True Blood - More than Sex

Let's face it, when you think of True Blood, you don't think about makeup. You usually think about all the sexyness going on. I'm happy to say that Tarte managed to put that sexyness in a box for us in the form of makeup.Tarte for True Blood Palette. It's simple, chic and sexy all rolled into one. Limited Edition, of course.

So, what's in it? 17 gorgeous colours. 1 deluxe sample of Tarte for True Blood Lifted Natural Eye Primer with Firmitol, 1 deluxe sample of Tarte for True Blood Lights, Camera, Lashes! and 1 full size Tarte for True Blood emphaEYES aqua-gel eyeliner - all tucked away in this hot box! It also includes 4 looks inspired by the show and how to do them.

You can get this at your local Sephora, sephora.com, or at Tarte's website. It's $68 CAD, or $52 US (and to my Canadian friends, shopping online at sephora will bring it to the Canadian price unless you have someone you can ship it to in the US).

The primer's quite nice. I seem to have to dip in a few times as I don't get much on the brush, but it kept my shadow in place all day. I really really like the mascara. May actually invest in a full size. The emphaEYES aqua-gel eyeliner takes some getting used to. I can see why some people don't like it. It feels wet when you apply it and my personal peeve is that because you don't sharpen it, you don't actually get a nice tip which can make it difficult. But the liner does have some nice staying power to it.

I took two pictures so you can see the way the light affects the colours. 

Natural lighting (near a window)

Interior lighting

From left to Right, Top to Bottom, the colours are as follows: The Light, Fairy, Dusk, Dawn, Warewolf, Waitress, Nocturnal, Charmer, Glamour Me, Stake, Bayou, Telepath, The True Death, Immortal, Moss, Legend and "V"

I've done a few of the looks; however only one turned out nice. It has nothing to do with the colours. The first day I bought the palette I tried Luminous Fairy (the yellowish one). Because I bought it on my way to work, I only brought my 5 travel brushes so I didn't get the right looks and being the first time I used the liner, was a little tricky. The second look I did was Not Your Average Waitress (taupe/brown look). That one was fantastic. Then I tried Vamp Glam (pinkish/red). "V" in the tear duct area looked like a mess on me. I'll have to give it another try.

image from tartecosmetics.com

So, do your cravings for "V" make you want to get this palette? Or are you going to sit on the side lines and watch everyone else enjoy this wonderful item that you just don't seem to understand?



Just in case you didn't get enough eye candy  ;)

True Blood Sneak Peek

I've been such a bad hostess. I haven't posted in about 11 days! Ok, maybe that isn't too bad. I've made a couple shadows since last time and I've also gotten my hands on the Tarte for True Blood Palette and Lip Stain. So while I will not go demonstrating my new shadows and how they look on, I just took pics of them for now. Also, I didn't plan this ahead of time, therefore was not able to take good pictures of the True Blood Palette. So for now, You're just getting a sneak peek at what's coming tomorrow!

Here are some of the new colours I've made recently:

And a sneak peek on the Tarte for True Blood Palette:

Somehow while browsing online, I found a "which True Blood character are you?" quiz. Here's my result

Which True Blood Character Are You?

So tell me, Who did you get?

Green with envy!

Completely in love with how this green turned out!  As you can imagine, it still doesn't have a name, but considering I just made it yesterday and I'm still trying to think of a name for my makeup line in general, #24 will have to stay that way for now.

Is this not a very sexy green?

What the Hell is Primer!?

For a long time I didn't care about wearing makeup. I think a big part of that was the fact that it would always crease and look aweful afterwards. It's like showing the world that you have oily lids!

I remember reading online, trying to figure out what I can do. Some people said to put powder on your lids, but that didn't work. Then I learned about primers. Most commonly was this "UDPP". What was that and where could I get some? Then I learned it was at Sephora. The nearest one was at least 4 hours away and I didn't order online at the time. So what's a girl to do? Well I tried several brands - Lise Watier, MAC & Benefit to name a few - didn't work. I finally bought the infamous UDPP and I was hooked!

Urban Decay Potion Primer (UDPP) in Original

Per Sephora's website :
"What it is:
An eye shadow primer that preps, brightens, and provides all-day wear.

What it does:
These bestselling primer potions glide effortlessly onto the skin providing the ultimate eye prep for smoother, more vibrant shadow and all-day, creaseless wear. The original, award-winning formula disappears completely when applied—ideal for the purist who wants a straightforward primer. Eden, Greed, and Sin work triple-duty as primers, highlighters, or eye shadows. If you want to avoid shimmer, Eden provides a matte, nude wash of color. Greed and Sin both feature a sensual shimmer that makes eyes pop. Formulated in an array of textures, the shades in this line truly offer something for everyone."


So, how great is this transformation you ask?  Well, I put myself through a lil' awkwardness so you can see the difference it made. The first picture was taken with natural lighting, the other two were my wonderful office lighting/indoor lighting - so you can see  how indoor lighting doesn't photograph as well.

Kazoontite!

Yup. One of very few colours to have a name and it's called Kazoontite. When I created this colour it was the first thing that I thought of. Yeah, I wasn't too pleased that that's what it reminded me of. But I'll be honest, when I wore the colour for the first time, I was in love! So, here it is! (I'm having sizing issues today, so please click on the picture to see the full size image)

Used:
- UDPP
- Kazoontite all over lid
- GOSH Highlight under brow
- Lise Watier Folie d'Or on inner corner working out onto crease
- Smashbox Jetset liner
- GOSH Mascara

Will Sell...

I just want to let everyone (yes, all 5 of you) that I will eventually be selling the eyeshadows that I create. Once I get a good variety going, I'll be posting them to sell. For now, it's just as I go and use them. So, if there's a colour you want me to try to create, let me know! Leave me a comment, send me a message on facebook, or even text/email/msn me if you're one of my close friends!

Don't forget, feel free to ask me questions! I'll answer them as best as I can :)

-Sam

#19 - Orange!

It's been a while. I apologize. So today I got a lovely orange. I got a couple compliments from the girls at Shoppers about it and they were even more impressed when I told them that I had made it.

#19

swatched on hand - Top is over UD Primer, bottom is over nothing

Yeah, the brows are due....

Anyways,
Urban Decay Potion Primer
#19 over lid (orange)
Brown in crease and outer corner
#18 in inner corner (yellow)
highlight under brow bone
Smashbox JetSet liner in MIdnight Black
GOSH Mascara

I promise it wont take so long to post next time!

Some Background info

Talk about slacking on my part! Not only have I not posted in a couple days, I also haven't made any shadows either! I now have 1 follower (take that as a cue people.. Start following my blog *smiley* ) and haven't given her anything to look at!

Well, I have done an orange look the other day, I'll post some pictures tomorrow once I revive the battery in my camera.

In the meantime, let me give you a little background:

I'm just about turning 25 (give me about 12 days) and haven't always been into makeup. My mom's not really into makeup either, but she was the one that did it for me for my prom. Yes, Grade 12 Prom. I had just started fiddling with makeup in grade 11 roughly. I think it was only a cream champagne type colour and some mascara.

I really started playing with it the first year of College. I think that's about the time a friend had introduced me to Lise Watier's cosmetic line. I instantly fell in love with her loose shadows. I started experimenting a little with colour - but no more than maybe 2 colours on the lid. At this point, I only had a small fraction of my makeup collection. Sponge brushes only, about 7 colours, 2-4 liners, mascara and that was probably it.

Once I finished college is when it really started. A little more foundation, introduced to bronzer (yes, I was about 21 when I learned about bronzer..) experimented much more with liners and colours. Continued enjoying Lise Watier and then Gosh when it came into the drugstore.

Then, it was my never ending search for a primer (search has ended just over a year ago now). Here I was, experimenting with makeup and in a couple hours it would just crease because of my oily lids! I was so annoyed. I had tried a primer by Lise Watier, M.A.C's Prep & Prime, Benefit and another brand or two that I can't think of and they all left me disappointed.

Finally my search ended when I moved out of the small town and about 6 months later a Sephora opened. It was the best store I ever walked into - however my wallet would not agree. I found my Urban Decay Potion Primer (this is the best I have ever tried - and I've tried more since) and expanded my makeup ten-fold!

Which of course, brings me to now creating my own makeup to save me money :) I wont lie - if there's a colour I absolutely love or a new Kat Von D palette that comes out, I do buy it.

So what's your makeup story?  Got any questions? Feel free to ask!

First set of Colours...

Alright, so they're not the first colours that I made. It's more like the 9th and 12th. But it's officially the first set going up on the blog! yay! Most of my colours don't have names yet. Just numbers  :)

I don't usually have bright shadow on, but I figured that if I make it, I gotta try it at least once. And I must say, I got quite the compliments at work about my makeup when I wore these colours. 

#2 (like I said, no names!)

"Black Cherry"

#2 applied all over with Black Chery to outer V and crease

 

In natural light... in the car

Just as a note: I used Urban Decay Potion Primer (UDPP) on my lids before applying the colour. It lasted me all day (from about 11:30am - 12:30am  - yes, 13 hours)  

Let's start with the Why?

So why would someone make their own eyeshadow? There's a few reasons.

Creating that perfect colour that you just can't seem to find in stores
I'm sure there's some of you out there that know exactly what I mean by this. You have a picture in your mind of this perfect shade of brown with slight gold sparkle, or an amazing emerald green. But you can't find it anywhere! Seems like the hundreds of brands of makeup that you looked at just don't make it.  Looks like you're out of luck. Unless you try to make it yourself.

Trying out new colours that you're just not sure about
 Just last week I had one of my friends ask me about green shadow for her brown eyes. She wants to try it, but didn't want to spend the $7 for a colour that she may not like.

Saving money
When it comes down to it all - saving money. Making the makeup is quite inexpensive - we just pay for the name, packaging and all the advertising that those companies put out.

For example, I've spend about $100 on the materials to make my own shadows. Depending on what brand you purchase, that's only about 5 Urban Decay shadows ($20 each + taxes) or 2 Kat Von D Palettes ($40 each+ taxes). As you can see, I have 6 palettes, which has set me back about $240. And that's only a portion of my makeup.






I've only made about 30 shadows so far, but I've barely put a dent in my materials. It'll last me for quite some time!





this was the first set I bought, add 5 more colours now

Now, I'm not saying that the makeup I make (or you may make) is of the same quality as some of the "name" brands that we pay for, but let's face it, it's fun, we get much more shadows than what we'd spend in store and we get to control what goes in it. Sure, you may not know what Titanium Dioxide or Sericite is (these are natural materials - minerals essentially) , but it sounds much better than Dimethicone and Phenoxyethanol (silicone oil and a preservative). You get to learn what they are, what they do, and what you'd like to add to your shadows. Mine's mineral makeup, so it's allll natural! (if anything isn't, I'll mention it)

I'll start posting the actual shadows I've created in the next couple of days.

New at this

Alright. So I figured if I'm making my own cosmetics (eyeshadow only for now), that I might as well blog about it. While I'll focus a lot on my own makeup, I'll also write a little about other cosmetic brands and maybe some tips that I've found/discovered.

If there's anything someone's wondering about or would like me to add, please let me know and I'll do my best.

Remember - I'm not a pro! :)