I apologize for going quiet lately -- last month I was prepping for a trip and testing out the lipsticks over on my makeup blog that I had to temporarily suspend the nail polish making for a bit. I can happily say that almost all the people who inspired the nail colours have gotten their batches (with the exception of Kayla). I have another set of prototypes planned and I can't wait!
Showing posts with label updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label updates. Show all posts
Monday, June 3, 2013
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
A Labour of Love: One Year Later
This blog has been an absolutely labour of love from the time of inception, which was November 28th, 2011. I had many reasons for creating the blog, none of which that I will get into. I'd like to believe that over the year, I've learned some, I've grown some, and most importantly, I've practiced my writing.
I am a writer, first and foremost. I began this blog to practice more because I haven't been able to get around to finishing my books. So I decided to challenge myself about writing on a topic that I hadn't really discovered.
Sure I could apply black eyeliner with one hand while staring into a compact, but blending? Actually applying said eyeliner in an actual line versus going for a cat eye? Trying out different eyeshadows that weren't black (or red)? It was a challenge and it still continues to be a challenge.
Sadly, I don't have much to commemorate this anniversary: it's the fourth quarter, my birthday is coming up, and we're in the midst of the holiday season. I've got something that I'm hoping reaches fruition in 2013 but it's still on the blackboard as I figure out the logistics. I'm also considering a revamp which is also slated for potentially early 2013 (but rests upon that other item getting off the blackboard). Anyhow, as always I'd love to hear your suggestions and feedback. I know that I have some things that I could stand to improve upon (perhaps not being as lengthy would be one of them) but I'd love to hear about them as I move toward improving this blog in the future.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Halloween Lip Glosses
As you may have gathered, Halloween is my favourite time of year. I'm a huge history nerd and one thing I love about this time of year is what it represents throughout history. So even though I don't break out all the bells and whistles, I do observe it happily from a distance.
Part of this celebration includes a bit of indulgence, like a bar of Pumpkin Sugar Scrub Soap from BubblesUpByBethie and... well, that's kind of been it. There's been a disturbing lack of awesome makeup things at major retailers. Sure, there has been an amazing amount of Halloween items coming out from indie makeup brands (and I'll list some of them out soon) but stores have been lacking. My local stores haven't had the Softlips Marshmallow Ghost & Vanilla in stock, nor the China Glaze Ghoulish Glow, the infamous Wet n' Wild tombstone nail polishes, and the list goes on. That's partially why I've been focusing a bit more on nail polish since that's my one true Halloween source for right now.
I do have an order from Shiro Cosmetics on the way, so I can't wait to post about that soon. So don't fret, once this month is over, I'll be returning to my normal types of posts. I did find one Halloween related item in Sephora though and it made me incredibly happy.
Underneath all of those samples is the philosophy Trick or Treat Duo Shine which has the Crispy Marshmallow Bars Lip Shine (a champagne shimmer) and Caramel Apple Lip Shine (a sheer dark cherry). I am extremely excited to get it (simple as it may be) but I wish retailers would stop forgetting about that Harvest Festival celebration with which we get to go wild with makeup. A palette with black, oranges, reds, purples, golds, and greens would be fantastic.
I do have an order from Shiro Cosmetics on the way, so I can't wait to post about that soon. So don't fret, once this month is over, I'll be returning to my normal types of posts. I did find one Halloween related item in Sephora though and it made me incredibly happy.
Underneath all of those samples is the philosophy Trick or Treat Duo Shine which has the Crispy Marshmallow Bars Lip Shine (a champagne shimmer) and Caramel Apple Lip Shine (a sheer dark cherry). I am extremely excited to get it (simple as it may be) but I wish retailers would stop forgetting about that Harvest Festival celebration with which we get to go wild with makeup. A palette with black, oranges, reds, purples, golds, and greens would be fantastic.
In case you were wondering though, these are the retailers that do have Limited Edition Halloween colours. I haven't tried them so I can't attest to their staying power but if you're a Halloweenie, then this might be useful to look into.
- BFTE Cosmetics Halloween Collection
- Concrete Minerals Zombie Collection
- Darling Girl: The Ghost With the Most and Zombies
- Evil Shades Bump in the Night Halloween Collection
- Glamour Doll Eyes Halloween
- Hi-fi Cosmetics Halloween Collection
- Meow Cosmetics Halloween Shoppe
- Morgana Cryptoria Halloween Collection
- Pretty Serious Monster Mash
- Shiro Cosmetics: Nightmare Before Christmas
- Venomous Cosmetics
While these companies below don't have specific Halloween collections, they have items that would be of interest:
- MyBeautyAddiction: Highly pigmented lipsticks and eyeshadows.
- Sobe Botanicals: Highly pigmented lipsticks, eyeshadows, and not to mention, Halloween costume sets.
- Sugarpill: Gorgeous eyelashes and highly pigmented eyeshadows. I love this brand quite a bit and I use it for all of Halloween makeup.
Monday, September 3, 2012
And I'm Back!
The last month was a nice breather for a lot of the things going on in my life -- I had decided to take a slight break not only from blogging (well, seriously blogging -- I was still having fun over at Etceteros), reading (120 books for the year), knitting, and crocheting. I was idle and it was awesome but now I've got to pick back up on something. During the month of August, I really didn't experiment much but I did notice a few things that I wanted to touch upon. It's time for Product Updates!
Eyes
I went easy on the eye makeup and only used mascara here and there, the one stand up champion that I loved was Physicians Formula Organic Wear Jumbo Lash Mascara. I have long lashes and generally when I'm wearing mascara, the only thing I'm looking for is a slight pick me up to widen my eyes and darken my lashes a bit. A lot of formulas I've used have been on the clumpy side but this one does the trick without looking like it's too much.
Part of the reason why I haven't been using too much eye makeup is because my eyelids have been a bit dry (whereas the rest of my face has been acting oily). As a result, every night I put on some eye cream and I've been using Avon's Anew Retroactive+ Repair Eye Serum. I've had this bottle for quite some time now and it refuses to finish but overall, I do love the results that I get with it. This particular product is discontinued though but once I finish it out, I'll be switching back to 100% Pure eye cream.
Hair Care
I've been switching back to my standard hair care routine -- no parabens, no silicones, and low sulfates (or no sulfates). During the month I finished out the last of my Renpure Organics then realized that the other bottles I had picked up had either parabens or silicones. I ended up returning them and I've been sticking with Garnier Pure Clean (which is not sulfate free, but it free of parabens and silicones -- my hair does not like silicones so it was a compromise I was willing to make).
Items I ended up getting rid of are the Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme and the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo. These items are not inherently bad but as my hair has gotten longer, they really aren't working the way that they should The Bumble and Bumble Creme was actually weighing down my waves (or wurls) and wasn't giving me the lift I desired. My hair is thick and fine though so I imagine that it would still works for others, just not me. As for the NYM's Dry Shampoo, I prefer the cornstarch method now that my hair a little bit longer since it felt like it was weighing my hair down.
Foundation
As I mentioned, I'm trying to go natural (again. A quick note about this, I had gone natural but stopped for a bit in order to incorporate SPF into my routine. As a result, I ended up drifting away but then realized, I had drifted away from SPF makeup as well which meant that I should probably just go all natural again). I've also been experimenting a bit more with different foundations as well.
Although I love and adore CoverFX, I finally did get my hands on the right Everyday Minerals foundation that matches me. So as a result for the last month I've been using the EDM foundations in lieu of the CoverFX. (And please note that CoverFX has SPF 10 and is paraben free, oil free, fragrance free, wax free). Anyhow I found that two of the EDM foundations works and I ended up ordering a bunch of foundation samples from Meow Cosmetics. I still think that CoverFX is the best so far but we'll see what happens when I start experimenting again.
I did end up giving up my Illamasqua blush -- I was very happy with it's overall performance and pigmentation however I decided that I really wanted to stick to my goals and ended up getting a Tarte blush instead. I'll be working on a review for the Tarte item(s) later on.
Well, I think that's it. My Guest Bloggers are missing in action but I do know that a lot of them are getting into the busy season so I can offer them a little bit of leeway. ;)
I went easy on the eye makeup and only used mascara here and there, the one stand up champion that I loved was Physicians Formula Organic Wear Jumbo Lash Mascara. I have long lashes and generally when I'm wearing mascara, the only thing I'm looking for is a slight pick me up to widen my eyes and darken my lashes a bit. A lot of formulas I've used have been on the clumpy side but this one does the trick without looking like it's too much.
Part of the reason why I haven't been using too much eye makeup is because my eyelids have been a bit dry (whereas the rest of my face has been acting oily). As a result, every night I put on some eye cream and I've been using Avon's Anew Retroactive+ Repair Eye Serum. I've had this bottle for quite some time now and it refuses to finish but overall, I do love the results that I get with it. This particular product is discontinued though but once I finish it out, I'll be switching back to 100% Pure eye cream.
Hair Care
I've been switching back to my standard hair care routine -- no parabens, no silicones, and low sulfates (or no sulfates). During the month I finished out the last of my Renpure Organics then realized that the other bottles I had picked up had either parabens or silicones. I ended up returning them and I've been sticking with Garnier Pure Clean (which is not sulfate free, but it free of parabens and silicones -- my hair does not like silicones so it was a compromise I was willing to make).
Items I ended up getting rid of are the Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Defining Creme and the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo. These items are not inherently bad but as my hair has gotten longer, they really aren't working the way that they should The Bumble and Bumble Creme was actually weighing down my waves (or wurls) and wasn't giving me the lift I desired. My hair is thick and fine though so I imagine that it would still works for others, just not me. As for the NYM's Dry Shampoo, I prefer the cornstarch method now that my hair a little bit longer since it felt like it was weighing my hair down.
Foundation
As I mentioned, I'm trying to go natural (again. A quick note about this, I had gone natural but stopped for a bit in order to incorporate SPF into my routine. As a result, I ended up drifting away but then realized, I had drifted away from SPF makeup as well which meant that I should probably just go all natural again). I've also been experimenting a bit more with different foundations as well.
Although I love and adore CoverFX, I finally did get my hands on the right Everyday Minerals foundation that matches me. So as a result for the last month I've been using the EDM foundations in lieu of the CoverFX. (And please note that CoverFX has SPF 10 and is paraben free, oil free, fragrance free, wax free). Anyhow I found that two of the EDM foundations works and I ended up ordering a bunch of foundation samples from Meow Cosmetics. I still think that CoverFX is the best so far but we'll see what happens when I start experimenting again.
I did end up giving up my Illamasqua blush -- I was very happy with it's overall performance and pigmentation however I decided that I really wanted to stick to my goals and ended up getting a Tarte blush instead. I'll be working on a review for the Tarte item(s) later on.
Well, I think that's it. My Guest Bloggers are missing in action but I do know that a lot of them are getting into the busy season so I can offer them a little bit of leeway. ;)
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Some Other Updates
On heels of my previous post regarding Mordy, I have been busy with a few other things so I just wanted to give a bit of an update.
- I've been a bit under the weather lately probably due to stress. So I've been reducing the amount of makeup and other things that I do (like a temporary stop on the book challenge) and mostly just playing Diablo 3. Now before you say, "You mean you stopped everything for D3," my rebuttal would be that I started feeling really stressed out a few weeks ago and had a hard time keep up with some things.
- That being said, I have been doing extended comparisons of primers so unlike the mascaras, I've been testing a bunch over the span of multiple days rather than just one day which is why it's taking a bit longer to compile. (I'm giving each primer about 2-4 days of testing).
- I'm working on reviews for some of the Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs imps that I recently purchased. I bought a bunch from the Mad Tea Party line and since I'm very forgetful when it comes to putting on perfume, it's taking me longer then it should.
- In regard to Kara's Way -- when I first mentioned it, it was a sole undertaking of my friend. It still is however since then, I've become a bit more involved (read as: I'm a Kara's Way Minion). While I don't receive any kind of compensation for my assistance it would be biased of me to say anything about the box. I helped to package some of the items for the launch so it would make no sense for me to say anything about the service and as a result I'll likely also be refraining from posting reviews for items in the box. I will say that I do love many of the items and I do use them as much as I can, when I can.
I think I've covered all the bases. Although I now wish that there was more highly pigmented makeup out there that is named after Diablo 3, Battlestar Galactica, or Star Trek. More nerd makeup oriented is needed!
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