today’s technicolor temper tantrum.

Because we are in the midst of yet another family crisis. I’m getting tired of this. Since the man wasn’t around to rage with me today, I ended up taking it out on my poor makeup collection.  The boyfriend says “I don’t think color expresses anger the way you think it does.”  Shows what HE knows!!!

A few mini reviews.

Yes, I know I’ve been VERY flaky lately.  Had one curve ball after another, and even though I’ve had a few new products pass through my hands, I haven’t been able to document my play with them.  I wanted to pass on a few mini-reviews for products that have caught my interest lately…

Halloween: Poison Ivy

Just toying around, since I’m not likely to have plans for Halloween, but I haven’t done crazy makeup for it this year.  Sorry for the bad lighting–it’s early and DIM here, and my camera hates it.  I have a few pet peeves with this look-mainly with the leaves.   I’d like to color in my own next time, so it will be easier to cut tiny ones, and so that I can use more yellow-greens in the veining.  The brows in this feel too dark and heavy to me.  Lighter leaves would help.

Tutorial: Depotting eyeshadows in unusual packaging

I had a request for this a few months back, and it has unfortunately taken this long to get my act together.  There’s a lot of information on depotting the common eyeshadows, like MAC and Urban Decay, but the technique differs with some other specialty makeup brands, like Tokidoki, OLD Urban Decay eyeshadows(The one I had like this is probably 4 or 5 years old, now.), Benefit, Shiseido, Shu Uemura, Sephora, Ulta,  even NARS Eyeshadow duo’s.  If you aren’t sure how if the pan is on a tray that  can be removed to heat it faster, or if it feels like it’s heavy plastic, you can usually depot them this way.  Please note, if you are depotting an eyeshadow in a cardboard case(Like the Urban Decay Book of Shadows), you’ll want to avoid this method, since it uses HIGH heat and may be more of a fire hazard.  I usually set the oven for about  250-300(Fahrenheit) for those, and let it sit for longer, until I can begin to pry the pans up.  THIS ALSO SHOULD NOT BE DONE FOR CREAM PRODUCTS, since they will melt.  To depot cream blushes, you need to drip alcohol between the pan and the compact, to dissolve the glue.

As with any depotting, you will need a hot surface(The plate of a hair straightener, or an iron.  I use an iron, with a layer of aluminum foil to prevent glue or plastic from burning onto the surface), a thin knife(Or VERY heat resistant fingertips, like me), a magnet, cut to fit the bottom of your pan(You can purchase thin magnet sheets at craft stores, and some online cosmetics sellers offer pre-cut ones in common sizes, like 26mm(MAC, UD eyeshadows), and your empty palettes(ELF sells quads that fit 26mm eyeshadows, or Camera Ready Cosmetics sells YABY, zPalette, or La Femme palettes, that will fit 15-24 larger pans, depending on the size..

Experimental Lip Graffiti

These are part of an ongoing test for a shoot sometime in the future. Still refining the technique and toying with my ideas….  Yes, I know these are rough edits, and my skin is uneven(I didn’t bother applying foundation, and my skin was pretty stained by the second look!)

All of these were done with OCC Lip Tars and Loose Pigments, Sugarpill eyeshadow and loose pigment, MUFE Pure Pigment and Star Powder and(for the finish on the center look) table sugar.  Whew. My lips are STILL dry from removing all that!

Will try to do a more general update soon, it has been a ROUGH couple of weeks!

Technicolor Tuesday

Yeah. This is what happens when I put on makeup while listening to chopin, trying to avoid wailing at the top of my lungs, and swearing at boyfriend and boss alike. It has been that kind of day.

Testing Benefit Stay don’t Stray primer, though.

Fairy wings

This is what happens when I put on makeup while listening to La Boheme.

Scary, innet?

My skins still pretty stressed out, since it has been a rough week, visiting sick family members, planning more shots, dealing with PILES of work drama…. I’m a bit haggard.

 

Photoshoot breakdown-70s inspired daytime look for Monolid eye shapes

I did this for a photoshoot a month or so back.  Since the styling was 70s themed, I didn’t want the makeup to be too anachronistic, but I wanted it to have elements of the dewy glow that characterized 70s makeup.

Photography by Rudy Joggerst, Modeled by Kim K.  All Makeup/Hair/Wardrobe styling by myself.

Review: Givenchy Acid Lights eyeshadow palette

Acid Lights sells for 65$, for nine colors. The pans are pretty tiny, though, and I seem to be running through mine fairly quickly.

The shades all have a satiny finish-certainly not matte, but not unwearably shimmery or frosty. The colors apply MUCH more pastel than they look in pan, though there’s a good amount of pigment to them. It’s certainly not the brightest eyeshadow I’ve touched, contrary to the product photos.

I wasn’t terribly happy with the wear on these. I noticed them creasing, over my standard primer potion, on days when my Urban Decay or Sugarpill eyeshadows wouldn’t budge. It’s certainly not the best eyeshadow I’ve tried.  They seemed to fade a bit too, and kick up a LOT of falloff/dust in the pan.

I doubt I’d repurchase this-the colors ARE nice, but you can get nice pastels from SO many indie brands for much cheaper, with better wear. I wanted to love this palette, and there’s many things I DO love about the color choices, the texture of the colors, and the finish. It’s just very little eyeshadow, for a lot of money. For the price I WOULD expect the products to apply closer to the way they look in-pan.  Most of them apply more vibrantly when wet, but still not as bright as they appear in pan. And the colors still fade when applied wet.

The packaging is cute—it’s a pretty sturdy plastic, with a magnetic closure. It’s easy to open the top part to expose the eyeshadow, but not so easy that it will fly open in your purse. The bottom drawer pulls out to review cute little applicators. Useless, but pretty. I always wish that eyeshadow palettes would skip the applicators, and just make the product design more streamlined. I dislike bulky packaging, and wasted space, and the included applicators are NEVER great quality, or particularly sanitary for re-use.

another Acid Lights look

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I’ve been shooting nearly every other day, and the in between days have been occupied preparing for shoots. I’m exhausted, and haven’t had time to put on my makeup.

Wore this yesterday. Still testing the Acid Lights palette. Sadly, this look showed that Acid Lights doesn’t wear as well as it should. After 3 hours outdoors, on a summer day, it had started to crease. There was primer under it, that doesn’t crease under similar conditions with any other eyeshadows…