I need Beauty advice!!! Please Read!

There are a few items that I REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED *WANT* but Im refraining from buying because I want to get these items for good quality as well as a good price. Here is where I need your help! Hopefully some of you want to know the answers to these questions as well....

Do you know a dupe for MAC's Highland Honey/Peaches that is from a brand CHEAPER than MAC?
I want to try that blush so badly but I don't see me wearing that color everyday. Im looking for a cheaper alternative and who knows? If I like the color I may just buy it MAC

Do you know of a good MASCARA that washes off easy AND can withstand an eyelash curler?
I hate wearing mascara because its such a pain to wash off! I cant wear falsies everyday so I need a good suggestion of one that its easy to wash off at night but still offers major volume and length. Most that do offer volume and length get clumpy when I curl them

Do you know of a LIP BALM that moistens AND repairs????

I stress the word "REPAIR" Im really bad at remembering to put chap stick on and by the time I remember its too late and my lips are already chapped! Its been more prevalent now that we are in winter and I need one that heals my lips, preferably one that doesn't hurt and has a strong smell...

***ALL PICS TAKEN FROM GOOGLE IMAGES***

So those are my burning questions...I thought I had more but guess not lol. Please be so kind as to answer these for me. If you have any questions as well, ask them in the comment form and I will be more than happy to answer you back on your blog or email (please include). Thanks!

♥ Leah

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MAC Haul/Swatches - Prolongwear Concealer, Foundation & Cut A Caper Lippie

Hey ya'll! I was pleasantly surprised this morning to receive my MAC package that I ordered Sunday night, Im so happy they had a free overnight shipping deal for cyber Monday! Quick vent: I hate shopping malls, I only go when its a MUST!...something about the crowds and unruly children annoys me so bad! Dont get me wrong, Leah Luhv da kids but it bothers me how some parents let their children walk so far away from them! I always see some child walking unattended then I get scared and think, "omg! someones gonna snatch him! I gotta alert the authorities" then I see a parent wayyyyy down the aisle pushing an empty stroller. Im not a parent but if I should be so blessed one day I swear my kids will be walking arms-length from me until theyre like 15 lol. Vent, ended. Moving on...

Ive been waiting to purchase the ProLongwear (PL) Concealer and Foundation ever since I went to MAC last month and a MUA applied it on me. It lasted ALL DAY! Unfortunately both the concealer and foundation in my shade (NW25/30) was sold out :( I still have a lot of my trusty old ColorStay but Im beginning to become increasingly annoyed by the no-pump glass bottle. I knew I wanted to order it online but I wanted to wait for friday so I can get the PINK FRIDAY lipstick. Did any of you get PINK FRIDAY??? If so, PUH-LEEEEZEE direct me to your review. I have Snob and Pink Noveau...not to mention a million other similiar color lippies so Im going back an forth whether I should buy it or not...is it worth it??? Of course, it was sold out...BUT to my surprise, as I was ordering the Concealer & Foundation online Sunday, I found that they re-stocked Cut A Caper!!! Ive been wanting it so bad since I missed out on Jazzed! Cant wait to wear it and I will update w/ a FOTD soon :) Here are some pics, swatches & Review

MAC Prolongwear Foundation in NW30, $29.50

Finally found my color match!!! Ive read many reviews on this saying the coverage is full but IMO its has light to medium coverage. It dries on a bit dewy but can easily be mattified with a finishing powder. I love MATTE finishes so I always shied away from this but fell in love when the MAC MUA first applied.

 See how well it blends, you can tell where I applied it on my skin where its a bit shiny

MAC Prolongwear Concealer in NW25, $16.50

I initially wanted the Studio Finish Concealer because it was water proof but then I thought...Its not like I dip my face underwater on a daily basis get sweaty easy. Perhaps Ill buy it in the summer. The are the same price anyway except that the PL Concealer yields .06 more product, and comes in a pump! Youre more at risk for wrinkes using your fingers to apply makeup due to the constant tugging.

 You can see more color of the foundation here, the pink undertone is so evident! Hopefully this still works on my face...Seeing this makes me think I may be NW25. I get lighter during the winter months

 MAC Lipstick in Cut A Caper, $14.50

Im so happy I got this! I just checked online and its sold out already. To me this lipstick is EXACTLY how it is desribed on the site - a midtone peachy pink...moreso on the pink side. Its so pretty! I must stress though that this is VERY VERY SHEER!!!! The swatches are taken after Ive applied it with like 5 or 6 strokes! Nothing that cant be remedied with a little concealer or lip erase though

Did you do any damage this past Black Friday/Cyber Monday??? I would really like to know because I usually dont shop during Black Friday and Im curious if the deals are really worth it...

Hope ya'll are having a wonderful day today! Thanks for reading loves :)

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My dining room decor inspired by House of Grace

Before I start, I would like to say Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Hope you all had a wonderful one! We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and although it was fun, it was the first time I missed thanksgiving on my side and I missed them very much. Nonetheless, thanksgiving brought good food, good company, and a million reasons to be thankful.

Ok so on to the the main topic of the blogpost...I recently flew the nest and moved into my first home. Slowly but surely Im working to get this empty house decorated and one of the first projects I tackled was the dining room. I still need to add some window treatments but either than that its pretty much completed. My style is very traditional, and I love pure whites & neutral shades, floral patterns and classic timeless pieces. My favorite decor is shabby chic, but since I live with a man, I have to compromise a little. He doesnt fancy the ultra femme cute cottage-y decor very much.

I am currently working on a wrought iron theme for the house and this is all due to a little plaque my mom bought for me years ago (I think it was still when I was in high school or first year of college!) Theres a funny story behind the plaque...

So I'm sure everyone's heard these famous words...

"Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though no one has hurt you. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven's on earth." 

This quote is especially dear to me because it was the quote that ended one of my favorite soap operas - My Name is Sam Soon...(which I should add, I have a thing for foreign soap operas/telenovelas even though I cant understand them lol but thats another story) Anyways, I seen a beautiful wrought iron plaque with those words one day shopping at Target with my mom and told her, "OMG I love this, if I ever move out Im gonna buy this for my house" So a couple days after I said that to my mom she surprises me with it and says, "Here, move out now" LOL This may sound mean but let me tell you, I am unhealthily attached to my parents, if it were my choice I would seriously live with them FOREVER! The only reason I moved is because they are moving 2 1/2 hours away and I didnt want to get uprooted this close to graduating. They want me to be more independent and they've been trying to pry me off them for years haha

Fast forward years later and here I am. Ive been adding home design blogs to my long list of makeup blogs that I follow, and one of the first and fave blogs I follow is creatingahouseofgrace.blogspot.com. Her style is very similar to mine and its a style that both my guy and I can agree with. My whole dining room decor was completely inspired by hers. Check out her beautiful dining room here. I fell in love with it when I first read the post. I thought it was incredibly clever how she added design pieces on a serving tray for the centerpiece. Our table its pretty long so I had to order a runner online that ran 90" Luckily I found one at potterybarn but not for cheap! The runner her was $29! Im proud to say that everything else (aside from the rose bouquet) was a steal! Here is a break down for my fellow bargainistas...

Dining Room Light - $68

Frames - 2 for $19 each

Table Runner - $29

Serving Tray - $8.99

Fabric Pumpkins - 2 for $2.50 each

Tall Glass Display - $9.99

Smaller Glass Display - $6.99

Wrought Iron Candle display - $6.99

Flower Bouquet - $17.99

Vase Filler - 2 for $4.99 each

Basically everything came out to be about $200! Which is pretty good in my book. The pictures were taken by my guy when we went to Muir Woods last year. What I like about the centerpiece and pictures is that I can change it every season. Now that its Christmas I will replace the faux apples and cinnamon sticks with candy canes and ornaments. I will also change the bouquet to a mini christmas tree and the pumpkins to little snowman or whatever else I see fit as holiday charm. Cant wait to start decorating! Ill post new pics when I have it all together...

My favorite picture

How did you decorate for Fall?

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ELF & MAC Highlighter Reviews

Hey lovlies!

How do you feel about highlighters? ...face highlighters that is :) Personally I love them. Find the right one and they picture beautifully, and give the perfect amount of "twinkle" to your face without making you look cullen-esque. My current 3 faves are ELF Blush in Glow, ELF Bronzer in Luminous and MAC in Star Dusk.

How do I use highlighters?
I apply them lightly with a fan brush over these areas:
- bridge of nose
- top of cheekbones
- above eyebrows (focusing on the center of forehead)

I was going to attempt to draw the area of which I apply but I found this pic on google images that perfectly describes it :)

I cant stress enough how you have to apply highlighters LIGHTLY. Better to do it lightly and build it up rather than packing it on and looking like a tranny...unless that is of course the look you are going for :P 

Anyhoo, on to my fave highlighters....

ELF Blush in Glow, $3

This is currently my fave highlighter. I've heard this is comparable to NARS Albatross but IMO, this is better because its not animal tested :). Glow is a creamy white color with gold glitter. The glitter isnt chunky, but its definitely noticeable which is why this is the most versatile highlighter of mine. I use this for Daytime and Nighttime Looks

 I purposely didnt clean the compact to show how messy these things get!

ELF Bronzer in Luminous, $1

Yes ladies, its only a buck! This highlighter is a light beige color with a very finely milled shimmer to it. All skin tones would look great with this. Since this highlighter has more of a sheen to it as opposed to a glittery finish, I would only use this during the day. This would be a great product to buy if you want to try highlighting your face for the first time.

Looks like the surface of the moon huh? hehe

MAC Loose Powder in Silver Dusk, $22

This is definitely a nighttime only highlighter, and the messiest of them all. Rarely do I use this powder on my face. I use this more of a body shimmer for dusting on my chest and shoulders. This glittery pink powder does come with a high price tag but judging on how much product you get, I see it well worth it.

Side by Side Comparison...

I didnt realize until after I started taking pics how difficult it was to try and capture the "essence" of a good face highlighter, so sorry if the color is difficult to see but Im sure you get the picture. As a general rule, the detail of face highlighters are best seen in person anyway

So to sum it all up, highlighters are great for capturing light and accentuating your facial features. Furthermore, if you're unsatisfied with your nose like I am, running it along the bridge of your nose will make your nose appear thinner. The only con I can think of with these is that they can and will get messy...but either than that, I cant live without em :)

What are your fave highlighters?

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How thin is too thin?

If you're like me, then you're one of the millions of women out there struggling to lose weight. So many factors go into losing weight aside from exercise and eating right. You need to be mentally prepared and you need time and you need money. The healthiest food seem to be the ones that perish easy and take effort to cook. It gets harder also when you live with someone who isn't on a diet or if you have a lifestyle where food must be a convenience that you can just grab and go.

My biggest challenge in the battle of the bulge is the mental aspect of it. I always catch myself saying, "I want to be skinny..." instead of saying, "I want to be healthy..." I find myself idolizing women who are obviously unhealthy and setting my own body weight goals to theirs. For example, I don't know if you guys watch the E! channel but they have this new show called Married to Rock about how it is to be a Rock Star wife. This has quickly become a guilty pleasure of mine, I've made no secret of how I like the big hair, porn makeup look on women and this show is chalk full of it. One of the prettiest girls on the show IMO is Josie Stevens, the wife that guitarist for Billy Idol. Naturally I wanted to look her up and I came across this picture taken from her facebook page:

At first thought, I was like, "OMG she's gorgeous, I want her body!" Then I took a deeper look and quickly retracted that thought. Aside from her tig ol bitties, she literally looks like skin a bones! I asked myself, "Do I really want a body like hers? She's so skinny it looks like her knee is sagging" Now I really don't mean to hate, she really is beautiful, but one cant possible believe that she is healthy right? Maybe she is, but is just dis-porprtioned...What do you guys think?

I started to ask myself, why would I even think to want to be that skinny in the first place? I came to the conclusion that I only wanted to be that skinny because I am so over fighting with my weight if I was that skinny the fight would be over because obviously you cant get any skinnier than that. Then I realized its not about being skinny, its about being healthy. I know some of you may think, "duh! you shoulda realized that long ago" but its hard differentiating "skinny" with "healthy" when society clouds your mind with these images. Too often you see pics/videos/shows of beautiful women in tight dresses or bikinis partying it up. Rarely will you see them grocery shopping for fruits and vegetables and working out or denying a cheeseburger for a salad.

Im seriously going to start working on real goal to lose weight, maybe Ill start with not watching TV lol. Everyday is a challenge and this will NOT be easy nor will it be fast. Im going to take small and reachable goals, first of which will be to lose 10 pounds by new years. This is more than enough time but hopefully can be met despite the holidays coming up. This challenge is open to whoever else wants the join with me! :)

I would love to hear some weight lost success stories, or any input you have on weight loss if you guys have any, and I would like to put it as a feature on my blog. This includes if you're just starting a journey, ending one, or loving the weight you are already whatever weight you may be. I want to hear from a regular gal and hopefully your piece will serve as an inspiration to NOT be skinny, but be HEALTHY. Please comment below or email me at theroyalblush@gmail.com. Here are some questions I would love for you to answer, but feel free to write about anything.

What made you decide to lose, gain, or remain the same weight?

What was the hardest challenge you faced and how did you get over it?

What were/are your goals and how long did it take you to reach them?

What are the best tips for motivation?

Again, I would love to hear your input and feature it on my blog (with your permission of course) so please share! Thanks loves!

♥ Leah

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Fave nail polish color for fall

ELF - Smokey Brown

It was only $1!

I love ELF nail polishes, they're cheap cruelty-free and contains no formaldehyde (among other harmful CANCER-CAUSING chemicals) A fun fact about formaldehyde is that they use it on  dead bodies when embalming them...I mean, I know the formaldehyde they DO use in other polishes have not been touched by any deceased but just to think how strong and damaging it is gives me the willies. Another cool thing about ELF nail polishes is that they dry sooooo fast! The only thing is is that they chip easy, but thats something that can be remedied with a good top coat of your choice.

Click here to purchase

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Halloween FOTD

Hello my pretties!!!

So those who know me know that I am obsessed with WICKED!!!! More specifically, Elphaba. I've read the book and watched the play twice. I also listen to the soundtrack like everyday!!! I love listening to it at the gym LOL. Although the book and the play are drastically different, I love Elphaba's character in both. She crusades for the well being of animals just like I do!!!

Anyhoo, I knew I wanted to be Elphaba for Halloween this year but didn't know where to start. I didn't want to paint my face with cheap green halloween face paint, I wanted to make it look real...So when I saw LADY DANGER do a post on how she turned herself into Elphaba I got SOOOOO EXCITED!!!! She did an AMAZING job, and Im so happy she wrote down what she used and how she did it. Of course she did a wayyy better job than I though (seriously! check her blog out!) but I tried my best and it was a lot of fun :) Check out LADY DANGER's Elphaba makeup here.

Here is a pic of my FAVE Elphaba, Eden Espinosa. She unfortunately doesn't play her anymore but Im praying she'll go back soon! She has an AMAZING voice. I would put a youtube video up but they don't do her justice! She still sounds amazing though, you can look her up if you like. Anyhoo, this is the look I was shooting for (pic taken from google images)

Here's my take! Sorry the pics below were taken from my phone, I didnt take a lot of pics that night. I just went to a small family party and only like 3 of us were dressed up!

Oh and heres the cupcakes I brought to the party :) If you want the recipe, you can email me at TheRoyalBlush@gmail.com

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