Get The Look: Perrie Edwards from Little Mix- “DNA” Music Video

Products Used:

Face
-Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Oil Free Lotion ($26)
-Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer in “L45” ($25)
-Bare Escentuals Mineral Foundation in “Fairly Light” ($27)
-MAC Sculpting Powder in “Bone Beige” (PRO Product, $15.50)
-MAC Powder Blush in “Cantaloupe” (PRO Product; $17)
-MAC Shaping Powder in “Emphasize” (PRO Product; $15.50)

Eyes
-Primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion in “Original” ($20)
-Base: MAC Chromaline in “Black Black” (PRO Product; $18.50)
-Highlighter: MAC Eyeshadow in “Shroom” ($15)
-All over lid:D Urban Decay Eyeshadow in “Creep” ($18)
-Most of lid, corners, underneath the eyes: MAC Eyeshadow in “Carbon” ($15)
-Upper eye liner: Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in “Trooper” ($18)
-Lower water line: Beautique Eyeliner in “Black” ($2.49)
-Mascara: Bare Escentuals Flawless Definition in “Black” ($18)
-False lashes: Unknown brand/type (Probably from Sally’s)

Lips
-VERY light sweeping of MAC Eyeshadow “Carbon” all over ($15)
-Red lipstick: Kat Von D Everlasting Love Liquid Lipstick in “Outlaw” ($19)
-To moisturize lips: Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15 ($22.50)

The original makeup artist for this music video is Adam Burrell. You can find all of the actual products he used on Perrie and the rest of the girls HERE. He’s a fantastic artist and I’m a huge fan of his work.

(Image from Adam Burrell’s Facebook fan page)

Quick edit: I posted my recreation on Adam’s FB fan page and he liked it! Super exciting!

ARCHIVE: 27 March 2011

Today I will be doing a haul post! I was going to post this before, but I picked up a few extra shifts at work, so I haven’t had enough time. Also, I know I said this before, but I just want you guys to know that hauls aren’t posted to “brag” about what I got. I’m showing you some of my favorite fashion finds and opinions on them.

P.S. Sorry for the poor quality photos. And sorry about my messy room in the background! I’m redoing my room so everything is super misplaced.

H&M

I love this first shirt. It’s a part of the collection that Disney did for H&M. I got it on sale for only $10!! It obviously has the Mickey Mouse ears beaded on the front and the rest of the material is something reminiscent of cashmere. I think this will look really cute with a high-waisted skirt and some tall, black heels. For my hair, I think it would be fun to do a “hair bow” which looks like this…


I got these two bohemian looking sweaters for $25. They’re having a buy one, get one free sale for select sweaters and I decided to take advantage of it! I like the dark brown one better than the light peach, but they’re both really cute. I’ll probably end up wearing them with leggings or jeggings and some boots. This would be comfortable and cute to go shopping downtown in. The only downside to these is that they wrinkle very easily. These must be ironed.

I’m head over heels in love with these pants. Don’t judge me! Haha. I like weird things like this and for only $10 I couldn’t resist getting them. They’re high-waisted so I plan on wearing them with a short frilly shirt… which I still need to find… 
This is the one thing I splurged on for full price, which still was only $30. This is a kind of mod looking dress and though it’s short, it’s meant to be worn with jeggings, legging, jeans, or even shorts. It’s more of a burnt-orange in person and the picture doesn’t do it justice. I’ll try to post a picture of me wearing it in the sunlight when I do so you guys can really see it. Mod is one of my favorite styles. Most people don’t know what mod means, so just think Twiggy- the famous model and my favorite model.

This style was very popular in the sixties. It’s one of my favorites. Very simple, yet with a very dramatic, eye-popping look. Most of the colors used in mod clothing are reds, oranges, pinks, whites, and sometimes browns.

Excuse my obnoxious hand in this picture. I got this white blouse just for something simple and fun to wear. It’s hard to see in the picture, but there is a bit of a flowery design on the shirt and is longer than a normal blouse. (Kind of like a guy’s button-up shirt, which I call a “man blouse.”) It was $18.

Oh yeah, splurged on this one too. $40. But how could I not?! It’s so cute! I adore this dress. It feels heavy, but doesn’t make you overheated, which is nice. It goes a bit off the shoulders, which is something I really like and there aren’t really sleeves or places for your arms. The dress more so drapes over the body. I think it’s a necessity for every girl to have a white, spring dress in her closet. Kind of like spring/summer’s little black dress!

I can’t remember how much this top was… I think $15? I love the pattern and though you can’t see it very well in the picture, there are buttons on the top of the shirt. I’m going to wear this with some high-waisted black pants/shorts and black heels. The makeup for this could be really fun with a tigery or dramatic smokey eye.

Lastly at H&M I got these boots! Finally! It seems like every time I look for boots that look like this, they’re either out of my size or the boots are way too expensive. These boots in particular are my size and on sale. They used to be $60 and I got them for… drumroll please… $20! Great success! I’ll probably end up wearing these with the white dress I mentioned previously.

Kohl’s 

The first thing I got was a nice, new, black blazer from the Lauren Conrad collection. It was so great that I found this because I’ve been meaning to get a new blazer since my others no longer fit. Blazers are hard to come across at a good price, and I’d say this was a good price- $20. It was originally $72.

I love this dress for multiple reasons. I like the decoration on the neckline, which takes out the need for extra jewelry. I also love the deep purple color. My favorite thing is the shape of the dress and the pleating that starts at the waist. The only problem I have with this dress is the hem at the bottom. It’s awful and cheap-looking. For a dress that was originally $78, I’d expect better. I bought this for only $7! I just high-fived myself for getting that great of a deal.

This dress goes with a bit of a darker mod look. The main fabric is a dark black, grey, and army green blend. The middle is lined all the way down with black sequins. I really like the dress and the way it fits as well. Yet again, the only problem was the hem. This dress was originally $78 and I got it for $15. I wouldn’t have paid full price for this dress or the dress above. These are worth $45 MAXIMUM.

Some people are going to love this dress and some people are going to hate it. In the picture it looks like the fabric doesn’t match up in the middle, but there’s actually an extra strip of fabric in the middle where some buttons go. The picture also really doesn’t show much of the dress, it looks like I’ve taken a picture of fabric sewn together, which although is what this is, the dress actually has a shape and took a certain level of skill to make. I plan on wearing this with my purple rosette shoes. This was originally $68 and I got it for $13.

My mom actually picked out these boots and I really like them! They’re a very dark brown color. They have a slight heel on them, just enough to add some style. My favorite part of the shoe is the chains on the front that are hooked around to the back. The only downside is that they occasionally jingle when you walk. I bought these for $12.

I saved the best for last… OBSESSED WITH THESE. Doesn’t this just scream “Melissa!” at you? Pink, sparkly, glittery, wonderful pumps?! It’s a size 7 so they’re a little snug (I wear a 7.5) but worth it! The only other sizes they had were sixes and tens. I snagged the last seven. I will wear this at absolutely any opportunity that I have. They’re just so beautiful, especially for $13.

I just yawned. I’m so tired. I’ve been working on this post for a long time and I have to go to work in an hour and a half which I really don’t want to do, but oh well.

ARCHIVE: 4 March 2011

So here we go! The first prom post! As some of you may know, I had a prom dress picked out in December- I bought it in Maui for $42. It’s plain, but quite lovely. Then I realized I wanted something sparkly. So I decided to get a new one. It’s rather expensive, but I love it and I’m going to work my butt off to pay for it.

This is my dress! Yay! I just adore it. It’s all golden and I don’t think you can really see it in the picture, but it has a slit down the front starting right above the knee. The only difference between this one and mine is the bodice- mine is a sweetheart neckline. If you don’t know what that means, click here.

This post is all about eleven favorite prom dress picks from a site called Rent the Runway. You need to be a member to look at the dresses, but membership is free and you’re not obliged to buy anything. If you do sign up, I’d love it if you used my referral link! For those of you who don’t know what this site is- it’s a site where you can rent designer dresses and accessories for cheap prices! They have $1,000 dresses that you can rent for a few nights for only $100. I was going to use this site for my prom dress, but the date I needed it wasn’t available. Whenever I mention this to my friends, they always ask, “What if I spill on it…” Don’t worry if you get anything on the dress, etc. They have a protection plan for only $5 that will cover any minor problem. All of the dresses I’m talking about will be linked through the name/designer of the dress.

Black/Silver/Brown Dresses
This dress is called “Gypsy Glam Gown” by Haute Hippie is originally a $1,295 dress. The rental price is $200. I really love the simplicity of this dress. It still is elegant with the sparkles, but not overbearing. My favorite part is the shrug-like top, paired with a beaded belt. This will really compliment any shape and it’s a fantastic dress for someone who wants to get a classy, but modern look.
This lovely dress is the Chain Detail Maxi Dress by Mark & James- which is a collection from Badgley Mischka. There isn’t really much to say about this- it’s obviously gorgeous and yet again, another classy, but modern look. The chain really makes the dress and the light look of the dress brings out your own beauty. It is a $380 dress, with a rent price of $75. I realize this dress may be in your price range from prom dresses, so I looked for the actual dress online. I wasn’t able to find this exact dress, but a variation of it, still by Badgley Mischka. The dress is $219 and can be purchased here.
This is a $2,750 dress. When I saw the price, I jumped back in my chair a bit, not gonna lie to you. It is called the “Knock Em Dead” Gown by Carlos Miele. This rental is a bit more expensive- $320. I am totally in love with this dress. The neckline is gorgeous and the details on it are just amazing. You really just need to check the dress out in detail to see more because this small picture doesn’t do it justice. Click on the link for a picture where you can see the back and a zoomed-in view.
Here is another affordable rental dress! It’s only a $75 rental, with an original price of $430. It’s the “Dazzling Decko” Gown by Twelfth Street- which is a collection from Cynthia Vincent. My absolute favorite part of this dress is the bodice. It has an amazing design. I love where the black lines meet the others- it fits the dress so well. The rest of the dress is in a lovely, light, brown color. Again, I figured this may be in the price range for some of you, but I was unable to find the dress online. I apologize! If you are interested in buying a dress that looks similar to this, you can @tweet me (couturetweeting) or, preferably, send me a message on here and I’ll see what I can find!

Girly Dresses
The first one is not something I would wear, but I know a lot of people love this style. I really am not a fan of the color peach on myself- but on many others it looks great! In fact, I think one of my best friends, Maggie, looks super in the color! I do love the beading on the top. This dress is the “Crowned Jewel” Gown by Carlos Miele. Originally a $2,500 dress, you can rent it for $300. Just something to think about… this dress will show all of your curves. That’s always a good thing to keep in mind when shopping- how much do you want to show and how tight do you want the dress to be? It is very important to think this through because your night isn’t going well if you don’t feel comfortable in your dress.
I really, really love this dress! I like the one shoulder, the belt, the material, and especially the color. Everything about this dress screams beauty and youth and just feels very positive. This dress is called the “Romantic Goddess” Embellished Gown by Tibi. A great rental price- $100- with an original price of $595. I really love this gown and I think it’s a great look for a high school girl, while the other gowns are beautiful, but a bit more mature.
I’m going to straight up tell you that not everyone will like this dress. For some reason I don’t know, some people don’t like nude, beige, etc. colors. I think the fact that this dress is so well made and such a beautiful design just shows that it doesn’t need a burst of color to look fantastic. I love the bodice, with a play on the sweetheart neckline, by bringing a bit of the fabric roughly up the top of the neckline. This is a very pretty dress and will look good on so many different body types. If you’ve never worn a color like this before in a dress and you want to get this one, I’d suggest first going out and just trying on a dress in the same color. Some people make look a bit washed-out and I’m sure that’s not the look you’re going for. This is a $350 rental, but is a $3,500 dress. (I think my eyes just glazed over after seeing the original price…) It is the “Princess Sweetheart” Gown by Bibhu Mohapatra. Opinion time- I hate the name. “Princess Sweetheart” sounds like the name a three-year-old would pick out when her parents asked her what to name the new kitten. Just keep the name on the DL, and you’ll be good.
This dress will look beautiful on tan brunettes. Of course, anyone can wear it, but tan brunettes will rock this dress! First off, I love the slit in the bodice. It’s similar to my homecoming dress. You can’t really see it well in this picture, but there are light white-silvery sparkles throughout the dress which really add a lot to it. It’s a $100 rental with an original price of $630. This dress has a gorgeous name- “Keyhole Goddess” Gown by Nicole Miller.

Greens/Blues
Now, these three dresses are fairly simple, except the first one, so I’m going to put pictures, names, pricing, and links.
“Romantic Sage” Gown by Philosophy Di Alberta Ferretti.Rental: $250. Retail: $1,895.
“Decadent Marie” Gown by Badgley Mischka. Rent: $125. Retail: $795.
“Emerald City” Gown by Temperley London. Rent: $250. Retail: $1,995

Thanks a bunch for reading guys. If you liked my blog, let your friends know! If this post gets too far down on the homepage and you need to find it, it will be filed under the “Prom” section at the top. Just click there and it will bring you to all the prom-related posts.

ARCHIVE: 12 March 2011

This is going to be a short post. BUT- Just a quick note before I get started… I’m going to be filming either a hair or makeup tutorial tomorrow. Go to my ask box and let me know which one you guys would rather have me do.

I’m just posting real quick about my two-day Effy-inspired looks. Effy is a character from Skins. (UK) I believe that she’s the only first generation character still on. So… I decided to go with her look. I didn’t take a picture the second day- sorry guys! But here’s day one: (3.8.11)

Yes, I know I look dramatic. I was trying to show you all the elements of the makeup and the hair without my entire face going crazy since it scrunches up when I smile. First off, I curled my hair completely, hairsprayed, clipped it up for about fourty minutes, then took it down and combed it out to create the cascading curl look. I simply blow-dried my bangs with a round brush. They’re going out quite nicely, thankfully not too awkward looking. My eyes were the same both days. Dark grey on the ball of my eye, black on the outer edge, white on the brow bone, with winged black gel liner on top and black pencil liner on the bottom. Three coats of mascara. (MAC, BE, and Physician’s Formula.) I used a bit of my BE mineral foundation as well as my BE blush from the Happiness Collection called “glee radiance.” The lips are just my natural color with a bit of clear gloss. The outfit is one of my favorites. I got the shirt at a hotel in LA. I love Marilyn Monroe. She was a confident, beautiful, curvy woman who made the most of her short life. I really didn’t cut much of the shirt. I’m not sure how to explain this; The area where the fabric is folded over and sewn at the bottom of the shirt, top of the shirt, and end of sleeves- you know where I’m talking about? I just cut that part off, leaving it with a sort of ripped, loose look. I colored her lips in with red fabric marker. The skirt is one I got for $4 at Maurice’s a little over a year ago. I took a pair of old, black leggings that I was planning on throwing away (They were ripped up at the bottom.) and just started cutting them up. Why spend $100 on ripped up leggings when you can make them yourself? A few people asked for a tutorial, so I might be doing that soon! Thoughts? I topped the outfit off with tall, purple boots. Oh! And I also wore two rings. They’re both silver with Swarovski crystals. One has a leaf pattern, the other a flower pattern.

I’m going to bed now, it’s just past one in the morning! Leave me your thoughts and let me know what you’d like to see in the future! I’m going to try to start doing video tutorials soon; I’ve just been too busy to make them and edit them recently.

ARCHIVE: 5 February 2011

Hello guys! This is going to be a post about Snow Week at my school. Before I get into that I just wanted to answer some questions I’ve been getting:
-My titles are lyrics from the song that’s currently playing as I type these.
-No, cover-up does not have the same effect as foundation.
-I’m from Minnesota.

Now back to Snow Week. At my school we have a week every February called “Snow Week.” Students can make teams and participate in competitions, we have a dress-up day for each day of the week all leading up to the Neon Dance on Saturday! I love the Neon Dance so much, but I’ll be posting about that probably on Sunday. I love the dress-up days. We have them twice a year- homecoming week and snow week. This week we have…
Monday- Pajama Day
Tuesday- Ugly Sweater Day
Wednesday- Safari Day
Thursday- Patriotic Day
Friday- Jersey Day

I’m going to be talking about my outfits for Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Monday was pajama day. Nearly everyone wore footie pajamas, but I wanted to be different and footie pajamas are way too hot for over-heated school! So I decided to go with a Risky Business look. You know? The one where Tom Cruise slides out? “Just take those old records off the shelf!”

I was going to originally wear shorter shorts, but those just looked like I had a one night stand so here’s what I ended up with:

For makeup? I literally wore the makeup I woke up in. I figured for a straight-out-of-bed look why not do that literally? I stole one of my dad’s long sleeved, purple, striped, button-down shirts. I buttoned one of the buttons and left the rest open. I wore a dark purple camisole underneath. For shorts I have little turquoise pajama shorts with lime green polka dots. I put my hair in messy pigtails. For socks, even though you can’t see them, they were Spongebob Squarepants! I didn’t wear shoes that day.

Wednesday was Safari Day. I wanted to dress up and do my makeup like the black swan, but swans aren’t really a part of a safari… So instead I decided to do tiger-inspired eyes. Me, being the dumb one, I am, didn’t take very good pictures, but here are the two I do have:


(I’m being a tiger here.)
Oh! And I got full bangs. But more about that another time.
How did I do my eyes? YAYYY:) You get a tutorial. If you don’t want to figure out how to do this, just skip down past the text!

Tiger Eyes How-To
Level of Difficulty- Expert (Just keep practicing!)
Here’s what you’re gonna need: Primer, dark and light gold shadows, white cream eyeliner, burnt orange cream eyeshadow. If you don’t have this, just take a red eyeshadow and an orange eyeshadow and mix it together slightly wet. It should work just fine. Black gel eyeliner, brushes for said shadows and liners, false lashes, and an eyelash curler.

1. Start by priming your eyes. You can use an actual primer (My favorite is Urban Decay’s Potion Primer) or you can improvise and use a liquid foundation or liquid/stick cover-up. Mineral doesn’t work that well, but it’s better than nothing. It’s giving your makeup a layer to stick to that isn’t your skin.
2. Brush the dark gold shadow on the outer v and crease of your eye. Blend well.
3. Brush the light gold shadow on the inside of the eye, as well as below the waterline.
4. Blend the colors well.
5. Right outside the crease on the v line, brush a tiny bit of the burnt orange shadow. Don’t put on too much. You can always add more, but it’s a lot harder to take off a bit. Blend well.
6. Line your upper lid with black gel liner in a cat-like formation. (Winged)
7. Line the bottom, as well as the water line with the black gel liner. Be careful not to get it in your eye- gel liner tends to irritate more than pencil.
8. Here comes the hard part. If you want to stop now, you’ll just have a fun goldish, red eye. For the tiger eye you can continue on. For reference, I suggest having a picture of the makeup you’re going to be doing and/or a picture of a tiger’s eyes.
9. Using the black gel liner, make small, short lines on the outer edge of your eye. Don’t go past the midpoint. (If you don’t know where the midpoint is- it’s the middle of your pupil.)
10. Bring the lines out in a v shape. Bring it out at least a few centimeters, for the dramatic, tiger look.
11. Don’t forget to add one or two lines underneath the eye.
12. Add or erase lines as needed. To remove them, I like using a q-tip dipped in makeup remover. Be careful not to erase the shadow, and if you do, remember to fix it.
13. Once you’re done fixing the black lines, it’s time to fill them in with a white cream eyeliner. I used a pencil liner, but it had a creamy feeling and I warmed it up on my hand before using it. Fill in most of the spaces inside the black lines.
14. At the end of the outer v, blend the white out with the black. (You still want a winged look, just a bit thicker.)
15. Fix the lines, and add black if needed.
16. Get out your false lashes, and trim them to the length you need. If you don’t, they’ll poke you in the eyes all day and it’s terribly annoying.
17. Using your lash glue, (I like Duo from Sephora, it’s about $8 and should last ages!) line the strip of the lash with a thin layer. If it’s too thick, it will glob down and won’t look very good.
18. Let it dry for 30-50 seconds. You want the glue to be tacky. If you put the lashes on right away, the glue will sting your eye.
19. Carefully place the eyelash as close as you possibly can to your actual lash line. Move around as necessary, but not too much that the glue won’t work anymore.
20. Wait a few minutes, then curl your lashes. (Your real lashes and fake lashes together.)
21. Apply mascara if needed/wanted.

Voila! You’re done! Remember, each eye shouldn’t look exactly the same because that’s definitely not how it is in nature. Play around with this and don’t expect it to be perfect the first time. The picture that you see of my eyes is my first time doing it, and it didn’t come out exactly how I wanted it, but I still liked it. If you have any questions, just go to the ask box and send it in! I’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Onto patriotic day!
Honestly I’m not a very patriotic person and I think that patriotic outfits generally look pretty tacky. So instead, I went with a chic look. Curled hair, heavy makeup, nice jacket, jeggings, and heels. I really liked how my makeup turned out! I blended the colors together a lot so it didn’t look globbed on.

Side note- Yes, I am wearing false lashes here.

Here you can see just a bit of my outfit. I have my hair slightly curled, bangs down, light red lipstick, and a white jacket with a red camisole underneath. Even though you can’t see them, I’m wearing plain jeggings from H&M. I got them in August for about $10.  This is one of my favorite coats, but you can’t really see it in this picture. I wore it for Confirmation last may… Please excuse my dumbfound look. It was extremely sunny and rather annoying to take pitures in.

I got this coat from Bebe, last year at the end of the season on sale for about $50. Bebe can be expensive, but make sure to check out their sales because you can find really good deals! This was a $140 coat! By the way, if you guys haven’t figured this out yet, I don’t pay full price for anything. Bargains FTW.

ARCHIVE: 2 January 2011

Here it is- the Hawaiian Haul. First off, I’d like to make something clear to all you who are not familiar with haul videos, posts, etc: These posts are made to “show off” or anything, they’re made to inform the reader/viewer about products and items the author likes. Now that we have that, I’ll start!

I found this awesome store called “Mahina.” They have four locations in Hawaii and their clothes are adorable and very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, they don’t have an online shop, but I’ll link you to their website. I kind of went nuts there. Think… Topshop, but cheaper.

This first dress is leopard (?) print. It’s very flowy and has a zipper down the front. It’s so comfortable- it feels like I’m wearing pajamas! Very cute, kind of short, but a great party dress. I wore it to the New Year’s party I went to. (To see how I did my makeup, click here.) This was $46.

I’m obsessed with this dress. (Or perhaps it should be called a tunic…?) Either way, it’s amazing. The print is fabulous and matches up throughout the fabric. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a piece of really cheap clothing and really expensive clothing and compare it. You’ll probably notice that where that the pattern matches up on each side of the seam on the expensive clothing, whereas the cheap clothing’s pattern does not. I was so excited to get this. It was the first thing I bought at the store. I got it for $22!

So this is my prom dress. :) It’s very simple. The picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s mainly cotton. At the top is a rosette-ish center and then it just flows down at the bottom. It doesn’t wrinkle, which is great and it’s very long so I can find the perfect heels. I will of course, glam this up! It’s a halter but I didn’t really feel like showing that on here. By the way- while I’m looking at this photo I’m just going to say pardon the nastiness in the background. I just got home two days ago and I’m still trying to clean up the mess that has taken over my home! Ready for the best part? Prom dress: $42.

The last thing I bought at Mahina is the shirt! You can’t see it very well in the picture, but there is a little tie in the front and even though I thought it was going to look gross, it’s actually really cute! The print is adorable and unique and the fabric is silky. The sleeves are a little above three quarter length. I’m going to be wearing this to school on Tuesday, so I’ll do a post edit and post how it looks on because it’s different. When I saw this I immediately was like, “BUYING!” Haha it’s just very cute and I actually need tops. My closet consists of a lot of cardigans and dresses. This cute little shirt was only $29.

The next store was at the Lahaina Cannery Mall and is called “Jeans Warehouse.” (Click here for their website.) I flipped out when I saw the prices on the clothes and accessories. There were a good five or six racks that had a sign on it- my favorite sign EVER- “75% clearance price!” I ran into the store skipping because that is the best deal basically ever. Their clothes were kind of cheap and quite a few had rips, which was disappointing, but I’m very happy with what I got.

This dress is really cute. It has a cheap feeling, but I really don’t care that much. The top is not lace, but a print meant to look like lace. There’s a black band in the middle and the bottom skirt part is jean. Ready for the price? $2. Like a boss.

I wanted to just post a picture of the hat, but it looked really weird when I tried to take a picture of it by itself, so you get me and a hat. I really don’t know what these hats are called- I should probably figure that out. They’re beret-like. Rachel and I call them “saggy hats.” This one is knit and cream colored. Got it for a $1 because I win at shopping ahahha.

I bought quite a few items at a store in my hotel which I don’t know the name of. If you’re wondering, and wish to find out the store named, I was staying at the Hyatt Regency Maui.

These are all NYX brand. I’ll talk about them in the order they are above. The first one is a chrome eyeshadow in “lilac.” The second is a sparkly mascara, which I really liked! I used that on New Year’s Eve as well. The third is a lip liner in the color, Y2K. I doubt I’ll use it as a lip liner because it’s very dark, but I’m probably going to use it for my eyes. Next, I bought a lipstick. I love the color. It’s like an icy lavender color. It’ll be great for a highlight to an outfit. The last three items? GLITTER. I’m actually obsessed with glitter. I buy it whenever I see it. I’m just in love with it. The colors in order are: Unknown, (Sorry!) GP01, and GP03.

The last thing I got were some earrings from the local craft fair.






These ranged in price from $1-$5.

That’s all I really am going to talk about right now because I need to do some homework. I got a few other items, some rings, hair things, etc. but these were the things I thought I should mention. The earrings are FANTASTIC. I love them.
Oh, and here’s a pic of me on New Year’s, as well as some of my henna tattoos I got in Hawaii:


This one is just a regular type of henna tattoo. It took about fifteen minutes and cost $20.

I’m obsessed with this. It’s the dark mark from Harry Potter.
So legit. This one was also $20.
The guy also taught me how to make henna! So I’ll be experimenting with that soon.
For those of you who don’t know what henna is- It’s a natural way to dye your skin. (or hair) It’s made of henna leaf, tea tree oil, coffee, and lemon juice. It’s very natural and isn’t bad for your skin. It goes on a really dark muddy color and it’s dries up after absorbing your skin’s moisture and cracks off. You’re left with an orangey design and the next day it turns the brown color mine are now. The hands and the feet will come out the darkest. It lasts 1-2 weeks depending on where it is, the quality of the henna, the thickness, and how well you take care of it. Henna will last longer out of sunlight and water.

ARCHIVE: 19 December 2010

This will be talking about what are, in my opinion, the beauty essentials to bring on a vacation. I’m going to be taking a ten day vacation to Hawaii- which is pretty exciting since I hate cold weather- and of course, I’m packing last minute. I’ll be talking about what I like to bring on my trip. If you’re going someplace where you won’t be on the beach a lot, you may want to bring a bit more. I put on minimal makeup for the beach.

Let’s start with brushes.
(1) Kabuki brush- for mineral foundation. I’m using IQQU handcrafted red bristled Kabuki brush.
(7) Eyeshadow brushes, assorted sizes- I have a double ended BE brush with one large flat side and one small fluffy side. Next, an elf eyeshadow “C” brush. The one I like to use with shading is my ULTA Professional brush which is basically the basic eyeshadow brush. Also, an elf defining brush, an ULTA smudge brush, and an Estee Lauder brush- for the EL I’m not really sure what type it is. It’s thin and small and very fluffy! Lastly, I’ll be bringing my Sonia Kashuk for Target Breast Cancer Awareness brush. It’s similar to the EL brush except it has a few more bristles.
(1) Fluffy brush- Mine is from the Kohl’s FLIRT! line. It’s just your basic fluffy brush, nothing special. I use it to blend my shadows.
(1) Liquid/gel liner brush- Gel liner is my new obsession. I’m bring one from IQQU. I love this brush, it’s honestly one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.
(1) Concealer brush- I love the bristles on the BE Max Coverage Concealer.
(1) Sample sized Kabuki brush- I got a foundation sample from BE and it came with a little sample foundation brush. I love it. I use it for on the go blush/bronzer.

List of products:
IQQU Red Kabuki Brush
Double Ended Precision Brush
All e.l.f. Prodcuts
ULTA Eye Shadow Brush
ULTA Smudge Brush
All Estee Lauder Products
All Sonia Kashuk for Target Products
Kohl’s Cosmetic Products
Eyeliner Brush
BE Concealer Brush
BE Baby Buki Brush (Sample sized Kabuki brush) 

Makeup
(3) Mascaras- I use three different brands. To find them, look at the product list.
(2) Lipsticks- MAC Dazzleglass in a light pink sparkly color. Nice for a radiant, bright look. Also, MAC Viva La Glam Gaga which is a light light light pink color. I love it. I use it almost everyday.
(7) Eyeshadows- I’ll just give you the colors and you can find the actual products on the list; Yellow, light pink, silver glitter, light blue, light green, creamy pink/gold, as well as one smokey eye palette.
(2) Eyeliners- I’m bringing one gel and one pencil.
(2) Foundation/bronzer, etc- Both are mineral bronzers and foundation.
Bring some assorted lipglosses and chapsticks as well.

List of Products:
MAC Plush Lash Mascara
BE Flawless Definition Mascara
Physician’s Formula Custom Duo Mascara
MAC Dazzleglass Lipgloss
MAC Viva La Glam Gaga Lipstick
Makeup Forever Eyeshadow in Yellow
BE Light Pink Shadow
BE Light Blue
BE Light Green
MAC Shadow in Forgery
Kohl’s Flirt Whipped Cream Shadow in 07 Cross My Heart
Urban Decay Smoke Out Set (This links to all of their eyeshadows.)
Beautique Eyeliner Pencil in 714000 (Black)
Boots Botanics Cream Eyeliner- They don’t have mine anymore, but I’m sure you can find a similar one on this link.
BE Mineral Foundation
BE Warmth Bronzer

I’m not really sure how much more I can tell you… I’ll just put a few basic things. I’m not going to put a product list because that takes way too long and it’s almost midnight, but if I particularly like a product I’ll link to it- noted with a *.

• Bedhead Hard Head Hairspray *
• Hairbrushes
• Flat iron, I love this Behead one *
• Curling Iron
• Blow Dryer
• Deodorant (THIS=Important! Hahah!)
• Perfume, I’m using DKNY Be Delicious, which is considered one of the most recognizable perfume scents. *
• Lotion, with and without scents
• Dry Shampoo
• Shampoo/Conditioner (Here’s the link to a post I did about these)
• Bobby pins, hair bands, etc.
  -You can really just bring whatever fits you best. Look around your room and see if you’re missing anything. Go through your daily routine and see what you still need.

Hope this helps! This is also a great list to look at if you’re wondering about a few of my favorite products. I can do one further in depth later, but after an hour I think this post is complete. Happy holidays!

ARCHIVE: 11 December 2010

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Hello! Today I’m going to be showing you how to achieve this look. (Just the eyes.) It may seem difficult, but it’s really not. Obviously this isn’t an everyday look, but for parties (Maybe New Year’s parties?) it’s really fun!

Things you’ll need:

• Range of eyeshadow colors including: Purple, blue, green, and yellow. (You’re probably going to want different shades of each color)
• I find that it’s best to use a palette for these types of looks. A great one that I use nearly everyday is the Coastal Scents 88 Piece, which you can find here:http://www.coastalscents.com/cfwebstore/index.cfm/product/1677_122/88-piece-makeup-palette.cfm
• It’s a pretty inexpensive palette, the colors are vibrant, and the shadow applies smoothly.
• Black eyeliner- I’d use gel for this, but pencil or liquid work just as well.
• False lashes (Optional)
• Eyeshadow brushes… This is important! Don’t use the pads to put on your eyeshadow. They don’t work as well, you won’t get very vibrant color, and they scratch your skin. Your eyelids are sensitive, so you don’t want to put weird things on them!
• A blending brush. These are generally big, puffy versions of eyeshadow brushes. If you don’t have one, an eyeshadow brush will work okay.

Let’s start!

1. Put primer on. This will hold your color better and the colors will show up much brighter.
2. We’re going to start from the inner eye. (The part of your eyelid that is closest to the bridge of your nose.) Sweep a bright yellow on the top AND bottom of your eyes, covering about 1/3 of your eyes. (When I say eyes, I mean your upper lid and your lower lid, where you’d normally put eyeliner on on the bottom.)
3. Take a light teal-green (I think it looks similar to Ariel’s fins. FYI- She’s the Little Mermaid.) and sweep it from about 3/4 of the way down on the yellow and finish of half of your eyes. Remember, we’re going from right to left.
4. Take a brighter green and go over nearly all of the light teal and bring it towards the end of your eyes. Remember, you’re blending all of these colors together as you’re doing it. You don’t want hard lines.
5. Using a royal blue, apply a small amount on the outer corner of the upper lid. This will be the least used color on the upper lid.
6. Using the same royal blue, apply a large amount on the lower lid, tapering out about two centimeters and up.
7. On your upper lid, taper a navy blue, but go starting in the middle of your crease. (The part where below your eyebrow bone where the skin indents.)
8. Finish the colors off by brushing a bright purple at the ends and tapering it out, making a “V” shape that should be colored in.
9. Next, we’re going to add eyeliner. I’ll add three separate tutorials for gel, liquid, and pencil liner. So just scroll down a bit more to find them, and come back up here when you’re done! (Some of you might know how to do this, so you can skip this step.)
10. Adding false lashes- OPTIONAL. If you’re not adding false lashes, skip to the next step. I’d suggest having someone else put these on or just not doing them if don’t feel comfortable putting them on. I always get asked if they hurt. The answer is no. Although- don’t open your eyes when you first put them down. If the glue gets in your eyes, it burns! Now I’m assuming you have your lashes, as well as lash glue. Some lashes come with tiny bottles of glue. Don’t use that. It doesn’t work well. I like Sephora’s lash glue. It’s inexpensive. It’s called “Duo” I believe. Now to begin. Take a lash and notice which side is longer. The side that’s longer with go on your outer eye and the shorter will go on your inner eye. (You should’ve figured out the latter if you read the first part of the sentence.) Squeeze a THIN line of lash glue (Quick note: Elmer’s won’t work. I’m serious. People have asked me before.) onto the eyelash strip. Blow on it for thirty-fourty seconds while it dries a bit, becoming tacky. Then, close your eye and put the lash on trying push it as far back and as far down as you can so it’s the closest to your lash. It probably won’t come out perfect if you’re not used to doing them. They can be frustrating. Open your eye and wait a bit. While you’re waiting, do the other eye. I like waiting about ten minutes to make sure they’re fully dried. If you mess with them before they’re dry, it’s disaster. Let’s pretend your ten minute chill-fest is over. Using a lash curler, now I know this next part is just shocking, curl your lashes. This will make them look more natural and get them to mix in with your natural lashes better. Here is what a lash looks like when applied in an alright manner- (I’m not an expert.)
    
    This does have mascara on it too, though.
11. Mascara time! Most of you probably know how to put on mascara, it’s really not that difficult. But a few things you might want to know is that when you’re putting on layers, there are ways to do it. Makeup artists differ in the brush size to begin and end with, so you can find your own medium, but I’m going to tell you my favorite. I start with a brush that has a lot of thin bristles. Next, I move onto my thin, short, bristled brush. I finish off with a thick bristled brush. It’s really up to you what you’d like.
12. Your look is complete! This might not turn out the way you want it right away. But keep practicing and you’ll figure it out.

Eyeliner tutorials:

Gel

• Remember to use a brush for this.
• Get a good amount of gel liner on your brush, making sure it’s even.
• Obviously you’re going to bring the brush up to your eye and start in the middle, lining to the outer corner. (The way people do this varies, but for beginners and just for comfort, this usually works best.)
• If you’d like a cat eye, go for it. I’m not going to explain cat eyes because this is just a mini-tutorial.
• Taper it a tad bit at the end. (If you’re not doing the cat eye.) Line the inner corner, meeting up in the middle to make a smooth line.
• Repeat on the other eye.

Liquid
Follow the steps for the gel liner. Liquid liner sometimes is a hard or soft brush, depending on the kind. The same process can be used. They look about the same. Gel liner is generally easier to apply.

Pencil

• Pencil eyeliner is where my comfort zone is. It’s quick, easy, and inexpensive. The problem with pencil is it doesn’t show up as well as liquid and gel and it smudges quite a bit.
• To get a good line, I pull the corners of my eyes over. It tightens up your lid.
• You can now basically just draw the line on.
• Taper it at the end if you’d like.

For both liners- apply a small amount on the bottom outer corner, going towards the inner corner about 1/4 of the way.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and happy holidays!

ARCHIVE: 7 December 2010

Sorry I haven’t posted recently, but I’ve been nasty sick and I don’t think you want a post or video on, “How to cough up mucus and lay in bed gasping for air as your immune system fails you.” Not pleasant. I would like to be sleeping right now, but I slept all day and I’m not very tired and it’s also harder to breathe when I lay down. Hopefully I’ll edit the one video I did make before I got sick soon. (Jar of Hearts)

Anyway, today is an interesting post. I was looking through the Beauty Gurus on YouTube and came across Promise’s video. (For those of you who don’t know- Promise is Michelle Phan’s, the biggest Guru on YT, sister.) Her video is a “Ganguro” look. At first I thought it was a Halloween tutorial, but now I realize it’s actually a style!

This is the average Ganguro look. It is an alternative fashion in Japan and has been around for about 10 years. It is characterized by dark, bronzed skin, lots of creamy white makeup around the eyes and lips, black eyeliner, bright hair, and many facial and hair adornments. I have no problem with this look, I can respect the culture. However, it’s not for me. I don’t think this would look all that great on me. Oh well!

The thing I found interesting about this is that while in Japan it is considered a subculture in fashion, if you take off the hair/facial adornments and lighten up on the eye and lip makeup, this is what people refer to as a “cake-face.” I’ve been told I cake on my makeup. I personally don’t think I do, but teach their own.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Adam Lambert, but his makeup is very caked on. You can see he has pock marks which are caused by acne. In an effort to cover them, he has more makeup than necessary on. Looking at his cheeks especially you’ll notice how the foundation looks creamy and painted on rather than blending with his skin. The good thing about his is that it matches his skin tone. Speaking of skin tones…
The more commonly known cake-faces are called at my school, “carrots.” Best known example? Snooki!

Excessive tanning can cause orange looking skin, rather than a nice bronze glow. Speaking from my experience, (Seeing girls at my school who cake on makeup) this generally happens not when one uses a UV tanning bed, (like Snooki does) but from spray-tanning. Let me get one thing straight here- I am not bashing people who spray-tan. I’m just trying to explain ways to make the tan look more natural and not like a spray. Spray tanning can work, but it can also produce an orange skin tone, discoloration, and patches of darker color. It truly depends on the person. I know people who spray-tan that clearly should not, and I also know people who do and look fine. The spray-tan by itself usually doesn’t make the skin look too orange-y, but the makeup that is applied after does. Many people use bronzers which, when used correctly, can look gorgeous, but when used incorrectly…

Yeah it just doesn’t look good. So here are some tips for applying bronzer-

• Use a powder-based bronzer because it will blend with the foundation you already are wearing.
• Don’t put it all over your face! Bronzer is not the equivalent of foundation. It is mean to accentuate certain areas of the face, namely the cheeks.
• Apply bronzer to in the hollows of your cheeks OR the apples of your cheeks. If you do both, there will be too much.
• Apply a small amount first. It’s much harder to take away the bronzer without ruining the rest of your makeup than it is to simply apply a bit more.
• Don’t use expired makeup. Yes, makeup does expire! Everyone’s guilty of keeping makeup too long. I do! There are certain things that you can and can’t keep for too long and bronzer is one of those that you need to THROW AWAY! I’d suggest getting a new bronzer every six months if it’s a creme or a pressed powder. Mineral or loose powder could probably go up to a year. It also depends on the quality of the makeup. If you’re getting Dollar Store brand, get another one in a month. If you’re using Yves Saint Laurent then you can probably use it for a year.
• Blend it with the rest of your makeup. It should highlight your face, not darken it.
• Don’t go for a color that’s too dark for you. If you’re buying a brand where they have a store or a counter, or you’re buying something from a store like Sephora or Ulta, ask an employee to help you! That’s why they’re there.

The last thing I’ll talk about is the nasty face line. I’m pretty tolerant of screw-ups in makeup because not everyone knows how to do their makeup correctly and really, it’s not a big deal. BUT, I can’t stand it when I see the foundation line.
After searching for quite a bit, I found an example.

You can see the literal line where the makeup stops and starts in the first picture. Don’t do this! It’s not contouring.

I think I’ve made my point.
This is the end of this post. Ttfn!

ARCHIVE: 25 November 2010

Hi there! This will probably be a shortish post. I’m going to show you guys my new hair and talk about bleaching.

This is the reaction I get when people find out I’ve bleached my hair:

They pretty much flip out because first off- they think I bleached my entire head of hair. Second, everyone knows bleaching your hair is unhealthy. And third- I’m a natural brunette with dark eyebrows and dark brown eyes. Now here’s what YOU need to know:

• It’s not all of my hair, it’s a thick section on my left side, the one without bangs.
• It’s not white blonde. My hair didn’t take the color as well because it’s pre-colored dark brown. (Yes, my hair is naturally dark brown, but I had it foiled blonde over the summer and when I wanted to go brown again in September I had to dye it to its natural color.)
• I got it professionally done so it doesn’t look like crap.
• I know how to take care of my hair and it’s pretty healthy to begin with.

I like it a lot actually. I based it off of Christina Perri’s look. If you don’t know who she is, look up her music. It’s amazing; the song, Jar of Hearts is an obsession.

^^ That would be Chrsistina Perri. Love her. Love her tattoos and her hair and just basically everything about her. Look up her story of fame too- it’s great!
Here’s the night I got it done…


Here’s what I looked like the next day, after actually brushing out, drying, and styling my hair. I like it a lot!

If you’re planning on bleaching your hair, think about it a long time. Here’s what you need to know if you’re going to do it:

• Bleaching your hair will, without a doubt, ruin your hair no matter how healthy it is. It doesn’t matter how well you take care of it before, it will still screw it up.
• If your hair is pre-fried, basically it feels like hay, don’t bleach your hair because it’s likely your hair is going to fall out and I’m pretty sure you don’t want that.
• Frying your hair comes from too much dyeing, bleaching, or heat styling. If you straighten your hair everyday, it’s likely this will happen to you. Curling will do this too, but it’s not as harsh because it doesn’t cover every part of your hair. A note about heat styling- there are products out there that can help you. Go get some heat protectant and put it on before you use anything with heat on your hair, every single time! (I like Tresemme’s, it’s about $3-5. You can get it at Target. CHI’s 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protectant is nice too and is only about $12.)
• The bleach will make your hair dry and coarse. Your natural texture will be compromised.
• There’s always a possibility of your hair breaking off. Know the risks.
• Bleached hair doesn’t look the same on everyone, ask your stylist about it first.
• Consult your stylist before getting it done- see if he or she thinks your hair is going to break off or fall out to make sure you’re not risking it.
• Go to a professional stylist! DO NOT try to bleach your hair by yourself.

This is what fried bleach hair looks like:

I’m not an expert on bleached hair and I don’t have a ton of experience with it. Talk to a stylist, google it, or check some YouTube videos for more information. I highly recommend not to try it yourself.