ud body tattoo + azure lotd ( + accidental diy powder compact repair )

Hi everyone!

So I had a bit of fun today trying on one of the UD temporary body tattoos for the first time, and it became a lot of fun! You guys can take a look at how easy it was to apply and how it came out:

Choose which tattoo you want and cut it out from the large sheet.

What I went with today! Light purple flower for the upper left arm.

Follow directions provided on the tube container. I rubbed some water a few times on my upper arm,
using my opposite hand. I would recommend preparing the damp towel beforehand to make things
easier (I was a little eager and had to try and hold the tattoo in place while wetting and wringing a towel).
Don't forget to remove the plastic sheet on top of your tattoo! (Which they neglect to mention. May be
obvious, but us clumsy ones have our share of foibles!!) Get the tattoo thoroughly damp, and don't be
to soak it a little - you can even use a sponge.

Here we are! Okay, so I admit, my tattoo paper did not have the most graceful exit,
and I accidentally kind of swiped it off. Rather roughly. Thus a few lines and dots of
color are missing, but otherwise it came out beautifully!

As you can see above, fake tats come out kind of shiny. It's recommended to use a skin-tone powder to
make your fake tattoo look more realistic and natural. I used this almay powder contact I got on sale at Target.

So, imho, I don't think the powder really did much to counteract the shininess. Maybe just along
the edges? Perhaps a more HD finishing powder is required. *shrug*

Here are views of what the tattoo looks like along my arm. I think next time, more strategic placement would be required.
Somewhere more along the upper shoulder blade or even the underside of the forearm. After seeing the final result,
I realized that my tattoo kind of looked like it was in the upper-arm-middle-of-nowhere. But still fun!

OKAY. So in the midst of all this, my clumsy self got the better of me, and my butterfingers managed to splatter the almay compact (which already consisted of broken up pieces) ALL OVER and INTO my bathroom sink. Not a happy moment.

Welcome to my life.
(This is after I picked up all the pieces I could and tried to swipe up all the powder.)

So, though! It became a very good time to conduct an experiment, using one of those DIY try-this-at-home remedies I've read up before on Pinterest. Supposedly, you can take the broken pieces and powder of your compact, add a bit of alcohol, mix + mash it all up, and once dry, you've got yourself something a new, whole compact you can actually use without fear. Before attempting, I checked the steps on these sites: Katrina Lomidze, Oh So Pretty the Diaries, The Beauty Department, Little Bird Tell and The Perfect Lipstick.

Let's hope this works! Instead of the spoon most bloggers wrote about, I used a palette
knife, probably recognizable to most paint and/or pastry artists. Sorry, Mom - I took mine
from the kitchen. BUT I THOROUGHLY CLEANED IT AFTERWARD.

Up close and personal (and not very pretty). So I didn't mash up all my powder chunks (I had bigger pieces as
well as loose powder), and I definitely used more than "3-5 drops of alcohol." I tried to avoid soaking the chunks
so they could be left mostly in their original state, just trying to get it all in one piece, but then I ended up adding
more alcohol then I meant to at the very end and so it became this monocolor paste.

So that's one Pinterest experiment actually conducted :) As you can see, the color of the powder darkens considerably after adding alcohol. I'm not sure how permanent this color change is, but I'm going to let my powder dry overnight and get back to you review how successful this was, and how usable the powder is after all's said and done.

Final thing for today! A quick share of my LOTD (Look of the Day) - I ended up doing a blue look, even before I picked my clothes!, so that was strangely fortunate. I still just play around, and today ended up being a double-winged look using both black and cerulean blue liquid liner.

 Using the Urban Decay Skull Palette shown here, I first applied the aqua color "Shattered" (middle right) from the inner corner to the middle outer of both eyelids. Height-wise, I packed just until a rim peeked out, so you could see an outline of the color when my eyes were open. Using what was left on the brush, I set the bottom outer lid with the aqua blue color as well.

Then I applied "Grifter," the pink-lavender pastel shade above "Shattered," at the outer corners, blending in toward the blue already there. It looked kind of funky, a little too light, so I added a hint of glittery black "Oil Slick" at the very outer corners for definition and blended that in as well.

For the upper highlight, I added the light pink glittery "Cherry" along the brow bone. I also dabbed just a dot of Cherry at the inner corners. To finish the look off, I did a mini cats-eye with the black liquid liner, then added another little pointed segment to get it to extend a little more, creating the mini double-winged look.

While putting my stuff away, I spotted my metallic blue liner and decided to have fun, swiping it along the top of my black liner, starting from the inner corner and fading out. I added a mini swipe downward at the outer corners of my eyes, along where my eyelids slant. Then I brought a little of that liquid liner blue to define the outer bottom lid, which had already been darkened a little with some UD 24/7 black pencil liner.

Tip: to slightly define my brows, I always use up whatever pigment is left on my brushes (that I've used for a dark color, like gray or brown) or on my finger tips (because I always end up getting pencil smudges and stuff on them anyway). I find that the vestiges of pigment are enough to fill my brows without look harsh.

That was it!

One thing I'd like to note is that, although I'm playing around with makeup and learning how to use these colors and branch out, I still feel that what ends up looking best is color that hugs and stays close to the eyes defined by a dark liner along upper lash line, with a dark color along the outer corner waterline as well.

But especially regarding eyeshadow - when the color gets packed on too high, I find that it ends up looking garish and kind of hoyden. If you have eyes similar to mine, where there's a lot of upper lid skin but not much fold (common to Asians with out the deep "double eyelids"), you might find similarly that less tends to be much more. See the last picture for what I mean, what it looks like when my eyes are open and I'm smiling.

A few more views of today's makeup to give you a better idea :) ::

 

contessa chocolate review & false lash preview

I know I've been a little AWOL this past week, and I had had all these plans to post up these various food and outing reviews from last week, when a friend was visiting. Blame the lazy-crazy spiral of the unemployed. :X But yes, it's been a bit of one of those "lost weeks". . .

Last week though, from Sunday Sept. 23 to Wednesday Sept. 26, I hosted my advisor from South Korea. He helped me out a lot while I was doing my Fulbright research project, inviting me into his popular music class, getting me tickets to festivals/tapings and taking me along to indie shows aroung Hongdae; aside from it being nice to see him, I really wanted to help him out and return the favor a little. Luckily my parents weren't opposed to a visitor, and he was able to stay with us after his conference in Irvine.

So you can expect a little Umami Burger review coming up, as well as a snapshot view of the music shops in Echo Park we checked out. But for now, I only have two mini treats for you:

Contessa Chocolate Collection Review

Someone gifted us with this pretty little box of chocolate truffles from Contessa, a small chocolatier located in Pasadena. When I opened the little company card to read the description inside, I saw the words "dark chocolate," no mention of any other concentrations, and was pretty instantly convinced this was my kind of box of chocolates.

Luckily the box came with two of each kind. Otherwise this would have quickly become a house of chocolate truffle contention.

From left to right: Lavender, Rose, Liquor?, Salted Caramel

All of them were good (what else would you expect from crafted dark chocolate?). The flavors in the flowery truffles were definitely present, a little strong but not at all unpleasant. It was enough to make the perfumey flavors stand out from the chocolate, but not overpowering. 

I couldn't place the flavor of the one rolled in crushed nuts. I thought there might be a light touch of alcohol in it. Mostly, I noticed that it was really smooth and buttery, with a hint of a bright note.

My favorite, though, was the salted caramel! That was kind of a surprise, because I'm usually not much of a caramel fan at all. I generally find it too sickly sweet and dislike the way it cleaves to my molars. But this caramel wasn't hard but viscous, and its sweetness was tempered by the salted flavor as well as the depth of the dark chocolate. Together, it all made for an addictive little bite. (So you can imagine my dismay when I woke up the next morning to find the other one gone! T_T)

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False Lash Preview

I wrote a few weeks ago about my tester lashes from model21 and my subsequent jubilation. It took me a little while to get to them though, mainly because I didn't have any eyelash glue! I had asked a coworker previously what lash adhesive she used and/or recommended, and she told me about the brand, Duo. She also recommended buying from Sephora, because they offer the 0.5 oz size at ~$8 (most other places only carry the 0.25 oz size, which is already around $6).

After calling to make sure they had it in stock, I finally got to Sephora last Friday and bought my tube of Duo eyelash glue! I got it in black, which is the box with red and white packaging.

And thennn . . . I tried putting on false lashes for the first time! BE WARNED - that eyelash glue comes out like water! I thought it would have that Elmer's consistency, but this stuff is fluid. So basically, the first time I aimed to spread a little adhesive on the rim of my false lashes, I ended up with blurps of gray matter all over my fingers.

Had to trim off bits at the ends
to fit my eyes! Left me with
a couple of nice flutters.

For my first time, I tried on the
Model21 lashes in 63, probably
the most natural style out of
the ones provided in the
sampler box.

After that though, it was pretty easy! A lot easier than I had feared, actually. Having gotten control of the glue tube, I spread a little along the edge of the lashes, waited a couple of seconds, then stuck my face really close to the mirror and stuck that sucker on my lid! 

(I took a tip from Jen @frmheadtotoe, who has said that you don't really have to wait for the glue to get all tacky.)

Right side success!!! I felt pretty victorious. I was anticipating a lot more difficulty. And then I got to the left side. I have since learned that I'm much better at applying on the right side compared to the left. Suffice it to say, this being the first time, the left side came out a little wonky. Luckily the unevenness wasn't too obvious and I could still go out in public.

  

Honestly, it was a fun experience, but I did feel a little silly and dubious trying on false lashes for the first time. So my expressions kind of fell along this range:

Mostly just this face though. Hello, left-side wonk.

That's it for now! Since trying them on for the first time last Friday, I also tried layering lashes (wearing two pairs at the same time, another tip thanks to Jen) the next day, and just yesterday I finally got to trying on all the different pairs and taking pictures just for the review. That way whoever's interested can get an idea of what each pair looks like on its own, especially on Asian eyes. Look out for that some time next week! Oh! I also bought my DIY ombre hair supplies a couple of days ago, so I may be documenting that this weekend as well.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend :) I plan on attending a Korean baby's 돌잔치 / doljanchi party and checking out the Pasadena Antiquarian Book & Paper Fair on Saturday. What are your first-weekend-of-October plans?

Win Your Wish List with Urban Decay!

Just wanted to let you all know about a super easy giveaway that Urban Decay is doing right now:

All that you have to do is log in, or if you don't have an account, sign up, and add whatever items you like to your wish list! There don't appear to be any other requirements, and if you win, I'm guessing you get the items you added up to a $500 value. Doesn't seem like there's much of a downside... minus all that time getting sucked into the pretty website of products...

If you're interested though, try to make it before it's over! This giveaway ends September 30 before midnight PST.

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My top three picks in my UD wish list (click through to view full list) are:

THE VICE PALETTE - I lahhhv color. Perhaps to an unreasonable extent. And the gorgeous colors in this new palette are just calling out for occasions to be worn out, so of COURSE I'll be using these colors a lot. Sometimes. Whatever. JUST LOOK AT THAT BLUE.

LIP STAIN in GREEDY - These lip stains are actually oldies but goodies. I remember back in the day when UD used to have three shades available! Since I'm kind of a makeup lazeabout, preferring to apply once and then not have to worry for the rest of the day (plus my lips take up a large portion of my face), lip stains are a staple for me.  UD lip stains have very vibrant color and strong, lasting wear.

GLITTER EYELINER in AIR GUITAR - Every shopping spree wish list should have at least one just-for-fun product thrown in. I have kind of a healthy handful in my list, but I figure the steady staples like the Naked Eye Palette and original Eyeshadow Primer Potion do enough balancing out. Hey, like Matt Damon says, "go big or go home," right? XD;

Attempt #1: Using UD Vegan Palette for the First Time

When one suddenly finds oneself without a job, one also finds oneself with a lot of time to do things one didn't bother to before. Like spending more than 5 minutes putting on makeup every morning. ("Morning.")

Now, I don't know if experimenting with eye makeup is a great trade for a steady job, but I did learn a few things in attempting to make this makeup post.

One, taking good makeup pictures is hard. Like, really really hard. 

And two, taking makeup pictures is a-w-k-w-a-r-d!! Especially when you move beyond taking them and start trying to edit them. All those isolated eyes together... how to keep from being creeeeepy TT_TT

Anyway, in the end it's all about fun, right? Even if you can't quite call something a success. I tried out three to four of the colors from the palette (minx, urb, gunmetal + half baked), and in the end they all sort of melded together into this olive smoky eye. That's probably because I'm a finger makeup painter - maybe to pack on the color you really need to use brushes?

Used the top three and bottom right shades.

Used NYX Noir Liquid Black Liner
for top lid line.

on mah face.

I've also learned that there's a reason successful makeup bloggers usually post around holiday themes or celebrity imitation looks. They give you a real goal to aim for and they're usually stronger in style and colors, making for better photos. (Plus, you kind of have an excuse for looking a little outrageous. Blame the holiday/pop culture reference!)

In the end, this ended up being just as much an experiment in taking makeup pictures and putting together a makeup blog post as it was in actually putting on the makeup. At least now I know that the Vegan Palette colors blend very well together, and I have a recipe for an everyday subtle smoky eye. 

Another thing to note, which you may have heard of already, is that most Urban Decay colors tend to have some glitter in them. This added a pearlescent sheen which highlights wherever it hits the eye, usually toward the center. It's not a bad thing, but it did make me realize how glittery most cosmetics are. I also have and used this marbled blush from the Body Shop and these cream highlighting pots from Korea, all are shimmery!


Anyway, I felt it was kind of a waste to just leave all those other eyeball pictures at the wayside. So I constructed a little something.

...Ready to be kind of freaked out? Don't say I didn't warn you.

I present to you the Outtake Tree!