Year: 2014

Mascara Backlog

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I might have a problem. I have 5 kinds of mascara open right now (3 full-size, 2 samples), but these are the ones that I have yet to even try. I can’t seem to curb my mascara enthusiasm and buy more than I can use up in one time. Actually, no, that’s not true. I have been holding back. Imagine my “to-test” pile if I didn’t give a crap. We beauty lovers tend to over-buy stuff and hoard things we don’t need, but mascara seems to be a bit trickier since it expires fast (and it is unhygienic to ignore the expiration durations here) and you can only use it so much. I don’t know how to get the most “bang for my buck,” so to speak. What is your “problem area” when it comes to makeup? Mine is actually eyeshadow, but I’m so overwhelmed by the fact that I have so much unopened mascara! I’m so curious to see how these will fare with my lashes, but I’m also scared of germs so I’m …

Stashed & Forgotten: MAC Powder Blush in Plum Foolery

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It’s been a busy few weeks and makeup purchases have been few and far in between, so I’m still in the middle of testing some of them. Here’s an ode to an old blush love, though. Stashed & Forgotten is what I call some old-ish makeup items that I haven’t gotten around to featuring here. Today’s feature is the MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Plum Foolery I only have 3 MAC blushes from their regular range, and I think that this shade Plum Foolery is one of the best. I keep forgetting about it because I stash it in a MAC Large double palette, but I think it’s a great plum blush. Similar to NARS’ Sin, which is one of my favorite NARS shades, Plum Foolery is shot through with some fine, gold shimmer. It adds an overall glowy quality to the blush, so I usually forgo the highlighter. This has more true plum tones than Sin, though, leaning more berry than muted with more pink and warmth than its NARS sister. It is well-pigmented …

Victorian Disco Swatchfest

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Ahem, a haul/swatch post. We gotta stop meeting like this. This Victorian Disco order was made back in January. I just got a hold of them last week, oy vey! I took advantage of the “blogger pack” and ordered two to save on shipping. Each pack comes with a mini jar, and 6 samples, I think. I was kindly given two samples by Ashley! Yay! Here are the samples I got. I had ordered Why Does It Have to Be Dragons?, so I have an extra sample. It’s a beautiful rich chocolate brown with some sparkles and slight red tones. Water Siblings is beautiful and I’m glad to have been sent it because I wouldn’t have gotten it myself. It’s a bright pink with a strong violet sheen. In Training is a beautiful cool blackened eggplant shade with a sheen and some silver sparks. Dalek Disco is a toasted brown shot with gold. Spacey Wacey is TARDIS blue with minimal sheen but a smattering of multi-colored sparks. Aura is a really pale pink that’s kind …

Helping Each Other Out: Blogging How-To’s

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Blogging has grown into such a different monster from what it was when I first found out about it. It used to be every nerd’s outlet but now most of it’s sort of been an extended arm of PR and advertising. When I started blogging, it was kind of really easy because you didn’t have to think of content; you just wrote whatever came to mind. Blogging these days, however, requires a little bit more forward-thinking. I’m still trying to understand the blogging world now, but I have found a lot of helpful people whenever I read my feed. I thought I should compile them all here, in case you’re hankering for some help setting up your super cool new blog, but don’t really know where to start. THE BASICS — Blogging for Newbs by Lipstick With Some Sunshine (pretty basic, straightforward & concise) — How to Start a Beauty Blog by Lily Pebbles — An earlier version of How to Start a Beauty Blog by Lily Pebbles — The Luxola Guide to Starting a …

Summer Babe: Lips

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“Summer Babe” is a song by Pavement and it has nothing to do with this post. (Sorry.) OK, it has marginal relation, and that is—the summer time! Here are a few lip colors that I think you should try wearing during the hot summer months. I don’t know about you, but I am rather uncharacteristically being drawn to brights and semi-bright-ish lip colors. Picking a coral or an orange lip gives me unexpected exhilaration. Strange, but true. Four lip colors in my rotation are Le Métier de Beauté Color Core Moisture Stain Lipstick in Riviera, MAC Satin Lipstick in Betty Bright, 3CE Lip Lacquer in Pink Boom*, and Tarte Glamazon Pure Performance Lipstick in Bold. I have a few lipsticks that I’m taking out for a spin this season, but these represent the spectrum of shades pretty well. — Le Métier de Beauté Color Core Moisture Stain Lipstick in Riviera: warm, orange-based red — MAC Satin Lipstick in Betty Bright: bright, light pinky coral — 3CE Lip Lacquer in Pink Boom: neon pink — Tarte …

Tonal Exercise: Matte Browns

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If you’ve ever taken an art class before, you’d be familiar with tonal exercises. Tonal exercises are what you use to study shade gradations. One such exercise is similar to what I have illustrated here—bars of a color, from white to dark/black, shown in varying degrees. Here are some very utilized eyeshadows: my matte browns. Starting from a non-brown but a beige-y off-white, Laura Mercier’s Vanilla Nuts is actually a shade I use(d) fairly often as a base for my entire lid and as a browbone highlight. Le Métier de Beauté’s Tamarack and Laura Mercier’s Café Au Lait are two subtle crease colors, to aid with transition and slight depth. Addiction Truffle is a warm, creamy matte brown I use for the outer corner or crease. Laura Mercier’s Coffee Ground is darker, the shade of cocoa powder. I use that for the outer corner or a really dark crease, too. Last, but not the least, Laura Mercier’s Rich Coffee, which is great for the outer corner, too, but is also a very nice dark brown …

Never Forget Mascara Expiration Again!

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This tip is so simple that I almost feel like a criminal for even sparing one whole post for it. I think the picture even says it all. Basically, like every other beauty nut, I tend to have more than one mascara tube open at a time. As such, it’s hard for me to keep track of their “expiration dates.” Most mascaras expire 3 to 6 months after the tube is first opened, and while some tubes helpfully state what particular time frame the mascaras should be kept, I doubt that we all remember when we first opened that delicious tube. Writing down the date when you first opened the mascara can help with hygiene. The washi tape just helps with cuteness. As we can see here, October 2013 was a great month for mascara sampling for me. Sometimes, you can go with smelling the mascara (Too funky? Too bad to use!) but I think this is a more accurate way to do things. Here is the why: Mascara is one of the beauty products …