Quick EOTD: Emma Watson inspired

It's been really hot and we're expecting a massive heat wave this week with temperatures in the high 90's.  According to the weatherman, it will feel like it is over 100 degrees and it will be oppressively humid as well.  NOT good makeup weather!  I've only worn makeup once this past week and that was to school on Friday night.  This is the look....inspired by Emma Watson's movie premier makeup--minus the gold leaf part. 

I used Sassy Minerals Gasoline Rainbow and Sugarpill's Goldilux.  No full face photos as I am growing out my eyebrows so they can be reshaped and I'm looking rather wretched at the moment :)

Have a great day everybody...thanks for stopping by!

LOTD: Selena Gomez inspired

I've really been kinda smitten with the video for Selena Gomez's "I Love You Like a Love Song"....not because I like the song....but because I'm in love with the purple eye makeup she rocks in the beginning of the video.

So, I thought I'd try my hand at it. 

I used:
Concrete Mineral's Electric Eye Primer and NYX Jep in Milk 120 Palette Random Medium Purple (lid)
Sugarpill Poison Plum (crease) and Bulletproof (outer V)
Revlon Vintage Lace (highlight)
Concrete Mineral's White Rabbit (inner corners and inner third of lashline)
Milani Liquif-eye eyeliner, black

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara


**Selena has something fairly glittery and sparkly on the inner part of her lashline.  When I want sparkly on that part of my eye, I usually grab Sassy Mineral's Merlin's Ball.  I tried this with Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Transformation Potion.  What I got was a very opaque, metallic silver...which is good to know if I ever need that color...but not quite what I wanted.  Instead, I overlapped White Rabbit both wet and dry...it was sparkly-er than my original plan but not quite right either...and of course none of that cool sparkle/pink shift that this shadow has showed up on the camera :(

Note to self...pick up some glitter liners when I have money again.

My inspiration

Today is the very few remaining hours of my vacation.  I'm back to work in 3 hours and back to school by the end of the week.  It's been fun, but I think I'm ready to get back into regular routine again.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer so far...thanks for stopping by :)

Bad Day Booster

Today I had one of the worst days that I've had in quite some time.  It was a wretched day at work followed by an appointment at my son's school that left me feeling drained and utterly miserable.

But when I saw the latest MUG tutorial, I thought to myself...."I bet those colors would cheer me up!"

 

I rarely wear pink....I don't think it looks very good on me, but I felt drawn to try this one.  Even if it was just to take my mind off of things and brighten my mood.  So even though I have nowhere tonight except work (and I sleep there!), I have a face full of bright spring-like make up.

I used:
Concrete Minerals Electric Eye Primer

120 Palette (the same two pinks used in the tutorial)
Sugarpill Buttercupcake
Sugarpill Poison Plum/Bulletproof (Instead of gray and brown used in the tutorial)
Sugarpill Tako (highlight/blending)

NYX JEP Milk (waterline/innercorners)

Sassy Minerals Merlin's Ball (inner corners)
Milani Liquif-eye line in black

I still don't think that Pinks are my thing...but I had a lot of fun putting together my own version of this.  And maybe...just maybe, it brightened my mood a little :)

'Lux of the Irish :)

I didn't actually wear either of these looks for St. Patrick's Day.  I forgot to take pictures that day (which I'm pretty disappointed about because I thought it came out really good!) But I used Sugarpill's Goldilux in both.  It totally lives up to all the hype it gets.  It is THE gold of ALL golds!  It's like real gold in eyeshadow form!  It's just plain awesome in a jar!

I recently got a new phone with a *supposedly* better camera.  While the pictures DO come out more clearly...I'm having an awful time learning to focus the darn thing!  But these were the best of all the pics I took :)

For the first look...I used a dark green shadow from Fyrinnae (Once upon a time, Mathias spilled orange soda on my vanity and the handwritten label smeared right off!  So I have no clue what this shadow is called!) on the lid and blended it out with Tako from Sugarpill.  I layered some Pixie Epoxy along my lashline and then used Goldilux as liner. In real life, this look had sooo much more sparkle!!

 Later in the week, I used Gasoline Rainbow from Sassy Minerals and Goldilux in the inner corners.  This is another instance in which my camera was just incapable of picking up just how pretty and sparkly this look really was.  This was also the first time I've ever put a color other than black in my waterline.  Using white there (I used my NYX JEP in milk with Tako lightly patted over it) wasn't as scary as I had anticipated! :)

I have a few reviews I want to share with you guys but it's getting late and I have to get ready for work...so I guess that will have to wait until at least tomorrow.  Have a great night everyone!

LOTD: Asteroid Ball

I was "window shopping" at Wal-Mart yesterday (can it technically be called window shopping if you ACTUALLY buy something?).  I was supposed to be grocery shopping but the makeup section always calls to me and I said I wasn't going to buy anything...but obviously I'm delusional :)

I was so happy with the pretty Hard Candy eyeshadow that I had bought last time (pretty purple sparkles always make my day!) that I decided to pick up another one...this time in blue!

This one is called Asteroid

 Soooo pretty!

This one seems to have more shimmer and less sparkle than it's purple counterpart, but it's really pretty and a great color to use alone with a little highlighter for a simple look.  This one also came with a mini of Hard Candy's eyeliner called Abyss, but I didn't use it for this look and in all truthfulness...I'll probably give it to Addy.

This is what I came up with:

 Hard Candy e/s in Asteroid (lid)

Sassy Minerals' Merlin's Ball (inner corners and blended into highlight)

Generic white from my 120 palette for blending and highlight

Full face shot with Fyrinnae Acidic Cherry on my lips (my all time favorite darkish red)

That's all I have for right now...I'm off to school.  We're dissecting a kidney tonight and I'm super excited :)  Have a great weekend!!!

All Kinds of Christmas Related Stuffs! (and makeup too)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas that was filled with happiness and joy and maybe even a few presents that they've been longing for!  My living room is still filled with toys galore.  Wall-to-wall, no matter how much we try to organize and separate them into sensible piles for each child.  There's even been talk that this is the best. Christmas. ever.  but then again, they say that every year ;)

Almost the whole house has fallen sick with some sort of cold.  Addy, Alex and myself are pretty much flat out sick.  Bear and Mathias are starting to show signs as well.  Jeff and Nathan are the only ones untouched....so far.  On top of that, we are expecting a massive snow storm that is supposed to drop anywhere from 6-12 inches on us.  It will be our first "real" snowfall of the year and I'm not looking forward to it at all.  I hate snow.  Bear, on the other hand, was really sad that we didn't have a white Christmas so he's getting his wish (just a few days late) and he couldn't be happier about it.

I have two looks to share.  The first one I did for the fun of it on the 23rd.  I was inspired by a house near my job.  It's decorated in tons of sparkly light blue and dark blue lights, with some white lights for an accent.  It looked soooo pretty!

I used:
UDPP (original)
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil (Milk)
120 Palette (light teal, the speckled dark blue, and the darkest purple, and white to highlight)

Color Workshop liquid eyeliner (Silver on the upper lid)

Maybelline Define-a-line eyeliner (water line, smudged a bit under lower lashline)
Maybelline Falsies mascara

Once a week...I get pretty :)

While I was off hiding (well...mostly sleeping), I did manage to compile a few different looks.  I didn't do much makeup (I probably did full makeup maybe once a week) but here's some of the EOTDs that I did do

120 Palette (light/speckled purple, dark purple, black), LA Colors liquid eyeliner

 I've done this one before...but I think I did it better this time.  Practice makes perfect!

NYX JEP (Black Bean), Concrete Minerals (Temptress), 120 Palette (Bright Yellow), Maybelline Define-a-Line eyeliner

I used a crappy primer with this one.  I was experimenting and I failed miserably.  I liked how it came out at first, but as the day progressed...yeah...not so much :)

120 Palette (speckled black/gray, black), maybelline define-a-line eyeliner

I've owned Sassy Minerals' Crown Jewels for a really long time and for whatever reason, I never got around to trying it out.  The camera doesn't do this color justice.  It's a gorgeous dirty brown with blue sparkles.  This look is just that one eyeshadow applied over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy and blended out.

That's it for now :)

Quickly Catching Up

I have a couple of looks to post.  I was *mostly* happy with them :)

Neutral look done with my 120 palette(Don't mind me...I know I look like a dork!)

Sassy Minerals Tabloid Fodder (I think...my memory is a little hazy lol) and Concrete Minerals Swamped.

Busy, Busy!

School has really got me hopping!  I finished my Biology paper and now I'm working on a research project that has five separate tasks involved.  I'm doing well, but it's definitely keeping me busy.  I'm sorry I haven't had much time to post anything.  But...with the kids back in school, I should have more time on my hands for both schoolwork and fun stuff like blogging :)

I do have two looks to share.  Neither is anything overly special, but i figured I'd post them anyway.  Also, I took a big leap and CHOPPED ALL MY HAIR OFF!!!!  I went from straight down past my shoulders to short, choppy and barely touching my chin!  And...it's way shorter than that in the back.  So far, I'm loving my new 'do, it's so much easier to take care of.

The looks....

This one is a silvery smoky eye done with Sassy Minerals Merlin's Ball and my 120 palette (it was way more sparkly in real life.  Merlin's Ball is one of my favorite colors, especially over Pixie Epoxy)

This is my version of Jangsara's 'Fangbanger' tutorial.  I've done dark, goth-ish eyes before, but her way was sooo much easier than what I usually do.  I definitely think this one's a keeper!  I used NYX black bean JEP like she did but then I just used the black and white from my 120 palette.  My lips are Urban Decay's Guys Love Betsy lip gloss.

And....just to add some cuteness factor to my blog...here's my Mathias yesterday before his first day of Pre-K!

That's it for this time.  Have a great weekend everyone :)

Two looks before the weekend (and my sad tale of woe that has a happy ending)

This has been the most stressful ten days that I've had in quite some time!  Our car broke down last week.  We've only had it for four months.  The extended warranty refused to cover the repairs and the dealership's 90-day warranty expired last month.  And even if we had the money to cover the $2800 in repairs--the transmission might still need to be replaced!!!  We live in a semi-rural area and we're dependent on our vehicle to get us just about everywhere.  That's why we made the decision to purchase a car from a dealer and get an extended warranty--we wanted peace of mind that stuff like this wasn't going to happen. 

My mom has been nice enough to take us to the laundromat and grocery store.  She let me spend the night at her house and brought me to school last weekend. 

I just honestly haven't felt like doing much in the way of my make up though.  I did one look last Friday and one today.

On a positive note....Alex has been calling the dealership almost everyday and fighting with them.  Finally, we got good news.  The extended warranty company was convinced to cover the $2800 of repairs AND replace the transmission!!!  We just have to cover the deductible.  Woo Hoo!!!!

On to the looks....

Last Friday I was inspired by Robyn at  Stay Beautiful.  She did a series of Retro/Pin-Up posts.  I've never been able to get the pin-up look quite right but this is the best attempt I've done.  I didn't hate it :)
I used my 120 palette, Maybelline Lineur Intense eyeliner, and Maybelline Define-a-line eyeliner.

For my lips, I used Fyrinnae's Acidic Cherry and Urban Decay's Guys Love Betsy Lip Gloss


I look goofy and sleepy here but it was the best full face shot I took :)
(I had my headphones in listening to an audiobook)



Today, since I was in such a good mood, I wanted to do something very cheerful.  I was inspired by Jazziebabycakes To Infinity and Beyond tutorial.  I didn't do nearly as good a job, but I like it. :)

I used NYX JEP in Horseradish and Milk(inner corners and in my sad double wing attempt), Concrete Minerals' Juvenile, Concrete Minerals' Swamped, Sassy Minerals' Reflecting Pool(over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy)



Lips are Fyrinnae Deceptive Innocence--just because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with my lips.

Just wanted to say that school is going well.  I did really well on the three tests that I took last Saturday.  I got a 100 and 105 on my two Medical Terminology tests and a 94 on my Biology exam. 

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

I'm in LOVE!!!

When it comes to makeup, I'm an eyeshadow addict.

When it comes to eyeshadow....blues, oranges, and purples(and the occasional chartreuse) are my crack...the bolder and sparklier (is that even a word???) they are--the better I like them.

But I've fallen in love....with a GREEN!!!

Sexy Nerd Alert!

The Northeast has been having a massive heatwave.  The temperatures have been in the high 90's but with the heat index (or whatever it's called) it's felt like triple digit weather!  It's been stifling and oppressive, to say the least, and I haven't much felt like wearing clothes--let alone makeup! :)

But today it was only 88 degrees (Farenheit) and I had to go out and run some errands so I did do a LOTD.  I thought it came out nice enough.  Neutrals aren't really my favorite thing to do but I couldn't decide on colors and I was running out of time.  This is what I came up with:

Daily Challenge 11/12--I'm such a cheater!

I'm totally cheating at this daily challenge stuff!

But it's okay, because days 11 and 12 can go together :)

Post a recent photo of yourself/whatever tickles your fancy.

And....you can't get anymore recent than today!

I had to go to school to take my entrance exam and this is the makeup I did.

Rawr!!

Today, I tried my first leopard print look.

I'm definitely not afraid of color when it comes to my eyes, but for some reason this whole leopard print thing was daunting to me.

My eyeliner could have been better and I really didn't have a brush small enough to fill in my "spots".

But for a first attempt, I think I did all right :)

Caught Up in Reality

I can't believe that it's been almost a week since I've posted anything!

Reason being that I've been stuck in my real world doing real things (oh no! the horror!)

First off, I finally finished redecorating my daughter's bedroom.  We painted it this insane yellow/green that she picked out called kiwi fruit.  It's more yellow than green but it's almost fluorescent--reminds me of pedestrian crossing signs. 

How this makeup addict gets up and goes when she has no get up and go...

I did not want to leave the house yesterday. Nope. No way. No How. My sweetie and I had been relaxing (read: being utterly lazy) all day and it was wonderful. So many days we always have someplace to go...laundry, groceries, post office etc. But despite how much I was enjoying being a bump on a log, I ended up having to make a trip out to do some banking and a little shopping. Yesterday (unlike today) was an extremely sunny, gorgeous day. And since I really wasn't feeling the whole idea of leaving my cozy chair and bum-around-the-house clothes, I decided to do some bright colorful makeup to try and cheer me up and put me in the right frame of mind to deal with the outside world.

I was inspired by Eden Blue whose blog can be found here

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion (all the way to brow and along lower lash line)
Concrete Minerals--Juvenile (on lid to the crease, inner half of lower lash line)
120 Palette--bright dark green, third row down, third row in from the right (crease and outer half of lower lash line) and a little mix of brown and reddish brown for my brows (still trying to find the right shade for them) oh and I used some black from this palette as well (outer v)
My old faithful generic Almondine (highlight)
Maybelline define-a-line eyeliner in black
Maybelline Colossal mascara in black

Face
Monistat Anti-Chafing Gel (Primer)
Sassy Minerals foundation--Cool/Fair
Sassy Minerals finishing powder--Light

No lips because a)I was feeling lazy and b)I often make that makeup faux pas since I'm not really a big fan of stuff on my lips anyway :)








And this one is my daughter, Addy, and I being super silly. I wuvs her...she rocks!




**Yesterday's Tidbits**

My Mood: LAZY!!!!!!
My Song: 'Sexy Chick' by David Guetta f/ Akon. Because a) I am and b)I needed something peppy to get me energized and moving.
My dinner: No kids at home last night so I just cooked up some chicken patties. Had them on bread with lettuce and tomato. Homemade potato salad. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon.

LOTD: Feeling Blue

I haven't really worn much makeup this week. It's been a combination of lazy and busy. But today is my day off so I have plenty of time. Plus, it's my sweetie's birthday and I'm letting him be as sloth-like as he desires today....which means that it's almost noon and he's still sleeping :) Which gave me plenty of time to play with my makeup and practice taking pictures with my new-ish phone. (It's not really all that new anymore....but I haven't really attempted to take many makeup pictures with it)

I wore this look on April 2--which is National Wear Blue for Autism day. For anyone that doesn't know, my 7 year old son is on the autism spectrum. I don't really own any blue clothes....so on that day I rocked what I thought was some kick-ass blue makeup! It's such a pretty day today and I was feeling some bright color....so I decided to re-create the look again today.

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion (all over my eyelid up to the brow, including lower lashline)
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy (just on lid up to the crease.)
Concrete Minerals--Bang Up (all over lid up to the crease, lower inner half of lashline)
Urban Decay--Twice Baked (crease and outer half of lashline)
Generic(the label has since worn off) color called Almondine (highlight)
12o Palette--white (inner corners) brown (eyebrow definition)
Maybelline define-a-line eyeliner--black
Maybelline Colossal Mascara--black

Face
Monistat Anti-Chafing Gel (Primer)
Hard Candy Concealer Palette (green and pinkish colors for reducing redness around my nose and bluish circles under my eyes)
Revlon Colorstay Foundation--Ivory
NYC mosaic color wheel blush--Pink Cheek Glow
ELF bronzer--Luminance (contouring--not that you can tell...that's new skill I'm trying to learn and I'm fairly suckish at it so far)
Sassy Minerals finishing powder (light)

Lips
Fyrinnae--Acidic Cherry (I really wanted to use the bubblegum pink one...what's it called? Lollipop Pop? Yep...too lazy to look it up but I LOVE that color but alas it's in the car and I was too lazy to run and get it.)










And...one with my Babbers for good measure!

Big Girls.....

I’ve always been a big girl.

I went from chubby toddler to plus size teen in the blink of an eye. And then on to a full fledged BBW in no time at all.

I can remember, when I was a child, being subjected to weigh-ins and measuring food. Posting our individual weights on the refrigerator door to monitor our success (and mostly failure).

My mom telling me you’d be so much prettier if only you weren’t so damn fat that I had “such a pretty face”.

In my early adult years, I became very pro-fat. I ate what I wanted and didn’t care. I had a boyfriend who loved all my curves and rolls (he was also an abusive ass but that’s a different story for a different day….) and I was very into the mindset that it was society that was pressuring us all to be skinny. Society was telling us all that we weren’t good enough. So it was my duty to ‘stick it to the man’ by embracing my fatness and wearing it loud and proud.

A few years later I was pushing 330 pounds and my doctor was worried the weight was causing fertility issues. I desperately wanted to have a family so I started working with a nutritionist and lost 50 pounds.

I also suffer from depression and the long ago ex and I were in the middle of some marital woes. When I’m in the middle of a depression cycle–I either eat everything or I eat nothing. The depression diet (however unhealthy it may be) got me down another 15 pounds. The smallest I’d been in my adult life. But, like so many of us out there, I gained most of it back.

But I was still under 300 pounds and that became my own personal benchmark for what I considered to be too fat.

I figure I’m always going to be a bigger girl, but as long as I’m under that magic number–I’m comfortable. I’m ok with my body.

Fast forward many years and 3 babies later and even though I went up to around 330 with each pregnancy, I would get my self back down into my comfort zone.

Until now.

I’m not sure what happened. Maybe a combination of depression and laziness–I’m not sure. But I’m waaayyyy out of my comfort zone.

I feel huge.

My clothes are getting snug.

I’m neither comfortable nor ok with my body.

So I’m working on changing that. My biggest problems are portion control and emotional/social eating. I’m not going to deprive myself of anything that I like to eat but it’s all going to be in normal portions. I’m going to keep a food journal to help me with the mental stuff. I’m going to try like hell to get all the daily requirements of fruits and vegetables. And drink lots of water.

I’m hoping that writing about it will help me stick to my goals.

I’d like to be under 300 by the middle of July.

I know, overall, this will be good for me. The excess weight is not healthy and I really should be a better role model for my kids. But I know I’ll never be as small as I’m ‘supposed’ to be.

Which is fine with me–as long as I’m comfortable with the body I have.

After all, being happy beats being skinny any day.

**Today’s Tidbits**

My mood: very tired. I haven’t been sleeping at work like I should (yes, I’m allowed to sleep at work…I’m incredibly lucky) I’ve been sleepy and a little grumpy all day.

My look: (before work last night) Face: Sassy Minerals foundation in Cool/Fair, Sassy Minerals finishing powder. Eyes: Sassy Minerals-Break the Silence eyeshadow used as eyeliner, applied over Fyrinnae’s pixie epoxy, and Colossal mascara. Hair tucked behind my ears. (thinking about a major haircut). All in all a very simple look that’s still a bit much for a girl who gets to sleep for a living

My song: Walking in Memphis–although this isn’t typically what I listen to, I heard it on the radio this morning while I was channel surfing. Something about this song always stirs up something very emotional in me and I LOVE singing it.

My dinner: Chicken Patty on a bun with a little buffalo sauce, a small handful of baked fries, and a big portion of broccoli. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon to drink.