out process we were undertaking. Before that, it had gotten zero love on here.
I mean, for good reason. Like I've said so many times, our new home is still very much a work in progress.

Remember this?

Looks awesome, right?

Well, this was a result of my major cleaning-out-fever I've had over the past few months. Thanks to that insanity, it now looks back to normal, like this.

Darn that basement, and darn the consistently bad photos of it. It's always a struggle.

Ahhhh... Wide open spaces again. We're eventually planning on turning this room into something awesome, so I'll update you as we complete it! Not happening any time soon probably... It's definitely a long-term plan.

So after the garage sale, we were left with holiday stuff. I really didn't have as much as I thought. Again, I had gone through it just like everything else and garage sale/donated the items we hadn't touched in years.

So one night, Brad and I made what I like to call the Holiday Room of Awesome-ness. Don't judge, I get excited about organization...

In that far room in the back of the photo above, you can see a closed door alllll the way in the back. It's a really neat unfinished space that Brad had been storing some game boxes and our dvd collection in. This room basically had caught all of the junk after the move (which is where all the crap in the middle of the floor in the first pic had been dragged out of).

So Brad took all of the boxes/game stuff/old bookshelf we wanted to keep and put it in another little unfinished storage area under the basement stairs through the door to the right in that above photo. That room is also Brad's weight room.

So I was so crazy excited to be left with that awesome storage room behind the media room.
Here it is after we organized it...

Pretty exciting stuff.
Apparently the kids that used to live here played baseball in the basement when it was unfinished. Which I've got to admit, sounds like a pretty good time. Apparently Kelsey was cleaning up.

So back to the organization... This isn't just a post about ogling my new favorite place in the house (is that bad?). I mainly want to share my tips with you all that I have learned over the years. Things that work best for me that will hopefully help you too! They're pretty basic, but maybe there's a tip or two that you can pick up!

My best tips for storing holiday stuff and seasonal decor or things that you need to occasionally access...

• Be realistic and get rid of what you don't use. A good rule is to get rid of anything you haven't wanted to put out in a few years. There's a reason you haven't. Storage space is valuable!
• Invest in some bins that are color-coordinated to the holiday/season your storing stuff within. Makes for super easy access later. See the orange bins below? Those are easy to spot when I want to pull out Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving stuff.

• WREATH BOXES. Get them. Use them. Wreaths are tricky to store and can start to look horrible after a few years of storage if they're just shoved against other stuff. I have a mix of nice Rubbermaid ones and paper ones that you assemble yourself (the red and green octagon-shaped boxes above).  The green wreaths you see in that clear box are plain ones that we use on the exterior of the house on the windows so those can be shoved together since they're pretty sturdy and easy to re-shape.
• Keep your Christmas tree boxes if you use an artificial one. They make for easy, space-saving storage. If you have a pre-lit tree, you can even sort of "loosely" close the box to avoid shoving the tree back inside the box and possibly damaging it. Yeah, mine are shoved. I live on the edge.  

The two tree boxes along the left wall are both 7' sort of medium-sized skinny trees that are pre-lit. Those are the ones I put in the dining room or the formal living room. This year, I'm definitely still doing my food/gingerbread tree in the dining room that I've done the past several years (I even considered putting it in the bar area of the basement, but I feel like it won't be seen/enjoyed as much). The other one is going in our formal living room/my office. I've got something fun planned for that one. ;)

k, back to the tips...

• Use your vertical space and store against walls. Not everyone has a ton of storage square footage, but you can stack the plastic storage boxes to the ceiling, using only a box-sized footprint.  Once you start making piles (for example, if I would've also put boxes in the middle area of the storage space above), you'll start to accumulate junk you don't need and you won't be able to access your stuff easily.

That's my biggest tip. No matter if you're storing along a wall of a garage, in a spare closet, or in a basement, stack the boxes as high as you can (safely, obviously) against a wall. Takes up a couple feet at the most! Looking back, we could've really utilized our last garage so much more for holiday storage space against the walls or built some sort of awesome shelving system. Oh well.

That tip is best proven in this photo below. This is the area under the stairs I mentioned in Brad's weight room earlier... 

This and the other room I showed before is our only stuff that is stored.

Looks like a pretty big area. But this is where all the holiday stuff was before and it was literally packed full and spilling out because the slope of the stairs kept me from being able to stack stuff too high. But it's perfect for this stuff that's in here now. 

So basically, get plastic bins and stack that mess to the ceiling. Takes up a LOT less space

So those are my biggest tips. Not a whole lot of fun decor happening in this post, but something really useful, nonetheless.  I think I'm going to really enjoy decorating a lot more this year now that I'm all organized.  It's about that time!! 

Oh, and I cannot wait to show you all our big tree this year... It's BIG. Maybe too big... haha. It's arriving tomorrow. SO excited.  Still lots of room in the new storage room to keep it too. Here's a shot of the other side of that room...

Unorganized dvd's and game stuff galore.

So are you guys gearing up for the Holiday season?? It's my absolute favorite time of the year. I know I probably said that about Fall once or twice (or 46 times), but Christmas is just the best.

As always, I'll of course do lots of Christmas-y decor posts and a tour like last year!  Can't wait.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Demo & Review

Hello and Happy Monday, Loves!
I'm excited to share with you all what has become a much-requested video recently...  A video allll about the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders.

I have a bit of an obsession with these. Not going to lie, I wasn't over-the-moon about them when I purchased my first. I look back and think that was probably because I was expecting some super bright highlight shade? I have no idea. What's strange is that while these may not be super bright or heavily frosted, they actually show up better than any highlight shade I've ever owned and cast the most flattering appearance.

Basically, they are the culprit behind my "glowing skin" of late. No babies yet, guys. ;)

Anyway, these are a super versatile product and come in a variety of shades, not so typical to the average "highlighting" powder. These are so much more. While certain shades work best for certain things, you can use them as an "all-over" powder, to highlight specific areas of the face, to "set" foundation or the under-eye area, and even to enhance bronzer and blush on your cheeks.

So check out my new video below for basically everything you'd ever need to know about these and a little demo showing how I use them.
If you want to see swatches and photos of the ones I own, check out my recent blog post HERE.

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MAC HOLIDAY 2013! Stroke of Midnight & Nocturnals

So when I mentioned in yesterday's MAC Night Divine post that I would update you when I received any additional MAC holiday items, I bet you didn't think it would be that fast, huh?
Yeah, literally when I published that blog post, this box of MAC "Stroke of Midnight" holiday stuff hit my doorstep.

So much in the fashion of MAC holiday collections past, this year's group contains the typical brush bag sets, eye bag kits, lip bag kits, collective face palettes, eye shadow palettes, and more.

I have to be totally honest... I've been really let down by the MAC holiday collections over the past few years.. I remember getting the most beautiful packaging in the past (maybe five, six years ago) with the most beautiful collection of lip and eye products.
So the past few years, I've felt like the packaging is either really cheap and child-like, or the products are not a good mix. Remember the year of the all red and bordeaux lip colors? Yeah, that year made me angry...haha.

But let me just be honest. It's mostly the packaging.

I know I know. Packaging isn't the most important, but I just think that the holiday collections should be extra special and beautiful. Something that should be really ornate and glamorous to look forward to every year.

I had not done ANY research on the holiday collections. Hadn't even seen a photo. So when I opened the box to find this...

I got kind of excited. I'm a sucker for black and gold. Already it looked like my style.

SO much prettiness inside too...

I love how it feels sort of Hollywood Regency/modern. Not too over the top. Just elegant and special-feeling.

Seriously, aren't the compacts gorgeous?? They feel really nice, have a magnetic closure, and aren't too bulky like holiday palettes past (we remember the legit snow globe and the fabric TUFTED compact last year that matched my ottomans... anyone anyone?). Yeah. MUCH better this year, MAC.
I feel like I could actually pull this one out of my bag and be proud of it and not feel like I'd need to hide it.

Ok, so let's just skip straight to the products I have and some photos.

*There are SO many sets and products in this collection.  Keep in mind, this is not the complete collection, just what I was sent. To see ALL of the products, check out the details at Nordstrom HERE.

Let's start with the compacts...

Face Kit, $49.50

Stroke of Midnight Face Palette/ COOL

 Sparkling Rose Iridescent Pressed Powder

eye shadows: Scene, All Races, Magic Moor

lipsticks: Sublime Pleasure, Romantically Inclined

Ebony Eye Kohl

corresponding swatches below

Eye Shadow x5 Compact, $39.50

Stroke of Midnight Eyes/SMOKY

Chillproof, Retrospeck, Gaelic Gold, Well Put Together, Carbon

Next up, the bag sets.

Stroke of Midnight Brush Kit/ MINERALIZE, $49.50

includes: 287SE, 286SE, 159SE, 187SE

pretty lining inside of the bag...

There are two other sets as well. One that is a mix of essential eye and face brushes, and another that is a mix of eye brushes to create a smoky look. Each of those contain five brushes, whereas this mineralize one contains only four. All are the same price. I've said it before, if you don't have a lot of brushes and really need some variety and you have your heart set on MAC brushes, check these out. The face brushes are a bit smaller than their full sized counterparts (not just the handle, but the density of the actual brushes), but the eye brushes would be my pick. Those are the most similar to their full-sized mates.

Eye Look Bag, $39.50

Stroke of Midnight Eye Bag/ NUDE

set includes: In Extreme Dimension Lash mascara, Utterly Becoming Paint Pot,  Past Twilight Fluidline, 209 Eye Liner/259 Eye Shader double-ended brush

below: Utterly Becoming Paint Pot, Past Twilight Fluidline

I think for the price, these kits are great.  Full-sized products and a double-ended brush. Can't beat that for $39.50 from MAC.

I really like this particular shade of paint pot. At first it scared me because I thought it would be too dark for my skin tone, as I was comparing it to Painterly which matches my skin tone perfectly.  This one is a lot more tan. While people with darker skin tones would be able to use this to match their tone, for me, I like the idea of blending it really well and diffusing it a little past the crease sort of as a colored base for my entire look, crease and all. Sort of like the effect of soft brown to blend out the crease like I love to do so well. Only thing is that the consistency was a bit chunky. Super weird. Maybe it's just because it was the first use (you can see some of the chunkiness in the swatch), but they're normally super smooth.

The Fluidline is an awesome shade too. It's described as a "blackened plum", although at first glance, it seems more like a blackened brown to me. Either way, I love it and I'll be wearing this a lot. MAC thank you for reading my mind. I needed a new dark brown gel liner.

Obviously the double-sided brush excites me. Have I ever mentioned that to you all? How much I love double-sided brushes? Well I do. This one is a good combo.

Oh and let's not leave out the mascara. I've had a tube of this for several months now (MAC sent me a sample before it was released a while back), and I lost it. I think I left it behind at a hotel. I'm guessing it rolled off the table and didn't make it back into my makeup bag. Tragic.
It's good stuff too. Really lengthening and volumizing. Very similar to my beloved Le Volume de Chanel. However, like most mascaras with sort of a "wetter" formula (including that Chanel), it sucks right when you use it the first few times, but ends up being fabulous after it's been opened and closed a bit and allowed to thicken up a bit.

And as always, they have an assortment of lip kits.

Mini Tinted Flavoured Lip Conditioner Kit, $32.50

MAC Tastitint Lip Conditioners

Mintessence, Sugared Vanilla, Taste of Paradise, Dash of Lavender

This is the only lip kit I have, but I'm really glad I got it. Probably because this is honestly something I would never be drawn to really check out or purchase myself. I love the consistency. They're not sticky like normal MAC glosses and the scents are really nice. My favorite by far is the Dash of Lavender. More lip glosses need to be lavender scented, just saying.

There are three other mini gloss kits in different themed collections- Pink, Coral, and Nude.

There are lip bags that contain a lipstick, gloss and liner as well. I like how one is more nude and one set is more berry. A little something for everyone.

There are also three mini glitter and pigment sets.

So what do you guys think? How do you feel about the overall "look" of this collection? Any must-haves on your wish lists??

Again, you can check out the entire collection here for more details on everything available!

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