Video Share-Candy Corn Eyes

The feisty Dumpster Dollie has posted a cute idea for October makeup-candy corn colors!  Remember, use whatever eyeshadow brand or primer works best for you.  A white base simply helps colors to stand out brighter. :)

Have fun, and enjoy all those Halloween goodies!!! (Target is currently carrying syringe pens.  I got two packs-I've been looking for those for months!)

Trying Something New?

For me, an important part of being an indie seller is supporting other indie sellers.  We don't have the money for huge advertising campaigns like drugstore or high-end companies, so we've got to stick together!  One of the shops I follow is Aromaleigh, which reopened a year after being forced to close.  Aromaleigh has  a giveaway contest right now for samples from their entire  "Ancient Magick" Egyptian collection which is limited edition.  If you want, click here to sign up!

We should all be supportive of each other-after all, we're just people trying to do something nice for the rest of us.
Have a lovely day!

Phoenix Blood Cosmetics Review

Of course, I can't do a review of my own products; that is not ethical and usually not the kind of review people want to read.  Instead I have for you a review from a lovely lady who recently bought a bunch of samples and gave me the link to her blog.  Her name is Bobbie, and she's a sweetheart.
You can find her review here.

On another note, I am currently testing recipes for an eye shadow base to make my shadows last better.  I have tried several companies' bases, plus trying multiple  DIY remedies.  I want my base to grab onto shadows so that they show up nice and vibrant, but I also want the base to prevent creasing (my lids are dry, but in a shape that encourages creasing) and extend the life of my look.  I'll keep you posted!

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

Max Payne 3 Inspired FOTD

I only play video games sporadically, due to my tendency of taking them way too seriously, getting frustrated and not having any fun as a result.  My hubby, though, loves to play video games and I find a certain pleasure in watching him play and absorbing the visual style and story of the game (my favorite aspects anyway).  After the dark, broody nature of the original Max Payne, the third installment (yes, I skipped one) was odd in its sunny South American setting.  Here for you is a look that combines the bright, cheerful nature of yellow with a deep, melancholy green.   The colors are a bit more vivid in person; I was not able to use my nice camera today. :(

This angle shows the impact a lighter/brighter inner corner color really has on the overall shape and effect of the look.

Products Used:

Face:

• I made a foundation-like compound out of moisturizer, baby sunscreen, powder foundation and a smidge of stick concealer.  It works, so far at least, and doesn't have the nasty texture, et. al of regular liquid foundation.
• Physician's Formula mineral veil powder
• regular black mascara on brows.

Eyes:

• I used my own home made shadows like so-softly blended warm brown in the crease (Santa Barbara), yellow in the inner corner (Come On, Son), grass green on center of lid (Suck It, Gus!), dark green on outer corner, crease and lower lash line (Primeval), and sheer white sparkle under brow (Toothy).
• Generic black pencil liner to line upper lashline and upper and lower waterlines
• Almay Get Up and Grow mascara in black, two coats.

I forgot entirely to put anything on my lips...oops!

Anyway, hope you found this helpful, and have a fantastic day!

Gothic Mermaid Makeup Tutorial

My first ever tutorial!!!  It's just a slideshow, but I hope it still gets the point across.  It showcases some of the eye shadows I've been busy making.

Products Used:
Face-
generic moisturizer and sunscreen
Maybelline Cover Stick Concealer in Ivory
Meow Cosmetics Purrfect Puss powder foundation in Frisky Siamese
Eyes-
Phoenix Blood Cosmetics loose eyeshadow in Shining Armor (silver), Lady of the Lake (aqua), Gloaming (dark teal), Leviathan (dark charcoal gray), and A Very Juliet Story (light beige)
Detrivore Original eye shadow primer
Wet n Wild Fergie Take On the Day eye shadow primer
Wet n Wild non-waterproof liquid eyeliner
Almay Get Up and Grow mascara in black
Lips-
Morgana's Crypt lipstick in Absinthe

My Etsy shop for makeup can be found here, and is called Phoenix Blood.  

Have fun everyone, and have a wonderful day!

Almay One Coat Get Up and Grow Mascara Review

This review is not sponsored in any way.  All products were bought with my own funds

I finally bit the bullet and decided to try mascaras that were designed to be healthy for the lashes.  You may have seen from my previous mascara review that I am addicted to having voluminous lashes.  I decided, though, that health was more important than big lashes and that I could work around a weaker, more natural looking formula.  So, I bought a tube of this Almay mascara.  I had never bought any Almay products before, and I was pleasantly surprised by this mascara.
First off, packaging.

 This mascara is not only supposed to be strengthening and moisturizing to the lashes, but also produce a lovely effect with only one coat.  Side note: this is precisely why I buy volumizing mascaras.  Not only can you produce a near-falsies effect, you only need one coat to look "done" on a lazy or busy morning.  Back to the mascara at hand, a look through the ingredients lets you know that the moisturizing ingredients are primarily silicon oils (a red flag for some) and the strengthening ingredient is protein, which can make hair rigid.  Whether your particular lashes will respond well to protein is different for everyone; but I would assume that if your head hair does not like protein-based products, your lashes won't either.

 The actual tube has a nice weight to it, and feels more expensive than in actually is.  The cap clicks softly when it is completely closed.  Simply lovely.
The brush...

 Is huge.  I expected a smaller, basic brush.  This one is wider at the ends than in the middle, which fits the contours of my prominent eyes surprisingly well.  My first impression upon seeing it, though, was something like this:

Whoa.

So, enough chatter, let's see it in action.

Naked lashes, curled.

One coat of mascara

So, I actually like the look of one coat.  It lifts the lashes and makes them wonderfully black, reasonably thick and a touch longer.  But I couldn't leave it well enough alone...I needed to see two coats.

Two coats and a bit of a comb-through

Wow!  This is the big, fluffy look I like.  For me, this rivals Maybelline's The Falsies for crazy volume.

This is the driest mascara formula I have found in the drugstore.  That may sound bad or gross, but let me explain; wet mascaras are difficult to apply.  They can be clumpy, smudgy, and either difficult to build or difficult to control in terms of how much gets glopped on.  This mascara feels like nothing while you're applying it, but has great visual impact.

I give this mascara a 9.5 out of 10.  I haven't had it long enough to know if it makes my lashes longer or stronger, but I love how it looks.  The ingredients are not for everyone; it is not organic or completely natural in origin.  I have a few more mascaras to review before I make my final choice, but this may just be a repurchase for me (mascara repurchases are extremely rare for me).  It costs about $7-$9 depending on which drugstore you purchase from.

Thanks for visiting, and have a fantastic day!

All opinions are my own, and I was not solicited to do this review.

Rosy Nude FOTD

Finally, I am sharing with you a look done with makeup I made.  I didn't make all of it-there's still store-bought mascara and pencil eyeliner.  It will probably be a while before I try to make items that ambitious.  However, here is one of the favorite eye shadow colors I've made so far.  I named it Romanza after an Andrea Bocelli CD I like (it's not Goth, but I don't care! :) )

I also used it as blush.  It's a little frostier than I like my blush to be, so I might reformulate it with less shimmer to suit my tastes better. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Rainy Day FOTD

The rainy season has finally come to Arizona, relieving the heat wave and rejuvenating the earth.  For one, I also feel relieved and refreshed when the rain comes...I probably appreciate it so much because of the dryness of my home state.
Anyway, I was inspired to do my makeup in cloudy, rain-friendly colors.

Blurry photo is blurry...ick.

My hair is in desperate need of re-dying...please look away from the bad roots and humidity frizziness. :)

Inner thoughts- "Is it focused? Is it? Is it?  Oh heavens, don't blink!!!"

Eyeball closeup!



Okay, here are the materials:

Face: Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss foundation in Frisky Siamese
Brows: Black mascara.  I still need to get actual brow stuff...
Eyes: Detrivore eye shadows in Apparatus (lid) and Abyss (crease and lower lash line)
I just finished it off with mascara and (slightly crooked) liquid liner.

Also, here is as much of my outfit today as I could photograph.  The stripey shrug (originally Forever 21), black dress (originally a slip) and fancy short necklace were all thrifted.  The rosary was originally rose scented, and came from a stall that sells Catholic and Rastafarian items in the halls of my university's dining hall.

Have a wonderful day!

Success!!!

I am incredibly excited because...I made my very first eye shadows today!  It is so much easier than I thought it would be, though I realized that I still have so much practicing to do before I can whip out some of the colors I really want to make.  I got my supplies from TKB Trading, and so far they are performing marvelously.  Now, to be fair, I've only made two colors so far, and they aren't terribly dark or Gothic...I made one shimmery butter-yellow and one glittery nude beige.  See, not that impressive.  I'm still so pleased with them though-especially since my beige was made with dark brown, magenta and bright yellow pigments.                 I will be making some wonderful brights and darks soon, though, and I will start showing you guys what my colors look like and how they perform.  So far my mix is quite opaque, smooth, blendable and long-wearing, and that's what really matters when it comes to this sort of thing.
'Til next time, have a glorious day!

Accidental Fun-Finding

I was scrolling through the most time-wasting part of the Internet (it's depressing how well it holds my interest) and found a fascinating tutorial on how to recreate Siouxsie Sioux's trademark eye makeup.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/verymuchso/beauty-dare-siouxsie-sioux-eyeliner
Take a look and see what you think!

Covergirl Eyeshadow Quad Review-Drama Eyes and Blossoms

The other day I was at Walgreens, searching for last-minute items to add to a gift basket I was making.  Of course, I couldn't leave without visiting the makeup section, and there was a BOGO 1/2 off sale on Covergirl.  So, I came home with two quads.  I have been craving burgundy eyeshadow looks lately (no idea why) and the colors I already had just wouldn't go together the way I wanted them to. So, without further ado, let's get to what I tried.

This is Covergirl's Drama Eyes palette, number 222.  This palette has been reviewed and used in tutorials multiple times, I think because of its accessibility and the rather unusual (for the drugstore) burgundy shade on the far right.

Here are my swatches:

The bottom row is without primer, the middle row is with Detrivore Original eye shadow primer, and the top is with Wet n Wild Fergie Take On the Day primer.  The best shades in this palette are the burgundy and the silver, placed second to the right.  The black ( which has slight shimmer that basically disappears after the first swipe with a brush) is extremely sheer, but blends fairly nicely.  The white is sheer as well, but super frosty and would still make a formidable highlight.

This is one of Covergirl's newer palettes,  257 Blossoms.  I loved the mix of bright and muted pinks and purples, and knew that they could make a fantastic "bruised" smoky eye.

Here are the swatches-the primers are in exactly the same order as the Drama eyes: nothing, Detrivore, Wet n Wild.

As you can see, there is one extremely disappointing color in the mix.  The light plum second from the left is basically invisible, despite all the packing I could muster.  However, it does make a nice blending shade for black, dark brown, or purple eye shadows. The dark purple is okay, but primer really brings out its shimmer and depth of color.  The two pinks are just fine, though primer helps them a lot too.

Overall, I give these palettes a 3.5 out of 5-they are quite affordable and extremely easy to find, but they need some working with to really get your money's worth from them.  They range in price from $5-$6 or so, and are available just about anywhere that sells makeup.

Hope that this helps-now go have a fantastic day.

Wet 'n' Wild Fergie Take On the Day Eyeshadow Primer Review

This review is not sponsored in any way.  All products were bought with my own funds.
Eye shadow primer.  It's that extra step in the morning that keeps your look brighter, crease-free and, most importantly, on your face for the duration of the day.  In the past, eye shadow primer was basically a two-man show-Urban Decay's Primer Potion and Too Faced Shadow Insurance.  Nowadays, though, ordinary drugstore brands are coming out with products that mimic the high-end ones to great effect.  Here, then, is my take on one of the newest- an extremely long-named item made by the very inexpensive brand Wet 'n' Wild.

Sorry-I forgot to take pictures of the packaging before I opened it.

Here is the back side of the packaging with the ingredient list.  The product itself does not include an ingredients list.

Here is the tube-it seems to me that the way the company could manage to sell this product at a low cost was to skimp on the packaging.  I have had this tube and used it fairly regularly for about 3 weeks now, and the print on the tube is sadly worn and hard to read.

Here is the business end with the cap removed.  For the first 10 days or so that I used this, the second  I took the cap off primer would start oozing uncontrollably from the tube.  I felt like it wasted product-plus it made an awful mess on the applicator.

Here is the actual primer. There are two dollops of this on the back of my hand-the left one is blended out.  It is  completely clear, with a bit of sheen until it dries.

Efficiency-ie, whether it actually does what it's supposed to.  Well, both of these swatches are the chartreuse color from the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strip in Fashionista Eyes.  The left side (primer) is more shimmery and more vivid than the right side ( no primer).

I have started using this primer every day, even if I wear my Detrivore primer (hint-the Wet 'n' Wild goes underneath) because the Wet 'n' Wild wears like iron.  Not only does my eyeshadow not crease, it's darn near impossible to remove without serious cleanser.  So, despite the bad packaging, I will continue to reuse, and possibly repurchase, this.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  This primer costs $5 both online and in drugstores.

Hope this review was helpful-now go and have a great day!

All opinions are my own, and I was not solicited to do this review.

Video Share-Pixiwoo Grunge

I know this sort of look is not for everyone, but I feel like certain aspects of the grunge look evoke a "tuberculosis chic" sort of feel.  In fact, though I have not tried cream eye shadow yet, I often wear brown eye shadow in the blown-out, kind of haphazard style shown in the vid.
Enjoy!

Have a wonder-filled day, everyone!

Video Share-DIY Corrective Concealer

If you have read some of my earlier posts, you know that I am a big fan of DIY fashion, beauty, and hair products.  I love to just dig in and try new things, especially since DIY usually has the advantage of being cheaper than ready-made products as well as being completely customizable to what you need.

Wayne Goss, Youtuber and makeup artist, is a proponent of corrective concealers for undereye darkness and overall issues with ashy or dull skin. In this video, he shows you how to make your own peach or pink-toned concealer to brighten the undereye area.  I haven't tried this yet, but I think I will just as soon as I can get my hands on some peach or coral lipstick.

So, what do you think of mixing your own concealer, or odd-colored correctors in general?  Comments are welcome.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonder-filled day!

Video Share-Pixiwoo Blue

I have to admit, blue is the most difficult color for to use in my everyday cosmetics.  I have bluish-greenish eyes, which can make blue eyeshadows look dated or just all-out strange.  Someone who has no trouble with this icy color, however, is Sam from Pixiwoo, who uploaded this gem of a tutorial.  But remember, just because she used a particular palette does not mean you have to go out and buy something to achieve this look. Just use similar shades from your own collection, or tweak it a little to suit your tastes.  There are no rules-just have fun. :)

Have a wonder-filled day!

The Care and Feeding of Eye Brows

When I was younger, I was convinced that I would never trim or pluck my eyebrows-that they just didn't grow that well.  Once I reached my late teens, I realized that my eyebrows do indeed grow-they are just various shades of blonde ranging from  practically transparent to light ash.  Since I started dying my hair, I have experimented with different ways to make my brows match my hair.  I started out with heavy eye brow pencil (thankfully that was short-lived), then moved on to matte eye shadow used as brow powder.  Recently, I have discovered something that makeup artists and beauty bloggers have already known about for ages-brow mascara.  Of course, I do not have the funds to try out lots of different specialized products (at least, not yet), so my experience with brow mascara started as a weird little voice in my brain that said, "Hey.  This is mascara.  It is black.  My hair is black.  What will happen if I put this regular black mascara on my eye brows?"  And, well, it worked.  Right now I am doing my "everyday face" with just mascaraed brows, since it's faster than powdering them, and using powder for special occasions or when I feel my makeup that day really needs a strong, full brow.  So, there you go.  Eventually I'm sure I will switch to actual brow mascara, since it is suuuuuper easy to put on too much regular mascara and get weird little smudges and clumps everywhere, but for now it works just fine.
Have you ever tried brow mascara? What is your favorite brow routine (or lack of)?  Feel free to comment and have a wonder-filled day!

Iron Man III Tribute FOTD

A day or two ago I went to the movies with my hubby and mom-in-law to see Iron Man III.  It. Was. Awesome!  The Avengers is still my all-time favorite comic-movie adaptation, but IMIII was tons of fun to watch.  The day after, I had a jones to wear red and black eye shadow.  I kind of wish I had thought to wear this to the theater, but that's the way things go, I guess.


(iPad pictures aren't so great in low light-sorry, guys.)



Whenever I curl my eye lashes, they look invisible when I close my eyes...

Anyway, here is the list of
Beauty Stuffs:

Face:
Nivea Creme (my fave moisturizer-I have super-dry skin)
Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss powder foundation in Sleek Siamese

Brows:
Black brow mascara
Detrivore loose eye shadow in Abyss

Eyes:
Wet N Wild Fergie Take On the Day eye shadow primer (review coming soon)
Detrivore loose eye shadows in Vitriol (lid) and Abyss (outer V)
L'Oreal Infallible Lacquer gel liner in Blackest Black (thin line on upper lid, medium line smudged pretty far down on lower lash line, plus tight-lining)
L'Oreal Voluminous Original mascara in Blackest Black (on curled lashes)

No blush or lippie, I ran out of time!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a fantastic day!

Video Share-Glam Red and Black

I love the combination of red and black for eye shadow, but it can be difficult to pull off.  Here Goldiestarling shows off her talents and finesse, and details a glamorous twist on the combination.

Also, remember that you can tweak the blush and lip color to whatever your dark little heart desires.
Have a wonder-filled day!

Sparkly Silver Nails Tutorial-and Bonus FOTD

Hey everyone,
I have damaged nails.  I have a habit of occasionally picking off my nail polish instead of using polish remover, and a lot of times I forget to moisturize my cuticles until it's too late and they look all dry and kind of hurt.  So, I have had to chop them off and start over many times.  This time, at least, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel; I should only have to chop once or twice more, and then I will be able to start growing long vampy nails (mwah ha ha!).
While my nails are extra short, I try to paint them lighter colors so that their tiny size isn't so painfully obvious.  Therefore, I wanted to share with you my favorite light nail look-sparkly silver glitter.

Step 1: Clean your nails, attend to all cuticles and possible hangnails, and brush on a base coat.  To mend my nails and help them grow in better, I'm using Nail Life Nail Revitalizer in the non-formaldehyde formula.

Step 2: Paint nails with two coats of your favorite frosty or shimmery white.  Here I'm using Finger Paints Well Cultured Pearl, which is glowy and awesome.

Step 3: Top it off with two coats of a silver glitter topcoat.  I used Pure Ice Beware, which consists of a clear base with heavy amounts of small silver glitter.
Now you're done!  I added these next two pictures to show the difference in shine between direct and indirect light.

Indirect light-sparkly

Direct light-blinding! Well, to my camera, at least.

To finish, I'll leave you with a little FOTD featuring Detrivore's Lab Rat eye shadow (part of the Mad Scientist collection) and Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in their  new shade Deepest Cherry, which I am testing and will review shortly.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonder-filled day!

Amethyst Butterfly FOTD

Hi there!
This look was from a day or two ago, when the weather was very soft and springlike.  I felt it was definitely time to bust out the pink eye shadow.  I named this look after a great friend of mine suggested that the extended crease gave the impression of butterfly wings.

Beauty Stuffs:

Face: Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss powder foundation in Sleek Siamese

Detrivore blush in Lascivious

Brows: Detrivore eye shadow in Fortress 

Eyes: Detrivore Original eye shadow primer

Detrivore eye shadows in Laboratory (lid), Livor Mortis (crease and lower lash line), and Apparatus (to blend)

Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies mascara in Black Drama

Lips: Revlon Color Burst lip gloss in Bordeaux

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonder-filled day!