If You Want Something Done...

D-I-Y!

I'm serious.  Do it yourself.

Just another activity I stumbled upon when I was putting off studying for finals.

I'm that person who is just terrible at catching limited-edition things.  I'm also not good with luck - those raffle things?  It's never my ticket.  It's not even close.

So when I decided that lavender was this spring's colour, I had to get my hands on MAC's Liberty of London limitied edition lipstick, Blooming Lovely.  Lavender Wind would have been closer to my Spring 2010 colour, but that was from waaaay back and I had to make do.  Long story short, after several calls to the Gone But Not Forgotten program, a very helpful friend-of-a-friend who lives in the States (because Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. refuses to ship to Canada), I procured a tube of Blooming Lovely.

Obviously, with my luck, it's far too blue (which equals Procrastinor looking like corpse), and I never used it.  And having spent the summer watching Pretty Little Liars, I decided I needed a pink lip like this one:

Double, no, Triple Duty!

Another of my long-time favourites...I don't know where I'd be without my NARS Multiple.

One day, when I can get over the expenditure, I'm going to get one in every single colour.  That sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not.  This is the one item of make up I will take with me everywhere.  I bring it with me on the plane, to class, to the beach (where I never wear make up, but just in case).  If I went to the gym, I'm sure I'd bring it with me too.

What Six Year Old Girl Doesn't Love Fairies?

Okay, so I'm not six (although I was still probably more articulate back then...thanks, internets), but I still adore fairies, nymphs and other ethereal beings.  And despite how much Peter Pan freaked me out as a kid (I hate movies and cartoons where people are kept from returning home/doing things they're meant to:  Alice in Wonderland and the Cat in the Hat....I'm looking at you), I simply adore Tinker Bell -- either in spite or because of her attitude.

This a look from last Halloween (yes I know it's early/REALLY late to be talking about Halloween).  My attitude towards the holiday is to stay true to myself as a stylist.  I don't like full out costumes.  Instead of a mask or actual face paint I'd much rather do a make up look that's interpretive of the costume.  I also don't like costumes that come in packages - it's too easy to end up in the same costume as somebody else, and believe me, it's equally embarrassing on Halloween as it is any other day in normal clothes.  I don't mind using portions of costumes or props that come with them, but I prefer to make my own details and reinterpret existing clothing as the body of the costume.

For Tinkerbell's dress, I found a floaty, gauzy knee-length dress (Halloween doesn't always have to be slutty!) with thin straps and a yellow ribbon at the waistband.  Really pretty, comfortable and I can wear it outside of October 31st.

For any Halloween makeup, I like creating a dramatic look erring on haute couture.

Dear Sephora Gods...

Every so often I'll go into Sephora and do a complete face on whichever poor victim happens to have accompanied me.  This week it was my gorgeous friend Peruana =)

She pointed out the Toki Doki liquid liners to me - I've read about them, but I personally find TokiDoki to be too busy and seizure-inducing.  Nevertheless, I can't resist a liquid liner, so I gave it a shot (not to mention it was a great opportunity to have fun with a Givenchy Le Prisme, which are beyond expensive, but sooo beautifully finished and pigmented)

My friend mentioned that her main skin issues are redness and dark circles.  It's all about colour analysis (and I don't mean that thing where you swatch 8 different skin colours only to find out that you need to mix three to get something that remotely matches -- quel ennui!).   By now we've all learned that redness is cancelled out with anything green and blue with orange (read: peach).

I still find, however, that people give me odd looks when I put strange colours on their faces.  Kind of the same look that people give their hairdressers the first time they get a perm/dye job and they haven't relaxed/stripped the colour yet.  "It'll look good, I promise!"

Aaand I just realized I didn't put mascara on her.  I'm thorough, I swear.

Hey Goldmember...

Having just scoured style.com and the blogosphere's NYFW SS11 coverage, I've decided that I want this look:

Courtesy of LA MOXIE

I'm obsessed with gold makeup, anyone see Austin Powers: Goldmember?  Beyoncé's look = phenomenal.  LOVE a foiled lid.  I love that Rodarte's taken the foil effect to the lip.  This is one of my favourite shades of gold - dusty, not too yellow, almost tarnished.  Very few lines sell gold lipstick; it most often comes in a gloss with little pigment so as to suggest a gold shimmer.

Here's one way to achieve this look (it's daring but you'll feel SO good about yourself once you pull it off):

• Exfoliate your lips (with a washcloth, sugarscrub, toothbrush and vaseline, however you do it, just get them smooth or this will look hideous) and follow with a lip balm
• Wash out your lips with a little concealer (in the same shade as your skin)
• Put on a thin layer of a nude/clear gloss
• Gently pat in a gold powder eyeshadow (fingers work best for me)
• The colour will settle into the creases in your lips, but I think that's part of the appeal.  It looks like vintage gold, and anyway, haven't you heard?  Texture is the new colour!
• Tip: wipe off your finger before you back for more shadow so you don't transfer gloss goop back into the palette.  I did this and I was sad.

Obviously this will work with any powdered colour, so go forth and explore!  A navy blue lip with a crisp white shirt anyone?  I vote OUI!

PS: I've been playing with this for a few days now.  I'm easily amused.

A Touch of Radiance

So as I've gotten older, and school/jobs/etc have started taking a toll on my life, I've been getting this comment more and more frequently:

"You look sooooo tired!"

...I look tired?  Hot damn, I'm a univeristy student accumulating student loans, I am tired.  But I look it?

Thus enters every single highlighter/concealer/brightener on the market, valiantly trying to bring youth and life into the area around my eyes.  It's been a solid effort on their part, but no one's really managed to conquer the consistent wave of bursting capillaries until...


Touche Eclat!

Premiere!

I procrastinate.

And I love it.

Things I like to do while procrastinating: playing with make up, painting my nails, playing dressup, Facebook stalking and walking outside

Result:  I spend lots of money on products and I never have a reason to use them.
Ergo, a blog is born!

Look around and check back.

Welcome!