Twisted Christmas: Collaboration with AliciaD372

Hey guys!  The gorgeous Alicia from AliciaD372 asked me if I wanted to do this collaboration with her and of course I said YES!!  I am honored that she asked me to be part of this with her.  Our collaboration "Twisted Christmas"  because so many people do "Naughty/Nice" collabs.  We went with the same concept though, Alicia did a more "nice" look and I did a darker "naughty" look.

Here is Alicia's look.  Click here to jump to her blog post!!

Check out Alicia's Look here:

GDE, Fyrinnae, Sugarpill: Calypso, Biker Chic and @#$%!

I don't really know where the inspiration from this look came from.  I purchased the limited edition eyeshadow from Sugarpill (I don't remember when they had it on sale but it was only a few days) and wanted to use it with my GDE pigment "Calypso" from the blogger collection.  I ended up doing this combo for Halloween but I didn't like how the video came out.  It had been so long since I had recorded that I was stumbling all over the place and I was rushing because I still had to get the kids ready.  Anywho, today I decided to try the combo again but in a different way and at a more relaxed pace.

Let me also just say that even though the eyeshadow I used from Sugarpill was limited edition, you can always substitute it with something else.  I don't own this color but I feel like MakeupGeek's "Razzleberry" would be quite similar.  All other Sugarpill eyeshadows can be purchases separately from their website, not just in the palettes.  I buy the palettes because you are essentially getting a whole eyeshadow for free!  Now, on to the look:

_/\_ Witch's Brew feat. Sugarpill and Magnolia Makeup ☽ ☆

Halloween is definitely my favorite time of year and witches are definitely (probably) my favorite part of Halloween!  I have always been drawn to witch-y type things, all year long.  I wanted to do something a little different and dramatic.  This isn't entirely what I had i mind, but I'm pleased with how it came out anyways.  I still have another fun look that I've been wanting to do since last month, but I haven't figured out how to execute it quite yet.  Anywho, on to this look.  The pictures look better smaller.  I still have to work on lighting in the new room:

Fall Look #2

Here is my second fall inspired look!  I'm glad I recorded when I did because the last few weeks I've either had a cold, my allergies have been freaking out, or I've had a GI bug.  Now I'm moving this weekend but I'm hoping to film something.  Anywho, on to the look.

I was already brainstorming this look while filming the last one ;).  I knew what colors I wanted to use, just had to figure out how.  I'm really pleased with how this came out.  Please excuse the nasal-y/squeaky cold voice!

Fall Smokey Eye and Lip

I have been so excited with the change in the weather here in the midwest.  It has been swelteringly hot for far too long and we finally have had a break.  It was so beautiful the day I filmed this tutorial and I felt like I should take advantage of the clear sky.  I had a few products in mind that I wanted to use to create this look, including the lip.  I am a big fan of a dark, vampy lip and I rarely do a dark lip on myself though.  I had to with this look to tie together the fall feeling.

After I filmed this look, I realized it was quite similar to AliciaD372's most recent look on her YouTube channel.  I used different products, but the eye look and the lip look so similar to me and I did it unintentionally.  I was going to post this video in a couple of weeks, but I have been sick for the past week and unable to film a new look in it's place. Check out Alicia's channel and her videos!  She does wonderful makeup looks and reviews! :)  

FOTD: Futuristic Glamrock at 2AM

I actually decided to get ready for work with time enough to take pictures at the end!  I would've done a video but when I have to work I feel rushed and they have to be mostly "wearable" looks anyways.  For this look I wanted a bit of sparkle so I decided to use my sample of "Futuristic Glamrock" from Fyrinnae.  Prettymaking has gorgeous swatches of her Fyrinnae products.  If you scroll down here you can see a swatch of "Futuristic Glamrock".  I would suggest scrolling through ALL of her swatches though.  The way she swatched everything helps the viewer see how complex the shadows really are, especially the Arcane Magics.

Anywho, on to the look.  The pictures I took (with my camcorder) don't really do the shadow justice!  The sparkle and attention that "Futuristic Glamrock" demands has to be seen in person!!  Plus it was a gloomy day and the only good light I had was my filming light (which I use with natural light, not by itself).

Makeup Monday: Hosted by ABrilliantBrunette.com

This is MM #3 hosted by the wonderful Jacqueline from ABrilliantBrunette.com.  This month's theme was "exotic birds".  As soon as I read that, I knew instantly what bird I would use for my inspiration:  the Superb Bird of Paradise.  The link will take you to National Geographic Magazine's website where I think they are showing behind-the-scene photos of how they get such wonderful pictures.  You can google Superb Bird of Paradise for some more wonderful pictures.

Charcoal Smokey Eye feat. Wet n Wild and Lit Glitter

I have sadly neglected all of my makeup for the past couple of months.  It's been a long time since I have used any of my Wet n Wild palettes and it took me forever to find them!  It's also been forever since I have used any of my Lit glitters!!  I would wear glitter everyday if I could!  I have been trying to find ways to incorporate it in my work makeup but not be too over-the-top.

The look I came up with is a charcoal smokey eye blended out with some purple in the crease.  To add some pizzazz I also applied a charcoal glitter to the lid.  If you don't have any charcoal glitter, you could also apply the charcoal color from the WnW palette wet, since it has glitter in it as well.  Here are some pictures of the look:

Viewer Request: Rainbow Eyes feat. Sugarpill Cosmetics

A viewer (eLtherd) requested a rainbow look a LONG time ago and I am just now getting around to it.  I love rainbow looks and had wanted to do one for St. Louis Pride but I was so tired from work that I just slept and slept then slept some more.  I have been getting back  to playing with makeup and putting on my face for work (it's still crazy hot here, but I can't NOT do makeup anymore!!)  I really enjoy watching videos on YouTube as well as sharing my own makeup creations/techniques with you guys!  I learn so much from everyone else on YT and continue to get better with everything the more I practice!  Liquid liner is still a bit of a challenge, but I'm getting there :)  Anywho, on to the look!

Peacock Eyes with Sugarpill's Heartbreaker Palette

Lately I've been doing my videos "on the fly" so-to-speak.  I wanted to see what I could come up with if I just picked some products and built the look around them (or it if I have just one product in mind).  I'm really loving these new colors from Sugarpill.  The textures are AMAZING!  So smooth and easy to work with.  I think my favorite so far is Mochi.  I've been using it as an inner corner highlight with almost all my looks!!  Anywho, here is the look I came up with:

Smokey Calypso feat. Sugarpill and Glamour Doll Eyes

I know it has been a LONG time since I have uploaded a tutorial.  I haven't been wearing makeup as much because it's been so hot and humid in the midwest!  For some reason my skin has been more oily and I just don't like the fact that I HAVE to touch up my makeup at work.  It's easier to just wipe my face with a wet rag or something.  And work has been so stressful and busy that I haven't had the energy to do makeup on my days off.  I really wish I could get on some sort of regular uploading schedule!  I would do photo tutorials on my blog but I don't have a point-and-shoot camera, just a big honkin' Nikon and it's takes me forever to take a decent close-up picture!  Anywho...on to the look :)

My birthday was a little over a week ago and the lovely AliciaD372 sent me an eyeshadow as a present!! <3

Makeup Monday

So the gorgeous Jacqueline from abrilliantbrunette has come up with Makeup Monday (read about it by clicking the link).  I was tagged by Mandy (@ladymandyisms).  At first I had no idea what it was and I replied back with "and to you as well".  Yeah, I know...should've checked up on it first lol.  Anywho, upon further investigation I now know what Makeup Monday is :).  Today is the first day for MM and the theme for June is "Blue".  Now I hadn't planned on wearing much today because I have to work but I made an exception for MM.  Here is the look I came up with (no tutorial though):

Make Up By Siryn: 1000 Follower Giveaway!!!

So, if you don't know who Dawn from Make up by Siryn is, you need to educate yourself!!  She does crazy creative and colorful looks!  She is a self-professed geek, loves comic books, video games, and anime.  She expresses her love for these things through make up. You should check out her recent Spiderman-inspired look here!!!

Dawn recently hit 1000 followers on Facebook and in celebration of that, is hosting an awesome giveaway!  There are multiple ways to enter (under "1000 follower Giveaway on FB) click here to see how.

For the prizes, Dawn has chosen things that she herself adores and wants to share with her fans.  There are 5 trade paperback comics and two AWESOME palettes from Sugarpill cosmetics!!  I would really like the Dark Phoenix Saga trade paperback.  Her story was always one of my favorites in the cartoon!

Even if you don't want to enter the giveaway, I highly suggest checking out her blog for some very colorful and bold make up looks.  She is always an inspiration to me!!

Congratulations Dawn and here's to 1000 more!!!!

Shiny Shine Shine with Inglot AMC Shine #20

This look came from me wanting to use a cream liner that LilPumpkinPie05 uses in a lot of her looks.  It is one of L'Oreal's HIP Color Truth Cream Eyeliners in the shade "Teal".  I wanted to use #20 as a sort of highlight for the lid color and just set the outer corners with one of the new colors from Inglot, #317.  I decided to use MUFE #92 in the crease and blended that out with a little pink, and I used Sugarpill's Dollipop for that.  Here is the look:

Teal Waters with New Inglot Eyeshadows

If you read my previous post you got to see a picture of the look I filmed using the new eyeshadows from Inglot.  You can also see swatches and comparison photos with some other Inglot shadows that I already owned.  I wanted to do a look that included all of the shadows (which I did) but I also want to do looks in the future that highlight individual colors.  The new eyeshadows are teals, a blue, and greens so the look I came up with was very water-y (hence the name).

New Inglot Eyeshadow Swatches

Inglot recently posted on their twitter that they were releasing some new eyeshadows, nail enamels and mascaras.  Once I saw pictures of the new eyeshadows (plus they only released 5) I knew I would have to have them!!  There are 3 matte finish and 2 double sparkle finish shadows ranging from blue to green.  They are:  #315, #316, #317, #610 and #611.  I have included swatches below as well as some comparison swatches.

NailZilla: 400 Follower giveaway!!

I don't remember the first time I saw a swatch for this polish, but I know as soon as I saw the swatch I would NEED the polish!!  I have been wanting Chanel's Peridot since it came out but could never justify the price for one bottle of polish.  OPI is coming out the a collection inspired by the new Spiderman movie and one of the polishes is pretty much an exact dupe (from swatches) of Chanel's Peridot!!  NailZilla is hosting a giveaway for this polish:  Just Spotted the Lizard!  I believe the contest ends May 31, 2012 and there are a ton of ways to enter :)

Don't forget to check it out!!! :)  I hope to pick up a couple of bottles of this polish and maybe a couple other colors.  We shall see!!! Good luck to all who enter the contest!

Sugarpill Swatches

Here are swatches of the products I picked up during Sugarpill's Anniversary Sale.  They had their anniversary sale I belive Feb. 14 (cute right??).  It lasted 24 hours and they also had a little disclaimer for the palettes that said your order might not ship until Feb 20.  I still ordered because I didn't care how long it took I just wanted the palettes!!  I placed my order Feb. 14 at 9 or so in the morning.  I think I received a confirmation shortly after that.  My package didn't actually ship until Feb. 21 but it got here a day or so later.

There was a little mix up with my shipping confirmations (I had one in my order confirmation email and another on my Sugarpill account).  I emailed them in regards to my order and a wonderful lady named Trista responded within a couple of days (I'm sure they were receiving a lot of emails in regards to orders at this time).  She was very sweet and answered my question as best she could.  I received my package not too long after that.  Amy even signs all of the invoices!!  The only thing I regret is that I didn't order the Sugarpill cat sticker :(  I cannot believe I forgot that!  Oh well, there is always next time ;) Amy has been hinting to the release of a new palette next month!!  I can't wait!!!

I was finally able to get ahold of both palettes!!  I was terribly excited about this as I have been regretting not picking these ups while at IMATS LA last year!  There are two palettes (so far, although Amy has said they are releasing another palette next month!!):  the Burning Heart and Sweetheart palettes.

Here is just a quick price comparison between a couple of brands and their single eyeshadows in some sort of compact or case:

• Sugarpill
• 4 g/0.14 oz per eyeshadow single, $12
• MAC
• 1.5 g/0.05 oz per eyeshadow single, $15
• Inglot
• 2 g/0.07 oz per eyeshadow single (matte, pearl, and DS finish), $12
• 2.4 g/0.08 oz per eyeshadow single (AMC, and AMC Shine finish), $12

Clearly you are getting way more for your money with Sugarpill and you are not sacrificing quality by any means, instead experiencing similar quality if not better!  The only thing other brands have over them is color range, but don't mistake that for lack of color because let me tell you, Sugarpill is definitely not lacking in this department!

Wet n Wild Swatches

So, it only took me a very...VERY long time to get these swatches up.  I actually had them done not to long after I bought all of the palettes but I didn't like the photos once I uploaded them and saw them in iPhoto.  I finally had the time (and the sunlight) to do these swatches properly and they came out a lot better.  All swatches are done on my bare forearm, with no base and in natural light (I tried not to do direct sunlight).

Starting with the Greed palette:

Meredith Gentry Character Inspired Series: Doyle

Doyle (pronounced like Dole fruit) is the Captain of the Queen's Ravens, the Queen's guard.  He is sent by the Queen to fetch Merry.  In the books he is described as having black skin (not brown, or dark brown, or chocolate...black) with blue highlights.  There is a point in the story where he tries to bespell Merry and she she's a rainbow of colors, not necessarily a rainbow, but lots of colors.  Doyle has pointed ears (a distinct characteristic that marks his as not full-blooded Sidhe royal) and he has no shame in showing them, keeping his long black hair braided so his ears show all the time.  In his ears and one nipple he wears silver jewelry, always.

I used those three things to create this look:  black skin with blue highlights, rainbow colors when bespelling, and silver jewelry.  I didn't want to use navy blue as I felt it would be more, well, blue than anything so I went with blue then black over that.  I used a chromalust from Sugarpill called "Stella" for the lid.  Stella has a jet black base with rainbow glitter mixed in.  And for the silver I used Sugarpill's "Tiara" applied wet to the inner corners.  Here is the look (warning - this will be picture heavy to show different aspects of the look):

Meredith Gentry Character Inspired Series: Queen Andais

Ever since I got into makeup I've wanted to do looks inspired by the characters from Laurell K Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series.  The series is told from the viewpoint of the mortal Princess Meredith, who fled from Cahokia, IL to Los Angeles, CA because people were trying to kill her.  She has been called back to Cahokia by her aunt, Queen Andais, for reasons unknown.  Merry herself appears "human" enough but her race of faerie, the Sidhe (pronounced "she") tend to look very exotic and one characteristic of Sidhe royals is tricolored irises.  For this look I chose to do Queen Andais whose irises are described as being charcoal, stormy grey and a very pale grey.  Here is the look I came up with:

Smokey Neutral Work Look

Here lately I've been opting for a slightly more dramatic neutral look for work.  My bosses don't really mind when I wear color but I tend to lean more toward neutral colors because our population of patients tends to be older and not everybody is so open to color.  So to be neutral but a tad more dramatic, I've been taking Sugarpill's Bulletproof and adding a touch of that to the outer corners.  I'm planning on doing a video of my "tried and true" long wearing products (most of which are drugstore) because I reach for the same stuff over and over again for work.  Here are some photos the products that I used for this look:

2-1 Daytime to Evening Greens

My boyfriend's brother recently got married and they chose a camo color scheme: them men wore camo vests and the bride's maids wore different shades of green gowns.  I had originally wanted to do AliciaD372's Berry Blast makeup then I remembered the camo theme.

During Mardi Gras, Magnolia Makeup had 50% off all of their green, purple and gold pigments.  I took major advantage of this sale!  I'll hopefully have swatches of everything up eventually.  Anywho, one of the pigments I purchased was Reptile.  Sadly this is already one of the pigments that's on their "last chance" list!!  It's a gorgeous medium, yellow-green with some green and gold flecks of glitter in it.  Green is my favorite color but I can honestly say I don't own any other color like this!  It's so unique, sparkly and pretty and bright and...anyways.  On to the look:

Misc thoughts...

I already have a website/blog:  www.beautybytaime.com  I haven't really kept it up to date though because I don't really find wordpress to user friendly for someone who isn't really tech-saavy.  I was using blogger before with my old username and I really liked how easy it was for me to navigate and personalize.  I really wanted a .com (who knows why!!) so I purchased a domain from wordpress.  I don't really want to renew something that I don't use on a regular basis.  So here we are, on blogger, again!

Katniss Everdeen-Girl on Fire-District 12-The Hunger Games Inspired Look

If you've never read these books (I highly recommend them) they are a series of 3 books about a post-apocolyptic world, Panem, which is composed of 12 Districts and the Capitol.  Each district has a different specialty to generate revenue for themselves and ultimately provide luxury for the people of the Capitol.  Anywho, Katniss Everdeen is from District 12 and their specialty is coal mining.

I'm not quite sure if I will take this through all 12 districts (xsparkage has done this on her YouTube channel), but I definitely have looks for other characters in mind.  We will see.  In the book/movie, Katniss is known for being "the girl on fire" which is a reference to her dress (you'll have to read the books or watch the movie to find out why ;) ).  I tried to incorporate both the look and colors of fire as well as smoldering coals (orange, red, yellow, black).  This look also gave me a chance to use my Sugarpill Burning Heart palette!!  I am absolutely in LOVE with this company, from their products to their look (I will post a review/haul/photos later).

There were a few bumps in the road while filming this tutorial.