FOTD: Sugarpill Bit 'O Fail (and OOTD)

Sorry I haven't been posting much! I've been using my Meow shadows and I seem to have a major problem with creasing and fading for some reason. I'm not sure why. I thought it was the shadows, so today I used Sugarpill instead but I've already got a tiny bit of fading on my left eye and it's been about 2 hours since I applied the shadows. I'm really at a loss -- I don't understand why I'm having issues. I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance, let it dry, then apply Darling Girl Glitter Glue (a tiny amount), let it get tacky, then the shadows. I've never had this many issues before.

As for this being a bit of a fail, I realized after I did the look that on the last Sugarpill look I did, I used blue on the lower lashline. Probably the same color. Ugh... I need some inspiration on different shapes to do. I'm feeling a little boring. It doesn't help that I'm very annoyed with my camera... it just takes shite pictures of my looks!

FACE:

- Cover Girl Aqua Smoothers Tinted Moisturizer in Fair to Light
- Mac MSF Natural in Light Medium
- Maybelline SuperStay Concealer in Cream
- Sleek blush in Suede

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Darling Girl Glitter Glue

- Sugarpill eyeshadow in Asylum (all over lid)

- Sugarpill eyeshadow in Hysteric (crease)

- Sugarpill eyeshadow in Starling (lower lashline)

- Jesse's Girl eye dust in Pixie Dust (inner corner)

- Smashbox Limitless eyeliner in Onyx

- Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara (Black)

LIPS:
- Clinique Lipstick in Silvery Moon

Outfit:

Top - The Limited

Skirt - Forever21

Belt - Unkown

Tights - Forever21

Boots - Rack Room, Limelight brand

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Meow Cosmetics Swatches + FOTD

I placed an order with Meow Cosmetics recently as they were having a 20% off sale, and I managed to get free shipping as well. I saw swatches of the Pandora's Box collection and knew I wanted everything, but I limited myself to sample orders from X, Pandora's Box, Zombie Apocalypse and Four Horsemen.

I ordered on October 5, 2011 and received my order on October 14, 2011, so the turn around time was amazingly fast. Everything was neatly packaged in a bubble mailer, and wrapped in a cheetah print tissue... which is adorable.

I ordered samples of the following: (X Collection) Wendigo, Jersey Devil, Grim Reaper, Hidebehind, Mothman, Yeti. (Four Horsemen) Violence, Pestilence. (Pandora's Box) Malevolence, Debauchery, Poison, Indecency, Anathema, Plague, Sorrow. (Zombie Apocalypse) Datura, Brains Over Beauty, Living Dead, Head Shot.

The owner included samples of the eyeshadow Feliner and a blush called Cadillac from their Pink Inc. collection.

As for the website, I found it relatively easy to navigate. The color swatches were clear (I'll get to what was accurate in the swatch listings) and the touches of cat related images were nice. However, I went back today to try and find these collections and could not locate them easily. The "new" sections is stuff from Fall 2010, which is a bit off-putting. I ended up having to find a blog with links to each collection, and getting to them that way, which is annoying.

Samples were $1.00 each, for 1/16 of a teaspoon. I can't tell you much about shipping as I got it for free.

Let's get right into swatches! As always, top is natural light and bottom is flash, colors are from left to right.

Wendigo: This is a blackened teal that leans heavily towards dark green. The website describes it as a 'deep metallic duochrome teal,' and I'm not sure I can get on board with that. I was slightly disappointed with this one as I got none of the teal from it that many people have raved about.

Mothman: This one is quite lovely. It's a medium brown with strong green flash. It looks taupe in some lights but it's really not.

Hidebehind: This is a silvery blue; the website describes it as 'platinum grey with metallic blue fire'. I'd say that's pretty accurate!

Yeti: A gorgeous pale blue with icy teal flash. Very shimmery and quite pretty.

Grim Reaper: This is a deep grey with a hint of red and purple. Initially, it semed like it would be like Fyrinnae Mephisto, but it's way darker.

Jersey Devil: Quite a cool shade -- sort of a lavender pink with purple flash. I did have some minor issues with coverage on this one.

Plague: An amazing olive green with flashes of gold and red. I think this might be my favorite of all of them!

Debauchery: A gold that is nearly olive. I say nearly because the description called it 'olive', when it's definitely more yellow/gold. Bit confused on that, just like with Wendigo. Still very pretty as it's got some pink/red bits in it.

Poison: YOW, this is gorgeous... a very rich, inky blue. It's got a hint of pink as well, but just barely. This is insanely pigmented.

Sorrow: A brilliant sparkling teal... REALLY nice. Another favorite.

Anathema: Another very metallic shade, this is an orange that has a little bit of copper/rust to it. Reminds me of molten lava.

Indency: A silvery taupe with a hint of purple. This is quite a pale taupe and reminds me a little of the lightest shade from the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette. Gorgeous.

Malevolence: Intense red with iridescent bits. Quite pretty, though I have a few other colors like it... I still love it.

Brains Over Beauty: RAWR, this color hates me. I wiped off the swatch numerous times and redid it but each time it looked like this. I can only assume it's something with the formulation. This is a grey with a hint of purpley pink.

Datura: Meow says this is a 'copper infused lime pearl'. I don't quite get the copper out of it, but lime pearl, yes. This one also had some adherence issues, unfortunately.

Headshot: What an awesome name... especially for something the color of dried blood. One word: amazing.

Living Dead: Definitely a blue-tinged platinum, Meow says it's got a "lame-like green iridescent sheen." I'm not getting much else out of it though except for a slight green hint and a bit of pink? Weird.

Violence: Yum. Quite similar to Malevolence, honestly.

Pestilence: Even more YUM. I've been after a rich green for quite some time... most of them go black. Absolutely love this.

Feliner: Free sample, but holy pretty! This is one that I'm fascinated by. It's got a teal like base with an overlay of olive, green and gold. Stunning, and nearly my favorite of the whole lot.

This is the Pink Inc. blush in Cadillac. Quite pretty, and it has a bit of a blue sheen. It's definitely a cool pink.

Overall, I'm really enjoying what I got. I haven't had much time to create looks, but I've got some combinations in mind. I was a wee bit disappointed with some of the colors versus their shade descriptions, as I felt they fell a bit flat. However, the rest of the shades were just gorgeous and Meow has some unique colors. I would definitely order again!

Here is a quick look that I came up with using Indency, Mothman and Headshot. (Teehee!) On my lips is Estee Lauder's Radiant Wine lipstick, and NARS Sin blush on my cheeks.

You'll have to excuse the terrible photos -- these were taken most of the way through the day and I've got a bit of creasing going on unfortunately!

As one last quick thing, because I haven't done it in a while -- my outfit:

Outfit:

Dress - Forever 21

Tights - Unknown, a gift

Flats - Target

Earrings - Forever 21

Creating Burgundy Jeans: The Process

I decided about a month ago that I wanted some coloured jeans. No problem, right? They're all around in the stores these days...

Ugh, wrong. I have a hard enough finding jeans that properly fit but now we're narrowing down to color? I found some awesome black jeggings recently so I went on a quest to find some grey jeans as well. Once those were acquired, I thought about the coloured ones once again (purple, red, etc.). My husband suggested buying a 2nd pair of the grey and dyeing them whatever color I wanted. Hmmm...

The grey jeans I used looked like this at first:

These are the Sweetheart Skinnies from Old Navy, if you're interested. They do run big so you could go down a size.

I debated stripping the grey from the jeans first, but decided against it and picked up RIT's dye in Wine instead.

This is the powder version. Basically, you open up the packet inside and add it to 2 cups of hot water. I would recommend using a bucket or a metal bowl, as this will stain easily (especially plastic). You add in 1 cup of salt to the mixture and stir.

Yes, that is a straw. See how the bowl is stained?

Next, you fill your washer with hot water. I have the option of load sizes, so I choose small. As it filled, I added the dye mixture and then a tablespoon of detergent (I use liquid). I soaked the jeans first as it was filling, then added them into the washer water. You set this to agitate for at least 30 minutes -- my washer will only go for 14, so be sure to keep a timer nearby and be ready to reset it backwards. You don't want it to rinse before 30 minutes are up! Once the 30 minute agitation is done, you set the water to cold and rinse the item. You can either do this in the washer or in the bathtub, but again be wary that this will stain. Rinse until the water runs clear. It took about 5 minutes for me.

Run your washer on an empty cycle after you're done to ensure that any remaining dye is rinsed out. Don't forget to wipe the lid and the lip -- it gets everywhere, as you can see.

Let the item hang dry or pop them in the dryer with a fabric softener sheet -- up to you. My results...

Pretty cool, huh? The burgundy mixed with the grey and created a duochrome effect. The jeans shift color depending on the light..

I'm really pleased with them. They aren't solid burgundy by any means, but I think these look a little more adult versus having solid coloured jeans (and a bit less 80s...).

It even dyed the pockets, which is cool as hell.

 I'm addicted to dyeing now! My next task is creating a kelly green cardigan. Would you want to see a post on that?

For anyone curious -- how WOULD one style burgundy jeans? Well...

A leather jacket and a statement necklace of course! (NOT this top ;-) )

FOTD: Smokey Eyes, My Way

I know nude lips and smokey eyes are the classic combo, but I just can't get on board with nude lips. I feel like they wash me out and I just don't like the look of them. I'd rather slick on some pinkish gloss and be ready to go. Anyway, I did this purple smokey eye wanting to play with some of my new Mac stuff from the CCO... and here's what I came up with:

FACE:

- Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Base

- Make Up For Ever HD foundation in #120
- Mac MSF Natural in Light Medium
- Maybelline SuperStay Concealer in Cream
- Milani Blush in Luminous

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- NYX Jumbo Pencil in Purple Velvet

- Mac eyeshadow in Marvel all over the lid and lower lashline

- Inglot eyeshadow in 441P to blend out Marvel and lightly on the lid

- Revlon matte eyeshadow in Vintage Lace on the brow
- Jesse's Girl eye dust in Pixie Dust as inner tear duct highlight
- Smashbox Limitless Eyeliner in Onyx
- Maybelline One by One Mascara (Black)

LIPS:
- Mac lipstick in Vegas Volt

- Jordana Lip Out Loud gloss in ASAP

I'm getting back into the swing of blogging again, so you'll see most posts from me soon. I had a chance to swatch a lot of stuff this weekend, so I'll be cranking out those posts over the next week or so. Thank you for sticking with me!

Photography Post: Recent Pictures

As some of you may know, my mother in law and her boyfriend have been here for the last two weeks. They unfortunately leave today but over the course of the time they've been here, some excellent photos were taken! Her boyfriend has an absolutely amazing camera so I figured I'd share a few of the photos with you. Please click on them to make them full size!

We went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg on the first weekend they visited. It was INSANELY crowded and we unfortunately couldn't go into any of the haunted houses. Walking around and seeing the decorations at night was nice though. Above are a few shots of the different coasters. My favorite is the bottom -- Loch Ness Monster. The reflection is so neat!

My parents and I about to ride the skyline.

My husband and I riding Loch Ness. Can you find us? (Hint: blow it up)

Riding Griffon. This is SUCH a cool shot as we were in the first drop when he got it. We're on the 2nd row back, towards the middle (Rob, me, my dad and my mom from left to right). My legs look weird.

A really stupid looking me, with my mother in law on the carousel.

After riding Apollo's Chariot, I'm like "DWEE".

Mid teacups. Did I mention I get motion sick? Well, I get motion sick. Hence the "dear god" hand-over-face expression.

Bit overexposed but a nice group shot! Left to right is my mother in law, my dad, my mom, my husband and me in the front all short and shit.

They spent the day up in Williamsburg and got this lovely shot. The tree on the left is just gorgeous!

The following weekend, we went down near the water to view the USS Wisconsin and a naval museum. He got some amazing shots of the water and the ship.

The USS Wisconsin.

The mermaid is the 'mascot' of Norfolk, and these are all around the city. This one is quite interestingly decorated!

The last shot I have for you is quite an amusing one -- this is inside the naval museum. My husband is playing with this toy boat experiment where you set up walls to allow the plastic tugboats to move about. I'm running around going 'uhhh...' and my mom is absently staring at the camera.

Anyway, that's all I have for you! I hope you enjoyed -- I wish I had a camera like this. My makeup shots would be amazing!