Sephora VIB Rouge

So the other day, when I was making a I'M STUCK IN SF WITHOUT ANY FAMILY SO I'M BUYING MYSELF CHRISTMAS PRESENTS purchase at Sephora (I bought a powder blush from Becca called 'gypsy,' one of their beach tints, and a third thing I can't seem to remember...) I was being rung up and the wonderful woman at the counter says to me "you're now VIB Rouge" and hands me this strange box. I say, "thank you" and probably looked a little puzzled, and walked home. When I reached my house, I finally took out the box and read a little bit about this whole VIB Rouge deal..

Basically, it is a new tier to their rewards program, the top tier, in fact. I don't really want to disclose how much money one has to spend to get this deal, because it is really just depressing to think of how much money I spend on certain things... but I digress. So! The best part about this, besides free shipping all the time at sephora.com, is this exclusive lipstick designed by Bite called "rouge." Now, I had never used any lipsticks by Bite before, somehow I didn't think they would be pigmented enough for me, or would just melt off my face like some lipsticks do... but this may actually be my new favorite red lipstick. The color is so wonderfully rich, and the lipstick is also hydrating. It has average long wearing power to it, but it doesn't claim to be a long lasting lipsticks, so that doesn't bother me one bit. It does leave a really nice, really soft stain as it wears off. I've been pairing it with Urban Decay's lip pencil in 69, and they work magic together. So I am one hundred percent obsessed with this lipstick, and it is also kinda awesome that only a handful of people are able to buy it. Because sometimes it is nice to get the VIP treatment, or VIB Rouge.

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. =)

My little family, my slight obsession

In San Francisco, my little family is basically me and my cat. And my twinfriend, Ashley

My cat, Smudge Dylan, son of Bob Dylan (other known aliases: smudgecat, smudgeflake, the smudge, catface, king of the catsle, smudgeling) has seen me at my worst and my best. He is a furry princess, and the most important thing to me.

And because I yam who I yam, I figured this first official post should be about two of my favorite things: my cat, and Marilyn Monroe, and lipstick. okaymaybethatwasthree

So maybe everyone knows this now, but MAC cosmetics is coming out with a Marilyn Monroe line on October fourth, one day after my birthday, and I am way too excited.

I will most definitely be posting reviews about the many things I will be buying, but right now is the moment--if you didn't already know-- you can just take a moment with me and let out a girlish squeal ! The packaging alone makes me swoon and I don't care if all of the products are the same as something they already have, I just can't.even.

This post isn't really exciting if you already knew about this (and if you know me at all you probably did) but just a friendly reminder that you should probably be getting me a giftcard to MAC for my birthday :)

Finally the topic of lipstick. I am a junky. My favorite brands right now for lipsticks are Limecrime and MAC. Now, I am a makeup artist and I do work for a certain makeup company, but it isn't MAC, so I'm not particularly biased. Sortof. Favorite colors right now: Limecrime's Retrofuturist (a true red) and Chinchilla (a greyish purpley nude.) At the top of my MAC list right now is Rocker, because they briefly brought it back to life (I missed out on Moxie andd Candy Yum Yum :( ) and always in rotation are Russian Red and Ruby Woo. When it comes down to it, I am a red lipstick gal through and through. But occasionally I switch it up, sometimes I just reach into my purse and whatever I grab first is whatever I will wear that day. I'm not very good at planning ahead, but I am impressively good at working on the spot. Or on the run.