Announcement: New Series!

So... I have two series in mind at the moment. One is... more involved than the other. So I'm sticking to the easy one right now.

The series is: Fun with Color Relationships. Basically, I'm going to look at the color wheel, and draw on my graphic design knowledge to make a series based on the various color relationships, primary, secondary, complementary, analogous, pr

inters primaries, etc.

My other series is for Game of Thrones, and I picked like 14 characters to do looks based on.. and colors for each, and they're in-depth and take time... and I'm lazy. I tried one and I didn't like the way it looked so I'm re-doing it at a later time.

So.. look for my Color Relationships series.. star

ting with my next post. (Which I'm going to write right now, lol)

Hair products :)

So, my hair is generally pretty ok. I don't dye it that often, maybe once a year, but I do wash and blow dry every day, or nearly every day. I'm also lucky that my boyfriend's mother is a hair-stylist and when she owned her shop, I got all kinds of free stuff all the time. Since she sold her shop, she pretty much just takes me to the "professional only" supply stores where stuff is SUPER cheap. She recently bought me Joico's K-Pak Reconstructor, Deep Penetrating Reconstructor. According to Miss Joann (my boyfriend's mother) you shampoo and condition your hair, then put this in for 3-5 minutes and rinse it out. It smells like artificial banana, which is up to you if its a good thing or not. Its lightweight, and has an odd consistency, sort of like greek yogurt.

And it's awesome. My hair feels like silk for about a week after using it. Its easy to brush, super shiny, much less frizzy (no product has yet to stand up to Baltimore humidity in my experience) and so manageable. I also noticed today that after not washing my hair for a day (thanks to being drunk and passing out at a friend's house) that it came clean a lot easier than normal. Getting the excess oil only took one shampooing rather than the two it normally takes after missing a wash. I did the treatment again today, since there's no limits in the directions about how often you're supposed to use it.

I want to sing this products praises from the rooftops! So awesome. Go buy it now! It would appear you can buy it at Trade Secret, and I know they carry some Joico products at Ulta, but I actually have no idea how much it costs, since it was a gift. And Ulta.com doesn't carry it due to "manufacturer's restrictions". But a little bit goes a long way. I've been doing it bi-monthly (or whenever I remember) but I'm going to try to do it weekly now.

Not much else to report. You'd think unemployment would make me post more... but... no.... ha ha.

I did however start an account on Beautylish.com. Its awesome, come find me! and other beauty junkies :)

Review

So, I haven't reviewed anything in a while. I'm on a makeup-buying freeze at the moment due to my lack of job, but I still have a few new things that I bought with giftcards, groupons and on sale.

I had a Groupon for the Body Shop, it was $20 for $40 worth of stuff. Pretty good deal I thought. If you don't get Groupons, you're totally missing out and should go sign up using that link immediately.

So, I go to the Body Shop at Towson Town Center and peruse the stuff there. I ended up buying a mini cocoa butter lotion, a mini olive butter body scrub, and then two anti-aging products, which I will review... now:

#1 Wise Woman Intensive Firming Mask for Mature Skin
Yeah, I don't have mature skin. But, I'm a smoker and a sun worshipper, so I stress out about aging my skin. You might say, "Hey Ellen, why not wear super strong sunscreen and quit smoking?" Well, I do wear SPF 85 on my face and chest, but I sweat a lot and I'm not good about reapplying it. And as for smoking... well.. shut up, I look cool.
Anyway, so the firming mask. I've used it twice so far, and I love the way it smells. Kind of earthy and clean. Its very very thick, which makes me worry about clogged pores, but it didn't make me break out either time, so thats good. It supposedly plumps skin to help hide fine lines. I get two little worry lines, right between my eyebrows. The directions say to apply it for fifteen minutes and then either tissue off or rub it in. I put it on generously (but not thickly) last night and just let it absorb while I slept, and... I haven't really noticed a difference. The jury's still out though. It doesn't say how often to use it, but I figure I don't need to every day. So, I'll give it a whirl twice a week and see if it makes a difference. In the end, its still moisturizing, so its not like its gonna hurt me.

#2 Vitamin E Eye Cream for all skin types
I've needed an eye cream for a while. I have a ton of samples from Sephora, but never enough for me to form an opinion. Also, they're all too expensive. So I figured having a Groupon was the perfect time to get one and give it a try. I've been pretty good about using this one. It helps reduce fine lines, puffiness and dark circles. I have noticed that my dark circles are a little bit less, but I've been getting more sleep, so I don't want to reward the cream just yet. I like that its very light and absorbs quickly, so I can put it on right before my makeup and not have any trouble. So, yeah, I guess the jury's still out on that too.


Hmm. Two completely useless reviews. Ha! Go me.

Makeup Look - Aurora

I was just gonna put on a random bright look, but it looked so pretty I thought I'd blog about it. Yes, I'm narcissistic.
Eyes

• Two Faced Eye primer
• Sephora nano-eyeliner pencil in white spread across the whole lid as an additional base
• Kat Von D Memento Mori Palette: Hard luck on most of the lid (tealy-green shimmer) and Solitude (matte lavender) on the outside corner.
• Kat Von D Truth Palette: Snake Eyes (yellow green, with emphasis on green) on the lower lid, Sister (light peach) on the inner lower lid, and Sugarskull (light buttery yellow) in the inner corner
• Nyx Ultra Pearl Mania loose shadow in Grass Pearl (minty, but still yellowy light green) on the inside of the upper lid, blended really well into the Hard Luck
• Make Up Forever Star Powder neon pink in the crease
• Two Faced shadow duo in Skinny Dip, the light iridescent blue on the brow bone
• Nyx Liquid eyeliner in purple, overlaid with EyeKandy Glitter in Gumball
• MAC Penultimate liquid liner
• Maybelline One By One mascara
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner on waterline

Face

• Make Up Forever primer
• Pur Minerals 4-1 pressed mineral foundation
• MAC concealer
• MAC blush in rhubarb

Lips

• Toki Doki Lip gloss in Rocketeer

I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, so I'm having some trouble with under eye circles. More sleep, more water! But I should probably look for a halfway decent product as well.

I've joined BeautyLish, its actually pretty awesome. I can tag products and write reviews, and its easier to connect to other beauty-addicts, and learn about new products.

Also, don't forget to follow me on Twitter!

Summer Solstice!!

So, today is the Summer Solstice. In honor of the longest day of the year, I decided to do a sunny bronzey look. It didn’t come out as bright as I wanted, but its still quite pretty. I tried to
make it look as little like Aztec Gold as possible. I may have gone a little overboard with the number of shadows I used.... heh.

Eyes

• Outer corners: Urban Decay Naked Palette in Darkhorse (dark shimmery brown), blended with MAC pressed shadow in A Little Folie (matte finish reddish brown)

• Outer half: EyeKandy mineral shadow in Creamsicle, with Makeup Forever bright orange pressed shadow on top

• Inner half: Kat Von D Truth Palette in Sugar Skull, had to work really hard to blend it with the EyeKandy

• Inner corner: Makeup Forever Lemon Yellow


• Crease: MAC Pigment in Blue Brown


• Above Crease: Makeup Forever #306, its a dirty orangey/gold shimmer


• Browbone: Inglot buttery yellow shimmer shadow

• Undereye: Makeup Forever navy blue shimmer pressed shadow, blended into Makeup Forever orange

• Applied sort of all over: MAC Glitter in Reflects Blackened Red


• Outer corner liner: Urban Decay Heavy Metal eyeliner in Baked


• Upper lid liner: EyeKandy glitter in Honey Drop

• Lashline/Waterline: Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Whiskey


• Mascara: Maybelline Volume Express One by One in black

Face

• Urban Decay De-Slick Makeup Setting Spray (before applying any products and again after everything’s done)


• Primer: Too Faced Primed and Poreless in Bronze Tint


• Foundation: Smashbox HD Healthy FX foundation in Light L1

• Powder: Inglot


• Concealer: Smashbox HD, great when applied with a brush and liberally. Awesome on undereye circles


• Bronzer: Flirt! Bronzer in Sweet Desire, I used the “E3” method I learned from xsparkage, you make a three on the right side of your face, the top of the three being your forhead, the middle your cheekbone and the bottom along your jawline, then do the same in reverse on the other side. Then just a swipe down in the bridge of your nose, top of your lip and a bit on your chin. Perfect sunkissed look everytime.

Lips

• Loreal Hip Pigments gloss in Coy


• Some random shimmery gold lip gloss that I had, applied directly in the center. The label’s worn off, but I think its some kind of metallic Maybelline.

Also, I did do a rainbow look for the Gay Pride festival to go along with the rainbow nails, but I was in a rush when I was doing it because I had to go to my boyfriend's cousin's graduation party, so I got my boyfriend to take a picture of it at the party. I was sitting under a red umbrella in very warm sunlight and sweating profusely (so that's why I'm bright red in the picture...). Mostly Makeup Forever pressed shadows, I think the green was Too Faced shadow duo in Lucky Charm. It looked nice, but not as good as my nails did :)

Don't forget to follow on Twitter! I put little looks up there every so often:) But I kind of suck at social networking... lol.

baltimore pride!

quick post. i'm going down for the block party of the baltimore pride festival tomorrow and i wanted to do my nails for the occasion. i used china glaze colors in: ruby pumps, breakin', happy go lucky, paper chasing, blue sparrow, and tempest. i'm not super great at doing my nails, but it still came out pretty good i think. i used seche vite quick dry top coat and then sally girl "granny's wet glaze" on top of that.

tomorrow i'll post a rainbow eye makeup look to really drive home the point. woo. its fun being an ally.

Makeup Look - Aztec Gold

I saw a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides last night. I liked it, but it its nothing to write home about. I've also been playing Lego Pirates of the Caribbean lately since my roommate brought it home. It's super fun! In honor of pirates, I decided to do a really shiny gold look. And here it is:Eyes

• outer corner: EyeKandy - metallic mineral shadow in Creamsicle, applied wet for extra oomph.
• inner corner: Smashbox shadow and liner trio in Girls Night Out (the light gold shade) applied with a larger brush and then blended like fuck to get it to fade into the metallic
• crease: MAC pigment in blue brown
• just above the crease: Inglot shadow, a shimmery pumpkin orange
• highlight: MAC pressed shadow in Shroom
• liner: Smashbox shadow and liner trio in Girls Night Out... its a brown gel liner, applied to both upper and lower lids
  
• inner liner: MAC Pen-Ultimate liner, very very narrow and precise, just for definition
• on top of both liners i put Urban Decay Heavy Metal liner in Baked for some glitter to add to the shine
• waterline: Beautique eyeliner pencil in black (since all pirates apparently wear black eyeliner)
• mascara: Smashbox DNA mascara in black, then a layer of Peter Thomas Roth lashes to die for on top of that.

Face

• foundation primer: Makeup Forever HD Primer in Neutral
  
• foundation: Smashbox Healthy FX foundation in L3 (which is a bit too dark for me right now, but won't be as summer progresses)
• concealer: MAC, the kind in the little pot
• powder: Inglot
• blush: Inglot
  
• lips: Kat Von D lipgloss in Rocker (its a pretty reddish/gold shade)

I think today that I used every brand of makeup that I have in my collection. Good for me :) Don't forget to follow me on twitter: @vortexofsin!