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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Quick look: bright pink lips, winged liner!

Some days I feel like wearing something bring on my lips.  Today is one of those days.  I am usually a nude/light pink lip girl so I really don't own very many bright lip colors.  One that I do own and love is my MAC "Pink Friday" lipstick (the Nicki Minaj lipstick).  And I kinda figure that in order to balance out the bright color, I should do something not super dramatic on my eyes.  So this is my quick look of the day today.


I swear my lips look brighter in person haha


 
My eye shape is very frustrating sometimes because when I open my eyes, you can't see my lids so you can't see my liner here.  Oh well!

On my eyes I have:
~Too Faced Shadow Insurance
~MAC's "Blanc Type"
~The 2 silver colors from the Kat Von D "Metal Orchestra" palette, "Glock" and "Razor Gray"
~ "Peanut" from the Kat Von D Tatto Chronicles Palette
~Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner in "Black Ink"
~L'oreal Extra Volume Collagen mascara in "Blackest Black"

On my lips, I'm wearing:
~MAC "Pink Friday"
~NYX megashine lipgloss "Lollipop"

And here are some of the more intense pinks I have:
From left to right: MAC's "Pink Friday", MAC's "Viva Glam Gaga", NYX megashine lipgloss "Beige, NYX megashine lipgloss "Lollipop"

"Pink Friday", "Viva Glam Gaga", "Beige", "Lollipop"
 

no flash
Pink Friday definitely can tend to go purpley, as can the Viva Glam Gaga, but Gaga is definitely a lighter, less intense color.  NYX's "Beige" is a beautiful color (with no shimmer), it's actually a great everyday color as it's not a really bright pink.  NYX's "Lollipop" is BRIGHT pink in the tube but it applies pretty sheer so if I wear it alone, I don't really like it because it just deepens my natural lip color and adds shimmer, but I do like it when I apply it over a bright pink lipstick like I did today.

I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have an AMAZING weekend!  Enjoy it!!  Thank you so so much for supporting me and taking time to read this!!

Oh, and something else I meant to say was if you're a new follower (or an old follower who I'm not following... have I mentioned I'm kinda computer stupid???  I am.) of mine and you have a blog, please feel free to leave me a link to your blog and I will follow you too!  I don't think it's fair for you guys to have to listen to me ramble with me giving you nothing back haha!   

Thursday, March 24, 2011

How I bleach my hair and a Kat Von D blue smokey eye!

It was getting close to the time for me to go bleach my regrowth and I was debating on whether or not I should take pictures and show you guys how I do it and what I use (I didn't know if anyone would care).  I checked my e-mail really quick before I was going to go do it and I had a message from "She Likes to Pretend" asking me what I use to color my hair.  Well, you asked that at the perfect time because that convinced me I should take pictures and post what I use. 

I naturally have dark blonde/light brown hair:
This is my hair with just highlights, but it had a lot of regrowth
And I like my hair a bit lighter but was so sick of having to pull my hair through a cap to get highlights myself that I just wanted to be able to paint something on my regrowth and be done with it.  Now I have never had good luck with box blonde dyes, I always have ended up with orange hair... not attractive.  So I did a lot of research online as to how to get my hair blonde without being orange.  All I could find were videos telling me how to go from black hair to blonde and stuff like that.  Well, I don't have black hair.  So after a bit of trial and error, here is what I have found that works for me.
*Just so you know, I am not a hair professional... not in any sense of the word.  If you want to try my method, you can do so at your own risk.  I'm just telling you what works for my hair.

What you will need:
~Bleach (I use Clairol Professional BW2 Dedusted Extra Strength)
~Developer (I use 30 Volume Creme Developer for the bleach and 20 Volume Creme Developer for the toner)
~Toner (I use Wella Color Charm Extra Mild Toner in T18 White Lady)
~Shampoo
~A good conditioner
~A hair tie
~Mixing bowl
~Something to measure out the developer (I use an old cough syrup measurer because 2 tablespoons equals 1 ounce)
~Brush for painting on color (with a pointy end to help you part your hair)
~2 mirrors (so you can see the back of your head) or a friend to do it for you

I go 2-3 weeks in between colorings depending on how badly I feel it needs to be done.  So here's what my roots look like after 3 weeks:

First, since I like the underneath of my hair darker than the top, I tie up the part of my hair that I don't want colored (I just get a general line, I don't need the part to be perfect).

If you have never tried to take a picture of the back of your head, you should give it a go sometime... it's quite difficult haha
 Next I mix the bleach with the 30 Volume Creme Developer (half of a packet and 1 oz. of developer).  I buy the packets of bleach and use half of a packet every time I color my regrowth because that's all I need.

I got this at Sally's for about $5

Again, from Sally's.  This is about $3.25

And I apply it only to my regrowth, starting at where I part my hair and working sideways to my ear.  Then I flip the hair back and continue down the other side to my other ear.  And now is when the 2nd mirror comes in handy.  I need to do the back of my head so I position my mirrors so I can see what I'm doing and apply the bleach to my roots on the back of my head.  And now we wait.  So I checked it after 15 minutes from the time I finished applying it and here's what it looked like (still too yellow):
10 minutes later it looks pretty good (I probably could have waited a little longer but I was being impatient and just wanted to be done):
To wash the bleach out, I shampoo twice.  I use Goldwell shampoo for color treated hair and then I apply a deep conditioner (Aussie 3 minute miracle) from roots to ends and leave it on for a bit, then I rinse it out.  After I wash out the bleach, I always look like a CRAZY person, with my roots all yellow and the rest of my hair a little darker, it really looks not good.  Now let me just tell you that this will probably be the only shot of me without makeup that you will EVER EVER see haha!

you can't really see how yellow it is because of the flash
 So now I mix the toner (1/2 of a container to 1.5 oz. of 20 volume developer):

From Sally's, it's about $5

From Sally's too, this is $4.79


And I apply it all over my head, this doesn't need to be as neatly done as the bleach.  After I'm done getting it on my roots, I comb it through my head and pull it back into a ponytail.  Now, do not be alarmed as your hair turns a nice, dark purple haha.  Here's what it looks like after 25 minutes:
And then I wash that out, only shampooing once.  To condition, I focus on the ends and don't bring it all the way to my roots.  And now this is what it looks like:
You can still see a tinge of purple, but I'd rather have purple tinted hair than yellow hair!
And here I am all made up and hair straightened:
Now, to maintain this color, I use the "Generic Brand Conditioning Shampoo" (from Sally's) which is a purple shampoo designed to keep brassiness out of hair.  I use it every time I shampoo and leave it in for about 4 minutes (I listen to music in the shower so I just leave it in for a whole song).  If I do not use this shampoo, my hair definitely goes brassy again.

 And now here's my makeup for the day!  A nice blue smokey eye using the Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in "Metal Orchestra" (here's a link to the palette if you wanna check it out: http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml;jsessionid=431Q3RWJLY4HCCV0KRTQIGQ?id=P225385&categoryId=C18697 ).  I have this palette and also her Tattoo Chronicles palette and I definitely perfer the Tattoo Chronicles palette because those shadows are a little less chalky and apply a little more smoothly, but this palette is beautiful too.
Here are the swatches from the palette (over NYX JEP in "Milk"):

From left to right the shadows are:
First Class, Techno, Thrasher, Dagger, Lucifer, Glock, Razor Gray, and Slayer

The colors I used are Thrasher and Dagger (Slayer, all the way to the right, is a cream shadow and doesn't look so nice on the eyes).  And I used MAC pigment in "Vanilla" as my highlight.  3 colors.  That's all this look is.

So I hope I've helped someone out there who has blonde hair and just wants to go a little blonder.  It's a little time consuming but for me it's worth it.  Even if I had to buy all of these products every three weeks, it would only cost me $18 to do it (the developer lasts quite a long time!!) which is worth it to me!  I hope you have a beautiful day!!!  Thank you guys for reading this!!! 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My lazy look!

So we all have days when we don't feel like doing our makeup but you'd better believe that if I'm going somewhere, I'm doing my makeup.  This is the look that I do when I don't feel like doing anything!


And this look really is so easy.  On my eyes, I have :
~TFSI
~NYX ultra pearl mania in
"Mocha" (a beautiful gray/brown)
~A smidge of Urban Decay "Twice Baked" (on top
of the brown liner and a little in the outer "v")
~Kat Von D "Peanut"
~A no name brown eyeliner on my lid
~The same no name brand white
eyeliner on my waterline
~Avon Glimmerstick Eyeliner in
"Cyber Blue" under my eye
~NYX ultra pearl mania in "Ocean Blue"
on top of the Avon eyeliner
~L'oreal Extra Volume Collagen
Mascara in Blackest Black

On my lips I have:
~MAC Viva Glam Gaga lipstick (the first one)
~NYX Megashine Lipgloss in "Frosted Beige"

Here's a picture of the two no name eyeliners I used.  I wish they had a brand on them because I really like them.  They do not go on as smoothly as Urban Decay's 24/7 liners or the Prestige liner that I have, but they're nice and creamy feeling and I really like them.  I bought them at the International Beauty Show in NYC a few years ago and they were I believe less than $2 apiece.  I also have one in green.
Sorry, getting a good picture of these was kicking my butt
I just like doing this look because it's so easy but the pop of color on the bottom lid still makes it a little fun.  Obviously you can change out the color on the bottom for whatever color you want or even no color at all.  And I like putting the loose powder on top of a pencil liner so it stays better.  If I don't have a pencil liner in a similar color, I'll just add a bit of water to the loose powder and do it that way instead.

And I figured since this is a relatively short post, I would tell you what products I use on my face (just in case anyone was wondering)! 
Primer: Montistat Anti-Chafing Gel (this stuff if AWESOME!!! I had the Makeup Forever HD primer and did not like it as much as I liked this)
Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Combination/Oily Skin in a mixture of 150 "Buff" and 180 "Sand Beige"
Concealer: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Double Face Perfector in 720 "Light/Medium" (I stinking LOVE this stuff.  If I could only ever buy one product from the drugstore, it would be this!)
Powder: Covergirl Professional Loose Powder in 105 "Translucent Fair" (this isn't really a great powder, but it gets the job done)
Blush: NYX Blush in either "Peach" or "Angel" and I have to say that "Taupe" is a great contour color, but it's just a tad too gray for my face so I add some of my too orange bronzer (N.Y.C. Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder in 720A "Sunny") on top and it looks great.
Highlighter: I either use MAC Vanilla pigment or Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Blush & Highlighter in "Natural Glow"
When I do add a highlight, I spray a bit of MAC Fix+ on the back of my hand, dab my stippling brush in it and then stipple it over my face, specifically in the highlighted areas.

And that's about it!  I hope you all have a beautiful day!  Be sure to let me know if there's anything you specifically want to see or don't want to see haha!  Thank you so much for checking this out!!!


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Purple Smokey Eye!

Hello my lovely followers (and those of you who have just stumbled across this)!!  If I had to choose one style of eye makeup to do for the rest of my life, it would be a smokey eye.  Hands down.  I love that you can switch it up by using different colors, making it more subtle by using light earthtones or making it super dramatic by using black.  Generally when I do a smokey eye, it's dramatic (and strangely enough, this is the look I get complimented on most when I'm out.  Well, this and when I wear BRIGHT blue eyeshadow... go figure.).  So I'm gonna give this whole step by step thing another go and see if this one might be a little better.  So here we go:

~As always, prime the lid first.  I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance
~Apply NYX JEP in "Black Bean" all over lid, up above the crease, and under your eye.  It doesn't need to look perfect, it can be uneven and kinda messy, it's ok
(here's the brush I use to apply the base under my eye, it's just a dense brush that doesn't have a lot of give.  Sorry it's dirty, I didn't think about taking a picture of it until I had already used it)
~Since I want this to be a dramatic, smokey look, I am going to need to tightline my eyes, which means to line the inner rim of your upper eyelid.  I am not cool enough to do this without drawing on my eyelid so I'm going to do it now so I don't ruin the work I do later on (which I've done more than once haha.)  I'm using Prestige "Total Intensity Long Lasting Eyeliner" in deepest black.  And since I'm in there already, I'll line my waterline too.
~I applied MAC eyeshadow in "Blanc Type" above the black base in order to make blending darker colors out easier
~I added NYX eyeshadow in "Black" all over my lid but not into the crease
~By all means, you could continue using the black and blend up into the skintone color, but I want to do a colorful smokey eye so I'm going to use the color "Redemption" from my Kat Von D Tattoo Chronicles Palette.  Here's the palette:
Here's the color I'll be using  (it's soo beautiful!!!):
And here's where I applied it:
~Now, "Redemption" tends to pull a little blue but I want it to go purple so I'm going to add a bit of purple (the middle one) from my NYX purples trio above the "Redemption"

~Using the four colors I have on my lids, I'm going to keep blending up and out until I'm relatively satisfied with what I have (underneath the eyes as well.  And I always like to take some of the color that I'm using under my eyes too so it's not just black, it kinda ties it all together)
~Now I'm going to fill in my brows
~Next I'm going to add my highlight color, which is "Peanut" from the same Kat Von D palette

~Now it's time for the eyeliner.  I like Bobbi Brown Long Wear gel eyeliner in Black Ink.  I'm going to line all around my eyes and again on my waterline because gel liner lasts on the waterline and pencil (at least for me) does not.
~And last but not least on the eyes is mascara, I'm using L'oreal Extra Volume Collagen in Blackest Black
~Now add some bronzed cheeks and some nude lips (MAC lipstick in Myth with NYX megashine lipgloss in Pink Frost) and you're good to go!

If you guys give it a try, you should show me!  I'm not sure if you're allowed to post pictures in a reply, but if you can you should!  I hope this was helpful!  But guess what!  I have a bonus pictures!!  It's of me and the most handsome doggie ever, Mr. Sullivan Jones Darrel!  

He's a blue nosed pitbull and he's obviously a lap dog haha.  Isn't he cute???  I just love him even though he's crazy and eats EVERYTHING!!! 

Well, that's all for today, I hope you guys are having as beautiful weather as we are!!!  Make sure to enjoy the small moments in life!!