Pretty In Bronze

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Simple Valentines Day Makeup Look

February 11, 2015 BY Amy Sousa 0 Comments

Hello all! This should have been uploaded on the weekend, but I unfortunately broke my SD Card - USB stick so I had to upload all of my files to my iMac to then transfer them over to my laptop, which was impossible because I wasn't at home during the weekend and I had surgery yesterday so yeah. Life happens.

Here's a video I made specifically for Valentines day. This is just a very simple look that would look great for something more casual. Of course you can change the lipstick colour, contour a bit more and even highlight to change this into a better date night look.

Anyways, Here's the video! All the products that I used are listed below the video in this post :)

Products Used:

Maybelline Baby Skin face primer
Maybelline Fit Me Concealer (10 LIGHT)
Rimmel London Wake Me Up foundation
Rimmel London Stay Matte setting powder
Eyebrows: NYX dark brown colour from Bohemian Rhapsody Pallette
Mascara: Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
Eyeliner: Essence Liquid eyeliner in Black

Brushes:
Real Techniques face brush
Anastasia Beverly Hills #12
BH cosmetics large powder brush
BH cosmetics small powder brush
Sonia Kashuk Powder brush

Naked 3 Pallette
Crease: Nooner
All over: Dust
Centre: Trick
Inner Corner/Brow Bone: Strange
Blush: Essence
Bronzer: Too Faced Chocolate Soliel Bronzer in Medium/Dark
Lipstick: Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Rosedew

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

life

Moving + Video Updates

February 03, 2015 BY Amy Sousa 0 Comments

If you've seen my January Ipsy Review blog post or video you may have heard me mention that I'm moving soon.

Throughout March I will be moving into an apartment with my boyfriend and my Dog who currently lives with my Mom in Toronto. I've barely been uploading videos or blogging, but once I move I won't have to worry about 5 roommates and lack of lighting so I can make videos whenever I want without the worry of being judged for talking to myself.

I want to either blog or make videos about the move showing how I set up my space as I will be buying a whole new desk specifically for makeup storage and will have a much nicer set up in general. I also want to show you guys how I'm decorating and incorporating cool tips for how to decorate your first apartment while on a budget because my boyfriend and I are both university students, which means we are masters of budgeting.

If you like the idea of me documenting the move and decorating let me know! I'll most likely film it either way.

As for regular videos I will try my best to upload as much as I can, but with Two (possibly three) jobs and school there isn't much time left in the day to film when there's sunlight (my room lighting sucks poop). When school is done in May I will definitely get onto a good uploading schedule and do as many requested videos as I possible can.

Let me know what you think and what you want to see!

Amy Sousa

reviews

January IPSY bag Review

February 03, 2015 BY Amy Sousa 0 Comments

I'm starting out 2015 with an Ipsy bag review! I've been subscribed to ipsy for close to two years now and have always loved it. My only issue with ipsy is that it's closer to $20 a month as I live in Canada and the currency hasn't been great recently. Now that I'm not a beginner at makeup and have a bunch of basic products, Ipsy isn't what I need anymore and for the same price as ipsy I can buy one MAC lipstick, one sigma brush, three drug store items, or two nail polishes of my choice.

If you're a beginner at makeup, ipsy is great for you! My advice would be to get a one year subscription because it's cheaper than paying month to month (which is what I did) and the subscription is automatically over after 12 monthly bags. It's also worth if if you live in the states and it's only $10 with free shipping.

This month I received a blue and white bag (not my favourite... actually it's really ugly) with products I wasn't all too excited about. Usually I love my ipsy bags, but I only really got one great product and two okay products. I filmed a video which is at the end of this post actually reviewing each item.

Will I continue with ipsy? No. I'm considering trying out a different subscription box that is the same price or maybe a seasonal box with amazing things. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear them! But for now I'm going to save that money for products that I can chose from and know that I'll love.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

life reviews

How to Look Fresh for Your Exams

December 14, 2014 BY Amy Sousa 0 Comments

Now that it’s exam season I’m sure that doing your entire makeup routine is the last thing that’s on your mind. Believe me, it’s the last thing on mine. But it’s been proven that feeling good about your appearance can improve your performance in general. It’s also important to do part of your makeup routine like applying your moisturizer and things that’ll help hydrate your skin (especially if you have a real winter like I do here in Canada). Now because I’m in the same boat as you and have my own exams to write (5 of them) plus a part time job- I’m going to share a few tips on how to keep your skin looking (and feeling) good during the exam season and a simple makeup look that you can’t go wrong with on the day of your exams.

1) Drink 8-12 glasses of water every day. Try to have two as soon as you wake up in the morning as it’ll energize you and two an hour before you go to bed.

2) If you take one shower per day, take it as soon as you wake up in the morning. This will help wake you up and prepare you for a long day of studying (or for your exam. No one wants to sit next to someone stinky. Trust me, been there, done that).

If you take a shower when you wake up AND when you go to bed, try taking the colder one in the morning to help you wake up and taking a hotter one at night, which will help you relax more and sleep better. This also won’t completely strip your skin of its natural oils as the cold shower won’t really do much if you just take a quick one with a bit of body wash. Use the warm shower for the exfoliating and papering.

3) Moisturize! You absolutely need to moisturize your skin. It doesn’t need to be a fancy shmansy moisturizer that’ll make you want to cry every time your entire pay check goes towards it. Something as simple (and cheap) as the Cetaphil moisturizer is gentle enough to help your skin out. If you want to pamper your skin even more you can add in a few drops of your favourite oil (mine is the Josie Maran argon oil) and this will help make your skin glow. You really do not want your skin to crack and feel dry. It’ll distract you from studying and it honestly just sucks in general. Just remember to moisturize (it only takes a minute) and you’ll be set.

4) Don’t over study. I know this isn’t a beauty tip, but studying too much can cause stress and you all know what stress can cause. Pimples! Stress pimples are horrible to deal with and they just make you stress even more and that’s when the ugly cycle forms. When you begin feeling yourself stressing just stop. Even if it’s for 10 minutes. Create a study schedule that’ll benefit you. If you feel like this will take a lot of study time away from you, make flash cards and carry them around with you. If you’re waiting for the bus, waiting for your food, or if you’re early for an appointment you can pull out those cards and get some quick studying in.

5) Go to bed progressively earlier before your exams start. This will ensure that you won’t be too tired for your early morning exams. If you don’t have any early exams then aren’t you a lucky one? All of my exams are at night except for one 9:00 one and one 12:00 one which to me are way too early. You can still wake up earlyish to get a few hours of studying in, but getting enough sleep is probably the most important tip to being prepared for an exam and looking good while writing it.

An as promised, here’s a quick and easy makeup look that anyone can achieve for writing an exam. I hope you like the makeup tutorial and subscribe for more videos (that won't always be posted on here!) :)

Products Used:

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream
L'oreal True Match Lumi in colour N1-2 (Classic Ivory)
Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser
Dior Creme De Rose lip balm
Rimmel Stay matte Pressed Powder in 004 Sandstorm
NYX The Runway Collection pallette in Bohemian Rhapsody
Anastasia Brow tool (double ended)
Be a Bombshell Cosmetics Eye Base in colour Submissive
Essence "Get Big Lashes" Mascara
Essence Silky Touch Blush in colour 10 Adorable
Lipstick 1: Lancome cream lipstick "Pale Lip"
Lipstick 2: Maybelline "Healthy Rose"
Lipstick 3: Rimmel London "Jet Set Red"
Luseta Volume Reviving Dry Shampoo "Lemon Verbena"

Saturday, December 06, 2014

life

Welcome!

December 06, 2014 BY Amy Sousa 0 Comments

This is at least the 10th blog I've ever created because I can never make up my mind on what I want to blog about. I have a blog on Tumblr dedicated to fashion and another for comedy and personal things. I even run an advice blog. But my true passion lies with makeup.

I am a huge beauty junkie who will spend countless hours on end watching videos by amazing beauty vloggers like Shaaanxo, MakeupByTiffanyD, and Lauren Curtis, and I've even attempted to make my own. Unfortunately good lighting and a great camera is expensive so I never got many viewers due to the low quality, but that's besides the point because I had a lot of fun doing it.

I wanted to get into blogging and making videos again, but this time I'm going to do it differently. I'm planning ahead. This blog will mainly be focused on reviews for new products, subscription boxes, and cult favourites. Don't worry though- I'm still going to be doing posts on special makeup looks (Christmas, New Years, other holidays and special events,) but this blog itself will mainly be for reviews. I'll still post other types of videos on my youtube channel. I won't always have a video to go along with the posts, but I'll always have swatches if it's a lipstick/blush/bronzer/eyeshadow/etc based reviews.

Once in a while (on special occasions) I will have blog posts that are there to help you out and that aren't focused around reviews, but they will still be beauty related. My plan is to start out this winter (which is in a few weeks!) But I've learned to not make promises. Especially because I work part time and I'm a full time student.

I will take a while to start building up content, but I hope you enjoy it when I really start :)