DVD DIY Flimsy Makeup Palette

For a flimsy, but still useable DIY Makeup Palette that is big enough to hold many depotted items, I turned to an old DVD case I had lying around and hacked it up with a box cutting knife. Things learned: It's really hard to hack plastic and I was sweating. It's really easy to accidentally slice through the clear film that you wanted to keep so the palette looks pretty. Do not use water soluble no-name-no-brand glue you found on the floor of a community art room to glue your depotted pans. Pans will fall, makeup will shatter, powder will go everywhere, and then you will need lots of isopropyl alcohol to press that back into the pan. You may cry a little. The never settling perpetually melty and sticky clear glue that is standard on the back of every depotted pan can dependably be reused indefinitely. If that provided glue sticks to your desk, you're screwed as it never comes off ever. Do not believe online Pinterest lies about how rubbing alcohol or peanut butter gets it off. It never goes away but will smear and attract dust for eternity.

In the end, I turned to a small cardboard jewelry gift box to hold my depotted messes until I could properly get my hands on some high quality water soluble Elmer's glue, hot glue gun, or super glue to properly attached my depotted eyeshadows. This is not recommended as a portable palette, just some way to keep all your depotted items together so you can happily toss away the plastic drugstore packaging.

Observe, friends.

Emerald Elf Peepers

One of my best friends gifted me an eyes lips face 150 piece eye shadow palette in December of 2013. I was wary of the pigmentation of the bright array of colors but am happy to report that with a primer, such as Urban Decay Primer Potion or even the elf eyelid primer, most of the colors shine bright and true. The consistency is powdery, but the matte true green really shines.

The black winged eyeliner is also by elf, and is $1 available here. The pigmentation is dark, but as you reach the end of the product, it begins to clump up, and dry up. Newly opened, it's great and lasts about 6 months, if you use it sparingly, and not daily, like me.

To purchase the same palette, click here.

The Boyfriend (Guy) Beauty Test by Shaaanxo

Shannon Harris, above, one of my favorite beauty bloggers of all time, posted this video on Youtube on testing a guy's beauty knowledge. She is from New Zealand, has her own beauty brushes line, XO Beauty, and has been a video guru for such a long time! Check her out! Anyways, I decided to try out her Beauty Test on a poor unsuspecting guinea pig below.

How my guy friend scored:

1) 8

2) 0

3) 0

4) 0 and 0 – foundation brush, eyeliner brush

5) 0

6) 1

7) 1

8) 0

9) 1

10) 0

11) "You put this on your cheeks?" 0 elf HD setting powder

"Well it says here you put it on before you makeup, so is this eyelid primer?" 0 Clinique redness solutions primer 

HE GOT TO READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS

12) 9

20 points

I have been doing makeup for about 2 years seriously, and I think he did a good job, though I did sneak him a point when he mentioned "Naked", which is not technically a brand, but it is a line within Urban Decay. Surprisingly he also named "Victoria's Secret" and "Forever21" as makeup lines, which as a store, they do carry. 

For the outer v, he ran his fingers along an upside down V on the sides of his nose.

That's not even a V, more like a Lambda or an A?

Whirlwind Day in the Big Apple

Yesterday I was able to meet the wonderful and (even more glamorous-in-person) Jessica Ricks of Hapa Time! I was so excited, I could barely contain my enthusiasm. Seriously, what better way can you cap off a day trip into the city? The bebe X GLAMOUR event was very fancy, the whole store alight with color and shimmer, making me miss summer. Come quicker spring! Dreaming about a little sun these days for sure.

Dinner consisted of an amazing meal at Miss Korea. Guys, I'm not kidding, K-Town is where my stomach wants to LIVE. After logging it back to the dorms, I ended the night eating about a fourth of a full sized Korean creme cake from Tous Les Jours, a chain bakery with the best angel-fluffed frosting you've ever had melt in your mouth. (Get the Strawberry one.)

Had I woken up earlier I definitely would have tried Aburiya Kinosuke again for lunch. If anyone has a craving for traditional Japanese food (no California rolls here, sorry) go to 213 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017! Is it bad that I sort of live for their Miso Cod? Maybe this fall, when I start my job, I can come here for a once a month treat to myself. 

My outfit is a white scarf (Divided by H&M), denim jacket (Levi's), beige and black dress (SheInside). I ran into the bebe store right as I was leaving the Columbus Circle Shopping Center, to look for the dress Jessica was wearing and I was right -- it definitely is bebe. Does Jessica have impeccable taste, or what?

Brown Smokey Eyes and Bold Brows Look

I like to play up just 2 features on my face per day.

I just got a bunch of new ELF products and so today's look is a high and low end look. My lips are horribly chapped so I cropped that out!

1) Brows - ELF Eyebrow Kit in Dark, used the tinted wax and the setting powder, with an angled eyeliner brush.

2) First layer, NYX Jumbo eye pencil in Dark Brown smudged with ring finger all over the lid. Next, I layered a shimmering light metallic brown Urban Decay eye shadow over that with a Sephora eyeshadow brush (got them on sale, $7 for two). Seems like the shimmer UD eye shadows have a lot of fall out so the sticky cream base of the NYX eye pencil helped it hold.

3) Finally, I used the Almay automatic eyeliner in black shimmer on the lower lash line, and a few coats of Maybelline's the Falsies Flared mascara in non-waterproof on my short, but naturally curled eyelashes.

Photos taken by my lovely suitemate, Joanna Zheng on a borrowed DSLR Canon T3i.

I apologize for the lag between posts! I just haven't gotten enough free time to blog or post lately due to school work, but graduation is soon so maybe this summer I'll really revamp this site!

Naked Nails

I am trying out "Naked" by Urban Decay's nail polish line. I find that for a medium skin tone or for a classic beige like myself, that the nude color is absolutely perfect for summer, or rather all seasons. After excessive hand washing and loads of dishes, it seems like two coats really does give you a no-chip experience. It's still going strong at 48 hours and I'm really pleased with the color. In the photo it looks much more yellow than it actually is. More of a muted nude-brown, with just a hint of blush. Would love to find this color in a nude lipstick!

Hard Lesson Learned: Never Put Water in Mascara

A chemical reaction occurs where has bubbles form, and when you try to shove the brush back in, it explodes all over your face and business formal shirt. It bled everywhere and bubbled and completely leaked out of the tube, the picture below is what it looked like AFTER I cleaned up most of the liquid.

You can safely put saline solution in though. If it gets too dry and clunky. This, I have tried and tested.

As you can see below, this is me experimenting with my regular Covergirl Lash Blast mascara in blackened brown.