[NOT MY] WEDDING UPDATE

SO I'VE been looking through a bunch of different pictures trying to find make up ideas for my friend Kel's wedding. I get to be the maid of honor! I was talking with Donna ( meangirlmakeup.blogspot.com ), and she thought MAC's Parisian Skies would be a good color for Kelsey (who is blonde with blue eyes) and would go well with her colors (blue green and purple). This is a swatch I took from Temptalia of MAC's Parisian Skies

I found a pretty close color from Essence 

Blue Moon by Essence

The middle swatch was with Urban Decay's Greed Primer. Not a bad dupe for a $3 shadow! 

But it definitely needs a primer. 

ALSO look what I made for the wedding!

I got everything at Wal*Mart believe it or not. I'm thinking about adding more beading to the bottom hangy bit but I really love it so far! I have a necklace that my boyfriend gave me a few years back with that same octopus/chtulu guy. 

Three of my favourites I picked up in New York

HEY GUYS!
I'm finally back from New York and I got A LOT of good stuff! Here are three of my favourites.

KISS SALON FRENCH NAILS

I picked these up at the Dollar General for $2.50. I grabbed a couple because I've been wanting to get my nails done professionally, but up here it's too expensive. And my friend is getting married in a week and I'm her maid of honor so I can't have my normal trashed nails. 

AMAZINGLY these have held up for 4 days. Usually when I wear fake nails, they fall off the next day if not sooner, but this is them on day 4.

And everyone keeps asking me where I got them done! I'm really impressed and wish I'd grabbed like 6 packs. At the local stores, fake nails are three times what I paid for these in New York.

URSULA COMPACT MIRROR

She's been my favourite Disney villaness since I was a little girl! My sister actually found this on a clearance rack in the Disney Store for $5.99. I LOVE IT.

FUNKY FINGERS CRACKLE

I picked this up a store I'd never heard of before - 5 Lo. I really wanted to get a crackle polish, but the Chinese Glaze formula seems really hard to use, and I wasn't that in love with it so I didn't want to plop the $7 for it. This crackle was only $1.50. And the formula is just thin enough that you don't have to really worry about putting too much on and having the crackle not crack.

That's the Funky Fingers black Crackle over Sinful Colors Gorgeous. LOVE IT. 

MORE FAVOURITES TO COME!!

ANOTHER GIVE AWAY UPDATE!!

Hey y'all Safira from Love Makeup is having a SECOND GIVE AWAY?!


This pallet is amazing so go quick!

TRAVEL AND CUTENESS

I'M LEAVING tonight for NY to visit my family. I'm so excited! I haven't seen most of my family in over five years. I have pictures of all my must have beautifiers for when you travel but they didn't turn out well... so I'll post them when I get to my granma's.

IN THE MEAN TIME check out my cute travel mani I did last night at work :D

 I used Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry in Blue Me Away which is my new favourite color. And the heart I did in Essie's Aruba Blue using a bent artist's brush. I topped this with Seche Vite which I haven't had the best of luck with, but Donna did point out that I globbed that shit on so... We'll see how long this lasts! It's already lasted me through a few hours of work, packing and shopping.

What other sorts of nail art are you guys interested in?

UPDATE

SO I HAVEN'T posted in a while because I got hit by a drunk driver on my way home from work. I'm okay, just angry and my car is broken. The last 3 weeks have been devoted to getting my life back in order and getting a new car (since mine was totaled).

SOOOO new posts should be here in a bit, I'm going on vacation to see my family in upstate NY, so expect a travel post! I promise I'll have a real post coming up here soon.

HEY YOU GUYS!

I'M A SUPER SHITTY BLOGGER, but in my defense, I haven't had my camera for a week and then I went to Portland after that. 

BUT I HAVE SOME AWESOME NEWS! Safira of  lovemakeup-safira.blogspot.com is having a giveaway here http://lovemakeup-safira.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-fisrt-giveaway-enter-now.html?showComment=1307081147135#c4251280593104969525 

CHECK IT OUT - it's got some REALLY great stuff in there! 

GO LOOK

SUPER PROUD

I HAVE A couple different projects in the works right now - including a makeup bag and matching brush bag, an apron, and several posts. But my mother in law has my camera right now so I haven't been able to do my pictures.

MY BFF DONNA from meangirlmakeup.blogspot.com who has AMAZING taste in all things fashion took a picture of my latest nail art for me with her phone. They might not be the best quality, but the pictures get the cute across! THANKS DONNA!

I used Rimmel's Grey Matter for the background (MY FAVOURITE COLOR!), Art Deco in black for the branches, Esse's Blanc for the petals and Wet n' Wild's Club Havana for the centers

I absolutely love how cute they are. I showed Donna because I was so happy with the way they turned out and she insisted on taking pictures. 

MORE TO COME : my ELF loves, 5 nail polishes you should get, and more cute designs!

ELF - Y U DISAPPOINT?

MY BFF D and I decided to go in together for an ELF haul. I bought nine things and I hate six of them.

This is my original order - so happy. Approximately $15 of stuff (on sale + shipping)

This is what I actually like. Approximately $7 of stuff.

ELF's Seductive Lipstick

The lipstick is SUPER THIN and not very pigmented. It reminded me of the shitty little lipsticks my mom would buy me when I was too young for makeup. I know that ELF isn't top of the line, but I was really hoping for better than this. And the color is NOTHING like the swatch - it's MUCH pinker and not a good color in anyway.

Single pressed shadow - Butter Cream. Mine just happened to be smashed to shit. 

The color is REALLY hard to see. It reminds me more of shitty powder concealer than a shadow. The bottom swatch (which starts near my index knuckle) has primer.

Top swatches were done with primer.
Swatch A is the Professional Studio Pigment Eyeshadow in Passionate Purple; it doesn't look so bad with the primer but it also was SUPER THICK. Swatch B is the Professional Studio single eyeshadow in Amethyst. It looks more brown than purple even with the primer. and definitely NOT like the product shown on the website.

I STOLE THIS FROM ELF.COM

Nail polish :( The top swatch is their Mint Cream - which looks really nice in this picture but on my nails got all streaky and the color broke up, even with multiple coats it looked AWFUL. Same story with the bottom swatch of  "Party Purple".

I don't think I'm going to be ordering anything from ELF anymore - the savings would be worth it if the quality were better, but these are worse than the similarly priced drugstore polishes and shadows. I think I'm going to stick to trolling for deals online and at local stores.

Night and Day

MY FIANCÉE and I were fighting over spending time together - he wanted to game, I wanted to do some artwork with him and watch a movie. This ended in Boy declaring he was going to design and paint my nails. He called for paper saying that "true art needed to be planned out", and then changed his mind. He picked out Essie's Aruba Blue and Sinful Colors' Patrika and got to work on my left hand.

He was super serious. And didn't really know how to ply polish - 

but did his best. SUPER THICK COATS.

Using my *new* dotting tool to make his little suns.

SINCE BOY did a day theme on my right hand, I did a night them on the left. I used Wet n Wild's Morbid for the base coat, Rimmel's Grey Matter and Essie's Blanca for the moon with Wet n Wild's Kaledoscope for the mini stars in the sky. My fingers weren't as nicely done, but I used the paint brush end of my dotting tool with Wet n Wild's Silvivor.

THESE ARE THE FINAL RESULTS.

BOY'S SUNS. Very textured.

UBER TEXTURED.

Boy made me promise to leave my left hand as it was. Which will be super interesting. I'm really anal when it comes to my nail polish. If it's chipped, smudges, too bumpy, ruined in any way, I HAVE TO REMOVE IT ALL. We'll see how long I can keep this style until I lose my damn mind.

 My thumbnail - Moon with starry sky. Apologies for my shitty camera. Also, my nail polish technique could be bested by most 5 year olds. ALL OVER MY FINGERS. But I'm too damn lazy to clean it up with polish remover and Q-Tips, so I usually just let it be and when I shower usually it cleans up.

My other fingers - not very good - I think if I do something like this again, I'll just do a coat of the Kaledoscope instead of shitty stars/comets.

It was a really fun thing to do together and I hope we do it again, and maybe next time Boy will use less polish. 

Because my day usually gets shitty

THIS BLOG is dedicated to trying to de-shittify my day with eyeshadow, nail polish, and awesome. For those of you with CAPSLOCK DAYS, you know you need this.

I STOLE THIS SURVEY FROM MY FRIENDS BLOG. She forgives :D

How many times do you wash your face daily?

Twice if I wear all over makeup that day. Usually I just wash it in the shower and then ignore foundation because I'm lazy.

What skin type do you have?
Horrid. I have oily, acne prone skin, and I usually have a few break outs. We battle.

What is your current facial wash?

Clean and Clear Advanced Acne Fash Wash that came in their little kit. It does a pretty good job if I make sure to use it regular like.

Do you exfoliate?
Every other day or so.

What brand do you use?
I'm stealing my boyfriend's Nivea Exfoliating Face Wash for Men until I go find something nice to use for myself.

What moisturizer do you use?
Pond's Vitamin E face cream - absolutely amazing

Do you have freckles?
No, my sister does, and I'm a little jealous.

Do you use eye cream?
Nope.

Do you or did you have acne prone skin?
I've had moderate - severe acne since I was 10. I've been fighting with it with various treatments over the past 12 years. Happily, it's getting better as I get older!

Did you ever have to use Pro-activ?
I didn't get the chance. I signed up about a year ago, they took my money, didn't deliver the product, and when I complained, sent me forms which they lost, and I never got a refund. Fuck Proactive.

What foundation do you use?
Revlon Colorstay - I read about it on a make up blog, and it seems to do a good job. I need something with better coverage that won't clog, and this has been a pretty good match.

How about concealer?
I have an Almay Mineral concealer I use but the label's worn off. I also have the Bare Minerals Concealer with Sulfur - but I don't use that as often.

Do you know your undertone color?
Olive. I got the Italian genes in the family :D

What do you think of fake eyelashes?
I like the end product - but I'm a little too lazy / inept to want to use them regularly. 

Did you know that you are supposed to change your mascara every 3 months?
Yes, but I don't because I'm cheap and NEVER use that much mascara in 3 months. If they want us to actually follow that rule, smaller tubes, cheap mascara :D

What brand of mascara do you use?
I have a Covergirl Lashblast Volume Mascara - but I'm not in love with it. I think after this tube is kaput I'm going back to the Maybelline Stiletto Mascaras.

Sephora or MAC?
MAC is my favourite right now!

Do you have a MAC Pro-card?
I wish

What makeup tools do you use in make up application?
My Sigma brushes <3

Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes?
When I remember. I have the Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 3, and it came with the nice little tube of primer, but I almost always forget it.

For the face?
When I do a full face, which isn't as often as it should be :P

What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?

 I love my U.D. Book of Shadows Vol. 3, and I have an ELF palette my BFF bought me for Christmas that I use for the bright colors.

Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner?
Liquid. I like the darker cleaner lines.

How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil?
Never. I'm pro :p

What do you think of pigment eyeshadows?

I love them. I love color and having that pop.

Do you use mineral makeup?
Eye shadows yes, but the foundations don't give me enough coverage.

What is your favorite lipstick?
MAC Cyndi Lauper or my MAC Ladybug :D

How about lipgloss?
MAC Cyndi Lauper. I usually don't like gloss though because it feels sticky

What is your favorite blush to use?

I have terrible luck with blush - right now I'm using a Fit Me blush but it's not quite enough. Searching for the right one 

Do you buy your makeup on ebay?
No, but I might start.

Do you like drugstore makeup?
Yes. Mostly because I'm cheap, and I can make it work.

Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets)
There aren't any where I live! So sad.

Did you ever consider taking make-up classes?
Yes, I thought about going to beauty school, but IT is my career right now so I'm focusing on that

Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?
Like a 5 year old.

Name a makeup crime that you hate?
Light blue hooker eyes. And noticibly uneven liner. LOOK IN THE MIRROR. I'm not perfect but if it looks bad, I don't wear it.

Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick, eyeshadow) or neutral ones?
Color!

Which celebrity always has great make up?
Natalie Portman

If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item, what would you use?

Mascara

Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on?
I do all the time. It's awful, I'm a grown woman, but we all have our days. 

 
Do you think you look good even without any makeup on?
Yes. Makeup shouldn't make you look good, it should enhance your beauty.

In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?
MAC and Urban Decay <3