MIA

I know I've been MIA for a few days but I am still trying to work out this video thing. I picked up a new "toy" today. Gettin a little soft around the middle and I'm too lazy to do anything else and I've read great things about hula hooping, I loved it as a kid so why not now. I'll keep you updated and hopefully I'll have some videos up soon and some of my hair pictures. I don't just do makeup but it is my most often requested talent.

Personal Travel Kit

I went by Ulta (almost said Sephora, my fave) yesterday and picked up a couple of items to be left in my car as a just in case. The palette and free gift are the items to be left in my car. The little palette is pretty awesome, 38 miniature pans but a little color goes a long way and it also came with a cateyes jet black (not really) eyeliner. It have one from Avon just like it. It is flat and can be used to make either a fat line in one pass or the tip can be used to make a thinner line. The cake liners are awesome, great color and easy to use, my only disappointment is that they are not waterproof. Any sign if moisture and they are out of here. The Ink gel liner is a gorgeous blue, haven't used it yet but plan to soon. And last but not least the 13 piece "free" gift, it came with a full size blush, 2 shadow quads, a full size lipstick and mascara, 2 dual ended eyeliners, nail polish (which I will not be leaving in my car), a three piece brush set, dual ended lipgloss, and the bag it all came in. All in all I think I did pretty good. Sorry I don't have any videos up yet, I've actually been too busy to play around with the camera, but I promise they are coming soon.

Look what I got!

Gots me a camcorder AND a tripod which means videos are coming soon
😃

Been busy and tired

I've been busy studying and super tired, sinuses and allergy meds are not my friends. Anywho I'm on the hunt for a camcorder so hopefully I can show you this look later today or tomorrow.

Quick smoky brown

For work today I did a quick smoky brown that I found on YouTube last night. I tweaked it to match my eye shape.

Removing my shellac

As much as it saddens me it is time to remove my shellac for two reasons. 1) my nails have grown out so much and 2) it is lifting around the new growth and getting snagged on stuff (i.e. my mother's hair tee hee hee). To remove shellac you only need three thins and maybe 30 or 40 minutes. I used my 30 or 30 minutes to review my notes for state board, that's how easy it is. You'll need cotton balls/squares/rounds, 100% pure acetone, and foil. Soak the cotton in acetone, not so much that it is dripping, place it over your nail, and use a large enough piece of foil to smash and hold the acetone soaked cotton to your nail. Now set your timer for 15 minutes and wait. After 15-20 you should be able to either pull al the shellac off when you squeeze and pull off the foil and cotton. With some shellac the acetone will degrade it enough that you can just scrape it right off with an orangewood stick without any damage to your nails. Voila!

Trial 3 Maybelline Tattoo

So on Sunday I decided to try the cream shadows as bases. I did my normal UD primer and NYX Milk then dabbed a little of the cream shadow on top. I think it worked pretty well, I still tend to have some creasing with creating colors after a few hours, immediately with colors such as greens, blues, and blacks, but after applying it all at about 1:00pm and removal around 11:45pm with the exception of my face being an oil slick the shadow still looked fresh. I also did a full face which I normally don't, I'm not real big on foundations and powders because of my oily skin. Oh, I almost forgot, I didn't go with my trusty jet black liner (only put it on my waterline and lower lash line). I pulled out my deep purple gel liner from BHCosmetics. It is a gorgeous color but as much as I love BHCosmetics as you all know, I have to give it two thumbs down. Why, you ask? Well after receiving the first one it was so dry that it would not even go on the brush, customer service promptly apologized and sent me a new one. Much to my delight it was much more usable, however after having only opened and used it once it is almost as dry as the first one. I think I will stick to my usual Maybelline cream liner or black radiance.

Shellac 2 weeks

For those of you that have yet to try shellac, to show you how wonderful it is and how long lasting here is a picture 15 days in. Notice how it is still shining, scratch, and chip free as if it were just applied. You can see the growth of my nails over 2 weeks but the polish still looks amazing and I am still getting compliments on it.

Trial 2 Maybelline Tattoo

Well I tried the taupe and purple today without any primer or powder shadow on top of it. Crease city within and hour or two of putting them on. Again it did not go on very smoothly, as a matter of fact it seemed to stay on my finger and what made it to my lid went right back to my finger when I tried dabbing more on. As I said yesterday, I don't believe these will work as stand alone shadows for me personally but will make good base colors for my other shadows.

Second Walgreens haul

I purchased two more colors today, here are free swatches. Again I was very impressed with the staying power. I washed my hands 3 times over the course of the evening after swatching them and the color stay pretty true. I didn't take a picture of the third time because honestly I got lazy and my phone was in the other room. On top of 3 hand washes there is still some on my hand now after having cleaned my face after the third wash.

Trial 1 Maybelline Tattoo

Today was my first trial with the Maybelline Tattoo, I used all three colors that I purchased the previous night. Well as far as application I found that the orange did not go on well at all, it rolled off every time I attempted to add a little more, the gold and green were a little more manageable. I didn't find them to be very blendable as demonstrated in maybelline's YouTube tutorial. As stand alone shadows I don't know if that will work for me but they did make pretty good bases for matching powder shadows. The orange did begin to flake a little but none of it ever fell out. Overall I am very impressed with the staying power. I did my eyes at 1:00pm and it was after 12 when I removed the makeup. I bought two more colors which I will show in a second entry.

the colors came out awful in this pic :-(

My everyday tools

These are my brushes most of which I almost never use to be honest, not much time to when I have to be at work so early most days. They vary in brands, but all were cheap and affordable, the hot pinks one you see all came as a set (plus one that is missing from the belt) for $20. I love the belt, it's great for organization and accessibility. It was purchased from BHCosmetics for about $10. And last but not least a absolutely must have is my eye makeup remover from Avon. I love, love, LOVE this stuff. It is not harsh, not drying, does not require excessive rubbing, removes the most waterproof makeup, and best of all you can usually find it on sale as a BOGO or at a really cheap price.

Walgreens Haul

So I stopped at Walgreens on the way home from work to buy to acetone and ran into the makeup of course. Well I have been seeing this stuff everywhere and figured at a little less than $7 I'd give it a try. Creams tend to crease on my oily, hooded lids so if nothing else they can be used as bases. The colors are gorgeous and once dry did not budge on my hand, we shall see on my eyes over the next few days. The orange one I especially love, it reminds me of the Makeup Forever Aqua Cream that at $22 a pot I love but am too cheap to buy. Anywho enjoy and I will be giving an update on staying power the next few days.

Short and sweet

Well ladies and gentlequeens I has to work night shift today so no tutorial tonight but here are a few of my looks throughout the week. When I get back to my normal schedule we can walk through them.

Today was pretty neutral (pun intended)

I went for a very rare neutral look today. Forgive the quality of my pics and lighting. I used my iPad and it looks best during daylight hours. I remembered a step along the way but you get the picture.