Bullet for Prisoner

I was going for "OMG shiniest thing evar!" but my boyfriend's first comment was that they looked like bullets. Boys...

Told you I was going to do more nail looks!

I've had the silver used in this look for a while now, and when I first saw it I knew I had to have it, it was the shiniest nail polish I'd ever seen. It's by Orly, and goes by the humble name of Shine. Boy, does it ever! I love this color, but as you might expect it's a bit thin. It works exceptionally well when placed over Revlon's Silver Screen, which is a shiny (but not in comparison) light silver color that I am quite fond of. I also have a darker silver by Revlon called Steel Her Heart, which is also lovely. But Shine works best over Silver Screen since it's a lighter silver itself. Only thing is, Silver Screen is a pretty thin color, too, so when I wear it I tend to put a thin white base coat on underneath just so the color shows through appropriately.

I was inspired to do this look when, after several months of owning just Shine, I found it's golden counterpart, in the Ulta brand of all places. Ulta's "salon formula" (whichever one that is; I remember when they just had one variety of Ulta polish, not three or however many it is now) has a color called High Roller, which is equally as sparkly/shiny as Shine, but in gold. I say sparkly/shiny because the shine in these two colors isn't actually created by glitter--at least, not the kind I'm used to finding in nail polish. If it is glitter, it's very fine and very beautiful.

As far as technique goes, I applied the white on the whole nail, then gold focused on the tips, then silver and Shine on the rest of the nail over the gold so it wouldn't be tainted by silver underneath.

I just knew I had to take the pictures for this look in the sunlight, because while the colors are plenty shiny on their own, they're simply dazzling in the sunlight. It's sad how often I get distracted by my own nails!

Oh, and the title is from a really good song by Luka Megurine, who is actually a computer program called a Vocaloid that someone programmed to sing Japanese and English songs. There are tons of vocaloids, but Luka is my favorite--maybe because she has pink hair like I used to--and Bullet for Prisoner is one of my favorite songs by her. The story told is about a ruthless female assassin who falls in love with her target, and is lamenting that they couldn't be together while she kills him. Makes me think of Sniper Wolf from Metal Gear Solid, and how it's said she becomes completely obsessed with her targets, even going so far as to fall in love with them in order to effectively kill them.

Soo, on that note, I'll just leave you with the product list. >.>

Products Used:

Sally Hansen No More Breaks (base coat)

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in White On

Ulta Salon Formula polish in High Roller

Revlon polish in Silver Screen

Orly polish in Shine

Sally Hansen No More Breaks (top coat as well)

Money, Honey

I liked Lady Gaga better before she was Madonna.

The story behind this surely demonstrates how nerdy--not to mention easily distracted--I am. In the bathroom, preparing for bed, and I look over at my most recent Urban Decay box, the Book of Shadows vol. 3 (UD <3 NYC). One of the greens, Misdemeanor I think, is some sort of dark grey in powder itself, but has this really pretty green shimmer to it. I hadn't done a green look in ages, so I dabbed my finger in it to see the color alone. Which then led me to putting the green right next to it on another finger, and then I ended up rummaging through my other palettes and covering all ten fingertips with some shade of green, teal, or blue. I performed hand contortions to put the colors next to each other and see how they'd look, but one I kept coming back to was called Money. It too had beautiful green shimmer to it, but was a lighter shade of grey in the base--it really did look like money, and that fascinated me!

So the next morning, I decided to wear this pale green tunic shirt that I've had forever (and used in a Link cosplay, if that's anything), and when I went into the bathroom for makeup, I looked at my shirt in the mirror, and a lightbulb came on over my head. Money would match my shirt perfectly!

So I went for a green gradient with Money as the base, and this was the result. Again I did my tried and true three-color gradient, with brown eyeliner to soften the eyes and give the whole look a more earthy tone.

I'm actually really happy with the way this turned out, even though I'm not a huge fan of the color green. I really like this look, and will definitely do it again when I wear that shirt! Oddly enough, I really like this picture, too... Maybe it's the fact that my eyeliner actually did what I wanted it too this time, and accentuates my lash line quite nicely.

You can probably tell it from this picture, but my eyelashes are pretty long, don't you think? Only problem is, and you can see this too, is that they stick straight out. It's infuriating! I know they're there, but they're really only showcased in these angled pictures I take--for the purpose of publishing on MakeupBee, by the way. Love the site, and they're making it better everyday! Just wish there was some way to avoid all those creepy full-face/stage makeup looks... I'm looking for cute eyeshadow, not something that looks like you unzipped your face! Yikes. It is pretty impressive in its own right, though...

Anyway, here's the full face look!

Pretty boring, but the emphasis was on earthy and natural, so I guess I conveyed that pretty well. Used more bronzer than blush to keep the browns in focus. And brown lipstick should be illegal, at least for someone with my complexion, so I'm totally not going to take the brown that far. But I think it turned out alright regardless. I felt really good wearing this look, and that's what matters most! :)

Products Used:

NYX eyeshadow base in White

Urban Decay eyeshadow in Money (base color)

UD eyeshadow in Mildew (crease)

UD eyeshadow in Sellout (inner corner and brow highlighter)

UD pencil liner in Bourbon (inner and outer lash line)

UD Supercurl curling mascara

Glam Smash Pink

Inspired by this tutorial on Youtube! Love it!

It's super sparkly! It's pink! Of course I'm responsible for it!

Basically, this is a recreation of the "Starry Eyes" tutorial linked above, only instead of black/navy, I used pink. As you may have guessed by now, I loooves me some pink eye makeup.

So, as far as technique goes, I used the NYX eyeshadow base in white, which provided a sticky surface for the NYX loose glitter to adhere to, and then cut my crease with the UD liquid liner in Woodstock (pink, duh) and blended it out toward my brow. To further blend, I added a touch of eyeshadow in Hotpants (also light pink) and continued to fan it out, not really caring if the glitter got in the pink or not.

The original had a much more defined crease, but it's hard to pull off a great contrast between silver/white and light pink. The final effect was much smoother and softer. But so sparkly. I love this glitter stuff! It actually stays on much better than I initially expected loose glitter to do. I was picturing grade school projects with glue-lines and shaken glitter getting absolutely everywhere, so to have this stuff stick when applied--with some exceptions--and stay on all day--with NO exceptions, not even fall out!--was truly a pleasant surprise. The only possible drawback is the really dramatic nature of the product itself; this is not something I'll be wearing to a job interview or anything, but come on. I'm me. I'm positive I can find occasions to wear really shiny glitter.

A (terrible) shot of it in the sun, so you can hopefully see just how incredibly sparkly it is! I ended up with a weird (but kinda cool, really) double wing/ hook effect on the outer corner of the liner; I might just try to recreate that, intentionally this time, in another look someday. Shouldn't be hard with the incredible accuracy of the new UD liquid liners. And you shake them, too, like a can of spray paint! Gone are the days of clumpy old liners!

As you can also see, I attempted to blend the black liner (here, the old model of UD liquid liner in Perversion) with the pink liner at the outer corner of my eye; turns out this was a mistake. Who would have thought that black and light pink wouldn't blend very well? But my lashes covered this little mishap up pretty well, thanks to the UD Supercurl mascara that actually makes my lashes go a direction other than straight out.

I think this shot is the best showcase of the merits of the look: super sparkly, pink crease, and black lashline. I also have made it a habit to line under my upper lashes and at the outer corner of my lower lashes with the UD pencil liner in Zero, plain black. It definitely makes a big difference in making my lashes look fuller, and giving more of a "bedroom eye" look, which I find very flattering. 

As we zoom out farther, I will point out my apparently bulbous nose (it only really looks like this in pictures, as far as I know), and the fact that I used the eyeshadow in Hotpants again as blush to provide just a touch of shimmer on my cheeks, which serves as a good highlighter, as well.

And I went for maximum cute with a big fluffy bow and Hello Kitty adornments. This picture features a lip with balm only, but the Lady Gaga MAC lipstick, a bright bubblegum pink, would probably be a cute compliment. The only issue I have with it is that it takes some serious lip conditioning to pull it off, since it sticks in cracks you didn't even know you had in your lips. Mine were in no such condition on this day, so I had to pass.

I enjoyed this look, but I don't really count it as a success. The effect is better conveyed with a darker crease color. Now, I'm totally willing to do this with purple...  :)

Products Used

Eyes:

NYX eyeshadow base in White

NYX loose glitter in Disco Ball

Urban Decay 24/7 waterproof liquid liner in Woodstock

UD eyeshadow in Hotpants

UD liquid liner in Perversion

UD pencil liner in Zero

UD Supercurl mascara

Cheeks:

Pur Minerals blush in Citrus Rose

UD eyeshadow in Hotpants

Sonic & Amy

 

Just a simple eyeliner look turned into a video game theme!

Dark, vivid blue liner close to the lid (Ransom) with my beloved Woodstock liquid liner outside of that. Woodstock, being super shiny, looked much brighter next to Ransom, so I decided to shine the blue up a bit by adding the liquid liner in Radium (also a dark blue, but shiny) over it.

I was actually just in a hurry and was only going to add the blue eyeliner, but I just couldn't resist spicing it up a bit. I figured the pink and blue would provide a great contrast, and I was right! This turned out actually more vivid than I was intending to go for that day... But I got a very nice compliment on it, so it worked out! =)

Added some Space Cowboy (again) to the rest of my lid, just for the hell of it. I just can't leave it bare! And especially when I have nude sparkles available!

I figured it looked like Sonic (blue) and Amy Rose (pink) from the Sega games that I played as a kid. (Aw, who am I kidding? I still play them! =D) If you're not familiar with the games, then it's just a cute, colorful look that made me late for class. Again. Wish I had a better reason than getting distracted by putting pretty colors on my face!

Products Used

Urban Decay 24/7 pencil liner in Ransom

UD liquid liner in Radium

UD 24/7 waterproof liquid liner in Woodstock

UD Stardust eyeshadow in Space Cowboy

UD Supercurl mascara

Casino Royale

Just bought NYX products for the first time since I'd seen them used in a lot of looks on MakeupBee. Bought pressed eyeshadow in Rust, white eyeshadow primer, and some awesome loose glitter, at my boyfriend's insistence. He knows how much I love glitter! Anyway, NYX was a refreshing change from Urban Decay, since their products are on average about $4, maybe $5 per product, whereas UD's price average is more like $18 per product. Whoo boy.

So, having bought new "toys," I just had to use them. Didn't use the glitter in this one, but that's coming soon!

Tried to capture the red/gold aesthetic, though the color isn't really well represented in this picture. But again I tried that gradient/smoky look, only with Sellout (light) to Half Baked (gold) to Rust by NYX (dark) in the crease. To pull out the colors I wanted from Rust, I layered it with some Twice Baked, which is a nice brown, and Last Call, a magenta/burgundy. Added more Sellout to the browbone and topped it all with a little Space Cowboy sparkle, to give it the sparkle of richness.

It really turned out more red than it seems from the picture.

As for the name, I had the place in mind, not the movie. And even then, it's not like I've been there or anything, I was really just going more with the idea of a lavish setting and rich colors. Could also be taken as a Fall look, but I probably wouldn't add all the sparkle if I were doing that.

This is the first time I've added color to my brows. I mean, I have the Pur Minerals Brow Perfection duo, which is styling wax and a taupe powder, and I use that, but for the warm color I wanted, I actually put Urban Decay's Twice Baked on my brow as well. Not much of a difference in the picture, but it turned out well in person. Looked much more coherent, color-wise.

So, initially, this was my lip color: UD's lip stain in Envious, a dark pink, with just a hint of Gash lipstick on top, and Half Baked eyeshadow over it for shimmer. That created an overall look like this:

Which was okay, but one, looks really boring in the picture, and two, wasn't as dramatic as I wanted for my theme. So I edited the ratio of lip colors to include mostly Gash, with Half Baked still on top to make up for the gold sparkles that Gash looks like it has in the tube, but that don't actually show up on my lips. So the final result was more like this:

Which is darker and more dramatic, like I wanted. I think it worked well together overall:

I didn't do a boring lip again! Yay! I've used eyeshadow on my lips before, but I'm definitely going to start doing that more, since it just broadens the possibilities so much. I added a bit of Rust to my blush as well, to tie in the colors; I really like how that turned out, actually. Didn't think I could pull dark lips, let alone dark blush...

And as you can barely see in the picture, I have a crimson shirt on to hopefully bring out the red in my eyeshadow. I really liked this look overall, even though the lipstick was pretty difficult to keep on and required a lot of maintenance. I also applied concealer around my lips to prevent feathering, but there's not much to be done about losing your lipstick as you eat a burger! =P

I think the Rust color is a success! Yay for new possibilities!

So, coming soon. I'd like to do some lip-only looks, probably some really crazy stuff based off what I've seen on MakeupBee, and I do a lot of nail looks, but I haven't taken many pictures of them. I'll try to recreate some of my favorite nail styles and post those soon. As for eyes, I've already got a few more lined up, so those will come out as soon as I get some more sleep. Zzzzz....


Products Used
Eyes:
NYX eyeshadow base in White
UD eyeshadow in Sellout
UD eyeshadow in Half Baked
UD eyeshadow in Midnight Cowboy Rides Again
NYX eyeshadow in Rust
UD eyeshadow in Last Call
UD eyeshadow in Twice Baked
UD Stardust eyeshadow in Space Cowboy
UD 24/7 pencil liner in 1999
UD Supercurl mascara

Brows:
Pur Minerals Brow Perfection Duo
UD eyeshadow in Twice Baked

Cheeks:
Pur Minerals blush in Citrus Rose
NYX eyeshadow in Rust

Lips:
UD lip stain in Envious
UD lipstick in Gash
UD Stardust eyeshadow in Space Cowboy

Burnt Gold

A warm brown and gold look today:

Again going with the smoky/gradient technique of light color on inner corner, main color on lid, dark color on outer corner and crease. Blend, rinse, repeat. I like the texture and illusion this technique creates, so expect to see it with several different color combinations.

A little more general. I really don't have much to say about this look. I was wearing a brown shirt, one of my softest and most comfy, but I don't wear it very often because it's clearly a guy's shirt and I look pretty butch in it. So I tried to pretty it up with this makeup. I went with mostly bronzer rather than blush on my cheeks to complete the earth tone feel.

Overall impression is, as I said, smoky but natural, and warm and earthy. I added light sparkles (of course!) on the browbone for highlighting and because, hey, sparkles. Also glazed over the general eye with Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, a natural beige with lots of sparkle, but I didn't use a lot so it wasn't as overpowering as that color has the potential to be. Seeing it in the palette is pretty intense. 

And you get a shot of my butch-shirt. Naked lip here, but of course I later applied my standard tinted lip balm for an even tone and a healthy color. I like the Ulta brand well enough; color is really nice, with a hint of shimmer, but I just wish it stayed on longer. Again, though, it was free, so I really don't mind it that much. I'll probably get it again when I run out, just because I don't know that I can find another one so agreeable. I have issues with gloss and my long hair, as it's constantly sticking to my lips. Even if I apply it really thin, it's still sticky. So I guess I have to stick to shimmery and not shiny if I want easy wear.

I'm probably going to do a lip-focused look soon, just to make up for all the boring lips I've had so far. I'm really interested in the crazy colors of Lime Crime's lipsticks, but I've never been entirely sure what shades of lip go with my pale skin. Worth experimenting with, for sure, since I have an Ulta mega-palette that has a little of everything. Plus I can always go with the good old gloss-and-shadow mix if I just want to play with colors.

Anyway, there's my earthy brown and gold! More coming soon!

Products Used

Urban Decay Primer Potion
UD eyeshadow in Half Baked
UD eyeshadow in Midnight Cowboy Rides Again
UD eyeshadow in Twice Baked
UD eyeshadow in Sellout
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Bourbon
UD Supercurl mascara

Teal Sea Treasure

Did this to go with my teal Sinful v-neck tee--seen here on someone cuter--so I tried to bring out the teal and silver on my eyes. The name, to me, brings to mind some shiny silver object, like an old, valuable coin, sparkling in the sunlight under the flowing blue-green waters.

It's basically a smoky or gradient look featuring light silver/white (Uzi) at the inner corner, blended with teal (Flipside) on the lid, with a darker silver (Gunmetal) in the crease. I used my light silver pencil liner, Dime, once again because I loves it. :3 And the pencil liner, also in Gunmetal, provides a gradient look to my liner by being on the outer half of my eyes, where Dime is on the inner half.

And again with the eyebrow. My upcoming posts will not have this issue, I assure you. Even if I can't keep it from happening all the time, I'll at least make sure it isn't like that before I take pictures. These were taken on the run, really; I was in my car waiting for a friend and realized I hadn't taken any pics of today's look.

I tend to be lazy about my lipstick and just use the Ulta brand tinted lip balm (hey, it was free!), but a possible idea with this look is to gently apply the Dime pencil over whatever lipstick I'm wearing. I tried this once before, when I went overload with Dime:

It's a bit subtle, but a really cool look, I think. Could work for a winter theme in the near future.

Products Used

Urban Decay Primer Potion (original)
UD eyeshadow in Flipside
UD eyeshadow in Gunmetal
UD eyeshadow in Uzi
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Dime
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Gunmetal
UD Supercurl mascara

Pink Pearls

This is mostly because several of my favorite products happen to be pink:

A smoky sort of look, but with pink instead of a darker color. This turned out a lot more subtle than I imagined, but it really looks subtle in these pictures--in that it didn't show up practically at all. Working on getting a better camera, believe me.

It really did show up better in person, I promise. This is also my first time using the liquid liner Woodstock directly against my lashes, instead of bordering it with black liquid liner. Makes for a softer look, I feel.

As for the actual layout of the colors, I used the same baby pink featured in my Nyan Cat makeup (UD Hotpants) as the base color, with Sphynx over it to add some sparkle. I love me some sparkles! And Sphynx is essentially the same color, but Hotpants is shimmery/pearlescent where Sphynx is sparkly. But I wanted both, darn it! Anyway, due to my lack of a darker pink that's actually a pure pink and not purplish, I used the Ulta brand pressed eyeshadow in Cherry Bomb as the crease color. I actually really like this eyeshadow; it goes on well, shows up well, et cetera; overall very cooperative. Best used in moderation, though, and blended very well, especially with Hotpants or Sphynx. It's actually a little bit too dark to be a good crease color for Hotpants; there's just too much of a difference in the colors. So I used veeery little, blended like crazy, and layered my lid with just a bit of Last Call, a darker burgundy/magenta color. Not that you can really tell, but it balanced out the Cherry Bomb very nicely. I also touched the inner corners of my eyes with the UD pencil liner in Dime, a pale light silver, to provide some highlighting.

You can see the overall look created with this zoomed out picture, thankfully. See? I promise I'm actually wearing eyeshadow! Anyway, like I said, a much softer look than if I had used darker colors or more contrast. And I also don't look diseased, which is a relief!

Please forgive my messed-up eyebrow; I can use styling wax and comb them until my arms fall off, but my bangs always drag my left eyebrow, and that's the result. Does anyone know how to stop that from happening?? I'd be grateful to you forever!

Products Used
Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
UD eyeshadow in Hotpants
UD eyeshadow in Sphynx
UD eyeshadow in Last Call
Ulta pressed eyeshadow in Cherry Bomb
UD pencil liner in Dime
UD 24/7 waterproof liquid liner in Woodstock
UD Supercurl Mascara

Nyan Cat Inspired

Because it's both cute and colorful, I couldn't resist trying a Nyan Cat (a.k.a. Poptart Cat) inspired eye.

Just in case anyone isn't familiar with the Nyan Cat (or hasn't been forced to watch it for at least five minutes straight by a sadistic friend), this is what it looks like:

And this is the video that started it all.

As for me, this look has many parts, each of which deserves an explanation.

The lid is a baby pink, to represent the icing of the pop tart, with dark pink sparkles for the sprinkles. Gray and silver gradient liner represents the cat's fur, with the silver being a special shiny twist on my part. The brow area is a sparkly beige color for the crust of the pop tart, and a rainbow trail finishes it off!

I added the rainbow to only one eye, for a few reasons. One, I like asymmetry when it's stylish (not just for the heck of it), two, the one rainbow gives a little pop instead of being a regular element, and lastly, my hair would have covered the other one anyway, making all that tedious effort go unnoticed.

For this rainbow, unlike a previous rainbow I've done, I tried to minimize the time and effort taken by using only eyeliners instead of having to wash my one angled liner brush in between each eyeshadow color I applied. Turns out, I do actually have enough liners for all the colors of the rainbow (except red, since that's a bad idea), but the rainbow itself turned out much darker than I wanted. So I ended up having to go over all my lines with the corresponding eyeshadow color anyway to brighten them up and add some sparkle.

I finished it off with light pink lipstick, shimmery blush, and cute pigtails. My jewelry was as cutesy as possible, as well: cupcake earrings that my boyfriend bought me from Shana Logic, with a candy jar necklace from the same source, and a Hershey's kisses bracelet from Macy's.

And fully zoomed out for the most possible cuteness.

Products Used
Face:
Clinique concealer
Pür Minerals foundation in Porcelain
Pür Minerals Mineral Glow/Mineral Light duo
Pür Minerals blush in Citrus Rose
Urban Decay eyeshadow in Hotpants (on cheeks)


Lips:
Ulta tinted lip balm in Bloom
MAC Lady Gaga lipstick


Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
UD eyeshadow in Hotpants
UD glitter liner in Catfight
UD eyeshadow in Sellout / Midnight Cowboy Rides Again
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Gunmetal
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Dime
UD Supercurl mascara

Rainbow:
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Flash / eyeshadow in Ecstacy
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Radium / Electric / eyeshadow in Jinx
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Covet / eyeshadow in Homegrown
UD 24/7 pencil liner in El Dorado / Loreal HIP eyeshadow duo in Striking (yellow side)
UD 24/7 pencil liner in Lucky / eyeshadow in X
Ulta pressed eyeshadow in Cherry Bomb