Swatchfreak makeup collab: Dreamy Mermaid and Sultry Siren

 Yay! I'm so excited to bring you this much-anticipated collaboration post! (You can check out Tamara's post here!)

The story: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I was contacted by the extremely gorgeous, sweet, and talented Tamara of Swatchfreak to do a makeup collab; we tossed around some ideas and her idea of Siren/Mermaid was agreed on. I chose Siren and Tamara chose Mermaid, and we each made a design for the other. Since I'm bad at drawing, I enlisted my sister BeckyPennArt to help me! I told her exactly what I wanted and she made it appear like magic. :D

The Designs:

Mermaid design; concept by me, digital artwork by BeckyPennArt. We made a version with notes like the one below but it's kind of distracting so I posted the cleaner one, hehe.

Tamara's Siren design; she used real makeup and drew it by hand, how cool!

 After we sent each other our concept sketches, we agreed that creative license could be taken and we got busy planning and then sharing our looks. Check them out and please click for most detail!

The Dreamy Mermaid:

Tamara's Dreamy Mermaid, even more beautiful than I envisioned!♥

Mermaid eye close-up! I adore the colors and crushed-up seashell, Tamara's genius idea! The purple brow is also the exact color I imagined, it couldn't be more perfect.

Used products:

• Fyrinnae – Nevermore – on brow (applied with water)
• Sundara Cosmetics - Turmeric - in tearduct and outer under lash line area (from a company that don’t exist anymore )
• Darling Girl Cosmetics – Purple Haze* – Soft Focus Blush + Fyrinnae – Nevermore + Fyrinnae - Marshmallow Puffs - all three used to go from yellow area on lid to pink, to purple
• Fyrinnae – We’re All Mad Here – inner under lash line area
• Fyrinnae – Futuristic Glamrock – in crease
• Tick:Tock Cosmetics – Frozen in Time – for HL
• I’m not pretty sure what false lashes I used, but I think they are from Misslyn

 The Sultry Siren:

My Siren, complete with damp hair ;P

Siren eye close-up!

 Products:

 Since I did this look last September I don't remember exactly what-all products I used, but what I do remember is that I made the eye shape with Urban Decay Zero pencil and filled in the outer corner, crease, and under my eye. I went over the black with Lucky eyeshadow by Darling Girl Cosmetics, one of my fave eyeshadows. It's similar to Sugarpill's Lumi and looks amaaazing over a black base! I also used some black eyeshadow around the very edges to preserve the black like in the sketch. On my lid I used the popular Wet N' Wild eyeshadow color that is in several of their palettes; it's a warm brown with teal iridescence. I packed that heavily on my lid and blended it a little with the teal. Then I used a gold, I think it was Autumn by BFTE Cosmetics, on my inner lid, blended with the gold and coming down to a point at my tear duct. Under my lower lashline I used BFTE Patriot, a matte navy blue at the outer corner, and then more Lucky in the middle. I used Lucky again as my highlight shade from browbone to tear duct, and also patted some over the WnW brown to intensify the iridescence. Lashes are Ardell #139.

On my brow I used NYX and Sephora pencils in light and dark brown for the over-all shape, then combed through my brow hairs with some Darling Girl Glitter Glue and heavily applied the WnW brown-blue shade.

On my skin I think I just used Revlon Colorstay and mark. Powder Buff foundations, with some bronzer as a contour. I used Lucky again to highlight my cheekbone for an ethereal glow♥

My lips didn't quite turn out the way I wanted but I used NYX slim lip pencil in Black Berry, and OCC Lip Tar in RX (the blue one). Tamara had mentioned some gold at the cupid's bow so I used BFTE Autumn for that.

It was super hot and humid in my room and I started to feel sick so I didn't get to do both eyes, but I tried to hide it with my hair. :D

This was so much fun to do and I'm super grateful to Tamara for inviting me to participate! I also want to thank her for letting me use her cute little collage pics because I was too lazy to make my own. :)

Please go check out her blog, she does awesome makeup and take beautiful photos too!

http://swatchfreak.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much for reading!♥

 *Some or all images were lightly edited using Aperture and/or Photoshop; for details, please read the photo editing disclosure widget at the bottom of my right-side bar.

Sexy Eyes

image from Pinterest

Hi there makeup lovers!!!!! I am excited to be back and doing such a dramatic, fun, smokey eyes for you today. The BEST part of this whole thing is that MOST everything comes from the drugstore!!! Not everything though, and for the items that aren't I made sure to use VERY inexpensive products that are just a click away on Amazon =). I wanted to kick off this warmer weather with a sultry sharp eye and have been so taken away with this pic that I want to lighten my hair for the first time in 12 years!!! What do you think? Should I take the plunge???

Flawless Kim Kardashian Makeup

Saw this picture and was SO captivated by it. Love her or hate her, she knows how to wear her makeup! Her makeup artist has sent girls all over reeling trying to make their cheekbones as pronounced, their eyes as dreamy, their lashes as long and thick and lips as pouty as possible! Sure, they airbrushed the JuNk out of this photo but still.....beautiful!!!!! In this video I teach how to achieve this gorgeous look with two different lips. One with the orangy red she sports and the other with a very glossy nude lip. One thing I was most impressed with as I went through doing my eyelashes was that I thought my demi whispies might not be good enough to match hers. I ended up doing a good coat of mascara on them and they TOTALLY proved worthy!!!!! SO fun to find that something you already had, something you thought was only good for one thing, surprises you =). I don't feel the need to go out and get different lashes when doing Kim looks. Tell me what you think and which lip is your favorite!

EOTD: Smokey Watermelon with Concrete Minerals and BFTE

 Here's a look I did a few nights ago; I'm calling it Smokey Watermelon. (Descriptive, isn't it?) lol

I was testing out some new products including a few samples my friend sent me, so this look was sort of for her. (Thanks Marisa!)

Once again, the pictures look dull when viewed on the page as-is, so please click to view them in full size and color! :)

Products:

-Lime Crime Shadow Helper

-Tick:Tock Cosmetics Infinity Eyeshadow Base in Black Hole

-Concrete Minerals Pro Matte shadow in Hi-Fi (pink in crease/outer corner)

-Concrete Minerals Pro Matte shadow in Gossip (green on lower lashline)

-BFTE Cosmetics shadow in Meteor Shower (black w/ multicolor sparkles on lid/lower lashline)

-BFTE Cosmetics shadows in Very Vanilla and Butt Naked (browbone/inner corner)

-Urban Decay "Perversion" eyeliner pencil (lid and waterline)

-Sephora white pencil (inner corner)

-Cover Girl Lash Perfection mascara

-NYX "Tear Drop" false lashes

-Coastal Scents 88 Palette (brown shades on brow)

-Cover Girl clear mascara (on brow)

Hi-Fi is amazing!! I don't have much experience with Concrete Minerals but I am very impressed with this shade; it is a saturated and vibrant color and blends like a dream<3 p="p">

I wasn't as thrilled with Gossip, the color seems more sheer than Hi-Fi and didn't really stick well to my lower lashline area, though I used a base. It seemed to get darker and duller after application which could have to do with my skintone and body chemistry, I do find this happens with certain shades. I wanted bold color but had a hard time getting it to stick while blending. I will say that this was my first time using these shadows so maybe I just need to practice application technique to get the most from the product.

I'm excited to try the other 2 Pro Matte colors my friend sent me so keep an eye out for that coming up soon!

**EDIT: Picture tutorial is up on Makeupbee!**

Thanks for reading!

*Some or all images were lightly edited using Aperture and/or Photoshop; for details, please read the photo editing disclosure widget at the bottom of my right-side bar.

Electric Blue & Hot Pink with BFTE, UD, & Fyrinnae

 Here's a look I did last week with nothing particular in mind. Actually I did have a look in mind but this ended up turning into something completely different, lol. It's an electric blue and hot pink look using mainly Urban Decay pencils, BFTE shadows, and 2 really sweet ones from Fyrinnae. These colors remind me of the 80s for some reason, so I submitted the look for last week's NTMS challenge. PLEASE CLICK THE PICS, YO!

 Products used:

Eyes:
-UDPP

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On pencils in:

-Zero (black base on lid)

-Radium (blue base on crease and around eye)

-Woodstock (pink on outer corner)

-Perversion (ultra-black on waterline)

BFTE shadows in:

-Black (matte black on lid)

-Patriot (matte navy on lid)

-Electric (electric blue)

-Blue Bird (super vivid cobalt blue)

-Blueberry (cerulean blue)

-Lava Momma (hot pink on outer corner over Woodstock)

-Very Vanilla (matte vanilla on browbone)

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy and shadows in:

-Winter, Again (shimmering aqua sheen on browbone)

-Crimson Ghost (shimmering pink sheen on outer corner)

-Cover Girl Lash Perfection mascara in Very Black

-Duo Dark lash glue

-Andrea ModLash falsies #33 Black

-Shu Uemura curler

-Sephora mini pencil in Brown (on brows)

Face:

-Revlon Colorstay foundation in Ivory

-mark. Bronze Pro (contour)

-BFTE "Butt Naked" as highlighter

-Darling Girl Cosmetics "Man Candy" blush

-mark. powder

Lips:

-ELF lipgloss in "Fairy"

 I filmed my first ever makeup tutorial video while creating this look but iMovie decided to wig out while I spent all day trying to edit the footage. I failed. :( I still hope to get better software and hopefully be able to edit and upload the video to my youtube channel in the near future; when I do I'll be posting the link so watch for it ;)

Thanks for reading!<3

*Disclaimer: Some or all images were LIGHTLY edited using Aperture; for details, please read the photo editing disclosure widget at the bottom of my right-side bar.

Makeup Challenge: Mellow Yellow

This week's NTMS challenge is Mellow Yellow so here's my look. It's not that mellow really but I don't think that matters, lol. I thought it was bright and cheerful, it reminded me of Spring! Also I don't know if it's noticeable but.. my Dad has been watching Hawaii Five-0 on Netflix and mentioned the fashion of the time, so I may have had Mod 60s makeup in the back of my mind when I did this. x3

Please click the pics to view in better detail!

Products:

Eyes:

-UDPP

-NYX Milk JEP

-BH 120 Palette, 1st edition (matte yellow on outer corner, matte white on lid)

-Sugarpill Buttercupcake (middle lid)

-BFTE "Sweet Nibblets" (inner lid)

-BFTE "Satin Sheets" (browbone)

-BFTE "Very Vanilla" (blend edges)

 -Loreal Lineur Intense Carbon Black felt tip liquid liner pen

-Sephora mini white pencil (waterline)

-Cover Girl Lash Perfection mascara in Very Black

-Red Cherry lashes #747S

-Ardell Latex-Free clear lash adhesive (this stuff sucks)

-BH 120 Palette, 1st edition (matte medium brown on brows)

Face/Cheeks:

-mark. face primer

-Revlon Colorstay foundation (Ivory/Buff mixed)

Darling Girl Cosmetics:

-Boy Crazy blush (used as bronzer/contour)

-Cheeky blush

-Cherry Bomb blush

-Evil Shades blush in Atomic

-BFTE "Pyxis" highlighter
-Hard Candy Glamoflauge concealer in Light

-mark. setting powder

Lips:

-OCC Lip Tar in Queen

-CS 66 lipcolor palette, various shades

-NYX gloss in Smokey Look

-some other random stuff I can't remember lol

This look is a lot more... monochromatic than I usually do. I kept wanting to add other colors but since it was for a challenge I wanted to keep the focus on the yellow.

I had a lot of problems with this one, like I don't know what I did wrong but my eyelids immediately began creasing badly and you can kind of see it in some of the pics. >.<

The Ardell clear lash glue is terrible and I don't think I'll be using it anymore. I thought it might be better/easier/less messy than my Duo Dark but alas, it's not. It gets sticky after a second and it's hard to get enough on the lash to make it stick to your eyes. I've used it in my last few looks and you might be able to see the lash strip actually coming off in some of the pics. Not impressed :/

No-flash pic. My lips didn't look that mottled in real life :(

I got a little bored while editing these pics and it finally dawned on me that the makeup looks the same from every angle... it's not very complex so it makes it hard to get a variety of pics that are  interesting, lol. Oh well ;P

Different camera, no flash.

Anyway,  still enjoyed doing this since it's not something I'd ordinarily have done. I hope you enjoyed it :)

 Thanks for reading!<3

*Disclaimer: Some or all images were LIGHTLY edited using Aperture; for details, please read the photo editing disclosure widget at the bottom of my right-side bar.

Makeup Challenge: Blue Winter

 Quick and simple eye look for this past weeks makeup group challenge: Blue Winter :D I wanted to use my new Darling Girl colors from the Rainbow Brite collection :3 Keep reading to find out what products I used!

 Products used:

-Eye and Lip Primer from BFTE

-Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On pencil in Zero (black pencil as base to create winged shape on lid)

-Darling Girl shadow in "Lucky" (bright teal on lid and winged out over liner)

-Darling Girl shadow in "Buddy Blue" (blue just below crease, over Lucky, and winged out over liner)

-BFTE shadow in "Very Vanilla" (crease to browbone)

-Darling Girl Glitter Glue (lower lashline)

-Lucky (over glitter glue and on entire browbone area)

-Buddy Blue (outer browbone area)

-Sephora mini white eyeliner pencil (waterline and winged out)

-Cover Girl Lash Perfection mascara in Very Black (top only)

-BFTE mineral foundation in Alabaster and Bisque, mixed (all around eye)

-Sephora mini dark brown eyeliner pencil (eyebrow)

This pic is the closest I could come to showing the wicked green and blue sheen on my browbone; it was 10x more visible in person!

I used a minimum of products this time which was refreshing lol, lately I seem to be using soo many different items in my looks. I love the simplicity of this look, just black winged liner with these awesome shadows patted over top. The rest was just embellishment to try and make it a little more "wintery". I guess this look is too green to be considered BLUE Winter, but I HAD to use Lucky.. it's an amazing color and I can totally see myself eventually getting a jar of it; I have a feeling my sample will run out sooner than I'd like. ;)

Thanks for reading!<3

Darling Girl Cosmetics: Rainbow Brite swatches (pic heavy!!)

I recently received my second order from Darling Girl Cosmetics and I'm excited to share what I got with you all! However I'm still trying to get decent pics of everything and there's a lot to cover, so it'll likely be a multi-post series. (Click for parts 2 and 3!)
This post will focus just on the Rainbow Brite collection. :D

(Pics are clickable!)

Rainbow Brite: Looks sherbety orange in bag, swatched on a black base it's a cotton candy pink. On-X: Looks similar both in bag and swatched; a dark black/purple base with multicolored sparkles.

Red Butler: Swatched over black base it's a glowing light red color with low sparkle. La La Orange: Over black base it's a gorgeous glowing orange with a tinge of pink. Also lower sparkle than the other colors, both of these are among my favorites of the collection!

Lucky: Probably the brightest shade of the bunch, it's a super-bright vibrant teal with lots of sparkles. Canary: A lemony yellow shade that has just enough gold in it to make me love it.

Buddy Blue: A pretty blue shade with a good amount of sparkle. Patty O'Green: Over black base it looks like a bright grass green, leaning a bit yellow, with lowish sparkle. I wasn't prepared for how beautiful this one is, looks sooo much better in person than the swatches I've seen!

Indigo: A glowing reddish-purple shade with low sparkle, also one of my favorites! Shy Violet: A blueish-purple shade.

Swatches!

Swatched dry with brushes over NYX Black Bean JEP (top) lotioned skin (middle) Darling Girl Glitter Glue (bottom):

L to R: Rainbow Brite, Red Butler, La La Orange, Canary, Patty O'Green, Lucky, Buddy Blue, Shy Violet, Indigo, On-X.

For kicks I decided to swatch the only other real duo shadow I own, which is Whisper from BFTE. As you can see, both the color and the finish are completely different, so if you have anything like Whisper in your collection you'd still be safe buying this set. Yay! :D

I tried to get multiple angles in different lighting situations; some with flash, some in daylight, etc. Of course the camera could never capture the true beauty of these babies, but hopefully these pics will give you some idea of the shade variations at least. They're all simply gorgeous, but I'd say the ones that attract me most are Red Butler, La La Orange, Lucky, Patty O'Green, and Indigo.

For a duo-lover my collection is rather puny, which is why I got these; there's something so intriguing about a versatile shadow that can change in so many ways depending on how you use it. Each color is like having 5 shadows in one, crazy!
I'm so glad I got this collection! The set of 10 bag samples only cost me $7 on sale so I would encourage checking them out, they're definitely worth it!

**Bonus swatches! I added these as an afterthought because they sort of show some other aspects of the colors. I took these yesterday or the day before.. but I didn't do all the colors. L to R: black liner from Sephora, lotioned skin, DG Glitter Glue.**

This shows patty O'Green in it's splendor! It really is a vibrant green, swatches do not do it justice. I didn't edit these pics at all!

Top: On-X Middle: Patty O'Green Bottom: Canary

L to R: La La Orange, Red Butler, Buddy Blue. Underside: Rainbow Brite.

I hope you enjoyed these pics, please look forward to the rest of my haul, coming soon!

Thanks for reading! ^,~