MAC's Russian Red, a week of lipstick reviews

Starting with my favorite redsssss!

My all time favorite red lipsticks (in no order) are: by MAC: Russian Red, Ruby Woo, Love Goddess From the Marilyn Monroe collection and by Limecrime: Retrofuturist! (and that baby blue baby is a new toy a lipstick primer by Two Faced)

My favorite red of all time is a tie between Retrofuturist and Russian Red.

Generally whatever I call my "favorite" always turns out to be a tie.

Russian Red was my very first red lipstick. My old roommate gave it to me as a gift a long long time ago and it just sortof stuck. It really is just the perfect "retro" red. And although I hate the word "retro" it just kindof fits...

Retrofuturist is a newer discovery, it is a "true red." Usually one only encounters blue-reds and pink-reds and orange-reds, but this one is spot on. Limecrime is easily one of my favorite makeup brands right now for a number of reasons, at the top of the list is their colors. Oh, I die.

Ruby Woo was introduced to me when I was working at Idol Vintage in the Mission District of San Francisco. The best and worst thing about it is that it doesn't budge. Why is it also the worst, you ask? It is a very *very* drying lipstick. A lot of the time I will just put Russian Red over it to add some moisture.

Both Russian Red and Ruby Woo are "matte."

And lastly the Marilyn lipstick. This one just goes on pure and smooth. It is a "satin," and yes I did buy almost all the other lipsticks from that collection. I skipped the orangeyred one that I can't remember the name of and regret not buying solely because my set is incomplete!

I suppose this was more of a "favorites" than an actual review, but it is just seven days of lipsticks, mmmmkay?

Lovelove,
Be bop-a- Lula






I'm wearing Russian Red in this picture! Along with Magic Ink liquid liner by Benefit, that strange cream brow filler by Makeup Forever, Lorac Foundation with MAC powder, and a sweet new baby from Two Faced that will get its own post at some point because it is the product I've been looking for my whole liiiiiifeeee!










And just because, here's a photo of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not. This is the movie where they fell in love.....

Candy Apple Review !

So my whole life I've been searching for both a matte red lipstick with red glitter and a matte red nailpolish with red glitter. I realize layering can happen but I just don't understand why some colors (my nailpolish for instance [by Flossgloss]) are so much more present than others when it comes down to glitter.




The closest I've come to this holy grail is a lipgloss by Limecrime. One of their "carousel glosses" in the color "candy apple." As far as the nailpolish goes, maybe Flossgloss will have one that comes out soon.

--a brief aside, this Flossgloss nailpolish is a gold opaque glitter in one coat.(called "stun").... way too fantastic.--

Anyway! My review of this gloss. So, I bought it for myself Christmas of 2011 after a breakup that I thought would kill me. I'm addition to that baby, I also bought retrofuturist, which is my all time favorite red lipstick. (Both gloss and retrofuturist are from Limecrime.) and for some reason Christmas 2011 I wasn't all that impressed. This was almost entirely due to the fact that I layered it over a red lipstick and the glitter just wasn't glittery enough. Lifeissohard. So I kinda forgot it existed for a good year and Christmas 2012 my twinfriend Instagram'd me a photo of that gloss and I was like "Mehhhhhhhh." So she wanted to see it, so I pulled it out of my treasure chest/bottomless pit of lipsticks to try out again.

What was discovered, it does get fairly glittery, but only if you wear it by itself. I do pair it with a lipliner, in the case of these photos I'm using NYX's "hot red" (I lost my regular red lip liner from MAC) what is nice though, is that despite it being a gloss, you can still get it to be pretty opaque. Yeee!

The only drawback is I'm not too much of a gloss girl, as after a while it just ends up all over my face. (As is the case with these pictures!)

PS plz excuse how awkward my makeup looks because of da flash.
PPS plz excuse my skin, it is still in recovery.

PPPS my coworker Tiara is cute. Go stalk her. =)

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Jewels and crystals and changes

The week before last, the day before the world was supposed to end, a woman sat in my chair at work and told me about the Aztec calendar. So, the way it goes, the world was not supposed to end and a new calendar was going to start. She had an exact number of years (that I can't remember) that the calendar that was ending was made up of, and told me that this calendar that was ending was very focused on the masculine side of things and this new calendar to start was supposed to be very.. For lack of better words to explain.. girl powered.

She also told me that we needed to meditate at 3:12am about what we were hoping for in this new calendar year. Although I did not meditate, this whole concept really stuck with me. Every new year everyone has this "new year, new you" mindset of hopes to lose weight or get prettier or fix something, and I didn't really care about any of that until she told me about this x-number of girl power years to come.

I do want to make things happen, I truly want to get over the things(people) that seem to be holding me back, and I want to honestly start creating things again. I desperately need to move on and for once I feel like I can. Or even simply that I want to.

I get caught up in things and I tell long stories and forget the point. That's okay. Girl power year(s) of change.

So I bought a book on crystals and I am collecting flowers to press and I started making jewelry. And I still want to learn metal smithing, but what I'm doing is okay for right now.




I'm still into weird things, still morbid, still would rather watch x-files and makeout with someone as opposed to going to a super neato awesome house party, bro. Still hate burning man. Still love vintage. Still David Lynch and John Waters obsessed.


I am changing, but laterally. I want this to stick.

And if I had to pick a New Years resolution, it would be to become Yo-Landi Vi$$er.

















PS: I got a haircut, finally, and I'm starting to feel whole again.








PPS: I love David Duchovney.







marry me.

Jeffrey Campbell addition... And dogs. And the Smudge

I would like to make an Internet proclamation that I have wanted the J-Campbell "back offs" since I started stalking the black milk website many years ago via one of my favorite fashion blogs, the the kingdom of style. And I would then, like to make a declaration that I will be ordering them sometime this week. alsoistolethatphotoofftheinternets

#dyingofexcitement (I would just like to also state that I find hashtags absolutely HILARIOUS, #andidoloveinstagram)


On another topic, I really want to rescue a dog. Specifically this dog. And I am trying to think of ways in which I could do that.

Factors:
Money
Time
Smudgecat


Time and Smudgecat are my biggest concerns. I wouldn't want to have to leave this sweet lil baby all alone while I'm at work, and I wouldn't want to make the smudge feel inadequate.


HOWEVER, maybe they would fall in love and keep each other fluffy company while I am away... Or maybe Smudge would casually try to sabotage this new addition and push her out the window and then put on his little angel wings and halo and pretend all is good.

Conundrum.

Oh also my apartment doesn't allow dogs but I may be moving in with my twinfriend sometime soon!

smudge cat, babyyyy smudge cat !

Sephora's cream lipstain review !

So I mostly bought this lipstain because my twinfriend had it, and after I swatch'd it on the back of my hand, I fell in love with the color. And what really had me sold... the next day the color was still there.

In my last post I talked about the MAC liquid last liner and how it was like sharpie, well this lipstick is like red sharpie. An if you haven't noticed, I am a big fan of things that will actually stay on and (in the case of lipsticks) not bleed.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

So immediately I had to run to Sephora to pick up this gem ! And this was.... A leetle less than a year ago, and around that time this baby was featured in a magazine, and as such all of the Sephora's of SF were sold out of it. If anyone uses/used NARS "dragon girl," you feel my pain.

Soooo what's a girl to do? Luckily, I developed a crush on the Novato Sephora, possibly because their customer service is lovely and possibly because they actually have the products I want.

Anyway.. That was some backstory, here's some more review...

Lip liners are definitely needed for this bad boy, unless you are a very talented painter because this lipstain application requires some skills. Or patience. I generally don't have either so I stick to a lip liner. Then you just paint in the lines and you've got a lip color that will really last you all freakin' day.

It has a matte finish, but occasionally I like to switch it up and put Benefit's "California kissin'" gloss on top because it can be a bit on the drying side.

Other than that, four thumbs up for the sephora cream lipstain! I think the color I'm using is either color "0" or color "1" they have a strawberry kind of red that is also pretty, but this one is the red-red one.

What's in my makeup bag!

Now, keep in mind this is excluding lipsticks.

First I would like to give thanks to my favorite makeup bag, the 'Gabby" bag by Benefit Cosmetics. It has pockets for brushes. Pockets. For brushes. And if you've ever had the pleasure of using brushes with your makeup you will understand how lovely this addition is. And if you don't use brushes, you should probably start.




So this is being told in the order in which I put my makeup on...



(After moisturizing..)







I start with my eyes. I have MAC's "painterly" paint pot as my base.

The shadows I keep with me are MAC's  "phloof!" "copperplate" and "naked lunch." Naked Lunch is easily one of my favorite shadow colors. It is a soft nude with some shimmer... so simple and so lovely. There really is no reasoning behind the other colors I have chosen to carry with me..




  I carry around three different types of eyeliner, all very necessary. Two are by MAC: their "liquid last" liner, which stays on like nothing I have ever seen before. And my general favorite; blacktrack fluidline gel liner. And last but certainly not least, Benefit's waterproof badgal pencil liner. I love this liner because it will stay in my upper waterline. Which is quite spectacular.

Then, time for zee lashes. So I have a small confession.. In addition to my lipstick addiction, I also am a ridiculous connoisseur of mascara's. What I'm using right this minute is Maybelline's "the colossal volum' express." But I always curl my lashes with my shiseido lashcurler. Definitely my favorite lash curler, even compared to the shumemora one.

So the issue with my lashes is they tend to stick straight out. So my goal is always to find a mascara that does not weigh them down, and right now this is hands down the winner.

I also carry around some very important GLITTER. Because I freakin love glitter. Urban Decay's heavy metal called "midnight cowboy," a lovely gold liner. And LORAC's "3D liquid lustre" which is pretty much liquid glitter you can put wherever. I tend to use it as an eyeshadow but it is in a cute little bottle with a little tincture and so very very versatile.

 Onto another obsession... Eyebrowz. So my general look is blonde hair, red lips, and dark brows. So I carry around three different products solely for my brows. First ! All time favorite: Benefit's "browzings" in deep. It is a wax and powder. The wax gives the brows their shape, and allows something for the powder to adhere to. Then you throw on the powder and you've got yourself some brows! Then I have MAC's brow pencil on "stud" that I use to get a really sharp line for under my brows, this I also sometimes use to draw on a fake mole (shhhh, secretsss.) And a newby to my collection: Makeup For Ever's "waterproof eyebrow corrector" Now this is an interesting one. This is a gel for the brows. And I am still trying to get the hang of it, because it can be purrrrfect, or completely tragic. For people who actually have brows this probably wouldn't be an issue.

Now for da face! Right now I've been using Givenchy's "photo'perfexion" as my foundation, which blends beautifully but gives medium coverage. My skin is still in a state of recovery, so when I'm out of this I think I will try out this oil free foundation by "LORAC" that my coworker uses. And by that I mean we only use Benefit products all the time and stuff. Then I throw some of MAC's "studio fix" powder on top. And if I'm feeling particularly tired or broken out, I use Stila's "perfecting concealer"

Cheeky time! One of my favorite times :) I'm currently packing NARS "super orgasm" as my blush. Always a beautiful color. And constantly I have (well mini versions) of the tie for my favorite Benefit product: "high beam" and "watts up" both fantastic highlighters. Because I like to look luminous rather than bronzey, as I am the palest person in the world.

Others: I have quite the collection of mini things from Benefit: all three cheek and lipstains: cha cha (coral,) posie(pinky) and the classic benetint(rosy.) I also have "sun beam" a beautiful bronzey highlighter that looks absolutely beautiful on everyone except for me and "stay don't stray," which is a fantastic shadow primer.







And once again, keep in mind this is excluding lipsticks. Because I carry like ten hundred with me at all times. And they are all completely necessary.