A Triumphant and (somewhat) Fierce Return!

Hello friends!

I'm sure you all are wondering where on earth I went.  Let's make a list:

• I worked 2 jobs over the summer which took up more of my time than expected.
• Had to deal with a large grain weevil infestation; I shake my tiny fist at organic soba noodles which were definitely the cause!  As a result I had to throw out A LOT of food.  Ugh.  No food = no recipes.
• Went on my first week long vacation of the year and threw my back out, for reals!  I spent the week on muscle relaxants and asleep.
• Spilled some boiling water on myself resulting in 1st & 2nd degree burns on one arm and 1st degree burns on my chest.  I couldn't dress myself properly for at least 2-3 weeks, let alone cook or do beauty posts.  I mean I still painted my nails, because I'm pretty sure almost nothing could stop me from doing that.  ;)
• Dealing with mental health and developmental issues that I've pretty much always dealt with but they have been exacerbated significantly in the past 6 months or so.

 It's been a heck of a year, let me tell you!  I'm pretty pleased to see 2012 go, mostly because it kind of sucked. 

So even though I am spending New Year's at home with Mr. Core, I thought I would post my hypothetical New Year's Eve look.  I recommend this look for anyone who is fierce and single on New Year's Eve.  It's not for the timid, as black lipstick rarely is.  But it makes a statement about how badass you are, and you don't need no one to kiss, you are amazing all by yourself!

This look was initially inspired by MAC's Strength collection.  I was SO EXCITED that Pink Pigeon (bright pink) and Party Parrot (warm, bright pink) lipsticks were coming back plus Firm Form, a black and gold lipstick?!?!  And then MAC decided not to distribute it to counters, which meant it quickly sold out online. :(  So no new lipstick for me.  But I decided to give golden black lipstick a try.  Because anyone can do a shimmery black smoky eye and neutral lips but why not try something different?



YEAH BLACK LIPS!
Let's do a look breakdown:

Face:
-Smashbox Hydrating primer mixed with Benefit Girl Meets Pearl
-L'Oreal True Match Lumi Foundation
-Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer
-Sonia Kashuk face powder
-Too Faced Milk Chocolate Bronzer to contour cheeks
-MAC Peachykeen blush & Lightscapade MSF to highlight

Eyes:
-Tarte Clean Slate Eye Primer
-MAC Coquette eyeshadow for my brows (I've also used Mystery)
-a mix of MAC Bare Study Paint Pot and Buxom Stay There eyeshadow in Poodle on the lid & lower lash line
-Sephora Prisma Chrome eyeshadow in Moon Beam generously on crease (it looks like it's been DC, it's a lovely pale champagne with a pink flash)
-Wet n Wild Creme Brulee on browbone
-L'Oreal Telescopic Clean Definition Mascara in Very Black

Lips:
-Urban Decay Lip Primer
-Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero
-NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean
-NARS Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Aigle Noire (ultimately unnecessary but what else am I going to do with it?)
-L'Oreal Colour Riche Le Gloss in The Muse's Shine which was LE but any gloss with a strong gold shimmer will do.

Basic steps:
1. Prep your face as needed.  You don't want to go overboard with blush or shimmer, the goal is clean, slightly glowing skin.  As I get oily skin pretty quickly, I opt for luminizer in my primer and a matte powder to set, but you may need to switch it up.  A light cheek contour with blush/highlighter completes the look.

2. Luminous, glowing eyes: I wanted a clean, shimmery eye look, to brighten my eyes without making them the center of attention.  Mixing pale shimmers adds depth without too much extra work and a matte shadow on the brow bone nicely balances the shimmery lids.  The look is complete with precise but not overdone brows, curled lashes and mascara.


3.  THOSE LIPS THOUGH.  Okay prep the heck outta your lips.  Exfoliate and moisturize, but wipe off the excess moisturizer before applying the lip primer.  Give the primer a little time to set, and then outline and partially fill in your lips with black long-wear eyeliner.  Smudge it towards the center of  your lips, and then fill your lips in with the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil.  You can top it with the NARS pencil but I ultimately felt this step was unnecessary, as it didn't make much of a difference.  I found the easiest way to apply the gloss was to put some on the back of my hand and apply it with a lip brush, making sure to add a little extra along the cupids bow and in the center of the bottom lip.


SRS BIZNESS FACE!

I assure you, I tried to style my hair, it's not just bedhead.  And yes, there is a slight pink tint because I like a little bit of pink hair on the weekends.

If I had to pick a New Year's Mani, instead of the shimmery purple I'm wearing right now, it would have to be a version of my opal manicure:


This is seven coats of nail polish, but I think the end result is SO FREAKING GORGEOUS so I don't care.  I'll do an upcoming post on this (promise!) but it is basically a white jelly sandwich with opalescent glitter & gold shimmer in between the white layers.  I think it's prettier and slightly unexpected compared to the the usual metallics.

And that's my New Year's post!  I'm definitely planning on blogging more in 2013, I've got recipes I've been working on and beauty to chat about!  Happy New Year everyone! 

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

Apologies and polish reviews!

Hello friends!

So a week went by without a peep on here, I'm so sorry!  I fell behind on blog posts and as soon as I would turn my thoughts to posting something, I caught an extreme case of writer's block!  But I'm back and I have a few new polishes to review plus one layered manicure that was so froofy I couldn't NOT post it!

The good:
Essie Mojito Madness!


How gorgeous is this?!!?




This is a part of the "Bikini So Teeny" collection, and I had been wanting a color like this for a while and I'm so glad this is the polish I picked up!  It applied like a dream and I barely needed 2 coats for it!  I did apply over a ridge filler, but I use that more to protect from staining.  Either way I bet it would still apply really well, this polish didn't get goopy or drag and it looks BEAUTIFUL.  Definitely recommend it.

The Bad:
Revlon Runway Pearl


4 coats!
I wanted to love this polish, it's a beautiful LE white/ivory with a red/orange/gold shimmer.  It's really stunning in the bottle.  BUT it goes on so thick, a little streaky, it took 4 coats to build opacity AND IT BUBBLED LIKE CRAZY.


THE BUBBLES! (editing note: I cropped and sharpened this using flickrs editing tools)

And you can see a little bit of the bottle in the above shot, the shimmer is really beautiful but the formula isn't worth the headache.

The Awesome:
Here are my "prom dress" nails!  Every time I looked at my nails I kept picture a puffy skirted sky blue dress with baby pink tulle that was covered in bits of silver glitter.  I have a major soft spot for froofy dresses, let me tell you.




This is OPI What's with the Cattitude topped with 2 coats of Pirouette My Whistle from the NYC Ballet Soft Shades collection that just came out and CND Raspberry Sparkle on top of all that.  I really like PMW, it's a mix of silver microglitter and white pearl hex glitter.  It's really beautiful and looks lovely over pastels.  It's the best picture I could get of my nails before I took this off but isn't it lovely?

And that's all I've got for today!  I've got another beauty post in the works for Wednesday and of course there's Friday Jams!  Thanks for stopping by!

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

nail polish announcements & my holiday manicure!

Hello internet friends, long time no see!

I wanted to throw out a quick nail polish post with a miscellany of items, some polish news and my holiday manicures. I have a couple of posts planned, including some claire’s polishes and hot topic polishes, don’t judge me, they are always on sale and awesome!

I also plan on actually posting regularly as soon as I get used to my brand new job! In the meantime some polish announcements:

-=- Zoya just announced via Twitter that their gorgeous spring collection Reverie is available for pre-order. The whole set is available as is the individual polishes, you can check out swatches from All Lacquered Up and Scrangie. It looks gorgeous, so I’m probably going to pre-order at least part of the collection, definitely Adina and maybe the 2 pink shades.

-=-Some people really don’t like Sephora by OPI, which I don’t really understand, since it really is a fantastic, incredibly long-wearing formula. I’m wearing Ocean Love Potion as I type this, and it is a gorgeous slightly grey teal cream that went on super smooth. Plus it dried shiny even without a topcoat:

See? It’s so pretty! At any rate, I just recently checked Sephora’s website and the new spring shades for SOPI are listed, though not available for purchase yet:

Cover Me in Petals looks like a pinky coral as opposed to the red-orange of the description. Go With The Flower looks/sounds AWESOME, a super bright pink sparkler, while Leaf Him At The Altar reminds me of an old Wet n’ Wild green shade, at least judging from the other website picture available.
.
It’s almost a camo type green with a gold shift, like Urban Decay Mildew.
And the rest of the polishes are all purples:

I like all of these actually, but the one I’m most excited for is It’s Bouquet With Me because it has HOLOGRAPHIC GLITTER! I wonder if it will compare at all to Color Club Wild at Heart? I’m really excited for nearly all of these shades, but Sephora’s online swatches and images are notoriously different from the actual product, so I would like to see them in person first.

Holiday Manicure, a story in two parts.

Twas the night before Christmas and my tips were still bare … the horror! I didn’t want to do a red/green manicure as that was a bit too garish for my tastes, however I loved the idea of doing white and green together, and furthermore it gave me a chance to try out my idea for a matte white shimmer.

I used Zoya Get Even as the base and for the white polish used the following:
Color Club Ooooh la la! (bright white shimmer)
OPI Happy Anniversary (sheer silver/white crystal sparkles)
Essie Matte About You
The green is China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. I think this is a gorgeous manicure but the more I looked at it, the more I realized it reminded me of the Boston Celtic’s uniform and NOT holiday cheer. However, my awesome and smart friend Clio suggested that instead I do silver instead of white, giving my manicure both holiday cheer and Slytherin cool. She’s a smart cookie, because it came out pretty awesome:

Instead of the whites, I used Orly Dazzle with Essie Matte About You.

So that’s my blogging (don’t call it a) comeback. I will still be adjusting the next week or so, but then (hopefully) get into a 3 post a week schedule.

Disclosure: Any polish pictured was purchased by me. Any companies mentioned have not given me any incentive to do so, although I would totally be okay with it if they wanted to!! ;)