Editions of Me

January and February are traditionally lousy for me in terms of health and anxiety, and this year has been no exception: - I injured my glute, which forced me to take off a full week with no activity - Then I got sick - Then final exams hit, and I was super stressed out and tired from staying up late to get my grading done and I had a lot of anxiety about starting the new semester - In the meantime, I was (and still am) having all these weird issues with my eyes swelling and getting irritated and turning red. They're itchy ALL THE TIME, even though I'm using Visine by the bucketload. This happens whether I wear makeup or not. - And this is a separate issue, even though it also involves my eyes, but apparently the only painkiller I can take these days is acetominaphen, because if I take ibuprofen or naproxin, my EYELIDS swell up. I did not used to have this before. - Then I got REALLY sick, like, dizzy, nauseous, congested, and on the verge of losing my voice completely...

Some shadow samples that I wanted to swatch Morgana Cryptoria: Shifting Sky (blue), Axe to Grind (purple), Evil Eye Candy (red), Pumpkin Eye Patch (orange) Swatched on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance Fyrinnae: (L to R) Meerkat, Rapunzel Had Extensions, Polar Bear, Herbivore, Faerie Glamour (Arcane Magic), Cuddlefish, Catrina Cabaret, Shinigami Swatched on top of Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

In reorganizing my makeup collection last night, I realized that I really need to get my lipstick situation under control! They were just sitting loose in a drawer (a couple drawers), and especially when you have lots from the same brand, it's hard to easily tell which one is which without picking up every single one to read the bottom. A long time ago, I saw this tutorial from makeup artist EnKore , about how to make your own organizer using cardboard boxes. I've always wanted to make one, but never got around to it because it's kind of tedious, time-consuming work. But finding myself with some spare time yesterday, I finally decided to bite the bullet and make one. Mine isn't nearly as neat or tidy as his is (can you tell that I colored outside the lines in art class?), but it works well enough for me. As you can see, I've saved a ton of space, and I can easily find exactly what shade I'm looking for. (My only problem is that Urban Decay's stupid ...

Urban Decay's pencils (regular and shadow) are my holy grail product. If I ever lost everything in my makeup collection, I would be most heartbroken about losing these. They're creamy, budgeproof, and for the most part extremely well-pigmented, and they come in a huuuuuge range of colors, as you can see above. Having little else to do on a Saturday night, I decided to swatch them all. This collection includes some limited edition shades and some discontinued ones as well. They were swatched on bare skin (no primer). (Shadow pencils are denoted; otherwise, they are the regular eye pencil shades) Midnight Cowboy, Sin shadow pencil, Midnight Cowboy shadow pencil, Lit shadow pencil, Honey, Eldorado, Baked, Lucky Woodstock, Asphyxia, Morphine shadow pencil, Delinquent shadow pencil, Ransom, Lust, 1999, Crash, Rockstar, Empire Clash shadow pencil, Electric, Flipside, Radium, Deviant, Binge Junkie, Clinic shadow pencil, Covet, Graffiti, Narc shadow pencil, ...

Credit: Eric Baker As popular as it has gotten, roller derby is still considered "alt." We are just outside of the mainstream sports world, and we're definitely fighting to get in, but there are still so many people who hang on to misconceptions and stereotypes, and people who just plain don't know anything about it. And so, there exists a sort of "roller derby bubble." We're a subculture. We spend a lot of time together, we have our own jokes, our own lingo, and when we meet derby girls from other leagues, there's an instant connection because we're in this together, man . And when it's time to leave the bubble to go back to our normal lives, our jobs, our mundane tasks... well, let's just say: Roller derby, you're a life-ruiner. And here's how: 1. It's not acceptable to hip-check people in real life. In roller derby, I can hit people to get them out of my way and to get them out of my jammer's way. I can get ...

These colors are actually NOT the brightest shades Sugarpill has by far - and that's not a statement against the colors I used, but rather, a statement in favor of the other eye shadows. (Dude, have you SEEN Dollipop ? I once heard it described as "retina-burning," and I have to say, that's quite apt.) The clincher is the crease color I used, Royal Sugar - it's a BEAUTIFUL shade of blue, but I've had trouble figuring out how to incorporate it into a wearable look. (That is, wearable in the normal world. I don't "club" and I'm not in high fashion.) So far, I've only been able to wear it in small bits (never just "all over the lid"), and I have to mute it/blend SUPER well. - UDPP - Sugarpill Chromalust Loose Eyeshadow in Paperdoll on the inner half of the lid - Sugarpill Chromalust Loose Eyeshadow in Darling on the outer half of the lid - Sugarpill Chromalust Loose Eyeshadow in Royal Sugar in the crease; then I muted ...

Essie "Shine of the Times" Luxeffects topcoat :) Dude, I even bought a spare bottle. On top of: (L to R, all by Sally Hansen) - Complete Salon Manicure in 120 Polar Bare - Complete Salon Manicure in 670 Midnight in NY (this one is pretty on its own too - black with tiny sparkles) - Hi-Definition Nail Color in 02 Blu - Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in 340 Mint Sorbet As you can see, it does that cool abalone-shell effect :) I have all different colors on my right hand as well (from Sally Hansen and Urban Decay). I really wanted to see how they look with the topcoat. Essie's Luxeffects were new for the holidays, so you MIGHT still be able to find them right now at your local drugstore. I called, like, three Walgreen's and a Rite Aid before I gave up... and then found three bottles at CVS.

I was really excited when I saw this at Walgreen's: When Sally Hansen released the first Hidden Treasure polish, it was a HUGE DEAL and I couldn't find it ANYWHERE except for on Ebay for a ridiculous amount of money. It was this amazing thing that transformed your nail polish into this awesome abalone-shell-iridescent effect (eh, google it), and it was nowhere to be found, thanks to the blogosphere. So this is the new Hidden Treasure - it's also iridescent, with a purple sheen. But it noticeably lacks the flakes of glitter that made the first one so magical. Does it measure up? Here's two coats of it alone: And here's one coat of it over one coat of a dark gray polish I had: In both cases, it's beautiful, but it's just not the same. Yeah, it does duochrome-y things, but  it's just not the same. I AM DISAPPOINT :( I mean, it's a gorgeous color regardless, but it shouldn't be called Hidden Treasure.

I'm a sucker for purple palettes, and decided to check this one out after seeing the positive review of it on Temptalia.com . - UDPP - Power Boosted  (the purple shadow) all over the lid and all around the eye - Shop & Drop  (the navy blue shadow) in the crease - Sugar Snack  (the baby pink shadow) to blend the crease - UD eye pencil in Empire along the upper and lower lash lines - BeneFit They're Real mascara

Finally!!! My Little Birds cardigan is done!!! This sweater was a learning experience. I set out to learn stranded knitting and steeking, and of course, I could've chosen a smaller, simpler project, but this pattern has had be bewitched since I first saw it . Of course, even though I bought the pattern, I lived in fear of it for a couple of years before I finally decided to take the plunge and buy the yarn. I decided to knit it with Knit Picks Chroma, which is a fingering weight, single-ply color-changing yarn. (Well, "Bare" is not color-changing - it's just plain white.) The colorway I chose for the bird/leaves motifs is called Regency, which as you can see transitions between gray, magenta, and purple - all colors that I love. I was too chicken to try a brighter colorway, so I picked one that was safely within my comfort zone :) The knitting part took forever - it was months before I finally finished even the beaded ribbing portion of the body, and then get...

It's been a while since I did a red lips post, and I've amassed some new ones since then. Here's what I have currently (and I totally have more on the way - Morgana Cryptoria!!!). I didn't test any of these for wear and longevity - I just wanted to show how they look on me. Urban Decay's Super-Saturated High Gloss pencil in F-Bomb I LOVE this. It's lightweight, soft, not too shiny. The pencil format makes it easy to maneuver. This shade of red fits its name perfectly. Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple Apparently these are the hot drugstore item right now, and I totally understand why - they're glossy, moisturizing, and named after sweet treats :) This one is sheer and (I thought) a little more on the orangey side, but just a teensy bit. It's like a super-pigmented lip balm. Cover Girl Lip Perfection lipstick - Hot Passion It's a nice, bright red. The formula is nice and smooth, and it's quite pigmented; however, I wasn't a fa...

Okay, there's no real reason why I called this post "Magical Unicorns." *shrug* I haven't played with my Sugarpill Chromalusts in a while, and I'm so in love with my Empire/Uzi pencil that I wanted to wear MORE PURPLE! MORE MORE PURPLE! - UDPP - Weekender on the outer 2/3 of the lid - Paperdoll on the inner 1/3 of the lid - Starling in the crease - Lumi on the browbone - UD (double-ended) eye pencil - Uzi along the lower lash line; Empire thickly along the upper lashline, and then I tapped a little more Weekender and Paperdoll on top of the line - Tarte Gifted Amazonian Clay mascara (And on the lips - UD Pocket Rocket lip gloss in Rashad)

As much as I am on a constant search for red lipsticks and glosses, I must confess that I have a MUCH harder time finding the perfect pink - not just finding the right undertone, but also just finding the right shade for my skin tone. I can wear a bright fuschia pink just fine (I LOVE Urban Decay's Jilted lipstick), but when it comes to the lighter, paler pinks, it's hard to find one that doesn't look too chalky. So far, I've found some MAC that works , and I like them a lot. But when I saw these two new releases from Urban Decay, I had to give them a try. New for spring are the Pocket Rocket lip gloss in Rashad (available from UD's website) and the Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color pencil in Lovechild (available exclusively at Sephora; there's also a lipstick of the same name). I have both the Pocket Rocket and the gloss pencil in other shades, so I'm a big fan of the formulas, and I was pleased about how both looked on me. This is the gloss pe...

I've had the new L'Oreal Infallible shadows for a week or so now, but until now I haven't had a chance to really dig in and try them. They're supposed to be the drugstore dupe for Armani's Eyes to Kill shadows (I still haven't been able to allow myself to spend over $30 on one eye shadow, no matter how much they are raved about!), so I scooped up a few, along with a few of the new Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eye shadows that I ended up reviewing for Painted Ladies . So here's a purple-y look using those shadows, as well as the BRAND NEW Urban Decay eye pencil color, Empire: - Maybelline Color Tattoo cream shadow in Painted Purple all over the lid - L'Oreal Infallible eye shadow in Perpetual Purple on the outer half of the lid - L'Oreal Infallible eye shadow in All Night Blue in the crease - UD eye pencil in Empire along the upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Uzi along the lower lash line ( they're two ends of the same pencil )...