Quick Look: Holiday Look #2

The other day we had a big sale in the store I work at. It was of course a Christmas sale and I knew I was going to be forced to wear a ridiculous Santa Claus hat, so I wanted to do something a little bit Christmassy. I had been planning on wearing my new green lipstick from Muylinda Collection, but I decided that it might be a little bit much. Also, it isn't the best shade of green for Christmas.

Instead I grabbed one of my favourite eyeshadows, Makeup Forever's #99, a bright scarlet red. I put that on the outer 2/3 of my eye not going above the crease. I darkened the crease a little bit with MAC Carbon and filledmy inner corner and inner1/3 of my eye with MAC's Chillproof. I lined my eyes with Sigma's Boost eyeliner and added marcara and that was it! I kept the rest of my face pretty plain.

Sorry for the hurried pictures. I woke up late for work that day and only had about half an hour to get ready, so I literally took the pictures seconds after brushing my teeth and before I had even found a proper shirt. I swear I am wearing a tank top in these photos though. My bra straps are just thicker than the other straps. I wish I had had longer to do my eye makeup and make it a bit more dramatic, but I still like how it turned out. I am wearing blush too, it was just pretty subtle and the camera didn't seem to pick it up much. I also wish I had found a good lipstick to go with it but I ran out of time. I ended up putting on a nude lipgloss from BH Cosmetics that was lying in my purse on the way to work.

And on a very unrelated note: None of my Black Friday things are here yet! Whyyyyy? I made a handful of purchases before and around Black Friday, including a book I really want to get since I already finished the first in the series, and nothing has arrived! Well, the dress I purchased from Modcloth arrived at my parents house (I had issues last time they tried to ship here) but I still need to go pick that up from them. Other than that I have received nothing yet though and it is driving me crazy! Almost nothing I ordered has a tracking number either, except one package that only seems to update every few days... Why must shipping to Canada take so long??? Ok, I promise to stop complaining now. I'm hoping that when I get home from work tonight I will find something waiting for me.

I hope you liked my second Christmas look! How are you getting into the holiday spirit?

Old Makeup Love: L'Oreal HIP Eyeshadow Duos

This is a new series I'm starting in the hopes of using some of my older makeup again and maybe even using some of it up. In the Old Makeup Love series I will be spotlighting and reviewing products that I have had lying around for too long. Most of them will probably be eyeshadows, some that I have had for years. Hopefully, I will also manage to get posts up of makeup looks using each product within a week of each Old Makeup Love post. I won't go making any promises about that though.

The first in this series will be the L'Oreal HIP eyeshadow duos. I have collected quite a few of these over the years. The first one I ever got was a duo in Showy. I got this years ago in Highschool and it had a gorgeous turquoise blue as well as a great navy. I couldn't find that one for this post but I gathered together as many as I could.

From left to right these are Riotous, Perky, Poppy and Adventurous. Perky and Poppy are both matte duos. All of these are incredibly pigmented and wear for a long time. They are also wonderfully blendable. As you can maybe tell, my favourite is Riotous. It has the most amazing shimmery lime green that I used to wear almost everyday when I was younger. Here is a quick swatch of the colours with and without flash:

Look at how pigmented those are! These are all one swipe with no base. Now I'm not sure what the prices of these are, since they are all pretty old, but I know they are pretty inexpensive. I'm also not sure if all of these particular duos are still available either. I still suggest you check out whatever L'Oreal HIP eyeshadow duos are available in your local drug store. They are such great quality for the price!

Have you tried any of the L'Oreal HIP eyeshadow duos? What did you think?

Pop Expo 2013! (Pic Heavy!)

Today's post isn't really makeup related, but I just went to the Ottawa Pop Expo and thought I would do a post about it, along with a cool shop I found in the vendor area! I also bought a few things of course and I will show those too! The above photo is me in front of the Ghostbusters van. You are about to find out just how big a nerd I am.

Ottawa Pop Expo is sort of like a sci-fi convention but more for television and movies in general. I did find once I was there that there was still a ton of science fiction stuff, which I was pleased about. I went with three friends from work and we got there at about 9am, an hour early. We figured there would be a line, but we were wrong. We went on the second day, so I'm not sure why we were worried. We had to sit around and wait for an hour because we were so early, but eventually we got in.

Pop Expo is definitely the smallest convention I have ever been to. It was basically one giant warehouse sized room of vendors and signature booths. On either side there were a few smaller rooms for panels and such. Regardless of that, there were still a few celebrities there, and some famous cosplayers who were taking pictures and doing autographs.

Tom Felton from Harry Potter was there as well as a couple of actors from The Walking Dead. One of my friends waited in line for a signature from Norman Reedus who plays Daryl on The Walking Dead. I was most excited to see Jason Momoa though! He played Ronan on Stargate Atlantis as well as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones. I love Stargate and I must admit I have a bit of a crush on the guy (he's married oh well). We went to his Q&A panel at the end of the day and it was great! On to some pictures!!!

These life-sized Daleks were walking around before the convention started. There was a little kid dressed as a tardis standing in the middle there. The Daleks were promoting the Doctor Who booth inside and when they saw this kid they said, "We think you as a little Tardis would enjoy seeing a bigger Tardis very much." in their awesome robot voices. It was pretty funny.

Me and Jango Fett on top and then K-9 from Doctor Who.

On top: This girls costume was awesome! She was Lady Deadpool. Bottom: My friend and some muppet things and a cute kid.

On top: Actor Scott Wilson signing autographs. Middle: Some Storm Troopers at a game where you could shoot at them. Bottom: Just me and a couple of doctors in front of the Tardis!

Top: The Ghostbusters car. Bottom: Jason Momoa during the Q&A. I had a really hard time getting an actual photo of him that wasn't blurry, but this is the projector for people in the back row. He was really funny and I enjoyed his Q&A session a lot!

Now I will quickly show you the things I got and be done. This post is going to be way too long!

Top: Some comic books I got. Another Buffy comic to add to my collection and a bunch of Green Lantern stuff out of the $1 comic book bins. Yes I'm 23 years old and I still read comic books! Bottom: The awesome dress by Sourpuss that I got. There are little Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein heads all over it and some eyeballs and whatnot for good measure. It is quite short but I can get away with it if I have some tights on. It comes with a thin black faux leather belt too.

The last thing I got was from the cutest booth in the entire place. It was called Angelyques Trinkets and it was run by this adorable girl who hand makes all these amazing accessories! I bought this:

It is a D20 necklace that is various shades of green. I thought the acid green in it matched my dress well. She also made a ton of other adorable accessories, many with a nerdy theme, but not all. She has an Etsy store that you can check out. My absolute favourites are the little crowns that come on a headband. There are some plain metal ones and then ones that have glass panes on them. I didn't get one but as soon as I get all my holiday pay this year I am ordering myself some fanciful crowns! They are just too cute! I suggest you check out her store.

That's everything I did/got on my Pop Expo adventure! I hope this wasn't too long. Have you ever been to any conventions?

Review: MAC Stroke of Midnight Eyes In Smoky

Quick update: I still have no idea what happened to my Clinique shadow. I even looked through other makeup bags it might have previously been in but no luck! I guess we will never know what happened. Pop Expo yesterday was amazing! I had a great time with my friends and will have a post about it up soon, but I need some time to go thorugh the pictures and photograph what I got. I got a few fun nerdy things and a cute dress though! Now on to today's post.

I recently went to a MAC event where I got a makeover and then, sadly was forced to buy a couple of products. You can read all about that debacle here. Regardless of that drama, I still like the products I got, which were the Stroke of Midnight Eyes palette in Smoky and the Mineralize Blush in Talk of The Town. I will be reviewing the eye palette today. I already did a review of the blush which you can read here.

The Stroke of Midnight Eyes palettes costs $47.50 Canadian and it come in three different options: The Warm Eyes palette, the Cool Eyes palette and the Smoky Eyes palette. Each palette contains 5 shadows and a little double ended brush, which I have actually found quite useful for on the go.

The worst part of these is that the packaging is really bulky. I love the colour scheme with the white and gold over the black, but the whole thing is enormous and plastic and somehow it feels just feels kind of cheap... I also found that opening this the first time was a bit of an ordeal. The front closure looks like it should open differently, so I found myself standing there prying at a box for minutes until it flew open by accident. I tested this out on a friend from work and my boyfriend by handing them the palette and saying "open this". My boyfriend couldn't do it at all and my friend eventually got it open but was laughing at herself by the end because of how long it took. I did notice later though that if you actually look carefully before trying to open it up, you will see where to put your fingers and pull.

The shades in the smoky eyes palette, from lightest to darkest, are Chillproof, Retrospeck, Gaelic Gold, Well Put Together and Carbon. Gaelic Gold is the reason I bought this palette. It is a gorgeous gold with a green undertone to it. I wanted this becaue I thought it would go perfectly with my MAC Humid for Holiday looks. I have already done one look using this combination that you can see here.

Since purchasing this palette, I have found that the stars in it really are Retrospeck and Chillproof. Retrospeck is a gorgeous shimmery taupe colour and Chillproof is a very frosty, pearly white. Retrospeck has quickly become my go to eyeshadow for the winter. I sweep this all over the lid, pop a bit of Chillproof in my inner corner, throw on some mascara and then a bright lip and I'm out the door. The taupe colour goes really well with almost any lipcolour I choose.

The last two colours are pretty standard for a smoky eyes palette. Well Put Together is a mostly matte dark brown with a few specks of gold glitter in it and Carbon is a matte black. The both have alright pigmentation and blendability, but carbon honestly isn't my favourite black. I think I might even prefer the matte black by NYX! These two actually looked pretty pathetic when I swatched them as you will see, but they do perform better over a base. These swatches were done without a base:

So that's it. Overall I like this palette, but I don't love it. The three shimmery shades are all really amazing, but the other two are pretty unimpressive. I am also not a huge fan of the packaging, but I do like the little brush they included. I'm not entirely sure this is worth the almost $50 price tag. If you are curious what they look like on my eyes, I have used this in many looks lately. You just have to look through some of my recent posts.

What do you think of this palette? Have you tried any products from the Stroke of Midnight collection?

Random Post: What The Heck Happened To My Eyeshadow???

This is just a quick post since I don't have much time today. I'm on my way to Pop Expo! It's like a sci-fi convention, but just for television in general. Jason Momoa is going to be there! He was Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones and also Ronan in Stargate Atlantis! I absolutely love Stargate! Stargate-SG1 is one of my absolute favourite shows of all time and the other series are amazing too.

I was in a hurry, but wanted something bright, so I grabbed an eyeshadow I haven't used in a long time today to use in a look. It was a Clinique eyeshadow in Peacock. Here is what it looks like on the outside:

It is supposed to be a pretty shimmery turquoise colour, but when I opened it this is what I found:

What?!? Where did my eyeshadow go? The pan is completely empty! I searched the makeup bag it had been in too and there was no sign of it. I had a perfect dupe of this in a L'Oreal HIP eyeshadow duo in Showy, but I lost that a while ago too. I think there must be an eyeshadow gnome stealing my things!

Clearly I'll have to figure out something else to wear on my eyes. Anyways, I have to run! Hopefully I will remember to take some photographs of the day, or at least my makeup!

Quick Look: Extremely Neutral

Yesterday I wore a very bright shirt to work, so I decided I was going to go with a very nude face. I used my new Impulse Cosmetics lipstick in Manic. I got this in a palette which you can read the review for here. It is a creamsicle orange shade, but it makes my lips almost disappear (I think).

I used a bit of a peachy blush and for my eyes I placed a shadow that matches my skin all over the lid and a terracotta orange in my crease which I blended out a lot. I used MAC's carbon as eyeliner and winged it out, and applied mascara as usual. The whole thing gave my face a slight bit of colour and still also looked really stark and nude. Finally, here are the pictures. Please excuse my less than perfect skin, these were taken at the end of the day after an 8 hour shift and long commute.

So that was it! This was another really simple look. I have been working a ton this holiday season, so I haven't had much time for makeup. I promise to start putting up some better eye looks when I have some time!

Unboxing/Review: Muy Linda Collection Lipstick In Mula

After my awesome introduction to unusual lipstick shades with Impulse Cosmetics navy blue called Smoking Gun, I have been on the hunt for more indie brands that make weird colours. My search brought me to the Muy Linda Collection page on Etsy where they have some fabulous looking colours. After a little research I found they also have their own website, but Etsy already had all my information saved, so it was just quicker for me to order that way. The lipsticks cost $6.55 on their Etsy store and shipping is extremely reasonable, even to Canada. I decided to order only one lipstick to test out the quality, since there weren't a lot of reviews. The colour I picked is Mula, a "Creamy green lipstick".

I ordered this on November 24 and it arrived yesterday, only a week and a half later. That seems pretty quick to me! It came in a bubble mailer and when I opened it I found this:

There was no note or anything just this little cardboard thing and inside it was the lipstick. I can't really fault it for not having fun packaging when it came so darn quick though. The packaging of the actual lipstick is not bad. It feels thick and sturdy and looks really nice, but when twisting up the lipstick it somehow feels cheap and like it isn't quite working right. Regardless of that it still looks cute and it houses an amazing product!

The colour of this lipstick honestly doesn't look anything like the green in the picture when I ordered it. This lipstick has a much yellower undertone than the photo which shows a definite blue undertone. I am a bit disappointed, but I am still impressed with this bright green. I feel like an evil witch instantly when I put it on! The formula is also very creamy and opaque. Once it dries down it has an almost matte finish but if you look very closely it is filled with little glitter particles in various shades of green. I don't know how I feel about the glitter, but so far, it isn't very noticeable. They do remain on the lips after the lipstick has worn off, which isn't the best. Here is a swatch of it on my hand with and without flash:

The formula on this stuff is very interesting. It starts off very smooth and creamy. It dries down to a less creamy consistency after a little while and after that it seems to transfer very little. When it dries down though, it does make any lip imperfections way more noticeable. Exfoliated lips shouldn't have a problem with this. This does give this a pretty darn good wear time, from what I can tell. I haven't worn it a full day so I can't be sure. It did live through a meal of oily pasta pretty well though. Here is what it looks like on my face:

Please excuse my ridiculous purple robe. I was getting ready for work and hadn't picked my clothes out yet! No I didn't wear this to work. I am thinking I might tomorrow though. We are having a sale and I will be forced to wear a ridiculous Santa Claus hat, so why not wear green lipstick? The lipstick actually looks more flattering on than I was expecting. I mean I still look like I am diseased, but it's like sexy scurvy!

Overall I think I like this lipstick. It isn't as moisturizing as others, but it doesn't really dry my lips out too much either. The colour is not something I think I can wear on its own though. If it had been more like the picture it might have worked, but the yellow tone in it can make you look a bit sick. This will probably work well paired with the right eyes and cheeks, but it definitely doesn't work alone. I think this will look great in an ombre lip with Impulse Cosmetics' Maui Wowie lipstick too! I have a few on the way from Impulse Cosmetics right now that are more of a teal green that will probably be better for wearing alone, but until then I will play around with this one. So far I still prefer Impulse Cosmetics, but this is nice too. They have a collection of winter lipsticks that includes a silver, gold and bright white that I am tempted to get, now that I know I like the formula.

What do you think of the Muy Linda Collection lipsticks? Would you wear a green lip?