No Makeup Week

Right now, I'm in highschool. And a while ago, a girl made an announcement about a project she was doing. She was having girls who didn't usually wear makeup wear makeup, and girls who usually wore makeup not wear makeup. Since I am a regular makeup-wearer, I volunteered to not wear it for a week. And I managed to make it through the week (yay!). However, during the entire week, I would wake up in the morning and sit down at my makeup vanity/desk. I would start planning out a look, then I would remember that I wasn't allowed to wear makeup. And I would sadly get up from my chair and change into that day's clothes. Consistently not wearing makeup was an experience for me. I personally do not wear makeup for other people - I wear it because I just have a ridiculous amount of fun playing with all the colors and creating new looks. I also like looking good, and makeup helps me do that. I do wear foundation daily, but I honestly have pretty good skin and probably don't need to - I just like the perfected look it gives to my skin.

During the week, I admit that my confidence took a bit of a dip. And I do think that's a bad thing. I should be able to go out without an ounce of makeup on, feeling just as confident as if I had a full face. I think foundation is a bit of an addiction (yes, it sounds weird) - now I know how good my skin can look with it, I never want to go back to not wearing it. I'd like to be just as confident not wearing foundation as when I'm wearing it. It bothers me that I'm not, and I'd like to get to a place where I can do that.

I know women who don't wear makeup for fun - they wear it because they feel they have to in order to look good. And in our society, makeup is generally associated with femininity. However, I believe women can be completely feminine both with and without makeup. And I think that more people should try to look at it that way, and not always associate makeup with femininity. It frustrates me that it does affect my confidence when I don't wear makeup, and I hope to change that in the future.

My First MAC Cosmetics Purchase

Okay, so recently I've been totally obsessed with this one tutorial Missglamorazzi did in one of her videos. I mentioned it in my last post. It's a tutorial she did on an Aria inspired look (from Pretty Little Liars). So I seriously thought that makeup look was the best look I'd ever seen. Like, no joke. So I tried to replicate it with my ELF Beauty Book. I failed miserably, since I used the same color about three times as a substitute for three completely different colors.

I then thought that maybe if I bought the base she used, the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, it would look a little better. I bought it and the similarity improved slightly. But it still wasn't even close to the actual look. So I figured, why not just try the eyeliner she uses, to make it even more similar? So I went out and bought the eyeliner, figuring it was just a couple dollars. But I was still using those same eyeshadows! And the look just wasn't right. So I looked at the eyeshadows she used. They were all MAC.

So I went and looked them up on the MAC website. I looked up reviews on Makeupalley. I checked all the bargain sites I knew for the colors. I checked bloggers' reviews of the colors. I stared at the price tag online - a whopping $49. Plus tax. I had a free shipping code - not that it really changed much. I looked up more reviews, and watched the tutorial again. Then I stared at the price tag again. And after much internal debate and thought, I purchased them. Naked Lunch, Folie, Handwritten, and Era. My first MAC eyeshadows. They're going to come this Friday. But seriously, I love that look ridiculously much. I send myself on a guilt trip every time I think about how much I spent. But since I'll be wearing this look every day for the next year except for special occasions and when I occasionally want to switch up my look for a couple days, I'm thinking it's an investment. Though that is what every makeup purchaser says, every time...the colors are all gorgeous neutrals that can be used for plenty of looks. I hear Naked Lunch is a staple and Handwritten is a favorite crease color of many, so fingers crossed that I get my money's worth!

The Perfect Black Eyeliner

Black eyeliner...used for dramatic looks, daytime looks...incredibly versatile, a staple in every makeup collection. Yet used the wrong way, it can become smudgy, causing dark circles. It can make you look goth (unintentionally). It can look disastrous. Every since I got into makeup, I have been in pursuit of the perfect black eyeliner. The first one I tried was the Sephora brand Nano Eyeliner. It was a rich black color. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it on my waterline, it smudged. If I even attempted to put it on my upper lashline, I looked, well, scary. I tried to sharpen it, and it got stuck in the sharpener. That was my first experience with black eyeliner. After that, I (mistakenly) decided never to use black eyeliner again. However, it was unavoidable. I was shopping for a white eyeliner at Rite Aid and picked up one that was called "Vibrant Pearl". Does that not sound like it would be a white eyeliner? In any case, I thought so. I bought it, took it home, and opened it. It wasn't white, it was black. I mentally groaned and then (literally) dropped it into my makeup drawer.

The eyeliner stayed there until about a week later, when I used it to do a look from a Youtube tutorial. Unfortunately, it only made thick lines. It still made me look scary, and it was just plain unblendable. So I decided that since I loved the tutorial look, I would just try a different type of black eyeliner. I decided to purchase a gel liner. I heard the Maybelline one was good, so I got the Maybelline gel liner in "Blackest Black". It was also waterproof, which was a bonus for me because I have fairly oily eyelids, and a lot of eyeliners fade on me. I loved my Maybelline one. I could use it subtly, obviously, whatever, and I could use it to look non-scary. My only issue was that it was ridiculously easy to make mistakes. And since I always put eyeliner on last so I can see it instead of it getting covered by my eyeshadow, whenever I messed up with my eyeliner, I would have to take it off and with it would come all my hard work. Owch. I have since improved my gel liner skills, but still, I prefer pencils. So missglamorazzi on Youtube did a tutorial I loved on how to get an Aria inspired look from Pretty Little Liars. She used a black liner called the Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Black Eyeliner, and so I went out and bought it, hoping it would be my HG liner. It was. It stayed all day, blended and smudged beautifully. And that concludes my thoughts on black eyeliners. I now use my Rimmel liner every time I need a black liner (which is often, now that I know how to use it!). I love my black liner now. :)

Review: Physicians' Formula Organic Wear Natural Origin Jumbo Mascara

So, I watch Youtube makeup videos. I watch a lot of them. And the other day, one of the beauty gurus I follow was absolutely RAVING about this mascara, the Physicians' Formula Organic Wear Natural Origin Jumbo Mascara (long name, sheesh). And I usually don't buy stuff from PF, because it's super expensive for drugstore stuff. I shop at drugstores for a reason, right? So this was my first PF purchase. I was really excited, because I had looked up the rating on Makeupalley (love that site to death!) and it got pretty decent reviews. So I splurged, I'm a little ashamed to say. And I bought it. Honestly, I liked it. It didn't give me dramatic definition or volume, but it didn't fail either. It gave me very defined lashes that don't exactly look natural, but are fairly long, especially after 2 coats, which is what I did.

If you want a natural look, just put on one coat - it defines your lashes without making them look like they have mascara on. I really liked how easily it came off when I washed my face. It also did not smudge during the day, or if it did, I couldn't see it. I loved the brush, it applied the mascara well. And the best part of all was that the mascara just really didn't clump. I think it was definitely partially due to the brush - I tried using a sample brush from Sephora to apply the mascara, and it clumped - not seriously, but a little. All in all, I found it to be a very good mascara. Definitely pricey for drugstore mascara, though. My complaints are that it really isn't very dramatic, and it requires 2 coats for anything beyond natural definition. The tube has also made me wonder if there's a straight tube within, or if the tube is squiggle shaped. The wand is straight, so I would assume the tube is too, but still. It makes you wonder. It also doesn't hold a curl, unfortunately. I wouldn't repurchase, because I have high end mascaras where I can just brush on a coat and have more dramatic results - I get my money's worth with those. Here's a picture I took of the PF mascara.

Here's a picture of my lashes before:

Here's a picture of my lashes after:

A Bet/Intervention/My Spending Habits

I have been buying makeup like crazy for a while. My friend noticed this. She told me to stop. I rolled my eyes. So she made a bet with me; if I can abstain from buying makeup for 2 months, I get $20. If I can't, she gets $20. It's been almost 2 months. The bet ends on June 14, and I believe that I'm going to win. I know how to stop myself from buying stuff when I choose to, and I keep myself on a decent budget most of the time. But if I fall in love with something...I mean, what do you expect? My favorite type of shopping is shopping when there's a sale. I am always happy once I buy something that was on sale that I wanted before it went on sale. I also love shopping when I have a coupon. I mean, how much do you love getting that extra 10% or 20% off? A lot, that's how much. Anyway, my budget has not benefited from my new makeup obsession as much as my makeup collection has. Anyway, I soon plan to become more competent at blending my eyeshadow.

An E.L.F Makeup Review

Note: I am NOT being paid or sponsored for this review in any way.
This is my review of the E.L.F products I have tried. Personally, I call it Elf, like the little people from the North Pole. But it actually stands for Eyes, Lips, Face. So far, I've tried out the eyes and the face part. Since they had a 50% off Studio sale, I figured what the heck, why not. This post is my review of the products I ordered.
-Powder brush ($3 w/out discount, $1.50 with discount)







-Pearl/Glow Shadow/Liner Stick ($3 w/out discount, $1.50 with discount)

-Total Face Brush ($1)








-Kabuki Face Brush ($5 w/out discount, $2.50 with discount)





-All 3 "Beauty Encyclopedia - Eye Edition"s (Reg. $15 total, I bought them as a set for $10 total)








I honestly cannot imagine how ELF is able to make money, because their products are just so, so cheap! Many of their things are just a dollar. So either every other makeup brand overprices their products, or ELF is losing a lot of money, or ELF products are just awful quality - which doesn't seem to be the case. Or it could be some other explanation I really cannot fathom. So, today I'll be reviewing these products, which I've now had for around two weeks.

First off, the powder brush. I found it to be beautifully soft. I used it to apply illuminator on my cheeks for a couple days. It may become a daily part of my routine. It was easy to clean, and hasn't shed a hair yet. I love the softness of it, and it comes with a plastic protector sort of thing that I keep on it when I'm not using it to keep it from becoming misshapen or collecting dust.
Next, I have the shadow/liner stick. I found it to be easy to apply, but very shimmery. It was a very soft shadow stick, the same for the liner. I haven't really used this one much. It wasn't super pigmented, which is all right by me. I might use this sometime when I just want to quickly put a neutral-type shadow on without any fuss about blending or washing a brush.
Then we have the face brush. After reading rave reviews of this, I was expecting a soft brush that would feel like heaven on my face. Oh, how wrong those reviews were. The bristles were scratchy, even on my hand. About 5 seconds after I got it, the brush shed about 5 hairs. I tried it out on my face and winced a little bit.  Even after washing it once, the bristles did not soften even a tiny bit. In my opinion, this brush was a complete waste of a dollar. I haven't used it to apply anything to my face, because anything that feels scratchy means it is not going anywhere near my face. Oh yes, and when I washed it, the water ran red. Continually. For about two straight minutes.
On to the kabuki. Great for applying pretty much any powder/pressed powder face product. It's marvelously soft, although the handle is a little too short in my opinion. If it were longer, it would be easier to grip the brush. It's pretty to look at as well as being very functional.
And lastly, we have the eyeshadow encyclopedias. I got 42 colors, I believe. You get 12 pressed powder shadows and 2 cream shadows. I used the Urban Decay Eyeshadow primer, and the powder shadows stuck like glue during the day. It was exceptionally hot when I wore them, and they stayed on despite my sweaty face. At the end of the day, they were just as vivid. My eyelids did not turn oily or anything. And believe me, this is not simply due to the primer. When I used the primer with Clinique eyeshadow, my lids were on the oily side by the end of the day, and the shadow was completely gone except for a sliver lingering in my crease. With the ELF eyeshadow, none of that occurred. The colors were completely gorgeous, although they all do have a bit of shimmer in them. Some of the ones in the sparkle palette have super-shimmer, like the black. However, the shimmer isn't super flashy and in my opinion, doesn't look tacky at all (although I haven't used the sparkle palette during the day yet). However, the colors have a lot of variation. My only complaints are that they are not made of a metal that sticks to magnetic eyeshadow palette holders, unfortunately. The brush also picks up a lot of powder when you just touch it to the color - it's not super tightly packed. Also, the palette size is not very portable. However, these are minor complaints. Overall, I loved the palettes. So many colors, and for so cheap!
Overall, my buying experience at ELF left me happy at the end of the day. My favorite product out of the lot was the "Eye Encyclopedias", which, in my opinion, are a total steal, especially for that price. Twelve eyeshadows for five dollars?! Count me in. My happiness with my products was only ruined by the "Total Face Brush", which I didn't like at all. However, the rest of my products seemed to be of at least good quality, if not great. I will definitely be buying more ELF products in the future. Will post later!

An Introduction (hurrah!)

Hello there. I'm Tati. I'm just a girl who really likes makeup and clothes. That's not such a crime, is it? If you're reading this blog, you probably agree. Hence you reading this blog. Anyway, I love the environment and used to be a bit of an activist, got a bunch of petitions together, that sort of stuff. I make jewelry sometimes, and have an online store I sell it on. I have a dog and two rabbits, and live in the Bay Area in California (that's in the States, FYI). I have friends, they're the best friends ever and they're awesome. I'm fairly new to makeup. I love most things that make me look better. Eyeliner is my favorite thing right now. I love trying different colors of eyeliner, but my favorite is brown because it's fairly natural looking and subtly enhances your appearance at the same time. Enough about me, though. In the future, unless I forget about this blog, I'll be posting makeup tips, makeup reviews, brands I like, clothes I buy, brands I hate, and whatever else pops into my head as I'm writing. Will post later!