Turquoise & Sparkly

Christmas Eve Eyes: Cinderella Look with Aromaleigh

2011-12-25T13:29:00.000-08:00

I used this tutorial by a Disney World CM, more or less. I think next time I'll forego the Darling Girl glitterglue.

Inner corner out: Sylph, Tangled Tinsel, Pherenice, Late for Work. For the "real" look I would need a neutral brown along the crease, thick black liquid eyeliner, and a crapload of mascara, but I didn't want to do any neutral and I find liquid eyeliner intimidating. And well. Yeah.

FotD: BRM Stardust

2011-09-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE AWFUL HAIR IN THESE PICTURES???? It's actually adorable in person. =/ Maybe I'll start croppping them.

FOTDs: Two by two, EYES of blue!

2011-09-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

Once again I didn't have to post yesterday's so I'm throwing it in with today's.

Yesterday's look was BRM Lioness, Rapunzel, and Indy with Ocean Potion as a liner. O.P. matched the scarf.

And for today, I decided to sample the mattes. I was really surprised how much better they blend than the other colours I'm used to using. I blended Bonehead and Giza because on it's own Giza was too yellow. I have Cairo along the crease, and Indy on the outside. I really love how it looks, but I learned a very important lesson today: Corbyjane is not a "matte" person. They'll still work really well for performances, though. Which is what I bought them for! =D

2 FOTDs for the price of one!

2011-09-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what's up with my bangs yesterday and today... but it was NOT attractive. The makeup shows nicely though.

All over DG primer and glitter glue/sticky base/mixing medium (I feel like just calling it "glitter glue" gives a false impression...)

YESTERDAY: (from inside out) BRM Lioness, Rapunzel, and some AL Frumious for good measure. Uhmmm and Bonehead right under the brow.
Remind me to swatch Lioness with Biscotti, because they are VERY similar.

Today: AL Butterfly Kisses, BRM Titania and Oraculum. Really liking both of those last ones.

I need some lighter shades from BRM... almost everything I purchased was in the midtone to dark range.

In summary: my hair sucks but my makeup is FIERCE. I can't wait to try out the glitters soon!

Black Rose Minerals

2011-09-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

EEEEE! The long dramatic rant on why I didn't get this Saturday (MY MAIL MAN DIDN'T COME I MEAN WTF) isn't really necessary at the moment, so in short.... my BRM order came today. I'm too excited for all this to really do a long post, but here are swatches and initial impressions. :)

My order was too cute... not pictured is the personalised silver and black card in a little cute envelope with her business card and a BUTTLOAD of stickers. The My Little Pony glitter sticker is now on my laptop (it's silver and glittery, too), we gave the turtle sticker to my mom, the sushi sticker to my sister, and I gave one to my cat to play with... he got it stuck on the end of his whisker and FREAKED out, it was hysterical.

So I got Night Sky, Pacific Oil Slick, Lioness, Gargle Blaster, Titania, Magic, Rapunzel, Peritwinkle, A Forest, Stardust, Giza, Cairo, Indy, and Bonehead for me. My sister got Sweet Pea and Basilisk and I got Lady for miNao. My freebies were Ocean Potion and Oraculum.

Onto the SWATCHES:

(flash, inside)

Normalsauce: Vertical swatches: Lady, Ocean Potion, Night Sky, Pacific Oil Slick, Lioness, Gargle Blaster, Titania, Magic, Sweet pea, Rapunzel, Peritwinkle, Basilisk, Oraculum
Mattes/mattelike: Horizontal swatches on right, bottom to top: Indy, Cairo, Giza, and Bonehead
Glitter across the top: A Forest, Stardust

All of them swatched with a damp brush over Darling Girl glitter glue. I was worried the mattes might not be able to stand on their own, so I put them over DG Stay the Day primer, but I needn't have bothered, they're just as pigmented as the others.

Teal Tones:

Lady: "A beautiful shimmery blue-green with a gold shimmer. Like the Lady of legend, it's both mysterious and appealing. Recommended wet of course, dry brings out the beautiful shimmer." It's exactly as described. A really pretty aqua with flecks of gold. Naomi's gonna love it.

Ocean Potion: "Glistening, bright, and blue just like the ocean on a far away isle. A beautiful shimmery aquamarine. True to color wet and dry." My free sample, it's the colour of the afternoon sky. A bright vivid blue, like the colour of true turquoise. :)

Night Sky: "Vincent would be proud of this deep blue hue. Aquamarine and blue tones glisten and shine at the same time, with a touch of green shimmer. Great color coverage both wet and dry, recommended for use with a sticky base." Confession session: I bought this because I just bought a teal sweater this colour. And I LOVE it, it'll be a great liner. I especially like the aqua twinkle it has in the sun.

Pacific Oil Slick: "There's something fishy about this one. A black base with a blue green shimmer. Just like that tar ball that washed up on the beach! Worn wet, it has an iridescent green sheen and dry for a smoky eye with a touch of shine and shimmer." I admit it, I bought it for the creative name and description. But it looks JUST like a puddle in the parking lot... only in a good way. >.< (Seriously, am I the only child who stared at the spot under leaky vehicles going, "oooooh... it's soooo beautiful!"?)

Natural light, inside

Gold Tones

Lioness: "ROAR!!!! A light golden beige with just enough shimmer for the beast in all of us. Wear it wet for a glossy neutral or wear dry just like the grasslands of the savanna." This one is a great neutral with a shimmer to it... you can hardly see it in the swatch but it's a lovely shimmery tan. Reminds me of Aromaleigh Ciao Italia's Biscotti.

Gargle Blaster: "You might say that this shade is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. This is a true bright gold that shimmers and has fantastic color saturation. Wear it dry for a shimmery finish and wet to bring out a bright metallic sheen." Such a lovely gold. It's a little more orange than I was expecting, but seriously lovely gold.

Natural light, outside

Mauve Tones

I have a billion different shades of pink/purple, and I kind of expected all four of these to look exactly alike. And when I pulled them out of the package, it looked like I was right. But when I swatched them, they all showed their true, very different, colours.

Titania: "A gossamer lavender, this divine shade is delicate, but not understated. A mauvy tone, it borders between lavender and a rosy pink. Sheer when dry, shimmery when wet." I'm a sucker for mauve. Such a complete sucker. This is PERFECT and it's a midtone version of my favourite sweater, which I think is totally awesome. A faint touch of gold sparkle.

Magic:, "Presto! This shade borders on pink and lavender. Light and delicate with shimmery blue highlights. Dry has a sheer finish, while wet brings a deeper pinky-violet metallic finish." Another mauve, my sister urged me to get this one. More blue than Titania, but a similar concept.

Sweet Pea: "Reminiscent of the flower of the same name. A delicate pink bordering on the edge of lavender with a very shimmery finish. Appears true to color both wet and dry." Pink with vivid silver violet shift. So pretty!

Rapunzel: "Let down your hard and revel in this delicate and light pink with fantastic golden shimmer highlights when worn dry. Wear it wet to see it change completely to a true rosy gold with a delicate shine." Another colour I bought for the name, it's bronze, reminds me of rose gold. I love it!

Sunshine, outside

Peritwinkle: "Twinkle, twinkle, you’re a star! This slightly sheer borders between baby blue and lavendar, A touch of goldish orange duochrome gives the slightest glow when dry. Wear it wet to bring out the metallic tone and make the golden orangish highlight pop even more." Very baby blue, it's got a heart of pink though. So cute!

Basilisk: "Deep iridescent metallic mossy green. This serpent shimmers and glistens with touch of silver glitter. Wears well both dry and wet. More metallic when worn wet." Exactly as described. I like the silver glitter.

Oraculum: I can't find this one on the website! But if I had to guess I'd say a midtone mauvey purple.

Mattes/Mattelike

I like these... they aren't as textured and diverse as the others, but mattes serve an important purpose, and I think these will do nicely.

Indy: "We named the dog Indiana, but we saved this brave matte just for you. A sultry, earthen brown, this color is great for any adventure you might find yourself if – be it exploring hidden temples or fighting Nazis. True to color wet or dry, we love the texture of our gorgeous mattes!" It's brown. I don't know that there's too much to say about it. It will make a great shadow for shows.

Cairo: "Mummies, buried treasure, mirages… None, nearly exciting as this shade. This matte is a dark ochre hue with fantastic color coverage wet and dry." Golden sandy brown.

Giza: "What secrets do these pyramids hold? Only you will know for sure. This matte golden tan has terrific texture and is a bit darker dry and wet." Dusty mocha brown.

Bonehead: "A creamy crème white bordering on matte. Worn best dry as a base for color or alone for neutral effects. P.S. It has just a slight smidge of shimmer." Great highlight colour. Not gonna lie, I cannot see the shimmer. Which is fine with me! :)

Glitters:

(When I opened my package, both glitters had kind of separated in their bags, but a quick shake and everything was totally mixed and blended again)

A Forest: "An explosion of bright green, lime green and holo glitters! Great on your peepers, but also great in many other applications." HOLY CRAP. I wish I'd had this this summer. It looks like someone put the Emerald City in a blender and made a glitter. It's got silver and light green and dark green and jade green and lime green and holographic gold/pinky glitter and omg I just want this in my SOUL.

Stardust: "A glitter explosion of purple, pink and ocean blue! Great on your peepers, but also great in many other applications." This one caught me by surprise because I was thinking it would just be shades of purple. Boy was I wrong, the overall look may be purple but it is ALSO pink and blue and turquoise and silver and a surprising blue green shift.

In summary: OMG. So shopping experience was lovely, the website is simple and easy to use.

Prices are about standard for indie makeup even before factoring in everything being on sale; I can't speak to the shipping prices since the sale offered me free shipping. I received automatic order confirmation seconds after placing my order and got an email from the seller the next day offering a personal confirmation. I emailed her a day later because I wanted to know if I'd be getting any tracking info and heard from her within no time at all.

My order was shipped well within the stated turn around time (which I THINK without looking it up is 2-12 days?) and I was indeed provided a tracking number so I could stalk my package appropriately.

My order was shipped Thursday and if my mailman had any heart at all would have arrived Saturday, but for whatever reason my TIN MAN OF A MAIL MAN decided to just not come AT ALL that day, and I am SO giving him crappy cookies and cheap wine this Christmas.

The colours are vivid and unique, accurate to the website, and totally awesome. I will definitely return, and I think I'm going to try and get a few for a giveaway. :)

ETA 9.19.11, 3.01 PM: OH! Everything is really clearly marked what it is and isn't safe for, i.e., "Not Lip Safe". Also, on the website on the glitters there's this disclaimer: "Just make sure to use extra caution and not get it in your eye ball. And if irritation occurs discontinue use on the eyes. This is a multi-purpose glitter, you can use it on your nails, face, add a little in your hair gel, in your lotion, etc." Which is wise.

The End.

Remember Aromaleigh?

2011-09-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

This will be crossposted to Farfalla but I want to make sure the word gets out. AROMALEIGH IS BACK ~~ISH~~.
Kristen is selling off remaining stock at Dormant Dream. Looks like she's got Mythos, Spells, Wonderstruck, and Astronomical. You can see my swatches of the first three on T&S: Spells!, Mythos, Wonderstruck.

See all my Aromaleigh looks here.

What didja buy? =D

2011-09-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

I've no idea if it's common knowledge outside the states, but this past weekend was Labour Day and so we had a three-day weekend. In true commercialism style, this is a time of retail sales--that is, thousands of stores had sales and forced all their employees to labour, thus defeating the whole purpose of a holiday dedicated to workers. Oy.

Anyways. My sister and I got quite a lot done! I "supervised" the cleaning and reorganisation of our bedroom, touched up my glitter shoes (which got kind of destroyed in Minnesota), we went through our closets and I finally accepted that I am no longer an XS or a size zero in anything, and it is highly unlikely I will ever have a 28" waist ever again. So we also dropped off some of our dearly departed clothing at miNao and Audreeeeeeey's and a few other places, and hopefully they will get much use out of them, because some of them have been sitting in my bottom drawer since like summer 2009.

I got bored of watching Hannah cleaning the room so in between cleaning we went shopping.

We went to Whole Foods and I got cheese and ice cream and yogurt. We went to Borders and I got Sutton Foster's new CD. We went to Forever 21 and I bought nothing, but the next day we went to Forever 21 and I got a teal sweater with glitter in it (it was amazing... and like $7). We went to Wet Seal and I got bored. We went to Hot Dog On A Stick and I got CHERRY LEMONADE IT'S LIKE THE BEST STUFF EVER and I had my first ever interaction with a mentally challenged person without freaking out (long story that makes me sound like an evil awful person but I was basically followed around by a person with Down's from age 11 to 17 and have kind of a complex and I KNOW it makes me a terrible person but you know what, you'd be frightened too) which is progress. And then we went home and had ice cream. The next day we went to the SPCA and I fell in love with all the kittens but didn't buy any (your time will come I swear!!!).

Aaaaaaand online shopping!!! I placed an order with BlackRoseMinerals and hopefully at some point will place one with OHWTO *coughcough*

I got the 15 sample baggies for $9 from BRM. And I couldn't narrow it down to 15 so Hannah ended up buying the 2 she was interested in. Uhhhhhhhm we got Lady (for Naomi, I cannot tell a lie), Sweet Pea (Hannah... has a thing for sweet peas), Cairo, Bonehead, Indy, and Giza (matte browns), A Forest and Stardust (glitter!!!!), Night Sky, Peritwinkle, and Pacific Oil Slick (teal, blue sparkly, and tealy oily thing I'm super excited to see IRL), Rapunzel (pink and gold and yeah, maybe I bought it for the name...), Titania (omg mauves... I love mauves), and finally, Lioness and Gargle Blaster, because I need more gold in my life and yeah, maybe I have a thing for anything that reminds me of Narnia ("Now you are a lioness"?). Oooh, a Narnia inspired collection... hmmm... ;)

I've been a seriously ADD and Bi-Polar moods this weekend (both labels applied tongue-in-cheek, as I'm not diagnosed as either of those) and focusing has been difficult. This is partially because I'm having some complications with the whole wisdom teeth thing and sleeping/eating have been an issue, and I think partly I'm not a very stable personality even in the best of times. I mention this because I realise this post is kind of all over the place. I'm still trying to fall into a routine with school and it's not working out so well. Ugh.

Anyways. Did you hit any sales? Did you get any "spring cleaning" done?

I made a this!

2011-08-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

This adorable guy was my birthday present to Ryan, who shares my awesome birthday of August 8th. (I'm cooler, though, by right of being 8.8.88) It was really spur of the moment, I decided I'd do it on Saturday night at like 10, AND I had zero cash so it started as "needs to be whatever I have on hand..." and grew to "CANNOT SPEND OR ACCUMULATE ANYTHING" because I wanted to see if I could do it. XP

I save EVERYTHING and I think this just shows why that's a good thing.

1. Snoopy himself was one of those stuffed animals that have gift card holders sewn onto them? It's no secret that I LOVE Peanuts (especially Sally Brown) so I have a billion and one different stuffed animals which I've never gotten rid of and never want to, but I own so many that ones I got in the beginning don't really have sentimental value so much as "awww so cute!" I cut the threads holding the gift card holder and took off the red cape he was wearing (...don't ask. It's snoopy), and lint-rolled him.

2. The robes and hat (the black bits) were from Laura's choir dress. It was a black satinny thing and I hemmed it like 4" and without thinking just rolled up the hem and tucked it in my sewing box. The skirt was pretty full and so it was like working with two yards of black 4" ribbon. And best of all, it was pre-hemmed! I just cut a piece wide enough to wrap around his body, cut holes for the sleeves, and hemmed the top. The sleeves I drafted, using the hemmed part for the wrists. I also made a cowl. I was going to stitch some teeny buttons at the closure for effect but... I forgot. :( so I just tacked it closed there.
The hat was tricky until I googled "wizard hat pattern". TUrns out you just cut a half circle. I used a CD because it seemed about the right size. I then interfaced the hat so it would stand upright, and stitched it to his head.

3. The blue trim were tiny edging from kylie's t-shirt quilt, which is currently all over my kitchen. I had enough to trim the sleeves and opening AND line the cowl, just like in the movies! :)

4. The patch was definitely tricky.After some thought, I interfaced a scrap of silver fabric I had on hand from a costume. I then printed out a ravenclaw badge on paper and used a glue stick to stick it on the silver fabric. I trimmed the fabric so it would leave a silver border and then stitched the badge on the robes.

5. The scarf was the same fabric as the badge, but the reverse side. It's a drapery fabric, so the outside is satiny and the inside is kind of a soft interfacing-y texture (I...dk how to explain... ok?), so I just sewed it up one side. I then used a blue fabric marker to draw the stripes on. You can see they are pretty crooked and uneven.... I don't really care. I positioned it with one end of the scarf tucked into his robes (cuz otherwise you wouldn't see how adorable the neckline was) and tacked the other end over it.

6. The wand was a medium sized matchstick with the flame-y tip cut off, gone over with a brown fabric marker. I wanted to stain it with sealant but it would have taken too much time, so I figured fabric dye would work.

Overall... I think it's adorable. And didn't cost me anything but a little time and creativity. =D

Would you buy a Snoopy Potter?

Beauty Favourites Survey

2011-08-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Stolen from here. I don't feel like tagging anyone, though, so fill it out if you want, or don't. I won't cry myself to sleep or anything!

[Foundation]
I don't wear foundation, I just wear a moisturiser. My favourite moisturiser I've ever tried is the Mary Kay anti-aging moisturiser because it has no scent and goes on super lightweight, BUT I don't like that it has no SPF. And also that I can't afford it. So I'm hoarding it and only use it for special occasions, and in the meantime I use Biore, which is SPF 15 or 25 (I don't remember), and does have a scent.

[Powder]
Aromaleigh finishing powder (peaches and cream) for the win, but since I'm running low I save it for special occasions and wear a Maybelline loose finishing powder in Ivory.

[Primer]
I don't wear primer on my face, but for my eyes I use Darling Girl Stay The Day primer (her most recent formulation). I have also used Too Faced Shadow Insurance, which works quite well, but is much harsher on my skin than the Darling Girl kind.

[Blush]
Have you seen me? I don't need no blush! ;)

Kayti is useful for many things. One of them is making the 5'2 girl feel tall. :) <3

[Bronzer]

Don't use it. :) Except if I'm running extremely pale the day of a show I borrow my sister's, but idk what she has.

[Concealer]
Don't use it except in cases of emergency, and I actually just use stage makeup in ivory.

[Highlight]
Don't use it, unless Aromaleigh Twilight powders count. ;)

[Moisturizer]
See Foundation.

[Lipgloss]
I don't use many lip products, because I bite my nails so badly that anything on my lips ends up all over my fingers. I have a free gloss I got from a Forever 21 grand opening that I have been known to use on occasion.

[Lipstick]
See above, however, I have one lipstick for shows, and it's Aromaleigh Coquette. It's my exact lip colour.

[Lip Balm]
OHWTO in lavender.

[Lip Liner]
None.

[Eye Primer]
See primer, lol.

[Eyeshadow]
Aromaleigh... anything from the Wonderstruck collection was pretty much made for me. :) And Darling Girl products are my new favourite. :)

[Mascara]
I pull my lashes out... so I don't wear it. =/

[Face Brush]
A cheapo Wal-Mart foundation brush.

[Eye Brush]
Don't laugh, but I actually use paint brushes on my eyes. And they are also from Wal-Mart.

[Nail Polish]
I bite my nails, so I don't wear it. :)

[Perfume]
OHWTO Sweet Honey Rose. (Also love Falling Leaves, Raspberry Gingerale, and Blackberry Patch)

[Makeup Brand Highend/Drugstore]

Mmmm I'm all indie, these days. But I guess Mary Kay would be high end and Maybelline would be low end?

Darling Girl giveaway...

2011-07-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

I really don't want to blog about this because I don't want anyone to know about it but me. :(

But Darling Girl Cosmetics is having a giveaway. DG rocks. I need to write a review on the Glitter Glue. And the glitter itself. Cuz it's amazing.

^ GLITTER TO THE MAX only the inner corners are DG glitter, but the whole thing is on top of DG glitter glue and stay the day primer. So it counts. ;)

Susan says: (from her blogpost)

What you will get:
Curiouser solid perfume by Latherati
Isle of Skye solid perfume by Latherati (I don't know if this is out of stock or d/c'd but it is one my favorite scents by them. It's a lovely light pear scent. I know there are other notes I just can't pick them out. :P )
I had a pair of threaders by Whimsy Beading made for this giveaway too! I don't think they are available for sale yet, but Kelly was nice enough to name these Darling Girl. *squee* I have something named after me!
Darling Girl Cosmetics tote bag (Tote in pic is mine; yours is still in the packaging.)
Darling Girl Cosmetics key chain
SALVation in your choice of scents or flavors (full size)
Luxe eye shadow (petit)
Dark Ember (petit)

I probably won't win. :( But the giveaway ends ON MY BIRTHDAY Y'ALL so I'm crossing my fingers I get extra luck for it.

I Miss You, for OHWTO

2011-06-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

So... I just got out of the shower with this stuck in my head... Good luck on your move, Becca! I can't wait for you to open shop!

SNIFF-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff, SNIFF-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff
Your shop used to be saved in favourites
Your smellies used to smell up my mailbox
I'd take a deep whiff of Providence (ah, ah)
My cat hated the way it smelled so strong
I never wanted to run out
I wanted Sweet Honey Rose non stop

[CHORUS:]
I miss you
I miss your smells
And I still hoard Falling Leaves
Every morning and night
And even though you're coming back
I've run out of Deep Black
My heart won't let you go
And I need you to know
I miss you, SNIFF-sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff
I miss you

You used to call me your customer
And now I'm living on drug store brand
Oh how I wish you could see
The seals are all glued to my wall
I'm thinking back on the past
It's true that sweet cream is running out too fast

[CHORUS]

I know you're moving from Connecticut, yeah
But I wish that it was California, oh
I know smells are where they need to be
Even though it's not here with me

[CHORUS x2]

(I miss you)

Wrap-up notes in brief...

2011-06-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Description: An replica of Glinda's ballgown, this dress made for 18" dolls and fitted to an American Girl doll is made of sky blue china silk and lined in broadcloth. The bodice features a scoop-neck, pointed waist, puffed sleeves overlayed in tulle to give them that filmy look, and a hook and eye closure. A skirt of over fifty petals has attached petticoat and bustle to give the petals the support they need to maintain their pouf. The skirt and bodice are accented with silver and teal sequins; silver, sky blue, teal, and rainbow glitter. The entire dress has been generously coated in silver glitter hairspray.

The no duh section: "crown" (aka Hannah's necklace), "choker" (aka Hannah's bracelet), wand (aka my Mr Pointy, who is more adept at rat to human transformations than bubble navigation), and shoes (Felicity's) not included. I have glorious dreams of opening a shop and making mini crowns and wands the gift-with-purchase, but that day is not today.

On how you can get one...
* You can email me at Corbyjane at gmail dot com to talk. It will probably run $75 + shipping (which will be a flat rate shipping envelope or box (not sure which will fit best)). About $15 of that will be for supplies and fabric, the rest for labour. This is a ridiculously easy project.... until you get to those soul-sucking petals.
* At some point this gown and others will be pictured on an Artfire, Ecrater, or Etsy shop where you can purchase one in an official capacity. I will not be selling this exact dress unless bribed very, very well.

Differences between what I'm offering and what you see here:
* the fabric will be an ice blue (closer to what is in the show) than this sky blue. It will be lined in ice blue broadcloth (this one is lined in scrap fabric from other projects... the bodice is lined in pink, the skirt in purple, the petals in white, etc.). The sequins will be smaller, with the ones on the main body of the dress a translucent pale blue and the ones mixed in with the glitter an opaque bright blue. Oh yeah, and the back of the dress won't be crappy (I'd never worked with hook and eye tape before...)
* At some point I want to leave behind china silk altogether and use nice satins from Joanns (the Casa line of organsa, silk, and tulle, specifically). If/when this happens prices may go up and description will probably change.

Differences & Similarities between this dress and Glinda's real dress:
1.The neckline: scoop-necked like the US version (similarity). Has a normal sleeve that goes to the neck, as opposed to the off the shoulder with bell sleeves seen in the show (difference). Does not have the ruff seen in the show, because I don't like it (difference). If your heart is set on it, we may be able to work something out, however.
2. The back has eye hooks, and, because I had never done them before, I used glitter to cover my seam (difference). Hopefully the selling version will not have this seam and so, not this glitter.
3. The colours are more pronounced than in the US version (dif from US), which is what this is (mostly) based on. I cued off the UK version for the colour palate (sim to UK) because it involved way more glitter.
4. Because of the scale differences, the sequins are much larger than in the real dress.
...more to come as I remember...

Mini Glinda is done.

2011-06-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

I have really crappy photos, here let me show you them. When it's sunny I'll get some better ones.

Tutorial and such to come after I don't have a sleeping cat between me and the keyboard.... but in short, I will make you one for $75 + shipping. Will take 3-4 weeks but probably less.

And since a few people told me they didn't know what the original dress looks like:

2011-06-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

The bubble gown is oh so close to being finished, and I'm beginning to consider my next project. I have yellow fabric for the OSD dress so it will probably be next but I will take suggestions into consideration.

Bubble gown progress...

2011-06-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

So. All that's left is more petals. And copious amounts of spray on glitter.

I did come to a conclusion... which is that I will sell Bubble Gowns for $75 each. They could be cheaper if the petals weren't so awful to make. This means I will probably be able to make less intense gowns--Popular, One Short Day, POSSIBLY Engagement and Thank Goodness--for far less, somewhere in the realm of $35-50 depending. So there's that.

Swatches: NYX Cosmetics pencils

2011-06-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

Bottom is my hand. Top down is Black Bean, Dark Brown, Purple Velvet.
Top hand is Hannah. Top down is MK's Turquoise Waters so we could compare it with Electric Blue below. Following that is Strawberry Milk, Yellow, and Emerald City.

NYX packaging fail...

2011-06-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

So. Our stuff came today. That's a 16-day turn-around which is almost half the stated one month TAT, so that's pretty good. Everything was as described. But here's how they packaged our order:

GIANT box. This box is square, roughly 10 x 10.

Filled to the brim in packing peanuts. This 9" tube was FOUR layers of bubble wrap around....

Seven pencils. That's it.

The product in comparison to the box:

Crazy. LOL. Swatches in the next post... I really like the product. I just think this is hilarious.

So far...

2011-06-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

So... after fiddling with the purple petals to get the exact shape I wanted, I took them off one by one, traced the purple (+ a 1/4 seam allowance) over the white lining and blue satin and cut out two of each for every one (there are four purple petals of each shape), and pinned the blue petals where I'd removed the purple petal from.

I don't think that made any sense, but basically I replaced each petal one by one so I didn't lose track of where they were supposed to go. And I have about 8 extra petals in case the seam allowance completely changes the petals.

I plan on posting tutorials at the end of this on how to alter the bodice, make the skirt, etc. And will link on P&G.

FOTD: Amarena, Mirtillo, and GLITTER

2011-06-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

Amarena & Mirtillo on lid & crease; Fairy Wings along line.

petal mock-up

2011-06-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Progress was made: Glinda doll dress

2011-05-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

So it occurs to me I should probably give a "here's what I'm doing/using etc" speech really fast, and I have to get up in 5.15 hours and take a final so why not waste time doing something dumb.

I am using this pattern (Simplicity 5705) for the jumping off point (we're familiar with Corbyjane's inability to actually follow a pattern, correct?) and using the Cinderella bodice (view C), the skirt is the same for all views except Tinkerbell, and the petticoat (all views).

This is the cheapy mock-up version so the silky stuff is sky blue china silk (much more turquoise than the ice blue dress really is) and the lining is whatever broadcloth I had present--the bodice is lined in medium pink and the skirt as you can see in white. The petticoat is made of light blue tulle. (All from Wal-Mart, cost ~$7, I think; I bought the supplies a long time ago. I think I bought 1 1/2 yd of the silk and 1/2 yd of the tulle but I'm not positive; the broadcloth is leftovers from previous projects)

Bodice:
The bodice I put together almost exactly as directed; the only difference is I cut out four extra sleeves of blue tulle slightly larger than the pattern directs and gathered them over the base sleeves. This gives the sleeves a slightly different look than the rest of the dress--it will be even more pronounced when I get the elastic in the bottom of the sleeve (I neglected to get any). It also lacks velcro, which is the final step.

I free handed the v-shaped glitter design on the front with an aqua glitter glue slightly darker than the fabric. While it was still wet I stuck silver opalescent sequins on it, and then gave it another coat to lock them in. I put flecks of glitter glue on the tulle of the sleeve--you have to be careful to only let it get on the tulle and not the satin underneath, because the glue will discolour the fabric. After everything had dried I went over the centre of the bodice design with silver glitter--just a light layer to make the sequins slightly less glaring--and added a few flecks of silver to the sleeves.

The skirt I cut out of white broadcloth as directed. I've lost the directions so at this point I'm guessing everything. I edged the skirt in the blue silk so that underneath the petals it will look like the whole skirt is the same fabric, and then added a slight ruffle (it's a 1 1/2" wide tube about five inches longer than the skirt's circumference with the extra gathered in. Since I had no recollection of how the skirt goes on in the pattern (and it was going to be altered by the pattern anyway) I just measured a tube of the blue silk to the doll's waist (leaving an extra inch or so for the velcro) and pleated the skirt into that.

So as of tonight: bodice is done except for elastic and velcro. Petticoat is done (will be attached to the skirt when skirt is done). Skirt base is made and ready for me to somehow figure out how the petals will work.

Pictured: all current pieces.

Darling Girl Sale

2011-05-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Okay I should have posted this like Friday but eh. I was busy. And it lasts till tomorrow at 11 my time, so you have plenty of time to order.

Darling Girl's First Ever Sale is a "buy 2, get 1 free" (of equal or cheaper value) and is totally awesome. I wanted to go wild and crazy but unfortunately that was not in the cards. I got the one thing I needed to buy (more Stay the Day primer, which has been reformulated since I first bought it--I'm very excited to see how it turned out), bought one thing I wanted since it was on sale (the glitter glue... $4.75 from $6.50), and for my freebie picked up a jar of "Plush" glitter, which is supposedly mauvey pinky purple.

I love Darling Girl. First introduced to them through Becca (the wonderful beautiful amazing terrific OHWTO owner) when she for no particular reason decided to enclose A RIDICULOUSLY GIGANTIC HAUL OF MAKEUPS in one of my smellies orders, Susan (DG owner) is responsible for creating Fairy Wings and Butterfly Wings, custom glitter liner and eyeshadow inspired by some of my glitter glue. Susan's products are affordable and quality, and she's a joy to work with.

So I highly recommend you go get yourself some sparklies! =D

My Sunday...

2011-05-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to see how easy these are to make, and if they're not insane, I'm going to make a few to sell. I "finished" the top... it will eventually have mini sequins around the neck and elastic in the sleeves but I have neither on me this weekend.

Sally Girl Sparkle Effect Loose Glitter Glue

2011-05-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've been shopping around for a glitter glue for some time now, and I want very badly to try Darling Girl's, but I don't have ze monies right now. Britta recently recommended Sally Girl's loose glitter glue (seen online here) and it was $.83, so who can resist?

I stopped in at our local Sally Beauty Supply (located on N Main next to Target) and it was... interesting. it's a small store with a small staff, and there were a lot of people there, so I had to wait a bit. But once I asked, the salesgirl knew exactly where to find it. There was only one left! It was buried in the loose glitters. But I found it, I bought it, and it totalled $.90 with tax.

I had to at least try it out, so here it is on my sister. We weren't going for anything other than "make the sparklies stick to the face" so this is NOT an accurate portrayal of my cosmetic skills. ;)

She is wearing The Seven Seas Aromaleigh Rocks! glitter... aka the brightest, worn the least glitter I had on hand. :)

Hair Pix: Before and After

2011-05-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

I went temp brunette, as part of my "Being Who I Want To Be" quest. This is only not vain and ego-centric when you remember a lot of my choices have been deliberate and desperate attempts to divorce myself from traumatic events in the past. If you're a completely different person, it didn't happen to you, right? SO yes. I went back to my natural hair colour.

It'll look better tomorrow, I promise. ;)

NYX order

2011-05-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

With the disclaimer that I think NYX's recent sale was poorly managed and they deserve all the flack they are getting... I totally used the coupon. But only on a tiny order; they will quite probably make very little profit what with having to eat the shipping and 50%.

Britta's Jumbo Pencil review intrigued me so I bought two in black and purple velvet. My sister and I split the cost of a brown one, as I don't think I'll use it very much (the brown liner I use is the same as my eyebrows and is my day-to-day one), and she also purchased an electric blue and strawberry milk one. ALSO two slim pencils, Emerald City and Yellow.

Our order totalled $29.50 before the coupon and $14.75 after. Not too shabby... we'll see how fast things get here!

NYX: Don't hate me, you guys...

2011-05-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

...but I have the 50% coupon from NYX + free shipping and if it works I might use it. But on a teeny order and I don't plan on buying direct from them ever again; the sale was out of control. I just want the fat jumbo eye pencils Britta went on about because i love my one from Mary Kay Lara gave me and 50% off of $4.50 is... $2.25. So yeah.

*ducks*

In unrelated news, I really want to do a giveaway. Look for this in later postings.

Quick shout out post!

2011-05-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't done much beauty blogging lately (which is sad, because I did a killer EOTD last week; I should have taken pictures) but I just wanted to draw your attention to a new makeup blogger on the scene...

Britta of FABB!

I am privileged to know the Lovely Britta in person, but whether you know her or not you will love her blog. She has tutorials, makeup reviews, and much more, all of which are well-written with clear opinions and instructions. I look forward to seeing much more from her.

Here are some posts I enjoyed to get you started:

Spring Hair
Spring Green Eye Look
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Review

New smellies from OHWTO

2011-05-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

We recently placed an order with Becca--my first time going through Artfire, which is now Becca's preferred method of doing business. We mostly bought things we'd tried before--I got a Falling Leaves vegan bath bar, Hannah got an Ambrelle vegan bath bar, I got Sweet Honey Rose sweet cream, Hannah got Carnivale sweet cream... a few days later, Becca took my heart and stomped on it by telling me she was just about out of Sweet Honey Rose scent and couldn't get anymore; however, she promised the last of it to me and I bought two tubes of solid scent. In addition to all of this, we also got some solid scent samples of her new exciting stuff:

Blackberry Patch
Raspberry & GingerAle
Berry Amber
Hivemind

and received the bonus samples Sakura, Bitten, and Sea Kelp & Agave.

REVIEW TIME!

I'm kind of finicky when it comes to scents, you should all know. There's a difference between me liking a scent (Blackberry Sage Tea. OMG) and wanting to wear it (Sweet Honey Rose, Falling Leaves). I like to pick one scent, make it my signature scent, and get it in EVERYTHING. Sweet Honey Rose has been that scent. I have it in soap, sweet cream, and solid scent. I'm shopping for a new SHR, and it's a scary, painful, agonising process. Because I take things way too seriously. (Seriously did you hear how long it took me to pick out a Mother's Day card?)

So here we go.

Blackberry Patch: A summertime favorite! Sweet, juicy blackberries, spiced oranges, warm vanilla, and a little bit of patchouli. Omg. J'adore. It's amazing. I get the patchouli pretty loud and clear, but the berry and vanilla keeps it sweet and mellow, not too strong. I highly recommend you try it. One thing I don't like is when scents are too "foody" (if they make me hungry, I get annoyed because ~~you can't eat solid scents.~~ You can but you won't like it.) and this strays from that. It's also not so berry it's "lipsmacker" girly. If Sweet Honey Rose is a 10 and my sister's Hollister perfume is a 1 (seriously, I hate that stuff) Blackberry Patch is an easy 8, if not an 8.5. Will need to order more, most definitely. Maybe as a sweet cream when I *sobs* have run out of my one true sweet honey love.
[source]

Raspberry & Ginger Ale: Ripe red raspberries floating up and down in a pitcher of freshly-poured ginger ale, thanks to help from millions of fizzy pinprick bubbles. A touch of blackcurrant adds a syrupy sweetness to the blend without weighing it down. A bright and lively scent! My sister adores this so much she bought a full-sized one in the second order. "Fresh, bubbly, it smells like real soda," she said sleepily from beneath a pile of blankets (it's 11.48 here). I haven't quite made up my mind. I do love it, a lot--I'm a sucker for raspberry and I like how the ginger ale keeps it from being (sing it if you know it) "too foody", yet the raspberry keeps it from being recognisably ginger ale--I'm just not sold on it as an every day perfume to replace my own true sweet honey love.
The sharpness of the ginger ale also makes it smell somewhat... soapy? If that makes sense? maybe "clean" is a better descriptor... and for me personally I think I'd love it best as a soap. It's the fresh scent you want to smell first thing in the morning. Wearing it I feel a little more alert and bright, and I'm writing this review post my nightly glass of merlot. I give it a 7.5 as a replacement for SHR and a 9 for an over-all well-developed scent.

Berry Amber: Wild strawberries, sun-warmed cherries, white amber, and vine-ripened grapes. It's delightfully tart and sweet, but once the amber appears it takes the edge off the fruitiness. In the interest of being one hundred percent honest, I don't really like this one as much. It's sweet and heavy on the strawberry and I'm not much into strawberry scents. Or flavours, for that matter. I will say that the amber DOES temper the fruitiness, but for me personally it's too cloyingly sweet (i'm also not one for amber, unless in moderation). I think it would be a great scent for a young person or for young at heart. Definitely very summery and easy breezy, with a lot of depth to it. I give it a 5 for Corbyjane, but if you are a berry, fruity, sweet scent type of person you will love this, I promise!

Hivemind: The scent of a thousand apiaries in Spring, all the inhabitants functioning with a singular focus. Creamed honey, laced with a buttery vanilla, its sticky sweetness tempered by white musk and a touch of dark patchouli. Mmmmmm. :) This is what my dear love Niki would call an "old lady scent" (she said the same about Sweet Honey Rose). I love it. I will definitely order more of it some day when I have money. It's very light weight and would come off kind of baby powder-y but the white musk and patchouli grow it up a bit. I'm not picking up the vanilla, but it's a very lovely light scent. And I kind of wonder if it paired with Victorian Rose would be SHR-ish. 9.

Bitten: The scent of an apple orchard after a spring rain, key notes are green apple, honey, rain, and just a nip of black pepper to shake things up. My sister also likes this one a lot but she's asleep now so you don't get to hear her thoughts on it. I like this scent a bit as well, but the apple is a little too strong for me personally (you're getting that I try to draw a MAJOR GIGANTIC line between what my personal tastes are and what I think of these scents for the masses, right? I'm trying to be very clear. And honest). I do like that it has major depth to it besides "apple apple apple!"; the rain and black pepper keep it from being "Wal-Mart generic apple scented body spray" type of apple. It also has a very fresh, clean smell to it (the rain, I'm guessing) and I give it a 6 FOR CORBYJANE because of the fruitiness but it's a really great scent and I love the dimension factor.

Sakura: The essence of Japanese cherry blossoms, captured in a wearable fragrance. It's comprised of notes of Melons, Musks, Cherry, tiny green accords, a whisper of Sandalwood and a plethora of Woodland Wildflowers. It's a sweetly floral fragrance which will make you think "Spring" all year long. This isn't one of Becca's private stock so I feel no guilt admitting that I found it a little blah. One thing I love about OHWTO is her scents are way more intense than stuff you'd find at Bath & Body works, and this one smells exactly like that. It's flowery, which I like, and I am catching the musk and melon too, and overall a very nice scent (really sweet and fresh), but nothing particularly special or unique with this one. It will probably appeal to people who like your basic scents. 4.5

I wanted to end this post with a rave about how much I liked Sea Kelp & Agave and how much it caught me by surprise (I'm not sure what I was expecting. Something more "rotting seaweed" because this is my sole experience with kelp), but I just realised I left it in the bathroom and no way am I getting up to go get it.

So all in all: LOVE Blackberry Patch and Hivemind. Undecided: Rasp & Ginger Ale. Amazing but not my type: Bitten and Berry Amber. Meh: Sakura. Later: Sea Kelp & Agave.

LOTD: Aromaleigh, Darling Girl, Mary Kay

2011-04-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

This is probably the best I've photographed a look... Hahaha. I suck at getting all the glitter to show up.

I am wearing Aromaleigh Coriander, Dulcinea, and Rule Forty-Two (inner out), Mary Kay Turquoise Waters (over my standard Maybelline Espresso) liner, and Darling Girl Fairy Wings along the lash line. It was SUPER sparkly and looked AWESOME in person.

And as a post script: in answer to a recent rude comment, I have an impulse disorder called trichotillomania. So I draw my eyebrows on. But I don't like to talk about it. You're welcome.

Makeup! And Hair! Darling Girl! Aromaleigh! And Inez Salinas! And Exclamation Points!

2011-03-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

I am wearing Aromaleigh's Amarena, Curiouser and Curiouser, and Frutti di Bosco, with "Fairy Wings" by Darling Girl as liner. It was very pretty, too bad I cried it ALL off by the end of class.

I got my hair cut at Beautification (behind the bowling alley) by Inez Salinas. The cut cost $35 less a $10 coupon (so $25). I normally pay $30 for a haircut, so this price seems very fair. I arrived 5 minutes to the start of my appointment, and Inez recognised me and greeted me, even though as far as I can remember we've never met.

I showed Inez what I wanted done (I brought reference pix just to show her that I wanted a shoulder-length cut with side bangs, not to be all "I want this exact thing") and she translated it to my face ("so about this long?" etc.). She washed my hair and then cut it. I was really impressed that she explained everything she was doing to my hair as she did it; I really don't like when hair dressers just go at your hair and don't say a word about it till you're done.

The way Inez cut my bang is apparently a new trend that will help it stay out of your face. I don't really know how to explain it better, but instead of being angled the way you'd expect, its the other way. I did notice it stayed out of my face better than previous bangs have. Also my glasses kind of hold hair back, so that's nice. She "textured" my hair to keep the same-length pieces from being all blocky and bulky, which is something that's driven me nuts my entire life (and never more so than my most recent Fantastic Sam's cut), and I didn't know how to fix. It makes my hair lie a lot flatter and not "fluff" out like it tends to.

After my hair was done, she asked how I normally style my hair. I confessed somewhat sheepishly I'm a wash and wear type of girl, and she used a little bit of product to kind of muss my hair to "give me an idea what it would look like after washing and air drying", which I have NEVER had a stylist do before and made me soo happy! I'm sure it won't look as good as when she did it, but that she took the time to show me that really put the appointment over the top for me.

She also noted that the ends of my hair are very brittle from box-dyeing and putting the dye all over my hair. She did NOT try to guilt me into getting it professionally done, which I really appreciate--nor did she try and talk me into buying shampoo, product, or any other thing. I don't go to very many "nice" salons, but I rarely get my hair done without being told I need to use THEIR products or dyes or whatever, and that she didn't even broach the subject was really great. She did suggest I alternate dyeing all my hair (I use very cheap dye and it fades, so I dye it all every time) to every other time, and try and find a demi colour for my ends if I really, really need to brighten it.

All in all, I love my hair, the entire haircut process was easy and enjoyable; I highly recommend Inez Salinas for all your hair needs.

Swatches: Ooops & Val11

2011-03-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

We placed an Aromaleigh order on Sunday. We purchased four Wonderstruck colours and two from Kristen's new Valentines' collection. Currently she has a deal that for every 3 eyeshadows purchased, you get an "Oops" colour, one she didn't put into a collection. You can see our Wonderstruck swatches here (we purchased full sizes of Frumious, Mimsy, Fiddlesticks, and Wonder-ous) but here are our Ooopses and the <3 Colours. I'm looking to trade samples of the Ooopses, so let me know if they interest you!

PS: Hannah wants me to let everyone know that the scar on her wrist is from breaking a plate (I can vouch, I was there), not from other activities.

Outside in the sun

Still outside

Inside, natural light

Inside, fluorescent light.

A few (casual) reviews....

2011-02-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, and I think about this whenever I'm in the shower... because this is when I use these products. And then I feel guilty for using them without reviewing. So I'm shooting for 200 words on each product. Sound good?

[source]

*my bar is pink, not blue*

The first thing to talk about is One Hand Washes The Other 's Vegan Bath Bar. I'll tell you a little secret: I've never really used bar soap before. But I'll bet you didn't know bar soap is a million times cheaper than body wash. And you use less of it at a time. And did I mention it's cheaper? Anyways, I got Becca's Vegan Bath Bar in Sweet Honey Rose, and it has been delightful. I use it with a loofah, and you get a LOT of lather. The soap is extremely mild and hasn't triggered my allergies at all, and creamy enough that I have indeed been able to shave with it (something I couldn't do with the Bathing Creme), just needing to moisturise after. Which you should always do anyways.

Sweet Honey Rose is my signature go-to scent, because I think it's amazing, but because it's such a mild scent there wasn't much residual fragrance after using this soap, even though in the description Becca says this soap is usually strongly fragranced. Fortunately I have SHR solid and oil perfume, so it's not a problem. :) Sweet Honey Rose is a "honey fragrance with a hint of rose"; I think it's nice because I like roses but it's not overpowering.

This bar is currently listed in her Etsy for $4.50. I won't discuss the pricing/shipping/etc factor of OHWTO cuz I've reviewed her multiple times.

[source]

Secondly, Miss Ashley bought me Haus of Gloi sugar scrub in "Elevensies" for Christmas. I prefer sugar over salt scrubs for the simple reason that I tend to have a lot of nicks and cuts on my legs and arms from life in general, and the shower is my happy place where I DON'T literally rub salt in my wounds. *Shudder* So that was a brilliant call on her part. I also have a tendency to find something I like and never look any further until I stop liking it, so it was really nice of her to get me something from an indie B&B maker who wasn't OHWTO, because I don't think on my own I would EVER try something besides OHWTO.

The Emulsifying Sugar Scrub is very similar to OHWTO's sweet cream, but the sugar is much finer and I think there's a higher oil content? I don't know. That's how it feels. I can't find the OHWTO article on her sugar scrubs so I can't compare ingredients at the moment. Anyways, it leaves my skin very soft and exfoliated; I use it on my legs after shaving right before getting out of the shower.

The scent is ANOTHER thing I probably wouldn't try on my own, and another reason Ashley is such a genius. It's called "Elevensies", which a) is a Lord of the Rings shout-out so automatically for the win, and b) is a foodie scent, kind of. I don't like food scents because they make me hungry, but I like this one. The description says, "Not quite breakfast and not quite lunch, it's the little snack in between. Bring out the old cracked china! Tiny little fluffy orange cakes, sugar coated toasty almonds and a wee steaming cup of black tea!" In the shower, it's very strong orange and sweet almond, but as it dries on your skin to me it became more black tea and almond with just a hint of orange. Highly recommend!

As this was a gift, I don't feel comfortable discussing pricing and don't know anything about the shipping. Thank you for introducing me to an awesome new brand, Ashley!

OHWTO Rose Wax/Oil: I was sent a test product in January; I was asked not to write a review on it because Becca is still reformulating it. I am told it will very soon be available! This is more "news" than a review. I've used it on my psoriasis (I have a small amount on each ankle bone) and it has made the skin far more manageable. I urge you to try it yourself as soon as it's available! I'll link to it then. :)

[source]

Darling Girl Cosmetics Stay The Day Primer: my new best friend. Keeps my makeup bright and where it should be ALL day, even (as I discovered yesterday) after 8 hours of running around. Weird fact, though: it's easier to take my makeup off than before. I'm not sure why. With the TFSI the pigment from bright shades would almost stain my skin and refuse to come off, so I'd have faintly purple or green skin for a shower or two, but I can seriously take off my street makeup in one cloth. I don't really know how primer works, so I can't tell you why this is.

So yes! That's... a lot of stuff I like. ;)
What do you use for body soap, exfoliation, and primer?

Butterfly Wings & Fairy Wings swatches

2011-02-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

Above: swatched on paper. I requested there be more purple/blue to it than magenta, and Susan definitely complied. The shadow is difficult to see, but it does indeed have purple and blue glitters to it, just not as obviously as the other shades.

Applied on my skin. The shadow is applied over Darling Girl's "Stay the Day" eye primer.
This was my first experience with gel liners AND custom orders AND Darling Girl Cosmetics. Opinion:

1. Stay The Day primer has worked better for me than Too Faced Shadow Insurance or the Mary Kay primer whose name I forget.
2. The gel linger is amazing but I haven't figured out how to apply it without it smearing when I open my eyes except keep them closed till it dries.
3. Sending me samples of things in the same colour scheme as what I was ordering was genius, and I wish more companies would do that. Meow has sent me samples with every order but they're never, ever anything remotely like what I would wear.
4. The process of getting a custom-made shadow was amazing. I linked Susan to the blog post of the Corbyjane glitter, and she immediately was on board. Even though her store is currently closed, she agreed to make it for me. When what I'd suggested wasn't close enough to what she knew I wanted, she turned to the gel liner to come up with something much closer. She kept me well informed as she created, and I had the final say on pretty much everything. I am very satisfied with both Butterfly Wings and Fairy Wings.
5. The pricing was very reasonable. The 10g jar of gel was $6, I got a $4 jar of Exhale (recommended by Becca of OHWTO), primer was $5.50, and a 5g jar of the eyeshadow was $4. The shipping was ridiculously cheap and lightning fast.

Uhm... can't think of anything else. Any questions?

Bad cellphone pix...

2011-02-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

Darling Girl!

2011-02-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

I ordered:
* two containers of the custom made "Fairy Wings" as a gel liner (the small doe-foot one is Hannah's; the jar is mine)
* a container of it as an eyeshadow (called "Butterfly Wings")
*I also (upon Becca's recommendation, she thinks it's a Dulcinea dupe only blue instead of green) ordered Exhale
*"Stay The Day" Primer.

Susan threw in:

*a lip (Cherry Blossom) and
* eye (Making Merry) sample,
*AND a sample jar of La La.

I loved that the samples all went with the colour schemes of what I ordered. Swatches to come... I tried the primer yesterday and I found it a million times better than TFSI.

The "Corbyjane" glitter

2011-01-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

ETA 2.7.11: Susan of Darling Girl Cosmetics has made me an eyeshadow and a gel liner based on this glitter. I'll post pix when they arrive. :)

I found this in November... I'm making a butterfly using it at the moment, and I just keep falling more and more in love with it. I took some pictures, because I'm crossing my fingers that someone can recommend an eyeshadow like it OR someone who will custom make me one? The glue itself is faintly purple (mostly clear), and has purple, brilliant blue (so like real turquoise stones), and magenta glitter in it.

In the bottle:

On paper:

In a perfect world, an eyeshadow based on it would be a purple base with large flecks of turquoise and pink glitter in it. If you know Aromaleigh, think the purple of Asteria for the base, with Rocks! glitters Masquerade, Rapture & Seven Seas mixed in.

For a jar of stuff like this safe to put on my eyes... I would pay untold millions. :)

Tomorrow i'll take pictures of the butterfly. It's pretty. =D

Would you buy?

2010-12-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

My sister made me a gorgeous necklace as part of my Christmas present.

The pendant is made from a clip-on earring (the other one was missing, so I got to keep it!). I took the clip itself off and then used the holes from the screws for the chain. I picked out the beads for it; since it's circa late sixties/seventy, I wanted something that kind of mimicked the "Lucite" jewelry look, which is why I went for plastic white seed beads and the matte turquoise diamonds. Sure, the amber and yellow beads aren't quite, but I love the look. I think it's so pretty!

So yes. This neckalce is NOT for sale, but my sister and I have talked about starting an Etsy shop. We'd sell Glitter Shoes and necklaces like these, as well as some knitted stuff (pix coming soon, I promise!). Do you think you'd be interested in purchasing something like these, assuming the prices were reasonable?

Glitter shoes pt 2

2010-12-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

So, things to keep in mind when you make glitter shoes:
1. There is no such thing as too much glue. Make sure you have plenty.
2. i recommend plastic or vinyl shoes, not fabric. The satin absorbed the glue, causing the glitter to fall off, partially due to the fabric and partially due to not enough glue. A less absorbent shoe would probably work better.
3. You will have to do a few coats of the glitter. Allow each coat 24 hours to dry. We did ours in shifts--after the first main, messy coat, we would do the toes/front half of the shoe, and then the next day the heel/back half of the shoe. This allowed us to handle the shoes while applying the glue.

A polyeurethane coat is important for keeping your glitter on the shoe. You want the glitter to stay on the shoe because a) people will not appreciate glitter all over their houses or stores b) if you knock glitter off, eventually your shoes will be much less sparkly. It took us a LONG time to find polyeurethane that was clear (most have woodstain in them). We found a mini can at Orchard Supply for $7. The first coat barely used a quarter of it. I believe the person who made these first used three coats; I'm going to see how they feel tomorrow and go from there.

Glitter shoes!

2010-12-13T21:36:00.000-08:00

"Before". I got these shoes for $7 at the thrift store in MN. I cut off the bow and covered them in Elmer's Glue

"After". Then I poured glitter all over them (over a piece of paper on top of the newspaper). I used maybe half the container per shoe, but then taking them off the paper, shaking them, and funneling the excess glitter back into the container left me with almost a full container. It used less than a quarter of the container.

I'm giving them 24 hours to dry, then we'll do a second coat (I missed several places because the glue dried at weird times). I think I'm going to hairspray them and then cover them in polyeurathane.

I got these instructions from a tutorial I found linked to on wwepw.blogspot.com but I can't find it right now.

Five Things Survey from Phyrra

2010-12-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

1. What’s been your go-to eye shadows, blushes or lip products this winter?
Well, I don't wear blush. I have BRIGHT red cheeks as is, so it's never been necessary. EVEN WITH GREASEPAINT yes, they are that vivid. O.O
Eyeshadows: Definitely Melancholy Maiden from Aromaleigh's Wonderstruck collection. It's just so beautiful and creamy... and paired with Fiddle-Sticks and Frumious a great natural eye.
Lips: OHWTO Lavender flavoured lip butter. So good, I can't even tell you.

2. What class are you playing the most in Cata (if you play WoW?) If you’re not playing Cata, tell me about the game you’re playing?
Haha I am playing Farmville. I also enjoy Age of Mythology and Age of Empires but my laptop's in the shop so it's Farmville. I have a 3 Star Spa and I specialise in "Harvest Candles", I'm like level 23 on them. =D

3. What’s on your nails?
Bacteria... I bite my nails. So yeah. But the plus side is, I bite my nails all the time, so I wash my hands pretty compulsively. You're gonna stick those in your mouth, they'd better be clean...

4. If you were to be a fantasy character, what would you be?
A fairy princess. Named Giselle. :)

5. If you could instantly know three additional languages, what would they be?
Italian, Latin, and Greek!

Aromaleigh: Cosmos & Pandora. Today's look brought to you by FAIL.

2010-12-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

Fail in that I put my finisher on as quickly as possible and there is a white patch at the hairline and my cheek that I only saw after I took the pictures.

I lined with Cosmos and then, because I couldn't leave my 60s look pure, I put a light coating of Pandora over the rest. And no, no foundation. I'm going out for like an hour. MAYBE two.

Aromaleigh: Hera, Athena, Masquerade

2010-11-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

Nothing terribly fancy, just a lot of glitter. Hera all over the lower lid, Athena along the crease and in the corner, Masqerade along the eyelash AND over Athena AND a little on top of Hera but not too much because I don't want to go overboard here, ya know... And then for good measure, some of the Twilight powder (Sparkle) just below my brow.

The makeup matches my earrings perfectly; I'm just so cute. Yada yada. (Also, sweater from Kohls. So ya know.)

Hi, just saying, don't worry about #14 because normal people are boring and they don't fit in anywhere because they're not special. If you were normal corbyjane, you wouldn't be you, in a good way. "Why be ordinary when u can be extraordinary?"

2010-11-28T16:41:00.001-08:00

Ah, I see. If you're the same person from yesterday, I knew it had to be a misunderstanding. :) I don't want to be normal so much as "healthy", in that I know I look fine, but Healthy Corbyjane can do a lot more without being tired or getting sore than Current Corbyjane. I don't think I'm "fat" so much as "out of shape". :)

Ask me anything

how do you comment?

2010-11-28T16:39:00.001-08:00

On Formspring or on my blog? If you mean formspring, you've found it! If you mean blogger, you should be able to do it on all my blogs by clicking the post's title (for instance, "Merry Black Friday"). The link will take you to the post's individual page. You can then scroll down to the bottom of the post and click "post a comment". You will have to fill out a security capcha (write the letters shown in the image) but I do allow anonymous posting so other than that, you should be fine!

Ask me anything

I totally agree with the stuff your saying and I love your list. I'm so going to try that! Oh and also, you inspired me to do operation beautiful which i do all the time now. But what are you talking about when you say That One TIme? I have one too.

2010-11-28T16:35:00.001-08:00

Oh my gosh, send me your list when you do it! I'd love to see it.
That One Time refers to an unpleasant experience I had as a teenager that left me kind of messed up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's been very painful working it out in therapy, and I think I've moved past it, but it's not something I want to declare on my blog. :)

I think it's so great that you do Operation Beautiful! It's really a fantastic movement and soo much fun!

Ask me anything

Hey makeup peeps!

2010-11-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

There has been very little makeup on these days, and for that I apologise. I have been having a ball playing with Wonderstruck and Mythos, and due to my camera being out of batteries and my house being out of batteries I haven't been able to photograph them much.

However, that will all change, as my sister and I just placed our FINAL FINAL FINAL Aromaleigh order. Assuming nothing's sold out, we have gotten:

PURE HUES:
* Glimmer
* Tea Rose
* Heaven

3-PACK SAMPLES
* Snow
* Seven Seas
* Shake It Up

FULL SIZES:
* Flash
* Amarena
* Window Shopping
* Pink Fingers
* Mariposa
* Champagne Toast
* Dulcinea

MISC:

* Supernatural Twilight Glitter: Dazzle

* STG: Sparkle

The only things I bought were Seven Seas, Champagne Toast, and the Twilight powders.

From the vault Hannah got:

SPELLS!

* Imperio

* Tarantellegra

* Fidelius

* Lumos

* Serpensortia

* Orchideous

* Oblivate

* Priori Encantate

* Wingardium Leviosa

* Alohomora

Happy Black Friday!

2010-11-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

What did YOU score today? I taught my sister a life lesson: you do NOT have to get up at 6am to get some great deals! We got up at 10 and hit Wet Seal around 11am (their 50%-everything-in-store sale ended at 12). We had just enough time to wander a bit, grab a few things, try them on, and then one of us would stand in line while the other looked around, and switched. We were out by 12.08, which gave us just enough time to run to Kohls before their early bird specials ended at 1! Kohls had the worst line, I think. It wrapped all the way from the cash registers to the back of the store. About 30 minutes in line. After Kohls, we went back to Forever21, because their deals lasted all day, and picked up some nifty stuff. And then on the way home we hit Wal-Mart, CVS, and Safeway. All in all, a remarkably successful day!

At Wet Seal:
I bought a simple cream sweater tunic. It's kind of shapeless, but very warm and will go with a lot of my closet. I unfortunately couldn't find it online; it was there (but out of stock) Wednesday so I guess they've already taken it down. It was $9.99 on sale (from $14.50 I think) less the 50%, totalling $4.50.
My sister got a pale pink sweater that I definitely plan on stealing. It was $19.50 or so less the 50%, and so was only $10.

One thing I found that I liked but wasn't in my size were these GORGEOUS peep toe heels. They were silver glitter covered, like the Dorothy shoes kids wear, but grown up. You could see them sparkle all over the store! I wanted them very badly, but there were only three pairs and they were sizes 8, 9, and 10.

Total spent: $15. Total saved: $20

At Kohls:

I've been eyeing this one for a while, so I was sooo excited to be able to get it finally! It's so pretty! :) It was on sale for $11.99 from $36.00, and since our mom gave us a Kohls coupon for $10 purchases of $20 or more, it ended up being about $5.
Hannah got a cream coloured hoodie that isn't online anymore (it's been at Kohls for over a year) on deep discount; $9.99 from $19.99. Less the $10 discount, so like $4.50.
Total spent: $11. Total saved: $45

And then Forever21!

I'm really striking out on finding our F21 on the website. Oh well. Hannah got a denim dress that's actually really cute and flattering on her for $12 off of $19.99. I got a blush pink tee for free, because all sale stuff was buy one get one free. Hannah got a black pencil skirt for $4 off of $7.50, and last but not least...
....
...
...
are you excited?
...
...

These shoes.

Aren't they beautiful?

For $12.50 (not on sale, sadly.). I kept finding them all over the shoe section, but NEVER in my size (F21's shoe section is a disaster area even when it's NOT Black Friday, so imagine how terrible it was today...). I found size 6 (too small for me, even though I can wear payless' 6), size 8, size 10, and finally gave up. After walking around the store and finally heading for the register at the end of our trip, I saw a pair out the corner of my eye and ran to them, thinking maybe--just maybe--they'd be 7s and fit. And guess what--they did!

We didn't think we'd have enough, and I was crying (mostly to guilt Hannah into not getting the dress so we could get the shoes, not because I would actually cry over shoes) and the sales clerk said she'd hide them under the register (even though they aren't supposed to reserve anything on Black Friday) while we went to the ATM, but then things ended up being cheaper than expected (I always round up a LOT when I total things; it's not unusual for me to overshoot by $10 or more) so we could get them, after all.

Total spent: $27. Total saved: $18.50

Total total spent: $53.
Total total saved: $83

At Wal-Mart we got eyeliner and toothpaste ($6), CVS hair dye ($2.50), and Safeway eggs, milk, sugar, and bread. ($12)

So yes. What did you get today and where did you get it?

2010-11-22T18:46:00.001-08:00

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

What were you? I was Emma Pillsbury from Glee.

Costume entailed:
* Wool hat, brand unknown, stolen spur of the moment from one Miss Kate Perry.
* Teal ribbed S.O top from Kohls
* Baby blue cashmere sweater
* Silver woven belt, brand unknown, stolen from sister
* A turquoise tweed (no, serious! it exists!) skirt from Penneys, purchased in 2005 and worn mebbe once. It's really unique in that it has flecks of turquoise, pale blue, yellow, and green woven in it!
* Control panty hose!
* Brown peep-toe heels from Payless (I changed into 2" wedges for the actual trick or treating; 4" stilletos are NOT a good idea walking outside at night...)

Jewelry:
* I used a vintage floral choker as my sweater clips--safety pinned them on each side of my cardigan.
* I tied a bow on the side of a strand of bright blue lucite beads
* Borrowed my sister's glass turquoise earrings

Makeup (you can't really see it, but I'll tell you anyway). Emma tends to be very natural, but she does wear some muted lavender shades. I wore Opiate Advice & Rule Forty-Two from Aromaleigh's Wonderstruck collection. My foundation was 0 Siamese and 0 Sphynx blended from Meow Cosmetics.

I lightly curled the ends of my hair. It was too long to do Emma's signature bang swoosh look, but I think I got the jist. :)

My sister was a generic Ravenclaw. I made the robe in one day for the book release of Deathly Hallows. She got a custom-made wand from "Sunrabbit Wands", wore a grey sweater, a grey pleated skirt from Target, a white button up shirt, and a tie she bought from Savers. Oh, and she wore my Payless Mary Janes, and carried a stuffed owl she's had for ages.

As you can see, the wand is fully functional.

Kate was Wiley Coyote.

Nat was Rambo. I did not take any pictures of his actual costume as he opted to trick or treat shirtless.

"3 out of 4 Noses": Our OHWTO contest entry

2010-10-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Ahahaha we're so cute.

Aromaleigh: Melancholy Maiden & Fiddlesticks

2010-10-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

I've actually worn Wonderstruck quite a bit, but haven't had the opportunity to photograph it. I'm really in love with "Opiate Advice" & Rule Forty-Two. But this was my very first trial, and I wanted to go easy because I was going to have a long day.

I know I've probably said this, but Wonderstruck is probably my favourite collection ~~after Les Papillons~~ and I just... wow. They're like watercolours. They're soft and creamy and beautiful and are so amazing.

Also, I believe I am a Siamese or possibly a Himalayan. What do you think? (Siamese foundation pictured above) Once I find my breed I'll figure out what I am in light/dark. I think probably a 2 (I'm wearing zero)

Aromaleigh: Wonderstruck swatches

2010-10-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

I really like this set, and I FINALLY pinned down what they remind me of: watercolours! They're beautiful soft colours, and I can't WAIT to try them out! :)

(All modelled by my lovely and tan sister)

Inside with flash.
L-R
Row 1: Impossible Things, We're All Mad Here, Curious Dream, The Wrong Alice, Pool of Tears, Looking Glass, Hearts A' Plenty, Flamingo-go, Pass the Tarts
Row 2: Curiouser and Curiouser, Rule Forty-Two, "Temper, Temper", Opiate Advice, Tattered & Grown, Just a-Head, Fiddlesticks, Frumious, Tunnel Vision
Row 3: Mimsy, Spot of Tea, Wonder-ous, Pink Portent, Melancholy Maiden, But This Is My Dream

Outside in the sun
L-R

L-R

Row 1: Impossible Things, We're All Mad Here, Curious Dream, The Wrong Alice, Pool of Tears, Looking Glass, Hearts A' Plenty, Flamingo-go, Pass the Tarts

Row 2: Curiouser and Curiouser, Rule Forty-Two, "Temper, Temper", Opiate Advice, Tattered & Grown, Just a-Head, Fiddlesticks, Frumious, Tunnel Vision

Row 3: Mimsy, Spot of Tea, Wonder-ous, Pink Portent, Melancholy Maiden, But This Is My Dream

Aromaleigh: Spells! swatches

2010-10-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

I might have to buy Obliviate in FS for myself. It's very beautiful. :) These are some very sweet intense colours---I kept asking my sister, "So which spell is this? Which spell is this?" and she's such a geek she knows them all. >.<

In my defense, I obviously knew Expelliarmus, Silencio, Stupefy, Imperio, Fidelius, Lumos, Serpensortia, Crucio, Ridikiulus, and Alohomora. I was surprised there wasn't an Avada Kedavra, though...

Inside with flash.
L-R
Row 1: Incendio, Rictusempra, Expelliarmus, Silencio, Aparecium, Impervious, Diffindo, Stupefy, Imperio
Row 2: Tarantellegra, Fidelius, Finite, Lumos, Serpensortia, Crucio, Orchieous, Ridikulus, Obliviate
Row 3: Priori Encantato, Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, Nox, Morsmordre, Expecto Patronum, Protego

Outside in overcastness: L-R

Row 1: Incendio, Rictusempra, Expelliarmus, Silencio, Aparecium, Impervious, Diffindo, Stupefy, Imperio

Row 2: Tarantellegra, Fidelius, Finite, Lumos, Serpensortia, Crucio, Orchieous, Ridikulus, Obliviate

Row 3: Priori Encantato, Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, Nox, Morsmordre, Expecto Patronum, Protego

L-R

Row 1: Incendio, Rictusempra, Expelliarmus, Silencio, Aparecium, Impervious, Diffindo, Stupefy, Imperio

Row 2: Tarantellegra, Fidelius, Finite, Lumos, Serpensortia, Crucio, Orchieous, Ridikulus, Obliviate

Row 3: Priori Encantato, Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, Nox, Morsmordre, Expecto Patronum, Protego

Aromaleigh: Elysia & Mela (Also, arrival of Wonderstruck & Spells!)

2010-10-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

Today I was only leaving the house for an hour, so I could go colourful. :) I tried Himalayan. I felt like it matched pretty well in front of the mirror, but the flash seems to indicate not so much. Eh. And it doesn't actually look that pale.

Elysia (Lost in Faerie) because I wanted something soft to complement my cami, and Mela (Ciao Italia) because i feel weird now if I don't have a shadow. :) Elysia is a favourite because I just love that soft, creamy mint colour.

Also! Wonderstruck & Spells! arrived today! I was very surprised, because we ordered them on Sunday and I received a payment notification from Kristen Tuesday night telling me they would be shipped in "4-6" days. And low and behold, they turned up bright and early Friday morning. Incredible. =)

Spells!: I love Harry Potter. My sister got this one. I'm very jealous of all the purple, ESPECIALLY Obliviate.

I got Wonderstruck. I'm really excited because it has a lot of very natural, neutral colours in it. I love LiF and CI & Mythos and all those exciting ones, but to be honest, they're all a lot of bright colours that I wear, but not on a day to day basis. Aromaleigh has given me the courage to wear a lot more bright colours than I did before, but I'm not to wearing them every day yet. Anyways, these are all very low-key, neutral lovelies--with a lot of lovely purples and greens. I love it!

Swatches tomorrow, hopefully.

Aromaleigh: Hades, Apollo, & Phoebe

2010-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm only going out of the house for a short while, so I could go wild and crazy with the colourfulness. :)

Our Meow Cosmetics order came today. I think I might actually be too tan for the foundations I ordered... I ordered the palest (0) of Mau, Siamese, Sphynx, Himalayan, & Persian, and the second palest (1) of Mau. Hannah ordered a sample of Kitty Litter, and they sent us samples of Swanky & Playful. I gave Playful to Hannah (it's a pale yellow) and kept Swanky for myself. :)

I tried the palest Mau foundation today; I applied as lightly as I coudl and then brushed Metamorphosis and Peaches & Cream over it so my face didn't feel sticky (I put over my Biore moisturiser). I think it's a little light on me, though I haven't seen it in the sun yet. And it feels weird to have so much coverage. Hahaha

I think colourwise it's a little pinker than my skin. Something more yellow/beige will probably be a little more natural. Also, I realised looking at these pictures that my eyebrows are tragic. Especially the one on [your] left... But I can't pluck them before I leave the house or my entire forehead will be break out-y.

Here's the wild and crazy colourfulness: Apollo all over the lid, Phoebe along the crease, and Hades as a liner. I love the intense sparkle in Hades--GIANT flecks of glitter. So awesome. :)

aromaleigh: Mythos' Hermes, Gaia, Athena, & Erebos

2010-10-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

This was really subtle... I like how it turned out. And it photographed amazingly, for some reason. I think this is the first time it ever photographed better than it looks in real life.

I knew I was probably going to cry today (and also sweat) so I didn't want to give my face too much to drip off.

I started by putting Hermes all over my lower lid with a damp brush (over TFSI). Hermes is a very pale peach--not a whole lot of sparkle to it (at least in comparison with some of the others) but a really nice low-key colour.
I intended to just blend in Gaia on the outer half of my lower lid, so that's what I did originally, also with a damp brush.
Then I ran Athena all along the crease with a dry brush. Athena is one of my favs so far--the perfect purply pink, a lot like my all-time favourite Fragile Charms). I was very careful to go light.
I really loved how Gaia and Athena looked together, so I ended up putting Gaia over Hermes on my entire lower lid. Hermes didn't feel too left out, though--it was such a beautifully subtle peach shimmer than I ended up sweeping it (dry, and with my finger, not my brush) under my eyebrows. It was beautiful. I still felt something was missing, especially since I was going light on the crease contrast.

So I took my finest brush (as in, fine-tipped. I use my finest quality brushes all the time, haha!), wet it, and foiled Erebos along my lash-line as a liner. Just the outer half, though. Erebos is a beautiful dark plummer purple. LOVE IT.

Unfortunately, my detail shots aren't so great... idk why the focus was weird, but it is.

Aromaleigh: Sophie, Circe, Thalia's Return

2010-10-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is my default neutral look... it's a lower key version of what I wear onstage. I have an audition this afternoon so I didn't want to go overboard or coloured. Wondering about the wide headband? ~~My hair is filthy~~ I just felt like it.

So Sophie all over the lower lid, Circe along the crease, and Thalia's Return in the corner.

If I were going onstage, I would put Sophie all over my lid, including the upper and under my eyebrow. I would blend a lighter share (like Allure Perle Powders) under the lid as well. I would go wider with Circe, slightly above and below my crease; apply Thalia's Return further out and more thickly, and add a sheer white powder (like Air&Light) in the very inner corner of my eye.

But since this is just an audition, it's toned down by a lot. Wish me broken legs! =D

Aromaleigh: Hera and Asteria

2010-10-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

My new best friend is Asteria. It is SOOO cool. This vibrant purple with startling silver glitter. Just beautiful.

Sadly, this look did not photograph well, because this is AFTER I wore it to a show where I spent the entire evening laughing until I cried (I'm so tired right now, ANYTHING is hilarious.... so yeah...) and then two hours at McDonalds. My face is doing the weird blotches of colour thing (You can't see it THAT bad, but my nose is bright red and I have patches all along my jawline of bright red. This just happens for no reason whatsoever sometimes. Weird, right?) and the eyeliner is running down my face, even though Too Faced Shadow Insurance is supposed to keep that from happening.

Anyways, you'd be shocked at how bright Asteria is. It's awesome.

Aromaleigh: Mythos Swatches!

2010-10-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Modelled by the beautifully tan Hannah Rose. Swatched with a damp brush over bare skin, because my primer is way too expensive...

Inside, no flash:
Row 1: Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Gala, Hera, Ananke, Hermes, Hestia, Eos
Row 2: Zeus, Chronos, Asteria, Erebos, Selene, Nyx, Artemis, Theia, Rhea
Row 3: Tethys, Demeter, Hyperion, Apollo, Hades, Phoebe, Neptune

Inside, straight flash:

Row 1: Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Gala, Hera, Ananke, Hermes, Hestia, Eos

Row 2: Zeus, Chronos, Asteria, Erebos, Selene, Nyx, Artemis, Theia, Rhea

Row 3: Tethys, Demeter, Hyperion, Apollo, Hades, Phoebe, Neptune

Inside, flash covered with paper

Row 1: Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Gala, Hera, Ananke, Hermes, Hestia, Eos

Row 2: Zeus, Chronos, Asteria, Erebos, Selene, Nyx, Artemis, Theia, Rhea

Row 3: Tethys, Demeter, Hyperion, Apollo, Hades, Phoebe, Neptune

Outside in the sun... these pics do NOT do it justice!

Row 1: Neptune, Phoebe, Hades, Apollo, Hyperion, Demeter, Tethys

Row 2: Rhea, Theia, Artemis, Nyx, Selene, Erebos, Asteria, Chronos, Zeus

Row 3: Eos, Hestia, Hermes, Ananke, Hera, Gala, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Athena

Row 1: Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Gala, Hera, Ananke, Hermes, Hestia, Eos

Row 2: Zeus, Chronos, Asteria, Erebos, Selene, Nyx, Artemis, Theia, Rhea

Row 3: Tethys, Demeter, Hyperion, Apollo, Hades, Phoebe, Neptune

OMG. And these still don't do it justice. Nyx is by far the sparkliest, but I haven't seen sparkle like this since Les Pappillons. :)

Aromaleigh: First Mythos look: Hera, Athena, Dionysus

2010-10-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows how much I love purply pinks and pinky purples, right? So I went with Hera, Athena, and Dionysus. It took me forever to remember who Dionysus was, but then I remembered that he's associated with theatre, and he was on a test, and that cleared everything up. I love makeup names that are names, like the Pure Eye Lustres from AL. Creative names are all good, and they make me smile, but I'm a huge fan of legit names. :)

So it's Hera all over the lid, Athena over the crease, and Dionysus in the corners. If I'd had more time, I would have put a paler colour below the eyebrow... but I was running to school. I'd also like to use Dionysus as a liner. :)

Next up--swatches! =D

Aromaleigh: Mythos!

2010-10-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

I should hopefully get swatches up by later today, but here they are in their little baggies. :)

Check out Phyrra's giveaway!

2010-10-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

She's giving away BftE cosmetic stuff! Check it out here: http://phyrra.net/2010/10/bfte-cosmetics-the-wizard-of-oz-some-giveaway.html

I hereby declare Kristen...

2010-10-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

...the Energizer bunny of indie makeup! Just when you think her batteries have run dry and she's out of surprises, POOF! she announces she has THREE more collections in store!

Mythos:

Oh my gosh. Like, really, guys.
Announcement blog post
SKIN SWATCHES IN SUNLIGHT blog post

OHWTO review: Sweet Cream Sugar Scrub

2010-09-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

[photo via OHWTO]

So I got the chance to try OHWTO's sweet cream sugar scrub in Ginger Tea scent. I really love ginger, lately--it feels revitalising and safe, somehow. :) Partially spurred by someone's comment that ginger invigorated her and partially because of my beloved Aromaleigh Gingersnap lipbalm, I am on a ginger kick.

I like sugar scrubs--I used to use salt scrubs, but then I learned the hard way that when you use a salt scrub, you have to be sure there are NO nicks or cuts in your skin or... yeah--but even better, Becca advertises that with this sugar scrub, you don't have to put on lotion after showering--my least favourite hygienic task after flossing--which I ALWAYS have to do because my skin is super dry. I have to apply lotion over my entire body, and on my legs especially, I have to apply lotion, give it about 30 minutes to sink into my skin and dry, apply lotion AGAIN, and usually put lotion on my legs before I leave the next morning, too, or it itches. Kind of sucks, especially since I don't like the lotion step at all.

Well, I'm very satisfied with the sugar scrub! The ginger smell was awesome--it was fresh and zesty, and had a citrus kick that was really nice. In the shower, it smelled kind of lemony (yes, I know I already said citrus, but it was specifically lemony to me). I applied as recommened--towards the end of my "bathing ritual", as the label calls it, rinse, and then pat dry. I was extremely careful not to get any water inside my container, and applied it all over. What I really like was that the smell was sharp and fresh in the shower, and when I got out, it was still there very strongly, but the citrus was way weaker so it was more ginger outside the shower than in (make sense?). It was a really good scent to have chosen, too, because when I put some Providence perfume oil on my wrists before bed they didn't clash and smell terrible.

I gave it about an hour post-shower to see if my skin would feel itchy and dry. My legs did, just a tiny bit, so I applied a very thin layer of my lotion (which is lavender-scented, and also meshed just fine with the scent), but nowhere else did... and considering I have such ridiculously dry skin, that's saying something! The next day in the evening I did have to put on some lotion, but that's still pretty good.

Interesting story--we let my cat smell it and while he wrinkled his nose, it wasn't the dramatic "ACK THAT REEKS HEAD FOR THE HILLS" response he normally gives. Also, unlike post-lavender lotion, he was willing to sleep in my lap after my shower, which means that I didn't stink too bad.

I think you should definitely try the sweet cream sugar scrub, and try it in a wide variety of scents. Highly recommend. (My favourite scents so far: Sweet Honey Rose, Providence, Ginger tea; but there are plenty to choose from!)

Lost in Faerie & Ciao Italia swatches

2010-09-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

Swatches--tons of people have theirs up, but I wanted to test all the ones I hadn't tried yet.

Ciao Italia

Swatches--tons of people have theirs up, but I wanted to test all the ones I hadn't tried yet. Right to left, top row: (RIGHT to LEFT, NOT left to right)
1. Melograni, Pistacchio, Albicocca, Menta, Lampone, Tiramisu, Fior di Latte, Bacio, Melone, Zabaglione, Rosmarino, Mela, Mora
2. Fragola, Pera, Liquirizia, Mirtillo, Puffo, Frutti di Bosco, Nocciola, Fico, Ciocolatto, Biscotti, Amarena, Malaga (my personal favourite)

Lost in Faerie

Right to Left:
1. Elodie, Donella, Trixy, Meliora, Eglantina, Zanna, Xylia, Rosina, Erlina, Loxy, Calista, Emerenta, Elysia, Pherenice
2. Ellette, Caelia, Alina, Sorette, Naida, Annysia.

Not pictured: Liriope, my personal favourite. I used it and left it on the counter. It's a slightly less pink version of Malaga from Ciao Italia, really.

"I'll pray YOUR mantis!"

2010-09-16T19:10:00.001-07:00

Just a memo to all: my personal blog, originally Ooh!Shiny!, now Farfalla, is open for posting. Be sure to check it out!

(Quote is what I was saying in a dream right before I woke up)

Underworld & Wonder

2010-09-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

I wasn't a fan of the way this turned out until I photographed it. Now it looks kind of pretty.

Neither Underworld nor Wonder particularly entranced me... My favs from the Elemental Lustres are Entangle & Spark. I originally only wanted to use Wonder, but it looked sad by itself, so I added Underworld along the crease and the outer corner. I think it looks nice in the pictures.

Aromaleigh: My hands down favourite look

2010-09-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

I've been busy for quite some time... but here's some photos of my favourite AL look. I have done this one frequently, and even though the past few weeks I've been trying all the Aromaleigh samples I haven't tried in preparation for the sale (AROMALEIGH RETURNS ON SATURDAY, TELL YOUR FRIENDS) I deviated and returned to an old favourite last Wednesday.

Face:
Biore facial lotion SPF 35
A ratio of half-half Peaches & Cream finisher powder to Metamorphosis. I mix in a shallow glass dish and apply with a powder brush.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance all over my lid, followed by Maybelline Smudge-Proof eyeliner in Espresso. I'm always really horrible with eyeliner application.... it's either messy or too thick or crooked or whatever.

I put Butterfly Kisses thickly all over my lower lid, and very thinly under my eyebrow. Liriope along the crease, and the outside accented with Fragile Things.

Free stuff, y'all!

2010-08-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a giveaway from KittensMittens: lots of Aromaleigh stuff! (and other slightly less cool because they are nonAromaleigh stuff) I've never won one of these... I'm crossing my fingers!

Here's yet another from Blix: FIVE winners for this one! :)

OHWTO review :)

2010-08-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

One Hand Washes The Other Etsy store
One Hand Washes The Other blog

This is a review of my experience so far with the OHWTO products I have purchased & been given as freebie samples. I got them last Sunday, so I guess I haven't discovered if they will give me brain cancer over long-term use (you know that SCA thing, right? I'm probably going to die for going indie* ;) but I think I can offer an informed opinion on them, as will my sister and my cat, Milo.

*I'm so so so so kidding. I don't think indie shops will give me cancer. I think the SCA thing is a crock. Don't worry. Be happy. ;)

My order arrived lightning fast--I think it took less than a week and I was able to track it the whole time--I have this weird fixation with obsessively checking my packages on their way to me. I love today's technology. :) As I have mentioned before, I got a butt-load of stuff in my order, and everything was beautifully packaged. I've never ordered from Etsy before; it was very exciting. :)

Of the items I have received, I have personally tried the solid scent sample of "Sweet Honey Rose", the vial of "Providence" perfume oil, the "Caroline" lip tint, and the "Victorian Rose" scented whipped bathing creme. Hannah has tried the "Pink Lady" solid scent and the "Sweet Pea" whipped sugar scrub, and her review is forthcoming. (Her blurb of a review when I asked: "Mmm, smells good! AND IT'S PURPLE!!!")

Sweet Honey Rose Solid Scent: I'm new to the solid scent craze, but I am so in love! I don't really wear perfume--I have a Sunflower scented body spray I can't really wear because I'm allergic, and I will dab essential oils on my wrists when I have the time (Lavender or Grapefruit. That's it). On Becca's blog, she mentions that some people put their solid scent on dry skin to help revitalise it. I suffer from major dry patches on my elbows, so a few nights ago I put it on them before to see what happened. It was about the same as putting lotion or vaseline on them; my elbows were markedly less dry, and the scent was a reassuring and pleasurable thing to fall asleep to.

Tuesday morning when I left for class I dabbed some under my ears and on my wrists before leaving. I could smell it directly (I love the scent, by the way!) and it was nice on the drive to school. It kind of faded once I got to class (or maybe I just got used to it) and I forgot about it.

Several hours later, I left the air-conditioned building and stepped back out into the 90-degree weather (this is Salinas' one hot week of the summer--we average 50-70 year-round). I guess the scent melted in the heat a little, because as soon as I warmed up I could smell it again. It was great!

When I came home, MANY hours later, and gave my sister a hug, she could still smell it! Long lasting, and delicious scented. No allergic issues whatsoever thus far.

Solid scent reminds me of Ancient Egyptian perfume. When I was younger (9ish) I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt and did a lot of research. Egyptians would get little cones of perfumed solid (I don't remember what they were made out of, maybe lard or something like that?) and they would put them on top of their wigs. When they were outside, going about their daily business in the heat, the perfume would melt and spread its odiferousness! This is like this, only minus lard, and no scented grease in your hair.

...So really, not like it at all?

In summary, I love it, my sister loves it. Milo doesn't like it, but he's super picky and hates smelly stuff.

No pic of the Victorian Rose Bathing Creme because I couldn't get the adorableness of the label to show up on my cell phone camera and I left my real camera at the theatre this weekend. It's really cute, though. It's in a little jar and it's the prettiest pink colour. The smell is amazing, too: a rich, vibrant deep rose scent. Real rose--that's what I'm liking of the scents I've tried so far. They smell like the real thing, not the cheapo Wal-Mart body spray version.
I've used the Bathing Creme multiple times, and because I like to experiment, I have learned the following about Whipped Bathing Creme:
1. It is excellent for basic cleansing (I like to do a body scrub, first, but since I didn't order any OHWTO scrub I'm using my generic CVS stuff). A little goes a long way, though I keep using more because I like the smell. Wasteful Corbyjane, wasteful wasteful!
2. It's gentle enough to use on the face. I've used in multiple times on my face when I'm in a hurry, but I still like the Mary Kay cleanser because it's scrubby and moisturising and it says FACE on it. (When I have the time, I do "gentle cleanser" followed by "hardcore apricot scrub" followed by a Dead Sea mask followed by moisturiser on my face, so yeah...)
3. It's not really creamy enough for shaving with. I tried it, and it works better than conditioner but not as well as the shaving cream my sister and I use. In a pinch I'd say it's okay to shave with, just not recommended.
4. The scent will linger about as long as it takes you to get out of the shower, get dry, and dressed. It's not overpowering at all (though in the shower it's a beautiful steamy cloud of roses), so no worries.
5. NOT EDIBLE. (don't ask...)

I love it, my sister liked the smell. Milo doesn't like it, but he wasn't really happy to be in the shower in the first place:
Milo: *meows pitifully*
Corbyjane: "No, Milo! We're conducting an experiment!"
Milo: *meows pitifully*
Corbyjane: "FOR SCIENCE, MILO!"

*Don't take your cat into the shower. I don't think these products have been tested for animals, and I didn't actually make my cat try the bathing creme, I just let him sniff the container. And his judgment was pretty absolute.

In summary: try it. You'll love it.

[Someday there will be a picture here] Caroline Lip Tint: You should probably know I'm the worst person in the world when it come to lip products. I bite my nails relentlessly, so anything I wear will probably end up on my thumbnail. So when I say I didn't find Caroline particularly long lasting... you must know I've never found anything very long lasting. The problem is the nut behind the wheel, not the product. ;)
Caroline is a very pretty pinky red--I forget how it's described on the site, but it's pretty close to what's pictured. I'm a huge fan of sheer colours because I like to go all intense on my eyes and natural on my lips, so this was very nice--it just kind of brightened my natural lip colour (which is pretty dark and pronounced). I liked it very much. It did last for a bit; I think I'll have Hannah try it and see if it stays longer if you don't put your fingers in your mouth every three seconds. And since it's a lip tint, not a lipstick, it doesn't apply with the nasty greasy flavour that lipsticks have; it's just kind of a sheer wash of colour on your lips.
Speaking of "~~nasty greasy~~ flavours", the tint is flavoured/scented with bubblegum! And it's a really realistic bubblegum--like the actual flavour, not the Jelly Belly version. I found the taste yummy, although, since I was also wearing Sweet Honey Rose AND a scented moisturiser, the smelly combination was a little much for me. (remembering I'm overly sensitive to scents... I doubt most people would find a problem with it at all.)

Overall, I liked it. Me, personally, will probably not order a full-sized container just because I don't wear lip colour pretty much ever (I have one tube of Aromaleigh Coquette, and ask me how long it took me to even buy that) unless I'm onstage, but if I were the type of person who wore it regularly, this is something I would use. It's a very nice basic colour, applies easily and mess-free (I used my finger tip a few times and a Q-tip a few times and a lip brush a few times), seems to last pretty well, and smells/tastes lovely (as long as you're not super-sensitive).
My cat did not like it, but I think he was mostly mad I dabbed some on his nose. (Though really that nose shouldn't have been anywhere near his mommy when she's putting on makeup. He deserved it.) Testers did observe that it really brought out the natural pinkness of his nose, though...

*One thing about the scent, though: OHWTO does a lot of things custom-made, so if you were super against getting a bubblegum flavour, I'll bet if you asked really nicely she could maybe make it without a flavour. No guarantee, though. :)

Providence Perfume Oil: I haven't really put this one through its paces yet... I've mostly kept it on hand to sniff during stressful moments. I have been wearing Sweet Honey Rose as my perfume, so I haven't worn it out to see how long these oils will last. I do like the scent, quite a bit: the description says that it was made with aromatherapy principles in mind, and that the owner finds it calming. I did, as well. It's like a lavender scent, but with depth to it (I have no idea what petitgrain is, so...), and I've found it a very soothing thing to inhale when the world is going crazy. I plan on getting more of this... I've haven't quited mapped out what as, though, because it isn't something I'd wear "out"; more as something to have at home. (It's like those nice sexy heels vs. your fuzzy slippers) I found it a very nice and comforting smell, and I put it on my wrists before bed.
I strongly recommend the OHWTO vials of scent! they're just like $1 each and you can try out all her exciting smells for very little cost.
And I also strongly recommend Providence scent for your homey, comfortable, calming moments. :)
(Milo does not recommend it. He thinks it's smelly and awful and how dare his mommy expect him to snuggle up against her when she smells so strongly? I ask you. It's enough to make a grown cat weep.)

Espresso Lip Butter: I have to say, when I first tried it, I wasn't super impressed. The scent was weak and it seemed like a nice, moisturising chapstick with nothing particularly special about it. But after a second use, the scent became more defined--it really does smell like espresso (and I have 5 yrs of Barista experience, trust me...). Also, "butter" is a good descriptor for the consistency. While Burts Bees and Aromaleigh's balms are waxy and thick, OHWTO and Vaseline (the lip balms, which I use a lot of) apply more creamy and thin. Also, OHWTO's lip butters leave a glossy shine to your lips, so it's kind of like wearing lip gloss without the bother. I liked it.
While I liked the Espresso scent/flavour a lot, and it's definitely spot on, I'm leery of it as a lip flavour (for me personally) because I have a horror of coffee breath, and whenever I wear it I think people will think I have coffee breath, and oh dear God wouldn't that be awful if they thought I had just drunk coffee? because I definitely don't chug it all day long each and every day... I don't know why I find it uncomfortable, but I do. (Once more, a nut behind the wheel issue)
However, the butter itself is great and moisturising, and i'll continue to use it. Just while I actually am drinking coffee. I highly recommend them, in whatever flavours you find appealing. I am very eager to try the Lavender sort, myself. And so are quite a few people I talked to. Doesn't it just sound delicious? :)
(Milo found the lip butter moisturising and tasty, but far too smelly. He licked it off his nose very indignantly and swore at me in cat language.)

So, in complete summary: I liked Sweet Honey Rose Solid Scent very much and I plan on getting a full-sized tube of it. I liked Victorian Rose Bathing Creme very much; I plan on getting more of the Victorian Rose scent in something and more Bathing Creme in something, but not necessarily the same something. I liked the Caroline lip tint, but will not purchase a full-size just because I don't wear lip colours a lot. I really love the Providence scent and want more of it. I liked the lip butter, and will order more in different flavours.
Hannah likes what she's tried. Milo hates them all and thinks you should buy some nice unscented body wash and live in a nice unscented vacuum in space with no odors at all.
I recommend ALL OF THEM and I plan on spreading the good news by gifting samples to people this Christmas. :)

One Hand Washes The Other Etsy store

One Hand Washes The Other blog

My OHWTO order

2010-08-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

It came it came it came!

So Becca started following my blog late spring-early summer, and I checked out her blog to see what she was into, and that's how I discovered OHWTO. I was instantly intrigued--if you know me, you know body products are my weakness--cleansers and scrubs especially. I can spend an hour in the drugstore staring at all the different ways I can wash my body. Plus, her scents seem especially delicious--I had to write down all the ones I wanted to try. I talked about placing the order here, but for the lazy, I ordered:

"Espresso" lip butter
"Caroline" lip tint sample
"Sweet Pea" Whipped Sugar Scrub
"Victorian Rose" Bathing Creme
Sample vial of "Providence"

As you can see in the above photo, I got that and SO MUCH MORE. She also threw in two "solid scent" samples of "Sweet Honey Rose" and "Pink Lady", a OHWTO magnet (which is now on the fridge), and a little Halloweenie skeleton dude.

PLUS everything came packaged so prettily! The packing tape on the box was printed, little designs adorned the box itself. Inside, everything was wrapped up in different coloured tissue-- fuschia, this gold patterny stuff, and ivory--and separate small baggies, which is great because I use little baggies to hand off samples of AL makeup (any extras or ones I don't like I give to friends) and never seem to have enough of them. My invoice and the solid scents came in this adorable little key-stamped envelope with an epic little waxed seal, which wasn't a huge surprise because I've seen other people's pictures of their orders, but it definitely was cool to see in person. I ripped it from the fold to open it so I wouldn't disturb the seal.

Preliminary reviews: my sister loves the smell of her Sugar Scrub, and so do I! I like that it's not over the top--it doesn't smell like artificial perfumey sweet peas; it smells like the actual flowers.

Victorian Rose smells really good--I think there are two kinds of rose scents, and I don't really know how to describe them, except that one is young and fresh and I associate it with those mini climbing roses, and one is deep and grown-up and rich and I associate it with the bouquets of red roses you get after a performance. This smells like the grown up rich ones, and I like the stronger, richer scent for bathing, so it's so totally perfect!

The Sweet Honey Rose solid scent... I think, assuming solid scent works for me (I'll be trying it out this week) I may need to get a full thing of it. It's the light, younger rose smell and I think it will be great for an every day scent.

The other solid scent sample was "Pink Lady", which I liked quite a bit, but gave my sister because a) pink is her thing, b) I really liked the Sweet Honey Rose better, c) I had all this fun stuff and Hannah only had a little jar of body scrub. (Also d) I wanted her to make me a sandwich.) It's kind of a fresh scent--it seems more Hannah's style than mine. But it does smell really great!

I tried the lip butter--it's soo nice, I can't even tell you. The Aromaleigh lipbalm that I have--Gingersnap, if you're wondering--is really nice, but it applies a little thick and feels--I'm not sure how to describe it--but a little solid on my lips. I think it's really similar to Burts Bees lip balm. This lip butter reminds me much more of a Blistex Raspberry Lemonade brand chapstick I used briefly during the spring (briefly because it cost like $5 and I don't have that much money...). It was a lot more moisturising; it applied thinly and was just really nice. This feels like that, only for this I paid the outrageously expensive price of $2.50. Also, while it is Espresso-flavoured and I am getting some scent and flavour from it, it's not over the top. If I haven't said so before, I hate lipbalms that are so strongly flavoured they ruin everything you eat/drink. I just ate a tuna sandwich with no overpowering taste of coffee whatsoever.

(And in case anyone's interested, other flavours I REALLY want to try are Green Tea, Lavender, and Black Tea.)

And finally, Providence. I would like my entire life to smell like this, I just wanna say. The description calls it a "blend of lavender and petitgrain". I love it... it's great, natural lavender scent (my favourite!) but with a depth to it so it's not just "oh, you smell like lavender", it's "you have a unique scent that appears to be lavender-based". Does that make any sense at all?

Anyways, it is a very relaxing scent. This summer I threw my (now empty) bottle of lavender essential oil into my bag and whenever I had a spare moment during stressful times, would inhale it. I'm sure it looked really weird, but it seemed to help. As a result, an imaginary field of lavender is now my happy place.

In summary: love them all, but won't order anything new until I've tried all of them. I'm pretty positive I'll be needing some Providence body scrub and a full-sized Sweet Honey Rose solid scent, and then a million little samples of everything! I especially want to smell Breathe and Ginger Tea. :)

Oh yes, forgot to mention: my sister and I love our stuff, but we did have one nay-sayer: my kitten, who loathes strong scents (lotion, spices, etc) helped us unwrap everything, was incredibly intrigued by all the tissue paper, but the second I opened up the body scrub to sniff it--

"If you need me, I'll be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over here!"

Latest AL stuff

2010-08-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

Once again I serve as sparkle-dealer for my sister & friends. We placed two orders within days of each other because I wanted to order more of the high-res finishing powder (which deserves a review, but not right now; summed up, it works, but doesn't give as much coverage as my cheap NYX stuff, and always close your eyes and hold your breath while applying) and that wasn't available at the time the first order was placed. We got:

For Lexy:

A full-size of Fume (I don't know why the silver eyeshadow is such a hit with the younger set. I don't like it. I mean, I think it looks pretty and shimmery, but it's not a good colour on me)

For Audrey:

Samples of Snow & Cielo from the Frosts

Plush Romantic & Gilded Jealousy from Gothic Lolita

Circe from Lustres (another fav. People just love it! At least this time I see the appeal...)

Sample of Fume

Lotus from the Elementals (I like this one a lot, though I don't use it often)

Mink Coat from Plush (I think this one will be a good fit for her)

For Hannah:

Love Note from Val 09. A little dark for moi, but Tink has this one and seems to love it! also Heart & Soul, and Sea of Love

Dragon from L'Orchidee

Odile from En Pointe

Sky Scraper, Asphalt and Window Shopping from Hot In The City. She wanted a full size of WS, but they had sold out. I told her Sophie was similar, and after trying mine, she agreed, and got

a Full Size of Sophie from the Lustres

For Ashley:

Earthly Delights (wanted a full-size, but they sold out. So I grabbed her an extra sample.

*I* got:

Mocha from the Frosts. Tink got it, and I liked how it looked in the bag.

Violet Ruffle & Purple Princess from Gothic Lolita

Chocolate Heart, Sweet Nothings from Val 09

Arabesque, Serenade, and Coppelia from En Pointe

Hoity Toity from Hot in the City

Underworld and Entangle from Elemental Lustres. I have Entangle, but I'm running low. I wish I could have gotten a FS. It reminds me of rose gold.

Silk Stockings, Baby Blues, Prim Tweed, Buttoned Up, and Dollhouse from the Plush. I wanted a FS of Silk Stockings but they sold out before I got around to it. Just as well; I only use the plush texture onstage anyway.

I got FS of Circe, Dulcinea, and Fragile Charms, however, the next day Kristen announced that both Dulcinea and Circe had sold out and I was issued a refund for one of them... dunno which yet, though. I hope Dulcinea because I wear Circe more (it's a midtone brown and plays nicely with Sophie and Thalia's Return, my default natural eye) but at the same time, Dulcinea is a beautiful lavender with a green sheen, and is just so lovely... I don't know. Ugh.

And Fragile Charms is almost identical to Melaga (Ciao Italia) and Liriope (Lost in Faerie) so by buying it for about $4 I'm talking myself out of paying $8 for both of those... They aren't completely alike; Melaga is warmer, I think, and Liriope is lighter, but they are very close.

So like I said, I placed another order shortly thereafter, and my sister and I both went in on it. Because I knew either Circe or Dulcinea wouldn't be in my last order, I got several samples of each.

I also got a FS of Peaches & Cream finishing powder

Hannah got samples of Charcoal (Frost), Verdant Whisp (Gothic Lolita), Heart & Soul (Val 09), Dollhouse (Plush), Air & Light (Les Pappillons), and Calliope (En Pointe).

I discovered this week that Cosmos is much more wearable than I'd anticipated and matches one of my sweaters exactly, so I picked up some more samples of it. I have also discovered Jewel (a midtone mauve-purple with flecks of gold) is really nice on me, so I got a FS of it on impulse, and since all my purples seem to be silver-based, I got a sample of Ondberry, which promises it has lots of gold in it, to hopefully pair with it.

And thus ends the saga of Aromaleigh, which closed approximately an hour ago. I feel good about it. I did spend a lot of money (for me, anyway; I won't buy anything for myself over $10, remember)--I think about $100 over the course of two months. However, it was discounted from about $300, if you count all the sales and all the free things Kristen has given me, and in quality, probably nearly $1000. AL is very high-quality, long-lasting, and extremely inexpensive, and I don't anticipate needing to buy any makeup probably for years. (Doesn't mean I won't, *cough*)

It's also been kinder to me than other cosmetics. I'll post more reviews and discuss my experiences further, but all in all... I don't regret any of my purchases. The ones I don't like my sister and Tinkerbell are more than willing to take off my hands. While, I'm not gonna lie, I think the people who say, "I had horrible self-esteem before Aromaleigh! Aromaleigh makes me feel beautiful!" are kind of stupid because yes, looking better does raise your confidence level but making makeup your happy pill doesn't do any good because what happens when you run out of makeup, hmm? I do feel prettier when I'm wearing pretty makeup. I just don't think it's the magical make-my-life-good some people claim it is.

All this to say, I am on a lot of drugs at the moment and rambly, but goodbye to Aromaleigh. I'll miss you.

And I'm glad I have two more packages of sparkle to look forward to. :)

One Hand Washes the Other Order! (& smelly stuff)

2010-08-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

OMG you guys, I have been telling the lovely Becca of OHWTO that I would try her stuff probably since June or July. Well, I *finally* got that order placed. I got

An Espresso flavoured "lip butter" ~ I didn't really see a lot of flavours available on the site--at the time, only Espresso and Banana (on a side note, I hate bananas. I think I'm allergic to them, because the smell literally makes me throw up. Anyways), but hey, I love coffee! Especially espresso... I never was type to drink straight shots (except on those 5am shifts on the drive-thru, oy!) but they smell amazing. And it was so cheap ($2.50!) I just couldn't resist. :)
Lip Tint Sample of Caroline. I'd like to try a sample of a few other colours, as well; maybe next time. :)
"Sweet Pea" Whipped Sugar Scrub sample~ it's a 2oz jar and promises to go a long way before running out. This one is actually for my sister. "Sweet Pea" was my grandmother's name for Hannah, so she will pick up anything with "sweet pea" on it. I'm not kidding; she has the AL eyeshadow, lotions, perfumes, you name it. But she promised to let me try some.
"Victorian Rose" Whipped Bathing Creme. You would think, since Hannah's middle name is Rose, that roses would be her "special flower", but they are not. They are mine. Well, I love the smell of them, anyway--I think daisies are visually prettier. (Hey Becca, you don't have a daisy scent yet, do you? ;)
I also got a perfume vial of Providence, which is purportedly an aromatherapy-like lavender smell. While I like roses better for making myself pretty, lavender is my default relaxant--I use lavender lotion before bed, as well as keeping some essential oil on hand for those stressful moments.

The shipping was very inexpensive, considering how difficult shipping some of those containers must be--my total cost was around $14. I'll keep y'all posted on how things turn out--I have already read many glowing reviews of various OHWTO products, and am confident I will have the same satisfaction. :)

I just love the descriptions of all the scents OHWTO has... I made a list of all the ones I would like to try (there were about 25) and boiled it down from there. I especially want to try Ginger Tea (I love ginger! As long as it's not a sweet, food-smelling scent), Sweet Honey Rose, and Bonsai....

And now I'll take a brief tangent to tell you what scents I like (and don't like). I really hate food-scented stuff-- like shampoos and lotions--because they make me hungry. The only exception is ginger, and only in moderation. My favourite scents for lotion or perfume are roses or lavender. I also have some daisy-scented deodorant and sunflower body spray, but I don't use either of them too often. The chapsticks I use are all just generic sweet-tasting or so mild they don't really flavour anything else (I hate how with Burts Bees everything you eat tastes minty... it ruins my coffee!)

I love floral scents more in real life than on my body. Like, I love the smell of jasmine, but they're too sweet to wear. Lavender and rose are really the only exceptions. Though to be honest, I haven't sampled that many. I'm allergic to a lot of artificial perfumes and tend towards essential oil-based scents. I don't seem to have a problem with shower stuff, though--scented shampoos and the like--and I'm not sure why.

What smells do you like?

"I Know It's Today" performance & updates

2010-08-14T23:22:00.001-07:00

Brief non-sewing/makeup/clothes departure:

"I Know It's Today" is from Shrek the Musical. It is sung by Princess Fiona, who is locked in a castle from age 7 to (about) 30.

Young Fiona: Hannah
Teen Fiona: Audrey
Adult Fiona: Corbyjane

Musical Direction by Corbyjane; Choreography by Alex. Directed by both of us (but mostly Alex. :)

Run through:

Final performance:

Update, while I have your attention(s):

I haven't posted my latest Aromaleigh haul yet (or reviews), and I have two more orders on the way. The store officially closes in about 12 hours so make your final purchases now! they will return with whatever inventory is left on September 9th and remain open until they have sold everything. (I think whoever buys the last item should get a trophy, don't you?)
I am still ~~procrastinating~~ working diligently on the Twilight: Eclipse article; to be honest, at this point it's more that I'm scared after all this time it won't meet people's expectations than I'm having trouble writing it. The New Moon one was pretty mundane; no one really expected it (except the poor people who went to the movie with me) and all the raving came after, but people have been asking me since the Eclipse trailer came out "when will you write your article?" and it makes me very nervous. So yeah.
I do still plan on continuing with the makeup tutorials (and my LiF & Ciao Italia reviews!) ; I've just been busy with my life. Remember: no news = good news.
I am very appreciative of the people who have sent me products to review and I assure you I will get to them (and ooh and aaah appropriately), but I have other obligations at the moment.
Related to that, Serenity (my faithful laptop of nearly 3 years) has something stuck in her fan as well as a couple of stubborn viruses that no amount of home remedies could cure, so she is in the hospital for the time being and I don't have an ETA on when she'll be all healthy again. And given that she has the built-in digital camera card reader, it's not easy to post pics and vids right now.

So things to look forward to:

Eclipse article: expect people celebrating in the streets, etc... Kidding. Expect Sallianna & Ashley to twitter about it, a few FB people to call me names for saying SPOILER-->I think the whole series is being used by the devil to condition young girls and women to abusive/manipulative/unhealthy relationships and that the author will have a LOT to answer for some day<--SPOILER and some (hopefully many) parents to go, "Oh my word, you mean all that stuff is actually in those books?!"
Aromaleigh reviews. Ciao Italia is amazing and Kristen has outdone herself. (Thank you! I love you!) You should at least get the sample set ($25, I believe), though I urge you to get full-sizes, especially of Puffo and Biscotti.
A few more indie stores, as I begin to shop around post-Aromaleigh.
Some non-AL reviews (what?!): Mary Kay, Biore, and more...
A healthy Serenity that doesn't try to spam me every time i check my email and maybe (for once) lives up to her name. Not that her namesake does...

Halloween is practically here!

2010-08-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, not really, but people like Becca at OHWTO are sure on the ball! This inspires me to be the same, which is why I'm starting my Halloween preparations early. I think I'll go simple and multipurpose this year. Last year I reused a Susan costume from the Prince Caspian premiere, but this year I want to be Giselle again. (I was her in 2008--see the photo on the left sidebar)

Specifically, this one:

I'm hoping to dismantle this dress:

which is an ankle length grownup woman dress I used to wear back in my homeschool days and make it into something close to Giselle's. I think the skirt will have to be *slightly* less full, the bodice may have to be pretty patched together, and the ruffly neckline will be a little tamer. Also, like the other dress, I'll use a wide (3") ribbon to make shoulder straps. This will not only make it BSA but will also allow me to wear an adequately supporting bra.

I *want* to use this pattern

But I'll prolly end up just piecing it together using bits of patterns I already own.

Hair Randomness

2010-08-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm trying to keep my horribly destroyed hair alive until I can trim the ends and dye the heck out of it, & I'm trying a lot of homemade rinses on it. I lighten my hair using lemons and sun when I first dye my hair--I prefer an auburn colour that I'm not able to get naturally from a box dye, so I just dye it a little darker and then lighten it--and that, while taxing, works fairly well, but recently I've been experimenting with other kinds of in-shower rinses to clean and condition my hair.

Last weekend I attempted a chamomile-lemon rinse--it was two cups very strong chamomile tea (it's better with the flowers, but that's all we had) and the juice of one lemon. I learned a very important lesson: ALWAYS allow rinses that require boiling adequate time to cool down! I gave it an hour, but somehow it stayed hot, and I scalded my scalp. It's still a little irritated.

I don't really know what to do for my hair--or my skin, really--because when I shampoo TOO often (daily or more) my scalp gets dry and I get a ton of skin sloughing off like a psoriasis-type issue (teeny tiny flecks), but if I go too long (3-4 days) or skip shampooing and just do conditioner, I get major oily dandruff. I know that sounds really gross, but there it is. Also, if I don't put any conditioner on my scalp (just midlength to roots) I have the dry scalp issue, but if I do I have the dandruff. I really need help. =/

But the lemon-chamomile worked well--I put it on after using half the amount of shampoo, and then just a tiny bit of conditioner. There was noticeable increased shine (without the greasy look) the next day, and it seemed to get greasy more slowly.

The next time, I made a carrot-lemon rinse. This is supposed to "brighten" red hair as well as adding shine, and I really think it worked. I chopped two large carrots (scrubbed clean so there's no dirt or roots) into smallish pieces, and then for good measure I used our Slap Chop on them. These I added to two and a half cups of filtered water and brought to a boil. Once boiled, I let it sit for about 30 minutes, and then I strained the gross concoction using a coffee filter! and then added the juice from two lemons.

The first time I applied it, I put it on in between shampoo & conditioner. The second time, I put it on after the conditioner and used it to rinse the conditioner from my hair, then gave it a cursory rinse. This last time (when I used all of it) I used it in place of shampoo and put on just a small amount of conditioner.

I'm really, really disgusted by cooked veggies that don't "need" it (like carrots, peas, spinach and brocolli) and so this rinse really grossed me out. BUT my hair is way softer, much less greasy, and the red (which was dull and fading) seems to have livened up a bit. It's not "just dyed" vivid, but it's way better than before--I can see the red in dim indoor lighting, rather than just in the sun.

My next project will be a higher chamomile concentration, and then not rinse it out after my shower but just let it dry.

So yes. Do you try any herbal remedies on your hair?

Aromaleigh: Puffo & Arielle

2010-07-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

Since I didn't get to wear Puffo on Monday, I wanted to try it out. I put Arielle on the inside and blended Puffo out. I'm not totally happy with this--I think the colours look pretty together, but I think the application was wrong or something. Any ideas?
Anyways, I'm liking Puffo. It can be applied really pale blue or built up (like I did) to be darker.

My hair, by the way, was not as insane as it looks in the photo. It was actually really nice built up with a lot of volume but pinned out of my face, and it was because of my hair that I opted for the more sombre, "adult" looking colours instead of matching something I was wearing (coral and turquoise, with magenta shoes). I rarely get my hair looking nice so that's why...

Aromaleigh: Ciao Italia's Fior de Latte & Melaga

2010-07-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

My third Ciao Italia attempt, actually done yesterday, I used the pale pink of Fior de Latte combined with the lovely purple-pink of Melaga for this look. I think I may have been a little too zealous with the Melaga, but it's just so purty! I love this collection... I haven't disliked a colour yet. I guess I'll just have to keep trying them until I do! ;)

One with the glasses:

And the rest without:

I used Olivia on my lips, btw. I don't think it's actually "safe" for lips, but I figured I'd try it anyway. I just ran it around the edge of my lips and filled in the rest with Coquette.

So I need to put this on the "comment" box, but I'm always open to new tips or critiques. As long as they're about the makeup itself and not my eyebrows (I have trichotillomania and have to draw them on every day) I can take criticism pretty well. ;)

Coriander, Mela, Melone, & Liquirizia

2010-07-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

This was a comedy of errors look, & I'm not that happy with it because it's SOOO intense, and I'm jsut going to therapy and shopping. Oh well. I was going to wear Puffo, but when I put it on it looked uber grey and clashed with my sweater, so I put on Mela over it to accent with Melone, but Mela was soo dark I put Coriander on the inner corner to lighten it. So yeah. It goes Coriander, Mela, Melone (over crease and in the corners) and then I put Liquirizia as liner. I'm going to have to experiment with these three... I like how Coriander just blends right in. I love that Coriander, I do...

The only thing is I really feel like these colours emphasise the dark circles under my eyes. I know I could solve that by wearing concealer or foundation, but truth be told most of the time I don't care and foundation makes me break out, anyway.

Also, I ran out of my TFSI sample and until I can get more, a friend recommended I put a dab of cover up on my eyelid and use that like a primer. It went on feeling about the same (tacky and a little sticky) and I feel like the colours look brighter over it. I guess we'll see how they go throughout the day. :)

Aromaleigh news....

2010-07-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

Just as a head's up to anyone who follows me! Aromaleigh is no longer accepting paypal due to people being jerks. There's still credit cards, though! Also, they will be closed to catch up on inventory from midnight tonight till the end of the month.

PLUS ALSO the closing date has been extended to August 15th. I'm hoping to (but not counting on it) get my order placed last night long before that so I can purchase some new stuff should I be so inclined...

My latest order, placed last night, was for the following:

Ultra-Resolution Finishing Powder in Clear, full size. I was going to try samples of it, but ran out of time. It's just finishing powder and it's translucent, so I figure, what's the risk?

You're a Doll Finishing Powder in Parfait. It's grey-green. I have random red blotching and I'm hoping that will help with that. I only got a mini jar, but if I really like it I'll buy another one.

From the Plush collection, I got Feather Boa, another Silk Stockings (I can't afford a full-size), Petit Fours, and Rosy CHeeks

From Elemental Lustres: Wonder and Infidel. I was just going to get Wonder and then I saw Tianne-Marie's awesome swatches... Oy.

Opulent Lustres: Dragonfly and Tea.

Frosts: Damask and Cosmos.

Lustres: Pandora and Amelie

Gothic Lolita: Divine Intervention

Valentine 2009: XOXO

L'Orchidee: Jewel

En Pointe: This is such a pretty collection. I want to try all of them, and I can't believe I'd never ordered anything from them. Dulcinea has gotten rave reviews, and it's one I'd contemplate getting a full-size of. I also got Odile (the picture is just so gorgeous!) and Waltz.

Les Pappillons: Butterfly Kisses full-size. I got a TON of lavender eyeshadow samples, in this order and the last one, but Butterfly Kisses was one of my first loves and I need it. I also got a sample of Flutura's Cloud, because I'd always wanted to try it from Day one but never had...

Hannah got:

Plush: Pink Negligee and Room Service

Elementals: Blast

Opulent: Ginkgo, Cloud, Cypress, Lotus, and Dragonfly

Frosts: Aloe, Loden

Lustres: Edie (she needed a backup), Celeste

Satin Petals: Petunia, Sweet Pea (not for the colour, but Sweet Pea is her connection with her maternal grandmother--we never knew the paternals--though she says she likes the colour, too, I know the truth. ^.^) and Coriander.

Gothic Lolita: Wonderland (she loves silver; I don't get it), Gilded Jealousy (I didn't get the money connection until she pointed it out), Little Craving (back-up), Aqua Nightmare.

Valentine 2009: Pillowtalk (back-up), Sweet Nothings (back-up)

L'Orchidee: Tigrilla

En Pointe: Aurora, Tutu, Dulcinea, Waltz

Spring Solstice: Forget-Me-Not, Greenbrier

Hot In The City: Window Shopping, Girls' Night Out, Hoity Toity

Les Pappillions: Earthly Delights, Butterfly Kisses, Ephemereal Violet, Zephyr's Breeze

Ashley is an Aromaleigh newbie--this is her first (and possibly last) order. She spent a long time choosing her Momentous Purchases, and ended with:

Frosts: Mocha & Hazelnut (two very sound choices)

Satin Petals: a full-size of Foxglove, sample of Balsam

Lustres: Circe

Bete Noire: Solange

Valentine 2009: Love Note

Hot In the City: Late For Work

Les Pappillions: Thalia's Return, Soul Takes Flight, and Earthly Delights

One of the interesting things was seeing her total difference in colour preferences. I like warm purples and browns; she likes cooler toned things, and also likes darker ones she can use as liner. I'm excited to see what the Bete Noire looks like in person; Hannah and I never tried it. :)

Biscotti & Mora

2010-07-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Oh my... I needed a neutral look to wear to see a show today--I'm not doing anything else; I didn't really feel like going overboard--so I thought I'd wear Biscotti & Mora.

I am literally on my way out the door, but I wanted to rave... Biscotti is so beautiful! It's a very cool taupe, reminds me of Earthly Delights but it's more muted and opaque. It's got a lot of shimmer, but not overboard. Mora is a beautiful wine-brown that is a little like Burnt Roses but is wine instead of copper.

It's weird and probably my imagination, but I feel like it brings out the Italian half of me. Like, my nose and chin look better! And my Italian eyes look better! And that streak in my hair that yes is dyed over, but it's still lighter because of the intense highlight I have naturally, that looks better!

Biscotti: must have. If it looks good on my skin, it'll look good on anyone.
Mora: I need it. It's so lovely. And no reaction thus far; I think I'm allergic to something in Burnt Roses.

Ode to Aromaleigh's Valentines 2009 Collection...

2010-07-24T22:25:00.001-07:00

Hannah & I came up with this while making out our final order...

Are you lovelorn? I will take you into my arms with fervor, and you can fall back into my sea of love while I whisper sweet nothings into your ear such as, “be mine, hot stuff!” Once we have shared our first kiss, I will blissfully bare my heart & soul to your chocolate heart, and send you love notes signed “XOXO”. ...Intrigued?

ZOMG Ciao Italia

2010-07-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

So, Monday or Tuesday (I forget) I got an email from Kristen asking me if I would be interested in reviewing her
"Last Waltz" collection, "Ciao Italia".

Well, obviously I said no. I mean, I have SO much makeup as it is, and I'm just way too busy for something like this.

...If you bought that, did you know the word "gullible" is not in the dictionary? ;)

Her rundown on how the sales are going to work is here. From the moment I first saw the pictures, I knew I was going to love this entire collection. I loved Lost in Faerie, don't get me wrong, but this one is full of the earthy, warm tones I love best. :)

My pics under the cut...

I will do swatches at some point, but here are my colour descriptions (keeping in mind my unprofessionalness and makeup inexperience). Overall, the colours are very Tuscan, which makes sense considering they're Italian-inspired. They remind me of Les Pappillions a bit, but I'm not sure why. It's isn't because they're dupes or anything... these are like no Aromaleigh shades I've ever seen before. SO gorgeous!

I am now introducing a preliminary rating system to my reviews based on personal preference. I will rate them from 1-5 on how closely they match the website pictures in real life (unswatched, just in the bag, viewed under both florescent lights & sunlight.). I know how difficult it is to accurately capture something like makeup (fabric, too) so this isn't criticism or anything; it's just an aide for potential customers. :)

Melograni: It's a beautiful adobe red. I don't use reds on my eyes much, but I may experiment with this. 4.5

Pera: warm very dark greeny brown.Not actually pear-coloured, but lovely. 3 (slightly lighter and more green)

Albiocca: Toasted orange. It looks like sunset. Does that sound sappy? It looks like an amazing sunset. I have no idea how to wear orange eyeshadow, but it's SO beautiful! Does it make it sound more or less appealing if I tell you it matches my adorable kitten? 5

Menta: this is what I would consider a pear-colour, but I'm not the makeup genius. It's a gorgeous medium green. Very sparkly! 4 (more vivid in person)

Lampone: A lighter hue of "Melograni", IMO. I'll bet they'd look brilliant together! 4 (lighter)

Tiramisu: I can't eat the dessert because of my allergies... I call it a dark cool brown. :) 5

Malaga: Lovely! Reminds me of Liriope from LiF or Fragile Charms from LP... it's the same sort of deep pinky-purple fuschia that looks really good on me. :) 5

Mela: MUST. HAVE. FULL SIZE. Aquamarine. So lovely it makes me want to cry. (I'm really hormonal right now, don't mind me). 3 (a little greener, but mostly I rated it lower because pictures CANNOT do it justice)

Ciocolatto: I am withholding judgment on this one until I can swatch it. It looks like a dark brown with hints of gold (reminds me of Intrigued from Valentines 2009) but I think it may have some more depth to it. 4.5

Liquiriza: Tianna-Marie says the name means "licorice". It's very pretty--midnight blue with silver flecks. 5

Zabaglione: Not a fan of bright yellow on my face, though this is definitely a colour I would wear if it were clothing. It's really pretty; I just don't know how to wear it. If Albiocca is a sunset, this is the sunrise. 5

Pistacchio: exactly like the delicious food. The colour is exactly right. Love it! 5

Biscotti: So, this collection is making me hungry. Just sayin'. Biscotti is a shimmery taupe, slightly cooler than pictured. 4

Puffo: PUFFO MEANS SMURF YOU GUYS. I love that! And this is the exact colour of the Smurfs. So cute; I know we're meant to be best friends. 4.5 (brighter)

Mora: Cool mauve. It's lovely! 5

Fragola: bright, adorable bubbly pink. I don't do pink this bright, but I'll pass it along to my sister, who LURVES pink eyeshadow. :) 5 (can I give it a 10 for being like EXACT? Becuase I held the swatch to my monitor and it is dead-on.)

Mirtillo: Beautiful silver-lilac. 4 (more intense colour)

Fior de Latte: Sweet pale pink. I can't wait to try this one! 5

Rosmarino: Silver with lilac undertones and flecks of blue. Completely different from Mirtillo, don't worry. Not as blue; a warmer grey.

Melone: MUST HAVE FULL-SIZE AGAIN. Sooo pretty! Omg. I cannot describe it. Gorgeous teal. 5

Frutti di Bosco: So pretty plummy purple. 5

Nocciola: Tawny brown. It's the colour of coffee with just the right amount of soy creamer. 4.5

Fico: Warm mauve-lavender. 3.5 (a little paler and the colours are a little brighter)

Amarena: Very pale lavender with the slightest whisper of pink. 5

Bacio: This is the only one I knew--and I knew it from the ending of Otello: "Un bacio... un bacio..." *dies* Anyways, it's a gorgeous copper. It's a must have. 5

All in all: the colours are amazing. First set I've ever seen where I want so many in full-size. Like Pokemon, you gotta catch 'em all!

Pherenice & Plush Romantic, and my Monday style

2010-07-19T12:25:00.001-07:00

Hey all; how's it going? In nail news, I trimmed the ends of my [fake] nails to a normal length... they no longer have that french manicure look but now I can text and open doors, so it's all good.

Since I can't wear skirts Tuesday through Thursday, I'm making Mondays & Fridays my "dress-up" day. Casual dress up, anyway. I need to be able to move around, after all. So today I am wearing:

1. My teal knit top by SO from Kohls
2. over a brown Basic Amber Cami from Wet Seal
3. over a lovely skirt Raechel Schoch gave my sister--it's blue, grey, and turquoise flower silhouettes on a white background. I just love it!
4. Over my brown placket AA leggings
5. Over UGGs!

My bangs are french braided back into a ponytail, and I'm wearing Pherenice and Plush Romantic on my eyes. I love Pherenice, even though I don't think it looks very good on me. It's just so sparkly!

I don't know... maybe someone can help? Is there such a thing as blue eyeshadow that looks good on an olive-complection? Purple looks awesome on me, green slightly less so but still lovely, but try as I might I cannot find a wearable blue.

Pherenice & Plush Romantic, and my Monday style

2010-07-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

I won an award! =D

2010-07-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm housesitting for my Fairy Godmother's brother & wife (the brother's, not my Godmother's), which just so happen to be tenants in my mom's condo (yes, it's complicated). I had a lovely weekend with good friends hanging out (I'm allowed to do whatever I like, just as long as nothing dies) and marathonned Pushing Daisies and have decided that "will it look nice on me" worries be doggoned, I am making myself a retro inspired dress like Chuck wears at least once an episode. I have an uber hourglass figure, though my waist has been thickening at the same rate as the rest of me, and so I worry I'm too curvy for something like this, but I also worry something like this would make me look like I was playing "dress up". Thoughts?

In other news, this one top I've been eyeing on Forever21 was on sale for $8.99, and so I bought it with money I do not have. The picture has been raptured off the website, but it's a periwinkle blue Dolman top, and I have been telling myself since like Christmas I can't buy it if I haven't tried it on. So I tried it on. And it is beautiful. :)

My sister and I also went to Wet Seal with money for tank tops, because they are doing the 5/$20 deal which is amazing and awesome, and we bought a white tank top for Lori to dye brown ($6.50), a coral v-neck shirt that's long enough for me to wear over leggings ($9.50), a cami in Aqua ($6.50), a cami in pink ($6.50), and a cami in navy ($6.50). All for the low low low price of: $20! (+tax).

I'm not a huge fan of a lot of Wet Seal's "statement" pieces (I don't know what you would call them... like, the main fashion piece) but for basics like tank tops and camis, no one does it better. Also, Wet Seal's "basic amber cami" has no shelf bra and can be adjusted all the way up to BSA levels, which is great for large-chested people like my sister and me.

In other news, Maren (of SimplyMaren) gave us an award! Her article on the subject is here; I love her blog but despite it's purpose (healthy eating), reading it always makes me hungry. I highly recommend her health tips, but make sure you've got some healthy snacking material handy... her pictures of delicious foods are drool-worthy. I love you, Maren! :)

The Guidelines for Accepting this Award are…

Thank the person who gave you the award.
Tell 7 things about yourself.
Pass the award on to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered, and think are fantastic!

7 Things About Corbyjane (this makes me think of the stupid Miley Cyrus song... oh dear)

I started music lessons when I was five years old (they were "music theory" classes; I went on to be in a choir when I was six, start violin lessons at nine, and voice at eleven)
When I was 19 I weighed almost fifty pounds less than I do right now, but I think I'm more confident with my body than ever before. (Except when I'm around twiggy pre-teens, but that's normal)
Even though I'm a messy person (clothes on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink), I'm incredibly OCD. for example, I can't eat anything over a period of time; however much I'm going to eat needs to happen in one sitting. I can't eat if there's something I need to do, and I can't eat if I'm nervous. I can't get dressed unless my clothes are completely clean (if I try on something and change my mind, it needs to be washed before I can wear it again).
I am 1/64th Choctaw, and I hate it. If my hair is my natural colour, down, and straight, I look just like Pocahontas.
I reverse words and letters a lot; I don't think it's a full-on disability (though I've been told it's a form of essentially dyslexia) but I say things like "Knight in Arming Shiner" and write things like "Acingord to Btonain, Inmart Uthler..." ("According to Bainton, Martin Luther..") but it does make for interesting conversations.
I've never kissed a [non-child] boy. I've been kissed, but not vice-versa. I like this. :)
My life is absolutely nothing like I imagined it would be January of '09.

My Winners of the Versatile Blog Award are…

1. Phyrra's great blog, Phyrra.net. I became familiar with her writings through Aromaleigh and I love her stuff! She gives great reviews (is responsible for my new love affair with Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and her looks are gorgeous--while I don't think I'm confident enough to pull some of them off, they always look fabulous on her and have often provided me with inspirations for my own makeup.

2. Holly of The Adventures of Holly. She's active in the children's theatre world and has amusing and interesting stories to tell. I love how her site just screams "positive energy"!

3. Anna (or CostumeQueen) of blogs Splendiloquent and Aria of An Amateur. I feel like I've gotten to know Anna pretty well via her blogs and I gotta say she's pretty cool. :)

Twelve more? Really?

4. Amanda Beth of AmandaBethOnline. She discusses fashion with modesty in mind and it's really interesting. I love when she talks about famous starlets' style. :)

5. Makeup & Retrography by Tianna Marie. I discovered her through twitter, and she's another makeup guru I love to follow.

6. Yet another beauty blog! Robyn's Nest by Robyn. More makeup, more goodies. I just love seeing their looks and thoughts.

7. Cease Repining by Lady Brainsample. Entertaining looks at movies, among other things. Entertaining reading, to be sure.

8. Lipstick & Lightsabers: more makeup, with a nerdy bent. I just love it!

9. Niki Talks A Lot, by (guess who) Niki. She hasn't blogged in a bit, but what's there is lovely.

10. The Period Movie Review, which (wait for it) reviews period movies, mostly based on the costumes.

Five more? I can't... maybe later. I think I need more online friends. =/

In other news, guess what!

Fake nails. Not on my right index or left pinky (not enough nail to attach it to), and my left index and right thumb are really crooked. But I figure they can't look as gross as they normally do (ragged, occasionally bleeding, frequently bit to the nail bed); it won't make me sick like the bitter apple stuff; and hopefully it will prove more durable.

We'll see!

Turquoise & Sparkly

Christmas Eve Eyes: Cinderella Look with Aromaleigh

FotD: BRM Stardust

FOTDs: Two by two, EYES of blue!

2 FOTDs for the price of one!

Black Rose Minerals

Remember Aromaleigh?

What didja buy? =D

I made a this!

Beauty Favourites Survey

Darling Girl giveaway...

I Miss You, for OHWTO

Wrap-up notes in brief...

Mini Glinda is done.

Bubble gown progress...

Swatches: NYX Cosmetics pencils

NYX packaging fail...

So far...

FOTD: Amarena, Mirtillo, and GLITTER

petal mock-up

Progress was made: Glinda doll dress

Darling Girl Sale

My Sunday...

Sally Girl Sparkle Effect Loose Glitter Glue

Hair Pix: Before and After

NYX order

NYX: Don't hate me, you guys...

Quick shout out post!

New smellies from OHWTO

LOTD: Aromaleigh, Darling Girl, Mary Kay

Makeup! And Hair! Darling Girl! Aromaleigh! And Inez Salinas! And Exclamation Points!

Swatches: Ooops & Val11

A few (casual) reviews....

Butterfly Wings & Fairy Wings swatches

Bad cellphone pix...

Darling Girl!

The "Corbyjane" glitter

Would you buy?

Glitter shoes pt 2

Glitter shoes!

Five Things Survey from Phyrra

Aromaleigh: Cosmos & Pandora. Today's look brought to you by FAIL.

Aromaleigh: Hera, Athena, Masquerade

Hi, just saying, don't worry about #14 because normal people are boring and they don't fit in anywhere because they're not special. If you were normal corbyjane, you wouldn't be you, in a good way. "Why be ordinary when u can be extraordinary?"

how do you comment?

I totally agree with the stuff your saying and I love your list. I'm so going to try that! Oh and also, you inspired me to do operation beautiful which i do all the time now. But what are you talking about when you say That One TIme? I have one too.

Hey makeup peeps!

Happy Black Friday!

Happy Halloween!

"3 out of 4 Noses": Our OHWTO contest entry

Aromaleigh: Melancholy Maiden & Fiddlesticks

Aromaleigh: Wonderstruck swatches

Aromaleigh: Spells! swatches

Aromaleigh: Elysia & Mela (Also, arrival of Wonderstruck & Spells!)

Aromaleigh: Hades, Apollo, & Phoebe

aromaleigh: Mythos' Hermes, Gaia, Athena, & Erebos

Aromaleigh: Sophie, Circe, Thalia's Return

Aromaleigh: Hera and Asteria

Aromaleigh: Mythos Swatches!

Aromaleigh: First Mythos look: Hera, Athena, Dionysus

Aromaleigh: Mythos!

Check out Phyrra's giveaway!

I hereby declare Kristen...

OHWTO review: Sweet Cream Sugar Scrub

Lost in Faerie & Ciao Italia swatches

"I'll pray YOUR mantis!"

Underworld & Wonder

Aromaleigh: My hands down favourite look

Free stuff, y'all!

OHWTO review :)

My OHWTO order

Latest AL stuff

One Hand Washes the Other Order! (& smelly stuff)

"I Know It's Today" performance & updates

Brief non-sewing/makeup/clothes departure:

"I Know It's Today" is from Shrek the Musical. It is sung by Princess Fiona, who is locked in a castle from age 7 to (about) 30.Young Fiona: HannahTeen Fiona: AudreyAdult Fiona: CorbyjaneMusical Direction by Corbyjane; Choreography by Alex. Directed by both of us (but mostly Alex. :)

Halloween is practically here!

Hair Randomness

Aromaleigh: Puffo & Arielle

Aromaleigh: Ciao Italia's Fior de Latte & Melaga

"I Know It's Today" is from Shrek the Musical. It is sung by Princess Fiona, who is locked in a castle from age 7 to (about) 30.

Young Fiona: Hannah
Teen Fiona: Audrey
Adult Fiona: Corbyjane

Musical Direction by Corbyjane; Choreography by Alex. Directed by both of us (but mostly Alex. :)