Smokey eye how-to (with pictures)!

I've been asked what process I use to achieve a smokey eye so I decided it'd be easiest to show you.  So I did a picture tutorial.  Here's the look we're going to achieve today:

Now, how to do it:

1. Prime eyelid, I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance.  I have also already chosen to line the inner rims of my eyes, both top and bottom, with a black gel liner, I used "Immortal" from Makeup Geek.

2. For good smokey eyes, you'll want to use a base of some sort to add some extra depth to your shadow, I usually use NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Black Bean".  Since I'm doing a blue look, I used a blue gel liner, "Electric" from Makeup Geek.  I took this under my eye as well.

3. Top base with your darkest color.  I used MAC's "Sea & Sky" mineralized eyeshadow duo, the darker color of the two.  I made sure that I took this color high enough that you could still just barely see it when I opened my eyes (I have hooded eyelids).

4. Take a mid-toned blending color and place along the edge of your dark color.  I used "Purely Naked" from Makeup Geek.

5.  Blend the colors together, trying to create an almost seamless fade from one color to the other.  You will probably have to go back and add more blue, then more tan, then more blue, and so forth to get the blending right.

6. To make my highlight color stand out more and clean up the line of my brow, I add NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in "Milk" (which I have melted into a little pot and apply with a concealer brush) under my brow.

7. Add highlight color on top of the white base.  I chose "Bling" from Makeup Geek.

8. Go back with the tan color and blend that up into your highlight color, again trying to crease a seamless fade.

9. With my eye shape, I need a bit of depth in the outer v area so I added some black ("Corrupt" from Makeup Geek).

10. Blend that well and add some liner.  I chose Motives Luxe Precision Eye line in "Jet Black."

11. Add mascara.  I used Benefit "They're Real" mascara.  This would be way better if I had felt like going the extra mile and adding false lashes!!

12.  Now it's time to clean up around your eye.  Brush off and fallout and clean up under your eyes.  On top of brows use a slightly too-light concealer to help highlight the area.

13. Blend that out and set with a translucent powder.

Add simple face makeup and a nude lip and you're good to go!

Face makeup:

Revlon Colorstay for oily/combo skin "Sand Beige"

Maybelline Fit Me concealer

Maybelline Dark Circle Eraser "Fair"

Ben Nye Translucent Fair setting powder

Motives Contour, Bronze, and Highlight kit

Benefit "Coralista" blush

Brows:

Rimmel brow pencil

Anastasia Beverly Hills brow powder duo "Taupe"

ELF Studio cream liner "Coffee"

Lips:

NYX "Natural" lipliner

NYX "Harmonica" lipstick (this color is seriously horrible unless you use a liner and top it with a gloss!!)

Buxom lipgloss "Debbie"

And then I put together this little picture tutorial with the highlights if you want to see it all together!

I hope this was at least kind of helpful!!

September Cancer Awareness!

Ok, so I had this brilliant idea to try to, each month, raise awareness for the cancers whose awareness month it is by doing makeup inspired by their ribbon colors.  I picked a difficult month to start this idea haha.  September has eight cancers whose awareness month it is.  That's crazy.  So I decided to do this on my blog facebook page (click here to check it out!) and ask you guys to also contribute.  I mean, I can't spread awareness all alone!!

So September is ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, gynecological cancer, and childhood cancer awareness month.  So here are the looks:

Childhood cancer (gold):  This is so important to me because I wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy, let alone and innocent child.  If anyone in this world deserves cancer the least, it is a child.  We lose so many children each year to this horrible, horrible disease.  

Multiple Myeloma (burgundy): This cancer is important to me because it's what my grandmother died from.  It's a crazy cancer that attacks the plasma cells of blood and shows itself in really weird ways.  It affects kidneys and bones and other ways I'll never understand.

Leukemia (orange):  Leukemia is a cancer of the blood.  I have known quite a few people who have had leukemia.  This affects people of all ages.  My Uncle Brian had leukemia, he got an infection from having his immune system so suppressed from chemotherapy and that took his life.

Lymphoma (lime):  Lymphoma is a cancer that starts in the cells of your immune system, called lymphocytes.  My husband's coworker had a swollen lymphnode on his neck.  After some convincing, he went to the doctor about it, the doctor said it was an infection and gave him an antibiotic.  When the lump hadn't gone away, my husband convinced him he needed to get it looked at again (this was shortly after I was diagnosed).  So he did.  It was Hodgkin's lymphoma.  Luckily it was caught early and he's ok after chemotherapy and radiation.

Prostate Cancer (light blue):  Researching a little bit, I found out that prostate cancer is diagnosed in 80% of men who reach age 80.  That's insane!  It is the second leading cancer-related death in men in the United States.

Ovarian Cancer (teal):  There is no good screening for ovarian cancer, no preventative screening.  Women need to pay attention to their bodies and listen to any symptoms they may be showing.  Some possible symptoms include pelvic discomfort or pain, loss of appetite or feeling full quickly, changes in bowel or bladder habits, low back pain, etc.

Gynecological Cancer (peach):  This includes ovarian, uterine, cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers.  Women really need to be as proactive in screening for these as they are in screening for breast cancer.  These cancers are serious and they affect so many women each year!  Go for your pap-smear (I know, they suck!) every year because you owe it to yourself to make sure everything is good!

Thyroid cancer (teal, blue, and pink):  I have read that thyroid cancer doesn't always have symptoms so it can be really hard to find and diagnose.  Thyroid cancer starts with a thyroid nodule, most aren't cancerous, but they could be.  If you feel a lump in your neck, a swollen lymphnode, if you have a hoarse voice, difficulty swallowing or breathing, you should get it checked out.  There's no need to play around with something like that!

There is a lot of information out there about all of these cancers.  I have said it about a million times, but I will say it again.  If something is wrong in your body and you know it, go get it checked out.  Too often we put things off because "it'll get better" (I'm completely guilty of this).  Your life isn't worth risking!!

I did these looks to celebrate everyone who has been touched by any of these diseases and their loved ones.  I think all cancers are important and people need to learn about them!

Super Sexy Smokey Eyes

I'm excited for this look today!  It's been far too long since I did a look this intense.  This look is not for the faint of heart because it is intense.  I was inspired because my husband's friend shared a picture on facebook of porn stars without makeup and surprise!  They look like normal girls. Weird, right?  So I wanted to do an intense look to show that normal looking girls, who aren't "hot" can look sexy too.

A little preview:

So here's me on a day without hardly any eye makeup at all:

Here's me on a more normal day:

And here we are with porn star inspired makeup (minus false lashes because I didn't happen to have any), with a bit of a twist:

Here's a picture where you can better see the "twist"

I stinkin love this look.  It's smokey but not your normal black, smokey eye.

What I used on the eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX "Black Bean" Jumbo Eye Pencil

All colors by Makeup Geek:

Corrupt (matte black)

Purely Naked (a light tan color)

Bling (highlight color)

Utopia pigment (the beautiful dark gold color on my lid)

MUG gel liner in "Immortal"

Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascara in "Black"

Eyebrows:

Anastasia Beverly Hills Perfect Brow Pencil in "Taupe"

ELF cream liner in "Coffee"

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in "Medium Ash"

Face Makeup:

A mixture of Revlon Colorstay and L'oreal True Match foundations to get the consistency and color I need

Maybelline Fit Me concealer on face

Maybelline Dark Circle Eraser in "light" under eyes

ELF blush/bronzer duo

Lips:

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate lipstick in 113

Anastasia Beverly Hills lipgloss in "Barely" (on sale right now at Sephora for $10, but beware of the crappy applicator!)

So do I think I look like a porn star?  No.  Maybe if I had some false lashes.  But I think this is a very sexy, beautiful look.  I LOVE the "Utopia" pigment.  It's so beautiful and it really adds something to this look!  Would I wear this look to my daughter's school?  Probably not because I'd definitely get judged haha and people would wonder what I did for a living haha.  If it's too much for a normal day-to-day look for you, it'd be perfect for Halloween, when you're dressed up as a sexy (insert whatever costume you choose)!

What do you think of this look?  Would you wear it or it is too much?

Easy smokey charcoal eyes!

If you read my review of the new Makeup Geek pigments the other day, you would have read that I couldn't wait to try out "Paparazzi" over a black base.  So I got on that haha.  This is how it looks!

I like this one because you can see the sparkle!

I kept this look simple by using a white liner (NYX JEP in "milk") on my waterline instead of lining all the way around my eyes with black like I would usually do.  I find this to be slightly less intimidating when trying smokey eyes.

What I used:

Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil "Black Bean"

Makeup Geek pigment "Paparazzi" all over lid and a little on my lower lashline

MUG "Graphite" shadow to soften the line of color

MUG "Stealth" shadow to blend up to highlight color

MUG "Bling" as highlight color

MUG "Immortal" gel liner

MUG "Corrupt" shadow to set liner and add a bit of depth to my outer v area

Just an easy way to wear some smokey eyes!  I hope you all like it!  What's your favorite way to wear smokey eyes?

Come to chemo with me!

A while ago I had asked you guys is you may be interested in a "come to chemo" post where you can see a little bit of what goes on during a chemo treatment.  Well after I asked that, my doctors took me off of chemo so I could have my liver surgery.  But I'm back on it now so I figured I could show you how it goes.

So the first thing to really prepare for chemo is to numb my port (also known as a portacath).  Now you may not be familiar with what a port is.  I know even after they put mine in I was still confused as to how it worked.  It's basically a small ball that they place under your skin in your chest that has a catheter tube that they connect to a vein where they can directly put the chemo medicine.  They access it by needle, it doesn't remain open or anything.  They placed mine quite low or I'd show it to you, I think they placed it so low because I'm young and they figured I'd want to hide it.  They give you a prescription for lidocaine numbing cream and you use that and some press-n-seal plastic wrap about an hour before your treatment to numb it so you don't feel them poke you.

Entrance at my cancer center

When you get to the cancer center (or wherever you're being treated) they'll register you and give you what I call "the beeper of doom."  Which is the beeper that goes off when it's your turn.  Just a little thought on cancer centers: I think it's awesome that people are so focused on curing cancer that that's all they do however, sometimes it makes me feel, when I walk into the cancer center, that I am not supposed to be with the other "healthy" people.  I know that's not the case but it has made me feel that way.

The first time the beeper goes off, you go back for "labs" where they'll probably poke your finger for blood and make you pee in a cup (they don't make everyone pee in a cup.  I'n on Avastin and sometimes that can make protein spill into my urine and they want to make sure that's not happening).  They want to make sure that your blood counts are where they should be and that you're healthy enough to continue with treatment.  They'll give you another tube for them to draw blood from your port.  And then they'll send you back out to wait for the beeper to go off again and then it's treatment time.

My beeper with another tube for blood attached to it, I have to bring this back to my nurse.

And here's the treatment area:

The first thing that hits you here is the smell.  It definitely smells medicine-y.  And this smell seems to get worse every time you go back, I think because of the negative connotation that goes along with it.  Now they sit you down in your little treatment area and access your port.  Then they'll draw that tube of blood (which they check for liver, kidney functions, and all sorts of different things with), and start your pre-meds (which are steroids and anti-nausea medicine).

Once that stuff all gets in, which takes a bit, they'll bring your chemotherapy medicine over from pharmacy (they mix it fresh for every person).  The nurse gets to wear an awesome suit that makes you feel like you're contaminated when she gives it to you but it's just to protect her, so she doesn't get any medicine on her skin.

And then they hook up the chemo and let it infuse for however long your treatment is.  My scheduled treatment time is 5 hours, which is one of the longer treatments, but here's what I look like all hooked up (I kinda look miserable haha)!

You can see the patch on my left shoulder, my port is under there in like the top of my boob

There's a tv and stuff, there's a seat for a guest so you don't have to be there all alone. And I personally like having a window seat, it lets me look out and see if there are squirrels or anything haha.  They'll bring you heated blankets if you're cold and food or drink if you're hungry or thirsty.  

So you sit there and entertain yourself until your treatment is over.  Then for me, I have to take a pump with medicine home and let it infuse over the next 46 hours so they gave me a fanny pack but I couldn't deal with that so I got this bag instead.  And this is how I walk around for the next two days (I sleep with the pump and everything, no showers because it can't get wet).

Two days later I go back and get unhooked from my port and hopefully my side effects from the medicine aren't too bad.  Usually I get sick at least once, I get VERY tired (I sleep about 16-20 hours a day, I'm basically useless), my skin breaks out like crazy, and by a certain day the steroids makes me incredibly antsy, I can't sit still, I can't get up and do something, I can't do anything without feeling anxious.  I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything cold for like a week so that stinks (it's because of the Oxaliplatin, by the end of treatment my own saliva is too cold for me to swallow and it hurts going down) but I don't usually feel much like eating anyways because when they tell you not to eat foods you like when you're on chemo, they mean it.  I ate pizza my first treatment, I didn't get sick or anything.  I cannot touch pizza now.  It makes me want to vomit.

That's a little peek into what it's like to go to chemo.  I hope it was helpful for some of you who were wondering.  If you wear pretty makeup, you'll get lots of compliments!  I wore a dark purple smokey eye and got so many compliments, I think they're so used to seeing people who feel sick so they don't feel like getting ready, which is totally understandable because most of the time I feel that way too but I rocked a smokey purple eye and everyone loved it!  Yes, I wear makeup to chemo!

I used BFTE "Big Ego" for this with some other colors I can't remember for blending and highlighting.

Again, I hope this helped shed some light on what goes on at a chemo treatment and that some of you found it helpful