Nu-di-ty

Yes, today I am naked faced. Sorry, I know how much you look forward to my gratuitous self-photography and near endless lists of beauty products, but today was spent baking and moving furniture in preparation for H. Irene.

As of yet, she hasn't hit us, but we're expecting her at any moment. In fact, as I type, the power is flickering. It's already gone for nearly 50,000 people in the area.

Please keep those families that have been affected by the storm. <3

She's a Man Eater...

Who rocks the the purple! Today's entire look was brought to you by Rock-A-Betty Beauty. Color wise, anyway. I love, love, love this company. She was forced to reformulate, and rather than offer colors that were only close to her old line, she decided to release an entirely new line. Since I've only got one or two colors from it and none of them are what I needed, all the colors on my face today are discontinued. Still, they are incredible!

On to the makeups!


Primed:

♥ Glory Box TKO Eyeshadow Primer
♥ Urban Decay Primer Potion
♥ NYX Black Bean Jumbo Eye Pencil as base

Face

♥ Maybelline Mineral Power, Medium 1
♥ Clinique Blended Face Powder, 04 Transparency
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty Flush Luster, Pulse
♥ Bare Minerals, Warmth
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty Pin Up Powder, Pinup Gold
♥ ELF Mineral Booster, Sheer

Lids Inner corner to outer

♥ Rock-A-betty Beauty, Gold Digger
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Maneater
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Kink
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Floozy
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Primal
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Membrane as highlight


Lashes, Liner, And Brows

♥ Revlon Grow Luscious by Fabulash (waterproof), Blackest Black
♥ Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Pencil, Asphyxia
♥ Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner, Black
♥ NYC Kohl Brow Pencil, Sable

Lips

♥ Victoria's Secret Lip Glaze, Crystal
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Gold Digger
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Maneater
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Kink


And now for photos!

Greener on the Other Side...

We're in the midst of preparing for Hurricane Irene. Everything is very, very gray today. Our designated Color Picker, That Foxy Finn, suggested greens; "Moss and birch leaves." I messed up on the right eye, though the left turned out exactly how I imagined.

Anyway, here's my take!


Primed:

♥ Urban Decay Primer Potion, Original on the lid
♥ Urban Decay Cream Shadow, Weeds as primer
♥ Fyrinnae Velvet-Gel Silica Primer on the face

Face

♥ Maybelline Mineral Power, Medium 1
♥ ELF Mineral Booster, Sheer
♥ Clinique Blushing Powder Blush, Mocha Pink On cheeks
♥ Bare Minerals, Warmth as bronzer
♥ Fyrinnae Highlighter, Center Stage as highlight

Lids Inner corner to outer

♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Curse
♥ Virus Insanity, Funhouse
♥ Fyrinnae, Týr
♥ Fyrinnae, Dokkálfar
♥ Fyrinnae Highlighter, Center Stage

Lashes, Liner, And Brows

♥ Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil, Stash
♥ Clinique High Impact Mascara, 01 Black
♥ Sephora Brow Tint, Dark

Lips

♥ Clinique Color Surge Butter Shine lipstick, Delovely


Photo time!

Primed:


Full Face!



Right Eye!



Left Eye!

Burn It Down

I feel I should mention that the past few days, my makeup colors have been chosen by an incredibly foxy Finn named Quinn (see what I did there? Huh? Didja?). She's doing a great job. I've done some looks I really, really like.

Now, onto the makeup!


Primed:

♥ Urban Decay Primer Potion, Original on the lid
♥ Tick:Tock Infinity Eye Shadow Base, White Painted:

Face

♥ Maybelline Mineral Power, Medium 1
♥ Clinique Blended Face Powder, 04 Transparency (M)
♥ Clinique Blushing Powder Blush, 107 Sunset Glow On cheeks
♥ ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder, Warm Tan for contouring
♥ Fyrinnae Highlighter, Center Stage as highlight

Lids Inner corner to outer

♥ Unique Pigments, Scarecrow (W.O.Z.)
♥ Unique Pigments, Tails
♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Roe
♥ Fyrinnae, Bite Me
♥ Fyrinnae, Candy Coated
♥ Unique Pigments, Banana Custard (Barely There)

Lashes, Liner, And Brows

♥ Maybelline Ultra Liner Waterproof, Black
♥ Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil, Zero
♥ MAC Eye Shadow, Carbon
♥ Maybelline Lash Stiletto, Very Black
♥ Sephora Brow Tint, Dark

Lips

♥ Ulta Lip Gloss, Siren
♥ Brazen, Dharma


Photo time!

Back on the bandwagon

I let these things slide. My bad. I'll definitely be making more of an effort with this. I know that there's a glut of makeup blogs around, but I'm hoping that you won't mind just one more.

To get things back on track, I'll just be offering Faces of the Day and maybe some swatches. I'll still do small reviews on my favorite products, but I haven't quite figured out a formula that I like for that. So, on to the makeup!

Let's go over the products, first.

Primed:

♥ Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original on the lid
♥ Tick:Tock Infinity Eye Shadow Base
♥ Fyrinnae Velvet-Gel Silica Primer on the entire face

Painted:

Face

♥ Clinique Perfectly Real Makeup, Shade 22 (p)
♥ Stila One Step, Tan
♥ Clinique Blushing Powder Blush, 107 Sunset Glow On cheeks
♥ ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder, Warm Tan for contouring
♥ Fyrinnae Highlighter, Center Stage as highlight
♥ ELF Mineral Booster, Sheer all over

Lids

♥ Rock-A-Betty Beauty, Curse on the lid
♥ Aromaleigh, Hades on outer corner and above crease
♥ Brazen Cosmetics, Go Bare as a highlight

Lashes And Brows

♥ Maybelline Lash Stiletto, Very Black
♥ Sephora Brow Tint, Dark

Lips

♥ Brazen, Make Out all over
♥ Brazen, In the Buff in center of lower lip


And now, the photos!

Extensions

For the last several months, I've been toying with the idea of doing something different with my hair. The problem is that I didn't want to cut it, dye it, chemically straighten it... nothing. I happen to be incredibly fond of my natural color, length and curliness. As you can imagine, this didn't leave a whole lot of options.

I finally settled on the idea of extensions. So began my search for an inexpensive, styleable, beautifully colored extension or fifty. With the help of some of the ladies on the various makeup groups I'm a part of; I finally stumbled across a site that seemed promising. Sure, the fibers were synthetic, but they were Kanekalon and could be styled at very low temperatures. It was a compromise I was willing to make until I loaded up my cart and was hit with a fifty-seven dollar shipping charge. I promptly emptied the cart and deleted the bookmark before heading to Google to figure out another option.

I came across several YouTube video's, including one by MonroeMisfit Makeup which appealed to me in so many ways I can't even tell you. Let me just say that the girl gets me. Here's a link so you can take a look if you'd like: MonroeMisfit's Extension Tutorial.

I came across several other's, including several very handy tutorials on making your own wefts (the strips of hair you actually use for extentions), but ultimately decided that that process wasn't for me. At least, not right now.

Information in hand, I headed for the nearest beauty supply store to buy my very own supply of human hair, dye, shampoo and clips. I had hoped to get my greedy paws on a weft of 18 (or 20) inch hair, but the longest they carried was 14. Too excited to wait, I bought the hair anyway and raced home to get started, stopping only at another store to pick up some non-latex gloves.

I pulled the hair out of the package and was shocked by how much there was. It doesn't look like much in the small bag, but there was at least 4.5 feet worth of hair. That's a whole lot of extensions!

I will assure you, right now, that I did document the entire process but I accidentally deleted the photos, so you'll just have to trust me. I decided on the number of clips I wanted and what their width should be, measured out the width and cut the piece off.

The entire first part of the process was tricky. It's not easy manipulating a thin strip of hair under the water while shampooing and being careful not to rough up the cuticle too much, but I managed. A quick towel dry later, it was time to apply the dye.

I've done the dye thing before, but it was always on someone else's head. I did the best I could and set them aside to stew. It was clear, after the first rinse, that I had not left the dye on long enough, nor had I applied it well enough. The strands were splotchy and pale. I saturated them the second time, covering the hair one inch at a time until it was practically dripping, set them back in the sack and set them aside again. This time, I let them sit for half an hour before rinsing them. Second time was the charm!

Once they'd dried I quickly flat ironed the whole set, thankful that I'd gotten real human hair which made this possible, before cutting it all down and attaching the clips.

All in all, the process was much easier than I expected. So easy, in fact, that I could make myself a complete set for every day of the month over the course of a weekend. It was also much cheaper than buying the clips somewhere else. At 7 bucks a pop for a 1-inch synthetic strand, I just saved myself a fortune in hair accessories. Let me know if you give it a try!

Weight Loss 'Diary' - Entry One

I don't plan to update this daily, but I thought some public accountability might help my motivation. Look for updates on this particular section once a week on Sundays. I'm also not going to post a number yet, I just can't face it, but we'll say that I've got a lot to lose. I weighed in last Sunday before I got started and have made weekly weigh-ins part of my new life. We're now one week in and I'm down 7 pounds. Feeling pretty dang good about this!

Last week I didn't do anything special. An hour at the gym every day (with one exception, when I stayed home and did a work out video instead) and generally smarter eating choices. More moving combined with less crap going into my body showed real results.

This week I've cut red meat. Not completely, mind you, but red meat will only be served in this house once a week. I replaced all our ground beef--the staple meat in this house--with ground turkey breast. Tomorrow I begin the gym routine again, not planning to up the length or intensity of the workouts as I'm still struggling to make it through what I've already laid out for myself. But, I'm doing it!