Eye Candy

Hey everyone~

In the past few months I have been accumulating quite a bit of makeup.  As a blogger of course, I try to take pictures of new products before actually using them so that I have a clean product to show you guys.  Unfortunately, the makeup is piling up and the blog posts most definitely have not been being written.  I thought I'd try to shame myself by gathering all the BRAND NEW IN BOX (unopened and sealed) products I had purchased in the last few months and take pictures in hopes that I will remind myself how much stuff I have.  Here are the results:

Terrifying yet glorious at the same time, right?  The plan completely backfired.  I got more excited about the new goodies I had to play with and only feel ever so slightly ashamed.  Problematic.

In case you guys were wondering, some of the products are for my kit, some are products that I need, some I'm not sure if I want to keep, but all of it was acquired to satisfy my sick lust for makeup.

And let's not even go through the brand new, unboxed makeup I have lying around.

Rainbow Leopard Print

One of my classmates has been asking me to do his makeup for a while.  I finally found a bit of time to spare during class, and attempted to put eye makeup on his eyes.  His eyes, however, are so sensitive that he was crying rivers after I applied eyeshadow primer, so we just settled for a simple leopard print on the side of his face and down his neck.

I used the 88 Matte Palette, a Silver NYX JEP, and a black Rimmel eyeliner for the leopard print and whiskers.  On the lips I used Inglot AMC Eye and Lip Pencil in 89, as well as Sephora lipgloss in Rosy Glow.

FOTD and a look inside myself

Hello beautiful beautiful people!

Before I get to the FOTD, I'd like to thank those of you who took the time to comment on my last post, especially regarding my lack of inspiration.  I've decided that I have taken a long enough break from makeup, and that if I were to officially decide on letting go of makeup for a while, I don't know when I'll be able to pick it up again.  I want to get better so badly, and the only way to do that is to keep practicing.  More on that later.

As for the look, I literally spread out all my Inglot eyeshadows in front of me and looked for inspiration.  As always, I was immediately drawn to blues, greens, and purples.  I settled for a blue and purple look, and it wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realized I have done this color combination before.  Oops.

THIS is why I don't include shots without my glasses anymore.  I
look so weird!

Face:
-Laura Mercier hydrating primer
-Aveeno tinted moisturizer in Medium
-Cover FX Setting Powder in Light
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Amused

Eyes:
-UDPP
-Yves Rocher Intense Eye Crayon in Vert Marine
-Inglot eyeshadows in 413P, 426P, 441P, 362M, 388M, DS 462
-Stila Smudgepot in Kitten
-Stila eyeshadows in Kitten and Black Cat
-Lancome eyeshadow in After Dusk
-NYX JEP in Oyster
-UD 24/7 Liners in Perversion and Ransom
-L'oreal Voluminous Mascara

That's all for the look!

---------------------------------------------------------------
So now is when I'm going to be using my beauty blog for something a bit more personal.  I've never formally announced it on my blog, but I'm an aspiring makeup artist.  Makeup was the very first thing that really lit me on fire and has not yet burnt out, and it has been amazing for me to find something I'm truly passionate about. I've gotten a very late start on applying makeup--I didn't start wearing eyeliner and mascara regularly till I was 19!  Despite my late start, I put my education towards my career as a teacher on hold so that I could pursue my dream first.  I was offered a teaching position in Korea a while back.  I had time to do one semester of cosmetology before I was supposed to leave, but I decided I wanted to finish and get my cosmetology license first.

Now during my second semester of my cosmetology program, I find myself frustrated and questioning myself.  I want to become a professional makeup artist so bad!  But the classes are focused around hair and I have learned literally nothing about makeup.  I do so much research online on kits, acquiring clientele, etc but it's never enough.  I'm so impatient to improve my skills at makeup application, and I become so frustrated when it doesn't turn out right.  Recently, I've become even more impatient because my financial situation has taken a dip down, and I want 'real' work NOW, instead of being a full time student and working part time.

I also have a problem with caring too much about what other people think.  I love blogging so very much.  I feel great being able to share how I interpret and put together different colors, and just this ever growing passion in general.  Over two years after I started blogging, I find myself doubting if the content I lay out there has any value or hold interest for very many people out there.  I have a problem with constantly comparing myself to others and it drives me nuts.

I have these sorts of discussions with my boyfriend often.  He's a lot like my therapist and cheerleader, who has a lot more faith in me than I do, and does his best to convince me that everything will turn out the way I want it to.  It's a wonder he isn't tired of hearing me talk about these things over and over again.

In any case, these are some of the thoughts that run through my head quite frequently.  Typing it all out has been sort of a therapy session for me.  I'm doing my very best to punch those thoughts down and have a little more faith in myself.  I think perhaps on each day I don't have work,  I'll kidnap a poor soul and force a makeover on him/her.  We'll see how that goes :)

Stay sane, my lovelies, and whatever goals you have, don't stop until you get there.

FOTD: Eurydice

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

FOTD: Christmas in the Asylum

The ladies of EyeGraffiti were curious to see how Sugarpill's loose eyeshadow in Asylum would look against my black hair.  The fact that the product is loose and that it's a red color is a double whammy in terms of difficulty.  Take those factors and throw in the fact that I had to use it so that I could wear this look to work.  Oh boy.

In the light of the holiday season, I decided to make it Christmas theme, but with Asylum as the dominant colors.  Here's what I came up with:

So much for work friendly makeup. Haha.

Face:
-Eve Pearl Priming Moisturizer
-Smashbox Foundation in Light 3
-L'oreal Trumatch Foundation in N6
-Laura Mercier Setting Powder
-NARS Bronzer in Laguna
-NARS Multiple in Copacabana
-Tarte Blush in Amused

Eyes:
-UDPP
-Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in Plum-ing for Gold (LE)
-NYX JEB in Pots and Pans, Rocky Mountain Green
-Sugarpill loose shadows in Asylum, Tiara
-Too Faced e/s in Wicked Green
-Stila e/s in Black Cat
-Milani Liquifeye Pencil in Black
-L'oreal Lineur Intense Liquid Liner
-L'oreal Extra Collagen Mascara

Lips:
-Buxom Lipgloss

FOTD: Burning Heart

I purchased Sugarpill's Burning Heart over a year ago when Sugarpill put up some ever so slightly damaged palettes for about $20 each.  I managed to get my hands on a Burning Heart palette, which was actually in near  perfect condition except for a slight chip in the matte yellow eyeshadow.  Poison plum (purple) in my palette is not nearly as pigmented as the others, and I don't know if it's because my palette is supposedly defective.  In any case, I can sort of make it work if I swirl my brush in the shadow about 20 times.

I've done a few looks with this palette but never actually posted them (save my Halloween 2011 look) here on this blog.  The look I have here today was inspired by EyeGriffiti's Black and Red Tutorial.  It really doesn't look much like their masterpiece, but it made me dig out this gorgeous palette again and rock some brights.

Damn, I look like a BITCH without my glasses on.

Face
-Eve Pearl Priming Moisturizer
-Aveeno Tinted Moisturizer in Medium
-Laura Mercier Setting Powder
-NYC Matte Bronzer in Sunny
-NARS Multiple in Copacabana
-Sleek Blush in Pixie Pink

Eyes:
-UDPP
-NYX JEB in Cottage Cheese
-Sugarpill Burning Heart Palette
-Stila e/s in Black cat
-Milani Liquifeye liner in Black
-L'oreal Extra Collagen Mascara
-Wet n Wild e/s Brulee
-Stila Smudgepot in Black

Lips:
-Buxom Lipgloss

Whee!  I don't want to go back to "normal" looks any time soon.  I love wearing lots and lots of color!

FOTD: Planet Plum

A while back I did a review on this Canada exclusive eyeshadow duo, and was very disappointed by it.  I decided to give it another whirl today and added an eyeshadow base underneath to amplify the color.  Fortunately, that was all I needed to bring out the beautiful colors of these eyeshadows.

My hair is all bound up and I look odd but at least you can see the makeup better.

Can you tell what a huge difference the base makes?  If you look at the pictures on the review post, you can see that without a primer and base, these eyeshadows are absolutely awful.  I'm just so glad I was able to make it work!

Face:
-Smashbox Foundation in Light 3
-L'oreal TruMatch Foundation in N6
-Laura Mercier Setting Powder
-NYC Matte Bronzer
-Maybelline Cream Blush in Peach Satin
-Benefit Blush in Coralista

Eyes:
-UDPP
-NYX JEB in Oyster
-Quo Planet Plum duo
-L'oreal Lineur Intense liquid liner
-UD 24/7 Liner in Perversion and Zero
-L'oreal Waterproof Carbon Black Mascara
-Wet n Wild e/s in Brulee

Lips:
-Maybelline ColorSensational High Shine lipstick in Mauvilicious Shine

Review: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Before I move on to the review, I just wanted to thank you all for your wonderful and supportive comments on my last post.  I try to be as honest as possible with everything I put out (and sometimes I end up being a little too vulgar/blunt) and I'm glad that has carried across to many of you.  I'm going to keep at it in terms of putting good, useful, and sometimes entertaining information out there.  So again, thank you all for your support, and even just stopping by to give my blog a read :)

Let's get on to the review!

What:
These are one of NYX's most popular products.  They are creamy eyeshadows in pencil form, containing about 5 grams (0.18oz) of product per pencil.  Currently, there are 28 colors available.  Prices differ depending on where you purchase the product but they should be no more than $4.50 each.

Packaging:
For some reason, some of these were sealed and some of these were not when I ordered them from Cherryculture.com.  When I inquired about this, CherryCulture simply said that not all their products are sealed.  I shrugged it off since they can easily be sanitized.  Since these babies are in pencil form, you just have to sharpen these with a fat cosmetic pencil sharpener to get more product.  I find these portable and they can be stored easily if you buy them in the masses.

Uses:
These babies can be used as an eyeshadow base to intensify color, an eyeshadow primer (with limits), or an eyeliner.

I currently own 12 different shades.  A review will come after a photobomb of the products themselves with swatches :)

Swatches over bare skin in day light.  No flash.

Swatches over bare skin in day light.  No flash.

Recommended (and not recommended) Uses:

• For best results, use these with an eyeshadow primer underneath.
• These make great bases for powder eyeshadows, but do make sure you blend out the color with a brush or your finger or you will indeed experience creasing.  
• Once you blend the color out, the original color appears very sheer, so I do not recommend using these alone.  
• If you're in a pinch, these will work as an eyeshdow primer.  On myself, they last around 6 hours before creasing a little, but the color starts fading gradually after about 3 hours of wear.
• These will make lovely eyeliners, but I recommend using an eyeliner brush instead of applying it directly from the product because they are so big and chunky.

Pros:

• Very inexpensive.
• Good selection of colors.
• Very creamy and easy to apply.
• Versatile as they can be used as a primer, base, and eyeliner (with limits).
• Portable and easy to store.

Cons:

• Product will crease on your eyelid unless you blend it out and apply a powder eyeshadow on top.
• An eyeshadow is a must if you want these to be truly long lasting
• When blending the product, the color fades considerably and is no longer as vibrant.

Overall, I really love these jumbo eye pencils.  They're pretty cheap and come in a lot of amazing colors.  They are definitely a wonderful alternative to more expensive cream eyeshadows.  The pros outweigh the cons and I hope to purchase more colors in the future (looking out for the sales!).

[I have nothing to disclose.]