Editions of Me

A Look at NYX’s Summer 2011 Lipsticks

Ah, today was the first time I've ever made it through a day of WFTDA Min Skills testing without bursting into tears. I'm serious. If you recall my previous posts from my two stints at SVRG's bootcamp, I psyched myself out pretty fiercely and sealed my own doom. (And I can categorically say that 90% of my failure was mental, as opposed to not actually being able to complete the skill.) Today we did: - basic skating/form, crossovers - coasting on one foot - coasting in a squat - skating in a squat - cutting across the track - T-stops - Plow stops - 180 knee falls - Single knee falls - Double knee falls - Sprawl falls - Figure 4 falls - Jumping over an object - One-legged hopping over an object - Stepping side to side and back and forth There were only a couple things that I really don't think I passed, but I know that it's not because I CAN'T do them - I've just been off skates for two weeks, and am a little rusty. The things I didn't p

In honor of the season premiere of TRUE BLOOD tonight... - UDPP Original - Sugarpill Love+ all over the lid and wrapping around along the lower lash line - Sugarpill Bulletproof in the crease and outer third of lid - Stila Stay All Day Waterproof liquid eyeliner in Black along upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Zero along lower waterline - MAC Prep+Prime Lash - Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara in Blackest Black

Has there ever been a more gorgeous pink than Sugarpill's Dollipop? I think not. - UDPP original - Sugarpill Buttercupcake on the inner third of the lid - Sugarpill Flamepoint on the middle of the lid - Sugarpill Dollipop on the outer third of the lid - Sugarpill Poison Plum in the crease and along lower lash line - UD eye pencil in Zero along upper lash line and lightly on the lower waterline - UD Supercurl mascara

I didn't get a chance to photograph this up close, but I wanted to share it anyway. This is my nice summery look for a special occasion dinner: Eyes : - UDPP Greed - Sugarpill Chromalust in Goldilux applied wet to the lid. (I used foiling medium from My Beauty Addiction on Etsy.com.) - UD e/s in Creep (from the Naked palette) in the crease. Use a small crease brush for a thinner line. - UD e/s in Virgin to blend the line - UD e/s in Darkhorse applied to the outer third of the lid lightly, on top of Goldilux - UD eye pencil in Honey applied in a thick-ish line along the lower lash line - UD eye pencil in Bourbon applied to the lower waterline - UD eye pencil in Perversion applied to the upper lash line and outer half of lower water line and winged out at the corner - MAC Prep+Prime Lash, topped with NYX Dolleyes mascara (waterproof) Lips : - Nothing! Just a lip balm. I don't like wearing heavy lipwear when I know I'm going to be eating a lot of dinner.

I don't talk too much about Jimmy on this blog, and for good reason (he doesn't like our personal business being discussed publicly, and I agree). But with today being Father's Day (which, yes, I know, is a greeting card holiday, but so what?), I wanted to take a minute to sing the praises of this wonderfully devoted father who too often goes unrecognized for all the things he does. Jimmy is a stay-at-home dad. Since the economic downturn, it's been hard for him to find a job, and when Jolie came, it ended up working out perfectly for him to be a SAH dad, because we wouldn't have been able to afford daycare anyway. (Seriously, that sh**'s expensive!) So this usually means that he doesn't get the respect he deserves. Stay-at-home moms have traditionally never gotten much respect, as the general perception is that they are rich, spoiled housewives with a lot of time to be condescending and pretty and do charity work. And when it's the man who stays home

I am posting from Oregon! I'm here for the weekend to attend my brother's college graduation. True to form, it is gray and wet outside (though yesterday it was warm and lovely), but it's perfectly matching my mood right now, because I am moping over the fact that because I'm up here, I was not able to attend graduation at MHS, where my favorite kids in the whole universe got to walk the stage this morning. - UDPP Original - Sugarpill pressed e/s in Buttercupcake on the inner third of the lid - Sugarpill pressed e/s in Midori on the middle of the lid - Sugarpill pressed e/s in Afterparty on the outer third of the lid - Sugarpill pressed e/s in Tako to blend the line - Sugarpill pressed e/s in Poison Plum applied lightly into the crease - UD eye pencil in Zero along the upper lash line - Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara in Blackest Black Basically, I had Sugarpill's two palettes, the Burning Heart palette and the Sweetheart palette, sitting out in

I love you, and will miss you.

Different Ways To Store Mineral Shadows

- ELF Mineral Eyeshadow primer - Sweet Libertine Metamorphic on the inner half of the lid - Sweet Libertine Truth or Derrida on the outer half of the lid (I'm obsessed with this color!) - Smashbox Jet Set liner in Bronze along upper lash line and lightly along lower lash line - Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara in Blackest Black

This is me trying to copy Jangsara's Rihanna-inspired tutorial , sort of. It's a lot more toned-down and less dramatic. - UDPP Original - UD matte e/s in Shakedown all over the lid - UD e/s in Jones in the crease - Sugarpill e/s in Love+ along lower lash line and outer half of upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Zero along entire upper lash line and lower waterline - Bare Escentuals Buxom lash mascara

Told you! Ecstasy is my new favorite liquid liner - UDPP Sin - Sugarpill Chromalust in Magentric all over the lid - blend the line out well - Sugarpill pressed shadow in Poison Plum in the crease - use a fluffier crease brush - Sugarpill pressed shadow in Tako dabbed in the inner corner - UD eye pencil in Asphyxia along the lower lash line - UD liquid eyeliner in Ecstasy along the upper lash line - UD Supercurl mascara

Some women in roller derby will say that they have an alter-ego that comes out when they skate, that it's their chance to be someone else, someone completely different from who they normally are. I would argue the opposite - that I'm more ME when I play roller derby than when I do anything else. What could possibly be more ME than my blood, my sweat, my tears? (And yes, I've shed all three of these due to roller derby. But mostly sweat.) My heartbreaks, my triumphs, my pain, my elation... are these all not the essence of me, of who I am? If you strip me down to my very basic elements, they are what you would see if you could see me at practice. No facades, no airs... roller derby has no room for BS, so more often than not, what you see is what you get. You see, in my everyday life and especially my job, I have to play a role. Because I'm a teacher, my identity as "Ms. Ngo" never seems to take a backseat. What happens outside the classroom never seems to

Today's look features NYX's Runway 10-color palette in Jazz Night, which I swear is a dupe for Kat Von D's Beethoven palette (which I owned once upon a time): Jazz Night Here's a purpley look: - UDPP Original - Medium purple-rose (top row, far right) all over the lid - Dark sparkly purple (bottom row, center) in the crease; apply wet to upper and lower lash lines - Light purpley-taupe (bottom row, far right) as a highlight/to blend the crease - NYX Dolleyes mascara

I'm really super excited to FINALLY be a full-fledged, full-time PRG skater, as of this month. I was hesitant at first, because I really wanted to make time for running, but with summer vacation starting soon, I will have time to do both during the day (when I need to), and it's going to rock. Jumping back into the swing of things right away: I'm going to be skating in Redwood City's Fourth of July parade with other girls from PRG, so I'm totally stoked about that. It's one thing just to skate and do drills, but it's a whole different thing to actually BE a part of something, to belong to something, and that's what I miss. I could skate anytime I want to, anywhere, but being on a team is not an experience I can get all by myself (obviously). I'm SO happy to be back in a league again, with a group of women I feel completely confident about and whom I really trust. Here's to a great summer, the beginning of a long tenure with a great league.

Just a quick look I put together using four pans of shadow that randomly found themselves together in my spare Z-palette, because they had nowhere else to go. I looked at them sitting next to each other and thought, hey, they'd really look good together! - UDPP Original - MAC Odalisque on the inner half of the lid - Stila Jade on the outer half of the lid - Sweet Libertine unnamed reject color in the crease (it's a silvery-purple-brown) - Chantecaille Ginger to blend the crease out - UD eye pencil in Zero along upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Flipside along lower lash line - UD Supercurl mascara

Unlikely runners make great running buddies :) Me and my friend Becca I've done 5k's before (just posted about one last month!), but never really RUN them, so I made it a goal to run one (which I define as, running at a higher ratio than walking.) Unfortunately, I had lots of time to prepare for this one, but my training this past month and a half has fallen flat - just, LOTS going on in my life. But still, I went in with two goals: to maintain a 5:00/1:00 Run-walk interval, and to keep a pace of less than 15:00 per mile. And I did it!!! I'm still waiting on official results, but my Garmin tells me I kept a 14:46 pace. (It also told me that I ran 3.25mi instead of 3.1, so we'll see my official pace is actually under 15. *ETA* It's not - it was 15:26.) And more importantly than the time, I kept up my interval. I was starting to die a bit towards the end but I made it, and got some cool swag: Finishers' shirt Champagne glass, chocolate, and finish

I gotta say, this color might replace Radium as my favorite liquid liner... - UDPP Original - UD e/s in Ecstasy all over the lid - UD e/s in Romp in the crease - UD matte e/s in Illegal to blend the line - UD e/s in Grifter on the browbone - UD liquid liner in Ecstasy along the upper lash line - UD shadow pencil in Delinquent along the lower lash line - NYX Dolleyes mascara in Waterproof black

Continuing my fascination with BRIGHT liquid liner... - ELF mineral eyeshadow primer - ELF mineral e/s in Wild all over the lid - Sweet Libertine Filigree to blend the line - UD liquid liner in Minx along the upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Covet along the lower lash line - UD Supercurl mascara This makes Minx look more green - all by itself, it's more teal.

I decided to compile ALL of my UD eyeshadows into larger palettes (from Stars Makeup Haven). Not just my previous depots, but also the deluxe singles (which were surprisingly easy to depot!), as well as the Black Palette, which is all exclusive colors. The end result? I own EVERY shade UD has produced over the last few years (and THEN some, since I have some discontinueds in there as well) except for FOUR. If that doesn't make me a superfan (and slightly crazy), then I don't know what does. Have I worn EVERY single color in here? Not even close. The whole point of depotting was to put all my colors together, to make them more accessible and easier to use, because it's very easy to forget that you have a color if you are loath to keep breaking open a ton of different palettes as part of your morning routine. Now everything is sorted out by shade, and I can completely see what I have. Not represented in my super palettes are Buck, Creep, and Hustle, because they are exc

This article got me really thinking. I'm nowhere near my deathbed (as far as I know), so maybe I still have time to avoid these: 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. I've always tried to live as authentically as possible. Am I doing what I want to do, or what others want me to do? Am I pursuing my interests or other people's? So far, the things that I regret not having done are things that I myself couldn't fit into my life (like getting a PhD, which I still haven't completely ruled out anyway). I've been lucky to have had the opportunities to do what I want to do, with very few obstacles. 2. I wish I didn’t work so hard. Well, I would actually say the opposite. Year after year, I usually regret not working hard enough, taking the easy way out whenever I can. I regret not finishing Midnight's Children in one of my grad school seminars. I regret choosing to finish college a year early instea

Eyes: - UDPP Eden - LORAC Baked Matte Satin e/s in Chic all over the lid and browbone - LORAC Baked Matte Satin e/s in Drama in the crease - Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Sequins along upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Uzi along lower lash line - Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara in Blackest Black Lips : - UD lipstick in Jailbait Face : - UD Urban Defense Tinted Moisturizer in Bodyguard - NARS blush in Orgasm

Back when I was first starting to get REALLY into makeup, in high school, Urban Decay was my favorite brand even then, and one of my FAVORITE items was UD's liquid liner in Radium, this gorgeously bright blue that really does look like a tube of radioactivity. It's been ten years now, and I've finally repurchased it. And I still love it all the same!!! It's a pretty intense color, so I tried to find the best way to wear it without looking too weird... and then I decided to try and do something REALLY out there, just to celebrate the color. So here is the mild, everyday-safe selection: - BeneFit Creaseless Cream shadow/liner in Birthday Suit, all over the lid - UD liquid liner in Radium along the upper lash line - UD Supercurl mascara The color is so much brighter than in the photo (my lights are rather yellowy), that not much more is needed than that. And here's your intense selection (and of course I had to break out the Sugarpill for that!): - UDPP O

My 5 Favorite Eye Brushes (and they DON’T break the bank!)

I recently decided to purchase ELF's Mineral Eyeshadow Primer after reading a couple reviews (which I eventually determined to be from the same person anyway) that it's best to use a mineral primer for mineral shadows. It's only $3, so I bit. Here's today's look using the ELF primer with mineral shadows (as opposed to my usual UDPP). YOU tell me if there seems to be a difference in how it looks. (I'll have to wait to the end of the day to see how well it held up.) (BTW - ELF's Minerals are on sale this week 50% on purchases of $20 or more with the code HALFMIN.) -  - ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer - Sweet Libertine Frankenhooker all over the lid - Concrete Minerals Storm in the crease - Sweet Libertine Striptease as a highlight - UD eye pencil in Perversion along the upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Ransom along the lower lash line - Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara in Blackest Black