This wasn’t what I planned….

originally, my plan for this afternoon was to do some housework, to swatch a couple more AL e/s, to do one eotd… but after I checked my mailbox… those plans seem to have flown out the window…

Fitting snugly in my letterbox was a big envelope (slightly smaller than 2 A4 size papers put side by side vertically). It took up all the room available… and boy, am I happy to see it. Given I placed my order 2 weeks ago on a Friday… shipping took about 2 weeks in total. (It left their office on Tuesday last week)

So what was it… I guess most of you already know I ran a SilkNaturals spree recently. A total of 18 people and my biggest m/u bill ever!

nicely packed in organza bags…

and all the goodies in a pile…

from back to front, left to right

moisture magic (wrapped in bubble wrap), refills for fondations/powders, the freebie e/s – StirCrazy, samples of blushes, full size e/s pots, lots and lots of lippies, fragrance sticks (green labels), full size blushes, eye primer

On the whole, very well packed… only complaint would be that the samples of fragrances kinda melted so there was oily residue on the outside of those baggies. That didn’t make opening that bag very fun… as things landed in my hand and my response was “eewwwww!”

I can’t wait to try my new lippies and blush. I got a clear lipgloss, Peace (l/g), Raindrops on Roses (l/g, Cabana (e/s), Stir Crazy (my freebie e/s), Embrace (blush)

   

impressions -

Peace is a light pink color with just a hint of brown and very pretty light golden sparkle.  It's light, relatively sheer, and nicely balanced.

I think this is gonna look good on my daughter… definitely a more grown up pink than Pout but it will suit her and I’ll be ‘borrowing’ it often :P

Raindrops on Roses is a shimmery, slightly sheer pink with little hints of gold in our yummy original Kisser Slicker formula.  It's understated, very seasonal and absolutely gorgeous.

This is more rose than I expected… but its a shade I don’t have at the moment… I think it may well become a favourite. :)

Cabana is our clone of MAC's Paradisco eye shadow- it's a warm tropical peach with gold highlights. It has a good amount of shimmer, and is wonderful with High Beam!

Actually, got this for a friend who wanted to check out the dupe version… not having seen the original, I’d say this is a pretty peach shade…kinda pinky peach if that makes any sense. I could see myself using it.. with some caution. Kinda afraid that its too pink. ^_^

Stir Crazy… forgot to keep the description so I’ve no idea what its supposed to be… but it looks olive to me… not a color I’d reach for but… ah well, just teaches me to take note of what the GWP is before I conduct the next spree. LOL!

Embrace is our clone of Bobbi Brown's Mauve blush- it's a very "your cheeks but better"- at first it struck me as a very natural blush, but it also delivers a nice pop of pink- kind of that healthy, excited, flushed look.  I was expecting this to be on the cooler side- like most mauves, but I was very surprised by how balanced it is- it does have a nice amount of brown in it that balances it nicely.  If you're into blushes- at least a sample would be a nice addition to your collection.

this one looks really nice… no shimmer/sparkle… it’d probably look like the color is coming from under my skin… gonna like using this I think… and knowing me, I’ll layer a glow on top. Its very sheer though.. had to really pack on the color to get the swatch to show. But I’m used to that and actually like being able to build a color up to the intensity I prefer.

So the envelopes are packed… just not sealed. Waiting for addresses to be given so I can get this show on the road… :)

now off to complete what I needed to do before getting totally sidetracked… HOUSEWORK! no more color play for me today I think. :(

TSS Make A Wish LE colors

Heather ran a special LE collection recently in memory of her late father. All proceeds from sales would be forwarded to the Make A Wish foundation. Now, frankly, I couldn’t afford to get the f/s for this collection but I did make a small contribution to my local chapter of this charity.

After seeing some lovely eotds on TSS’ forum, I was seriously lemming these colors. In particular, the shade, Live A Fabulous Life looked like such a pretty blue.

So after browsing through the forum, I PM’d a lovely lady by the name of Andrea/luvmymastiffs asking if she could send me some samples as she had bought f/s. She kindly agreed and at no charge…

so here they are… swatches of the Make A Wish colors (on a Monistat base)… I’ll be doing at least two eotds using these colors in the near future… *lots on my to-do list… LOL!*

 

*with flash*

*without flash*

from left to right

spread a little light, be seen and heard, fulfill a dream

with arms wide open, live a fabulous life, love knows no endings

latest … and probably last purchase for a while…

Ok… so I showed you my computer table mirror a while back. But I found it was hard to really see my eyes while doing this… I think the lighting here in the study area is just different from my toilet… so I went looking for a stronger magnifying mirror.

There was a Drugstore spree being held with a 20% discount so I headed over to take a look. Was very tempted by TweezerMate Powerful 12X Magnification mirror… but at usd14.99 a piece… it was a little more than I was willing to pay.

Then I saw the Revlon 10X Tweezing Mirror… at usd5.99 it was definitely more affordable and had pretty good reviews too.

so here it is…

 

I haven’t tried it out yet… will probably do that today.. but I am happy just to see it :)

oh and as a extra note… for those who were asking how to use those fringe holder thingys… here’s a pic showing you how. hope it helps

Silk Protein – a pic tute

Ok… so running outta shampoo and am ready to mix up a new batch… so thought I’d take some pics just to show you how easy it is to do this.

from left to right… my box of silk protein with two baggies on top, my 1 ltr bottle of Giovanni Triple Treat Tea Tree shampoo, a almost empty bottle of shampoo (use any bottle u happen to have lying around).

The standard rule of thumb is 1 sachet (1 teaspoon) to every 200ml of shampoo. Try this mixture first, if you don’t get the silky result and feel like you still need to reach for a bottle of conditioner… add another half sachet until you get the level of treatment that you’re happy with.

Personally, I use about 1 sachet for every 250ml and it works for me.

I wanted to show you the differences that can happen with silk protein. It comes in a powder but with time and moisture it changes its appearance. The bag on the left is newer and so while its clumped up a little, the color has remained the same. The bag on the right was from my first purchase of silk protein. So its about a month old. See the color change and how its a hard slab. If you open it… its really sticky and you can really smell it.

Start off by opening the bag of silk protein. Make sure its completely open and the shampoo can touch all the silk. Then pump in your shampoo. *apologies for the weird angle… hard to take a picture while holding a bag and trying to pump shampoo out*

see how sticky this one was in the beginning (bottom left corner). I had to pull the sides of the plastic apart so the shampoo could get to the silk.

  

this is after I pulled the sides apart. at this stage, you have a choice. Either close the bag up and leave it alone for like 30mins or…

if you’re like me and just can’t wait… then close the bag up and massage it… squeeze it… rub it… give it some lovin’…

then you should get something like this

see how the clear shampoo has now turned yellow/brown? also notice there is still some silk protein that hasn’t dissolved.

what I did at this stage was to pour the shampoo out into my empty bottle and refill with fresh shampoo.

 

then do the same thing… massage… caress… rub… give it some more lovin’!

FINISHED… pour it out… (you can either do this the way I did or leave the bag zipped close and cut a small hole at the bottom to pour) and top up the bottle with more non treated shampoo.

 

see the difference in colors? my finger shows how full the bottle was. Then cap your ‘new’ bottle of shampoo and shake it up… actually mine was too full so I had to roll it around and turn it up and down to get everything mixed.

*whispers… and because I was so excited about taking pics… I forgot to cap the bottle and liberally doused my bathroom with shampoo!*

finished result… use and enjoy your lovely silky soft hair. :)

if you’re using it in a bathtub or as a foot/hand soak… just dump the silk protein into your container of liquid (water) and let it dissolve. Much simpler! LOL

For baths, I add essential oils and bath salts to maximise my bath experience.

hope this helped some of you have a better idea how to use this silk powder!

A chained up heart should be tempted by musical sass

Monistat – base
NYX JEP in yoghurt
TSS should be tempted (le capricon) – inner 1/3 lid
TSS chained up heart (le capricon) – mid 1/3 lid
TSS musical sass (le capricon) – outer 1/3 lid/crease
TSS moonlight whimsey – highlight

*with flash*

*without flash*

*impressions – I really think TSS has spoilt me for colors… neutrals just aren’t rocking my boat at the moment… frankly, I doubt I’ll be doing any more capricon looks for now… my color soul needs to see *color*… sigh…

a followup thought… if I wanted to use neutrals, then I’d probably head for my SilkNatural’s collection of e/s… those are neutrals and everything matches everything else. No brainer to mix up those colors… ah well… a brand for every mood :)

more from Fur’s RAOK

Ok.. so just spent a lovely hour sorting out all the baggies that Fur sent me. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement really.

Didn’t take a pic of the entire pile of baggies – cos that would have been too daunting a task to look at – but did take some shots. :P

*before I forget… Fur… this again has brightened up my day… it was another stressful morning which left me with a huge headache. So I decided to take a nice long jacuzzi bath (burt’s bee theraputic bath salts + lavender eo + rose gerinium eo + silk protein = happy silky smooth frond) and then play with my package. End result.. I’m all chilled out and relaxed. So thank you again!*

here’s all my RAOK’d foundations (inc those from Xarata’s RAOK). Seriously, if anyone wants these… and there’s a good range of shades to try… please comment or PM, I’ll be happy to send them off to you! I’m just too plain lazy to test foundation shades plus I’d need to train my eyes to see the variations in shade… too much work… *blush*

There’s a huge pile of e/s and eye shadows… here’s the two biggest contenders…

to be honest, I’ve tried AL’s e/s before and wasn’t too impressed. I may give some of the shades a try though… since I have them.

I did find four bags of glitter than I couldn’t resist… these will definitely have a home with me! (without then with flash)

they are soooo glittery… I’ve no idea how I’m gonna use them but I can’t give them up! The one on the bottom right has the loveliest pink sparkles… so very very pretty… sad that the camera didn’t pick up on them.

Meow e/s… never tried them at all so will probably dip a brush in to give them a go. :)

There was also Joppa, J Lynne, MAD, Cory, Luminere, TSS, SilkNaturals (SN) plus other brands. In short, I am totally and truely flooded in e/s pigments.

What I was especially pleased to see where the TSS and SN bags. For SN, there were shades I haven’t had a chance to try. So expect to see some eotds using them coming up. For TSS, I think I recognise some LE shades that I didn’t get a hold of… plus there was the shade “Kiss the Frogs” which I was already planning to get a sample of… so more eotds to come for those too.

Last, but not least, there were MMBB e/s to play with. Since I’m expecting a biggish package from Lisa… I decided to swatch these first (so I can “hint” to her what colors I’d like to try. *evil grin*)

*with flash*

*without flash*

from left to right using monistat base
*comments in brackets*

opal beige (e/s), peach glow (matte e/s or glow – probably not as a glow… too orange), matte coffee (matte e/s or bronzer – rather sheer), pink twinkle (e/s – super light color w sparkles)

sunstone (e/s), celery (matte e/s – kinda weird in the bag and weird on my skin.. not sure what I’m gonna do with this), be dazzled (e/s – pretty pretty! got a green shimmer), twilight green (e/s – looks super dark in the bag but turns out to be a v. lovely bluey green), princess fiona (e/s)

purple frost (e/s – me and purple… nothing more to say), champagne glimmer (e/s or glow), aruban coral (e/s – pretty pinky silver)

and here they are in their baggies…

*whispers to Lisa… let me try PF on my eyes first… I’ll let you know tomorrow. Ok?*

TSS Astrology collection – Capricon swatches

from left to right,

should be tempted, too much thought, chained up heart, december maybe

january baby, consult the heavens, stars say yes, divine spark

musical sass, freedom from self, jump right in, messy moon

*impressions*

umm… frankly… at first glance, not impressed. should be tempted & too much thought required several layers of pigment to even show up on my skin. They were that nude. But they’re gonna be great as nude highlight tones.

after the Storybook colors, this range really took some getting used to… I’d probably turn to them for neutral looks but really can’t resist the urge to add a pop of color just to brighten things up.

I am pleased to see there are some that are less sparkly though… I seem to be moving towards more matte shades now. Strange huh?

Unexpected pleasures in life…

Today’s been pretty rough… when I start off a day in a rush and then get frustrated over stuff… it takes me a long while to cool off and calm down.

Today started with the rush to get sleepy-head kids who overslept (cos mummy was too tired to get them up) to school on time.

When they did get up, it was with smiles and hugs for me… now, that’s really sweet. Then both of them grabbed a book each and plonked themselves on our lounge chairs in the sitting room. They looked so adorable reading together. But mummy had to break up the reading session so we could get moving on changing and getting them to school.

When I got home, it was time to coach my eldest with maths. Teaching your own kid has to be the biggest test of patience and perseverance anyone has to go through. Just as an example, yesterday he took 4 hours to finish 6 questions. Today, it took 30 mins for one question. Then I explained the process to him all over again. The 2nd time round, he dilly dallied for 7 mins when I entered the scene again and blew my top at him. 3 mins later… the question was done! so its not that I’m a bad teacher… its that he doesn’t wanna do the work. GRRRRRRRR!

Anyways, after getting him to school, I didn’t have the mood to do anything else so ended up taking a nice nap and watching senseless youtube videos.

On the way out to pick up the two younger ones, I checked my mailbox… and to my surprise, there was a nice big sized envelope in there. Now, I’m expecting a rather big package from SilkNaturals but this really didn’t look like it! plus the name on the top right… was familiar but didn’t immediately ring a bell…

and inside were…

I swear… I am in piggie heaven!!! the two bags on the right were filled to the brim with all sorts of pigment samples from every conceivable brand of mineral m/u. I have never ever seen so many brands before. I was in awe… first words outta my mouth – WOWzers!

So tomorrow’s job is clear… sort out the baggies into blushers/foundies/e/s then according to company names. Then figure out which I wanna keep and which I’m gonna bless someone else with. I’ve already pulled out some that are definitely keepers… will post pics of those later.

But to my angel, Fur, and her “Happy February RAOK”… thank you so much for brightening up my day with your colorfilled package. It was all the more amazing cause it was such a surprise. *hugs*

Silly Rabbits living in messy moon should find freedom from self

monistat
NYX JEP in yoghurt
TSS Should be tempted (LE Capricon) – inner 1/3 lid/highlight
TSS Freedom from Self (LE Capricon) – mid 1/3 lid
TSS Messy Moon (LE Capricon) – outer 1/3 lid/crease
TSS Silly Rabbit (LE Storybook) – liner on top of NYX JEP blackbean

 

Buddha kissed the broken mind and managed mania

colors used.. I can’t remember what base I used.. definitely monistat… or what went where… this look was done last Sunday (Feb 15) and my RAM (random access memory) gets over written very fast… sigh…

tss go to it – highlighter
tss buddha kiss (LE twinkle)
tss managed mania (LE twinkle)
tss broken mind (LE twinkle)
possibly L’oreal HIP liner in navy blue