Monday, October 31, 2011

Day #18

Something blue...

I took pictures this morning in a super rush as usual...  All were blurry of course!  They always look good in the 2 inch screen.  Something is going on with my camera.  It is a dinosaur being a 6 year old.  lol  The automatic focus is not working.  I should be using the manual focus anyway...


I used Almay intense i-color trio for blues 032.  I swept pink all over the lid, topped off the outer half with the silver and put some blue in the outer v and crease.  I lined my water lines with a PF black liner and WnW techno liner for my lower lid.  I also used NYX white eyeshadow base all over the lid, as a, well base...  lol 

I used my current mascara duo Rimmel Accelerator and Revlon Grow Luscious.  I used one coat of each but tomorrow I'm going to step it up and use, gasp, 2 coats of each!   I want to see if the formulas actually work.  By the end of this challenge my lashes should be a mile long for sure!

NOTD!

I do have 2 more Rimmel polish to go, but when I paint my nails a dark blue, I can't help but I want to top it off with Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe.  It doesn't need a blue base coat, but I do love to layer it!



This is by far one of my all time favorite polish!!!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Day #17 FOTD

The past couple of days I have been using my standard Sweet As Candy, Walking on Eggshells, NYX I Dream of Jamaica palette...

Today I reached into my samples and grabbed Uncharted Emotions from About Cosmetics (She Space) and Muddy Paws from Meow Cosmetics.  Lovely colors!!!

 The above picture was taken in the sunlight.  Love the sparkle!  Uncharted Emotions is on top, Muddy Paws is on the bottom.  Love both colors!


Here are the swatches with a flash.




The products used:

She Space Uncharted Emotions all over the lid and lightly down around lower lid
Meow Cosmetics Muddy Paws which I definitely need a full size of.  I used this in the outer v and crease and foiled as lower liner under/over Uncharted Emotions.
WnW Brulee to blend out Muddy Paws.
Revlon Matte Kohl liner 02 Rich Mink (but I wish I used black)
PF jumbo Mascara for the first coat
Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara for the 2nd coat
PF Mineral Glow Pearls Translucent Pearl as a brow and inner corner highlight
I also lined my upper lash line with PF eyebooster in black. 





Midnight Blue

Another Rimmel!  This is 420 Midnight Blue






Saturday, October 29, 2011

Holiday by AVON

This is the pretty polished mini nail set from AVON.  Great little holiday gift of perfect pro nail enamel jellies and glitters!  A 4 piece set for $7.99.  

AVON says pro nail enamels last "Up to 10-day wear.* High-gloss shine. Salon-quality precision brush. No formaldehyde, toluene or phthalates.  *With normal touch-ups."  



First up...  AVON Nailwear Pro Nail Enamel in Real Red.  I mean Gorgeous.  Who doesn't need a red in their life around the holidays.  This is actually the only one in my collection at the moment.  A brillant jelly, 2 coats.  Amazing formula.




Next is my absolute fave!  Midnight Plum  AVON now has an updated the formula since that post and it is just spectacular.  Did I already mention that? :)  Here is another 2 coat wonder.  I'm glad to have this shade back in my collection Big 3 Free!




The glitters are, well, glitters!  Glitter Gold on the pinky and middle and Glitter Silver on the index and ring.  Who doesn't love a little sparkle!  

I have 3 coats of the glitter on each nail. 




Real Red and Midnight Plum and can purchased in full size bottle .4 fl. oz. currently on-sale for $2.49. 

Homemade Nail Polish Remover!!!



There are several people who have duped this.  Check out youtube!!!  But it's quite easy.

I went to my local Rite Aid when their brand of acetone was BOGO.  It is a 16 oz bottle, so I bought enough to make 4 ZOYA size nail polish remover.  I believe the acetone was $3.49 and the glycerin $6.99.  So for the cost of one bottle of ZOYA, you can make 4.  And the bottle of glycerin will a very long time.  So really, if you continued buying the acetone BOGO...you do the math! 

It is so worth it.  So savvy!

Step 1:  Get a bottle.  lol  I used my ZOYA remove +.  There was still a small amount left at the bottom.  But you can use any bottle.  Pump dispensers are definitely a bonus.  You could even dump a little of the acetone out and use the acetone bottle.

Step 2:   So for the ZOYA bottle, fill the bottle almost to the top to get approximately 8 oz.  If you want to measure and be all scientific, go for it!  I probably could have filled my bottle up more.

Step 3:  I used a capful of glycerin for the 8 oz of acetone.  1 capful.  This is where you kind of need to get it right.  Glycerin and acetone do not mix, they are not miscible with each other, that's where step 4 comes in.  Glycerin adds your moisturizing factor.  It is a skin protectant.  It is used in many products for chafed or chapped skin.  Acetone by itself is quite drying. 

Step 4:  A splash of water.  What I did is I turned the water on really slowly from the faucet and swiped the bottle underneath the stream.  So I called that a splash.  The glycerin will go to the bottom because it is more dense than the acetone.  You will see the layers upon tilting the container.  You need enough water so that the two will mix.  So I would say less than 3mL for 8oz.  But just do 1mL at a time depending on how much acetone you start with. 

Step 5:  Shake it baby, shake it!  The mixture will turn cloudy and then it will be clear again.  Tilt your container and see if the two have mixed.  If they didn't mix, you will see the glycerin at the bottom.  Add 1 more mL and shake.

Step 6:  Remove polish and wash hands.

This formula works A-mazing.  I mean like butter!  Even better then ZOYA.  I will always make my own from now on.  Of course it doesn't have the lovely ZOYA smell, well mine still does because I had a little left over and the smell has been absorbed into the plastic bottle.  I was thinking that I would add some lavender oil but I don't need to at this point.



Friday, October 28, 2011

Day #16


Products used:

WnW Creme Eyeshadow Pencil in 133 Techno
WnW Kitten
WnW Brulee
Orglamix Obsidian
Taylor Made Minerals Touche






Since I love Taylor Made Minerals Touche so much I wanted to do another look just focusing on this gorgeous purple.  I put WnW Creme Eyeshadow Pencil in 133 Techno all over the lid and into the crease.  I then patted Touche on top.  To blend it Touche I used WnW Kitten.  On top of Kitten I used a smidgen of Orglamix Obsidian  which is a pain in the you know what to work with.  Not sure why I haven't pitched it yet.  It's like tiny little pebbles.  To clean up that mess I blended it out with Kitten and Brulee.  On the lower lash lid I used Touche and Kitten and on my water line I used PF black liner.

Hope your day is going well so far!!

A bit of Crackle!

Does anyone wear their crackles anymore?  lol  Crackles, shatters, texture coats were everywhere fast and furious.  I never got into black crackle, though I have it, I prefer the metallic ones.  I never did pick up any China Glaze.  Maybe after the challenge I will look around and see if I can still find them.

My ring finger yesterday was looking a little wonky so to cover it up I used Sally Handen 06 Antiqued Gold.  I'm pretty sure I've done this mani before... maybe not but I really like it!



Can never tell if I like the silver and gold crackle with a top coat or not.  It's definitely more sparkly in person with a top coat.  So there is my answer  :)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

More Rimmel!

Today I'm wearing 270 Steel Grey...




I love a taupey grey and I've never felt a need to get another one because this is the perfect shade for me.  Wait, I take that back, I probably had Revlon Stormy in my shopping basket but it always ended up back on the self.  If I ever see it on clearance however...

3 down, 3 more to go!

Day #15!!!

Pink and Purple!



Products used:

021 Almay intense i-color trio for browns
Missha Style Eye Prime Boomer Yellow
Taylor Made Touche
About Face Crooked Vendetta
Aromaleigh Malaga


Products used:
021 Almay intense i-color trio for browns
Missha Style Eye Prime Boomer Yellow
Taylor Made Touche
About Face Crooked Vendetta
Aromaleigh Malaga
Rimmel Lash Accelerator
PF eye booster
PF black liner

Swatches top to bottom:

Taylor Made Touche
Aromaleigh Malaga
About Face Crooked Vendetta
Lightest shade from 021 Almay intense i-color trio for browns




I used TM Touche all over the lid and then Malaga went in the crease.  I blended out Malaga with Crooked Vendetta and also put some in the inner corner for a highlight.  I used the lighest shade from the Almay palette under my brow.  I also lined my lower lid with Touche as well.  I love this color.  Originally I was just going to use Touche and a matte black in the crease which I will probably do tomorrow.  I grabbed Malaga at the last minute to use up more of my colors!  :)  The PF eye booster went closet to my upper lash line as well as a little flick and I also used the PF black liner for my upper lash line to darken it up and my lower waterline.  I did one coat of Rimmel followed by one coat of Revlon.  I like this combination.  Rimmel lengthens and Revlon thickens.  Perfect pair.

Hope you are having a good day!!!  Another sunny one in NC, reaching a high of 80!  Summer is not over down here just yet.  But I love the crispness of low 50's at night and in the morning.

Comparing Teals

So I have 2 teals to show you this morning...  Rimmel Marine Blue and Oke Doke Steel This Teal

Both lovely.  In the bottle they both seem to have the same color blue based teal with slight green shimmer. 




Rimmel looks like it has a little more pearl...

It really translates on the nail as well.  Can you guess which is which??? 


On the pinky and middle fingers is Oke Doke, 3 coats for opacity.  The index and ring nails were painted with Rimmel, 2 coats for opacity.

Very similar but Rimmel is definitely a darker blue and more shimmer.  From the bottle photos above I would have said opposite because Oke Doke almost looks darker.  But the Rimmel is more reflective from the shimmer.

Oke Doke polish can be found at Rite Aid for I believe $2.99 or less...

Here are all my teal like colors:

Thumb:  OPI Absolutely Alice
Index:  Oke Doke Steel This Teal
Middle:  WnW Stream of Wonder
Ring:  Rimmel Marine Blue
Pinky:  ZOYA Breezi

Wish I had ZOYA Robin to compare...



And all my teals...


From left to right:

WnW Stream of Wonder, ZOYA Breezi, Oke Doke Steel this Teal, Rimmel Marine Blue, OPI Absolutely Alice, NYC Teal Til the End, WnW Diving for Pearls, ZOYA Charla, ZOYA Ivanka 

ZOYA Ivanka is definitely more green as well as WnW Diving for Pearls. 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rimmel Week!

Well the rest of this week is Rimmel week, starting with yesterday's Violet Metal

Today I have for you 340 Marine Blue.  Another clearance polish from earlier this year!  Love teals!



Rimmel makes a great formula.  The brush is wider as you can see here:



This is next to a WnW brush (Ocean Grotto).  So as you can see it's almost 2.5 times wider.  It can cover my entire pinky in practically one swipe.  Application is smooth with a little adjustment if you are used to the thinner brush. 

Here is my Rimmel polish stash!

I just love the square bottles.  They store very nicely.



I have 350 Violet Metal, 270 Steel Grey, 420 Midnight Blue, 286 Rags to Riches and 310 Sunset Orange.  The only one I didn't purchase on clearance was Rags to Riches.  In fact it wasn't even on sale, but I did have a $1 MC.  So glad I picked it up!!!

Day #14





So this look was inspired by a tweet from @UrbanDecay411.  I tried the Purple Cat Eye here.  I don't have UD's BOSIV but I used from the Naked Palette, Virgin, Sin, and Gunmetal and from my Almay Palette 021 Trio for Browns.  I do have the Anniversary Palette which of course I haven't opened.  Correction, I opened it for a second and closed the top immediately so it wouldn't get ruined.  lol

So after watching the video I used Virgin as my highlight and Sin underneath.  I took Gunmetal across the lid and out and along my lower lash line and winged it out.  I blended in the purple over the gunmetal and just a little above meeting up with Sin.

I finished off the look with PF Eye Booster in Black, which is virtually undetectable even when I winged it out slightly...   Oh and I used the light purple in the Almay palette to lighten up my inner corner.  Check out the swatches here.

Obviously I am not a makeup artist.  lol  Who am I trying to kid but I was happy enough to try it out!

I'm thinking that this will be a good Birthday Ball look with some fake lashes...


Hope you are having a good day!!!