Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Rainbow Sprinkle Snickerdoodle

Seriously, say that out loud, it's tons of fun, I've been sing-songing it all day, haha

Today I decided I really, REALLY wanted snickerdoodle cookies. Enough to actually make them myself. So I went to my favorite baking website and scouted out a recipe for these delicious works of heaven. I baked my cookies for the longer, ten minute time and they came out a little darker than I prefer, but still very soft (even after cooling) so if you prefer them lighter go for the 8 minute time. This recipe makes what I call an airy snickerdoodle cookie, perfect for dipping in milk because it's less dense, making it soak the milk right up- Yum!!
Now being the crafty person that I am, I couldn't look past my bottle of rainbow star sprinkles while struggling with the flour in the cupboard. So those, of course, ended up on top. And so I give you, Rainbow Sprinkle Snickerdoodles <3


Three tips for Make up N00bs

Here are a couple of tips for girls (and boys) who are new to the make up world :]

First things first; your skin is the foundation of your make up so you need to take care of it!


images from 'Making Faces'

Before applying any kind of make up you should always wash and EXFOLIATE your face and neck. Exfoliating your face is one of the most important components to flawless coverage. When I myself was a n00b to make up I didnt realize how important it was; I just knew that halfway through the day my make up would start to get splotchy and nothing I did made this stop. Until someone told me I needed to exfoliate more often. Seems simple, but I seriously had no idea that just washing my face was not enough. I wouldn't recommend exfoliating EVERY day because your skin does need time to recover from the process, but every other day works perfectly for me.

Another important procedure for pre-make up application is moisturizing; even if (or especially if) you have oily skin! The moisturizer, again, helps create a smooth, even surface for your make up and also helps protect the skin. The reason moisturizing is important for oily skin is that the drier your skin is, the more your body tries to make up for it by producing MORE OIL. Long story short, moisturizing actually keeps your skin less oily.

My last tip for make up newbies is blending. Whether you're applying eyeshadow or foundation, blending is key to a flawless finish. If there's one thing that irks me more than anything, it's a painfully obvious line right round the face and along the jawline where you can actually see that someone has applied make up. The purpose of foundation is to naturally improve the appearance of the skin, not to create a mask.
unless you're actually creating a mask. Like this one,


otherwise that terrible line is off limits and can be avoided by
-wearing a shade of foundation that matches your skin tone and
-brushing powder foundation over the hairline, ears and neckline

Are there any tips you have for people new to make up?

<3

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Birthday Present!

So this year for my birthday my lovely boyfriend bought me an amazing birthday present; the Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencil 15 year collection. That's 15 different colors of my favorite water proof eye liner pencil. These colors literally glide on with a soft, highly pigmented formula that stays put all day- and night.

I wanted to play with all of them so I decided to jut do a review and show you guys some swatches :]



sorry the left side is kind of dark :<< This is a picture I took inside with incandescent lighting.



This is a picture in natural lighting :D
**Edit**
I just noticed the first and third labels are swapped. The color labeled as Stray dog is actually Bourbon and the one labeled bourbon is actually stray dog. Sorry for the confusion D:

I've labeled the colors and tomorrow I'll give a more in depth description of each; right now it's bed time x.x

Okay it's tomorrow! 8D
-stray dog; A dark taupe with a silver sparkle
-Corrupt; medium to dark chocolate brown also with plenty of sparkle
-Bourbon; A warm brown, a little on the bronze side with golden sparle
-Midnight cowboy; a shimmery, champagney nude with sparkle
(most of them are sparkly in case you havent gotten that yet..)
-Baked; A true bronze color
-Stash; a dark olive green with a gold-ish shimmer (also sparkle)
-Mildew; Dark forest green with green sparkle
-perversion; As black as black can be. Matte and completely opaque, no sparkle (seriously, I thought zero was black but perversion is not messing around)
-Electric; As it's name states, a bright electric blue (a slight bit on the teal side) with a little sparkle
-Binge; Shimmery navy blue with a very slight touche of purple (a little less opaque than most of the others)
-Ransom; True purple, not much shimmer or sparkle
-asphyxia; (my favorite) I'm not really sure what to call this color, it's like a bright fuchsia with tons of turquoise sparkle.
-Rockstar; very similar to corrupt. A darker chocolate brown with little to no sparkle and just a little sheen
-Zero; A basic black with the tiniest bit of sheen to it
-Uzi; gun metal gray equipped with plenty of sparkle.

Yay! Needless to say this set of eyeliners is a bit of an investment at almost $100, but the possibilities are endless with the number of colors you get to play with :]

What color is your favorite?

A Smart Investment

As most of my readers know I'm a veteran cosplayer as well as being a make up artist. Today I'd like to combine my two loves and share with my fellow (not-so-veteran cosplayers) a few of the things in my make up kit that may be a bit of an investment (aka costly), but I find absolutely essential to good photographs and cosplays

Item number one; Primer
This includes both face and eyelid primer! Primer is something that goes on after you've exfoliated and applied moisturizer and before your actual make up. Face primer helps to fill in imperfections and fine lines but also creates a smooth base for your foundation (creating an even, long lasting application) The same can be said for an eye lid primer. (yes, you need both, they are different) The eye lid primer creates an even base for your eyeshadow, making the colors appear more vibrantly. It also keeps your eye shadow from creasing in the eyelid if the shadow is to be worn for a long period of time.

Some primers I recommend are
-the smashbox face primer. I like this product because it WORKS. It may seem expensive but the bottle pictured will probably last you an entire year; a VERY little goes a very long way. The other main reason I really like this primer is because it comes in a variety of colors. My face has a tendency towards redness in the cheeks and the green primer diminishes this completely.

-The other product I'm very fond of is the Urban Decay Primer potion I can put this on my eyelids and my eyeshadow stays put for up to 20 hours of heat and sweat and photographs.



the next product I can't live without is a setting or high definition powder.
This is basically a fine, white or skin toned powder that applies invisible.
Okay, it's invisible, so then what's it's purpose??
To save you from greasy t-zone syndrome and 'it's a hundred degrees and my make up is melting off my face' The setting powder helps decrease shine in photographs and also keep your make up together

My favorite setting powder is made by Make up Forever sephora.com states that Make up for ever's HD powder, "Sets the foundation and slightly mattifies skin without changing its natural contours. This 100% mineral silica powder softens the appearance of imperfections. Completely evens out the complexion for a glowing, radiant look. One universal shade for all skin tones."


A base and a top coat; it's elementary dear Watson.

A rose among snowflakes; mini update


I was on the sugarpill website again recently and found another tutorial by toxikandi.
The name of her tutorial was ruby gloom and This is the look I came up with, using the burning heart and sweet heart palettes from sugar pill, along with my favorite Urban decay white shade: Uzi. :]
I won't make a tutorial with this look because I used someone else's tutorial to do it, so please don't ask <3

You can click on the photo for a full view.

Friday, April 8, 2011

NYX jumbo eye pencil

So after a frustrating two weeks to trying to acquire one of these things in 'milk' (the white shade) I've finally gotten my little paws on one.
I personally LOVE this pencil. The color goes on smooth and opaque. The only warning I would give you is to ignore the 'non creasing' advertisement. This pencil WILL crease if worn all day or without an eyelid primer (with the primer its fantastic though!)

I decided it was time to play and came up with this lovely blue and white look; hope you enjoy! :]



The products used were
-NYX jumbo pencil in Milk
-Lime crime eye shadow in shoe addict and pompadour
-Sugarpill pressed eyeshadow in poisonplum
-UD primer potion, pressed eyeshadow in uze and 24/7 eye pencil in zero
-Sephora's advanced lash booster

If you'd like a tutorial on this look please let me know :]
-P.L.U.R-

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Cause you're hot and you're cold

I was watching a bunch of tutorials on the sugarpill website and the inspired me to get to some make up...
I used the black eyeshadow base from the bubble goth tutorial and the application patter from the tutorial by Toxikandi This was my result.

I apologize for the not so great photo quality. I haven't mastered the art of getting my colors to come out quite as vivid in photograph as they are in real life :(
in this look I've used the following products on my eyes
-Urban decay potion primer
-Urban decay's 'Perversion' as seen in the NYC book of shadows
-Lime crime's Pompadour
-LC's pink poodle (I think that's what it's called.. I cant read the bottom and it's not on their website anymore..)
-LC's Circus girl
-A bright red by Kryolan that's like five years old.
-UD Uzi for highlght
-Hard candy liquid eyeliner (from walmart lawll)
-UD 24/7 waterproof eyeliner pencil in zero (waterline only)
- pink and black falsies from ebay like three years ago

yay! If anyone has any tips on how to mke my colors come out more vividly pleaseeee send me an email! I'm a make up artist, not a photographer, so I can use all the help I can get! :]

PLUR<3
-Kitty