Do I spend all day trying to figure out names for these things? Yes. Yes I do. And to think, it's only been six days! My friend Kellie and I were chatting last night, and we came up with some cool themes for the months ahead. I'll be doing some Disney princess inspired looks, and some hockey team inspired looks, and all sorts of other themes. So at least the names of those looks will actually make a bit more sense. :)

Enough rambling, here's the makeup:



Products used:

Sephora Nano Eyeliner in Pure White (highlight)
Manly Palette #105, #100, #85, #86
Lorac Front of the Line PRO
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

Tomorrow: a '20s flapper look I've been dying to try!

Here is the post I promised-- when I refer to "Manly #__," this is the number system I'm going off of. I've made my own since the colors are not labelled in the palette.

So last night, I was sitting in front of my computer and a shoebox full of nail polish, trying to decide what I wanted to do with my nails. And then my Twitter feed exploded with the news that Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who plays Sherlock Holmes in BBC's Sherlock, had landed the role of the main villain in the next Star Trek movie.

So, of course, I did what any self-respecting fan of Sherlock and Star Trek would do: flailed about wildly for a moment, then got down to business with a celebratory manicure.



Clearly, if I have an injury to my hand this week, it will be the index finger that will suffer the most. Redshirt!

I should tell you all that I currently have quite a bit of eyeshadow in my vanity that hasn't been used. I have a nice big Too Faced palette that's only had three colors used as of yet, a handful of Nyx pigments, and some other goodies. So today, naturally, when I sat down to do my eye look, what did I use?

Blush and bronzer. Well, and a few other things.



Products used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Lorac blush in Hollywood
Lorac Tantalizer bronzer
Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencils in Sin (highlight), Juju (crease), and Rehab (liner)
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

Okay, though. I solemnly swear to use the heck out of that Too Faced palette next week. A purple smoky eye is calling my name.

Every now and then, I run across a product I just can't live without. More often than not, it's an expensive one that I have to splurge on. But sometimes I'll find a reasonably priced beauty item that wows me.

With my job, I sanitize my hands a lot, so they get dried out quickly. I'm constantly hunting for a good lotion or hand cream, and I've tried nearly everything. Currently, I use the Hemp Hand Protector (The Body Shop, $18.50) which really moisturizes my hands-- even after handwashing and hand sanitizing-- however, it's got sort of a funky smell to it, and it is a little greasier than I'd like.

On a whim, I tried Sephora by OPI's Restorative Hand Moisturizer. First of all, it's only $5 (and it was on sale for $1.97 at the time!) It has a mild fresh, citrus-y scent, and packs a lot of moisturizing power without being greasy. This one is available in stores, but not via Sephora's website.

The Daily Hand Moisturizer is also a dream. It smells like fields full of white flowers and makes your hands feel amazing... for just $5? $9? (it's $5 in stores... Sephora's website lists the price as $9.)

I don't think I'll be able to be sans these lotions again. I'm devoted. And the price leaves me with more money to spend on eyeshadow! Ha.

Chime in: what's your most reasonably priced must-have?

Oh, my friends in the Midwest will love me or hate me for this one.

I stopped by Ulta to pick up some cleanser the other day, and couldn't resist snagging a couple of things from NYX. And, since they were shiny and new and sitting on my vanity, I had to use them all together! Which resulted in me unintentionally creating a look that would be perfect for Super Bowl Sunday... if the Vikings ever made it there.



Too Faced Shadow Insurance
NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in Oro
NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in True Purple
NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Purple
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

I will now shelter my head from the cheese which will inevitably be thrown my way by the friends in my life who are rabid Packer fans. See you tomorrow!

Pretty cool, but not something I wanted to wear all day. I chalked this one up as something I might practice and use on a model someday, but it didn't translate well as something I'd wear in public. So I got to work with a Q-tip, a smudge brush, and a different eyeliner, creating this instead.


Much better. When I finished, I noticed the colors were the school colors of the high school I graduated from. Maybe I'll wear this look when I go back for the annual hockey tournament... in 2013, of course, since I'm not repeating any looks this year! ;)

Products used:
Sephora Nano Eyeliner in Pure White (under brows and to rim the eyes)
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (on the lids)
Manly Palette #43
Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil in Delinquent (to rim the eyes)
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

This look was done following a tutorial by hedwyg23 (she's amazing, check out her stuff).



I used my Manly palette heavily for this, which I will be making a graphic for shortly to tell you which numbers correspond to which shadows.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden
Manly #23 (cyan), #49 (dark pink), #39 (purple), #43 (black), #86 (dark blue, used as a liner on bottom)
Lorac Front of the Line PRO in black
Sephora Nano Liner in Lagoon and Pure White
Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 0L
Urban Decay Lush Lash Mascara

Notes to go along with her tutorial:

• Instead of using a white pencil all over my eyes, I went with Urban Decay's Primer Potion in Eden. I tremble when I think of using anything other than a primer before shadow application.
• I used a small eyeshadow brush to apply the cyan, the pink, and the purple. As she suggested, I used an eyeliner brush to do the black. To put the pink in the inner corners of my eye, and to blend, I used Sephora's Classic Rounded Smudge Brush ($15). It took a lot of blending to take away the harshness of the black (I wanted to soften that up). I used circular strokes, moving upward. 
• To apply the blue shadow on the bottom lid, I used Sephora's Classic Smudge Brush ($14) to wiggle it into my lower lashline. 
• On the lower lashes, I only applied mascara in the outer corners. I used Sarah Lucero's tip, and painted it onto the lashes with a concealer brush.

I really like the black in the crease and in the corners up to the eyeshadow. It's something I wouldn't have ordinarily thought of... clearly, I need to start thinking outside the box a bit more!

Congratulations janna_b on winning my Holiday Giveaway! I will be in touch to get your shipping information.

Everyone else, thank you so much for entering! I hope you stay with the blog... I'm planning more giveaways as we speak, and I've got lots to share. I'm so happy to have you all with me.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year!

First off, you've still got a little while to get your entries in for my contest; it will be closed at 12:00 CST. I'm overwhelmed at the response and I am so happy to see you all here! (Also, it IS an international contest; thanks to those of you who asked and I'm sorry I didn't make that clear.)

Since you ARE here, I would really like to make it worth your while. So let me ask you, my followers, what would you like to see most of on this blog? Let me know in the comments!

-Tutorials
-Reviews/Swatches
-Looks
-Other

And now, on to my New Year's resolution. Sure, I'm hoping to set down the chocolate (yeah right) and run a 5K (a little more likely), but my big resolution is a beauty challenge for myself. Ready?

In 2012, I resolve to wear a different eye look for every day of the year. No repeats. I'm going to take a picture daily, and post each one here, along with my regular reviews, swatches, tutorials, etc. As a matter of fact, let's start right now:

Shadow: Manly Palette, Colorevolution 8-Stack Eyeshadow in Starry Night Liner: Sephora Nano Liner in 03 Pure White, Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 0L Mascara: Urban Decay Lush Lash

Lots of green, I know! I woke up this morning and, for some odd reason, had komodo dragons on the brain. My thought process: komodo dragons... fire breathing dragons... green... voila. :)

Chime in: what's your New Year's beauty resolution?