Halloween is Comin' Up....

Now I know this is a beauty blog but I need to vent every once in awhile too. Please tell me why as a volunteer/tutor/librarian/substitute teacher at a Catholic predominately Hispanic/Black school, I have found out that they are having a Halloween celebration in which teachers and students have to dress up. And not only that, but school will be let out early. And the teachers' theme is pirate?

#1: Halloween + Catholic School....uh?
#2: School being let out early because of Halloween.....uh?
#3: F-ing pirate? What kind of theme is that? I've decided on being a 70's pirate. I'll def have pics of that! Big fro and all....

But I digress...!!

Soooo I tried some new ish yesterday and actually had the balls to post it on Specktra's FOTD page. *gulp* Everyone and their pro skills and then little ole fabulous me. Ahhh well. I liked the look so we'll see what other ladies think.

Here's what I used:

UDPP---my mofo BFF!
Rubensque as a base (sp)
Acid Orange pigment
Off the Radar pigment
Carbon e/s
Vanilla pigment
Plush Lash mascara (okay, I'm diggin' it...)

And here's what I got.....(let's see how bad Blogger will F up the photo placement!)












Okayyy....so not too bad, uh? I could have blended a little better but what good would this blog be if everything I did was absolutely PERFECT? Hehe....and I swipped some NARS Taj Mahal....just a little...on my checks and I love it!

Let me know what yall think. Don't be nice. Be honest.
But hey...if your honest is raving my new look...heyyy, I can dig it. :)

Ummm, also, need some help in the eyelashes department.
Has anyone ever used a Shu Uemura or Shiseido eyelash curler? Hmmm, I am seriously thinking about investing in one of these. The prices aren't too steep....$16-$20 from Sephora. That's not too bad. I tend to get that 90 degree angle when I use my drugstore curlers. It's awfuuuuul. So we'll see about gettin' that. Hopefully today. After I pay T-Mobile, Geico, USFFCU (credit card people), Public Storage (because my entire life sits in a storage room in Tampa, Florida).....so yeah...

Peace and beauty, my loves!

Pigments and more...

PIGGIES!

PIGGIES!!

Now let's rap on pigments for a quick second.

I absolutely love them!!! Their versatility is amazing. I have found so much success is virtually all of the pigments I've played around with...

Pigments are sooo much fun and you can use them everywhere! Eyes, lips, face, nail polishes, etc. My top 3 favorite so far are:

1) Vanilla....I love this heavenly color. I've used it as a highlighter, dabbed it on my lips and even sprinkled some in my lotion for a summer shimmery look. It's a amazing.

2) Coco Beach...the BEST crease color I've come across so far. It blends amazingly with my knock off 224 brush. An absolute gorgeous color.

3) Melon...I loooove this color. In the jar it looks a bit bright, but when applied on my skin, it is a little more toned down. This on my lid with Coco beach as my crease is such a GREAT neutral color. My Mom, who is NC35 looks amazing with this color too.

:: I'll post pics soon of my pretty piggie combos.

.....I'm still playing around with some other MAC piggies that I have such as Kelly Green, Cornflower, Fuchsia, Golden Lemon, etc. And of course I have the SAMPLE sizes of pigments. I highly suggest purchasing samples instead of spending a whooping $19.50 on a jar of pigment that you won't use in a lifetime. A little really goes a looong way.

Where can you get samples?
Once upon a time, I believe Ebay users could sell samples, but that has recently stopped. I found a great seller through Specktra who not only has a great selection of pigments, but has GREAT prices, as well. Shoot Cheryl an email at Cher65@sbcglobal.net and she'll email you a list of her colors and prices. She's amazing for business, friendly and her service is fassst. She lives in Cali, I in Florida and I got my pigments in 3 days! Get up on it!



I think I'm more in love with MAC pigments than the eye shadows. I find myself grabbing for a piggie daily now instead of my palette.

Check out my Wish List:
-UPDD Primer Potion (on sale @ Ulta..buy 2, get 1 free. I need to stock up for Cali)
-Humid
-Woodwinked
-Naked Lunch
-Humid
-Novel Twist Basic Brush set
-A brown lip pencil. Probably from Jordana 2/$3. I love this cheap brand!
-Vanilla pigment (don't have time to order out, so I'll prolly have to buy the whole thing!)
..that's it!





Look at the lippie stuffs stash from my purse. Ain't this sad? Love 'em all too. All under $4. Except that MAC Jellybabe which came in a gift set that I got as a gift. That MAC in 3D has me gettin' excited so let's hope it's worth the hype, ZDazzle. No amazement since C-Shock here!


Guess who is graduating? Me in 10 days? How I'm going to wear my hair is quite the wonder. Someone mentioned a weave or wig. Okay....looks good on some, but I'm not the type to wear styles like that. Plus, I'm kinda big on my natural hair so to hide it on a big day would be such the contradiction to me. Any ideas? I look dead in this pic, but what about a headwrap UNDER the cap? No?






New look!! If I'm not in the mood to go all out on the eyes, I simply do...eyeliner, fluidline and mascara! That's it. I'm lovin' it! What's goin' on in your make-up world? Any new finds and whatnot?

Arabian Lights AGAIN!

Hi pretty faces.

I know Specktra's new look is all pretty, but I'm not feeling it for some reason. The navigation is all jacked up to me. Ah well...

I played with pigments this morning. Melon and Maroon, to be exact. I don't know what it is about me, but I love looks that have half and half of gold/burgundy. I have a look called Arabian Lights and I mistakingly ALWAYS mimic it. Helllllloooo, can I be more creative?

How good can a make-up blog be WITHOUT a decent camera? LOL, one day I'll upgrade, yall. I promise.

Not a very clear picture....but my eyebrows don't look too bad, uh? I'm learning, yall....I'm learning!

Ahhh yes. The "innocent" look. I'm going to head home and play around with some more pigments, colors and work on my brush usage because I still don't know how to work with them THAT well. Oh, and another thing---I've got 2 empty slots in my MAC 15-palette. Drop me 2 must have colors and I'll run out today and get them.

Peace.

OMG...

Creative title there, uh?

Okayyyy, so I guess it's time for a new post. I've had an awesome weekend with great friends! I'm trying to live up my life here in Tampa because I'm moving to LA for AmeriCorps in September and *tear*....I doubt anyone will visit me since it's so far.

Well, I am happy to announce that I did not purchase any make-up products this weekend! This is considered a good thing because I'm broke! LOL! I'm moving out of my apartment and putting things in storage and funds are realllly very low right now, so I've been staying away from Specktra's For sale forums and...


...oh wait, I did buy some mascara at Target, but guess what? It was on sale! $4.99. Regularly $7.99.



It's the Loreal Telescopic mascara that my lovely Ms. Riss raved about. I can see why! This is some great stuff! It's actually better than the Loreal Voluminous. I mean, really....my eyelashes are out of this world! I loved it so much that I didn't even feel the need to put on any make-up. Just the mascara, some eye liner and my MAC jellybabe. It's so hotness! Get up on it!




Sooo...in other news, I copped
the MAC Firespot from the Moonbathe line and I'm in love with flippin' color. It's insanely beautiful! I tried it on a friend of mine who is NC45 with some Cranberry and Vex and it was fire! HOTTTT!!! Just "Ehhh...." on me. Gotta keep playing around with it. It's just such a wonderful color for my collection. I'm excited about it. But I'm not too hip on ordering MAC products over the phone or online to be mailed to me. It took entirely TOO long and shipping was too expensive. I'll only do that if I HAVE to.

Best friend tells me that Ulta is having this crazy cool sale on Urban Decay Primer Potion (buy 2, get 1 free) and some other goodies... I say check it out. I'm so blessed. A Sephora, Ulta, MAC, and Nordstrom's in the SAME city? All of which I JUST discovered in 3 months? LOL, I'm so spoiled. Oh wait...I've found the link. The sale is going on until August 4. Yesss!! I should have at least 2 paychecks by then!

3 random pics of me and then I'm out.....but WAIT....you haven't lived until you've checked out this online boutique. I'm not even lying. Shoes for $9.99? Hot jewelry for $.99? Thanks Black Pearls for showing this one. Great another addiction: online boutiques. Freakin' A!

Peace and pretty faces!






I so need a better focus. LOL!!







One of my favorite looks: Arabian Lights....so gorgeous!
Amberlights/Cranberry/Vex











Chuckin' the deuces at cha....whatever that means!

Stash (pics)

Sooo....time for some updates.

But first....

Glad that you've jumped up on the bandwagon of make-up blogs, Ms. Riss!! I can't wait to learn all the secrets and tricks of the trade from a professional like you!!



Okayyy....so after best friend left, I ran to MAC and picked up:

Some friggin' Concealer....I have 1 fugly dark spot on my face that I am proud to announce is invisible with this stuff! My very first concealer. A special moment in a young woman's life. *tear* LOL!

And then I got an eyebrow pencil. Scuse my moment but OMG, it's like totally the best thing I've ever freaking come across! No seriously.....that pencil is the ish. It's thin and the color is sooo close to my natural eyebrow color. I'm definitely mastering the eyebrows little by little. I'm so proud I could spit. Hehe...

And then I got another StudioFix compact because mine broke during an unfortunate incident at some hood-ass club. But I don't even know why I purchased it because I'm staying away from face make-up for awhile. Except that concealer which actually looks okay alone. My skin needs a break. And I've gone back to my natural face care wash, toner and moisturizer.



Ohhhhhhhhhh......and my pigments came in on last Friday and I was so excited. I ordered 9 from miss lady off of Specktra (1165Cheryl....yall need to look chick up. She's on point!). Her prices are extremely reasonable and she gives you an amble amount. I was so happy! And she hooked me up with one free piggie. I took a pic of some....

I absolutely love them! And then folx kept ravin' about Vanilla pigment (which I forgot to order), but I got a sample from MAC when I picked up my other goodies. I am so excited! The Vanilla looks great on the lips. Anyone got any recs on some "must have" piggies for Women of color?

OH....here's my FOTD for Thursday night's awful.terrible.will never again go to that damn club experience:

Seee....and I know you can't tell from this pic, but I was trying to go for some extreme cat eye look that I saw once and it just didn't work out. I have to do some more practicing.

I ordered MAC's FIRESPOT today!!!! From the Moothbathe collection. I know. I'm like 10 years late. 'Bout time. I've been wanting that color forever.

Oh....I also purchased NARS' Emmanuel. Did I mention that I am in LOVE with NARS' colors. Why are they so beautiful?

I ran into a bump today while putting on some make-up. I've come to discover that virtually all of my colors are poooow....in yo face....see how purty my make-up is kind of stuff. Nooo, I don't want that! I need some tone down colors and looks. Bad, like really bad. So I ended up wearing some boring ole' Mythology and Vex and called it a day.

Boo and Boo's Momma...I look boring and boring. HELP, I need some everyday pretty looks.


Deuces for now.....I don't exactly know what else to buy in terms of products except a good mascara. I think I've hit a bump. Until I find some neutal looks, I'm going to be sad, depressed and withdrawn from MAC.

......my dramatic self. I know. The Academy Award goes to...................

Photo-less Thoughts

No pics today....although my eyes look absolutely beautiful (if I must say so myself...LOL).


I'm wearin' a turquoise shirt and so I've got on 3 colors....Big T, _____ and Vex. I really can't remember the other color. Oh wait, Shimmermoss, maybe? Yeah...I think I have Shimmermoss and NOT Big T.

Hell, I don't know. LOL....they look pretty good nonetheless.

I purchased 3 more colors.....went to the Ellenton outlet and was semi-impressed. Not much, but enough. I looked at my collection and realized that I have waaaay too many blues/teals. I have at least 5. That's enough. I want more wines/reds/pinks and definitely some CRAZY colors. So I'm thinkin'....

Eyepopping (thanks to ZDazzle!)
Fab & Flashy (I have Orange, but I'm returning it....)
Chrome Yellow
Black Tied (Always wanted a Black e/s)

....some more purples. I have Nocturnelle and LOVE it, but I want at least 2 more. ZDazzle, what do you suggest? I saw yo Color Purple pics!
.......and then I want some nice golds/neutral colors.

I'm so not sticking to my make-up wish list that I made for myself. Oh well....

Did swatches of colors on my Gentil shadestick and they came out lovely. What a great shadestick!! I would rather not invest money on tons of shadesticks b/c mine seems to work well with the colors I have now.....and UPDD does not ever fail me.

Ummm, what else? So I figured out another way to maximize my collection without going bankrupt: Buy used products. Well, used shadows, at least. Some folx sell their brand new/gently used items on Specktra for cheaper prices. That's right up my alley.

I'm fasting for the next 10 days and I'm hoping that it will clear up my skin. It honestly has NEVER looked this bad. I don't know what's goin' on. I'm getting dark spots out of no where and such unevenness. I'm drinking as much water as I can and have high hopes that this detox/fast will help me in the skin department.

'Tis all.

Peace and Fluidlines.

Gettin' up in it...

June 8, 2007

I’ve joined a website called Specktra.net. And I’ve learned a lot already!! I’m so excited that I am devoting more time to this. I’m going to go to MAC today and grab 2 new colors and get to work.

Today’s eye design is (and I wish I could upload a picture, but my camera phone is terrible) called…..

Iraqian Blues

....simple but different technique I used on this one.

Products:
Loreal HIP
MAC
Milani
Revlon

I used a Loreal HIP’s gold and dark bronze for the outside and put in circle of MAC’s blue (I’ll learn the EXACT colors one day) in the center. Topped off the upper lid and lower brow with HIP pigment. And then Revlon’s eyeliner and Milani’s liquid eye liner.
Very nice look. I’m proud. More to come….