Springing Spring: Pink Lipsticks

I have somehow, in the last couple months, managed to acquire three cool pink lipsticks. That's not a color family that I tend to gravitate towards, preferring warmer pinks or deeper plums, but a confluence of factors (one I won in a giveaway, one was a free gift with purchase, and one caught my eye in Rite Aid) led to this point, so...whatever. Here's my thoughts!

Tarte LipSurgence SkinTuitive Lip Tint in Energy*

This is one of those "pH matching" products, which is complete baloney, but it came free from Ulta when I ordered my mother's mascara, and even if the marketing is a bunch of hooey, that doesn't mean it's not still a pretty pink. And it is, though it's not without its issues. It applies clear, and like all Tarte LipSurgence products, it smells and tastes like mint and tingles a bit upon application. After a minute or two, it's turned into a sheer medium pink (thanks to the Red #27 in it). It's mildly moisturizing, in spite of the peppermint, but I don't get very long wear and need to reapply roughly every hour. It does lightly stain, but only the inside of my lips; for it to wear completely evenly, I need to exfoliate my lips ahead of time, and that's more than I can usually remember to do. Still, it was free, and it's pretty on, so I'll probably use up the sample! $24 for 0.1 oz, available from Sephora, among others
*free gift with purchase

Manicure Monday

Another week, another batch of unworns.

OPI Black Cherry Chutney with Wet N Wild Night Prowl
Night Prowl may very well be opaque enough on its own, but I was too lazy to find out, so I just did it over a coat of BCC. Pretty!

L'Oreal Infallible Gilded Envy and Infinite Sky Review and Swatches

I picked these up a while back when Rite Aid had 40% off L'Oreal and I felt like injecting some new sparkle to my eye collection. I love Bronzed Taupe, though I don't find the Infallible formula to be ironclad like others do, but I always wear eyeshadow primer anyways, so whatever. Gilded Envy and Infinite Sky are both very different from anything else in my stash, at least!

Gilded Envy is a crazy pewter-olive-grey-sage-whatthefuck glittery reflective pile of amazing.

macros r us

Marcelle Rouge Vitality Lipstick in 540 Desire Pink Review and Swatches

Many months ago, Sarah sent me the most delightful care package, full of sweet, thoughtful goodies, including some makeup (and a Ryan Gosling journal, swoon).

100% pure awesome.

She included Annabelle Rosewood blush, which funnily enough is the same shade Liz sent me, way back in the day (and is one I love, and since it's not available in the US, it never hurts to have a backup!), and Marcelle Rouge Vitality Lipstick 540 Desire Pink.

the lipstick in question

Skincare Saturday: Rainshadow Labs ABR Bamboo Raspberry Antioxidant Scrub

I like using a manual exfoliator on my face every few days, and tend to rotate between my Clarisonic, Tosowoong, and muslin cloths most of the time, but sometimes I want something a little more...luxurious, I guess? So I picked up the RSL Bamboo Raspberry Antioxidant Scrub with Natural Açai Berry scent for those occasions.

It smells like blueberries and bell peppers, and while not a bad smell, I do wonder if I would prefer the unscented version. It looks like something Cthulhu puked up and feels like that same vomit was scooped up with some sand and put into a jar.

Delicious.

And yet, it works! I can see how you might have trouble believing me after that rather evocative description, but really, this stuff is great.

Tarina Tarantino FOTD

I won Liz's Tarina Tarantino giveaway, and after a number of delays, my goodies arrived a few days ago and I've been having fun playing with them! I'll do complete reviews of the products over the next few weeks, but I thought it would be nice to start with a full Tarantino FOTD as a preview.

HELLO

Face

MAC Matchmaster 1.0 mixed with Face Atelier Ultra Foundation Zero Minus
MUFE Full Cover Concealer 1
Tarina Tarantino Pearl Glow Luminizing Primer* patted on cheekbones, cupid's bow, browbone
Meow Cosmetics Pampered/Flawless Sleek Siamese/Korat foundation
Ben Nye Neutral Set Powder
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Radiant Magenta

Manicure Monday

Still truckin' along with my NY resolution! Here's some of what's been on my tips the past couple weeks.

a england St. George

Amazed I haven't reviewed this already! It's a gorgeous dark teal with subtle holo, opaque in one coat. I remember disliking the a england brush, but it was fine this time (except for my ring fingers, which both ended up with polish on the cuticle, how annoying!). I wasn't going to photograph it because my nails are super short, due to one breaking, but then I discovered I haven't featured this polish yet, so I figured it's better to have stubby photos than none at all. Now I want to try Dragon again to see if maybe it will behave better than I remember...

Fragrance Friday: More Candles

Spring is springing in the most delightful way: we've had 5 days of glorious sun and temps in the 60s-70s, the trees are blooming, flowers are sprouting, and regrowth and happiness abounds. Spring is my favorite season (even if it does have my least favorite seasonal collections!), but in the past few years, it has coincided with some glumness. My first assaults were in the spring and I found out my school had betrayed me in the spring, but this year, I feel surprisingly light. Counseling helps, kids! Unfortunately, the relative mental health has been tempered by the shadow of the passing of T. As I was driving to class yesterday under the blossoming trees, in awe of their loveliness, I was struck with the realization that she does not get to experience it, that no matter how beautiful the blooms and vibrant the flowers, they will not reach her. I do realize that for life to be moving, there must also be death, but I don't have to like it.

My counselor told me that candles are common cross-culturally as a way to honor those who have died and suggested I get one to burn when I'm thinking of T. I haven't felt all that interested in perfume lately, sticking to a few tried-and-true favorites, but I do still love experiencing pleasant smells and decided that a scented candle could be one way I remember T. I'm still searching for one that smells like I feel about her (such might not exist), but I've tried a couple that I'll share with you today!

via

First up is Voluspa Black Figue and Chypre. I love fig candles and had tried their Figue de Bordeaux variety so thought it would be nice to check out something different. Where FdB is pure fig, creamy and green and woody, BF&C is darker and moodier. It's still very much fig, but weighted down by a slightly sour, dirty moss, like...I don't know, a fig found in a cave in a forest. The throw is awesome, probably thanks in part to the two wicks; I burn it in our living room and the scent trails all the way up our foyer onto the second floor, but it doesn't linger for a long time afterwards. I find it burns evenly and, as long as the wicks are trimmed before each use, doesn't smoke. Voluspas are great, and I have another couple (of the smaller Petite Decorative Candle design, in Crane Flower and Moso Bamboo) on the way! $16 for 11 oz, ~50 hour burn time, available from Nordstrom and Beauty.com, among others

Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio in RD711 Pink Sands Review and Swatches

HSN sent me a $10 off coupon for no reason at all, but I'm not one to ignore free money, so I used it to pick up a Shiseido eyeshadow trio after having heard nothing but raves. (Oddly, though, now all the Shiseido stuff is gone from their website! How peculiar.) I chose Pink Sands, because I don't have enough neutralish palettes, I guess? I wanted something I would get a lot of wear out of, anyways.

Beautiful untouched pans!

Guest Post: Sunday Procrastination Nails

My friend T is away at grad school in Davis, but we keep in touch by Snapchatting our manis to each other. I requested she do a guest post, and she kindly obliged! Enjoy :)

I have about 150 pages of journal articles to read about DNA replication. It’s about as thrilling as it sounds. So naturally, I decided to undertake an overly complicated mani in order to procrastinate. A while ago I came across this photo on reddit by /u/WarOfArt. I’ve always wanted to attempt it, and I finally got some striping tape. So what better time to do it than when you are supposed to be doing reading?

I decided to only attempt this as an accent nail for obvious reasons. Anyone with the patience to do this on all their nails deserves some sort of medal.

Here’s a picture of the taped up nail. Its pretty impossible to get everything perfectly straight but I tried my best.

30 Days: Day 23

We found out today that my grandfather has lung cancer. It's in the very early stages, so we're hopeful that it won't be fatal, but we won't know for sure until after the PET scan, which is yet to be scheduled. The doctor said it's a relatively slow-growing type of cancer, and thus far it seems to be restricted to one place on his left lung, but we'll find out more after further tests. Surgery is almost guaranteed, though probably not within the next month, because stress is fun, right? Right. Those of you who read regularly may already know that I live with my mother and my grandparents, which is great because I get to see them all the time, but being so close does mean that these sorts of things hit close to home (I know, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist). I'll remain hopeful until we get more information; I'm not great at dealing with death, so I'm crossing my fingers that Papa will be around for a nice long while, even if he is 83 years old.

But anyways. Here's some eyeliner, and another post on the way to completing this unending series.

What does your eyeliner collection look like?

Arm swatches of the whole shebang! 2 swipes unless noted otherwise.

Lots of pencils, since with my tremor and general lack of sight without glasses means liquid can be a challenge to get even. That hasn't stopped me from picking up a few cheap liquid liners, but they don't see as much play as my pencils.