Gadding About

Okay, so I've been hauling sort of a lot lately--mostly small things, but it adds up, you know? I justify it to myself by telling myself that I'm stocking up for five months in Europe, when I will NOT be buying makeup. So I got my Meow samples, to try to reevaluate my foundation shade so I can get a jar before I go, Dreamworld creme topping because I'd just tried a sample and loved it and wanted a yellow-based finishing powder, my Amazing Cosmetics pressed powder (well, I didn't actually pay for that but it's part of the same hoarding program). And now, a retractable kabuki and some nail polish!

I've been looking for a retractable kabuki/powder brush for a long time, vastly unsuccessfully. Then I discovered Too Faced's pink retractable kabuki, made of what they call "teddy bear hair"--synthetic; perfect! I tested it for softness when I was visiting my dad in Chicago (made him stop in at Ulta with me--but that's a story for another day) and then bought it from Amazon. It came today and I'm thrilled so far--it is VERY pink for me (I hate pink, as a rule) but it does have really cute little flowers on it, and it was the only product that even came close to fulfilling my criteria--small, retractable, synthetic, uber-soft. So I'll deal with the pink. Here it is, in all its glory:

It is super super soft and cuddly (explains why they call it teddy bear hair) but I have to say it did shed a handful of bristles when I first opened it and started playing with it (and by "a handful" I mean five or six, not a big clump that came out into my palm). We'll see how it holds up to actual makeup application. I think it's very cute despite the rather intense pink, and it is nice and dense and I'm excited to carry it with me everywhere and use it to touch up with my Amazing Cosmetics powder. : )

Next mini-haul is my OPI nail polish, which I got from Head2ToeBeauty.com after hearing about it from Clumps of Mascara on her blog (http://www.clumpsofmascara.com/). OPI polish is normally around 8 or 9 dollars at salons or places like Sephora, I think, but at Head2ToeBeauty nearly all their colors are 4.75--a pretty good deal, I thought. And I'd been wanting to try some after hearing good recs, so I figured that was the place to go. I got three colors, just to try out a little. Here they are:

The bronze color is called Charmed by a Snake, the green is Green-Wich Village, and the yellow is The "It" Color. I'm pretty impressed so far; I have Charmed by a Snake on my hands and The "It" Color on my toes, and I feel bright and happy. It doesn't reek as much as nail polish usually does, and if you make sure to apply coats thinly and evenly, it dries quite quickly. Also, the packaging is very nice; the bottles seem to have actual metal tops, so the threads are much smoother and cleaner and less sticky. Very nice! Here is photo-documentation:

I know I don't really have fingernails, but I'm working on that--having visible polish on does help. I did two coats of both colors, and I think they both turned out solid and vibrant and nice. I haven't tried wearing the green yet, but I'll get there.   

And last, again, but still not least (I hope) is my FOTD:

Not sure why the pictures are such different sizes. Hrm.

Foundation: Meow Frisky Ocicat

Powder: Dreamworld Banana Creme

Blush: Meow Orgasmic

Mascara: Smashbox Bionic Mascara

Liner: tiny bit of MAC's Cork smudged in my lower lashline

Shadow/highlight: Meow Dr. Zhicato and some Cork to define my crease a bit. I think this worked better today. : ) Progress is progress; one little thing at a time.  

Hey all, just wanted to explain the few issues with my previous post. My computer/the internet/Vox was being poopy, and wouldn't save my post when I wrote it a few days ago, so I copy-pasted the whole damn thing into Word so I wouldn't lose my brilliant commentary. When I tried to transfer the post back into Vox, the font had changed and the photos didn't translate back in properly. So I just re-inserted the photos from my Vox photo stash, but the spacing's a little woozy in places and the font alternates between Vox's typical sans-serif and Word's Times New Roman. Sorry. (Sidenote--is there a way to change one's font on Vox? I haven't found it yet.) But my post finally saved, so I didn't want to push my luck--I just left it and decided to stick in this disclaimer afterwards. Sometimes I really wish I better understood the intricacies of computer technology so I could deal with this sort of thing, as it seems to happen to me relatively frequently. Certainly more frequently than I would expect. The other day, upon accidentally clicking something, I managed to flip my entire desktop layout sideways--and then proceeded to have a cow. Oy. But then, one panicked message on my tech-support-hero friend's voicemail later, I managed to fix it. He now probably thinks I'm an idiot. But I did it by myself. Bah!

: )

Okay, three separate but exciting things. Well, two are exciting, anyway. The first is that I somehow never took photos of the adorable little makeup pouch I got a little while ago on Etsy. Here it is:

Isn't it cute??!!?! I love the little tumbling owl print--the owl is my school "mascot" (we're really not a sports school, but we have a mascot anyway, to represent our commitment to academic pursuits. 'Cause owls are wise and stuff). So when I saw this I just neeeeeeded it. It's a great makeup-bag size, I keep it in my big purse with some essentials in it.

Second news item is that I got my Amazing Cosmetics compact!! I got the Velvet Mineral Pressed Powder Foundation in Light Golden. It is quite pricey for one item at 36 dollars, but I got my brother to get it for me for my birthday, so it worked out great! : ) And honestly, if I really like it I'll probably be willing to pay to replace it when I run out. So far, I do love it. It's called "pressed powder foundation" in the Amazon listing title, but on the actual product it says

Velvet Mineral Foundation

Pressed Powder for the Face

So I think the deal is that it's from the mineral line they have, which is called Velvet Mineral Foundation, but this is actually the pressed powder product. Which worked out great for me, because I was looking for a pressed powder and had resigned myself to this "pressed powder foundation" because it was the best one I could find. Now I don't have to worry about overdoing it when I use it to touch up because it's a pressed powder and not a foundation after all! Whee! The Light Golden color is nearly perfect for me, and I only say "nearly" because there isn't really a perfect option for me. My face is darker than the rest of me, especially in the winter, because my face sees the light of day and my neck/chest don't, so it's hard trying to match my face without emphasizing that it's actually noticeably darker than my neck. In summer, on the other hand, this powder is very light for me, because I do tan pretty nicely. Oh well, the point is it's really as good as possible without it magically changing color to match. I'm very pleased with it. And it feels nice and creamy, and doesn't puff powder everywhere streakily when I use the puff they provide, which is what usually happens. Also, it has THE CLEVEREST packaging I have ever, ever seen. Behold:

I don't know how well you can see this in the photos, but when you open the compact there's an adorable little puff with the Amazing Cosmetics logo on it, and it sits in a little plastic dish. In the third photo you can perhaps see a little lip on the right side--that's where you grab the little plastic dish, and it turns out it's a hinged "inner lid" which swings open to the side, and closes to protect the powder and keep the puff from sitting in it. But the mirror is still conveniently in the top of the actual compact. Brilliant!

And, last but not least, today's FOTD:

Foundation is Meow's Sleek Ocicat, I think--I like the Ocicat; I was wearing the Frisky a little while ago (the tan's already starting to fade, hehe) and I think the undertone's good on me.

Powder is Dreamworld's Banana Creme, and a bit of my new Amazing Cosmetics Velvet Mineral Foundation Pressed Powder (longest product name ever, by the bye).

Eyeshadow is Dreamworld's Beauty on the inner corners and Lauress's Rumor everywhere else, with a little bit of MAC's Cork in the crease (although I don't think this worked as well as planned).

Lips are a tiny bit of Burt's Bees lipstuff in Raisin smooshed out with a bunch of my very favoritest all-natural chapstick.

Please excuse the wet hair, it does tend to make me look somewhat akin to a drowned rat. It gets better when it's dry. : )

Also, I'm looking for a traincase--preferably green or bright yellow, but beggars can't be choosers. I've been looking on eBay, but (and maybe it's just my paranoia speaking) I'm a bit nervous of eBay. I just feel like people are really not as honest as they ought to be, and there's no way of actually telling what you're getting into, or what condition the item you're getting is in. I've been eyeing this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360077369696&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching because it is a nice bright color and it has a full-size lid mirror, which is what I want. I think it's in good condition, but it's hard to tell. Advice/suggestions?

Got some new photos but haven't uploaded them yet. I think I killed my camera battery by accidentally overcharging it, because now it holds a charge about as well as an overcooked noodle. Bummer. How much is a new camera battery, I wonder? Also, how absurd is it that you can OVERcharge something? I think that's preposterous.

Anyway, this is just a little rant about how much I want approximately ALL of Coastal Scents's synthetic brushes, but unless there's a sale of some sort going on I really shouldn't be buying them. Blah! They look so nice and lots of people have been talking about how good they are and I wannnnnnt themmmmmmm! Waaah!

So if anyone hears about a sale happening at Coastal Scents, do let me know, would you? Thanks!

ETA: Does anyone have any experience with NYX's jumbo eye pencils? I was thinking about getting a few, since they ingredients don't seem too horrific and I've heard some good things about them, and hey, they're 3.50 a pop. I'd love to hear anything you all have to say about them, and I'd also love if someone could explain to me the difference between the Milk color and the Cottage Cheese color. What gives?

Okay, apologies in advance for the length of this post. But it's got a couple comprehensive reviews in it, so I feel justified in my ridiculous novel-length exposition. : )

So I'm back from a week at the beach with the fam. It was nice, if not entirely relaxing, but then my family get-togethers seldom are, not when everyone comes. It was SCORCHING HOT, and the water was HELLA COLD, but we did do a bunch of wave-jumping in the ocean and sunning on the beach. I am now about six shades darker than I was when I left (I do tan pretty easily, but I don't usually spend a lot of time in the sun because I don't like heat, so the beach is one place where I do pick up a tan because I can jump in the ocean if it gets too hot. And because, you know, you have to go to the beach with the fam, you can't just sit in the house all day). So yes, now significantly darker than before, I can lighten my face a little with foundation/powder and then I match my neck/chest almost perfectly! Woohoo! I don't have pictures of me barefaced right now, but I will post some for comparison purposes.

I had placed a couple orders before leaving for the beach, and was super-wow-excited to find packages waiting for me upon my return (isn't that the best?). I got a full-sized banana creme topping from Dreamworld, and I think I used the code for 15% off, and part of the special was a sample-size of Beauty. It's on the "discontinued items" page, on the bottom, and it's a lovely lavender with grey undertones and shimmer. I plan to use it lots. From Meow I ordered a bunch of samples because I'm reevaluating my foundation color since I'm about to spend a semester in France and I want to bring one big tub of foundation with me and not have to try to buy stuff while I'm over there. I got the Pampered Puss formula, and the samples I got are Sleek Ocicat, Frisky Ocicat, Frisky Korat, Frisky Siamese, Frisky Abyssinian, Top Cat finish/setting powder, and Catablanca purrl eyeshadow. Meow sent along a free sample of Dr. Zhi-cat-o, but it seems more of a highlight color--too pale to use as lid color. Well, maybe when I'm going for a really natural look and don't want any real color on my lids, I'll slap on some of that and just have a nice creamy shimmer. That sounds nice. ( I didn't put in a picture because I figured you didn't want to see my sample baggies, but if you do, let me know and I'll do my best to get them in a good light for color comparison.)

My third little haul was yesterday; I popped over to CVS to investigate Revlon's Colorstay Mineral Lipglaze, because I'd read good things about it from a couple people on MUT/Youtube. So of course I had to investigate. I came home with  a Revlon Colorstay Soft & Smooth (I think that's what it's called) lipstick in Creamy Coral, an Organicwear Natural Origin Lip Veil in Organic Ginger, and a Revlon Colorstay Mineral Lipglaze in Forever Fig (in that order, below). So far I like all three of these, but there are some cons.   

 The Mineral Lipglaze (bottom) is LOVELY; the color is perfect for me. It's very soft browny on, not really dark red as I was afraid. The problem is that I've never been a big fan of the lipgloss consistency, or of the doe-foot applicators that all too often come in the tubes. Also, I don't like the candy-ish scent/flavor of this glaze (I'm not a fan of American candy* and I have no desire to taste sticky toddlerhood whenever I put on lipstick. Personal preference) but it's not so invasive that I can't cope. Overall, I'd give this a 7.5 out of 10. It is a beautiful color, and they do have 12 colors, but it's not as wide a range as I would have hoped. Still, if they all look different on it may be a good spectrum. The consistency isn't my personal favorite, but it's not gloopy and sticky and stringy the way most lipglosses are. It is a little tacky as it's beginning to dry, but I speed that process along by blotting on a tissue to remove some of the wetness of the original application. The applicator is again not a personal favorite, but it works fine as long as I'm careful around the edges of my mouth. The scent isn't great for me, but not so strong and invasive that I can't ignore it. The color also does seem to last quite a while--the initial "wet" look dries, but the color tint stays, and that's what I'm really interested in, since I much prefer the finish of a lipstick to that of a gloss anyway. I haven't tried to wear it for a long day or anything, but the color seems to stay on pretty well, like a lip stain.

The Soft & Smooth lipstick is a nicer texture, a very soft and creamy lipstick, but the Creamy Coral is too bright for me (at least in my tanned state). I think I might take advantage of CVS's return policy and swap it for a darker color.

The Organicwear is a beautiful color, and has a sort of frosted sheen to it. It's very nice, and easy to use. It's a twist-up tube, and the actual cylinder of product is small enough to go on easily without making a mess. You can sort of see the frosty finish in the pictures. I think I may well investigate other Organicwear lipcolors. There weren't a lot of choices when I went, but I'll definitely check back to see if they have more. 

Here are the swatches:

Moving on, here's today's look:

I used:

-a tidge of Everyday Minerals's mint concealer and Lumiere's cream healing concealer

-Meow foundation sample in frisky abyssinian

-Meow Top Cat finish/setting powder sample

-Meow Orgasmic blush (just a teeny bit)

-Smashbox bionic mascara

-Organicwear Organic Ginger lipstick underneath Revlon Lipglaze in Forever Fig

And the close-up (or at least closer-up).

 What do you all think? Does my face match my neck better? I'll keep experimenting with Meow's foundation samples, but this one does seem to work pretty well, and I think it'll still match decently when I'm winter-pale. One to keep in mind. 

 *I like black licorice (real licorice, that tastes of anise), toffee (real toffee, that you crack with a toffee hammer), caramels (real caramels, not that plasticy taffy-like stuff), and dark chocolate. Preferably European dark chocolate. What can I say, growing up in France spoiled me for things like Starbursts or Skittles; I hate artificial fruit flavors.  

So I just spent an inadvisable amount at MAC online. The thing is, I would much prefer to go into a MAC store, examine the eyeshadow colors in person, swatch some on my hand or even face, decide what looks good on me and what looks good together, and choose carefully a few colors that are versatile, easy to use, and that I'll wear well and often. But, because the closest MAC counter is half an hour away (in good traffic) and the nearest MAC store is two hours away (and in another state), online is basically the easiest way for me to buy. Also, the coupon code SONIC gets you free shipping on any order until July 26th or something, so that's a better deal than in-store because there's no tax and no shipping. But I'm always a little hesitant to spend any real amount of money online, even from a reputable website, just because even if the color's beautiful, it may not look great on me. And there's really no way to tell (well, some people can tell, but I'm bad at judging or I'd be a makeup artist) other than just trying it whether something will really look nice and be easy for me to use and wear.

I know I'll be thrilled when I get the package, and I know if something doesn't work out I could probably swap it for something that didn't work on someone else, but still. I like to know when I buy something that I will like it and use it and it will look good. Oh well, wish me luck.

P.S. Okay, yes, I know MAC is not mineral (well, not the eyeshadows) but mineral makeup is really a foundation-and-powder thing for me--I don't mind non-mineral eyeshadow, but I need it to be mineral if it's something I smear all over my face. : )

Heya. Sorry for being full of fail at this whole blogging deal--between coming home from school, planning for my semester in France in the fall, trying to get a summer job, and catching up with friends and the boyfriend, I've sort of let the whole blogging thing fall by the wayside. But never fear, for I have not abandoned makeup, and now I return with photos as a peace offering. Neato, huh? You should totally take me back as a friend.

Here we go. This is my FOTD; I tried to take good pictures in the backyard (much less awkward than on the green in front of my dorm at school, I've found) but the sun was setting, so I did as well as I could.

So. Got my hair cut after I got back from school; it now sits around my shoulders. This is a bad example because it had been in a ponytail all day, which ruins my curls, but I will reign in my wounded vanity and carry on.

Shtuff I used:

My regular EDM Light Olive and Silk Dust

EDM All Smiles pressed blush

MAC technakohl liner in Photogravure

Smashbox Bionic mascara (love!)

Aubrey Nicole eyeshadow in Sappho

All Natural Chapstick (love that stuff!)

Monave lipstick # 166 (I think).

And hair down. You guys probably can't tell that it's shorter, but it used to be down to my butt (wet) and now it's down to the middle of my back (wet), so I did have a bunch lopped off, for real.

Okay, close-ups.

I lined top and bottom lashlines with Photogravure, which is a dark browny black color, and then patted Sappho over the bottom line, which gives a bright, dark green color and is fabulous. I then used a fluffyish eyeshadow brush to pat Sappho (dry, no base) onto my lids, which produces a really pale, sort of celery-green shade. Also two coats of mascara (am lazy and usually only do one)

Lips are just Monave 166 on top of chapstick.

Can you see the pale green on my lids? It's easier to see in person, but it is quite light.

The SNAZZTASTIC sunglasses I got about three weeks ago or so. They're hot and I don't care that I look sort of kooky in them. Making faces like the one in this picture probably doesn't help.

I also thought I'd show you the new eyeliner pencil I got; it's not mineral, but I had a gift cardy-thing to spend at Kohl's, so I got this.

It's by Flirt! and it's called Look of Love Eye Pencil. This one's in Jaded, which is a dark blacky green.

Here's the swatch. How do you all get the camera to focus properly and give you nice clear pictures for things like swatches or up-close pictures of just one eye? I cannot figure out how to make the camera take a clear picture. Half the time I don't post pics it's because I don't have a clear one to give you. What do I need to do to get good up-close pics for swatches and eyes and stuff?

Lots of photos and updating today! Okay, here we go.

My post-shower makeup:

EDM's light olive foundation and silk dust; nothing complicated.

And my lovely Smashbox bionic mascara.

A closer shot, to compare my face to my neck. I know it's a bit darker, but as I've said before, my face is a bit darker than my neck. This isn't too terribly obvious/off, is it?

And, for Moosie, blush swatches: the pressed one is on the left, the loose on the right.

Lighting's a little weird and focus is slightly off, but I think it's a fair color representation.

A bit sharper; the colors are almost identical. The loose blush comes off a tiny bit pinker and a tiny bit sheerer. The pressed blush is a bit more peachy and a bit more matte; the loose powder has almost a satiny not-quite-matte finish to it that you can't really see.  

Hope this helps, Moosie!

Okay, and finally: foundation swatching!!! Wooooohoo.

Okay, these aren't all easy to see, but I suppose that's a good thing. Forgive my diseased-looking skin; it was getting better and then a small family of angry, red pimples popped up. I suppose I should have done the swatching on the other cheek, but I wasn't thinking.

Okay, starting at the top of my jaw and moving down towards my chin, the swatches are:

1.) EDM olive fair--semi-matte formula

2.) EDM olive fair--intensive formula

3.) EDM light olive--semi-matte

4.) Lauress radiant fawn

5.) Meow frisky chartreux--pampered puss formula

6.) Lauress radiant ivory

7.) Lauress subtle ivory

So the ones I can rule out right away from the photo are the subtle ivory (much too light) and the two olive fairs (too light for now--for winter, perhaps). I know the light olive looks really dark, but I feel like it's not as dark on as it looks there. It might perhaps still be a bit dark for me; I'm thinking about mixing in my olive fair samples to dilute it a bit. Or perhaps some finishing powder instead. The rest--what do you all think?

So I got my EDM order today! I'm excited. I got the personal kit, or whatever it's called, where you pick any six products from the site. I got a full-size foundation, silk dust, blush, eyeshadow, the long-handled kabuki, and a pack of their makeup-removing wipes.

I made a silly mistake, though; I went to the "deals" page to see if there was a coupon, and found that there wasn't--instead if you placed an order above a certain dollar amount you got two freebies. "Fair enough," I thought, "I'm going to be above that amount anyway for the kit, so I'll get to try extra stuff--great!" But I didn't look closely enough at the names of the freebies, so I ordered a full-size All Smiles blush in my kit, and the freebie was a pressed...All Smiles blush. Oh well, it is pressed, which will be great for carrying in my purse, and it does look like a really pretty color that will work on me, so at least it isn't a waste.

And now, the part you probably care about much more than my anecdotal rambling: photos! Yays!

Okay, here's the full order.

Wipes (okay, pretty obvious)

Foundation (light olive), blush (all smiles), and silk dust

Sample Start to Finish Fair finishing powder (freebie)

Eyeshadow in Cypress (dark sparkly green--woo!)

Pressed blush (all smiles--freebie)

Long-handled kabuki

Here's a close-up of the three full-size products to hopefully show the colors a little better. The blush is a nice peachy pink; I like it a lot. The silk dust is WHITE and I'm a little worried it'll make my face distinctly lighter when I use it, but since the foundation's a touch dark for me right now, it'll probably be fine. 

The brush. I used this to do my finishing powder today, and it's not quite what I expected. It's certainly not bad, but not a hallelujah experience either. It's not as soft as the flat-top version, and not as dense. Because it's not as dense, though, it moves very easily and covers larger areas with a lighter touch, so it is good for finishing powder, which is what I'd intended it for. It's a nice size, cute as the other one. I guess my only disappointment is that it's not as soft, but maybe it'll break in with some use.

The two smaller-size jars.

I don't know how well you can see the colors; getting the camera to focus was a fight. The cypress is a dark olivey green with shimmer; I'm excited to try it out.

The finishing powder sample should be interesting too, especially since I'm particularly into finishing powder right now.

I have to go to work in twenty minutes, but after I get back and take my shower, I'll do my makeup with my new products and take some more pictures. My dad's also coming to visit for the weekend, and we're going out for sushi (yum!) so I'll get a chance to see how everything holds up (which is a good test of finishing powder, since I'm looking for something hardcore for the summer). I shall report back with more information later. : )

Okay, so I got a couple pictures of me in sort of sunlight (outside, at least) and here they are:

My face does look a bit darker than the rest of me, but it's also in the shade.

Closer up and lit from the other direction, I think.

I look more even, but it's hard to tell. What do you think, is it ridiculous or passable? Part of the problem for me is that my face is darker than my neck/throat/upper arms, so it's hard in comparison photos because it looks like I've got on a foundation shade three tones too dark when actually I'm just matching the color of my face. Hopefully once the rest of me gets some sun it'll look more even. My lower arns are darker because they see daylight more than the rest of me, so in a face-lower arm comparison the color is usually pretty similar, but it's hard to show that in a pic without looking real awkward. Maybe I'll try it anyway.  We'll see.