Month of absence

Well I've been missing for quite a while.  Between final projects, exams, health issues, and insane pedestrians, I have just been too stressed to really bother with this.  It will definitely pick up over winter break, but until then, the blog will have to endure my absence.  Oh the horror!

Have a fantastic December everyone!

Teal Dream

 So this Teal Dream pallet from ELF is really nice....I like the blue color, it's kind of glimmery gold and stuff. 
The green is really nice too, but yeah.  This is the most color I've worn in awhile, so I'm kind of nervous about wearing it.

You can see the two tones in this picture here, the green is on the inner have of my eyelid and the blue on the outer half and tried to blend the middle part. 
You can also see my Nyx Diamond Sparkle lipstick in Nude here and it looks great :D  Typically does not look so glossy in real life, but it made for a really nice picture.

So here's my product list for the look:
ELF Eyebrow kit in Dark
ELF Eyeshadow quad in Teal Dream
Lancome eyeliner in Coffee
ELF Shimmer eyeliner in green and teal
Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express
Nyx Diamond Sparkle lipstick in Nude

Rocker pallet

 This is me wearing my new ELF Rocker pallet eyeshadow (it came in with my Cranberry nailpolish a little while ago, I've been enjoying all the new goodies).
So this is definitely my new favorite pallet.  The purple is such a pretty color and it doesn't end up as some washed out lavender (as I expected).  Of course you can't see the purple in this picture, but yeah.

 So now you can see it here.  I also used the elf shimmer pallet blue shade to overlay the purple today to add a little extra shimmer to it.  Now that you can't see in this picture, but I'm just psyched the purple shows.  I'm usually so mild with my colors.  Ohwells.

So right to left are the colors.  Silver highlighter, a beige-y gold base color (it kind of just blended into the skin color on my hand, sorry about that), then purple, and then the black color.  Shimmery black is good eyeling :) yes it is.







So I scrapped the Avon idea.  I'm really an ELF girl through and through anyways, and I don't have the money to burn to just get an inventory.  Where would I keep it anyways?  My room is packed solid with utter crap.  Ohwells.  No money for me :( 
Emma Frost costume fell through too, but that was kind of a stretch anyways.  Will work on it this break with mom :D mwaha

Avon

Doesn't she look psyched?
Well, next Thursday I'm going to talk to the headperson around here about becoming one of the infamous Avon ladies. 
Do I use Avon products?  Unfortunately no, not so much.  Have I wanted to?  Hell yes.
For the past decade or so I've lived in a pretty rural area where you don't see the catalogues much though so I rarely saw them.  Plus, money's always tight in my family and I really didn't want to bring it up and have me and mom spend all kinds of cash on fun goodies when the house needed repairs.
However!  That is all going to change.  I've been wanting to do this for awhile and hopefully the meeting with the headperson/director person will go well.  I'd really like to do this and get some business practice on a topic I actually know semi-well: Beauty products.
Of course I realize I'll probably spend more than half of the $$ I make on products that will clutter up my already packed dorm room.  Do I care?  Not so much.  They have cool stuff, and now I'll be able to access it much easier than just trying to contact some stranger via phone.
So yes.  I am pretty psyched :D
It also means I may make enough money to offset my  Christmas spending....am hoping to gift myself with a lovely lovely kindle this year :D  Yaaay!

ELF Haul: Shimmer Eyeliner and Eyeliner/Shadow stick

So.  I got my ELF stuff in record time.  BUT I was missing one of my shadow quads and two of my nailpolishes :/  I think they ran out of the Royal Purple shade or something between me ordering it and them sending me my order because they circled it on the reciept and sent me a random Liquid Lipstick.  BUT.  They sent me the wrong nail polish - I ordered Cranberry but they sent Smoky Brown.  Imagine a deep, rich red with some shimmer.  That's what I was supposed to get.  I got nail polish the shade of chocolate milk.  Who wants nails that color?  WHO I ASK???
And I was missing my quad in Rocker.  Dammit.  So I sent in a complaint and hopefully they won't give me too much crap.

Black Bandit, Grassy Green, Boldly Bronzed, Twinkle Teal

Today though, I will be reviewing my Shimmer Eyeliner and the Eyeliner/shadow stick I got.
The Shimmer Eyeliner is SO much better than the eyeliner in their normal line!  It's ridiculous.  The formula is creamy and the color payoff is great!  As you can see from my fuzzy pictures.  Though you can't really tell from them, there's kind of a shimmer to each color, which makes sense.

Glow/Pearl

And this is the one Studio line Eyeliner/Shadow stick I bought.  It's in Pearl/Glow, but I did the eyeshadow on the left as you can see.  Glow is kind of a shimmery pearly pink and pearl is well, pearl.  I think it's going to be a very nice highlighter.  I haven't used highlighters much so I'm trying to get into using them.

There's more to this haul, but I won't be reviewing them all at once.  I was hoping to get my missing items soon, maybe in the next week or so.  Then I can do some swatches of the eyeshadow stuff.
That's all for now then.  Peace :D

Smoky Blue look

 Well I tried to do a smoky eye with some of this sparkly blue eyeshadow from Hot Topic.  I really love this look.  Minus the frizzies.
I used the Drama eyeshadow quad from ELF and laid the silver shade down as a base, then smudged the blue from lashline to that creasy part on the eye, blending as much as possible.  The blue was still pretty bright so I used the sparkly black as shading in the outer corners to tone it down a bit and it ended up looking great!  A very day wear smoky that doesn't make me feel like an overdone Mimi (Drew Carey show anyone?).
I also tried using the white in the pallet to highlight under the arches of my brows and blended down for the first time.  My skin is pale enough that I generally don't bother with this step since I'm always afraid I'll look like a transvestite or something.  I ended up blending it down to the lightest possible distribution of it....best to start light.

The rest of my face was pretty simple.  Just some hardcore SPF, ELF's studio brow kit, ELF all over color stick in Pink Lemonade (LOVE this shade) and some Nuetrogena gloss in Fruity Pink or something like that.  It was a pretty pink.

Beauty Lust: Nars Bento Box

This Kabuki-inspired box is my current beauty lust.  Will I buy it?  Doubtful.  Does that mean it isn't absolutely fantastic?  Definitely not.
This product  has a wait list and costs $125.  I'm really more of an ELF girl. BUT this is definitely a thing of beauty. 
The product itself looks like a Japanese-themed sculpture, which is probably why I like it so much.  It's just so darn pretty.
But the lip colors themselves look so bright and not what I would normally wear that I can't help but love them.
If any of my meager readership has one of these, please do comment about how the bento box is :D  I will live vicariously through you.

Halloween Tutorial

From me?  No, definitely not.  I just wanted to update to let you know I wasn't going to ditch this blog, I've just been busy with midterms and getting sick. 
Sick enough that I haven't been wearing much makeup. 
Also, some of my makeup brushes were caught in the line of fire during a mini-crisis in my dormroom.  Won't go into it much, but suffice to say that they were unusable...alas.
So what does that mean?  Time to buy replacements!  
So soon I will cover my haul.  I ordered a bunch of awesome stuff from ELF, totally love them.  And with the new brushes I'll FINALLY do a review of my lip tars.  Which I haven't been able to use due to a lack of applicator. :(
In the meantime, I wanted to show you a tutorial that I found on youtube from QueenofBlendingMUA, she's always doing these great nail tutorials.  I love it.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzKbhzMUmdY&feature=sub
There it is since I don't know how to insert a vid off the internets.

Drugstore products and the White Queen

Sooooo I went to Wal-Mart intending to go pick up a simple knife for cooking and whatnot and well....a lot more money later I left with a pile of stuff.
First purchase relevant to this blog: More of that Nexxus Humectress Luxe leave in conditioner that I raved about earlier.  Not having it around is causing my hair to feel more like...straw and less like hair.  So yeah, needed that (about $11 at Wal-Mart).
I also picked up Clean & Clear's Advantage acne spot treatment....Midterms have me breaking out like a fourteen year old.  Okay not that bad, but still gross and embarrassing.  I've never used this particular one, but it has a strong kick of salicylic acid to it.  I just applied some and oh how it burned!  Well, that's how you know it's working.  I guess.
And I finally got some refills for my Neutrogena Wave face cleaner thing.  I usually buy the Clean & Clear brand refills, but I can't find them anywhere for some reason...maybe they were discontinued. :(  These new replacements are Neutrogena brand, with salicylic acid in them.  They also seem a lot more abrasive than the original refills - one of the reasons I used the Clean & Clear instead of Neutrogena, they were more exfoliating.  Overall, I like this one a lot.

Unrelated to health/beauty - IT'S ALMOST HALLOWEEN!
The one time of year when the entire city decks out in it's sluttiest, sparkliest costumes to parade up and down streets!
Well, I'm not much for the sluttier costumes...I'm pretty self-conscious about my weight (for not much reason tbh), I don't drink (So I WILL mind all my skin showing the ENTIRE night), and am a bit of a germophobe.
This year however!  I will be trying to work on a more complete costume for Emma Frost aka The White Queen from X-Men.  I'm a comics/manga/anime geek, but this is the first time I'll be trying to do something so provocative.

That's basically the outfit I'll be doing...I've got a white corset that will do, but it'll cover a bit more than this one lol...I've bought a pile of satin for making faux boots (by hand since I have no sewing machine here) and a cape - no white faux fur at the fabric stores though, so that'll have to wait until I can do a more thorough search.  Gloves - got em, racy panties shouldn't be hard to find (that cape's staying on all night though lol).
The only really difficult thing will be making spats out of white satin...by hand.  I can find a blonde wig easily enough and lighten my brows with makeup.
Well, that's all for now, will post my Emma Frost makeup look eventually :D

Product Graveyard

 I JUST finished a couple of products that I figured I should review before I forget about it.
First!  We have Suave Professionals Color Care shampoo and conditioner.  I tried to bleach/dye my hair this summer and uh...it didn't turn out well.  But since I'd double processed it, my hair was totally fried.  This 2$ shampoo totally fixed that.  After one wash - ONE WASH PEOPLE - my normally frizzy, fried from bleaching hair smoothed out.  Not totally, obviously, but it was soft and it didn't feel so frizzy or dry for once. 
Try Suave Professionals!  Since I chopped off my bleached hair, I've decided to experiment with the other lines they put out.  But you should try it too!  It's 2$ people! You can't lose!

I'm always searching for the next anti-frizz, super moisturizing product out there for my hair.  This was something I bought a couple months ago, right around when I switched my shampoo over to Suave professionals actually.  I wasn't sure if it was working that well actually since I knew that Suave was magically smoothing out my hair.  But since I've stopped using it, my hair's been frizzier after drying.  I've tried to substitute one of my other products but....it's not the same.  Alas.  I'll try to burn through them quickly so that I don't have to have frizzy hair too long. :S

Orange!

Could I look any whiter?  Take note: I'm not actually wearing liquid paper on my face.  Or a goth foundation.  It's actually just the ELF face powder.  I guess my lighting this morning was WAY too white. 
Okay so I used my OCC lip tar in Safety Orange this morning - it was pretty darn orange.  Considering I'm not one of the asian girls around here who cake foundation on, this was an intense shot of color.  I tried to balance it with strong eyeliner - black liquid eyeliner, ya can't really tell in this pic - but uh, it still got comments.  It faded throughout the day and while I was talking to a friend, he actually stopped to ask me if my lips were orange.
They were.  Ahwells.  I think I need to get more used to these lip tars and walking around town.  I'll do a swatches of my lip tars at some point, I didn't buy many (this time) but I'd been looking forward to getting some for quite some time.

Skin Regimen of 2010

It's been burning hot AND humid here lately so makeup has been minimal if i wear any at all.  So I've decided to just do a list of my skin products since it'll probably change in the future.....stupid skin gotta be all sensitive :/  Lame, man. 
Anyways.

Evening/Post-Shower stuff:
Bodywash: CVS fragranceless/hypoallergenic bodywash
Body lotion:  Aveeno fragranceless/hypoallergenic lotion
Hyper moisturizer: Palmer's Massage Cream for stretchmarks/Atrac-Tain Cream
Night Cream: Olay Total Effects (Soon to be Regenerist, am just emptying the Total Effects pot right now)
Eye Cream: Burt's Bee's Royal Jelly eyecream
Spot Treatment: Clearasil 10% Benzoyl Peroxide

Morning stuff:
Cleanser: Equate Daily Face Wash (cream cleanser)
Exfoliate:  Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming scrub
Face sunblock: Ocean Potion SPF 45 zinc (I don't use moisturizer, this is plenty for me)
Sunscreen: Vaseline Aloe Fresh Protecting SPF 15
Eye cream: Neutrogena Radiance Boost Eyecream

That's all that I can think of atm.  I've also got the Neutrogena Wave product, but I like the Clean and clear face-pad things better, and I couldn't find them in stock at my Walmart so I'll have to check at a drugstore later.  The Pink Grapefruit Scrub works pretty great though, so yay :D

Forever 21

 

If you ever try to go to Forever 21 and NOT buy something, prepare to feel as if you kicked a kitten when you leave the store.

I went in there looking for this dress - a nice, simple black sheath dress.  If you think there's something wrong with this sucker, you have no idea what accessories can do for a simple sheath dress.  I've actually been looking for a nice one for awhile, local stores just don't seem to carry an affordable one.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find this darn thing on any of the racks at Forever 21 - would've been great, I've got all these belts that would've looked nice.  But while I was there I decided that hey, it couldn't hurt to try on some other dresses, see what cuts look good on me here.

That was a bad idea.

I found this dress while browsing - the picture really doesn't do it justice.  It was all shimmery and in my most recent favorite color - aqua tealiness!  I fell in loooooove!

But alas!  It was over thirty dollars.  While that's not that much for a dress, if you take into account how often I'd probably get to wear this thing, well, it wouldn't be worth it :(  I don't really go clubbing so I would basically have nowhere to wear it.  Darn. 

But fear not!  I intend to keep an eye on when it goes on sale...because then I will scoop it up like the gem it is mwahahahaha!

Face full of ELF

Here we have what I've dubbed a face full of ELF.  That's because I used my ELF compact as a base and my ELF complexion perfection to try to neutralize my under eye circles and redness.  Judging by this picture, it worked :D

It's not often that I use full coverage makeup.  Not because my skin is so amazing, but it's just so hot and humid here than as soon as you step outside, it's like you're stepping into a sauna and your makeup has a tendency to just slide off your face.

Humidity aside, I also used a bunch of other awesome products.  A blush from a sephora super pallet (will get a pic of that eventually), Nyx sparkle diamond lipstick in Nude, with a layer of Neutrogena lipgloss over that in some pink shade (the name got rubbed off, alas).  My eyeshadow is one of the nudey-brown shades that I like to call my default - I've got a phobia of wearing makeup too dark/colorful for just going to class so I tend to stick to just this kind of face.  Nude-colored lips, light shadows on the eyes, light blush.

The one thing I like to lay on strong on a regular basis is eyebrows - strong, well shaped eyebrows can completely transform a face, and I like it that way.  Much easier to maintain than powdering and re-powdering your nose.

That's all for now, thanks for reading :D

R&R Beauty Inc!

So in one of my many business classes I had to be a part of a group and work with others.  Oh the horror!  Every college student's worst nightmare.
As far as nightmares go, it could have been worse.  The first twenty minutes of our meeting was extremely unproductive in the brainstorming department - all we had determined was that we wanted to do something "green" and recycley and manage to sell something too in our fake business.
Being a huge beauty geek the way I am, I couldn't help but think of some sort of hippy all-natural beauty store that sold items packaged in recyclable or renewable materials.  So I pitched that into our brainstorm pot and surprisingly enough they hopped right on it.
So now I am officially the Operations/Product Manager of our fake business.
I get to trick myself into believing that my girly magazine buying is actually research now lol :) yaay I'm so lucky.  Will update on the business if there's any change.

The Eyeliner Brush

I'm no makeup artist, but this brush is amazing.  I like using this in combination with my liquid eyeliner to get in close to my lashes and to feather and soften the edge of the line.While I DO use this without liquid eyeliner sometimes, I find that the pigment on a lot of my eyeshadows (which I use as eyeliner with this brush) isn't strong enough to just stand alone without the liquid.  I could wet my brush, but I'm really not that fond of the texture that creates on my eyeshadows so I tend to not do it.  Plus I'm lazy and don't do my makeup in the bathroom where there's running water.

This particular brush is from the ELF line of makeup stuffs and costs just one dollar :)  Get it and love it.

Hello nonexistent viewers.  I am the Makeup Ninja and will  use this blog as a record of my makeup adventures.  I have not yet achieved mastery over makeup, but the Skin Care Ninja didn't have quite the same ring to it. 
I am pretty knowledgeable about skin care due to a lifetime of dealing with sensitive skin prone to excema and acne, so I'll definitely be doing reviews on skin care products or makeup in relation to how it applies to sensitive skin.
I also happen to have a pretty large collection of makeup that I don't get to use very often what with the intensely hot/humid weather I get year round down here.  As soon as I use up some of it I'll be able to buy more guilt-free so hopefully I finish a couple eyeshadow pallets up!