Sunday, March 31, 2013

Spring and Easter Look

Springy Easter Look

I have been dying to do a pastel spring type look, and here it is! Not exactly what I had wanted, but I think it turned out pretty well considering everything. I would definitely use a couple different products if I were to re-do it.



Products Used

Eyes
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Sugarpill Mochi (on lid up to crease)
Sugarpill Lumi (on top of Mochi, applied with Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy)
Sugarpill Take (brownbone)
BFTE $10 Pineapple (Inner corner and crease)
Innocent + Twisted Alchemy Cold Grace (Crease)
Sugarpill 2am (Darken crease corner)
MAC Chromagraphic Pencil in Cyan (waterline)
Sugarpill Afterparty (set waterline)
NYX Studio Liner in Purple(UGH, Used for the first time and it stays wet forever and got all over my lashes and crease! what a mess!)

Face
Bare Minerals Ready Foundation in Light
Tarte Dollface Blush
TheBalm Mary Loumanizer Highlighter

Lips
OCC Electric Grandma

Disclaimer:
All products used in this look were purchased by me.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

No Buy Week 5

Week 5 (March 18-24)

I came down with the stomach flu (I have a crappy immune system) so not a lot of makeup things associated this week. Plus my camera's are both in the shop and I just can't take a good picture with my phone to save my life. (edit: My DSLR is back now!)

Purchases

None, it's starting to get easier. I have a few things on my list that I want to get, but all the impulse buying is gone. I found myself about 4 times in the last week or two turning down LE items and Indie items I thought I wanted, and even though I had some money in my makeup bank I decided not to use it. That feels good actually.

Week 5

Goals:

Goal 1: Makeup looks and posts. FAIL. +0

Goal 2: Taking vitamins. I have managed to take my vitamins every day for the past 2 and a half weeks now. +5

Writing/Blogging: Nothing this week. +0

Art: Nothing. +0

Reading: Beautiful Creatures, 541 pages. +6

Empties: None. +0

Self Control: Did not buy anything.

Makeup Account this week: +11

Makeup Account Total: +71

Goal Week 5:

Goal 1: Two posted looks.

Goal 2: Leg exercises and continue vitamins. I had knee surgery a few years ago and my ankle and knee have never been the same, I am trying to walk better so I really need to consistently do leg excercises that I don't do, thus the goal and inspiration.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Project No Buy Week 3 and 4

Week 3 (March 4-10) and Week 4 (March 11-17)

Well, last week went by and before I knew it was almost over so I figured just combine weeks 3 and 4, since not too much happened. It's getting much easier to control impulse buying actually and it's nice seeing cash in my bank account!

Purchases
No makeup purchases this week, which feels pretty good. I'm halfway through March and have not bought anything, if I make it through the entire month without buying any makeup I will give myself an added bonus, even though I do have money in my makeup account, it feels good not to buy anything at all, at least for a while.

Week 2 and 3

Goals:

Goal 1: Doing two makeup looks. FAIL. I *did* actually do two, but failed at capturing them and posting them. Both my DSLR and point and shoot cameras are broken. I am forced to use my camera phone right now and I haven't mastered being able to take very good pictures of makeup yet. +0

Goal 2: Organizing. Finally finished and pictures are posted in my most recent blog about storage. Feels pretty good. +5

Writing/Blogging. Three blog posts. +6

Art. Sadly nothing yet. +0

Reading. The Time Keeper by Mitch Alboum +4 I feel like I read some other things, but can't remember for the life of me what.

Empties. No empties this week. +0

Self Control. No buying this week!

Makeup Account this week: +$15

Makeup Account Total: +$35


*ADDENDUM* Part of organizing has had me getting rid of products I never use. Last week I sold three items for $30(-$5 for shipping the items). Since they were makeup items I decided part of the money would go to my makeup account. I did not take this into account when I was devising my "rules," which I should have, since I have gotten rid of a lot of un-used products this way.

NEW TOTAL: + $60

Goals Week 5

Goal 1: Two makeup blog posts and at least 2 other blog posts.
Goal 2: Health goals; I know I should be taking a multi-vitamin regularly but I don't. I purchased them last week and started them, my goals it to take them every day as I tend to forget or slowly just stop things I start.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Makeup Storage

Disclaimer: All products were bought by All Kinds of Beauty for review.


So I have finally outgrown my current storage and organization system and decided to do some research on the best containers to use. I came across quite a few reviews for the Muji storage boxes on youtube so I found their site and decided to check them out, as luck may have it they opened a brand new store near me! I absolutely love organizing...well I love BEING organized, the actual act of organizing takes some motivation! I decided to pick up each of the storage box styles. There is a five drawer, 3 drawer and 2-wide drawer with a lift lid and they are easily stackable if you want to save space.

stock photo

 BFTE cosmetics loose mineral shadows 
full size and sample jars

 Concrete Minerals

Lipsticks, Glosses and Liners

 5 Drawer- As you can see the drawers are thinner than the average storage container. These drawers are capable of fitting the average pigment/mineral eyeshadow container. They also are great for storing lipsticks(average about 24 a drawer) and glosses on their side, pencil and liquid liners and most gel liners. The depth however will not fit a jar that is the height of a MAC paint pot or taller(for example my Sugarpill loose shadows do not fit in these drawers). These are 10.2 x 6.9 x 6.3"
Stock Photo

 3 Drawer- These drawers are the exact same as the 5 drawer except with 3 drawers! They are capable of fitting the same items as the 5 drawer. These are 10.2 x 6.9 x 3.9.
Stock Photo

 LIT Cosmetics Glitter

 Sugarpill Shadows 

 MUFE aqua creams &
Maybelline Color tattoo's

2 Drawer Lift Lid- These drawers are much deeper than the previous two sets. Both drawers pull out as well as the lip lifts up on the top drawer allowing you to access the contains that way. These drawers will allow you to store larger makeup products such as MAC paint pots, Sugarpill loose shadow containers, LIT Cosmetics glitters(I would say about 28 jars), etc. They are also capable of holding shadow palette's, blushes. These are 10 x 6.6 x 3.7"

Now that I have shared the Muji storage let me share with you the pro's and con's of these drawers versus the generic cube drawers most stores carry, and I previously used. My first set of containers were from The Container Store(surprise!) and were a basic 3 drawers. These fit great on a desk or bathroom counter and you can stack them. They are around 6.5x6.5 inches.


Palette Storage
Another fantastic way to store palette's is to buy office letter holders. They are perfect to slide a palette in to stand upright on your desk, bathroom counter, or vanity. I can often times fit more than one palette in each slot as well. If you aren't sure what I am referring to, here is a picture of ones(back item) I got from The Container Store. You can purchase them very inexpensively from a variety of places, plus in all different styles and colors.




Pros and Cons of Each System
Now I do like each of the styles for different reasons. With the Muji boxes they are built of very sturdy acrylic and I feel as if they will last a while, With the Container Store drawers they were a little thinner and easier to crack in my opinion, but still nice. With the Muji storage the drawers in two of the three options are shallow and long, there are some pluses and minuses to this. Personally I like it because it just fits the height of a pigment, and I prefer to store pigments so I can see their name/color, therefore I can fit more pigments in a drawer with the ability to see names while with the cube drawers in order to maximize storage I had to store pigments on their side, making it more difficult to find the one I was looking for, The Muji drawer fit approximately 40 pigment containers while the cube fit about 35 on their sides. I also enjoy storing lipsticks on their sides so I can easily read the bottom of the tube for it's name. The cubes drawers are deeper so if depth is something you prefer for storage that is something to consider.

Vanity and Storage

For time sake, simplicity and minimal space I chose some IKEA pieces for a vanity and storage. My bathroom counter no longer fit my makeup and I don't enjoy standing for long lengths of time to do complicated makeup so I was looking everywhere for some sort of vanity. I don't have a lot of  money to spend either, who does nowadays? I found this great DIY vanity on PINTEREST, a simple IKEA EKBY GRUVAN shelf and four ADILS legs made a great little vanity for around $55. The awesome thing about this vanity is that the glass top is elevated, so there is a place for storage underneath and the glass shelving helps you see what is inside. I was able to fit quite a number of palette's stacked underneath, altogether I believe I fit 4 large Z-palette's, my MUFE flash palette, UD Naked, Anniversary, and Smoked palette, plus 2 theBalm palette's. And I got the small version of the shelf, there is a longer version which would easily fit 1/4 more. On top of the vanity I fit 2 acrylic letter holders which hold palette's as well, plus 2 containers to hold brushes and my mineral mate. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how large and how much the vanity can hold. It is approximately 31 1/8 inches long and 7 1/2 inches deep. To store my acrylic drawers I bought the IKEA EXPEDIT shelving unit for around $60 and I was able to store all of my makeup together finally, the Single EXPEDIT shelf has 5 cubes, however if you need more room and have more wall space, it also comes in a 4 cube(smaller) 8, 16 and 25! So whatever your need, there is a size.

 Vanity made out of an IKEA EKBY Shelf 
and ADILS legs

IKEA EXPEDIT SHELVING UNIT

Where to Buy: 

Hope you all enjoyed this little review and found it helpful, please feel free to ask any questions about the items, where I found them, etc. Remember to stay beautifully you!

Disclaimer: All products were bought by All Kinds of Beauty for review.




Wednesday, March 6, 2013

31 Day Makeup Challenge


I have ben wanting to do something to inspire me and motivate me so when Mad About Beauty announced she was going to do a new 31 day challenge I decided to join in as best I can. ;-) Starting on the 9th with Day 1...if anyone else wants to join in please do, post pics or links on my blog or my facebook page All Kinds of Beauty.

Day 1 – OZ Inspired (wizard, great and powerful, wicked, you pick)
Day 2 - Naked
Day 3 – Music Inspired (artist, song, album, Film Clip etc)
Day 4 – Twisted Pin Up look (pin up with a twist)
Day 5 - Emerald Make up
Day 6 – Anime Inspired
Day 7 - Loud Brows (bold, color etc)
Day 8 – Villain Inspired
Day 9 - Favorite Everyday Look
Day 10 – Glitter Makeup
Day 11 - Color Blocking
Day 12 – Super Hero Makeup
Day 13 – Easter inspired
Day 14 - Elemental Makeup Look *Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Metal*
Day 15 – Decade Flash Back (your choice)
Day 16 - Pokemon Inspired look
Day 17 – Disney Inspired
Day 18 – Crazy Lashes
Day 19 - Cartoon inspired look
Day 20 – Sunset Makeup
Day 21 - Smokey Eye Makeup
Day 22 – Bold Lip
Day 23 - Animal Inspired look
Day 24 - Monochromatic look
Day 25 – Celeb inspired makeup
Day 26 – Nature inspired look
Day 27 – Gold makeup
Day 28 – Universe Inspired look
Day 29 – Re-created look (re-create your fave look blogger, friend etc)
Day 30 – Fave soft Drink inspired look
Day 31 – Ice-cream inspired look

Which day would you most like to do? :-)

Project No Buy Week 2


Week 1 (February 25-March 3)

Well, this week I came down with a cold, which also went into my eye, so no makeup was allowed to touch my eye for the week. Total bummer, although I was too tired to really want to do anything for the most part as it was.The one positive thing I suppose was it kept me from really thinking about buying anything this week! Aside from the normal daily stuff I had to get done I pretty much stayed off my feet and rested this week.

Purchases

Being sick made it easier not to buy anything this week, haha. Granted I only had twenty dollars in my account which made me second guess everything as it was, any time I thought about something I was interested in(say a new eye liner) I re-analyzed my thought, reminding myself that even a small purchase wasn't worth it if something I really want comes along and I haven't saved up enough. So I guess it's working to make me think about purchases!

Week 1

Goals:

Goal 1: 2 makeup looks. FAIL. Since I was sick all week and my eye was affected, no makeup. :-( +0
Goal 2: Organizing. FAIL. Again, being sick most of the week I didn't go beyond the things I HAD to do, classes and such. +0

2. Writing/Blogging. +0

3. Art. Nothing this week. +0

4 Reading.
Stephanie Plum: Seventeen 156 pages- +2
Stephanie Plum: Explosive 18: 302 pages- $4
Stephanie Plum: Notorious 19: 356 pages- $4

Being sick has some advantages, I read a bit!

5. Empties. No empties this week. +0

6. Self Control. Didn't buy anything! Being sick again has it's advantages, I didn't shop or spend.

Makeup Account This Week: +$10

Makeup Account Total: $30

Goals Week 2

Since I failed both goals for last week, I'm going to put them up again for this week since I am feeling better now. :-)