In My Copious Free Time

FOTD

For those who don't frequent makeup message boards and blogs, that's "Face of the Day."

If you wear makeup, enjoy makeup, want to know more about how to do makeup, or just want to try a new look for an event, you are missing out if you live in my area and aren't going to see Chris at the Macy's MAC counter. Aside from being super talented as a makeup artist, Chris kind of does everything, from styling to sewing to cooking. I'm convinced one day I'll he'll be contouring my cheekbones and say, "Well, back when I was in the space program..." He's pretty much delightful.

Anyhow, I have him do my makeup fairly often, which is often a challenge for him since he tries to use products I don't have, and I have a lot of MAC stuff. Last night he did my makeup and it was great, but I think he was even more excited than I was about how it turned out. He really outdid himself:

For those who care about such things, the eyes are:
Paint in Chiaroscuro as a base
Shadows in Filament (highlight, inner corners), Vex (middle lid and crease), Freshwater (crease, lower lashline) and Carbon (outer V, deep crease and upper lash line). Lower lashline also lined with Technakohl Liner in Smoothblue. Full false lashes (#32, I think) on upper lashes with Zoom Lash mascara.

Lips are lined in Oak lip pencil, filled in with Viva Glam II lipstick with Viva Glam VI Special Edition gloss on top. I am pretty sure he used Select SPF 15 foundation (NW20), though I'm not sure of the powder or blush he used. My bad.

snippets from the day

I asked Alex what he was doing as he played Lego Star Wars (Wii) and he said, "Oh, I'm just adventuring right now."

This morning Alex came and got in our bed and we stayed there talking and snuggling together until almost noon. We had so much fun, giggling and playing. There was much talk about Alex's belief that he owns the middle, including speculation about where any future sibling would be allowed in the mix. Alex insisted he would remain in between Joe and me and any future baby could sleep on my other side (the outside). Trying to explain how Alex could share the middle, Joe held up four fingers of one hand, saying that the index finger was him, the middle finger was Alex, the ring finger was the baby and the pinkie was me. Alex protested, "But why does Mommy have to be so short???" Way to sidetrack the discussion, kiddo.

(No, I am not pregnant and not trying to get pregnant.)

After we finally got up I cleaned up and went out to meet some friends for makeovers at the MAC counter. Chris did terrific work as usual, doing my eyes up in a fabulous combination of Shroom, Aquadisiac and Plumage. I wouldn't have chosen these colors normally, but wow, were they ever gorgeous on.

Swatches from Temptalia, one of the most awesome of awesome beauty sites - her collection of product color images (swatches) is staggering, her reviews are always very informative and her makeup artistry is phenomenal. Plumage looks more dark navy/teal than purple in real life. I would swatch the actual colors on my hand, but it turned out that both Aquadisiac and Plumage were out of stock:

I noticed Eddie, one of the national makeup artists for Chanel, walk through the store and realized the Chanel counter was having an event, so I went over to say hi. Eddie has done my makeup a number of times and always does something really cool and inventive. Eddie loved what Chris had put on me, asking "Is there any color you can't wear?" Lately I'm realizing that I used to think I could only wear a few colors, but that is so wrong. I'm cool-to-neutral toned, so I can get away with a lot of warmer shades in addition to cools, and there isn't a color that I don't own and wear. It's all about finding the right shade and texture. I ought to post something girly and picture-laden about some of my recent makeup finds, but not tonight. :)

When I came home, Alex was playing Wii and we were all talking. Joe said something about Alex looking handsome and Alex agreed, saying he and Joe were both handsome. And I was the beautiful one. :)

A very grainy picture taken with my laptop camera - I love how he's reaching back to touch my face -- he is just the sweetest boy:

We interrupt this blog for a special announcement

Target has just received a new supply of Boots Restore & Renew serum! This serum, which is marketed as Protect and Perfect in the UK, has been shown by an independent study to have "a similar effect to retinoic acid - a prescription-only treatment that's known to repair the signs of photo-aging." It has created a buying frenzy of sorts, selling out everywhere. Ebay prices are around 100% higher than retail. This article describes how 1 Manhattan CVS received a special shipment of 500 pieces and sold out by noon of the same day.

This serum is, simply put, amazing. It makes my skin look and feel better -- brighter, smoother, firmer. It is light, almost like a primer rather than a serum, so it never feels greasy, and unlike many other high end serums, it does not break me out at all. (I recently gave away a $100 bottle of Chanel serum that smelled lovely but apparently hated my skin.) After using it, I understand what all the fuss is about - it truly does out-perform any other serum I've used. In fact, my bottle was lost (long story, needed to ship back items from a work trip and the hotel lost the box before shipping it) and since I thought getting Restore & Renew wasn't possible, I bought Estee Lauder Perfectionist +CP. I haven't been using it for long, but I see nothing like the effects I got from the Boots serum.

So imagine my surprise when I did my routine check of the Boots aisle at Target last night and found it on the shelf! They had 5 boxes which contained the new packaging of plastic tubes rather than the original glass bottles -- so much better for travel. I bought 2 of the $21.99 each items and I'm already thinking that was a mistake and I should go back for more today.

More MAC

Coming clean...I did get a few more MAC eyeshadows. The Moonflower purchase got me thinking about blues in general and that color's shocking underrepresentation in my makeup stash. Only one thing to be done about that...

On the left, clockwise from top: Deep Truth, Contrast and Tilt   
On the right, clockwise from top left side: Da Bling,Trax, Star Violet, Cranberry, Girlie

Yes, I realize that there was no gap to fill with pinks and purples and yet there are 5 of these shades pictured. Moving right along...

I also got a new-to-me product--Fluidline gel eyeliner in Macroviolet, a dark purple, and a kohl eyeliner pencil in Blooz, a dark indigo shade.

(Pictures taken with flash which seemed to result in truer-to-life colors than in sunlight without flash. Strange.)

A few favorites

Anyone reading this (and anyone who knows me) knows that I have something resembling a weakness for make-up. I've been sorting through my stash this week and organizing it (and yes, getting rid of a few things). Just about everything in my house could use a little more organization at this point, but the recent MAC purchase pushed my current make-up storage system past its limits. I still don't have a good solution -- how does one store 40 48 MAC eyeshadows in a way that they are easily accessible? But as I sorted, I remembered I wanted to mention a few of my recent favorites.

Could this Pink Leopard bronzing powder BE anymore adorable? I think not. Shimmering shades of light and dark bronzer combine with a soft, warm pink for a perfect glow. Applause to Too Faced for thinking outside the shimmer brick to come up with this delightful product.

Everyone raves and raves about Nars Orgasm blush. Well, okay, it's nice. But it isn't my holy grail blush by a long shot. That honor goes to another Nars shade -- Deep Throat. (Sensing a theme with these names?) It never gets streaky, it is very buildable, so I can do a little or a lot (but who does a lot?), and the not-quite-peach, not-quite-pink shade is perfect for warming up my cheeks. Note, I didn't get the set shown here, but I eventually bought the gloss pictured -- Striptease. Again with the names. Anyway, it is a very light nude shade, too light for me to wear alone, but looks very nice over Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick in Crazed.

Speaking of Nars, I've recently become a huge fan of this line and tried a few of the eyeshadows. My favorite so far is Ondine, a midtone plum with soft gold shimmer.

Oh, how I resisted cream and gel liners. No thanks, I said. I'm doing just fine with my angled liner brush and wet shadows. Silly me. I had no idea what I was missing until I tried Stila Smudge Pots. The Grey colorway is terrific as a base liner for a smoky eye. I can apply it and then go over it with a smudge brush dabbed in any number of colors -- black, dark grey, dark purple, even dark green. It's dark enough to give great definition, but not too dark to overpower whatever color I layer on top. Oh, and it looks great on its own.

Based on my success with my Smudge Pot purchase, I revisited a purchase from last fall and I'm newly smitten. DuWop's Smoke duo is great -- I have it in the Black Gold colorway, although the featured purple set is now calling my name. The only caveat I have is that the shadow brush included is useless -- too thick and flexible to do good eye work.

Okay, last one, I promise. I cannot say enough good things about Stila's Convertible Eye Color. One end of this product contains a highly blendable eye pencil that goes on smoothly with no tugging or pulling. Unscrew the middle portion and you find a shadow that compliments the liner perfectly. Finally, the other end holds a smudging tip. The Stone colorway is my go-to eyeliner and I would love it if they'd release the shadow as a single shadow -- it might be the prettiest neutral shade they make, but you can only get it something like 0.04 oz at a time in this packaging. One other indication of how much I like this product: of the 9 colorways, I own 5.