Sweet Decadence

I got this kit in ... and though the colours are pretty they are pretty much exact duplicates of others. Tiramisu is exactly like Queen Tiffany ... Red Velvet Cake is exactly like Passion ... Dulce de Leche is just like LOTS of other creams and Chocolate Fondue is just like LOTS of other browns, especially Charleston. All in all this kit gets a big thumbs down from me just for being boring.

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
MAC Sculpt/Accentuate compact to contour and highlight face; used MAC 129 face brush
MAC Petticoat MSF on cheeks as blush; used Heavenly Blush brush

Eyes:
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing over entire eye area; used fingers to blend
Dulce de Leche dry on browbone and around entire eye area; used Flathead Shadow brush
Tiramisu dry lash to crease; used Wet/Dry brush
Red Velvet Cake dry in crease and along outer half of lower lashline; used Tapered Crease Defining brush
Chocolate Fondue wetlining upper lashline using MAC Eyeliner mixing medium; used Flat Edged liner brush
Lancome Oscillation mascara in Black Noir

Lips:
PUR Mineral lip liner in Cranberry Quartz
MAC lustre lipstick in Strange & Exotic

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

Simple Gifts

I did this look for Thanksgiving, and kept it simple because the things that I am truly thankful for are the simple things that I have been blessed with. My family, children, friends and the ladies that I have gotten to know and love through my makeup addition. I am truly thankful for each and every one of those things ... and each one of you.

Tis a gift to be simple, Tis a gift to be free
Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
Twill be in the valley of love and delight
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shant be ashamed
To turn, turn twill be our delight
Till by turning and turning we come round right

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
Joyous Jennifer blush; used Tapered Blush brush

Eyes:
MAC paint pot in Bare Study on browbone and around entire eye area; used MAC 152 shadow brush
MAC paint pot in Girl Friendly in crease and along lower lashline; used MAC 217 shadow brush
MAC paint pot in Girl Friendly on entire lid; used small shadow brush from brush set
MAC fluidline in Blacktrack lining upper lashline only; used MAC 209 liner brush
Lancome Oscillation mascara in Black Noir

Lips:
Makeup for Ever lip liner in nude
MAC amplified creme lipstick in Profusion

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

With Blaze-ing Appreciation

This is for Lisa .... and all of you other lovely ladies that take time out of your day to scope out the looks here and sometimes post. I love each and every one of you to death for supporting my hobby/addiction/obsession.

Lisa asked that I do a tutorial using Thank You shadow ... then she demanded (tehehe) that I do one using blaze, and that gave me an idea! Why not use them both together??

I have to say though, that Blaze went on completely different than I expected. In the pot it is downright terra-cotta, but no matter how much I packed it on it was NOT going to be as vibrant as it is in the jar. Oh well ... I still like this!

And yes ... my brows are horrid ... the plan was to get them done today but my aesthetician is off until Wednesday, so we will have to just ignore the big-foot brows for a few more days.

And just in case you were curious as to how much stuff it takes on a daily basis to do me, I included a picture of everything I used today.

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
Joyous Jennifer blush; used Heavenly Blush brush
MAC New Vegas MSF on high points of face; used MAC 129 face brush

Eyes:
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing over entire eye area; blend with fingers
Vanilla Sugar dry on browbone and around entire eye area; used Flathead Shadow brush
Cat Woman dry in crease, lining lower lashline and on outer third of lid; used double ended Shaping Eye brush and Wet/Dry brush
Blaze dry on middle third of lid; used Wet/Dry brush
Thank You dry on inner third, wrapped around inner corner and swept up into crease; used Wet/Dry brush
MAC Blacktrack fluidline along upper lashline only; used MAC 209 liner brush
Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes mascara in Phenomen'Black; one coat on both lashlines
Lancome Oscillation mascara in Black Noir; one coat, upper lashline only

Lips:
Duwop Prime Venom
Earth lip liner; blended inwards with CARGO lip brush
MAC 4N lustre lipstick (one of my new faves!)

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

Pressing Minerals .... and experiment for Lindsay!

OK girl ... per your request I tried it and I have to say that, while it turned out nice and neat it isn't something that I plan on doing again. I used a half jar sample of Ell-if-I-Know from the LOL3 collection to try it. Here are a few thoughts:

1) compared to pressing the MAC pigments the minerals took about four times as long to dry ... with the pigments I wait about half an hour ... this was still wet to the touch after an hour.
2) I used a half a jar of minerals to do this, and it just covered the bottom of the pan. Which means that if I were to use a whole jar the pan would still look half empty. With the piggies I was using about 3/4 teaspoon for the fullest pans.
3) They press really nicely because they are so finely milled. You can really see the pattern of the fabric!

Enjoy!

First Pigment Pressing Attempt

So ... I decided to try pressing some of my MAC pigments today just to see if it was as hard as it looked.

There is definitely a learning curve to this ... and I made a HUGE mess because I was using a spoon that was too big and a bowl. I ended up wasting more pigment than I should have, but it wasn't a huge amount.

All in all I am really pleased with how this turned out. If I could get all of my pigments in the vial size I would buy them and then press them. As it is I don't buy many of the full jars because there is just no way I will EVER go through an entire jar of them.

The piggies are Provence (top left), Jardin Aires (top right) and Rose (bottom left). My CCO had Steel Blue which I have been lusting after FOREVER so I plan on picking that one up and adding to the quad as soon as possible.

Here are the steps I used:

1) Pour a half teaspoon of rubbing alcohol in a sanitized metal bowl.
2) Add three quarter teaspoons of powder pigment to the bowl
3) Mix with metal spatula
4) Scoop mixture into 25mm shadow pan
5) pack mixture down into pan by dropping it lightly onto a hard, flat surface
6) let dry approx. 30 minutes to an hour
7) wrap quarter in a thin, texture dish towel
8) place quarter on top of dried pigment and press down evenly
9) remove quarter ... and voila!

Edited to add: I picked up Steel Blue and Golden Olive today so I decided to add these and tweak the mixture. I like the pans better when they are more full, but I got Golden Olive so full that it was messier than hades to press. So the point is ... don't get it too full!

And I am going to go buy another 15 palette tomorrow for my piggies ... I am out of pans but once my next order of pans gets here I am going to press all of my piggies since I am selling off the OJs of them.

Here are the new pics with the new colours ... oh and I re-did Provence because it wasn't anywhere near as full as the others. Enjoy!

Beauty Oasis

With so many people talking about how this kit is suddenly back on the webstore, I thought I would wear it today just in case any of you are still on the fence about buying it ... because you are INSANE if you don't buy this one. Jade is pretty, Neptune is a great highlight and Oasis is my favorite BE green EVER!

Oh yes ... and the cheeks and lips are the BE Frisky kit just in case you are on the fence about this one too!

Please forgive the tiredness and the messiness ... I forgot to take pics this morning so I had to touch it up and take the pictures after work today. It isn't perfect because I have basically been wearing it all day, but you will get the point.

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
Frisky blush; used Tapered Blush brush

Eyes:
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing over entire eye area; used fingers to blend
Neptune dry on browbone and around entire eye area; used Flathead Shadow brush
Jade dry in crease, lining lower lashline and on outer third of lid; used double ended Shaping Eye brush and Wet/Dry brush
Oasis dry on inner two thirds of lid, wrapped around inner corners and swept up into crease; used Wet/Dry brush
MAC Blacktrack fluidline along upper lashline only; used MAC 209 liner brush
Cargo Blu_Ray mascara in Black

Lips:
Earth lip liner
Vicki buxom lip polish

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

Zara by Zoya ... purple nails!!!

Love this ... damn Katie and her swatch links :D

Enjoy!

Step Away From the Eyeshadow!

That is exactly what my dear friend said to me this morning ... and she was kidding ... but seriously there was no way to deny the out-there-ness of these blues! Which of course means that I love it!

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
MAC Stark Naked beauty powder blush; used MAC 129 face brush
MAC Lucent sheersheen powder over blush and on high points of face; used MAC 129 face brush

Eyes:
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing over entire eye area; used fingers to blend
MAC Jardin Aires pigment dry on browbone and around entire eye area; used Face Secrets Shadow Blender brush
MAC Star by Night starflash shadow in crease, lining lower lashline and on outer fourth of lid; used MAC 217 and 239 shadow brushes and MAC 266 liner brush
MAC Freshwater veluxe pearl shadow dry on outer half of lid; used MAC 239 shadow brush
MAC Bang on Blue frost shadow dry on inner half of lid; used MAC 239 shadow brush
MAC Moon's Reflection veluxe pearl shadow buffed into inner corner and up into crease; used Face Secrets Shadow Blender brush
MAC Blacktrack fluidline lining upper lashline only; used MAC 209 liner brush
Lancome Oscillation mascara in Black Noir

Lips:
Duwop Prime Venom
Sienna lip liner
MAC Hot Gossip cremesheen lipstick
Korres Full Colour Cherry lip gloss in #23 Light Purple

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

Eachy Peachy Pearly Plum

The title is from a rhyme that I teach to my kindergarteners so we can learn their names and birthdays ... too bad that means that I have to learn all 114 of them :D

Eachy Peachy Pearly Plum
When-ly does your birthday come?

Anyways ... the look today started out as just messing around. I decided to pick out a bunch of stuff that I hadn't used yet, and it ended up all looking plummy to me ... not brown ... not red ... not purple ... just plummy!

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
MAC Rose pigment as blush; used Tapered Blush brush
MAC Light Flush MSF on high points of face; used Eye Buki brush

Eyes:
MAC Bare Study paintpot on browbone and around entire eye area; used large shadow brush from brush set
MAC Girl Friendly paintpot in crease; used MAC 217 shadow brush
MAC Girl Friendly paintpot on lid and along lower lashline; used small shadow brush from brush set
MAC Jardin Aires pigment on browbone and around entire eye area; used Face Secrets Shadow Blender brush
MAC Blue Brown pigment in crease and lining lower lashline, then blended slightly inwards; used MAC 213 shadow brush and MAC 266 liner brush
MAC Macroviolet fluidline along upper lashline only; used MAC 209 liner brush
Lancome Oscillation mascara in Black

Lips:
PUR Minerals lip liner in Cranberry Quartz
MAC for Fafi lipglass in Squeeze it!

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

Playing with Paint Pots!

OK ... all of you who are tired of seeing MAC stuff because this started out as a BE blog say aye ... j/k ... I promise I am still trying to get through my new stuff so I can get back to doing tutorials on the old stuff.

Anyways, I have finally gotten the hang of the paint pots from MAC and am starting to really like them. At first I hated them because they didn't give that foiled look to the shadows that I was looking for. Now, I completely love the fact that they can just be used on their own. And, as you will see here, the longevity of them is pretty astounding.

So ... my review on the paint pots ... so far I have Moss Scape, Greenstroke, Bare Study, Electro Sky, Pharoah, Rubenesque and Girl Friendly. They are all a great texture and consistency and feel sooooo refreshing going on. The only cons I can think of is that they can be kinda drying for me ... like today the feeling of them on took some getting used to and I am not thrilled with the crepey look of my lids in these pictures. That and you have to be very picky with the brushes you use to apply them, because they don't like certain brushes.

The final picture is a time comparison because I wanted to show how impressed I was with the wear of these. These was obviously done ELEVEN HOURS later, and will the exception of some minor flake off during the day (and I mean very minor) and a general fade to the vibrancy, these stayed on amazingly well. I can see why some ladies with oily lids won't live without these as their base!

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
MAC for Emmanuel Ungaro Cream Colour Base in Crushed Bougainvilla on cheeks; used fingers
MAC Lightscapade MSF over blush and on high points of face; used Heavenly Blush brush

Eyes:
MAC Bare Study paint pot over entire eye area; used large shadow brush from brush set
MAC Moss Scape paint pot in crease, lining lower lashline and on outer half of lid; used MAC 217 shadow brush and small shadow brush from brush set
MAC Greenstroke paint pot on inner half of lid, wrapped around inner corner and swept up into crease; used small shadow brush from brush set
MAC Blacktrack fluidline along upper lashline only; used MAC 209 liner brush
Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes mascara in Phenomen'Black; one coat, both lashlines
Lancome Oscillation mascara in Blackest Black; one coat, top lashline only

Lips:
Duwop Prime Venom
Sephora #135 pale pink lip pencil
MAC for Emmanuel Ungaro Pure Rose lustre lipstick

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!

Heatherette Trio 1

Finally got around to doing this as a solo look, and I really really really love it! The lipstick is killer too!

Enjoy!

Face:
basic face routine
MAC Dollymix blush; used MAC 129 face brush
MAC Light Flush MSF over blush and on high points of face; used EDM Flattop Kabuki brush
MAC Soft and Gentle MSF on tops of cheekbones; used Heavenly Blush brush

Eyes:
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing; blend with fingers
MAC Hoppin' frost shadow (pale peach) dry on browbone and around entire eye area; used Face Secrets Shadow Blender brush
MAC Cloudburst velvet shadow (black) dry in crease, lining lower lashline and on outer half of lid; used MAC 217 and 239 shadow brushes and MAC 266 liner brush
MAC Moodring veluxe pearl shadow (pale teal) dry on inner half of lid, wrapped around inner corner and swept up into crease; used MAC 239 shadow brush
MAC Blacktrack fluidline along upper lashline only; used MAC 209 shadow brush
Chanel Exceptionnel de Chanel mascara in Smoky Noir

Lips:
Duwop Prime Venom
Sephora #140 purple lip pencil; blended inwards with MAC 316 lip brush
MAC Pomposity frost lipstick

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post ... and thanks for looking!