BFTE Cosmetics Winnings!

Hey there guys,
Let me start out by saying this post is going to be a little photo heavy, Thanks for understanding! 

I recently had the pleasure of winning an awesome BFTE Valentines Day set from the absolutely beautiful Anna. She does some amazing things with makeup, and if you haven't seen her work you MUST check her out here:
Snooglerat's Randomness

I also just happened to be on Facebook one evening and Suzie Homemaker was having a random giveaway for 10 sample jars of BFTE as well. They wanted someone to guess a number between 1-200 and I picked 31, and just happened to be the lucky winner there as well.

I was SUPER excited to have so many beautiful colors on their way to me.
Here is what the Valentines Day set looks like.

Hot and Bothered Valentine's Day Collection

Its super cute in its little heart shaped box, isn't it? I probably won't keep the makeup in there, however, It's so cute it will most certainly be recycled for holding other odds& ends for sure! As far as I know the Hot and Bothered Valentines Day Collection is still available. I believe this set is limited edition, however a few colors may sneak into their regular line...you never know!

This is what comes in the set: 5 new colors of Multi-Use Mineral shadows and 1 Mineral blush.

 Swatches:  (all swatches are done dry/ no base/no primer)

Blurry for Sparklyness capture

I think my favorite of this collection is Butt Naked. I think its one of the best highlight colors I currently have. Im also a really big fan of Spank Me and Bondage. This collection is really full of wonderful colors. Any makeup lover would be happy to receive this as a gift. I am very fortunate to have won it. Thanks again to Anna for her generous giveaway! 

The 10 sample jars I won from Suzie Homemaker on Facebook were all on me to pick out! So because purple is my favorite color, I got quite a few that lean more to the purple/mauve side. 

These colors are the ones I ended up choosing:

10 Sample jars from BFTE Cosmetics

Chaos & Raspberry

Karma & Lollipop Kid

Grape & Rome

Peacock & Emerald City

Lemon & Crystal

Swatches: 

My swatch photos aren't that great, the colors are so much better in person.

Im honestly having trouble picking favorites here. I MIGHT be able to choose a favorite at gun point, but that's not the case here, so I'm just not going to pick one. Haha!  They each have their own unique beauty. You can get their descriptions from the website, but im just gonna jot down my own personal descriptions for each color:

• Chaos: orangy/peach, has a silvery sparkle, reminds me of a summer sunset, very tropical.
• Raspberry: hot sparkly,warm pink.
• Karma: pinky/purple sparkle. leans a tad more pink than Lollipop kid does. 
• Lollipop Kid: purpley/pink with pink & purple sparkles, leans more purple than Karma does.
• Grape: true purple. purple/ magenta sparkles. purplest purple ive ever seen.LoL
• Rome: bruise colored deep purple
• Peacock: Turquoisey blue with blue sparkles. This one is also very tropical in feel. 
• Emerald City: Medium-mossy green with yellow/gold sparkles. I got this one because Seattle is often called the Emerald City.
• Lemon: bright true yellow, nicely enough doesn't run gold!It's definitely YELLOW & yellow sparkles.
• Crystal: Light white, with multi-colored sparkles (pink,green,blue,gold) its SO pretty. Like fresh snow!

Sneak preview of the CUTEST hair accessories EVAR!

So there you have it. That's my giveaway haul. I feel so blessed to have gotten these items! Thank you to everyone involved! Hope you guys enjoyed seeing the colors I got. I'm really looking forward to adding much more BFTE products in the future and hope to show you guys some looks using these colors soon! I'm also excited to share a review with you guys in the near future about some SUPER DUPER cute hair accessories I recently ordered from a handmade seller.

What is your FAVORITE BFTE color? Is there one color you could suggest that I HAVE to own? Are there any color combinations that you'd like me to try out? Have a great weekend everyone!

EOTD 03.17.11

Happy belated Saint Patrick's day everyone! Here is my EOTD full of green win! Did you get any green colored alcohol, or perhaps a shamrock shake yesterday? Anyone get pinched? Haha! Hope you all had a blasty blast whatever you ended up doing! And here's the look I did:

Face Candy Couture in Sabrina for the Inner 1/3 lid, middle 2/3 is BFTE in Green Apple

Outer 1/3 lid and crease unknown brand pressed shadow Emerald Green color

Brow bone highlight from I dream of Greenie WnW palette

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

PF Shimmer Strips for Hazel Eyes Review

Hi there!

Awhile back I won a little giveaway going on over at Rural Glamour Beauty blog. Physicians Formula had the wrong address for me so it took a little over a month to get my winnings sent to me. BUT I was super stoked when it finally arrived. I wasn't sure what all my winnings included but what I got was :

All in "Hazel Eyes"  

• Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner

• Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel CreamLiner, Glam Collection (You can find superb photos and swatches of these over at vampyvarnish .) 

• Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Mascara Duo, Glam Collection

Winning!

Now that I've done a bit of research, I would probably have preferred the ones for green eyes, as it contains alot of really pretty purples and my eyes tend to shift from hazel to green. But I'm also partial to a little brighter makeup as well, and these are definitely for neutral fans who maybe slide a little into dramatic for special occasions or something.

The Review:

The gel liners I found to be very nice. The shimmery name here I suppose would apply to the fact that 2 of the colors are metallic looking in finish and the 3rd color has golden sparkles in it. They go on super smooth, and are highly pigmented. They had long staying power, which I always enjoy.

The eyeshadows, were just alright. They are shimmery as the titles suggests which makes them pretty. However none of the colors in this particular set really JUMPED out at me. Most of them are different shades of brown/bronze. That being said, I think it would be great for someone who doesn't have many shadows/ just starting out with makeup. You get a bunch of colors that are easy to blend together. I also feel like I had to pack on the color a bit. I don't think I would get this product again.

The mascara is alright. Doesn't really give much volume. It didn't seem to lengthen at all. The brush is quite thick so its a little difficult for me to apply. The gold side.. well I felt it made me look a little silly. Like I had blond lashes to go with my dark hair wasn't what I'd look for in a mascara. So I took it off and went with the black with gold sparkles side. It was a bit better as far as color goes. I don't know weather it was the sparkles or the actual formula of the mascara, but I couldn't get home fast enough to wash it off. It made my lashes start to itch at the end of about an 8 hour day.

Mascara duo on top, 3 gel liners on bottom

Here is a look I did using the products featured above. 

I used the bottom 3 colors from the palette (dark brown for the lid, pink for the crease & a light golden cream for the highlight)
I used the black with gold sparkles gel liner & the gold with black sparkles mascara.

Shimmery

Have you guys tried the PF shimmer strips eye enhancing products?  What color did you get?

Foundation WTF?

Hey there guys.

Today I wanted to talk to you all about a little .. okay a HUGE dilemma I've been facing the majority of my life. Foundation WTF disorder.
I've read up on the subject and learned that pretty much the #1 most common mistake is using the incorrect shade of foundation for your skin tone.

Here's the thing, wearing the wrong foundation color makes the body and face appear different in color.This causes the makeup to look "masky" , the wrong shade of foundation can make you look sickly, too pale, like you're sporting a bad fake tanning/bronzing product, enhance wrinkles, and essentially do the exact opposite of what we want to show off. In short, it's working for the opposing team.

That being said, I have NEVER in my life found the correct shade for my skin tone. I'm not sure weather I just can't see the slight variants of  shades in the bottle, or what. But .. In that area I'm a total Noob. I need some help and advice from you guys If you could help me, I would be forever grateful.

The first thing is to determine what you are looking for in a foundation and what would suit your skin type.

1) I have normal-dry skin (tends to lead closer to dry in most seasons)
2) I have slight redness in my cheeks & on my nose I want to cover as well as I like my foundation to cover imperfections in the skin so I assume I want a med-full coverage foundation.
3.) I do not have oily skin,  but I do like a matte looking, "airbrushed" appearance foundation for daily use. In the heat of summer if Im going to be outside, I generally skip foundation as I sweat underneath it and it causes breakouts. And looks like poo melting off my face! But I would rather wear it than skip it, so If I find one that's lightweight enough.. maybe I change this habit.
4) I am extremely fair skinned. Every foundation I've ever tried.. (and that's a lot) Has been either WAY too yellow, too ashy, too dark, too bronze and so on and so fourth.
5) I would like a foundation that is oil-free,contains SPF or sunscreen and is hypoallergenic if possible. (The sunscreen I like to double up on if I can, as the moisturizer I use also has an SPF.)

Foundation is expensive. Its one of the most if not the most expensive investments in my makeup bag. I'm sure EVERY woman is sick of wasting countless amounts of money on shades that are just not right for them. I now have given up on foundation at this point and have just started wearing finishing powder only. This SUCKS. It has no coverage (aside from looking a little more finished as far as my face goes) Its not meant for replacing foundation. I do use moisturizer before applying anything on my face, but even so, most days just wearing finishing powder makes my skin look dry instead of supple and healthy.

So here is a photo. Its a naked faced me. In direct natural light. It is overcast because .. well I live in Seattle and I've heard somewhere that it rains a lot here. HAHA. I love the rain though so it's nice.

If someone out there is good with color matching, please suggest color, brand and type of foundation below in the comments. I will be using these suggestions to purchase samples and HOPEFULLY finding a holy grail foundation. Its been far too long without one!

Thanks for reading! <3's ~ Kitty

Purry Murry Murloc

A photo post dedicated to my sketchy little Flame Point Siamese kitty called Murloc.

Named after Murlocs- a bipedal, amphibious humanoid race found in the World of Warcraft

Look at how his collar doesn't fit! :D He use to be so TINY!

Baby Murloc says "I am Ferocious! RAWR!"

This is Murloc & Steve (I use to have 2 Flame Points, but long story short, we had a house fire, and I lost Steve-O)

Murloc eating a Maple Bar *he LOVES sweets..oddly enough, they say cats can't taste sweet things?!?

.

One of the funniest photos ever. Murloc showing his adoration for the UK. 'Ello Loves!

On March 12th he will be 4 years old! How time flies!

Thanks to Vulcan_Butterfly for requesting this post! (｡♥‿♥｡) 

Go check out her blog full of awesomesauce HERE !

Black & Blue

Ok.. so first things first. I have been dying hair & practicing cosmetology for over 15 years. Just to get it out of the way, YOU may have different results using these same products. I know what works for MY hair, and the opinions stated below are my own. If you like the results, and want to try them out, please be aware results may vary and you play at your own risk! :D (image of the sign in Rocky Horror comes to mind ) tee-hee! Thanks guys.

So on with it then. This is what I've used this time:

1 tint brush

1 tint bowl

2 pair gloves

1 RGC packette

1 packette Prism Lights blue lightener (bleach)

roughly 3.5 oz 40 Vol creme developer (peroxide) *please be aware anything stronger than 30 vol should typically NOT be used on the scalp

1 box Feria #21

1 bottle SE Hair Dye Blue Velvet

My hair is naturally dark brown, and when I bleach out it pulls INSANE amounts of red. As I wanted my blue color to be blue and not turn purple because of the gold tones bleach pulls with my natural hair color, I took 2 steps to ensure I had a cool toned result. #1. I used a blue based lightner & #2. I used RGC in my lightening mixture. I first sectioned off any hair I wanted blue, and mixed up the lightener. I applied the mixture to the sectioned off areas and covered those areas with foil.  I did NOT use bleach on my scalp, I applied to about 1/2" above the scalp & covered the rest of the hair shaft down to the scalp with black dye. I like the way this blends the colors together.

Feria #21 Starry Night

While I was waiting for my bleach to develop I mixed and applied the Feria hair dye, as per the included instructions. The color I used was #21, Starry Night. I've used this shade many times before and really like the blue base it has. I think a blue based black looks totally unnatural, but gives a bit of a shinyness? to the color that I really enjoy. And .. I'm really not going for "natural" here .. so its all good.  It covers greys nicely (not that I have any... haha.. right!) and has pretty nice staying power before it starts to dull.

I left my color & bleach to develop for roughly 50-60 mins and rinsed the black until the water was clear, before removing the foils and rinsing the bleached sections out as well.

The blue color I chose was from a dye brand I adore. Special Effects Hair Dye in Blue Velvet. I've always had such WONDERFUL results with them. I think I have used nearly every color they offer in their line as well. I'm a pretty big fan, and the only other "primary" color dyes I will use are made by Fudge. Believe me, I've tried them all..Again.. please keep in mind, this is only what I have personally experienced. My hair .. it likes Special Effects dye.

A bit about the dye based on personal opinion: 1) when it fades, it fades to pretty colors. 2) stays in a decent amount of time, as long as you know how to deal with color treated (demi/semi perm) dyes. 3) vibrant colors, (omg the yellow.. is SICK I got so many compliments on it when I used that one.) 4.) NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS! Yay!

And here are the results I ended up with.

Blue Kitty

BEFORE

AFTER

So.. what do you think? Have you used Special Effects dye before? Do you feel comfortable coloring your hair at home, or do you get it done at a salon?

EOTD 03.04.11

Hey there. I just wanted to share my pin-uppie type look for today. I wanted something neutral and pretty to go with my bold red lippie and this seemed to work really well. I absolutely ADORE this palette. It came out this winter with a few other palettes and the pigmentation and smoothness of the shadows I have been getting from them lately have made me fall in love with Wet n Wild all over again.

I used the lightest cream shade (located in the upper left) for all over the lid & packed on under the brow for the high light. I blended the medium golden brown shade (located middle right) from the outer corner lid to the inner 2/3. The crease color was the darkest shade in the palette (located at the bottom right) and I blended that into the crease and up to the highlight shade. Used a dark winged liner for this and I think it turned out pretty great for a nice brown smokey eye.

Wet n Wild Kitty

A brief review of Wet n Wild in general: 
In revamping their formulas, and updating their image, they aren't just affordable, they are holding their own to MUCH more expensive companies out there. Not everything is a WIN, per se,  but certainly more now than ever! During these rough financial times, that is something I for one can be grateful for! I hate the stigma that you have to spend a small (or large one for that matter) fortune to get good quality, high pigmented makeup that does what it claims to do.