Interview Makeup

So I had my interview today. It went well, I'm hoping they'll call me for a second soon. Money to buy things might be nice... Anyway, so here's the look I did. Very simple and clean.

Eyes: Urban Decay Naked Palette Sidecar on most of the lid, Hustler on outer corner, in crease, and along lashline for definition, just a tiny bit. Sin on browbone for hightlight, beautique black liner, very fine right along the lashline, maybelline lash stiletto mascara.

Face: coverfx primer, smashbox foundation, mac concealer, smashbox powder, inglot blush, urban decay setting spray

Lips: soap and glory sexy motherpucker in a neutral pink, mac gloss in Like Venus, a slightly lighter pink.

Happy New Year!!

So, this is the year I fix things wrong in my life. I have a list of resolutions, though I hate to call them that because it just seems so passe. I added a new one today and installed an app on my phone to help. Which is to post in this damn blog at least weekly if not daily. Even if its just quick looks, or thoughts or whatev on beauty.

So... God/dess willing, there'll be a post tomorrow about job interview makeup, since I have an interview tomorrow! In the meantime, check out my nails that I did. Its a little bold for an interview, but I'm a graphic designer and I can get away with stuff like that, lol. Its China Glaze polish in "Breakin'". Its a pretty pumpkin-y orange with just a hint of a gold shimmer. I draw the orange from my logo, which you can see here.

Color Relationships: Complimentary Colors 1

So... First look of the new Color Relationships series!! I started with complimentary colors, these colors are opposite one another on the color wheel. I started with Yellow and Violet (that's right, not Purple. The "correct" color name is Violet.) I also painted my nails with China Glaze Happy Go Lucky for the occasion. Its a creme yellow.

Complimentary colors by their nature make each other look more intense, and therefore, more noticeable. Those drug-store eye palettes that are made specifically for your eye color?

They work off this principle. Blue's complement is Orange, Red's compliment is Green, Yellow's compliment is Violet, and so on. They also will "vibrate" against each other if they're both super saturated hues. Don't believe me? Well, I

have an art degree, so... I know these things. Also, look here

See how the colors sort of "bounce" off each other? Told you I was right about vibration.

Anyway, here's my look!

Eyes

• Primer: Two Faced Shadow Insurance
• Base: NYX Jumbo Eye shadow pencil in Milk
• Outer half: Makeup Forever... lemony yellow. I forget the name. Its super bright and matte
• Inner half: Inglot light yellow shimmer pressed shadow, forget the number, but its sort of lemon-meringe-y
• Liner: NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Purple (metallic)
• Lower Lid: Inglot Matte Violet shade, forget the number, but its a violet hedging on blue-violet
• Browbone: MAC Shroom
• Waterline: NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk, set with MAC Shroom
• Mascara: Maybelline One By One (god I can't wait to finish the damn tube, its really terrible)

Face

• Primer: Makeup Forever HD Primer
• Foundation: Smashbox High Definition Healthy FX Foundation in Light 1
• Powder: Pur Minerals 4-in-1 Powder Foundation (yes, I wore two foundations today, but I'm out of all other powders and broke, lol) It was actually quite effective at staying on in this terrible rainy weather we're having
• Blush: MAC blush in Rhubarb (its a Pro color I got in Chicago. SOOO bright and a perfect contrast for this look)

Lips

• OCC Lip Tar in Memento, set with a translucent setting powder that kinda tasted funny, I might not use it again...
• Tarina Tarantino lip gloss in Parade just in the center. Its a sheer pink gloss with SO MUCH GLITTER in it. I love it.

So, thats the first look in the Color Relationships series. I will probably go bolder as time goes on... I kinda did the look and then decided to do the series, lol. I think it came out really well though, although I'm not super thrilled with the applicator on the NYX liquid eyeliner. I may have to invest in an eyeliner brush.

Keep an eye out for my next post!!

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!