2 different neutral looks

Hell must have frozen over because I've been doing nothing but neutral looks lately. It all started last week when I picked up the E.L.F. eyeshadow quad in Butternut at Target (seriously, reach between your couch cushions, dig out 4 quarters and go get this quad. It RULES and, at 25 cents per shadow, you can't friggin beat the price!!)...ever since then, I've been pulling out all my neutral shadows and playing with them to make up for neglecting them in favor of all my bright shades for so long. Here are 2 contrasting looks that have come out of that experimentation--one more dramatic and one more subtle but still defined.

LOOK 1--on the dramatic side:

Here's a neutral look I did with the aforementioned Butternut quad. It's a soft cut crease with a pop of bright coral/pink gloss on the lips (hey I can't quit my colors cold turkey!!)...I've also been testing out the new Revlon Colorstay Whipped foundation and have been LOVING it so far (will write a full review on this soon).

FACE:

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation in Buff

ELF Studio HD Powder

Physicians Formula Bronzer (this one is from years ago, the label's gone and I can't remember what it was called).

Milani blush in Dolce Luminoso

ELF Golden bronzer used as highlight

Eyes:

NYX HD eyeshadow base

ELF shadow quad in Butternut

Jordana Fabuliner in Brown

Rimmel Spark It Up liner in Tiger Eye

Maybelline The Falsies Flared mascara

ELF brow kit Medium

ELF brow gel

Lips:

Revlon Colorburst lipgloss in Strawberry

LOOK 2--much less dramatic:

Here is a much more subtle neutral look with just some light contouring in the crease & at the outer corners of my eyes. Since the shadow was so understated, I went for a bold red lip and some cat-eye liner. I was being lazy this particular day and decided to skip liquid foundation in favor of a dusting of Physicians Formula Healthy Wear powder foundation.

FACE:

Physicians Formula Healthy Wear Powder Foundation in Translucent Light

Old mystery Physicians Formula Bronzer

L'Oreal Charming Cockatoo's Blush (from last fall's LE Project Runway collection--which you can still track down on Ebay)

ELF Golden Bronzer used as highlight

EYES:

NYX Nude on Nude palette

Jordana Fabuliner in Brown

Maybelline The Falsies Flared Mascara

ELF Brow kit medium

Lips:

Revlon Cherries in the Snow (can't get more classic, iconic red than that!)

technicolor trainwreck

Sometimes I think I like color a little too much. Observe my recent FOTD

Looks like I got jumped by a box of Crayolas. Oh well. The kids in my son's class seem to get a kick out of it. I'm actually amazed by the amount of  people who stop and tell me how awesome my hair color is. Back in the day (we're talking mid 90s) when I used to rock hair like this, I got more people calling me a clown and a circus freak than anything else...I guess peeps are just more open to crazy colors these days. I suspect celebs like Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry have something to do with this. Or maybe it's just the collective evolution of people's judgement of non-conformity...pfffft, yea right. It's totally Katy.

Anyhoo, here's the products I used

Face

--Almay Clear Complexion foundation in Casper White Ivory

--ELF Studio HD powder (omg LOVING THIS!!!)

--Milani Baked Blush in Coralina

--some random old Physicians Formula bronzer (trying to show older stuff in my stash more love)

Eyes:

Garnier Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller

NYX HD eyebase

Wet N Wild Color Icon trio in I Dream of Greenie

Wet N Wild Color Icon trio in Fauna (from their Spring 2012 LE set which is still available in stores)

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel liner in black (new holy grail gel liner!!)

ELF Mineral eye brightener 

Maybelline The Falsies Flared mascara

ELF brow kit in medium

Lips:

L'Oreal Colour Riche in Sea Fleur (SO obsessed with this lippie lately)

I never cease to be amazed at the awesomeness of Wet N Wild shadows. They're so vivid and pigmented. I've been making it a point to grab a few trios & using them exclusively to see what color combos I can come up with. I switch the trios out every few days to give my redonk ColorIcon stash good rotation.

nails on crack from your favorite bimbo punk

I totally thought I was off the crack, but then they came out with glitter crack and I had a massive relapse. According to the flood of China Glaze press releases in my Google Reader app this morning, China Glaze is coming out with a line of glitter crackle colors and so is Nicole by OPI, but I won't be buying any of those those. Why you ask? Because I found a bunch of glitter crackle polishes that look JUST like the China Glaze ones at Five Below (a brand new MASSIVE Five Below that they opened a few towns over)...here's what I did with a few of them:

This is Funky Fingers Blue Glitter Scales (what they call their particular incarnation of crack--everybody's gotta have their own snazzy little name) layered over Fuchsia Glitter Scales layered over NOPI's It's All About the Glam.  

(please ignore gnarly cuticles and sloptastic polish application, k? thx)

I confess, the idea to layer one glitter crackle over another is not my original idea. I saw it on one of the other bazillion nail blogs that I follow and I would TOTALLY link to that blog right now if I could only remember which one it was (if I DO find it, I will def edit this post and put the link in). Damn faulty brain and its inability to remember junk!

These crackles are much more subtle than their non-glitter cousins. I discovered (after completely jacking up the first hand I did) that you should definitely use a thicker coat for these or it won't crack well--you'll just end up with what I call "canyon nails" (one massive crack down the center of your polish). Also, if you apply it over slightly wet polish, it will crack your basecoat (a problem I never had with regular crackles). 

Anyway, in the end, I'm glad I only paid 2.50 per bottle for these (they were 2 for $5) because, honestly, I'm not a fan. Glitter crack is whack...

Anyway, now for the bimbo punk portion of this post. Here's my look of the day:

Bleach blond plus neon leopard and studded leather and chains--what ELSE would you call that but bimbo punk. Just remember, I'm the one who started the trend lol...anyway, enough over-estimating my impact on the fashion world and onto the products I used here:

Face:

The usual Almay Clear Complexion foundation, concealor and powder

L'oreal Project Runway blush in "accidentally ripped off the label and can't for the life of me remember the name" (DOH!)

Wet N Wild Bronzzer in Acapulco Glow

Eyes:

NYX HD eyeshadow base

Glamour Doll Eyes loose eyeshadow in Jailhouse Jumpsuit and Aqua Foil (LOVING these shadows and yes I am STILL planning a mega swatchfest of all the GDE shadows I hauled about a month ago)

Wet N Wild creme shadow pencil in Pixie

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Milani Liquif'eye pencil in black

Wet N Wild Coloricon shadow single in Panther (my new go-to for setting my liner)

Brows:

ELF brow kit in medium

ELF clear brow setting gel

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Fruiti

Oh and here's a shot of the spider post earrings I made out of some Halloween craft button thingies I've had sitting around forever (I hoard halloween-themed craft supplies-well, I hoard halloween-themed ANYTHING really. It makes my little black heart happy)... Stay tuned to find out how you can win a pair (among other things)!!

2 EOTDs and other randomness

Hmmm, housework or blog post? Damn right blog post won out...don't have much in my "to post" photo folder, so here's some half-assed eye looks & whatnot...

I hate that I can never manage to capture the vibrancy of my makeup's colors in pictures...btw, excuse all the frickin spots. No it's not chicken pox. I didn't do any face makeup in these pics so this be my nekkid (and redonkulously acne-prone) skin (frightful sight, I know)...

(look at that craptastic blending job--or lack thereof)

The above is an EOTD from a few days ago...Of course, you can't really tell what is going on in the pics--sucky camera, sucky photographer yadda yadda yadda--but it's basically Sugarpill Hysteric, Royal Sugar and Goldilux with a ton of glitter caked on top. If I remember correctly, one of the glitters on there is Rave by Glamour Doll Eyes and the liner is actually Glamour Doll Eyes Ahoy Sailor mixed with Iline--a mixing medium I got from TKB Trading. 

Oh, that reminds me, stay tuned for a massive Glamour Doll Eyes swatch post as I recently hauled a TON of their eyeshadows & glitters and just got the package the other day)...

I'm including these pics cuz they are good shots of my latest greatest ridiculous DIY beauty obsession: faux feather extensions. I don't really know why they even bother calling them faux feathers cuz they look nothing like those actual rooster feather extensions that everyone is crazy about (google feather extensions and get a ton of pics of Steven Tyler--who is apparently a major fan). These ones are just crazy colored skinny lil strips of fake hair that are bonded at the top. You put them in the same way you do feather extensions: using a looping tool (you can get them on Amazon), pull a tiny bit of your real hair thru a little silicone bead, then insert the bonded tip of the extension, and then you clamp the bead shut at the root of your hair with some flat-nosed pliers. I frickin love these things. Anything that allows me to crazy up my 'do with no dye mess left over to clean up works for me! You can treat these extensions like your real hair. I've flat-ironed & washed mine a zillion times and they are just fine.

You can get extension kits on Amazon.com that include a bunch of extensions, the beads and the looping tool (Bundle Monster has a nice cheap one). I supplied my own flat-nosed pliers (in addition to painting faces and nails, I make jewelry so I have basically every shape and size of pliers known to mankind)...

Gotta show off my adorable little skelly earrings. LOVE me some bones!

Here are some shots of today's eyeshadow madness...

(Look you can ALMOST see my labret winking at you. I'm actually wearing jewelry in it for the first time in forever...)

I've been on a huge blue kick lately.  Although these pics make this look like one big swipe of baby blue across my lids, there's really 3 colors working here: a lavendar inner corner highlight, a light minty green/blue lid and a darker teal in the outer v and blended just slightly into the crease (I try not to do too much heavy shading in my crease cuz of my cave-man brow-bone and deep set eyes)...I'm wearing Milani Haute Flash lip gloss in Star Flash (the LE version, not the new core version)...I'm so obsessed with those glosses! Oh yea, and all the shadows are from the 4th edition BH 120 palette.

Showin a little purple leopard print leg...these tights are SHINY too (can't tell that in the pic, though)...

Ok, that's enough rambling for one day...

yesterday's FOTD featuring Sleek Acid palette

After I did my Sleek Acid Palette swatch post yesterday, I created a simple look using a few of the shadows but I haven't had a chance to post it til now. 

I decided on a simple look only using 3 of the shadows because the shadows were pretty difficult to work with. They applied very patchy--even with primer and NYX JEP in Milk, I had a hard time just getting even coverage. I had to pack on the shadows really heavily and every time I tried to blend, they would just disappear. I ended up having to do a ton of spot touch ups with additional primer  and shadow applied with my ELF small precision brush. I gotta say, though, when I was out I had tons of people oohing and aahhing over this look and asking me where on earth I got such bright shadows...the compliments were nice but were they worth the pain in the ass application? Still trying to decide...

(btw yes I am wearing my fuzzy pink bathrobe with froggies all over it. I didn't mean for it to coordinate with my hair/makeup lol but I kinda like the effect...

FACE

Garnier anti-dark circle eye-roller

Almay Clear Complexion foundation, powder and concealor

ELF Studio blush in Pink Passion

Wet N Wild Bronzzer in Acapulco Glow

EYES

NYX HD Eyeshadow base

NYX JEP in Milk

Sleek Acid Palette (the neon green, yellow and white shades)

Jordana Fabuliner

Wet N Wild ColorIcon in white (water line)

The Falsies Flared mascara

BROWS:

ELF brow kit in medium

ELF clear mascara/brow-setting gel

Lips: Maybelline Baby Lips (the peppermint one in the bright green tube whose name I am totally blanking on right now)

Milani Haute Flash lipgloss (The LE version) in In a Flash

Do you think the application hassle is worth it if the color of the product in question is freaking off the hook?

NOTD & FOTD turquoise & pink & flakies (oh my)

Haven't done a NOTD/FOTD post in a while so I thought I'd kick one out. Here's what I'm rockin:

Nails = OPI Kiss Me on My Tulips (quite possibly the most perfect bright pink creme ever concocted) with Zoya Chloe on top. Oh how I luvzz tha flakies. 

(click to enlarge)

Yes my cutez be gnarly. Of course, they look even worse close-up. Thank God my hands aren't this inflated in real life!

Of course, I didn't even come close to capturing the awesome light-of-1000-suns, burning ember effect of the flakies on camera (the last darker indoor shot is the only one that comes close). It is freaking amaze-balls in person. Seriously, I've basically done nothing but stare at my nails all day long. 

 Well, that's a lie. I was able to stop staring at my nails long enough to paint my face:

Normally, I steer clear of blue & turquoise eyeshadows, mainly because I don't think those shades do much for my eye color. Also, every time I see blue eyeshadow, it always makes me think of Mimi from The Drew Carrey Show. Anyone remember Mimi?

image credit here :)

Oh who am I kidding, I look just like her...still, it was fun to play with a color I don't usually touch. 

Here's what you need if you, too, want to get the Mimi look:

face:

Almay Clear Complexion foundation, powder & concealor

Garnier Anti-dark circle eye roller

Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink

Wet N Wild Bronzzer in Acapulco Glow

eyes:

NYX HD eyeshadow base

BH Cosmetics 120 palette, 1st edition (I'll make & upload a chart for this to show which shades I used)

ELF Creme liner in black

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Maybelline The Falsies Flared mascara

Brows:

ELF Brow Kit in medium

ELF clear mascara/brow gel

lips:

NYC Liquid Lipshine in Fashion Ave Fuchsia

Anyone else have a certain shade of makeup they avoid because of some kind of silly association they have with it?

What I'm currently obsessed with: fuchsia lips

You know how some artists have certain spans in their career defined by color--like Picasso's blue period for example--well, I'm kinda like that with makeup. I go through certain spells when all I want to wear is one single color--it's usually either my lips or my nails that get subjected to the fixation...

Anyway, so right now--for whatever reason--I'm in the midst of a fuchsia lip obsession, so I thought I'd do a post on my 5 favorite fuchsia lippies.

First let us marvel at the wonders of Revlon lip butter in Lollipop (oh yea I have a HUGE case of Lip Butter fever--at this point, I own 15 of the 20 available shades) and Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Fuchsia Fusion.

(swatches of everything  at the bottom of this post)

Fuchsia-licious! Lollipop is amazingly pigmented and I love the way it feels on my lips--nice and smooth and it has just enough slip (I hate when lip products are dry or sticky but I also hate when they are so slippery that it feels like you just kissed an oil slick.)

Fuchsia Fusion is an awesome pearly fuscia that has a blue flash that I frickin love. (I always gravitate toward cool, blue-based pinks. I just don't think the warm stuff looks good on me.) It's no coincidence  that both of these lip products are by Revlon. I think they make the best lipsticks Cheapie-land has to offer--super pigmented, lush and you don't have to re-apply every 5 minutes.

Next up is New York Color lipstain in Forever Fuchsia. Oh how I love these lipstains! Seriously the.freakin.best. I have every single shade they offer (at $5 a pop, why not get 'em all?). The marker-like packaging and the sharp tip give such a precise application and the product flows out evenly (I should mention I store my lipstains upside down so that ensures the lipcolor is always in the tip where it needs to be). This particular shade applies a flush of medium rosy pink at first but it's buildable to a bright eye-popping pink in 2 or 3 coats.  And these stains seriously do last. I STILL have the mark on my arm from the swatches I did for this post--it has lasted through a night's sleep & my morning shower. 

                                         

When eye-popping pink is not enough for me, I reach for my beloved Milani Lip Flash pencil in Flashy. This baby is not only hot pink \--it's got bright magenta GLITTER. And despite the glitter, it doesn't feel gritty or rough on the lips. It is super-pigmented and applies like buttah. Like BUTTAH! Plus I like the pencil-ness of it (if that's even a word). It makes putting it on nice and fool-proof (I hate fussing with lip liners).

Last but not least, I have Milani 3D Glitzy Gloss in In Vogue. This is a translucent hot pink gloss with hot pink glitter in it. It can be built to full coverage with a few swipes but my favorite way to wear it is to layer it over the above NYC lipstain. Once again, love the consitency--not sticky, not too thick but not so thin that it feels like olive oil on your smacker. I also love the applicator. Check it out:

front view

side view

It's a little brush! No doe-feet and no annoying flat paddle applicators (I seriously hate those things and am so annoyed that they are showing up in more and more glosses these days). Love how this brush distributes the product and keeps it only where you want it (no accidentally smearing over the lip line--YAY!)

Anyway, I've been wearing the heck out of these 5 lippies during the past few weeks and just thought it'd be fun to give 'em some props on the ol' blog. Love their color, love their quality and, best of all, love their prices (The most expensive one was the lip butter at about $8--but I rarely pay full price because I stalk Nouveau Cheap for sales notices and coupons, plus I also have Xtra-bucks or Register rewards or whatever to spend).

Here's the swatches:

From top to bottom: Milani Lip Flash in Flashy, Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop, Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Fuchsia Fusion, NYC Lipstain in Forever Fuchsia, Milani 3D Glitzy Gloss in In Vogue

So what do you think? Do you go through color "periods?" Thoughts on bright lippies?

FOTD from Friday

2 things I need: 1) a better camera & 2) better photo editing skills...

I used my Coastal Scents 88 metal mania palette for this. The colors were much more vivid in real life--light & dark olive greens, oranges, golds and browns...

I need to make one of those palette charts so I can show exactly which shades I used. Add that to my to-do list!

 (click to enlarge)

Face:

--Almay Clear Complexion foundation in Ivory

--Almay Clear Complexion concealer in light

--Almay Clear Complexion powder in light

--Milani blush in Luminoso

--Wet n Wild bronzers in Reserve your Cabana and Ticket to Brazil (will be doing a review of these soon)

Eyes:

--Coastal Scents Metal Mania palette

--NYX HD eyeshadow base

--Jordana eyeliner in Green Gables

--Jordana Fabu-liner in brown

Lips:

Milani Lip Flash lip pencil in Lip Flash (LOVE these!!)

Revlon lip butter in Peach Parfait

Do you have any of the 88 palettes?