look of the day - A HAIRCUT, FINALLY

I haven't had an actual haircut in at least 8 months, likely more, and I finally went to the salon today.

Some things to note!

a) My bangs are doing weird things because my hair dried in a part too close to the center.

b) Obviously, there's a bit of a curl in my hair, but the actual length is at least two inches shorter.

c) I took this on my phone camera because it's a ton better than my point-and-shoot camera.

Kate requested a simple look for a regular high school day, so I've tried my best to replicate something and will provide cheaper dupes for products if I know of any.

For face products, start out with a BB cream if you need coverage all over your face. Generally, BB creams tend to be multipurpose, blurring imperfections while covering redness. I've used a Dr. Jart+ BB cream, but Maybelline makes two formulations (depending on skin type) that seem to work well. Take a concealer and cover up anything else you'd like to cover that the BB cream didn't. Maybelline Fit Me concealer is one that I quite like. For cheeks, a cream blush is quick and easy and can be applied with your fingers. Try one of Revlon's cream blushes or L'oreal's mousse blushes.

For eyes, take a shimmery pinky-nude eyeshadow and use it over the eyelid. This gives a wash of colour without complicating the process. If you want to take the extra step, use a taupe or purple-toned eyeshadow in the outer corner of the lid. Eyeshadow can actually be skipped if you're feeling lazy or you don't have that much time to get ready. The brown eyeliner is the most important--draw a line across your upper lid. Brown is softer and more forgiving than black. (If you have oily eyelids, consider using an eyeshadow primer and a translucent powder to make sure your eyeliner doesn't smudge.) Finish with a coat of mascara--brown for lighter eyelashes, black for darker.

For the lips, use a pinky-nude lipstick. There are so many good ones out there--Lipstick Queen makes a universally flatter shade but it's definitely pricey. Revlon lip butters are a good place to start, but their balm stains are really good if you don't want to keep touching up throughout the day. The glossy part of the product might fade but it leaves a stain behind that will last several hours. Honey is a really good colour.

BROWS
Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Express brow kit in Brunette
Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel in Granite

EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Inner half of lid - Laura Mercier eyeshadow in Guava
Outer half of lid - Laura Mercier eyeshadow in Kir Royal
Upper lash line - marc jacobs highliner gel crayon in brown(out)
Lashes - ck one mascara in 800 black

FACE
Korres Quercetin & Oak Antiageing Primer
Dr. Jart+ V7 Beauty Balm
Benefit boi-ing concealer in 01
stila convertible color dual lip & cheek cream in peony (I THINK. This was a sample and I can't find the shade name on it.)

LIPS
Lipstick Queen Jean Queen lipstick

look of the week - new hair!

So, remember how I was blonde for two weeks? Well, that's not the case anymore.

Here's my sunset hair! It's a little dark in this photo, but my hairdresser put in purple, pink, and orange semi-permanent dye and left one piece and my bangs blonde. This was done on Sunday, 27 July. (The only makeup I'm wearing here is Anastasia Dipbrow in Dark Brown and OCC Stained Gloss lip tar in New Wave.)

And here's the back! He curled it a bit so the colours blended more.

Two days later, I put it into a side ponytail and accidentally turned myself into a rainbow because I was wearing green eyeshadow and a blue sweater, but when I got home, I just put blue eyeliner on instead of wearing the sweater.

The makeup here is Dr. Jart+ V7 BB cream, Anastasia Dipbrow in Dark Brown, Sugarpill loose eyeshadow in Olivia (a limited edition olive-green shimmer), Urban Decay eyeliner in Flipside (a discontinued bright teal with silver-teal shimmer), a black Sephora liquid liner, and Kat Von D liquid lipstick in Bauhau5 (deep raspberry).

I washed it Tuesday night and then had the genius idea to put in a clear gloss to protect the colour. Turns out that just faded it even more quickly and I didn't even wash all the gloss out, so I almost gave myself a peroxide burn on my scalp. WHOO! So this is what my hair currently looks like:

Man, those dark circles. And that faded hair. I'm wearing some combination of Sugarpill loose eyeshadows (Magpie, Royal Sugar, Weekender, and Smitten, I think?) to invoke the deeper end of a sunset and possibly allude to what I might do with my hair later on. Additional makeup: Anastasia Dipbrow in Dark Brown and Lipstick Queen Butterfly lipstick in Float.

All I'm really saying is that I really love this hair and while I'm sad it's fading so quickly, I'm glad I get the opportunity to play with colours. Any suggestions for what to do next with my hair? I'm stocking up on Manic Panic!

Also, this weekend I should be posting a mega post about eyebrows. It might be my legacy, and it also might be approaching 4k.

celebrity-inspired looks #3 - elizabeth henstridge at the guardians of the galaxy l.a. premiere

I swear, I'll do a celebrity look that isn't Elizabeth Henstridge. Eventually. But I had to attempt the seriously awesome smoky eye and red lip pairing she wore to this premiere--you can find pictures here. I'll take suggestions for other celebrity looks anyone wants to see!

(This is the last post I'll be making with my blonde hair! Good thing, too, since it's misbehaving a lot today.)

Okay, let's get lipstick out of the way. From what I could tell in the pictures I've seen, she was wearing more of a sheer red lipstick, though some pictures made it look more pigmented. I suggest going the sheer route especially with a strong smoky eye like this, but if you want to go full red, go for it. Lipstick Queen's most popular lipstick is a tinted treatment that fit so well. And one day, I'll have a camera that doesn't desaturate reds!

Elizabeth has some amazing eyebrows but they looked a little lighter than usual, so fill in your brows with a light hand, and set the hairs in place with a tinted brow gel. The secret to lightening your brows a bit is to run some powder through your brows while the gel isn't fully dry--translucent or tinted powder would probably work best, but I wanted to be fancy and used a gold eyeshadow.

For the eyes, take a gold shimmer to the inner corner of your eyelids, blending carefully. Next, use a deeper bronze-brown shade on the center of the lid. I added a glittery deep brown shade on top of the original colour just to give it some more dimension. Take a dark brown to the outer corners of your eyelids, and then blend all three of these together.

Blending with a brush would be ideal, but I'm a rulebreaker and just use my fingers. That won't work for everyone, so choose a method that works best for you. I suggest blending the lighter shade into the darker shade so you don't risk darkening your entire lid.

Tap a matte deep brown shade into your crease and blend that toward the inner corner of your eyelid. For your lower lid, take a bit of the gold eyeshadow and some of the dark brown shade and blend that into your lash line. Line your upper waterline and lash line with a matte black eyeliner, and your lower waterline with a brown eyeliner. (Since my eyes water a lot, I set the lower waterline with a matte brown eyeshadow. Totally optional.) Swipe on a few coats of mascara, and if you'd like, put on some false eyelashes. Elizabeth seems to have really long eyelashes and mine are stubby, so I put on some partial falsies that only cover half of my lash line. Make sure you glue these on correctly because I 100% messed mine up!

For the face, take a foundation a few shades deeper than your skin tone and blend it just underneath your cheeks for a little contouring, and then dust on a peachy-pink blush to give some colour to your cheeks. Because the eyes are so intense and you have a bit of a noticeable lip competing, you need to have a little blush on your cheeks to keep you from looking washed out.

BROWS
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow pomade in Dark Brown
Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel in Granite
Urban Decay eyeshadow in Half-Baked (bronze)

EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Inner corner - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Half-Baked (bronze)
Center of lid - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Smog (golden brown shimmer) + Shiro Cosmetics loose eyeshadow in Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon (coffee brown-black with gold and red sparkles)
Outer lid - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Darkhorse (bronze-plum shimmer)
Crease - Paula's Choice eyeshadow in Coffee, Urban Decay eyeshadow in Buck (brown matte)
Lower lid - Urban Decay eyeshadow in Half-Baked (bronze) + Darkhorse (bronze-plum shimmer)
Upper lash line + waterline - Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion (matte blackest black)
Lower waterline -  Hello Kitty Charmmy Kohl Eyeliner in Chocolate Milk (shimmery brown) + Paula's Choice eyeshadow in Coffee
Lashes - Maybelline Volum' Express the Mega Plush mascara in Blackest Black
Falsies - ecotools Naturally Beautiful Lash System in Barely There

FACE
Urban Decay Naked Skin liquid foundation in 1.0
Benefit boi-ing concealer in 01
Under eyes - It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Corrector Concentrate Cream in Light + Bye Bye Under Eye concealer in Light
Contour - Maybelline Fit Me foundation stick in 235
Blush - NARS Blush in Orgasm (peachy pink with shimmer)

LIPS
Lipstick Queen Medieval Tinted Treatment (sheer red)