Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded

Hi Guys! I promise I haven't forgotten about you. I've just been crazy busy between recovering from the holidays, work picking up speed, and house guests...  So you'll have to forgive me if I'm not posting as frequently as I would like to.

I finally got a Maybelline Color Tattoo; I've heard all the hype but just never had an overwhelming urge to get one, as I had other great cream color products that work like a base. But when I saw Barely Branded on the new Color Tattoo Metal display, I thought it looked like a color that would brighten up eyes and work as a great base, and wasn't like anything else I had in my collection.

I don't know that there's much more I can add to the Color Tattoo dialogue. I can't use this shade as a base; it creases on me after about 7-8 hours. I know, that's pretty good, but I don't like to have to worry about touching up, so I use this on top of a primer. No biggie!  The formula is nice and creamy and blends easily, and this color is really flattering; it's a little frostier than I anticipated based on the color in the pot, but I suppose that's what makes it "metallic". It's a nice pale nude-pink color. Take a look!




Swatched heavily on the right, blended out on the left


Wearing Barely Branded on my bare lid 
Summary: I really like this color, but I have to say that I don't think this is the miracle product that all the hype built it up to be. I'd probably be more impressed if I hadn't heard as many people saying this is the alpha and omega of cream base products. That being said, I like it just as well as many higher-end brand cream shadows, and am eager to try a few more shades. I'll just be making sure to wear them over a base and set them with powder in the crease. I wouldn't say they're tricky to work with, but they just need a little help to hold up to a full day of wear. Suffice it to say these won't be knocking my precious Make Up For Ever Aqua Creams out of their Holy Grail position anytime soon.

Monday, January 7, 2013

NOTD: Skinfood Nail Vita #BR614

Hi all!

You may remember my mini-haul from the Skinfood store from a few months back... I am finally getting around to showing you one of these nail colors up close! I've been really happy with the products I bought from them, and this nail polish is no exception; it has about average wear time on me, so I get about 2-3 chip-free days out of it, and I think the color is really neat. This is #BR614 from the Nail Vita line. It's a shimmery mauve frost with rose-gold microshimmer in it. The formula is a bit runny, and you can see where it pooled a bit near the cuticle on a few of my nails in the pictures below, but it wasn't awful to work with; I'd just prefer it a tad thicker if I had my druthers! Some frosty colors can look a bit 90's on the nail, and I was worried about this when I picked up this shade, but I actually really like it. This polish was $3.00 and contains .44 ounces of nail color. Take a look!



The color is more true-to-life in the second picture than the first; for some reason I had a hard time capturing the color on the nail in photos.

Summary: The formula is comparable to other nail polishes in this price point as far as wear and application go; the range of colors offered in the Nail Vita line is really impressive, and I think #BR614 is a very pretty color, it's unique to my collection of nail polishes. I'd recommend checking out this line if you are ever near a Skinfood store!

Have you guys used any colors from the Nail Vita line? What do you think of this color?

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Years Resolutions

Hi Everyone,

This isn't a post directly related to makeup, so I apologize to all of you who follow the blog exclusively for that content. But I feel like I have a supportive community of friends in my fellow bloggers, and I wanted to share with you all some of my thoughts on what I want from the New Year.

The first thing I'm resolving to do is to go on a low-buy. And not just for makeup! I won't say no-buy, because that's unrealistic and I know I'm the sort of person who gets discouraged when I break my rules and starts thinking "what's the point?" So if I need to replace any of "the basics" like mascara, base coat, top coat, powder, etc... then I won't get down on myself about that. But I really don't need any more blush, lipstick, nail color, eyeshadow, etc... I have way more than I can ever use. You may recall my recent makeup look where I pulled out some old products I haven't used in awhile; when I was going through drawers looking for a few of these products, I encountered so many old things I barely remembered. I have more makeup than I could ever get through before it is too old for me to use, and a lot of it is really neat stuff. I think my makeup style has changed drastically over the last few years, so a lot of my older products are completely different (in a good and exciting way!) from what I use on a day-to-day basis. Plenty of room to mix it up within my own collection without turning to something new to fill that void or cure my makeup boredom.

Aside from not needing any more makeup, who can't stand to save some extra money? I don't spend money on a ton of different things, but I'll be the first to admit that makeup is my weakness, and I spend a disproportionate amount on makeup and beauty products. I reached a turning point the other day when I realized the things I really wanted couldn't be bought with money. I want to be at peace with myself; I want to feel in control of my life. I want to not lie awake at night worrying about money, worrying if I am making enough at my current job. I want to feel more independent. These are things that buying things won't get me, but that I can get closer to by saving my money. It would be great to feel like I've accomplished a goal, have self control, and to see my credit card statement go down by a few dollars each month. It's easy to get stuck in this cycle of feeling like a new outfit or a new makeup product will help you reinvent yourself and feel differently about yourself, but that's not how things work.

My next resolution is the same resolution I've had for myself for the last several years, and that is to be kind to myself. What does that mean to me? I want to take better care of my body, through diet and exercise. The goal here isn't necessarily to lose weight (although that would be nice...), the main goal is to be healthier. I want to be less self-critical; I want to banish critical thoughts, self-doubt, and negativity. I want to think positively and help myself achieve my goals, rather than being my own worse enemy and telling myself I can't do those things for whatever reason. Another aspect of being kind to myself is to know when to ask for help and support from others, and to allow myself time to do things that promote well-being and happiness. I need time to be creative, to take relaxing baths, to go for walks and enjoy unstructured time. I think that sometimes we think we need to be busy all the time so that we can't let ourselves take time for ourselves without feeling guilty about it.

Finally, I want to achieve some tangible goals in addition to these shifts in attitude. I want to get my house organized; I've been living here a year and still haven't gone through all of my boxes! I want to get the rest of the rooms set up the way I want them, I want to get boxes sorted through, and I want to get my sewing room set up. I want to make time to sew more once I have my sewing room organized; I want to finish some of the costumes I've started and haven't had time to finish. And I want to make my bedroom pretty. Right now it's been neglected since I've focused my time on getting the public areas nice and pretty; I want it to be a nice relaxing environment, not just a room with a bed and clothes in it. Going along with this goal, I want to get better at keeping my home organized; I've always been a messy person and the mess doesn't usually bother me, so it's been hard for me to get the motivation to learn how to be more organized. That being said, it's stressful when I want to have people over and feel like I have to clean everything all at once, and it's important to me to get better at "keeping house" to feel more like an adult.

Well gee, that was an awful lot of writing for just a few goals! To reiterate, I want to:

1.) Spend less money! Especially on makeup and beauty products.

2.) Be kind to myself; think positive, be more active, eat better, and achieve some goals!

3.) Organize my house.

4.) Sew more.

5). Get better at being neat and organized around the house.

The house I would like to get organized. The windows behind the porch are going to be my sewing room!
Do you guys have any goals or resolutions for the new year? What are they? Let's resolve to help each other stick to our goals and hold each other responsible for these things. Let's make 2013 a positive and uplifting year!


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

NOTD: Christmas!

I know I've featured these nail polishes before, but I thought I'd show you guys what I wore on my nails for Christmas. I wanted something festive that I wouldn't be able to wear to work, so red sparkles it was! 

I layered a Love & Beauty nail polish (from Forever 21) in Brick, a sparkly red in a red/fuschia jelly base over L'Oreal's Owl's Lust, a deep brick red. You can see posts featuring both of these polishes individually here (Brick) and here (Owl's Lust).  Not a super fancy manicure, but it was fun to wear! I think I'll definitely be pairing these two nail polishes together again. 

I apologize in advance; my bottle of Seche Vite is at the end of its lifespan, which is why you'll see some weird wavy ridges on my nails here; that's from the top coat having thickened up.





Did you guys do anything special to your nails for the holidays?