Plays With Color

EOTD: The dangers of overblending

July 26th, 2010

The other day I was watching YouTube videos, and came across a burgundy and purple eye look that I wanted to do my own version of.  (I *think* it was by Tiffany D, but I watched enough videos that I can’t be sure.)  Unfortunately, I was so thorough with my blending brush that the burgundy sort of took over.  Further into unfortunate territory, burgundy on its own is not the best color for me.  It flatters the green in my eyes, but my skin looks really tired.

Eyes only today, and my closed-eye picture is only one eye, because I couldn’t size it any smaller and still show the colors properly (that’s how much I blended!)

Closeup picture:

See, you can barely see that there are three colors going on there!  (Also, ignore that shadow on the left that looks like creasing.  It’s about 3 hours later, and the shadow has not, in actuality, creased at all.)  This photo seems a lot duller in color than I thought it was when I cropped and saved it, but I could be crazy.

Colors I used:

  • Detrivore primer (I finally have the hang of using this without having it crease!)
  • Aromaleigh Rocks! nightshift – inner 2/3 of the lid
  • Aromaleigh Rocks! stillinhollywood – outer 2/3 of the lid (yup, that gives me some overlap in the middle)
  • Aromaleigh Rocks! pleasuredome – outer corner into the crease, lower lashline (I should have used this one wet, because I got mostly sparkle, and it went all over the place)
  • Fyrinnae Nijiro – inner corner and browbone
  • Urban Decay 24/7 liner in 1999 (can’t really see it, unfortunately)
  • CG Lash Blast length in black

My next look should be something pastelly, after all this dark stuff the past couple of times!

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FOTD: I was bored last night.

July 25th, 2010

I was bored last night and I decided to play.  My friend Jen told me to do blue when I was being wobbly in our chat about not being able to decide, so naturally I did what she asked!  (Please forgive the hair…my bangs need a serious trim, and everything was just extra limp yesterday too.)

I put some lipstick on after I took this picture, but my lips were so dry that it did not look good at all.  (It was the right color for the eye makeup, but it was a matte lippie, so it really showed my flaky lips.)

A couple of closeups on the eyes and details after the jump–naturally, the best picture of the makeup had my glasses right in the way, so that’s why I’m giving a couple of closeups.

Read the rest of this entry »

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NOTD: Treasure goes with anything.

July 24th, 2010

I’ve figured out that I have a fairly neutral skintone, but it leans just a smidge to the warm side.  I look okay in silver jewelry, but somehow I figured that gray nail polish just Would Not Do.  That doesn’t stop me from wanting to wear it, though–in fact, being the contrary creature that I am, I want to wear it even more!  I decided today that Hidden Treasure might warm it up just enough to make it work.

For the record, I was wrong.  At least this particular gray works on its own, no Hidden Treasure necessary.

This is Zoya Harley, described on their website as “Light concrete gray base with subtle flecks of silver, gold and copper shimmer.”  (It’s also described as being in warm-toned, so maybe that’s why it works.)  The formula on this was great.  I sometimes have trouble with Zoyas being too thin and sometimes pooling around the cuticle, but this one gave me no grief.  This is 2 coats, no top coat in this picture because I decided I wanted a coat of HT anyway.  Here’s what that did:

It’s still pretty lovely.  As a point of interest, this is probably the best job I’ve ever done on my fingernails with respect to coloring inside the lines.  (I still have to work on not dinging the drying nail polish, whether it’s on the desk or the brush when I’m working on my other hand.)  I haven’t had to scrape any polish off my skin yet!  I have a few bits on my skin, but they’re minor enough that they’ll take care of themselves the next couple of times I was my hands.  Write this day on the calendar, folks!

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Beauty Blogs Backstage: July edition

July 21st, 2010

Beauty Blogs Backstage continues!  This month, I had the chance to interview Tara of Cherry Bomb Beauty.  (ETA: If you’d like to read my interview, Tara has posted it here.)

If you had to choose just one drugstore line to use for the rest of your life, what would it be?  How about a department store line?

I would definitely choose Revlon for the drugstore brand. I haven’t used a lot of their products, but I really loved their colorstay eyeliner and concealer so I would trust that their other products are of the same quality. As far as department store I would probably choose MAC; part of me wanted to go with NARS but I’ve used a lot more MAC products. Their line is fabulous and I love the Back To MAC program.

What is your favorite work-appropriate nail polish?

I absolutely adore OPI’s Italian Love Affair. I’m not a fan of neutral colors especially brown. As much as I would love to wear hot pink, it’s not always work-appropriate. Italian Love Affair allows me to have the flirty look of pink, but it’s subtle enough to still look elegant.

If you could only eat the cuisine from one culture for the rest of your life, which culture would it be?

I would have to say Italian. It tastes amazing whether it is homemade or made in a restaurant.

What is your favorite scent for shower products? Does this change seasonally, or do you use the same thing year-round?

My all time favorite scent for shower products is coconut and I use it all year round. It’s kind of funny, I don’t like the taste of coconut at all, but I don’t think I could ever get tired of the smell.

What eye makeup color will you never wear?  How about lip color?

I think I’ve tried just about every eye color imaginable. Although some colors look really great when blended with other colors I wouldn’t wear yellow, orange, or red alone. I feel like it would just make me look sick. I wouldn’t wear a brown lip color at all. It’s just not my style.

You have the opportunity to have dinner with the historical figure of your choice.  Who is it and why?

I would want to have dinner with John F. Kennedy because I’ve heard such great things about him. I think it would be an honor to sit down and talk to a man that could have potentially changed the path of the United States. Plus, he was really handsome so I wouldn’t mind looking at him if we ran out of things to talk about.

What is your favorite recent find?  It can be either a new product or something that’s just new-to-you, I’m not picky!

My newest find is NARS’s lip gloss in Turkish Delight; although it is pricey the color payoff is gorgeous! It is the perfect bubblegum pink. I also love that the gloss doesn’t make my lips feel sticky. I hate that feeling!

Thanks for answering my questions, Tara!  (And thanks again, LiAnn, for putting the exchange together!)

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Swatching, swatching, swatching….

July 19th, 2010

I haven’t been wearing makeup for the past few weeks, because it’s been Too Darn Hot. (That song has been stuck in my head for just about as long.) I haven’t changed my toenail polish from the Talullah/Hidden Treasure combo because I’ve been lazy and it still looks good.  I have, however, swatched my entire Sassy Minerals sample collection over Pixie Epoxy for you.  (Well, all of the shimmery Sassy Minerals.)  It makes me wonder why I don’t use them very often, because the colors are lovely, much more complex than they look in the jar.  All pictures can be clicked for embiggenment (and I’d quite recommend doing so, especially on the picture of the liners, because the smaller pictures don’t show the sparkle as well as they could).

I’d have to say my favorites are Solar Flare, Elusive (purple sparkle!), Break the Silence, Flash of Brilliance, and of course Gasoline Rainbow.

Now, question for you: Which of these colors would you combine for a look for my dark green eyes?  I’m ready to try something new, and I don’t trust my color-combining skill, sad to say!

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(T)NOTD: Tallulah (and some Treasure!)

July 4th, 2010

My toenails have been pink for the past couple of weeks, boring enough that I didn’t bother photographing, and it was time for something else.  Yesterday, I decided it was the perfect weekend for BLUE!

This is Zoya Tallulah.  Two coats.  It’s thin enough that I’m realizing I should have buffed my big toenail, but whatever.

Then, on the way home from my boyfriend’s parents’ house, I needed to stop at the drugstore to pick up some new insoles for some dress shoes his mom gave me, and I decided to take a random look at the makeup displays.

They had not one, but two bottles of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure!  Oh yes, one came home with me.  If I’d had the cash, they both would have.  Guess I only had to go an hour away from home to find one.

It looks pretty good over Tallulah.  I tried a thick coat on one foot, and a thin coat on the other.  Both looked good:

I’m seeing why it’s so popular!

If you have Hidden Treasure, what’s your favorite color to put it over?

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Good-bye, Aromaleigh.

June 29th, 2010

Woke up this morning to the news that Aromaleigh is closing in the next few weeks.  It seems sudden to me, especially if you scroll down and read the news from the 26th, but on the other hand, there have been clues.  The forum was closed a few weeks ago, and the online presence was drastically scaled back other than the store’s website itself.  I get the idea from reading comments on Phyrra’s blog that there was some drama I was unaware of…I have to say I never pay attention to stuff like that, honestly.

Aromaleigh wasn’t the first mineral makeup I’d used, or even the second.  It was the first company to send me press samples (okay, the only company, actually), and I’m glad I forced myself to try the Rocks! line even though it seemed so Not Me.  I haven’t been in the mineral makeup scene long enough or deeply enough that I’ve gotten attached to any company yet, but it’s always sad to see a company go, especially one so established.

If you use the code ADIEU35, you’ll get 35% off your order.  Keep in mind that the availability isn’t updated in real time, so even if you can order a product, it may be sold out already.  Unfortunately, unless a job offer comes in, I won’t be able to place a last order, but good luck in your future, Kristen.

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EOTD: Rocks for work, experiment #1

June 25th, 2010

And I think I might have erred on the side of too subtle!

Only eyes today.  Foundation and I are having a rather tempestuous relationship, and I think it may be because I haven’t found quite the right summer moisturizer for my skin.  Also, my hair is truly scary.  I’ve discovered that a flat iron is an excellent tool for making my hair professional (when it’s shorter than shoulder length, despite being otherwise straight it bends in odd places), but I have to buy some heat protectant before I try it again and give you pictures.  (It’s also not as hard to do as a lot of other hair tricks, important for me and my klutziness!)

Enough babbling.  Here are my eyes.  First open….

And then closed.

See what I mean about too subtle?  You can barely see the liner, especially on my right eye where I put it on a bit more narrowly.  (Is that even a word?  Well, it is now.)  My vision is significantly different in my right and left eyes (much blinder in the left, in case you were curious), and I seem to have not gotten the hang of compensating for that when I put my eye makeup on.  Either that or I overcompensate.

What I used:

  • Concealer, for once!  Benefit Erase Paste in the lightest color on my dark circles.  It’s a bit cakey, which means I really need to be more religious about eye cream, because the skin is getting a bit dry there.
  • Painterly Paint Pot as base (next look, I swear to you I will try my Detrivore primer again…pinky swear, even!)
  • Fyrinnae Valhalla on the lid
  • Fyrinnae Maneki Neko on the outer corner, quite lightly, and dry on the lower lash line
  • Fyrinnae Shinkirou as a brow highlight
  • Aromaleigh Rocks in Dirtydeeds, used dry as a liner on the upper lid
  • Cover Girl Lash Blast Length on the upper lashes…it’s a lot more subtle than the Volume, so I think it’s a better everyday mascara for me.  I seem to be extra sensitive to the smell of it though, because it really bothered me today.  It hasn’t gone bad (I just opened it a couple of weeks ago)…it’s just a bit more chemical-ish than the Volume.

Valhalla and Maneki Neko are very neutral browns–in fact, I’d venture that Valhalla is pretty darn close to taupe–and they both seem to have a slight purplish cast on my skin, either from combining with the Paint Pot or just from my skin, which didn’t really come through in either photo.  I’d be perfectly willing to wear this makeup to work–especially behind my glasses, it’s very subtle and professional.  In fact, next experiment I think I’m going to throw some Pixie Epoxy in there and see how professional I can keep it.

I used a neutral pink gloss with this, and it worked well, though I think I’d have been happier with something more on the matte side.

(For the record, no job yet, though I should be hearing back soon about the first job I second-interviewed for, and I have another second-interview scheduled, this one for the job I reallyreallyreally want, just after the 4th of July weekend.)

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Beauty Blogs Backstage: I’ve done some interviewing!

June 21st, 2010

Oops!  I was supposed to post my questions to Jen and her answers!  Never fear–I’m still awake, and here they are:

What’s your daily makeup routine?  Do you do a full face every day, or do you do a basic routine and then glam it up when you feel inspired?

I stay home with my daughters (ages 1 and 4) and putting on a full face to play Candyland and sit next to the sandbox seems silly. I manage to put on a basic face when I’m going out for errands: sheer foundation over my beloved Bobbi Brown Corrector; a neutral shadow with mascara, lipstick or gloss. I “do it up” for tutorials or actual events. The mail lady is used to seeing me in jeans and a ratty t-shirt with a full-face of makeup.

What non-makeup, non-beauty, non-fashion thing tends to inspire you most when you create a look?

I’m inspired mostly by color. I’m a painter, an artist, so I sometimes just have a mood for a certain color or color combination. I think a lot of it is unconscious, for example the other day I had a dental appointment and then got a pedicure. I had to go back to the dentist the next day and realized I had matched my toenail polish to the color of the accessories I could see from the chair. Bizarre. But still, a lovely lilac! ;)

If you were an animal, which one do you think you’d be?

I’m silly and sleep a lot, so I’d probably be some kind of puppy.

How long does a pedicure last before you get sick of the color and redo it?  How about a manicure; different amount of time, or the same?

My pedicures can last for two weeks before I resent the color, but manicures bore me after about two days. Or maybe sooner. I’m incredibly mani-fickle!

If you had to choose your one favorite work-appropriate nail color, what would it be and what do you like about it?

Since I’m a makeup artist, I have no limits with “work appropriate”! If I feel like I have to keep my polish subdued, though, I like soft peaches or my favorite shade: lovely taupes. I don’t think colors like Sephora by OPI’s Metro Chic are ever inappropriate.

If you could only eat the cuisine from one culture for the rest of your life, which culture would it be?

I’d eat Indian food, definitely! It’s my favorite. And luckily there are tons of vegetarian choices, so that plus the spices means I’d never have a bored palette.

I see you post about fragrance too…what’s the one note that doesn’t work on you that you really, really, REALLY wish did?

That’s a great question. I really love sticking my nose in a rose, but for the most part rose notes just get terribly overwhelming on me. I don’t care to smell like a granny’s lingerie drawer.  I wish I could wear leather notes, too, because they pair with a lot of my favorite notes in some very interesting-sounding scents. Sadly, tobacco tuns into “ashtray” on my skin, and that’s never cute.

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Beauty Blogs Backstage: I’ve been interviewed!

June 21st, 2010

LiAnn from Sparklecrack Central has put together a blog exchange, I guess you’d call it, called Beauty Blogs Backstage.  In this, bloggers interview each other!  I had the pleasure of interviewing and being interviewed by Jen from Beauty School Blog.  I don’t think she’s had a chance to post her answers to my questions yet, but here are my answers to her questions!

I see you like some of my favorite brands. What is it about lines like Aromaleigh and Fyrinnae that you like?

The colors were what drew me in.  I’ve purchased colors that I never thought I’d ever wear, and loved them!  I find it easier to use loose shadows, especially when I want a dramatic eye look, because you can use them wet or on Pixie Epoxy if you really want them to stand out.  (The fact that they don’t irritate my eyes is another plus!)

OK: tough question time. You get to pick one color for the rest of your life. What shade do you pick for eyes? Lips? Cheeks? Nails?

This is really sort of an evil question!  Cheeks are easy actually, since most of the time I forget to wear blush altogether!  So a neutral peachy-pink, not that I’ve managed to find one I like yet.  Eyes I’d have to say purples, because purple tones do really good things for my green eyes.  There’s also a lot of variation in the purple family–warm, cool, bright, practically neutral–I could make it work.  Lips I’d probably go with some variation of nude.  I’ve been wearing NYX’s Bravo a lot lately.  It’s similar to Thalia in color, but a wee bit lighter.  Nails are the hard one though.  I think I’d have to go with the peach/coral family there.  Pinks are harder, because my skin is a smidge on the warm side of neutral, and at some point I’m going to have to get a Real Job that may or may not frown on nail polish colors such as blue or neon green.

What’s the one makeup technique you wish you could master?

Dealing with my waterline.  It tickles!

What’s the one non-makeup thing you wish you could master? (eg ski, jump out of planes, sewing, etc)

Ice skating.  I can roller skate forever without falling down, but my ankles just do not like ice skating.  I don’t feel nearly stable enough on a wee thin blade.  Wobbly ankles, I fall down, and then of course there’s ice melting under my bum and I stand up all wet.  (I totally would have played ice hockey if I’d been able to skate.)

We’ve all answered this kind of question before and then eaten our words, but I’ll ask anyway: What is the one color that we’ll never see on your eyes? Nails?

Ha!  My words have already been eaten many, many times on this question.  “No, I’ll never wear hot pink eyeshadow…except it totally looks good.”  “Acid green?  Not a chance.”  (Also looks good.)  I’m going to say brown for the nails, and eyes?  Um.  I’m pretty sure I have worn every color on my eyes at least once.  I think I’m going to go with khaki though.  Aromaleigh’s Fig is an excellent example of a gorgeous khaki shade that just does not work on me.  I can’t wear it as makeup or clothing.  (Well, khaki pants are an exception.  Khaki shirts just make me look dead.)

Vampires or werewolves?

My soft spot for Remus Lupin requires me to say werewolves.

Tell us three things we don’t know about you? For example, your blog has a kin of art nouveau or deco styling – what’s what that?

Honestly, the styling of my blog was an accident–mostly I was looking for a theme that I liked that wasn’t crazy multicolored, and this was the first one I came up with!  Okay, three things y’all don’t know about me.  (1) I don’t have a driver’s license.  I own a car, and I have my learner’s permit, but no license yet at the ripe old age of 31.  (2) I seriously love reading cookbooks, but I don’t cook very often.  (3)  I got the same score on my math and verbal SAT (surprised me, because I always thought I was better at the verbal side than the math side).  A little over 15 years later, I got the same exact score on the GRE.

What’s the next trick we’ll see on your blog? A new brand you’re eying, a new type of product you want to dive into?

Back on the Real Job theme, I’m probably going to start experimenting with work-appropriate eye looks…seeing exactly how colorful or dramatic I can go and still feel comfortable in a professional environment.  (Subtitle: Can I wear Aromaleigh Rocks to work?)

Thanks for the great questions, Jen!

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