Beauty on a Budget: Drug Store Goodies!

As I stroll around at the CVS store around my area, I always find myself getting sucked towards the beauty aisle instantly comb through all the affordable goodies they have. Its hard not to get pulled towards all the cosmetics that are lined up back to back and its also easy to get confused on which items to buy. As we all have gone through before we buy a certain lipstick or foundation and mascaras, just to name a few, and when we get home and try them we suddenly realize we bought what we paid for. Then there are times where we buy some cosmetics and say "WOW this was a great find and buy!". The current economy hasn't been too kind to our wallets and we cant splurge on cosmetics or all the little nicknack's we didn't mind spending more then 10$ on, so here is a quick beauty on a budget list that I'm happy about. 

Now I have many different items in my Makeup collection as well as in my Makeup Kit. I have drug store products to high end named brands and its all in what I think it a great pay off in pigments, color stay and finished look. I have had my hits and misses with affordable drug store makeup AND high end name brands. But when I find goodies that is worth the money I paid for then I become a buyer for life! These few items I bought and instantly became a fan of are worth going out and trying out. 

I am really happy with purchasing these items and will be going back to getting more!! A few are comparable and dupe's on some name brand cosmetics, which is always exciting! 

I bought...

Maybelline: Define-A-Line: $6.99

-Brownish Black on the top. (Dupe for MAC Stud) 

-Chestnut Brown on the bottom. (Dupe for MAC Strut)

Which may I add are dupes, well at least in my opinion, to MAC Eye Brow pencil's. Works just the same! This will be added to my kit most defiantly! 

Revlon ColorStay Lip Liners: $7.99

1.Rose 2. Mauve 3. Pink/Rose

  -Rose   -Mauve    -Pink/Rose

What I instantly loved about these lip liners are that they STAY! It didn't bleed and once its on your lips it will not budge! Goes on smoothly and easy to feather in to the middle of your lips. I did swatches of these lip liners and i have tried to wipe them off and it wont rub off easily! I had to bust out the makeup remover for these puppies!!! 

Revlon Lustrous Lipstick: $6.99

Top: Blushed 420  Pear Shade  Middle: Teak Rose 445  Creme Shade

Bottom: Champagne on Ice 205

*Champagne on Ice is very iridescent and you cant see very well in this picture but it is a Nude/frosty color. Great for any skin tone!

All a smooth payoff and stays put! The Creme Shade is a great kind of matte smooth look with a hint of shine velvet finish. The Pearl Shades are great iridescent with a hint of color finish. Champagne on Ice reminds me of Gel lipstick from MAC. Teak Rose reminds me of a lighter Impassioned from MAC and Blushed reminds me of Angel from MAC. Great Buys!!!

Revlon ColorStay: Liquid Eye Pen $8.99

This is my favorite! After one use of it I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! It is like a felt tip pen and goes on nicely! The one thing that made be love it the most is, IT DOESNT SMUDGE! I have tried it ALL: Cream/Gel/Pencils Black liners and out of ALL of them this one does not smudge under the corners of my eyes! I find that is the biggest complaint I get from clients and friends that are Asian that after an hour or so their eye liner smudges under the corners of their eyes! This has fixed that problem for me! This is my #1 pick!! Out of all the goodies I got this is the one I will for sure stock up on!

These are just a few goodies I got from the drug store, my suggestion on finding great products for less is to pick and choose the ones you think you'll like to try and see how it works for you! And look for reviews on them. You will never know if it will work or not if you don't try. I'm happy I bought these goodies on impulse! Just find what works or you, everyone is different these are just my opinions and what I like that I hope will help out makeup lovers. Enjoy!

MY WEDDING!

 DECEMBER 4TH 2010 WILLIAM LOMU SIU AND ALEXIE RAE FRANCISCO'S WEDDING!

Last Saturday was the best day I could ever imagine, I married my very best friend, my lover, my partner in life. The past few months have been very stress full because I had been planning and stressing over the wedding and making sure everything was done. I am grateful for my sister, Valerie, and our good friend Elaine for being such organized people and making my wedding go on without a hitch. Also I am so thankful for my family who were my clutch players and help me get things done and for bills family for doing the same! It was a beautiful day. Full of love, support and beautiful families together and WONDERFUL MUSIC!!! I miss my wedding and wish I could go through the whole day again, not the planning LOL, and just soak the love and support from everyone that showed up. The music filled the air and dancing people filled the dance floor! For a young couple that doesn't have much money to have a flashy wedding, I wouldn't trade my wedding for anything in the world!

The BEST bridal party!

I caught myself through out the day sitting back looking and everyone and feeling so much joy and happiness and it brought tears to my eyes. I'm blessed and fortunate to have had one of the best weddings that could have been put together, my meaning in that is: Bill and I were able to FUSE two different cultures and race together and they became one! It wasn't Filipinos and Tongans divided EVERYONE came together and became family. Yes we have been together for 5 years and know each others family but it was the first time we had BOTH families in room eating, dancing, laughing and crying together. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! Friends came and gave love and support! It was so wonderful to feel the positivity and love in the air that night! Bill and I feel blessed for having such wonderful people in our lives!!!!!!!

I wish i had more photos but I took some of the night and early morning of.

MY FAMILY HARD AT WORK

GO JO GET IT DONE!

THE FAVORS ALMOST COMPLETED!

NOW THE POMPOMS! HAHA

DONE!

MY DRESS! :)

MY MOM GETTING HER MAKEUP DONE BY ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING MUA'S EVER! JILLIAN MARKER

SISTER GETTING DONE UP AND BREAKIN IN HER SHOES!

December 4th was a day to remember and I am just so happy that it went so well!!!  Theres no words that can explain or describe how much Bill and I loved our wedding. Thank you to everyone who helped us!!!

BILLEX 12042010

Brush Washer and Dryer

Have you ever tried to find a way to clean and dry your brushes ? Without having to lay them on a towel to dry over night? Then once its dry one side of your makeup brush is flat and out of shape? Well theres a tool that I found at my local arts and crafts store that was less then 10 bucks.


As I was browsing through Michaels, an arts and crafts store around my area, I always stop by the painting section and try and find things I can use for my makeup kit and my own makeup collection. I have found certain paint brushes that can be used in a makeup kit that works just as well and is very comparable to MAC brushes.  Not really needing anymore brushes, I started to look for palettes I can reuse for mixing product, then I stumbled upon this helpful tool for cleaning brushes. Instead of pulling a Martha Stewart and creating my own brush washer/dryer so I figured why not try it out. It is called Brush Washer $8.99 from Michaels arts and crafts.

Brush Washer with Drying Rack from Michaels arts and crafts $8.99

It is made of course for paint brushes but cleaning both paint brushes and makeup brushes have the same idea, meaning while cleaning the bristles of your brushes you never want to get water/brush cleaner passed the neck of the brush where the metal holds the bristles and the brush handle together. Doing this helps the bristles stay attached to the brush and avoid rusting on your brush. Hanging your brushes after cleaning them are a great way to make sure water doesnt seep into your brushes. This tool is perfect for this because it has a spiral wire to hang the brushes upside down until it is dry, so no more flat sided brushes and water stuck in the neck of your brushes.

I love using Parian Spirit Pro-makeup brush cleaner. BEST brush cleaner  dry's quickly and thoroughly cleans my brushes.

The only thing I dislike about this product is that the spiral wire cannot hold as much makeup brushes as is can with paint brushes. Paint brushes have a skinny end to it while makeup brushes stay the same size on the tip making it harder to put ALL makeup brushes on there to hang. That was the only down side I found, a better option I found is to put different sizes on the spiral wire.

Helps to put different sized brushes next to each other to fill up as much space with out it falling out.

To me this was a great under $10 investment and find it helpful and wanted to share. I am still in a search for a different type that could hold more brushes at one time but as of right now this will work and I'm okay with it. Yay for Michaels!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite time of the year because its when the Spirit Store is open and selling Liquid Latex and fun face painting products and costumes! Whoo hoo!!

Most of all my family has gotten into dressing up and being characters, meaning i get to paint their faces and be creative with them. This year we did not plan as well as last year but it came out pretty funny! My husband, brother and boy cousins we The Blue Man Crew and to see how much fun they had painting themselves blue was HILARIOUS! I on the other hand decided to do something very different and did a sugar skull type look on my face. It came out better then I expected and was challenging! I have gotten so used to doing other peoples faces in all different ways that doing my own was a bit challenging, all in all I did it and it was fun!

Heres a Look at my Halloween:

The Boys, My Cousin and Judy!

My Halloween Look 

The boys

The Ladies!

The Products I used for this Look are:

The Skull Side:
-The Makeup Forever Flash Palette

 The White and the Black

-Translucent Powder to set the white and black
-Use dark browns, grays and black for contouring

The Plain Side:

Face:
-Makeup Forever HD Foundation
-Mac Mineral Pressed Powder
-Peach bluch MAC

Eyes:
-Stay Dont Stray Eye Primer from benefit
-Soft Brown e/s MAC
-Nylon e/s MAC
-Cake eyeliner
-False Lashes


The Boys used Blue clown paint from Ben Nye and translucent powder to set the look.

This was a fun look I wish I could have recorded it to show it step by step but it was a fun tedious look!
Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!!!

QUICK UPDATE: RECENT SHOOT :)

PHOTOSHOOTS!!!

I have been working with two wonderful female photographers named Maria del Rio and Heather Rudloff. Wonderful women to work with and very very very talented! Thankful for working with them!

Photographer: Maria del Rio

Makeup Artist: Alexie Rae Francisco-Siu

These are just some pictures from this shoot. 

Photographer: Heather Rudloff

Makeup Artist: Alexie Rae Francisco-Siu

 Thank you Maria and Heather for the wonderful new friendships and WONDERFUL work we do together! 

QUICK UPDATE ONE MY LIFE:

1. Graduated Esthetician program at paris beauty college, concord ca! 

2.Then took my State Board Exam and.....PASSED! I am now a licensed esthetician! :) Now looking for a job, which has been challenging but im pushing through!

3. Celebrated my brothers "DIRTY THIRTY" bday in HAWAII! 

Now im back and ready to get down to business! After finishing school and passing my state board exam i have became a bit lazy. I have been working and booked a few weddings to do and some shoots. This is a VERY quick update for the past couple months....! 

SUGARPILL COSMETICS! LOVE 'EM!!!

I have been wanting to order Sugarpill Cosmetics for a while now but I kept pushing it back...until NOW! I am so glad I did because it is nice to buy products from someone that has the same passion for makeup! Well Amy, Sugarpill's creator, started this company and has control over her products which is amazing because everything seems to get so water down when it hits mainstream! She created such amazing products and its so inspiring!

The Packaging of these products are amazing! You can tell that this product line was made with a lot of thought and care! Very attractive packaging and full of color! What I liked even more is it is so personalized to the customer that it makes you feel special for ordering their products! I couldn't stop smiling when i got my package! I know im a dork! The little details like on my receipt Amy wrote "Thanks Alexie Rae!" signed from Amy. Made me very thankful for ordering her products! And will keep ordering because the customer service is sooooooooo wonderful1 Which i think A LOT of companies are missing these days!

I bought 2 4-Pan Eyeshadow pallets which are called:

-Bruning Heart: e/s colors(starting from top left) - Flame Point- orange color, Buttercupcake-yellow color, Love + -red color, Poison Plum- purple color.

   -Sweet Heart: e/s colors(starting from top left) - Dollipop- blue color, After Party-white color, Midori-magenta color, Tako-green color

 

Let me try to explain how wonderful these eyeshadows are! Each one is highly PIGMENTED! After swatching the first pallet I had to use makeup remover AND makeup cleanser to get the colors fully off to swatch the next pallet. Thats without a primer! I was shocked and excited. Also its not powdery so that when you have it on your brush it becomes sheer, there is nothing sheer about these eyeshadows!  I LOVE HIGHLY PIGMENTED PRODUCTS!!! 

Go a head a check out the website and find out more info about this product! Plus Sugarpill has become the official makeup brand for HELLO KITTY 35TH ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!! What a wonderful honor! I am a sold customer to this product and highly suggest people check it out! Bright Vibrant Pigmented colors! IM IN LOVE!  hehe 

CHECK SUGARPILL OUT AT: http://www.sugarpillshop.com

Heres a look I did using both the pallets!

I hope you take my advise and add this wonderful Makeup line into your makeup collection. You will not be left disappointed! These are my thoughts and opinions and want to share! Have a beautiful day! STAY BEAUTIFUL INSIDE AND OUT! 

xoxo Alexie Rae

GLAM ROCKS NAILS

A trip to walmart the other day had me excited for a new nail fix. While browsing around the cosmetic area I found two new finds that I have wanted to try out and add to my Manicure box. A nail thickener and a quick-fast drying nail polish.

A thickener help your nails become stronger and helps protect them from nail polish. You can use it by itself or as a base coat. With the help of constant up keep of your nails, the stronger and healthier they will get and a bonus: longer nails! We forget that all the filing and nail polish we put on our nails break them down and i think a thickener with great ingredients help the condition of our nails, specially if you have brittle and easily chipped nails. Thickeners act like a glue AND a base coat for pigmented nail polish. Thickeners can be worn alone and give your nails a nice shine or you can use as a base and i have already found using it as a base is great! You can find nail thickeners in any drugstore or beauty supply stores. Try and see which one you like!

My second product i bough was Sally Hansen Insa-dry anti-ship top coat. Which I will be honest, had NO faith in UNTIL i tried it out! After trying it out I was amazed. Try it and be shocked. After letting you nail color dry for about a min. or like me, I wait until all layers a dry, apply this top coat and let dry for about 30 sec or so and TAADAAA...NAIL POLISH IS DRY AND SHINNY! I AM IN LOVE WITH IT!

The polish I used is a color I also got a walmart ORLY "GLAM ROCKS" a matte color
Easy to apply and fast to dry!

So before I give myself a new polished nails, I try and use a conditioning nail polish remover but if I don't have one any nail polish remover can be used.
ALWAYS remember to file your nails in one direction, avoid doing a seesaw motion. Seesaw motions while filing leaves the edge of our nails ridged and makes our free edge of the nails easily broken.  After filing I like to use a cuticle softener to push back the cuticle and clean them up.

Now your ready to polish...

• Apply a nice coat of Thickener on your nails and let dry. You can leave it by itself but if you addicted to nail polish like me, then use it as a base coat.
• Apply whatever color you like, today i used Orly "Glam Rocks". its a matte color but i added a polish over it to give it a shine. Let the nail polish dry before you apply a second or third coat.
• Finishing the look I used Sally Hansens "Insta-Dri anti-chip to coat. 

I do this at least one a week or if the polish lasts longer once every two weeks. I personally would like to do this more often and think I will be able to now that I have Insa-dri, I hate waiting for my nails to dry! LOL! I hope these product helps anyone that like to keep their nails healthy and pretty! enjoy and stay beautiful inside and out!!!