I want to apologize. I initially wanted to do daily updates for the blog, but with each post taking roughly an hour and trying to work overtime semi-regularly, I should have know that was not realistic. I am feeling a bit trapped by work and family/friend obligations, and I've not stayed dedicated to that commitment. Heck, it didn't even last a week. I told my fiancé I wanted to do daily updates, because I wanted to go big or not at all, and he told me that was too ambitious. I thought it smarter to force myself to get used to the biggest workload possible. I was super wrong. He was right, and though I still need to make a commitment, a post every day probably won't happen for a while.
Instead, I have decided on a schedule of updates. I want to do swatches and reviews as well as actual makeup looks, so I need to do multiple posts in a week. I anticipate swatch and review posts being easier than posts with write-ups for looks, so they make more sense for during the week. That being said, here is my tentative schedule.
Sunday: Makeup look with written tutorial/walkthrough and tips, either on my face or someone else's.
Wednesday: Swatch post with brief description/review of each product featured
Saturday: Same as Sunday
I say "tentative", because I also really enjoy teaching. Once I build a bit of an audience and get some feedback, I'd love to make Saturday the day for looks and Sunday a Q&A/teaching post. That'll give me a wide variety of stuff I do with the blog to keep things interesting, especially while I am practicing still and doing most of my looks on my own face (which looks suspiciously like vanity, and I want to avoid that if at all possible).
Again, I apologize for capturing your attention and getting all hypy about daily updates. Hopefully, the schedule will make this undertaking more bearable and make it feel less like an obligation. I want this to be fun, because I enjoy gushing about makeup and talking about techniques and products
Here's to breathing new life into a project that was in its infancy to begin with!
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Rockin' Chocolate... of the Stars?
Alright, my attempt to name this post after every different cosmetic line I used was a bit of a failure, but at least I tried, right?
I went out and bought more stuff from the Mac x Star Trek collection on Sunday. I decided after my initial purchase that I really liked the pressed pigment called The Naked Time. I love the Trip the Light Fantastic powder in Luna Lustre, but I didn't realize how cool it was until I started trying to use it every day. I decided I wanted a warmer one to use as blush with warmer looks. I looked at the other two colors, but ultimately settled on Highly Illogical and bought that. Here are shots of the pans. They are both gorgeous. I love the marbling in the Trip the Light Fantastic powders.
The pictures are a little washed out, but they are discolored without flash, so I don't have much choice. Highly Illogical is quite a bit darker, and both items are much more sparkly than they appear here. I really love them both.
I was super excited to use both, but ultimately decided against it. When I picked out my clothes for the next day, I wound up with grey and black, so I had to go for an edgy look with a cool palette. I settled on trying to use The Naked Time in a look and saving Highly Illogical for another day. When I decided the look needed to trend toward cool, I knew I needed to use the Mac x Star Trek lipstick in Kling-it-on, which I've had trouble using well since I got it. Then, this badass rocker look was born. I found this look so intriguing. It's definitely a darker theme I need to go for more often.
Face/Lips
I used the Hard Candy Perfecting Primer to start with, then used the Maybelline BB cream in my shade as my foundation. My undereye concealer is the Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer, and I've used the Hard Candy Glamouflage concealer to cover my blemishes.
Like I've done in previous looks, my blush and my highlight are the Mac x Star Trek Trip the Light Fantastic powder in Luna Lustre. It's just different sections of the pan.
Here's what the pan looks like. Since the marbling on one side is darker, it makes for an excellent highlighting blush. As I use it more, more of the darker peachy side seems to come up. It's such a neat product, Peach is typically a cool color, but the mauve running through it is stronger, which makes it cooler.
I am a little obsessed with this product. It's literally perfect for someone as pasty as I am.
It took me a bit, but I picked out some mattes from the palettes Allie left with me. I started out with Skinny Latte as a transition from the Eggnog Latte palette from Too Faced's Grande Hotel Café collection (shop it here). I ran that from just below the browbone to just above the mobile lid. Next, I applied Maple Syrup from the Gingerbread Cookie to the crease to add depth and blend the next shade, Black Coffee, in better. This served to frame the mobile lid. Then I applied the star of the show, The Naked Time, all over the mobile lid. I ran out of time, so I didn't put on as much eyeliner on as I wanted. All I did was line the water like with the Maybelline Eye Studio gel liner in Blackest Black and then apply my Maybelline Falsies Flared mascara. For true rock star glam, I needed way more eyeliner, but this was an awesome look nonetheless.
I went out and bought more stuff from the Mac x Star Trek collection on Sunday. I decided after my initial purchase that I really liked the pressed pigment called The Naked Time. I love the Trip the Light Fantastic powder in Luna Lustre, but I didn't realize how cool it was until I started trying to use it every day. I decided I wanted a warmer one to use as blush with warmer looks. I looked at the other two colors, but ultimately settled on Highly Illogical and bought that. Here are shots of the pans. They are both gorgeous. I love the marbling in the Trip the Light Fantastic powders.
The pictures are a little washed out, but they are discolored without flash, so I don't have much choice. Highly Illogical is quite a bit darker, and both items are much more sparkly than they appear here. I really love them both.I was super excited to use both, but ultimately decided against it. When I picked out my clothes for the next day, I wound up with grey and black, so I had to go for an edgy look with a cool palette. I settled on trying to use The Naked Time in a look and saving Highly Illogical for another day. When I decided the look needed to trend toward cool, I knew I needed to use the Mac x Star Trek lipstick in Kling-it-on, which I've had trouble using well since I got it. Then, this badass rocker look was born. I found this look so intriguing. It's definitely a darker theme I need to go for more often.
Face/Lips
I used the Hard Candy Perfecting Primer to start with, then used the Maybelline BB cream in my shade as my foundation. My undereye concealer is the Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer, and I've used the Hard Candy Glamouflage concealer to cover my blemishes.Like I've done in previous looks, my blush and my highlight are the Mac x Star Trek Trip the Light Fantastic powder in Luna Lustre. It's just different sections of the pan.
On my lips, I am wearing Mac x Star Trek lipstick in Kling-it-On, a blackened purple with pink sparkles among other colors. I layered the lip gloss from the collection in Warp Speed Ahead over the top, focusing it in the middle, in order to try to give it more staying power.
Here's what the pan looks like. Since the marbling on one side is darker, it makes for an excellent highlighting blush. As I use it more, more of the darker peachy side seems to come up. It's such a neat product, Peach is typically a cool color, but the mauve running through it is stronger, which makes it cooler.
I am a little obsessed with this product. It's literally perfect for someone as pasty as I am.
Eyes
It took me a bit, but I picked out some mattes from the palettes Allie left with me. I started out with Skinny Latte as a transition from the Eggnog Latte palette from Too Faced's Grande Hotel Café collection (shop it here). I ran that from just below the browbone to just above the mobile lid. Next, I applied Maple Syrup from the Gingerbread Cookie to the crease to add depth and blend the next shade, Black Coffee, in better. This served to frame the mobile lid. Then I applied the star of the show, The Naked Time, all over the mobile lid. I ran out of time, so I didn't put on as much eyeliner on as I wanted. All I did was line the water like with the Maybelline Eye Studio gel liner in Blackest Black and then apply my Maybelline Falsies Flared mascara. For true rock star glam, I needed way more eyeliner, but this was an awesome look nonetheless.Sunday, October 2, 2016
Too Faced Chocolate Bar: Smoky Edition
The other day, she came to me with five palettes from Too Faced: The Peanut Butter and Jelly palette, the Grande Hotel Café set of three coffee-themed palettes, and the famous Chocolate Bar that everyone raves about - the same one where every shade smells like its namesake. She told me I could swatch them and play with them for a bit, because had also recently gotten a couple Naked palettes that she was in love with.
I'll get the swatches up on here later. They're already up on Facebook. Today, I want to share my little experiment with The Chocolate Bar. I love a good palette. After swatching everything, I always see some beautiful combinations. Today for my day out with some friends, I tried one of those combinations and came out with a stunning maroon smoky eye that was much darker than I intended, but a beautiful vampy look for Autumn.
I'm still working on good photos and formatting posts correctly, so bear with me here. These are the pictures I took right after application. They turned out stunning, and I wanted to share the whole look put together, even though the photos don't show off the eye makeup. These show, more or less, how well these shades complemented my eyes.
I started with applying Strawberry Bon Bon as a transition color all through the crease. It's a pale pink, so it disappeared into my skin, but that's really the idea of a transition shade. Then I layered Semi-Sweet and Cherry Cordial into the deep crease for extra dimension. I focused more Cherry Cordial in the outer corners to lift the eyes toward the temples and make them look less hooded. On the mobile lid, I applied Champagne Truffle on the inner third for lightness, Amaretto into the center third, and Black Forest Truffle in the outer third. Again, I lifted the shadow up, blending it into Cherry Cordial, to lift the eye. I also brought Black Forest Truffle down onto the lower lashline. My browbone is highlighted with White Chocolate all the way across and a hint of Champagne Truffle and the height of my arch, which is really shallow. I highlighted the tearduct area with Champagne Truffle to balance out the smoky darkness. I finished it all off with Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in Blackest Black and a tiny wing and Maybelline Falsies flared mascara.
My foundation is Hard Candy Pore Filling Primer and Mac Studio Fix powder layered with Fix+ for high coverage. I used Hard Candy Glamouflage concealer to cover my blemishes, but used Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer to hide my dark undereyes. For blush AND highlighter, I used the Mac x Star Trek Trip the Light Fantastic powder in Luna Lustre. My pan is almost split down the middle where one have is pale shimmer and the other half is a peachy mauve pink, so it works really well for both purposes. For extra shine, I applied my highlight a second time over Fix+
My lips are just Mac x Star Trek frost lipstick in LLAP over my naked lips. Man, I love this lipstick. It's like putting molten copper on my lips.
Allie has ruined me. These shadows have really impressed me so far. Nearly every single one in this palette has exceptional pigmentation, and they all blend beautifully. For 16 high-quality shadows that also smell like candy, $50 really isn't bad. I just need to work hard to justify the purchase, heheh.
If you want a more detailed review of the palette, want me to check out anything else, or even just want to let me know what you think, leave a comment down below!
I'll get the swatches up on here later. They're already up on Facebook. Today, I want to share my little experiment with The Chocolate Bar. I love a good palette. After swatching everything, I always see some beautiful combinations. Today for my day out with some friends, I tried one of those combinations and came out with a stunning maroon smoky eye that was much darker than I intended, but a beautiful vampy look for Autumn.
I'm still working on good photos and formatting posts correctly, so bear with me here. These are the pictures I took right after application. They turned out stunning, and I wanted to share the whole look put together, even though the photos don't show off the eye makeup. These show, more or less, how well these shades complemented my eyes.
Here's a little close-up of the eye. There is unfortunately an awful lot of creasing in these next two photos, because these were taken at the end of the day, and I sprayed some Fix+ on my face and was too impatient to let it set in the eye area. The eyeliner smudged a bit, too. I'll try to set aside time for good photos next time.
I started with applying Strawberry Bon Bon as a transition color all through the crease. It's a pale pink, so it disappeared into my skin, but that's really the idea of a transition shade. Then I layered Semi-Sweet and Cherry Cordial into the deep crease for extra dimension. I focused more Cherry Cordial in the outer corners to lift the eyes toward the temples and make them look less hooded. On the mobile lid, I applied Champagne Truffle on the inner third for lightness, Amaretto into the center third, and Black Forest Truffle in the outer third. Again, I lifted the shadow up, blending it into Cherry Cordial, to lift the eye. I also brought Black Forest Truffle down onto the lower lashline. My browbone is highlighted with White Chocolate all the way across and a hint of Champagne Truffle and the height of my arch, which is really shallow. I highlighted the tearduct area with Champagne Truffle to balance out the smoky darkness. I finished it all off with Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in Blackest Black and a tiny wing and Maybelline Falsies flared mascara.
My foundation is Hard Candy Pore Filling Primer and Mac Studio Fix powder layered with Fix+ for high coverage. I used Hard Candy Glamouflage concealer to cover my blemishes, but used Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer to hide my dark undereyes. For blush AND highlighter, I used the Mac x Star Trek Trip the Light Fantastic powder in Luna Lustre. My pan is almost split down the middle where one have is pale shimmer and the other half is a peachy mauve pink, so it works really well for both purposes. For extra shine, I applied my highlight a second time over Fix+My lips are just Mac x Star Trek frost lipstick in LLAP over my naked lips. Man, I love this lipstick. It's like putting molten copper on my lips.
Allie has ruined me. These shadows have really impressed me so far. Nearly every single one in this palette has exceptional pigmentation, and they all blend beautifully. For 16 high-quality shadows that also smell like candy, $50 really isn't bad. I just need to work hard to justify the purchase, heheh.
If you want a more detailed review of the palette, want me to check out anything else, or even just want to let me know what you think, leave a comment down below!
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Welcome!
"Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote for me really captures what makeup artistry is all about. When you really start to experiment with makeup, your face becomes a canvas on which to make art.
That's a super overused metaphor, but it's all I've got. I really can't do this whole talking about makeup like a motivational speaker schtick. I think it would be boring to read and cheesy, anyway. I'll probably spend a lot of time trying to be funny while I try to find my writing legs. Or whatever.
What I said about makeup as art isn't untrue, though. You have thousands upon thousands of paints, hundreds of techniques that you can mix and match, and a canvas that can be repeatedly wiped clean and reused as many times as you want. In the beauty world, we see a lot of talk about certain colors or looks being "wearable" or off limits for whatever reason. We see rules like bright pink and blue should have stayed in the 80s, people over 30 can only wear mattes, smoky eyes are only acceptable if you're going out at night and trying to get laid, yadda yadda.
Frankly, I believe that stuff is nonsense.
Those rules are rooted in the idea that makeup exists and is used only for the sake of other people. The basis of those ideas is that we have to care so much about what other people think that we have to let them control everything we do. The choice to use makeup and how to apply it is all about expression. It's about what makes us feel beautiful and special. It doesn't make sense to let others' opinions of us control how we outwardly express ourselves. Obviously there are limits, but I hardly think blue eyeshadow is the most offensive thing one can do. The only thing that should control how you use makeup is how you want to use it, and I mean how you actually want to use it, and not how you think it will be acceptable to use it.
This blog will spend a lot of time breaking all those arbitrary rules. My mom is 50 and I encourage her to wear as much glitter as she damn well pleases. I have blue eyes and yellow-toned skin and I wear cool colors, because I just plain like cool colors way better. Heck, I get compliments when I do unusual things with makeup. This blog, with its ridiculously lame name, aims to break down makeup barriers and show how to see the art in makeup application and show how unusual techniques and colors can be flattering.
Enjoy, I guess. There are lots of tips, tricks, reviews, and shameless pictures of my face and my friends' faces to come. I've never had a blog before, so it should be interesting.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote for me really captures what makeup artistry is all about. When you really start to experiment with makeup, your face becomes a canvas on which to make art.
That's a super overused metaphor, but it's all I've got. I really can't do this whole talking about makeup like a motivational speaker schtick. I think it would be boring to read and cheesy, anyway. I'll probably spend a lot of time trying to be funny while I try to find my writing legs. Or whatever.
What I said about makeup as art isn't untrue, though. You have thousands upon thousands of paints, hundreds of techniques that you can mix and match, and a canvas that can be repeatedly wiped clean and reused as many times as you want. In the beauty world, we see a lot of talk about certain colors or looks being "wearable" or off limits for whatever reason. We see rules like bright pink and blue should have stayed in the 80s, people over 30 can only wear mattes, smoky eyes are only acceptable if you're going out at night and trying to get laid, yadda yadda.
Frankly, I believe that stuff is nonsense.
Those rules are rooted in the idea that makeup exists and is used only for the sake of other people. The basis of those ideas is that we have to care so much about what other people think that we have to let them control everything we do. The choice to use makeup and how to apply it is all about expression. It's about what makes us feel beautiful and special. It doesn't make sense to let others' opinions of us control how we outwardly express ourselves. Obviously there are limits, but I hardly think blue eyeshadow is the most offensive thing one can do. The only thing that should control how you use makeup is how you want to use it, and I mean how you actually want to use it, and not how you think it will be acceptable to use it.
This blog will spend a lot of time breaking all those arbitrary rules. My mom is 50 and I encourage her to wear as much glitter as she damn well pleases. I have blue eyes and yellow-toned skin and I wear cool colors, because I just plain like cool colors way better. Heck, I get compliments when I do unusual things with makeup. This blog, with its ridiculously lame name, aims to break down makeup barriers and show how to see the art in makeup application and show how unusual techniques and colors can be flattering.
Enjoy, I guess. There are lots of tips, tricks, reviews, and shameless pictures of my face and my friends' faces to come. I've never had a blog before, so it should be interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)