Important Update

Hey everyone!

My blog has been so inactive lately! I'm very sorry for this and I try to come up with interesting posts for you guys as often as I can. However, I haven't had a lot of time lately because of the end of semester work that my classes have given me. Alongside the work, I haven't had enough money to put into buying new products for reviews on my blog.

At least until the end of the semester, I'm going to be on a bit of a hiatus (we'll see how that goes; every time I say that I magically come up with a billion posts to write!).

HOWEVER. I have some exciting news! Part of the reason why I haven't done well at recording and posting videos for my followers is because I've been living in my aunt and uncle's house since I got here. It's been a temporary situation and I haven't had good filming areas or equipment. But I'll be moving into a house with my brother at the beginning of April if all goes well! This means that I can finally unpack everything (all my stuff from England will be arriving soon too!) and get a little office set up, as well as a makeup area! So I can start to take my blogging more seriously.

Also keep in mind that I run several other blogs, so I'm trying to keep up with a lot of things all at once! The main other blog that I'm trying to keep up with is my film blog (I'm a film student) and that requires a hell of a lot of work.

Bare with me! By the middle or end of April I'm hoping so have a tutorial-filming area put together and my iMac to edit on instead of my laptop. I promise to have more regular posts then :)

Random Trick: Toothpaste as Skincare

A couple of years back, I heard/read about people using toothpaste as a solution to getting rid of acne. Initially, I thought this was weird, as I think most of you would too. Because my skin had been in great condition up until moving out of Holland, I never bothered to try the toothpaste trick. However, because of getting used to a different climate for the second time in a year, my skin has gone crazy. I'm about ready to try anything at this point.

So, on Tuesday I decided to finally try it. I just grabbed the toothpaste that I happen to be using right now (make sure it's not a whitening toothpaste as these can irritate the skin) and put a layer of that all over any breakouts on my face after I washed my face that night. I left it on for the whole night since it dries pretty fast and doesn't get on pillows or anything.

The next morning I noticed a big enough difference in my skin to make this a regular acne treatment for my skin. It didn't heal anything entirely or make breakouts disappear, but it definitely helped a lot more than some of the other things I've tried. I've used it on my skin since then every night and my skin is looking a lot better than it has in the past couple of weeks.

Because toothpaste is minty, it does make your skin tingle quite a bit, but it doesn't hurt or burn. If it is burning your skin, you shouldn't leave it overnight as it may be too strong a toothpaste or your skin too sensitive. Also, as with anything you put on your skin, if your skin seems to be reacting badly, stop using it straight away. I would be more careful with the toothpaste since it isn't a product meant for your face (there's no way you'd be able to get money back either if your skin had a bad reaction since it's meant to be used on your teeth, not your face).

Anyways! It's something that I'm going to be using on my skin when I have bad breakouts from now on, so it's definitely something to try out if you've been having bad luck with skincare. Do your research though and test small patches of skin before you put it all over your face! Be careful :)

Tutorial: Wintery Blues

Another tutorial! 

First of all, I apologize for the less-than-great quality of both my video and my photos. I film off of my MacBook because that's the only way I can see if I'm in camera or not. My point-and-shoot, though it has amazing quality in comparison to my computer, is just too hard to ensure that I stay in the screen. I've tried a couple of different set-ups, but unfortunately, this is the only way I have to film tutorials. 

When I'm filming, I'm using a mirror that stands slanted, like I picture frame. This makes me have to face down so I can see myself in the mirror. Therefore, I again apologize for any time when I may lean too far down and you can't see everything I'm doing. I'm working on fixing this and will be investing in a better mirror soon. 

Finally, I apologize for the photos. I use my point-and-shoot, which I love and it takes amazing pictures, but I'm one of those people who has a billion bad angles on camera (not so much in person necessarily). So this doesn't help me take good pictures (I broke my nose years ago and it never got fixed; crooked nose does not like to make appearances on the internet). Though that's just me being whiny! :) Mainly, it's difficult for me to get a good photo of my full-face makeup because I, again, can't see what's in the screen, and the lighting in my room (the sun) isn't very reliable. I'm also working on this. 

So! These were the only half-decent pictures I was able to get this time. Hopefully the colour isn't too washed out and you can see what it looked like for the most part! Also, I added transition effects in the editing cuts, as well as the name of my blog in the bottom right corner; should they stay or should they go? 

Products Used:

Eyes:

Two Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Milk'

Inglot Eyeliner Gel Matte #88

Inglot Freedom System Shadow in 'Matte 367'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Illegal Cargo'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Warm & Smoky'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Idol Eyes'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Snowball'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in 'Perversion'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in 'Binge'

L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in 'Waterproof' 

Cheeks: 

Benefit Face Powder in 'Hervana'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Phloof!'

Lips:

MAC Frost Lipstick in 'Soft Sable'

MAC Dazzleglass in 'Pleasure Principle'

Tutorial: Neutral Purple

Products Used: 

Eyes:

Two Faced Shadow Insurance

BH Cosmetics 120 Palette: 

Inglot Freedom System Shadow in 'D.S.496'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in 'Perversion'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in 'Ransom'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in 'Stray Dog' 

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Milk' 

L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in 'Clean Definition'

Cheeks:

Benefit Face Powder in 'Hervana'

Lips:

Stila Lip Glaze in 'Grapefruit 07'

Brown & Bronze + First Real Tutorial!

FIRST REAL VIDEO TUTORIAL IN 6 MONTHS!
If you can even call my half-assed attempt at a tutorial from 6 months ago a proper video at all haha! I don't think it even counts.

So I decided to go ahead and film a tutorial for once because, let's face it, a lot of people prefer to see videos than have to read a lot. So I'm going to be trying this out once in awhile. I can't promise that it will become a regular thing (especially since I'm never alone in the house and I would rather nobody be there to hear me talking to myself lol) but I will definitely be doing a video here and there. As long as these are well received and not completely dumped on!


So! Here's the look!

I'm very sorry the quality of the photos isn't very good, but my lighting (or lack of) wasn't cooperating. So my computer webcam is going to have to do for now.


Product List: 


Primer: 
Two Faced Shadow Insurance


Shadows:
MAC Paint Pot in 'Constructivist'
Urban Decay's shadow in 'Chase'
Inglot Matte #
Inglot D.S. #


Eyeliners:
Stila Smudgestick in 'Stingray'
Urban Decay's 24/7 Liner in 'Corrupt'


Mascara: 
L'Oreal Telescopic Waterproof


Blush: 
Benefit's Face Powder in 'Dallas'


Lips (applied before video):
ChapStick (Apple flavoured!)

Happy Halloween!

Now, Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. However, this time I have no parties to go to and nobody except my mom to celebrate (I'm moving in a month and don't know anybody here!). So this year, rather than dress up completely for no reason, I decided just to do an orangey eyeshadow. I did end up putting on a black maxi dress and will add some black lipstick later for the benefit of the trick or treaters though :) I'll vaguely resemble a witch haha!


Here is the look!

It's simple because obviously I'm just staying at home, but I didn't want to do nothing!


Face: 
Garnier B.B. Cream
Benefit powder in 'Dallas'


Shadows:
Two Faced Shadow Insurance
Urband Decay's shadow in 'Flow'
BH Cosmetics 120 Palette 2nd Edition (most of the oranges from the 2nd row)
Inglot eyeshadow in a shimmery white


Eyeliner & Mascara: 
MAC Fluidline in 'Blacktrack'
Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliner in 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Corrupt'
Stila Smudgestick in 'Stingray'
L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in 'Waterproof'


Most of the orange shadows I used were just to make sure the colours blended out nicely, no necessarily for their actual colour. It's simple, but I hope you enjoy it :)

Staying Classy (Or trying to)

I joined my mom on one of her interviews for her dissertation. Because it was a pretty fancy deal (slacks and heel people, both things which I rarely ever wear) I decided to do my makeup in a more classy way that usual. So, for the first time ever, I decided to go with winged black liner and red lips! This was the result: 

I took the picture on my computer webcam, so I apologise if the quality makes any detail difficult to see. 

Products Used: 

Eyes: 

MAC Cosmetics Fluidline in Blacktrack

L'Oreal Telescopic Clean Definition Mascara

Rimmel London Kohl Pencil in Jet Black

Lips:

MAC Cosmetics Frost Lipstick in New York Apple

I've never done winged liner, purely because I suck at doing it and making both eyes look the same. After this little experience I'm going to watch some tutorials and practice a little more before I do this kind of look again! 

New :)

Hi :) 
I'm a beauty blogger from tumblr and recently decided that I wanted to change over to blogspot. I love tumblr, but I'll be giving this a try instead. The layout of things here is more convenient for my blog. 


A little bit about how and when I started getting interested in makeup: 
The first makeup video I ever saw was done by the singer/songwriter Skye Sweetnam. I was just about sixteen. After that, I realised that doing awesome makeup didn't require going to a beauty counter and having a professional do it for you; with enough practice, you could do it yourself at home. I immediately became more interested in makeup and started investing in MAC eyeshadows and lipstick. 


Just before I moved to England (I was eighteen) I discovered the makeup company Sugarpill through Skye Sweetnam. From there, they had links to tutorials on YouTube that used their products. That's where I found Leesha, the brains behind the blog xsparkage.com. She is still my top favourite makeup guru today and I highly recommend her to anyone with even a remote interest in beauty. 


Once in England, I discovered a handful of other beauty gurus and soon became completely addicted. My collection grew and I started my beauty tumblr on May 7th, 2011. Since then, I've been posting small haul posts, with the occasional makeup look. Only in the past couple of months (it's now September 4th, 2011) did I really start to put more effort into my looks. I'm practicing more and using brighter and crazier colours. I have yet to wear a super crazy look outside the house, but I'm getting there slowly. 


I have a beautylish account where I've posted a video doing the 'Five Minute Makeup Challenge', which is the only video I've done so far. I may start doing more videos as I get more experienced, but because lighting and camera quality are so important, I'm waiting until I have the money, etc. to set up a good filming area. 


For the moment, I plan on continuing my beauty blog, with the aim of moving over to making videos with more experience. Hopefully you guys enjoy my stuff :)