LOTD: Tokidoki Neutral

..... And I'm back with the eyeliner!  It's not so hard as I thought, and I think I might be ready to try something other than black. 

I am kind of on a self-imposed Inglot ban- aka trying to use something other than Inglot, and I only used the Tokidoki Sodashop palette and one Dior shadow in the inner corner for this look.... and surprisingly, I didn't have issues with either.  They only started to show wear after about 8 hours, so that's ok by me!

Oh and the lip gloss is the most recent Lady Gaga one, the tannish nude.  

What is your favourite deodorant?

Does anyone have any deodorant recommendations??  I have been using Cashmere Mist for yeeears, but I am almost out and was thinking about trying something new.  I hesitate because I love the effectiveness and scent, and I really only like solids. 

And of course, Sephora has no less than 70 matches when I type in 'deodorant'!!

Which reminds me... do I really want to place an order for just one item???

Dear Readers, please tell me your favourite deodorant!

Interview With Myself: Brands- A Dozen Faves!

These are products that I am so curious what everyone's faves are, so I will post my own:

1.  Eyeshadow:  Inglot.  Runners Up:  MUFE, Nars, Dior.  Worst:  Too Faced.

2.  Foundation:  Nars.  Runner Up:  Dior.  Worst: anything else.

3.  Loose powder (tinted):  Dior.  None others tried or used.  Want to try:  MAC Magically Cool. 

4.  Pressed powder:  MAC Sheer.  Runner Up:  Physician's Formula.  Worst: Cover Girl. 

5.  Shimmery bronzer:  Nars Laguna.  Runner Up:  Wet n Wild.  Worst:  Physician's Formula Pearls.

6.  Matte bronzer:  Dior.  Runner Up:  Guerlain Terracotta.  Worst:  Smashbox.

7.  Powder blush:  Sleek.  Runner Up:  Nars.  Worst:  Urban Decay.

8.  Concealer:  Nars.  Runner Up:  Boots no.7.  Worst:  Rimmel. 

9.  Mascara:  Maybelline Falsies (any version).  Runner Up:  Dior Blackout.  Worst:  Too Faced.

10.  Liquid blush:  Sonia Kashuk.  Runner Up:  MUFE.  Only two I've tried!

11.  Gel eyeliner:  MAC.  Runner Up:  Maybelline.  Also, only two I've tried!

12.  Pencil eyeliner:  Milani Liquif'eye.  I honestly don't use anything else anymore. 

That's about it for today...  I will continue with other products soon!

Polishes of the Day

Sooo.... this is my makeup diary, so I really think I should keep a log of nail polishes I wear!!!

Calling it POTD made me laugh so hard, I just couldn't do it!

If you've seen the post of unused makeup, that comes nowhere near the amount of unused polishes I have.

I don't like matching my nails and toes, never have.  I change my nails much more often than my toes though. 

On my toes, I have Sally Hansen Blue Me Away.  I like it on my toes much better than on my nails. 

Nails- Bad Fairy.  Does it matter to me that it's out of season?  Not really!!!  For me it's perfect because the duochrome really comes out in the sunshine. 

Dior Cleansing Gelee Makeup Remover

Cleansers are almost always impossible to work universally.  What may be effective or fantastic to some, may be total crap to others, or worse, bad reactions may occur. 

This is a cleanser I have used now and again over the years.  I've always purchased it from Dior.

It is a milky, thin formula.  I like it for removing makeup from my face only, not my eyes or lips because frankly, it does not work for that from my experience.  So I only use it occasionally, because I don't wear products on my face daily.  I use it before I actually clean my face, just to remove makeup.  It is a gentle formula, and I really like that it leaves my skin smooth and soft, so it isn't a deep clean by any means.  It does leave a lotiony feeling on my face afterwards.  Since I am used to having no products on my face, I don't like the harsh feeling that some cleansers provide.  If I used a lot of  face makeup, I would prefer a more scrubby type cleaner.  Whenever I've done makeup for an event, I use Neutrogena followed by Caudalie. 

It does work ok for eye makeup, but I always experienced a leftover residue, so I never used it for that.  

A LOTD With Mascara!

I haven't been using any mascara in probably a month... haven't really missed it until I see what I look like with it, it makes a big difference in my opinion, mostly because my lashes are not black.  I used Maybelline Falsies.  It was a brand new package but for some reason didnt leave my lashes as crunchy as when I used it before, so I had absolutely no problem removing it, which was my main reason for not wearing it recently. 

Before I started moving, I was practising my eyeliner, so finding one and continuing to practise is going to be my next challenge.

Anyway....

Oh and here's the other products I used:  Laguna bronzer, clear lip gloss, and the eyeshadow... oh, the eyeshadow.  I was trying to use something other than Inglot, so I had the Tarina Tarantino Floriculture palette laying out, used that... but the darker shade was so bad I couldnt hardly get any colour out of it.  The beige was fine though. 

I knew I wanted lighter purple too but the one out of the palette didnt really do anything either, so I had to use Inglot anyway.... so I will just have to compare every eyeshadow to Inglot now, and I can't see myself really getting much use out of anything but Inglot on my eyes, besides a couple of MAC pigments, some other glitter shadows, and maybe Dior for highlighters.  I don't think I'll ever fall out of love with Magenta Madness or 3D silver lol.  But if I never had Inglot, I wouldn't really be able to complain as much about these other products though!! 

Ruh-Roh!!! Tarte Temptation Alert!!

I am going to do a blog post every time I feel tempted to buy a product that I know I don't need.... just to keep myself under control more than anything else. 

This palette looks so cool, it's from Tarte's new True Blood collection.  Which is a show I never even heard of, let alone watch.  If I bought this, it would probably sit on my shelf, unused like just about everything else.  It looks cool though, isn't that justification enough???

List of Untried Products

Sooo... here is my photoless post, due to the problem I had earlier.  I have a lot of products I haven't used yet, so I am going to try them all as soon as I can.  So here is what I have so far:

Urban Decay:

     Quiver lip gloss
     Score, Quickie blushes
     Gash eyeshadow

Too Faced:

     Avant Garde blush
     Pixie Pin-Ups palette
     Cocoa Comet eyeshadow
    
Lorac:

     Perfectly Lit Luminous powder
     Star Studded eyeshadow trio
     Flaunt matte blush
    
Dior:

     Green Design palette
     Extase Pinks palette
     Minaudiere palette
     Dentelle Coquette palette
     various Holiday kits

Skindinavia Bridal finishing spray

MUFE Face primer

NYX Bronze Goddess Box

Hourglass Suede eyeshadow duo

Sleek Original palette

MAC Blackground paint pot

Various Wet n Wild eyeshadows

Kat von D Truth palette

Some notations here:  I don't care for the Too Faced brand at all, I never had a good experience with any of their products.  Wet n Wild shadows are fine and all, but I am over them already- the packaging is so bad and they don't travel well at all.  Urban Decay pissed me off too many times so I really don't care about anything they have besides eye primer.  Lorac, I just didn't like a lot of their products either, especially considering they are as expensive as much better ones.  Dior, is kind of a special case for me because they were my first big campaign in Europe so many years ago, so I will always love them.  Whenever I get gifts, everyone knows, if it is Dior, I will love it.  Not just makeup but clothes, shoes, glasses, bags, anything.  I have two of the Minaudieres, as well as many other products, and I don't have any intention of ever opening one because I think it must be the prettiest makeup I have ever seen. 

If anyone's tried any of these, please comment, might save me from them lol...

On other notes, I am 99% sure I am going to break my strike against Chanel polishes.... I might cave for Peridot...


So there you have it- my boring photoless post. 


Hope everyone is having a great day!!

Baby Nerd Alert!

Haha... just trying to take it easy, doing some organising around here... I thought I would share this really quick.  These are not prescription glasses, but he loves to wear them... and he saw Daddy on Skype wearing headphones and he had to have these too! 

No Photos :(

Something must be wrong with my browser.... again!! 

I can't upload any pics, so what can I post about that is photoless???

Can You Actually Have Too Much Makeup??

There was a young woman

Who was in quite a stew

She had so much makeup

She didn't know what to do

Her friends all made fun of her

Cause that's what friends do

But she was not laughing

Cause she filled up a suitcase

No wait- it was two!

She got some pink shelving

Hoping that would help some

and maybe it did

But that was just step one...

So how many people think it's possible to have too much makeup?  And understanding this is all of our passions....

Wait!!  Before you shout nooo, never.... these are all products I have accumulated over the past year or so, and doesn't count the dozen or so boxes I have given away or sold... and these are all my own purchases.  When I first unpacked, was in shock.  Now that I look again, I may be just rationalizing, but it seems to be certain that a lot of people probably have a lot more.  My point in being disappointed in myself is, I don't even use most of these things, even though I did like them at one point. 

Be prepared, its about to get messy!!

First, the stuff I actually use all the time:

Basically that, I don't use much more, but maybe that's because it's all been packed up- at least that's what I keep telling myself...

Here is the rest:

Ugggghhh, and these are all stacked 2 or 3 rows deep- the pictures show just the top layers!!

I was up until 3 a.m. trying to figure out, how did things get like this, what I should do, etc. but eventually, I had to give up... I will try another day. 

For now, this is how it looks:

Whew!  That's everything, cosmetic-wise.  I honestly don't think it looks that bad, considering... but I know I have a different perspective than many others would.  

the Balm Batter Up Cream Eyeshadow: Base Hit Kit

My affair with cream eyeshadows continues.... as I found this in a box, seemingly forgotten...

It has a soft texture.  Here is the swatch:

It is a light gold, and applies exactly how it swatches on my lids.  It is described as a "creaseless cream shadow".  I was concerned with the softness, I thought.... just another disappointing, greasy, creasy mess.  I haven't been too impressed with cream shadows in the past, if you couldn't tell. 

I was surprisingly wrong!!  This cream shadow is fantastic!  It lasted the entire day- about 10 hours-without a single crease or fade. 

At first, I thought the shade was too light for me, but it's really pretty to use for highlighting my eyes because the shimmer is noticeable, and I've used it alone as well as with black eyeliner and gotten compliments.  This works great for layering, too.

When considering using this for layering, I thought it might be similar to Urban Decay's Greed Primer, but not close... Greed is much yellower.  Sin, maybe?  Wrong again- Sin is much pinker. 

My cousin's wife swears by these because she has a talc sensitivity so cannot wear most powder shadows.

I love MUFE Aqua Creams, but they can be stiff and difficult to work with- these are soooo much easier, although the range of shades is much more limited- these only come in 3 other shades.  

Overall, if you are looking for a good cream shadow in a neutral tone or just to brighten your look, I would recommend giving these a try!

Wrecking Balm Tattoo Fade System

Almost everyone I know has tattoos, males and females, and some I have been friends with since we got them.  Strange thing is, every single tatted person I know, regrets them.  I asked them, if you could wash it off right now, would you?  All of them said yes.  Maybe it's just us, but for me, I also don't like my tattoos anymore, and I haven't for many years. 

I have been to the doctor many times to try to get them lasered off, but every time something comes up and I can't do it- moving, pregnancy, travelling, who knows. It's a very time consuming process.

A woman I know used this to fade away her permanent makeup (eyebrows) and I had never heard of it before.  As with anything I use, it's better for me to be a sceptic rather than have high hopes and be disappointed.  So, I have been using this for only one week, and I will give my thoughts so far below, but here is what the product actually is:

This is what comes inside the box: the tool, bottles of gel and cream, and a concealer.

This is how you use it: you put some suffusion gel onto the head of the tool, rub it in a circle on top of the tattoo for 45 seconds to one minute.  Rinse off your skin and clean the head of the tool with antibacterial soap.  Apply hydravescent cream to tattoo.  Wait 15-20 minutes, then apply concealer. 

For me, the concealer does not work, so I am skipping that step. 

I also looked everywhere on the box and on their website for a list of ingredients, and I can't find any, which does concern me. 

So far, after using it as directed for just one week, I know it does something.  It is supposed to renew your skin cells from the inside layer of skin.  All I know is, it hurts when you use it on sensitive areas (chest for example), I mean it rubs and it feels almost like getting a tattoo.  Ok, maybe I exaggerate, but to say it is painless is simply not true.  If not painful, it is irritating.  It raises my tatoo and leaves a rashlike redness over the area.  I even experienced some bleeding the second time I used it.  I am sorry I do not have photos becuase of the location, I was unable to get a picture, but I will try to have

someone take one for me in the next few days. 

Here is part of one I have on my left arm.  This is not the one I am trying to remove, becuase of the density and lack of colour, I did not think this kit would work on this one at all, so I didn't even try it. 

Tattoos cover a lot of my body, unfortunately, and I wish I could wish them away.  I don't like covering them, and when they take up half your arm, whats the point of that anyway.  For now, I am trying this on a coloured tat, so if that works, I might try it on other areas, but most reviews say it takes up to 6 months to see any fading, so that's a long time commitment, but I will definitely update in the future.

Korres Vitamin E Silicone Free Face Primer

I do not like the texture of many face primers, especially the heavier ones, so I always look for ones that are more lotion-like.  I've used several, but this is one of my favourites. 

The texture is smooth, and neither thin nor thick. 

It has a light, fresh, pleasant scent.

I feel it applies very much like a moisturizer, and I can not feel it on my face at all, even though I know I apply it.  I rarely wear foundation, but it performs well.  My foundation is smooth, even, and lasts over 7 hours. 

Here is the simple look I did with the primer and foundation.  I was wearing Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadow, and I must say, it scores major points for lasting through the pool and a shower, with hardly a crease!!!

After water activities:

Oops!! Almost forgot.... back to the primer!  I like it, and if I used foundation more often, I might repurchase.  The $28 price tag might be a deterrent to some... but totally worth it if you have any sensitivities to silicone and are in the market for a good primer.  Myself, I don't have any physical aversions to silicone itself that I know of, but I don't like it on my face and I haven't had a lot of luck getting the foundations I wear to react well with a lot of silicone-based primers.  Korres products are also natural, and that is surely a plus! 

Butter London Dosh Nail Polish

I bought this right before I started packing, so unpacking it was a pleasant surprise! 

I love this polish- Butter London makes really strong polishes in my opinion- the glitter is superfine shiny sparkles- yay!

Does it look like Dosh?  Not really, at least not the kind we have here- it's much brighter in person, so I would say its more like a glittery green apple with just a hint of yellow gold. 

I think the glitter sets it apart from other polishes in the same colour family.  Other Butter glitter polishes I like a lot: Rosie Lee, All Hail the Queen and Victoriana.   

Inglot Swatches! New Mattes: 338, 385, 345, 320, 377

Ahhh... much better!  Thank you, sunshine!!

The purple one is 320, NOT 327. Ooops!

These are dreamy, although I think I may have 320- if not, definitely something similar.

Absolute fave: 345!!  I have been looking for a mint matte pressed eyeshadow for years, no kidding!  I've found close shades in loose shadows, but never pressed.  Too blue, too green, too dark, too light, too glittery- oh this is love!  I did have to build it up, but it's not uncommon to do that with lighter shades. I think if I use Eden primer (I used Original) I might be able to get a better result. 

I just couldn't wait to use it, so here is a quick look I tried, I had to use Q-tips since I haven't unpacked my brushes, and there is no mascara- so this is a work in progress:

Oh sorry, I have had some hay fever recently also, so ignore the redness lol. 

I will try this again in the future, I think it has potential!  Here I used 385, 345, 320, and something out of an Urban Decay palette I had laying around. The lipstick is Covergirl Soulmate.

Inglot Swatches! New Mattes: 318, 391, 340, 327, 343

I thought I was going to hyperventilate when I got my Inglot box!!  I havent ordered any makeup in forever, I forgot what that's like!  I used to order every other day lol!!

These mattes are perfect- buttery, smooth, pigmented- Inglot lovers, you know the deal.

Sorry for the bad lighting- we are having some storms here- tomorrow's swatches should be better!

My favourite of these by far is 340.  Its just a perfect dark blue- kind of denim-y.  I don't really know what I am going to do with 343 yet, since its such a bright chartreuse, but I can see it, in small quantities!  The others are definitely staples. 

Coming tomorrow: purples and greens!  

Suggestions For Makeup Storage??

I recently moved, and I have waited to unpack my suitcases until I find suitable storage for my cosmetics.  I have a makeup table, so I don't really want to incorporate that into the storage, which is what I have seen on a lot of blogs.  I live in the midwest where there is absolutely no Ikea, and they won't ship anything for less than $350, which is so ridiculous if you are buying a $50 item, or anything besides a new kitchen, really. 

I am exhausted looking online, and definitely nothing in the stores around here... but I have a medium amount, well over 100 pounds of products, so does anyone have any suggestions?? Much appreciated if you do!

To Tan or Not To Tan?

Ahhh... the question of summer.  I don't intentionally tan due to the risks involved, nor do I use any self-tanners.  I've never been to a tanning salon.  But by the end of the summer, I always manage to get a couple of shades darker. 

See my 'watch line' lol:

I use bronzer on my face occasionally, but that's about as far as I go.  For me, I don't find a tan important.  I see both tanned and untanned skin as beautiful, and healthy skin the most beautiful of all!

I think if I were to try a deliberate tan, I would go with a self-tanning product.  I noticed they have several options to choose from besides sprays and creams.  The gradual tanning method would seem more logical to me, although I have never tried it myself. 

Mousse:

Towelettes:

How about you?  Any self-tanning products in your cabinet?