Apology & Getting Back On Track

I'm sorry I have let the blog fallen by the wayside, but I've been a bit busy and things are also crazy here. I hope to have things back on track some time tomorrow. I'll hopefully get swatches done and have finished up some posts I've had waiting in the wings. I'm also still working to get my special FOTD up.

Thank you, for hanging around still. I'm doing my best to get things up.

Edit: Every time I look at my stats, like page views and audience, I feel so special! Seriously, please, drop a comment, even if its not in English. I will do my best to translate it. I love that I have a world-wide readership! You guys are all very awesome and I appreciate you.

SPOOKEHDOOM

Quick note to you readers...

I have to take a small break from the blog, mainly from taking photos for reviews. The reason is because I strained my elbow Saturday and today, doing two reviews, taking photos, cropping them and all the typing I did has actually made it hurt to do my everyday activities. Even now typing this hurts. This doesn't mean that it will be silent for long.

I have an FOTD and a sort of video "tutorial" that should be up this weekend. I wanted to do it this past weekend but I couldn't because of small distractions and other problems. I wish I could have had it posted this weekend! I hope you all like what I have planned and I know what you all are looking at (I have a view count for posts so I know what's popular). I have one request: would you please leave comments? I want to hear from you! Even if they aren't in English! I know I have a relatively tiny amount of readers in Germany, thanks to the Audience feature. I want to hear what you would like to see or your thoughts on things. I don't want to feel like my efforts are being wasted.

Thank you for understanding. I should have some swatches and reviews up for products I've already used and know well later on, but nothing real big for the time being. No new product usage for now, I ask you be patient for my FOTD and for my elbow to stop hurting. I'm really trying for you, the readers.

(You know, I'm kind of worried that you're laughing at how I look in the Queen Helene Mint Julep review. You all have looked at it a lot.)

SPOOKEHDOOM

Review: real Techniques Powder Brush

Why, packaging, do you not have much info?

I have four three (WTF?) powder brushes to be honest. One is the tokidoki Kabuki brush, one is a mini of bareMineral's Full Coverage Kabuki brush, and the real Technique's Powder Brush. You might be wondering why I have all these brushes. Well, the tokidoki one I bought because 1) I love tokidoki. I love tokidoki so much, I wanted the collaborated phone, 2) it is insanely soft and pretty! It does work for applying powder, don't worry. One complaint I do have is that the handle is square, so its a tiny bit of a pain to hold. The bareMineral's brush came in a sample I got from Sephora and I positively hate it. It is so incredibly scratchy! I also hated the foundation that came with it. It made me orange! The Mineral Veil was okay, didn't do it what it said it would: absorb oil. Now the last brush, the real Techniques brush is a godsend to me.

These really easily slide out of the box even though the brush head is snug in the box.

These brushes come in a sort of long, rectangular box with the tops rounded slightly. The top just pulls off and your brush can be slid out. Easy! The packaging is also pretty simple, doesn't say a lot about the brush on the front. A little more on the back, with a blurb from Sam(antha Chapman).

Pretty useless blurbs

As for the brush itself, let me tell you why I bought this one. I had a very generically labeled "face powder brush" I had had since I started using makeup. It was cheap and it was the only one I could find that was nice scratchy and fluffy. It was turned a little gray from the mineral makeup I used to use and I never actually thought to wash it. When I stopped using mineral makeup (God, how that stuff dried out my skin but I also didn't know about facial moisturizer or exfoliating) and switched to liquid, I decided to wash my brush. Black dye ran out of it as well as the brush sucking up water and soap. It was disgusting. Well, sometime later when I was washing it again on a separate occasion, the wood handle came away from the ferrule. Not cool. We re-glued it and all was fine until this past January. It happened again and I was annoyed more so now, because I thought I would try using conditioner on the brush to soften the bristles. Waste of my time! I went to Ulta's website and went hunting for a decently priced brush that wasn't going to be scratchy. I liked the size of the real Techniques' brush and happily bought it after feeling the one on display.

Stands up on its own! Great for when you might be using your brush, keeps your bristles clean.

I should tell you now that real Techniques has a few brushes that will supposedly work for powder. The Powder Brush, the Kabuki Brush and the Setting Brush and they even suggest using the Stippling Brush for powder. I didn't see the kabuki in person but it's got angular bristles and is apparently "2-in-1." It can be opened and used flat. Neat, but I don't want/need it. The Setting brush's head is also small. Very small and it resembles their Blush Brush. I personally associate stippling brushes more with liquid foundation, cream foundation and cream blush. I just can't imagine a stippling brush being really effective for powder application! I picked the Powder Brush because its fluffy, flexible yet dense and applies powder like a dream.

real Techniques logoing

Nice and fluffy! You can tell I've used mine recently.

These brushes are made with Taklon fibers, so they're just oh-so-touchably soft. I could spend hours petting my brush (pretty sad, huh?). Sadly I can't get it to fit in my makeup bag so I pop it back in the packaging to protect it while I travel. This brush picks up powder nicely and disperses it evenly, as well as being so gentle on the face. It washes well, super light and can be stood up on its own. Yay for a new, nice brush!

The only other words on the brush hand are "Powder Brush," no numbers to remember. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of it.

If you're in the market for a new brush and don't or can't spend a fortune on something like Crown, Sigma or even MAC, check out these real Techniques brushes. The Powder Brush is $9.99 from Ulta and I used one of their "$3.50 off $10" coupons, dropping the price to $6.50 before tax. Woohoo! Most will run you about $7.99 to $9.99 before tax, which is a sweet price for how delightful they are to use. The travel sets are more costly for 3 to 4 brushes, at about $17.99. Not too bad if you have a daughter or someone else just getting into makeup and needs some decent starter brushes, as the sets come in a case that can be stood up on its own. Since I already have a foundation brush I'm happy with and a powder brush, I won't be picking one up.

(Heads up, the person behind these brushes is Samantha Chapman, one of the Pixiwoo girls on YouTube. I don't watch Pixiwoo since I am utterly unimpressed by their looks. The links to "About Us" and "About Sam" on the real Techniques' site don't work. Dead links!)

SPOOKEHDOOM

Illamasqua, International Delivery & Royal Mail

I like Illamasqua. I like Illamasqua a lot, even if I can't always afford their products. I also like that they changed carriers so anyone outside of the UK can buy and receive their nail varnish. I don't like that they haven't full integrated with their new carrier to provide a tracking link but that's fine since I know its a process. I've had tons of things go without tracking numbers that arrived just fine and things with tracking numbers that did nothing but still arrived safely. The US postal service doesn't update tracking status as often as I would like.

But oh, geez, ladies, chill out. If you go on the official Illamasqua Facebook page and look at "Posts made by Others," you'll probably see women going insane on their page and if you dig deeper, could probably find people freaking out over the Christmas campaign. These women apparently expect instant gratification when the company had a relatively small issue when packages were delivered Royal Mail only to be destroyed. Royal Mail does not ship nail varnish, but they didn't return them to Illamasqua (which I personally think would have been a better idea). As for the Christmas thing, if you saw it, let me know what you thought. If you didn't, not a big deal. I noticed it was entirely Caucasian women saying the ad was "racist" but more said it was just art, which it was. Lots of people decided to stop buying from Illamasqua over it and I said that was a silly thing to do on another blog. Another blogger decided I was saying the girl's opinion was wrong (I think it should be one strike against Illamasqua but not something to get ridiculously upset over). That's why I have so few female friends, because so many women in the US just want something to call racist or something to complain about.

Anyway, back to issues I have with the current international delivery company. As I said, I like Illamasqua. I do appreciate that they changed carriers so more people could buy their beautiful varnish in Raindrops. Raindrops is special because it was limited edition and Christine at Temptalia started a huge search for it! She raved about it and its not hard to see why. I fell in love when I saw it swatched.

(Product image from Illamasqua.com)

See what I mean? I tried to find dupes, but couldn't because nothing truly matched it. I got happy news about December, when both Illamasqua and Christine announced that Raindrops would be brought back with the Broken Heart collection for Valentine's Day 2013. The collection was released in January and the varnish sold out quickly. It sold out a few more times but has stayed in stock recently and I decided to buy it after Illamasqua announced they had changed carriers to be able to fulfill the requests of their customers who are outside of the UK. Sadly, Sephora still doesn't carry Raindrops but Illamasqua is trying to get the varnish in store.

I made my order 9 February 2013. I received the shipping confirmation 13 February 2013. I am super eager to get it! I emailed Illamasqua about getting a tracking number but they still don't have one. It bothers me a little, but they did update the shipping FAQ for the US. 15 to 20 business days. I have no idea if its in Alaska or maybe New York, it travels through either one of those two places when it reaches the US but I don't specifically remember where it enters the US from the UK. I hope its not being held by customs or something and will get here. Really eager to review the product for you!

If you want to get this yourself, its available at Selfridge's in the UK, as well online at Illamasqua.com and from their stores. I'm the unlucky person who can't buy it in person. Check out Christine's review as well!

(My cat Ralphy, an orange and white striped tabby, says: f78or 988888888888888[p;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;\
The little stinker walked over the keyboard while I was typing.)

SPOOKEHDOOM

Review: NYX Nude Matte Eyeshadow in Birthday Suit

Ah, NYX. I love NYX. They're cheap. They have stunning quality. I have found products I love, since there are so many! Today, however, is focusing on one. There aren't many reviews or swatches for the Nude Matte Eyeshadows and I really wanted to know whether or not I was getting a good product before I went searching for it at my local Ulta. I finally (FINALLY!) found a review and swatches from VampyVarnish, who I love. Her blog's name and the fact she's just a bag of awesome. You can read her review here: VampyVarnish

Review: Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush

Pretty cute, right?

I said it in my pre-Valentine's Day post that I would be getting this beautiful product as a gift from Ze Boyfriend. I already said I don't buy or use blush and its true. Its a step I skip in my makeup routine normally. I may use a little of the blush that came in my Glamour To Go Dream Edition palette that came out in 2011 for nights when we go out. Why do I normally skip it entirely? I don't want to find my Smashbox travel-sized Angled Blush Brush, a little freebie from Ulta when Ze Boyfriend's mom bought some cosmetics. I also don't want to sweep, tap and then sweep-blend the product onto my cheeks either. I am lazy. I am aware of this.

Review: Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque

Some people do masks. Some people don't. Some people use the popular Japanese and Korean 'sheet masks', while others use clay masks. I think I can say a lot of us don't use any masks. I'm very guilty of this. I don't want to find and buy sheet masks (I'm very impatient on waiting for things to ship!), and the Asian grocery store only stocks Missha masks. Would love some by My Beauty Diary but alas, they shan't be mine. Instead I will use clay masks! This particular mask is said to reduce pore size, rinse away blackheads and dries out pimples.