Make Up For Ever, Fancy Hotel, Artists, and a Celebrity, OH MY!

Hey dolls! Sorry it's taken me this long to post about my awesome experience at the Make Up For Ever Pro Roadshow in Austin, TX. I almost didn't go simply because I'm not a morning person, and it required getting up at 8 am after going to bed at 5am then driving an hour and half away- not to mention being there the ENTIRE DAY, and also discovering that after months of drought, it was pouring rain outside! However, I told myself "You don't get this kind of opportunity very often and you'll regret not going!" So I drove through the pouring rain and met up with the other Ashley (another MUA from here that I recently met). The first class was set to start at 10:30am and we made it just in the nick of time! The hotel was the fabulous W Hotel. So swanky and situated right in the heart of downtown Austin. As we got upstairs to the event, we were greeted by some sweet MUFE employees who helped get us signed in and apply for the Backstage Pass (MUFE's Pro Discount Program- my fingers are crossed that I'll get this!). At about 10:35 we were waiting for the class to start, and thankfully we had pretty great seats! Then in walks this flamboyant guy with gauged ears, hair standing tall with a bit of a curve to it, wearing black tuxedo style shorts, a black tux jacket, and a purple checkered bowtie! His name: David Hernandez. He's one of MUFE's TOP MUAs and has been with the company for over 15 years! This class was basically talking about being creative and thinking outside the box. Just because something is labeled as a blush, doesn't mean that's all you can use it for (I agree!). The next 1.5 hours was spent watching him transform a beautiful girl into something amazing inspired by horses. (I'm seriously kicking myself again right now for not taking my camera- I didn't think anyone else would have big cameras there so relied on my crappy cell phone camera- boo hoo). After it was over, we had an hour and a half to kill before the next one so we browsed the products set up in another room like a little MUFE boutique. Everything was 40% off and some things were even 50% off. Unfortunately, this event fell on the weekend between pay periods for me so I was strapped for cash. I suppose that was a good thing though because if I DID have about $300 on me I would have spent every penny lol! I limited myself to one bottle of the HD Foundation which I'll review later. The next class was led by celebrity MUA James Vincent. He's worked on tons of celebs such as, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Fifi Dobson, Jillian Michaels, and soooo many more. He was sooo funny! He let a few celeb secrets slip but I'll show him respect and not repeat them, although they seriously had us cracking up! His class was about creating textures and colors. We learned lots of great stuff in this one which I'll be sharing tips from these classes here and there. He really emphasized being resourceful and working with what you have. Sharing his story of starting out thinking he needed a HUGE kit and 1 of every product, then realizing with all the traveling he does, it's just not efficient and it's unnecessary. After this class, me and the other Ashley walked downtown across the street to Which Wich. A fun little sandwich shop where you get to write on a brown bag with a Sharpie marker, what all you want on your sandwhich. I'm not even kidding when I say it was the BEST sub I've ever had! The last class was headed by William Edge. A very successful salon chain owner (William Edge Salons) who spoke to us about making a business plan for ourselves. He really made us think about a lot of things that many of us in the class hadn't really put much thought into. He was also somewhat of a motivational speaker, and just a really nice guy! So the last class had ended and we figured we'd head back home since we had a little bit of a drive. We walked around downtown for a bit, and Austin is so cute! It's like a baby New York except cleaner, and less people lol. We checked out Urban Outfitters for a while then decided we wanted to go back to the hotel to partake in the cocktail/networking even after the classes. We are seriously so glad we decided to go back. It was an amazing experience. All the MUA's that led the classes were there and so nice, and just hung out with us like we've known each other for years. They just kept handing us drink tickets so as the night went on, we all became more and more free of any inhibitions that we might have had lol. The lounge in the hotel was so nice! ...and those drinks, wow, I'm glad they were free because they ranged from $12-$16 each! That's expensive to me, especially something served in martini glass! Just when I thought things couldn't get any more fun, Ashley walks closer to me, and says, "Um, do you know that's Jesse James standing right in front of you?" "What??!!" Sure enough, there he was standing in front of me (close enough to put my hand in his back pocket lol) at the bar ordering a drink. He was too close for me to get a pic with my phone without being totally obvious so I waited til he sat at the bar a little farther down. I managed to finally sneak a pic although, I was still only using my iPhone and it was super dark in the lounge with red lights. After about 15-20 minutes me and the other Ashley approach him tell him hi, and what we're doing there, blah blah blah...to which he replies "Oh that's cool, I know Bobbi Brown! Is she still popular?" lol Ashley says, "Yeah, I was just on her website last week." Jesse says, "I was just wondering because I know how you girls are fickle." lol we just laughed and told him to have fun and he told us the same. He was a nice guy even though he may have done some not so nice things to certain celebrities. We were so psyched that he was there and that we talked to him. I've never talked to a celeb before that I can remember lol. We had such a LONG, awesome day and we hope so much that they'll return next year, or that we'll be living in Cali, or NY by then. If you have the chance to attend something like this, I highly recommend it!
Hugs and stuff!
Ash
To see video of the event check out my friend Dee, who got some footage!
MUFE Pro Roadshow even Part 1
and here's Part 2

So excited | Make Up For Ever Pro Road Show!

I can't wait for tomorrow! The Make Up For Ever Pro Road show is here and I'm attending! I'm attending a seminar and OMG I'm excited for the 50% off discount they'll have on some of there iconic products! I know some of you may think this event is no big deal, but living in Texas, it's pretty big! We don't get all the cool stuff like this you guys in Cali & NY get :P. I'm taking my camera so I can post some pics for you dolls!
XOXO,
Ash

What I'm LOVING right now!

I've noticed I've been reaching for a lot of the same products recently and just wanted to share some of them. I'll get more in depth with them later on, but for now, I'm going to list them for you.
1.) Urban Decay's 15 year anniversary palette - all NEW colors- <3
2.) L'Oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base - I LOVE this primer!
3.) Cargo Blu Ray HD powder - This is amazing!
4.) Black Dog eyeshadow from the UD Black Palette - THE blackest black I've ever tried! 

I'll talk a little more about these products later but for now, why don't you share with me your current faves!

First Impression | Medusa's Makeup

So, today while out shopping at a fun little boutique in the mall, I came across some of Medusa's Makeup. I had heard of it here and there, but have never tried it out so I went ahead and picked one up. Of course I went with purple since it's one of my favorite colors right now.  This color is called Electro Purple and it a magentaish (yes, I did just make that word up lol) purple. The guy there told me it doesn't need primer, but I have to disagree. For a lover of bright colors such as myself, I do indeed need primer. Without it, this shade seems to be somewhat sheer, and if I wanted a sheer shadow, well, I'd buy some cheap eyeshadow. However, with a white based primer- I used a NYX jumbo pencil in milk- it's pretty vibrant. These pressed shadows are only $8 which isn't too bad, and I looked up the website a few minutes ago and they actually have a great deal going on! You can get all 12 shades of pressed shadows for only $49, so that makes them like $4 each! There are a few other deals that are actually even better but I'm not going to get that in-depth here. You can check them out for yourself at www.medusasmakeup.com ---Oh, and before I forget to mention it, these are CRUELTY FREE! Yay for our furry friends! :) Would I recommend this product? Yes. Is it my favorite product? No, but I will definitely be picking up some more colors! Let me know what you think of Medusa's Makeup.
Overall Rating: 7/10

Packaging: 6/10 - The black & white box was hard to open without tearing it to bits, but the shadow container is easy to open, and has the cute Medusa's Makeup logo with the little eye. It's cute but nothing too special- then again, who cares more about the packaging than the product inside?
Pigmentation: 7/10 - Without a primer it's a little sheer, but some may like that. With primer though, it's totally amped up!
Blendabilty: 8/10 - It's a very smooth shadow that seems to blend out very easily
Price: 7/10 - at $8 per 2 gram eyeshadow, it's not as expensive as some of the more popular high end brands, but not as cheap as drug store. The quality is pretty good for the price.

Profusion Eyeshadows

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I've mentioned using this brand on a few of my looks posted on makeupbee.com and I just wanted to show what they were. I really don't know where to get this other than i've seen larger palettes of the same brand at Ross. I bought these at a Traders Village flea market, they have all types of products not just eyeshadows, and they were super cheap! Choose any 5 items for $20..so I have a lot of it lol. I have to say, for the price, it's a nice consistency and has good pigmentation and some pretty colors. I just wanted to share with you guys :)

Upcycled Vintage Train Case

So, I was telling you guys about my little project and I wanted to share it with you! It took a little while but I absolutely love it! You can't really tell but the leopard spots are baby pink- not white. I did do a little tutorial on it so check out my page on cutoutandkeep.com to see how you can do it too! I hope you like it too!
DIY Vintage Train Case Makeover!

Oh Hayyyyy!

Hey dolls, I just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about my little bloggie pie :P. The weekends can be kind of busy for me since most of the time my boyfriend and I are both off work. This is the time we go go out shopping, and out to eat, and all that other fun stuff. We pretty much do the same thing every weekend lol. We go to the flea market to get the most delicious tacos my tastebuds have ever met, shop around a little bit while there (I mainly find really blinged out jewelry and headbands and that's what I love). Then we go buy some groceries for the week, and either go home and cook something for lunch, or just go out to eat, then we go thrifting! I love it! I have found so many great vintage things. This weekend I picked up a vintage samsonite train case that was pretty much in perfect condition for only $.99 - it was navy blue and last night I gave it a makeover :) ...who doesn't love a makeover right? It is now smokey gray, with baby pink leopard print. I only have a few more minor things to do to it (paint one small section black, then add on all the rhinestones! I'm so excited about this- I'm definitely going to show it off on here once it's done :) I might even post a tutorial? Hopefully I'll have something more beauty related to share in a bit, so as some people think we Texans say "Y'all come back now, ya' hear!" lol- *Disclaimer: I, nor does anyone else I have ever known say things like "Y'all come back now, ya' hear!", nor do we ride horses to work haha - I've seriously gotten this question before!