A Simple (Lunar) New Year Makeup Tutorial

So yeah...I recorded this in December with every intention of posting it on 12/31/2010. Oh well. ahaha I did say procrastination was one of my New Year Resolutions ^_^  Also it surprises me a bit that people are more interested in seeing wearable, every day looks (see poll to right..and vote ^_~), but I guess it's just because I personally enjoy watching more costume-y tutorials xD  Anyway, here is my stab at a wearable look (ironically, for a holiday when most people wear dramatic, party looks hehe).  I had a mild cold in this video so sorry if I sound a little "sleepy" :}

Products Used:
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
Maybelline Charcoal Smokes Quad
Maybelline Designer Chocolates
Koji Dolly Wink Liquid Liner in Black
* UD Uzi (optional)
* UD Maui Wowie (optional)
Maybelline The Falsies Mascara in Black
UD 24/7 Glide Pencil in Lucky
Lioele Silky Highlighter BB Touch
NYX Mosaic Blush in Dare
Etude House Dear Darling Lipstick in Coral Shine 07
The All Natural Face lipgloss in Aztec Gold

* =  from UD Book of Shadows 3

I dunno why the pic on the left turned out so green and the right so yellow :P   Colors are most accurate in face shots.  Anyway, I was aiming to create a wearable, but still celebratory look that blended berry reds, silvers, and golds~ The colors were inspired by how Chinese believe red and gold is lucky and how white and silver are supposed to "rabbit year" colors. 

In any case, I really like the Maybelline Expert Wear Quads, they're so...useful.  Plus they're easy to get your paws on in drugstores/online and cheap to boot :D!  I snagged two of mine at a BOGO 50% sale at Walgreens, thanks to Sisi Sparkles who posts drugstore sales every week. I own three Maybelline Quads: Charcoal Smokes, Natural Smokes, and Designer Chocolates. I used two of them in this tut :}  I have fantasies of owning ALL the quads, but since I just picked up the UD Naked Palette *sigh* I will have to refrain from getting any more "neutral" palettes.

The red crease color from Maybelline's Designer Chocolates also really strikes me as a dupe for the burnished red/berry color in the NARS Cheyenne duo.

Temptalia's swatch makes it seem like NARS Cheyenne's is a wee bit on the brown side and more pigmented.  I can't say for sure though since I've never seen the duo in real life.  But Maybelline's red crease color in just about the only red-ish eye shadow I can work with - it's a soft, shimmery berry red color, it's the whole reason I purchased that palette.  I'll be doing a collective review of Maybelline Quads so I'll do swatches then :}

To amp up the look, of course, I whipped out my trusty UD Book of Shadows III!

Uzi and Maui Wowie are glittery shades and have a bit of fallout. Not bad though :) I consider these colors "optional" colors for this look though, the red crease color is really the showpiece ^_^

And yes, I cut my hair. I regret it so much. I asked the hair dresser to trim off 2-3 inches and she chopped off SIX inches within seconds of saying, "Nah, 3 isn't enough, you have too much hair." *snipsnip* Me: O_O?!  It was so much hair it looked like a small possum had died behind my chair.

Ugh, the trials of getting your hair cut by one of your mom's friends - I swear that Korean ahjummas are fully content to make decisions FOR you whether they're your mom or not if you're below the age of 30.  I should've just gone to my trusty (and more expensive) hair stylist.  All I'd wanted was to trim off my split ends, retouch my bangs, grow my hair for 2-3 more months, snip off the whole shebang to donate, and get a bob cut -___-  Now I have to grow my hair out again for another year to donate (minimum hair length is 10 in) and I am deeply unsatisfied with my hair. For one thing she didn't thin my hair so my head still feels "heavy" and my hair is even frizzier O_O   And while it still feels heavy and unmanagable, I am much more limited with the hair styles I can do.  I miss having my tumble of hair to play with. Now I shed just as much, my hair is frizzier, and I am stuck doing braids and little pony tails.  Whine, whine, bitch n moan *sigh*   I'm such a baby. I know hair grows back, but I miss my little cape of hair :(

Ok, enough of that xP  Time to go eat some macarons and drool over Iron Chef reruns!

American McGee Alice Inspired Look

The background is actually from Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland movie not the games ^_^

Hello everyone, even though it's way past Halloween, I hope you don't mind if I share my Halloween look with you ^_^ I was Alice from the game by American McGee.  The sequel to Alice, which is called Alice 2: Madness Returns is coming out in 2011 and I am so excited :D!!  Alice's look has changed a bit between the games; so I chose to base my look off of pre-released screencaps of Alice 2. In Alice 2 she has gotten older, has a side part in her hair and even a bit of lipgloss ^_^ Otherwise, she still has her trademark blood-spattered blue dress+apron, vivid green eyes, gaunt face and infamous Vorpal Blade.

Oddly enough, it looks like she has red lipstick in some of her screen caps :\ but I decided to go with a nude, sickly lip color xD Overall, it was a pretty basic look and I had lots of fun getting into character~ Ehehe, I feel like I'm cosplaying more than anything else but it's all good yeah ;)?

Products Used:
Revlon Colorstay in Buff 150
NYX Single Eyeshadow in Blue Marine
UD Perversion (from UD BoSIII)
UD 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Yeyo
Koji Dolly Wink Liquid Liner
Maybelline The Falsies mascara
Revlon Fantasy Brows Pencil & Gel in Brown
Neutrogena Healthy Skin Custom Glow Blush & Bronzer Duo in Raisin Glow 50
TonyMoly BBcream Party Pact in Shade 2
Lioele Silky Highlighter BB Touch
R&R Contrived Pressed Blush in Foreplay
NYX Round Lipstick in Thalia
NYX Round Lipstick in Rea
C.O. Bigalow Menthe Lip Gloss

Circle Lens: Super Nudy Green (at 14.5mm these are unbelievably huge O_O I would never wear these except for cosplaying/costumes....I look like a deranged cat, which is perfect for the Alice look ;) And the color is super bright, like a lizard, so they show up like none other. Proper review coming up soon.)

Costume: from FoundCostume for $42.99 + $5.99 S&H = $48.98 in Medium. It is now listed as $39.92, prolly cuz Halloween is over (lesson: shop for costumes earlier :P).  Anyway, I will review my ordering experience with this website in a separate post because I have quite a bit to say about it.

Note on Lashes: I would actually highly recommend thick, dramatic lashes for this look :) Just be sure to apply the lower lashes below the white highlighting on the waterline.  Since Alice's eye makeup is basically an overdone smoky eye, it would add a lot.  You might have noticed I don't bother with false lashes very often and it's because I don't like wearing them and don't have many false lashes on hand (the only two I have are very natural looking) :\ but false lashes do add a lot to a look, especially on Halloween, so do wear them if you have a nice pair.

I planned on making this much more extreme (aka much heavier eyeshadow, more contouring) but I HATE the Neutrogena Blush & Bronzer Duo in Raisin Glow 50 I've been using to contour - it was becoming so streaky and orange that I simply could not build up the layers.  DO NOT BUY IT!   Ironically, I use it a lot but it is flat out because I haven't had time to pick up anything else. It's very streaky and hard to work with.  Also the blush is right next to the bronzer, so all the glitter from the blush (which is very pigmented) ends up mixing with the bronzer.  Plus it oxidizes orange.  I'm going to do a post about this product later (I'm so back logged on reviews because of these Halloween looks) but yeah, don't buy this item.  On the upside, I found a use for the NYX Round Lipsticks Thalia and Rea!  If you recall, I reviewed my NYX Haul and said that these two colors were terribly unflattering on me...well, they're perfect for sick/zombie/unhealthy/undead looks xD Thalia has a purple undertint (so I look bruised) and Rea makes my lips look gray and chapped.  It's really much more obvious in real life and it added a lot to the look :)

For once I was disgruntled how good the lighting was that day >_> It's hardly creepy...well, at least you can see the make up ^_^  Also, you can't see it here but my contouring is so streaky and orange, I was furious...in my review of the Neutrogena Blush & Bronzer Duo I will include a picture from this set that shows how  streaky and orange it really was. But for now~

I also ventured outside to snap a shot in the classic Alice pose... I'm very pleased I look properly 'mad' here :D I wish I had some fake blood but I got too lazy to make my own :( Next year I must order some Mehron Coagulated Blood to add to the effect...

In retrospect I really wish I had worn some kind of underskirt to poof out the dress more *sigh* Ah well, maybe next time.  The above pose is based off the box cover of the first Alice game:

I really wasn't getting shots I liked so I decided to break out the Po-shopping skillz....! These are all screencaps from the Alice games, you might remember the first one from the sneak peak a few days ago ^_^

I think my favorite is still the one at the very top of this post, the one in front of the gate :D

Also for people who like a little behind-the-scenes, here are the original pics I took and some of the screencaps I used to create the pics above.  Since I wanted to paste myself into a new background, I needed to be against a solid background. And I'm standing on a white posterboard so I don't get my carpet dirty :P So scary huh ><?   And yes, I am posing with a real knife mwahaha :D

*whew* Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this look!  I'm going to be focusing on reviews again for the next several weeks and take a break from makeup-ing~

Wild Flower Fairy Makeup Tutorial

First off, I want to say thank to everyone who commented/watched my Rea-l Mayer video ^_^!  It was my first makeup tutorial and I wasn't sure how it'd turn out but you guys made every second worth it.

This was the "nature inspired" Halloween look I alluded to a few posts ago before Ergo Proxy bounced into my life.   It's actually one of the more tame looks I had in mind, before I wanted to do something totally psycho...like an insect or something just to see if I could do it xD   I prolly still will if I can cram it in before Halloween....aka in 8 days omg.

I forgot to mention in the video that I'm using a wet brush to intensify the color.  I like to just wet a paper towel and wipe my brush between colors and this both cleans and re-wets the brush for the next color.  Also to intensify the colors even more, use some kind of colored eyeshadow base before you apply the UD eyeshadows - my recommended eye shadow base would be the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in the appropriate colors (very affordable + tons of colors). I didn't do it in the vid though because I find the UD shadows to be pretty vibrant as is.

This look is essentially an UD Book of Shadows III look. I'm trying to use this palette as much as possible, mostly because it's my first legit palette ^^;; and I want maximize my purchase per se ;) So far I'm really liking the colors, they're super pigmented with minimal fallout (except Midnight Cowboy, which I now never use and is pretty much universally regarded as a bad eyeshadow even by UD-lovers).

Products Used:
* = in the UD BoSIII

* UD Primer Potion in Original
* UD Snatch eyeshadow
* UD Kush eyeshadow
* UD Psychedelic Sister eyeshadow
UD 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Yeyo
* UD 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Ransom
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
Koji Dolly Wink Liquid Liner in Black
UD Heavy Metal Eyeliner in Distortion (I said Pyrotechnic in the video...no idea why I said that -_-)
Missha Shining Style Stick Eyes in White
(yes I forgot to apply mascara X_X)
Revlon Brow Fantasy Pencil & Gel in Brown
Lioele Silky Highlighter BB Touch
Rock & Republic Pressed Blush in Tease
NYX Round Lipstick in Circe
C.O. Bigelow Menthe Lip Gloss
G&G GBT Violet Circle Lens (LOVE THESE. Review coming soon.)

Not shown in video:
Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation (sorry ^^ I said in the video it had no SPF :P)
L'oreal True Match Concealer in Cool (light/medium)
Neutrogena Oil Free Makeup Remover (is what I use on the Q-tip)

Ideas to enhance the look: I really recommend getting latex elf ears if you can (something really big and crazy would be cool ^^).  If you can get cuffed earrings too I think that would just take this look to a whole new level.  Also if you want a "wilder" looking fairy you could put a streak of dark lipstick on the center of you lower lip and use a black gel liner to trace more designs.  I didn't use setting powder because I wanted to look dewy but it made it a bit it hard to draw on my face with pencil because there was so much slip.  For the vid it was fine because I only wanted faint design but for a darker line, I'd say use a gel or a grease stick if you have one.  Also if you have your hands on a nice pair of lashes, use them.  I think one that wings out and is thicker on the outer ends would be particularly nice since they would enhance the exotic look.  Fyi, the lashes shouldn't be too dramatic or you'll overwhelm the eye shadow colors. This look can be adapted to be makeup for different colored flowers or an elf/pixie look... ^_^!

I had a little trouble editing this - I had an insane 45 minutes of footage.  I decided to try filming more "freestyle" - usually I film in little bits with each step on separate clips.  This time I just left the camera running and filmed it straight through.  Bad idea.   Anyway, the light was gorgeous today so I spent a lot of time hugging my mom's potted plants xD She has a thing for alien looking plants in case you haven't noticed :}

Here's a closeup of the eye makeup.  The top pic is too yellow and if you're wondering why my eye makeup looks a little different for each eye it's because my eyes are wonky; one has a double fold and the other is a hidden fold :P

For peeps curious about the flower crown, it's almost embarrassingly simple x.x I cover the tape in the back by flipping my hair over it after clipping the crown into my hair.

Anyway, if all goes well I'll be cranking out a few more of these :D  I hope you guys like!

Review: Urban Decay Book of Shadows III

This really isn't a proper review because I didn't include my own swatches but here's a peek at something I ordered from Sephora a few days ago -

The box was huge O_o Sure was packaged well with enough packing paper to last a year.

Tis the UD Book of Shadows III - Love NYC (and a Philosophy Hope In A Jar sample)!  It's Urban Decay's Fall 2010 palette and it debuted on August 28ish.  It's my first UD palette and I bought it at after seeing the color swatches on Temptalia.

Btw, the reason I'm not doing swatches of my own is because Temptalia and Pursebuzz truly have the best swatches for this palette and my camera's crap macro (combined with my wobbly photography skills) just can't measure up.  Temptalia's swatches (imho) are more accurate in terms of how the colors look on your eyes.  Pursebuzz's pictures look a TAD on the saturated side (and a bit dark) but show the undertones and glitter specks the best.  So use those swatches as you will - I will say both swatches combined give you a very accurate look at what you're getting short of going to Sephora yourself.  And also I am only comparing the respective strengths of temptalia's and pursebuzz's pics because it really is impossible to capture the reflection, hue and sparkle of a shadow in one picture.  Both reviewer's focus on slightly different aspects of makeup so it's up to you to see if the palette is for you I think ^^

Anyway, my first impression was I was shocked by how huge this palatte is O_O!

It literally is the size of a book!   The sample palette at Sephora was (understandably, to fit on the rack) was half this size so my eyes just popped out when I held the real thing in my hand.  It feels weighty and has a really expensive heft to it :)  Not a portable palette for sure because the size and weight but very sturdy regardless.   And this book has a surprise ~

It lights up! Actually the lights had turned off by the time I snapped a pic but it's really pretty ^^ if a bit useless ;)  Lots of attention to detail though and I appreciate that :D  The palette came with a sheet with all the colors . . .

Opening the drawer . . .

Gorgeoussssss!! You can tell from the pics that this is no cheap cardboard box.  It's heavy, sturdy...well...the packaging is just great.  The primer potion is a mini size -

This picture turned out a little too yellow . . .

Quick summary (from Temptalia) - 16 colors total
In Blue = favorites

Exclusive to this palette: Loaded, Kush, Rockstar, Money, Bordello, Radium, Suspect

Sephora exclusives (aka a permanent color but hasn't been in other UD palettes): Haight, Psychedelic Sister

Repeats (in other UD palettes): Perversion, Uzi, Midnight Cowboy, Last Call, Maui Wowie, Smog, Snatch

Eyeliners: Zero, Ransom (both permanent colors in the 24/7 Pencil collection)
Eye primer: Original

I didn't own any UD shadows (or Ransom or the famous Primer Potion) so this was a 100% great buy for me and worth every penny ($54 at Sephora.com).  While the bright colors like Radium, Kush, Rockstar and Psychedelic Sister really catch the eye, this palette really is pretty versatile.  Perversion (matte black) is a staple for a smokey eye or simply tightlining your eye. Uzi (glittery white) is a little on the glittery side for say, work, but with a deft hand you can definitely get away with dabbing a bit on your inner corners.  Last Call (red-plum) is definitely a can-do for work even with it's rich color. Rockstar even can pass at workplaces with a slightly more relaxed dress code. Snatch (a delicate pink-peach with a gold sheen) has no fallout despite the glitter and is seriously my favorite base shadow at the moment.  And of course the famous Smog (bronze) is in the Naked palette (among many others) basically speaks for itself.  Suspect (a lighter bronze than Smog) is also obviously a very wearable color.

Midnight Cowboy (pink with gold glitter), despite looking modest in the pan, is actually way too glittery and Temptalia is quite right in saying it has a ridiculous amount of fallout.    Speaking of, I've read a number of negative reviews about this particular color and many have commented that it is their outright least favorite shadow :\  I can certainly see why, I put this on once and spent the next 15 minutes wiping off gold flecks from my nose, cheeks and picking it out of my lashes :P

I already own a couple UD 24/7 Pencils (including Zero) but I was so happy to get my paws on Ransom (purple with a blue flash).  I played around with all the colors and they are all incredibly pigmented, I can definitely see why UD is famous for their rich colors.  FYI the 24/7 pencils are fantastic.  As I mentioned before, I'd never used the Primer Potion before (or any kind of lid primer for the matter) and these pencils do not budge.   Without the lid primer, colors are definitely less vibrant but no less long-wearing I think.  I must do some swatches one day.

Just looking at this palette makes also sorts of makeup look ideas run through my head - I'm thinking of just doing a series of looks just from this palette to get to know it properly ^_^  Anyway, I hope you found this mini-review helpful in some way.  For people looking to make their first UD palette purchase, I definitely recommend this.  The ever-out-of-stock Naked palette is a good option as well (if you can actually get your hands on in the next few months) but I think for first time purchasers the BoS3 is actually a better palette in a lot of ways because you get a mix of colors both bright and neutrals to get you used to UD shadows AND have an array of colors to play with.

For those who own previous BoS's, here is a short and sweet comparison (with pics) of UD's BoS 1, 2, and 3 at London Beauty Review.  She does a quick comparison of the boxes and an overview of the colors.  Nothing too specific but enough to give you a taste of whether you should splurge on this palette if you have others.