I'm Doing Makeup and I'm Still Alive - Life Updates

I had a major, unintentional hiatus. I really lost interest in blogging for a time, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. So many products, so little time...

Review: Kat Von D Chrysalis Eyeshadow Palette

I'm not much of a Kat Von D fan and I don't really care for "reality" TV at all.

But her makeup line's revamp? That I can certainly get on board with. Those Studded Kiss Lipsticks are calling my name! But this palette had to come first.

Review: OCC After Dark Stained Gloss Set

I Bought This

The OCC obsession continues! After I bought Pink Prism and Batty, I wanted to get more. The Stained Glosses had be hooked on release, but I never got around to buying any. The After Dark set fixed that!

BEFORE YOU READ FURTHER, consider what you want: a liquid lipstick or a sheer to opaque, staining gloss? People have confused these with the Lip Tar formula, which Stained Glosses aren't intended or designed to be anything like the original Lip Tar. At all. 

Review: L.A. Splash Lip Couture in Ghoulish (14214) (Lime Crime Velvetines Dupe?!)

I hate Lime Crime with a burning passion and the newest scandal just disturbs me. This is the only mention it will get on this blog, because I have never supported the brand and will not in the future. Due to the scandal, people are looking for alternatives to Velvetines, the liquid-to-matte lipstick that's painfully drying (not a pretty look). Me? I just want an awesome liquid-to-matte that won't budge.

DAYUM. It's been a while.

Nothing to Disclose

Sorry everyone. It's been radio silence since... When? I lost track. I haven't done a whole lot recently; the end of 2014 was stressful. I have a pretty big backlog of reviews to finish! And Valentine's Day is coming, so things might be a bit more delayed.

Future reviews...

• Ion Haircare - Reconstructor, a keratin product, their Clear Shade Diluter (it's not actually clear!)

•  Kat von D Chrysalis palette - An absolutely gorgeous palette that I am seriously loving.

• Skullcandy Dime Earbuds - I  know it's not beauty related, but there aren't enough reviews for these suckers. I love them.

• Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe - Great formula. For what I use it for, it's awesome.

• NYX Hot Singles Eyeshadow in S.O.S. - I use it in combination with the Color Tattoo.

• OCC After Dark Stained Gloss Test Tube set - These have some bad reviews on Sephora, but I don't get why. It seems to be a straight misunderstanding of the product. I, for one, really like the formula and I'm not really a lip gloss person.

That's about it for now. I'll work on getting reviews out. Sorry again for the radio silence!

SPOOKEHDOOM

Review: L.A. Girl GLAZED Lip Paints in Blushing & Coy

These are pretty flipping amazing liquid lipsticks from the drugstore. Love 'em.

They're a great dupe to Too Faced Melted Liquid Lipstick, but definitely not a dupe for OCC Lip Tars.

L.A. Girl is a semi-hard-to-get line of pretty big proportions. Concealers, nail polishes, you name it, they likely have it. The GLAZED Lip Paints have been really making a huge buzz in the beauty world, particularly after they released a nice selection of new shades. With a line up of 18colors ranging from nudy-pinks to rich, vampy purple, it is insane.

GLAZED is packaged in an opaque plastic tube, very similar in appearance to Too Faced Melted and have standard-sized gold caps. Unlike Too Faced, which has a velvety doe-foot on the tube, these are just a black plastic doe foot. Despite this normally being an ill-advised applicator, it actually works for spreading product out. A lip brush is necessary for edges with colors like Coy.

Coy isn't actually grainy. I think that's from my lips (gross, I know).

Blushing is a dusty, dark mauve that can be quite subtle and natural. It's pretty soft, despite the tube's color! It's a color that can be worn with just about anything, since it's a subtle shade. What most call universal! Try it for yourself, since I'm ghastly pale and find the color flattering. This was completely opaque and I could get a nice edge around my lips with the tube alone.

Coy is a bright violet with pink undertones. Despite of the brightness, it's actually kind of calm! I don't wear a whole lot of purple lip products, which is mainly because I'm afraid my lips will be screaming but Coy? Coy is good. It lives up to it's name, in that it's quite playful and not particularly loud. I found it be sheer if you reapply over an area too much but it can be fixed by dabbing the product on and smoothing it with your lips or a brush. A lip brush helped me to get a clean lip line, which I couldn't manage with the tube.

Blushing on the right, Coy on the left.

I didn't find either shade particularly drying, but didn't really find them hydrating.My lips certainly weren't worse for wear after I took off Coy, which is a very good thing for someone who tends to have very dry lips (ew). I did find Coy leaving a nice stain after it faded. These last for a handful of hours with drinking, and last quite well when you aren't eating or drinking!

As I said above, GLAZED is definitely not an OCC Lip Tar dupe. Lip Tar is more liquid and thin, making it easy to spread. GLAZED is much thicker by comparison, but can be spread and applied from the tube much like Melted. You're bound to make a mess applying Lip Tar directly from the tube! I used a lip brush with Coy since I couldn't quite get a nice edge around my lips with the tube itself, like I again mentioned above. These have more in common with Too Faced Melted, since they both sport a thicker formula as well as being on the glossy side. While GLAZED shares a color family with Lip Tar, they aren't dupes in term of formula. The only "dupeable" part of Lip Tar? Mixing GLAZED colors together is pretty easy. Since I don't have a cute Paw Palette to use, I mixed Coy and Blushing on the back of my hand and the result is rather pretty to me.

You can find L.A. Girl GLAZED at Five Below, Harmons and a few other retailers, as well as online at L.A. Girl's website. Hot Topic has only two shades, and my nearby Five Below had the original colors but none of the new shades. Elude looks absolutely ghastly on the website, which is a bit entertaining and I'd love to see it for myself.

SPOOKEHDOOM

DIY: Rose + Antlers Headband

As part of my Halloween costume, I had to make an antler headband, because the costume store options are kind of ugly and cartoony. Handmade options can be pricy and don't have that customized flare.

They weren't going to get here in time either, so it's either something silly from a costume store or something pretty and personally customized. (Since I always have to take the difficult route!)

Review: Sugarpill Sparkle Baby Palette

I Bought This

My first Sugarpill palette! Woo! I was hoping my first palette would actually be the Sweet Heart palette, but I couldn't get it last year during Pink Friday.

I can't get over how cute the inside of the shipping box is.

There's still the other two shades of Sweet Heart to pick up (Midori, Afterparty) as well as the gorgeous Heart Breaker and Cold Chemistry on my list but let's get into Sparkle Baby.

LOOK WHAT CAME TODAY ♡

I Bought This

I am so beyond pleased to have this a day early!

Aren't Sugarpill boxes the cutest?

Can you guess what it is?

Review: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer in Porcelain

I Bought This

I FINALLY GOT PORCELAIN. You may, or may not, have any idea how popular this shade of concealer is.

It's sold out just about every single day. I don't know if it's because it's bought up for highlighting or it's being used for concealing. But jeez, someone, leave some tubes behind!

Review: Rimmel London ScandalEyes Waterproof Kohl Eyeliner in Nude

I Bought This

I have no idea what to say about this eyeliner. It's a nice eyeliner. I really don't buy a lot of drugstore eyeliners, since I'm quite picky about formulas and colors.

Plus I have a lot of eyeliner already...

Review: Estilo Collection False Lashes in E112 & E113

I Bought This

I got new lashes! For only $3.25?! Usually falsies are at least $5 for one pair in the US. Jeez.

I am insanely jealous of anyone who can get those big boxes of 10 lashes for very little money. I know they're on eBay, but they're a little bit pricier and not in styles I like that much.

This IS Halloween: Eylure Limited Edition Spooky & Batwing False Lashes

We went to Ulta yesterday, since my mom needed nail treatments and I actually had to go across the street to Target.

While I wandered around, she pointed out the Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers collection though it was a very, very small selection of this year's items. And below the Fright Fest lashes, were the lashes that basically made my week.

Review: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer in Beige

I Bought This

Someone might be reading this and thinking "Did you buy the wrong concealer?! Return it!" I didn't buy the wrong concealer, I promise! Okay, maybe I did... Kind of.

I bought it for contouring, not concealing! But I do wish NYX had a more middle of the road, not heavily red/orange-y and not overly yellow medium shade.

Blue & Green

I Bought This

My prelude to split hair.

I'm very hesitantly trying Manic Panic with low expectations—it's that notorious fade and other things that make the hair community cringe. (I swear, every time I've seen someone with Manic Panic hair, it just looks awful—extremely fluffy like it was very, very severely over-processed then they didn't care to do a treatment of some sort and the dye, which claims its conditioning, did nothing to re-hydrate it even a little bit!)

Review: OCC Metallic Lip Tar in Batty (Limited Edition)

I Bought This

When Batty first came out, I didn't know it was limited edition. I only knew I loved it and that the name alone was a reason to buy it.

Thankfully, someone was selling one on eBay!

Review: NYX Slim Lip Pencil in Black Berry

I Bought This

Thanks to Ulta having a massive 40% off sale, I was able to get this lip pencil for only $2.09 (regularly $3.49).

I was torn between their Slim pencil and the Retractable one. I dislike retractable pencils, they seem to break for me often... Or maybe it was just that particular eyeliner.

Review: OCC Lip Tar Test Tubes x3 in Pink Prism

I Bought This

I love OCC but I've never tried wearing a Lip Tar. I've only swatched and admired them.

I'm that girl who can't pick ONE color from a massive selection that's made to be mixed for custom shades. Especially when trying to pick a normal color—I pick out a weird color, like blue, purple, etc, very easily but tell me to get a normal color and I don't know what to do. But thanks to OCC's brilliance, these little Test Tubes make it easier.

There are three sets of three shades to pick from: Blue Blood, Pink Prism and Champagne Shores. I love the names so much ~ All three come with the clear Primer Lip Tar, and two colors. Blue Blood has Stalker (true blue based red; matte) and RX (rich medium blue; matte); Champagne Shores has Pris (pale beige/pink; metallic--very futuristic to me) and Trollop (bright coral; matte); Pink Prism has Lovecraft (frosty bright-light pink; metallic) and Pretty Boy (bright, dark fuchsia; matte). For those scratching their head over putting RX with Stalker, like I said above: Lip Tars are made to be mixed. You can make Stalker bluer or even purple! Go nuts!
 

Since I have too many reds, Trollop isn't of interest (I'm just not a coral-y person), and I've been trying to find a brighter pink that isn't absolutely screaming for attention, I opted to get the Pink Prism set. I had my eyes on Pretty Boy (plus Anime and Queen!) since it was one of the pinks I liked best.
 

Test Tubes come in a clear plastic box with the three Lip Tars lined up on a small plastic tray, nose down so you can see the shades with the lip brush lined up next to them. There's also a card in the back showing the shade names and a diagram of the two colors mixed into a custom color. Information about Lip Tars is printed there as well, giving you insight into the product. Convenience!
 

Lip Tars are multi-use, just DO NOT use them on the eyes! They contain peppermint oil amongst other nourishing ingredients. Because of the peppermint oil, these do have a slight cooling effect. It's not as intense as a mint gloss or a peppermint lip plumper.

Pretty Boy Test Tube next to full-size Batty.

Test Tubes are miniature versions of full-sized Lip Tars, so you can test to your heart's content without committing to a shade or two you might not actually enjoy. Since you can mix, you can create a more customized look to suit your tastes. With metallics mixed into two of the three sets, it gives you a slightly more diverse range to choose from and play with—Lip Tars come in their original matte formula, a special selection of metallic shades, and the new Stained Glosses (that completely stole my heart). These sets also have a #010S Precision Lip Brush to make applying easy. Obviously, if you have a lip brush or a small concealer brush, you can use that too! (Has anyone ever noticed how relatively affordable OCC brushes are? No lie—I looked at the site the day I bought this and its not too bad!)

Primer, metallic Lovecraft, matte Pretty Boy & the #10S Precision Lip Brush

The #10S Precision Lip Brush is an excellent little brush for applying Lip Tar. You can easily define the lips with the brush and spread color across the lips. It's denser and the bristles have less give than my fake MAC #316, but still flexible enough to work with your lips.

Primer

Primer is... Well. It's a clear Lip Tar. You can use it to sheer others, as a base, as a moisturizing lip balm on its own or to add a sheen to a matte Tar. It has a yellow tone in the tube, but no worries: its completely clear on the lips. This is nicely moisturizing without being thick or goopy but once it sinks into the lips and wore away after some hours, my lips were a little drier. It's really very slick! I only used a tiny drop and it covered my lips perfectly. Since it's summer, my lips aren't terribly dry but they do benefit from a little moisture! I noticed it was worn away after a few hours (maybe two or three). It was pleasant while it lasted.

Lovecraft

Lovecraft, oh dear Lovecraft. You were an amazing writer with a wicked last name! But this Lip Tar, not so much... The formula is a little bit gritty, as I noticed when I put a teeny dot on the back of my hand and blended it out. It's not as gritty as say, a glitter eyeshadow, but its certainly there. It is full coverage though, like WOW. I'm not particularly sure I would wear it on it's own; it's the frostiness of it. I'm not a fan of pink, frosty lips! Unless, you know, you're doing some kind of futuristic-y or wintery look. Described as "pink/lilac metallic," it's a light, bright pink with a certain lilac tone that makes it quite pretty at the base and silver shimmer that makes it very frosty. Sci-fi Barbie would approve. I like to use it as a little bit of a highlight in the center of my lips. You know, the same way you put gloss in the center with lipstick? (That never ends well for me...Messy, messy!) This did cling to dry patches, and was drying, noticeable particularly in the first half-hour of my wear test. Lovecraft wore for well for 2 hours until I started to eat, transferring to a glass when I took a sip and sinking into lip lines quite quickly. As the base wears away, this becomes more gritty and will transfer a lot as well. The color won't be there so much as you continue to eat and drink but the shimmer will be!

Pretty Boy

Pretty Boy came out back in Fall 2011, which was also my introduction to OCC and Lip Tars in general. OCC describes it as "super rich fuchsia." It's a blue-based fuchsia and you might think, "Fuchsia? Isn't fuchsia screaming though?" No, not so much in this case. It's a darker fuchsia, one I quite like over other bright pinks I've seen around. It's a pleasant sort of fuchsia to me personally. I don't wince when I look at it online, which is always nice when I'm trying to look at products. I had Queen, Anime and Pretty Boy all side-by-side... I could have gone blind from photo-flipping on my iPod. Heck, compared to the new Melted lipsticks from Too Faced, specifically Melted Fuchsia, Pretty Boy is tame! I walked outside from searching at Sephora and Melted Fuchsia blinded me. Ouch! This is my perfect pink. I need a full-size tube of Pretty Boy! This wore quite comfortably, though I noticed some dryness an hour and a half later. This has a satin finish that will slowly become more matte as it wears. It even help up against eating and drinking, only slightly fading away on the interior of the lips. Having some slip though, I was easily able to hide it with just rubbing my lips together a little.

Pretty Boy, Lovecraft, and Primer in daylight. (Ack I got cat hair in my swatch!)

Pretty Boy, Lovecraft, and Primer in daylight.

These swatches are on paper, which yes, is unusual! But the reason is simple: Pretty Boy leaves quite the stain on my skin! Lip Tar stands up against my favorite makeup remover, sweet almond oil, which is great but also rather unnerving--how in the world will I manage to get it off my skin? Eek! This won't stop me from wearing them.

These Test Tube kits are currently at Sephora for $19.00 for three mini-tubes of Lip Tar (0.08 oz), a value of $23.50. A full-sized tube is $18 for 0.33 oz, with the brush included, so this isn't a that bad a deal! You get three Tars to test, mix, and decide if you like one color or all three. You also get the brush and the clear Primer, which would set you back $18 plus any other Lip Tar you buy. Minis do last, since you quite literally need a tiny drop. I am in loooove with Lip Tar now. It doesn't say if these kits are limited edition or not anywhere online.

Can I take a second to just rave over their Creme Colour Concentrates? OCC has In Your Face Kits, that have a Lip Tar, a matching Cosmetic Colour Pencil exclusive to the set, and a Creme Colour Concentrate. I took a second to swatch the Vicious Violets set, which has Pleasure Model, a very pale, pearlescent pink.

Oh. My. BATS!

Pleasure Model is so creamy, soft and smooth. It doesn't leave much color on the skin, just a sheen. And what a sheen it is! It's a beautiful pinky-red duochrome. It's like a cream version of Datura Loose Colour Concentrate! Love it! There is a bit of very, very fine shimmer that's noticeable in incandescent lighting but otherwise its a glowy duochrome sheen!

For now, no lip swatches since Pretty Boy and cleaning it off did a number on my lips.

SPOOKEHDOOM

Review: Hask Keratin Protein Smoothing Deep Conditioner

I Bought This

First time using a Hask product (you know how I feel about placenta hair treatments, ugh) and first time using a keratin product!

It was only $1.77, so this isn't a bank breaker luckily.

Look Ma! Bruises! (WARNING: BLOOD)

Nothing to Disclose I Bought This

BEFORE I get comments of "you're glamorizing violence," the only thing I've wanted to do for the rest of my life as a job is makeup. Special effects makeup, because brides bore me. I've had black eyes before because hey, kids are stupid. I get bruises in daily life because I'm a klutz who will slam into an OPEN door. And jeez, does that HURT!

Tonight I got a bit bored. I needed to clean my brushes out, but first, I thought I'd play around with makeup.