Simple Purplenessthing

I've realized, over time, that my jar of Evil Shades Gift River appears to have strictly blue shimmer rather than green; even in person the sparkles are distinctly blue. I actually like the way it looks over the slightly warm purple base. Verrah nice.





Lid: ES Gift River over Fyr Pixie Epoxy
Crease: WnW matte black very lightly applied and blended with NYX Highlight, with a very small amount of Gift River added on top
Highlight/inner corner: SM Silk Sheets <3
Lower lashline: AL Private Lunacy smooshed right up in them thurr lashes

In person the lower lashline had a sick/sleepless look that I really liked. [ugh what a weirdo]

Swatched: Revlon 'Love That Pink'

Although I've been curious about them I'm just too cheap and lazy to go buy MAC lip products (or any of their products, really) and the thought of buying something so much more expensive than my usual products makes me nervous, so I've been looking for dupes of the things I want. One of those things was Impassioned; based on swatch photos found online it looked like it would be the perfect shade of melon pink. Several blogs suggested Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Love That Pink as a dupe. I grabbed it at The Store Which Must Not Be Named for just over 6USD and started swatching it.





I love how it looks in the tube, although these photos are inaccurate. It's more of a vibrant neon pink with a sploosh of coral. In certain lighting it can look a bit like a neon red.

Below: Morgana Cryptoria Azalea, Love That Pink



I've swatched it next to MC Azalea (which looks like Girl About Town) for reference. This photo is much closer to how it translates on the lips; it's still very obviously pink, but it's not as cool-neutral as I had been hoping. It's very creamy and pigmented and I love the way it feels when it's on: smooth and somewhat moisturizing, but not so creamy that it feels like it's sliding around. It also mattes down very easily with blotting. I haven't tested the longevity yet but I don't think I'll really care either way because I really dig this thing. I love how bright and crazy it is---it's dramatic slash polished slash cute and makes me look alive instead of awkward.

Rickety Cricket and the Pop Star Zombie

This is the finished result of that thingy I posted on Sunday. I liked how it turned out; I don't think I've done green and magenta-purple before, so it was fun trying something different.

On a related note, does anyone have advice on getting bright colors to show up accurately? The apartement faces the wrong direction to get any sunlight now that it's winter, and the camera flash washes out the colors something awful, especially with pink, purple and red eyeshadow.
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This is my seductive face.


The cuttingest crease I've ever tried. Not very sharp, but at least I'm learning things.






Eyes
Lid: AL Cricket over PE
Crease: AL Boilingpoint and ES Zombie
Lowerlashline: more Cricket and Boilingpoint
Inner corner: SM Pop Star Meltdown
Highlight: NYX Milk JEP, cream from WnW Vanity palette, Pop Star Meltdown
Liner: Palladio Eye Ink, black

Skin
Revlon Colorstay oily/combo foundation in Buff, used as an overall base and layered lightly on blemishes as a concealer
CoverGirl oil control powder in light? I'm too lazy to go check, my makeup is way over in the bathroom.
ELF bronzing quad thing in Warm or Golden, used as a blush toward the back of my cheeks

Mouf
AL lipbalm in Yuzu (maybe?)
a tiny bit of foundation (jizzlips lol) to mute my natural lip color
Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in Champagne Shimmer, which is supposedly a dupe for UD's Midnight Cowboy lipstick. It's very shimmery without being chunky-glittery or even very frosty. It is a LITTLE frosty but I like it because it's such a sheer product. It had a weird, firm, balmy consistency, more like a Burt's Bees lipbalm than the new Revlon Lip Butters.

Copying other people

The appearance of this site might change frequently throughout the coming weeks; I thought I'd try a different layout-theme-thing for the blog because, as much as I liked the seagulls, it was time for something different.

As for the content of this post: I saw several people on the internet doing this thing where they do full makeup on half of the face and leave the other side naked, and I thought this was interesting. It's surprising to see how much of an impact certain kinds of makeup can have on the overall appearance of the face---I noticed the most difference around the eyes, especially for people with fair or thin (like me) eyebrows, and I didn't notice the difference in skin makeup until it was pointed out by the owners of the respective faces.

I did the same thing (half-made-up face) last week and left the 'worse' side of my face naked; I've found that my left side (your right) has more pigmentation from old acne attacks and a significantly less awesome eyebrow due to an incident with a baseball bat.
I would like to say that the way I've done my makeup in this situation is not representative of what I normally wear; usually I go a lot easier on the skin makeup so I don't have to worry about touching up as frequently throughout the day.

Things I think I like

I've never done a post like this before, and I'm trying to keep up with blogging by preparing more posts ahead of time, so I thought I'd slap one of these together with some stuff that I've been digging lately (and by lately I mean in the past six months or so). I tried to focus on products that I haven't seen elsewhere because I want to expose you peeps to new stuff. Sharing is fun!



Paula's Choice Exfoliating 2% BHA Gel: I purchased this last summer when my acne was acting up. It's a chemical exfoliant that you apply and leave on under moisturizers and makeup. Beta-hydroxy acid can increase the skin's sensitivity to sun so I use this at night, although it shouldn't be a problem if you wear broad spectrum sunscreen on a daily basis.
When I apply this I use a very small amount --- the smallest drop that I can squeeze from the bottle --- and smear it all over freshly washed (and dried) skin before letting it sit for about five minutes. While waiting I'll usually start brushing my teeth or something to kill time. When it no longer feels sticky it's ready to go. I love this stuff because it keeps my skin smooth and soft without any chance of me overdoing it like I'm tempted to with physical exfoliants.
It should be safe to use on a daily basis; I did so last year before I got my acne prescriptions but I've cut down to using it every other day because I use my skin prescription the other nights of the week. On the days that I don't use this OR my prescription I'll apply...

Korres Wild Rose Instant Brightening Mask: this is no longer sold on the Korres website, but I freaking love it. It applies like a clay mask; usually I slap it on before shaving my legs (a long and arduous task) and let it sit until it dries. Smells amazing, leaves my skin looking bright and feeling soft.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation: I know everyone has seen (and used) this stuff before but I've started liking this again after watching an older Lisa Eldridge video about acne-covering makeup, of all things. Instead of putting foundation over the entire face she just applied a little bit in the spots where it was needed, treating it as a concealer instead of an overall base, which I loved. I've started doing this lately and I've found that I don't have to worry about the makeup getting cakey from over-applying or melting off of the oiliest parts of my face. My skin doesn't need to be highlighted as much (unless I want to go crazy with sparkles, in which case I go crazy) and I don't HAVE to use blush every day. Aw yeah.

Urban Decay Grind House sharpener: For months I had no idea how to sharpen my NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils because they're made of some weird plasticky material, and I've always had issues with wooden eyepencils snapping in normal sharpeners. This purple sexmachine slithered into my makeup tote-thing (I think it's a tackle box) and I've been happily married to it since. It powers through pencils in all shapes and sizes like it ain't no thing but a chicken wing. It's like the honey badger of pencil sharpeners because it doesn't give a shit. True love.

ELF Eyelid Primer: I ran out of my Darling Girl Stay the Day eye primer a month(ish) ago and have been too cheap to buy normal primers (UDPP/TFSI) and too poor to make a proper order from the DG website. I picked up this stuff just so I had something to use until I got a real primer; I even paid for it in quarters because I only have $17 in the debit account and want to save that for an emergency gas purchase. It's worked surprisingly well, considering it was a dollar (plus tax). It doesn't enhance pigmentation like the other primers I've used but at least it stays in place.

Morgana Cryptoria lipstick in Azalea: This product has been discontinued, unfortunately. It's the matte sister of the popular Azalea Blue, and I freaking love it. I don't usually wear lip products during the day aside from lip balm and very sheer lipglosses, but when I do wear lipstick I want it to be matte and bright. Azalea fits those requirements VERY well. It does drag a bit when I apply it---not as smooth as a normal Revlon lipstick, but not as bad as the Wet'n'Wild MegaLast---but holy cow does the pigmentation make it worthwhile.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in Ozone: I don't always wear lipstick, but when I do I wear it over this stuff. It feels a bit tacky after application, almost like I have something slightly gummy on my lips, but it's worth the incredible lasting power. WnW MegaLast in Cherry Bomb lasted through a full 10 hour day of school with this stuff; granted, I didn't have a proper lunch that day but I still ate and drank things, meaning my mouth moved and touched stuff.

NYC Classic Brow & Liner Pencil in 925A Sable: The brow filler I'd been looking for, sort of. The lasting power isn't totally perfect (I usually set it with translucent powder to help it stay) but the color is perfect: a deep, slightly-grey-slightly-green brown that isn't TOO creamy and pigmented. It was only a buck, too, so SHAZAM. I swatched it next to a black pencil and my older brownish one to give a good idea of what I mean by the color description.

From left to right: Azalea (heavily applied and one stroke), Sable (one stroke THEN heavily applied), Milani Liquif'Eye liner in black, Maybelline ExpertWear brow pencil in Blonde

CandySweet:BrokenTeeth 11/11/11

NOM NOM CANDY COLORED BRIGHTNESS

I'm writing this post on Friday, November 11th. Happy Veteran's Day to errbody in America, and happy 11^3 day to everyone EVERYWHERE! Bright colors were used in celebration of the awesomeness that is Friday, and getting to hang at home by myself, do some housework and eat a metric crapton of brownookies. What a great day.

On an unrelated note, is anyone out there doing NaNo this year? It's fun to talk about non-makeup pasttimes with makeup people and I'd love to learn more about you peepses.













Today I'm going to get extra-fancy and tell people how I did this stuff.



Apply primer and a sticky base (Pixie Epoxy in this case) to the lid.
Pat (8) SM Risk Taker on the lid/outer lower lashline, (9) TSS Lions and Witches on the inner corner, and (11) ES Wyvern on the inner lower lashline. *I put NYX JEP in Milk on my lower lashline to help Wyvern stick better.
Gently blend the color transitions. Don't kill the sparkles.



Using a small crease brush or a pencil brush apply black shadow, (5) and (6), to the crease, focusing on the outer half.
Use a fluffy crease brush to add matte peach (4) to the crease and blend errthang out.



Put sparkly pink/AL Fanclub (7) below the outer half of the lower lashline.
Blend a tiny bit of the pink (7) through the crease.
Pat some sparkly white-gold (2) over the yellow on the inner corner.
Put a tiny bit of NYX JEP in Milk on the browbone, then top with a matte cream (3) and the white-gold (2).
Smoosh some black glitter (1) on the lower lashline.

Finish it off with black liner, scads of mascara and some eyebrows. FANCY.

Ketchup

First up is Covetous Greed, ooooooh!



I wish I could say this is blurry on purpose but then I'd be lying. At least you can see the pretty rainbow sparkles from the black shadow.



Lid: lavender-grey from the WnW Greed palette
Crease: sparkly black and matte peach from WnW Greed palette
Inner corner: sparkly golden pink from WnW Greed palette
Liner: UD 24/7 liner in Covet on upper and lower lashlines

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Next up I has a Rusty Champagne Bucket, which sounds totally safe and not at all sketchy.





This one was kind of hard to put down as a list so I wrote a quick description instead.

Smudged Milani Liquif'Eye liner in black over the lid and lower lashline
Patted NYX Rust over the lid and outer half of lower lashline, blended Rust in the crease
Patted NYX Champagne over inner half of lower lashline