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.