January favorites 2014: beauty

Oh January, you are my favorite month. Its not because it's my birthday month or because I have almost the full month off of school. It's not because of the weather either. Do you know what its like to trek through the streets of New York when its 10 degrees out and snowing? Not pretty. But some things that are pretty are my favorites of the month. Each of these were new to me this month.

First up is the Maybelline Baby Skin. I won't bore you with the details of this because I have a full review of it here. In short, this stuff is awesome.

Next I have 2 Real Techniques brushes. I love the contour brush and the blending brush.  I use the blending brush for blush and this brush makes it look perfect. I never felt like a brush could make so much of a difference. The other is the contouring brush. I use this to, you guessed it, contour. Typically I would use an angled brush but this is really nice as well. These brushes are super soft and pretty cheap. I bought these in a set of 4 and a case for around $13.

Makeup Forever HD powder. I use this to set my under eye concealer. This is a mini version because it took me months to use up just a sample that I had. This is really fine powder that mkaes your makeup look so nice.

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous Foundation. I've used Covergirl foundation for years then i switched to revlon colorstay then I wasn't using foundation and now I'm using this. This color matches me to a t. I only use this in the center of my face where there's redness and dryness. There is a line where my foundation stop but this color is so perfect that you can't tell. This is such a nice foundation that everyone raves about.

Finally my beauty blender dupe thing. This one is the Precision Blending Sponge. I originally found out about this from Casey Holmes on youtube. This is seriously an exact dupe for the real deal. Its soft and applies makeup like a dream. You can tell how much I love this by how dirty it is.

What products have you been loving lately? Tell me in the comments.

Diy Valentine's Day decorative jars

I haven't done a home decor in a long time. (check out my glitter skull decor here) I like to add a few things to my room for each holiday. For Valentine's Day, I made this little storage jar out of an old candle. This is really simple to make and can be used to hold any small items.


To do this you will need a cleaned out candle. I have a tutorial on how to do this here  Everything else you need is here.

Step one:
Pull the heart off of the stick then add some hot glue to the top of your container and attach the heart.

 It should look something like this. My heart came out a little crooked but I think that add character does it not?

Step two: using any pattern you would like, glue the flat glitter hearts to the outside of the jar. Get creative here. Do all one color or mix it up. Cover the entire jar if you want

Step 3: You could add the 3d heart here if you want or do the entire lid first. This is just the order I used. I used some of the smaller red glitter hearts and glued them facing outwards. I suggest laying them out before gluing to make sure you like the pattern and that they all fit.

 This is what mine turned out looking like.

 Step four: fill the jar with whatever you want. I wanted to have mine on my vanity but you could fill it with just about anything.
I placed mine on my vanity. It adds a bit of warm color.

Hope you enjoyed this DIY.
XOXO, Cheyenne

How I fill in my eyebrows

This is the second part to my eyebrow post. I already covered how to groom your eyebrows. CHECK IT OUT This post is all about how I fill them in but keep them natural looking.

 For tools and products I use the Elf wet gloss grow gel. This is only $1 and works amazing. 

I also use Naked from the Urban Decay Naked palette. If you own this and don't know what color to use on your brows try this. I have seen so many people with different hair/skin/brows colors. Its a really universally flattering product. (As you can see I use the crap out of my Naked palette) 

I really like the Elf concealer brush. I know it seems weird but its so small and comes to a rounded tip which makes it perfect. I also use one of those eye brow brush/comb thing. 

I don't know this brand and really any one will work fine. 

First I comb through and get all the hairs in place using the brow brush.

 I use brow gel first. I know most people use this to set their brows but it still works if you do it in this order. Actually it works better if you do it this way.

I start from the center making one vertical line where I want my brows to start.
Next I turn my brush and start working sideways

I move through my entire brow. I also dip back into the shadow a few times. Make sure to wipe off your brush each time thought because the wet gel can ruin your shadow.

I bring shadow all the way to the end of my brow.
Make sure to use short strokes and make sure every part of the brow is filled in.

When filling in your brows, use a mirror that's further away. This is my best tip for getting natural looking brows. Sitting up close can cause you to fill in every little spot which looks good until you stand further away and realize that you have just colored on your brows and made them look horrible.





I hope you all enjoyed this little guide.

How to groom your eyebrows at home

I love good eyebrows but I hate the look of super drawn on and over filled on brows that seems to be more and more popular now. I've found the perfect way to fill mine in but keep them looking natural. This is going to be a two part post. This part will be about how I keep mine in shape and the other will be all about how I fill them in.

 First I use tweezers and pull those small hairs that grow way under my brows. The trick to this is to pull out only hairs that are completely off from your natural brow shape. Also don't use a magnifying mirror or sit too close to your normal one. You don't need to have them look perfect close up. This is how people tend to pluck their brows into having only 4 hairs left. I do this about once a week or so.

Next I use an eyebrow razor. You can find these in packs at the drugstore. you wants to hold it horizontally then slide it down. This allows you to remove a lot of hair at once. I find this is the fastest and easiest way to take care of the uni-brow area.


I don't trim mine with a scissor. I find this removes too much hair. You can find out how I actually fill in my brows here

How to clean out candle jars

Pinterest is great and the diy section is better. I see so many pins about reusing candles. Now I really love candles and the jars are great for re-using but how the hell do you get that "dead" candle out of there.

You will need the candle duh. I got mine from Bath and Body Works. (to see more things I bought from BBW click here) You will also need hot water. I boiled mine in a small pot but you really just need hot water and some sort of bowl. Then you can use a hair dryer but that's optional.

1. Put your full candle in the pot of water and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. The wax will start to melt from the bottom up. (if this is taking too long or you would like to speed up the process you can use the hair dryer to melt it) Once the bottom is completely melted- basically enough that its not attached to the glass anymore- *carefully* dump out the candle in the trash. DO NOT POUR THIS DOWN THE DRAIN THE WAX WILL HARDEN AND YOU WILL HAVE THE BIGGEST MESS OF YOUR LIFE.

2. Take your empty candle jar and wash it out. Just scrub both the inside and outside of it.

3. Now you have an empty candle. While its still hot peel off any labels. Trust me here do it while its hot and just be careful. The heat will have loosed the glue and the labels should fall off. Also if you are left with crap from the glue you can add some alcohol to the water and soak it until it comes off. I didn't have this problem though. 

4. Now dry your candle and you have a clean jar that you can diy to your heart's desire. 

Maybelline Baby Skin instant pore eraser review

Maybelline Baby Skin instant pore eraser is the newest and biggest thing to hit the drugstore in a while. This is a not exactly a primer but some say it is comparable to Porefessional from Benefit. I have heard mixed reviews on this product so I decided to pick it up myself.

This has been around in other countries for a while and here is the states, we have been wondering if it was real or some sick joke. Well it's real.
Baby Skin has been hard to find but I found it in Walmart for $5.94. Already its a really inexpensive alternative to other.

The first thing I noticed about this is that it's oily. This didn't bother me on my face though. However, I felt like I needed to wash my hands right after using this. It doesn't feel as bad as say cooking oil or anything like that but it still wasn't great. This does take a bit to work it onto the skin but once you do, you're left with a very smooth looking and feeling texture.

This is what it looks like if that tells you anything.I was hoping that the would feel like the Ultra Smoothing Primer from Sephora brand which is one of my favorites but it was must greasier.

I put this on mostly under my eyes and on the rest of my face, but since I don't wear foundation, I thought under my eyes would be the best test. I used this then my normal routine. I was using this more for the priming results than pore reducing results.

*photo was taken around 12:45*

This did make my under eye area look a bit smoother and some how just better than normal. It almost looked airbrushed or photoshopped(minus the really bad lines I have but that's a whole other story.) (also I didn't edit the photo at all.)

Now for my face; it looked really smooth and if you don't have and skin issues that you want to cover, this would be really great for you to wear on its own.  Of course since this doesn't have color it won't do anything to help that.

I really can't explain it but in that photo, my eye area look smooth almost like I used a retouching tool in editing which i normally have to to

*taken at 9:30ish*

So, as you can see, this area looks a little less smooth. These two photos have different lighting (one natural, one taken at night with lighting) but it doesn't make that big of a difference. I can tell in person that after about 9 hours of wear my skin wasn't looking as perfect and smooth. That photoshop-in-real-life effect isn't quite as apparent though it still looks pretty good.







Overall I do like this. It makes your skin look smooth but i would suggest it for light makeup wearers or those who just want their skin to look smooth and almost perfect yet still natural. If you come across this, pick it up and try it out.

Bath and Body Works semi annual sale haul

I picked up a few things from the Bath and Body Works semi annual sale. They have different bins that are either 50 or 75% off. Definitely check out your store and online for great deals.

This candle was the best deal i've ever gotten on anything ever. These are normally $19.50 and I paid 97¢ for this. The cashier told me they found it in the back and it was an old scent but it smells awesome and how could I pass up that. 

 The next candle I picked up was cranberry pear bellini. These are normally $10 but I paid $4. The scent is described as a "bubble and delicious- a bright blend of sparkling cranberry, sweet pear nectar and luscious blackcurrant."

Market peach is one of the minis. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the minis are now packaged the same as the larger ones with the lid and glass- they used to come in a tiny plastic container and have no lid. Peach is one of my favorite scents. Originally $4.50 I paid $2.

This one I bought for a gift. Originally $12.50 but I got it for $4.

Remember when I said that peach is my favorite scent. Well I lied because lemon is the best. I could always use a good soap. Originally $5.50 but I paid $3. Not a great deal but whatever.

Marshmallow shimmer body cream. This is the collect stuff ever because its like whipped cream but its body lotion. It smells so yummy and its not a sweet disgusting scent. It is shimmery and is absolutely one of the most moisturizing lotions ever.

How to get long hair fast

I have really long hair. No actually long hair not like shoulder length. People ask me all the time how I got it so long so here is what I did. This is my hair. (ignore these super angst poses/ the mirror seflie. Some of these were for a friend's photo project)

Here are my tips on growing you hair long.

1.Cutting the bottom of your hair is not going to send some magic signal to your follicles making them shoot out hair. Your hair grows at one pace and cutting it isn't going to change that. Cutting off the split ends just makes it look better but in reality its not doing anything to get it longer. Instead cut it once the ends need to be cut.

2. Stop dying and bleaching your hair. Putting extreme chemicals on it are horrible. If you love your bleach blonde hair maybe opt for a darker blonde instead. I did have hair ombre hair though for 3 years and still had long hair.

3. Don't use heat. If you hair is straight, you don't need to straighten it. If you like you hair curled go onto youtube and search for heat free hair tutorials. Blow dry it as infrequently as you can.

4. Wash you hair as infrequently as you can. I normally wash it then sleep on it wet. I wear it down and normal for about 2 days then add dry shampoo for the 3rd day then put it in a bun on the 4th/5th. I know some people think its gross not to wash your hair but its really gross to wash it too much. Your hair needs those natural oils to grow.

5. Get a decent shampoo and conditioner. I know aussie 3 minute miracle makes your hair feel real nice but its a bottle of wax. Most of them are like that. Find ones that actually penetrate the hair.

6. Use a leave in conditioner. Again look for one that has keratin and other good things in it.

7. I've recently started taking Biotin but I use that more for my nails. This is a vitamin that will make your hair and nails healthier.

You can read about how I care for my long hair here

BLOG NAME CHANGE

I changed my url from Brookstock-woodklyn.blogpost.com to http://cheyenne-style.blogspot.com/

Benefit They're Real mascara: worth the hype?

Benefit released a mascara called "they're real" and everyone went insane. People rave about this like no other product. Finally, I decided I wanted to pick it up but $23? What if it sucked? Then I cam across the $10 mini size of it and it was prefect. This promises to lengthen, curl, separate, lift, volumize. It's basically going to do everything.

The wand is a normal mascara want but there's something different: the tip of it is a spiky little ball thing. It allows you to get every single lash. They say that you should use it both horizontally and vertically. 

The long part will zig zag through your lashes while the tip can be pushed up through them. 

This is one of my problems. That little tip pulls some much mascara out of the tube that if you don't wipe it off your bound for a giant mess. This isn't really a huge problem though, it still work after you wipe off the tip which most people do. 

I did curl my lashes before I applied this even though they claim it will curl. No curved brush though so I doubted that. With only a full swipes trough my lashes they were long, thick, and standing straight up.  I have decent lashes on my own but look at them. I love long lashes. I would wear drag queen style fake lashes every day if I could. 

Now, this mascara doesn't exactly make them look fake to me but no mascara in the world does. Fake lashes just have a certain way about them that no mascara can duplicate. 

Here's where this mascara falls a little short in my case: it really stays on. Like forever. It will not flake at all. This is all good right? Well yes, until the nighttime when you're trying to get this off. This may be my problem though because I normally take off my makeup with just a makeup removing face wash. I'm pretty sure a makeup remover or wipe would get it off. 

While this mascara does do pretty much all of those things that it claims to, I don't know if its worth spending the full almost $25 on. There's plenty of great drugstore mascaras from the drugstore that do this all as well. That being said, my eye lashes look awesome. I would for sure recommend trying out the mini version first. 

UPDATE: i have had this for almost 3 weeks now and notice that its getting dried out.

Products I've used up: review

There is something really satisfying about finishing off a product. Knowing you used every last drop makes me feel like I've done something right. I promise I'm not crazy. Maybe I am but who cares. 




1. Garnier Fructis volume extend. 

What is it? This is a dry shampoo that promises to refresh your hair and give it more volume.
Did it work? Yes. I have very long hair so getting volume in it is borderline impossible but this did a pretty good job. It transformed my dirty, greasy hair into better looking hair. 
Would I re-purchase this? For sure. This is one of the best dry shampoos I've tried. 
Would I recommend this? Yes if you have greasy hair.

4/5 stars 

2. Maybelline Baby Lips. 

What is it? A hydrating lip balm that will make you lips feel softer and more plush. 
Did it work? No. But I actually went through two of these before realizing it didn't work. I hear mixed reviews of this: people love it or hate it. I'm the latter. If you have actually dry or chapped lips, this is not going to do much.
Would I re-purchase this? Like I said, I did but that was the last chance. 
Would I recommend this? No. 

1/5 stars 

3. Maybelline Falsies Mascara

What is it? A mascara the will make your lashes look long, volumized, and fake.

Did it work? Yes and no. It doesn't make them look fake but it makes them very long and lovely overall. I like to wear this over another mascara to get the perfect look

Would I re-purchase this? Yes and I have at least 6-7 times, possibly even more. I have been using it for years.

Would I recommend this? Yes

5/5 stars 

4. Sally Hansen Hair Remover Wax Strip Kit

What is it? A hair removal set with wax strip. You lay them down and they remove hair. 

Did it work? Not even a little. I tried this over and over again. I tried them so many ways yet each time I pulled of the strip I was in pain and only 2-3 hairs had been removed. It would probably be quicker and less painful to pluck out each hair one by one.

Would I re-purchase this? Never. 

Would I recommend this? No.

0/5 stars 

5. Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser

What is it? A gentle face wash with a makeup remover built in. 

Did it work? Yes. Quick story. I start using this almost five years ago when I have severe acne and needed a gentle wash to cope with the intense prescriptions. I don't use any makeup remover and this gets off everything even waterproof mascara. 

Would I re-purchase this? I have been for 5 years now. I've gone through countless numbers of these.

Would I recommend this? Yes

5/5 stars