Question of the Day...Red lips

Red lips are iconic. Do you rock them?

I can't. I *love* red lips, but it just looks terrible on me! Plus, I'm not that great on the upkeep :P Check out some celebrity red lip fails below...

If you look real close, you can see that the color is all...smudgy, i guess? Plus, with the smoky eyes and bleached hair, she sort of resembles a 1980's hooker....just sayin'.
She's 17 in this picture. SEVENTEEN. There is just way too much makeup on this girl! Just a little less blush, and maybe foundation the same color as the rest of her body and it would be much better. Ah, Nicole. Normally, I love her makeup. But red lips and NOTHING else? Not even mascara? It looks weird, oddly lazy even. There's definately a fine line between too much makeup and not enough when it comes to red lips!

Top Pic from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashley23/1037397575/

I am a sad panda

I broke my camera today!! I'm soo mad!! I bought a new one, but won't get it for a couple weeks (damn me and my cheapness! I won't pay for 2-day shipping!). So, basically, that means I won't be posting looks or swatches for a little while :o( There will be more dupes, fashion and reviews for now! I have a couple looks to post and I'll *try* to get my webcam pictures to not suck, but I'm really mad. Grr!!!

If you have any ideas on things you want me to talk about (or shut up about!), lemme know!

Sad panda from flickr fto179 http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennis-album/

Question of the Day...What makes you unique?

I was looking at pictures of myself today and thinking about how crappy I look in all of them. But, come on, I am *so* not a self pity kind of gal so I decided to think about what makes me pretty and special! I believe that beauty is made of up flaws...gaps in teeth, large-ish foreheads, pale eyebrows, etc, etc! The things that you hate about yourself are the things that make you beautiful...cause, come on, look at the Gemma Ward! By "male" standards, she shouldn't be pretty, but she's beautiful anyways! (Well she could stand to gain some weight...but I'm talking about faces here!)

What makes you beautiful? Are there flaws that you hate but everyone else loves? Have you learned to love yourself even with those flaws?

Well, of course, I have those freckles. Freckles are the *worst thing* for a little kid growing up. Redheads are a bully's natural enemy...we are weird and easy to make fun of! When I finally grew out of that phase, another phase started...trying to find my personal style. In high school, I was a total rock chick- plaid skirts, bleached hair, mega eyeliner and fishnets. But, again, I still had those damn freckles! You can never look tough with them! As I've grown up, I'm starting to learn that no, I'm not a tough girl and yes, I am a sweet redhead. I started accentuating my freckles here and there and stopped trying to cover them. I love them now...my freckles are what makes me special and pretty and no one will ever look exactly like me!

Fyrinnae Purple Swatches

I wanted to start trying to swatch all the colors I have...and it's a big job! I know that I like to see swatches before I buy full sizes of colors. I swatched these dry. A lot of them look similar in the jar, but totally different on! Here are the purples I have:

-Freya- wine/pink (burgandy/purple) glowing shimmer on black base

-Android Angel- sparkling shimmery deep lilac shade with purple and silver sparkle

-Changeling- Deep, dark purple with shimmer and gold sparkle

-Wicked- Deep, dark purple with turquoise shimmer

-Iris- medium light purple with frosty green shimmer

-Fujiro- medium blue violet with a shimmery lavender highlight and silver sparkles

-Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat- from Mad Tea Party collection; a mauve sort of shade, packed with pink sparkle, shimmer and a hint of blue shimmer for good measure, somewhat pink, somewhat lavender and very sparkly

-Valhalla- silvery-mauve taupe with light pink and white shimmer

The flash pictures show the shimmer and sparkles while the no-flash pics show the bases more...Ugh, I wish there was a way to combine the two!

My favorite of all of these is Fujiro. It's a really unique and pretty color that makes eyes pop, no matter what the color is! I even used this on a bride during the winter, just in the inner corners. Very beautiful, a must have.

Bubblegum Coffin

What I used:

-Fyrinnae Glass Coffin

-Pure Luxe Bubblegum

-Everyday Minerals Diary

-Fyrinnae Inks eyeliner in Thunderstorm

-Fyrinnae lip lustre in Very Berry Happy

(This post is from yesterday, oops! Just got around to getting the pics up!) Grr, I have the worst allergies today. Seriously, my eyes are puffed up like a puffer fish and red like a stoner...it's so bad. I didn't want to go too dark on the colors today since I'm feeling so crappy.

I put Glass Coffin on my lid up into the crease...For some reason, this color looks darker in real life, but I could not get it to show up in film at all (it looks really light). I think it might have something to do with the micas, but I took tons of pictures (with and without flash) and couldn't get it to show up right! Next I smudged Bubblegum along my lower lash line (it has the prettiest flashes of blue!) and also used it to highlight my brow bone. Then I used Thunderstorm to do the tiniest of cat eyes. I ended up using Diary in my crease because it needed to be a tinge darker...I haven't used it in, like, 6 months and I forgot what a beautiful color it is! Very pretty, it's only a little bit darker than Glass Coffin but with more of a multi-faceted tone to it.

I think that Very Berry Happy is my new "everyday" lip color! I'm always wanting a light pink lip. My lips are actually kind of dark for my white-as-computer-paper skin so I always like to lighten them up so my eyes are center stage.

Last night I was goofing off with my husband (he *hates* when I mess with him when he's playing Xbox!). We have 2 guinea pigs, which are the tiny loves of my life. We can't have dogs in our apartment, but I swear that guinea pigs are the next best thing! They are about a foot long and weigh 3-4 lbs, so they aren't small like hamsters (people get confused about that). They really act like little dogs though, they beg and play and nap and sit on our laps to watch tv! Easier to clean up after though :o) Anyways, I was taking pictures of Piggles sitting on Rob's belly eating lettuce and wanted to share the cuteness! I love the picture when he's all done and has a tiny satisfied look on his face!

Question of the Day!

Where do you shop the most for makeup? Sephora, Ulta, Online stores, Drug stores?

I mostly shop online at small, independent companies (as you probably figured out by now!). But for things like mascara and eyeliner, I find myself going to Ulta more than Sephora. It just seems like the Ulta clerks don't put pressure on me to upsell...No, I just want the Covergirl mascara, I don't need $30 eyelash primer, thank you. Plus, the Sephora by me is in an upscale outdoor mall that makes me feel all...poor? Yeah, poor is probably the best word. The clerks look at me like I'm going to steal something just because I don't have a Louis Vuitton purse like everyone else in there :P

This...Or All This...bareMinerals Get Started Eyes

A silly little fact here...0.02 oz is equal to 0.5 grams. I've found that most samples are at least 1.5 grams (Fyrinnae is a little more than that). I did the money math for both samples and full size products here. It's insanity how much bareMinerals wants you to pay for such a teeny tiny amount! (The Fyrinnae brushes aren't in the polyvore cause I couldn't get them to clip!) I more or less went by the color descriptions and the pictures on the box to find the dupes, since the pictures below don't seem to be accurate with the descriptions at all.

bE get started by LisaKate on Polyvore.com

bareMinerals Get Started Eyes- $49.00

-0.02 oz bareMinerals Eyeshadow in Vanilla Sugar (creamy beige)

- 0.02 oz bareMinerals Eyeshadow in Peach Puff (lush peach)

- 0.02 oz bareMinerals Eyeshadow in Soft Focus Explore (soft brown)

- 0.01 oz bareMinerals Liner Shadow in Fashionista (chocolate raisin)

- Contour Shadow Brush

- Eye Defining Brush

- Eyeliner Brush

OR...

-Aromaleigh Eye Lustre sample in Daphne- The diaphanous sheen of pearlized cream $1.30

-Fyrinnae sample in Cheetah-soft, glowing pale peach $1.75

-The She Space Naughty Neighbor sample- $0.50

-Aromaleigh Pure Eyes Frost in Hazelnut sample- medium deep warm reddish brown $1.30

-Fyrinnae Bamboo Crease Eyeshadow Brush $4.75

-Fyrinnae Bamboo Eyeshadow Brush $4.00

-Fyrinnae Bamboo Angled Eyeliner Brush $3.50

Total for samples and brushes: $17.50

Total for FULL SIZE and brushes: $35.50

Sparkle is my Crack 50 followers contest!!

I am just so amazed and exciting to have gained 50 followers in such a short time! You girls are all wonderful and fun and it's so awesome to be able to talk about makeup with you! There will be 2 main prizes for this contest, therefore 2 winners!

The rules:

1. You must be a follower!

2. If you post about it on your blog, I'll enter you in again (just leave the linky in comments)

3. There must be at least 10 entries for me to give out both prizes. If less, I'll just be giving out the one!

4. You must be in the USA or Canada. As of right now, I just can't afford international shipping charges.

The goods:

Prize package #1- NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in Lime Pearl, Purple Pearl, and White Pearl; NYX Individual Medium Lashes in Medium Black Flare; Heel to Toe Feels Like New Foot Softener 15 grams (This stuff is amazing!), 1.6 oz Angel Food Cupcake Body Butter, 1.6 oz. Lollipop Twist AND your choice of *any* OPI nail color (permanent collection, please!)

Prize package #2- NYX Expose Your Eyes liquid liners in Gold, Platinum, Baby Blue, Salmon, Silver Blue, White, Baby Green, and Navy Blue; Plus your choice of *any* OPI nail color (permanent collection please!)

This will be open until August 7th.

Shopbop pants confuse me...

Problems I have with these pictures...

1. This is a company called "Madewell" and these pants are, in fact, not made well at all

2. The model is probably 6 feet tall in this picture, yet looks oddly stumpy

3. The pants are about 12 inches away from her bellybutton

4. Number 3 makes me feel like her hoohaa is trying to escape

5. Those shoes are really cute, but I don't want them anymore because of the whole hoohaa thing

6. The model's ass looks horrible...how the hell am I going to look good in pants that make a model look bad?

Wanna look like your vag is escaping? Wanna be all stumpy and have no butt? Then these $95 pants are for you!

http://www.shopbop.com/slim-slouch-jeans-madewell/vp/v=1/845524441847957.htm?folderID=2534374302143731&fm=browse-brand-viewall

Am I crazy?? Please, please, please tell me its not just me and that these are horrible? Would you wear them? Am I just out of touch?

You could get this...Or all this...Dior Butterfly

You know those food things they always have in magazines that "You could eat this...OR ALL THIS!" I thought it would be fun to do with some makeup palettes...It's creating a lot of lemmings for me! I think that Longing from Aromaleigh is *ultra* fabulous, I'll definately have to pick that up soon!

dior butterfly by LisaKate on Polyvore.com

Dior 5-colour Eyeshadow in Butterfly for $56

-violet

-light lavender

-black with silver micro-glitter

-gray

-eggplant purple

-*shiver* 2 sponge applicators



OR...



-Aromaleigh Pure Eyes Frost in Orchid- a pinkish-purple hue, the signature color of the rare and precious orchid flower $6.75

-The She Space Pinch of Magic-sheer lilac shimmer $4.50

-The She Space Powdered Diamond Dust in Shards of Glass- silver coated mica on velvet black base $4.50

-Aromaleigh Pure Eyes Frost in Longing- a pale cool mauve/pink toned grey/silver frost $6.75

-The She Space Save the Trolls- darkened purple metal with a crystal sparkle $4.50

-Aromaleigh Small All-Over Eye Brown Faux Luxorious Taklon Brush $5.55



Total: $32.55



+Covergirl Lipslicks Lipgloss in Starlet $3.99

+Covergirl Exact Eyelights Mascara in Black Pearl $7.99

+Rimmel London Mono Powder Blush in Pink Rose $3.29

+China Glaze Nail Laquer with hardeners in Liquid Leather $7.00



Total: $54.82 (with lip color, mascara, blush and nail polish)



Just want the samples? This look will cost ya $4.10.

Question of the Day: Liner

What kind of eyeliner do you use most? Liquid, pencil, kohl, cream, shadow, none at all, etc?Personally I'm a gel/cream girl. I love the versatility of it-how you can smudge it or leave it crisp- and how insanely easy it is to use! Also, I usually tightline my upper waterline and it's a pinch with gel liner. I have bunches of them-Mac, Stila, Lola, Loreal! I'd have to say that Loreal Hip's my favorite though...It doesn't dry out like Stila and gives really intense color. Most of the time I put a shadow on top too to give it a richer (or different) color.

Jungle Awakening (Or "How to look like you spent time on your makeup")

What I used:

-Pure Luxe Awakening

-Rimmel London Kohl Eyes in Jungle Green

-Black Mascara

-Fyrinnae lip lustre in Very Berry Happy

-Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Blush in Rosy Glow

My little trick for looking polished and, um, like I didn't just roll out of bed, is to match an eyeliner and shadow in the same color family. I choose a medium liner (say, a plum or navy) and a light multifaceted shadow (a lavender or baby blue). Matching makes it look like you actually spent the time chosing your makeup (when, ahem, you just woke up). And, since your only using 2 colors, it takes minutes (literally 2) to do this look.

I washed Awakening all over lid to browbone making sure to get the inner vee nice and bright. Then I lined the top and bottom lashlines only with Jungle Green, making a slightly bolder line on top. Curled the lashes, applied mascara and lippie, and thats it! I usually don't wear foundation on days where I'm in a hurry, but I lightly rubbed powder blush on with my fingers (quicker and less likely to overload than a brush). Awakening is a gorgeous color but doesn't show up in film well, it's a very light green with bright green flashes! Definately one of my favorites.

What are your makeup tricks when you don't have much time?

More Sales!

Holy overloaded inbox! There are tons of sales today!

Hautelook has Lancome makeup on sale for the first time ever...Funny I just posted that Lancome sale yesterday, hmm...conspiracy? The Color Design Quad in Mademoiselle Sass (originally $42, only $30 at HL) includes Island Kiss, Simmering, Wear it Well, and Midnight Dance shadows. Definately check this out if you are a Lancome fan! (Ends tomorrow) http://www.hautelook.com/

Beauty Ticket just got in the Stila 8-Piece "Best of Stila" Ulta-mate set (a $143 value, originally $59, only $34.99 at Beauty Ticket). It comes with full size Illuminated Tinted Moisturizer, Major Lash Mascara in Black, Eyeshadows in Kitten, Go Lightly, Wheat, and Mystic, Lip Glaze in ULTAmate pink and a deluxe size of convertable color in Peony. You also get a free Pop Beauty lipgloss with purchase!

http://beautyticket.com/stila8-pieceultamateseta143value-1-1.aspx

Cherry Culture has FREE SHIPPING!! Thats my major point in not ordering from them...normally the shipping is ultra expensive (Through July 31st). They have the new NYX Runway Collection 10 color eye shadow palettes for $9! I'm thinking of getting Champagne & Caviar collection...it looks like a beautiful mix of neutrals. I need a nice palette for when I go out of town since it's definately not easy hauling a bunch of loose jars! I am *way* too clumsy for that! But, of course, CC is out of stock right now...so hopefully they'll get more in before the sale ends! http://www.cherryculture.com/

Fyrinnae Haulage!

I know I've already posted a few looks using my new Fyrinnae haul, but I wanted to post the total thing too! I only spent $39 and I think I got a lot for that amount! It was during a 20% off sale and they always have free shipping over $20 Internationally!! The eyeshadow samples come in 3 gram jars and are very generously filled (we're talking almost the whole way).

This is what I hauled:

Full size lip lustre in Very Berry Happy

Full size lip lustre in Mega-Hold

Full size lip lustre in Lickable

Crease bamboo eyeshadow brush

Mini Inks eyeliner in Thunderstorm

Mini Inks eyeliner in Brazen Burgandy

Sir Loin of Beef shadow sample

Melty shadow sample

Atomic Afterglow shadow sample

Koala shadow sample

Ashes shadow sample

Glass Coffin shadow sample

The Fancy Lad shadow sample

Sea Turtle shadow sample

The Flying Scotsman shadow sample

Biker Chic shadow sample

Freya shadow sample

Anaconda shadow sample

Changeling FREE shadow sample

The verdict: All in all, I am really loving everything I got.

The lip lustres are a little confusing to order, since the website pics aren't always that accurate. All 3 colors looked alike on the site, but (after reading the descriptions) I still purchased them and they are very different and amazing. Very Berry Happy is a milky pale pink, while Mega-Hold is a tinge on the lavender side. Lickable ended up being a little darker than I thought, it almost looks like the color of my lips but better! I only have 6 lustres now, but I'll definately be swatching them (along with the rest of this haul) soon. The lustres are a combination of a stain and a lipstick. They feel a little waxy when you put them on, but they dry quickly and last a long time. I really like them because a lot of the other stains I've tried (ahem, Covergirl, cough) dried out my lips. Plus, they smell like heaven. Seriously. Each one has it's own carefully crafted scent like berries and champagne or cafe mocha.

Fyrinnae shadows are silky smooth and these are no exception. I love how each shadow is special in some way- there is no "taupe", it's "greyed out taupe with red flashes". I really think that it's the little things that make makeup fun and Fyrinnae definately helps with that. Even if you don't want to wear bright blue, you can still find an interesting shadow.

I *heart* Changeling, the free shadow. It's divine, a dark purple with large gold flecks. I know it will be a perfect eyeliner! Getting free shadows is so fun because they actually put effort into picking them. They see what you order and chose a color based on that. (So you'll never get a pink shadow if you only order neutrals).

Eh, I was a *tinge* disappointed in Melty though...I guess because I'm so fair, the "swatches on the tanned person" don't apply to me. It isn't the soft, shimmery melon color I thought, it's more of a BRIGHT BOLD MELON on me! I'll still wear it, but not as often. That will probably end up in the land of forgotten pigments. Every other color is really pretty and close to the pictures.

I also like how they have the mini Inks liners (2 mL) because I have one large Inks liner (10 mL) and I know I'll never finish it! Thunderstorm is a bit blue-gray (to me) and I think I'll end up using it frequently since it's such an unusual color. You never really see people wearing gray liner (at least not in Ohio!). Brazen Burgandy is, of course, beautiful. It is exactly what it should be-a deep plummy red. This will look great with some dusty green shadow.

The crease brush is, by far, my new favorite! It's firm, yet still has some give, and works well for blending without getting rid of color. The size is actually pretty large. The handle is about the size of a pencil, which I like. I also have an eyeliner and an eyeshadow brush from them and I like those too. I'll be posting about my brushes soon (once my lazy butt gets up and washes them!)

Disclaimer: I don't want you to think I get stuff for free from ANY company. I'm being honest and it might seem like I bash some companies and love some others, but that's just my opinion. I think it's awesome that some bloggers get free makeup, but I don't always trust that opinion...I think if I got free makeup, I'd have to say nice things that I may not mean. Hopefully this won't offend anyone though, I'm new to the scene so maybe things aren't the way I thought....but, I pay for all my own makeup and my opinion will never be biased! (Sorry, I just wanted to add that in)

Do you like Fyrinnae? Have you hauled lately? Do you trust bloggers who get free makeup and review it? (Surely I'm not the only one?)

New Daily Feature: Question of the Day!

I wanted to create a daily post where I could get to know the habits of my readers a little bit more...and so they could get to know me. I hope that we can all learn some tips and tricks and favorites from eachother!

If you could pick only one company to buy your eyeshadow (or pigments) from, what would it be?

My answer...This is tough, but it would have to be theshespace.com. I literally have 100+ and their shadows are smooth and they have pretty much every color you could want!

Lancome Sale!

I don't actually wear Lancome makeup, but still wanted to share the goodies!

Enter promo code LUCKYGIFT at checkout (with a purchase of $35) to get:

-Full Size Color Design Lipcolor in The New Pink (looks fab!)

-Deluxe sample of Blush Subtil Duo in Shimmer Mocha Haven and Aplum

-Effacil Gentle Eye Makeup Remover

-Deluxe sample of Virtuose Lasting Curve Mascara

-Super cute silver cosmetics bag

Also, if you are a Lucky Rewards member, you will get 13% cash back!

The Flying Anaconda

What I used:

-Fyrinnae Flying Scotsman- deep coppery-peachy-dusty-rose, very shimmery and metallic

-Pure Luxe Tiger's Eye- brown base with secondary golden beige shimmer and a hint of green

-Fyrinnae Anaconda from Endangered Collection- matte deep, dark green

-Fyrinnae Lip lustre in Lickable- soft, shimmery beige-peach, applies semi sheer with *delicious* berries and champagne scent

-Hip Color Truth Cream Eyeliner in Black

-Covergirl Lash Blast in Black (I use this daily)

-TFSI (daily)

-EDM foundation in Cool Fair (another daily!)

Fyrinnae Flying Scotsman is a redonkulously beautiful color. I had a dress from Walmart (tee hee) that matched it perfectly so I decided to try it out for dinner tonight with the sister-in-law & her husband. I also used my new crease brush from Fyrinnae and, again, it is awesome! It's slightly firm and pointed and worked way better than my Essence of beauty or Aveda crease brushes. (Sorry for the blurry pic!)

I started by putting Tiger Eye all over lid and browbone to create a slightly shimmery base. Then I used The Flying Scotsman in my crease and outer vee and blended. I tightlined the top waterline with black gel liner. I also put liner on the outer 1/3rd of my lower lashline and blended it to the middle. I used Anaconda over the black liner and put a little more Tigers Eye in the inner vee.

How was your weekend? Have you tried out Fyrinnae's brushes at all?