Bailaoragaditana's Aventuras

Hello, all! I kind of neglected my posting goals last weekend... but I did do a look and take pictures. I was just too crazy busy with work :-( to post anything. There were fireworks, though, which was very exciting - although, hilariously, two of my guy friends had a rant about "girls who wear too much makeup" (by which they mean "any makeup," apparently... ) on the way to the park. Thanks, guys! Good thing I value your opinions so much, right?

My makeup for the day/evening was fairly neutral, with just a bit of eyeliner to liven things up.

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin-Enriched Face Base; Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream; MAC Oil Control lotion

Face: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain; MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15; MAC Blot Powder (Pressed) in Light

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Bobbi Brown shadows in Naked (lid), Nude shimmer (browbone), and Buff shimmer(crease), from the Nude Lip & Eye palette (possibly from a year or two ago?)

Liner: Bobbi Brown gel liner in Black Ink

Lashes: BE BuxomLash mascara in black

Cheeks: MAC powder blush in The Perfect Cheek

Lips: Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Bare (from the Nude palette); Hollister lipgloss in Nude (have I mentioned my love for this stuff? yes, I think I have!)

It was bloody cold, but the fireworks were pretty good, and then they lit this statue thing on fire (I'm not really clear on the tradition behind this, but it's an English thing apparently...), and also had a massive stack of wooden palettes that they lit for the bonfire - at which point it became very toasty indeed, and I thought my face was going to melt right off!

But no, I'd apparently done a better job than that. My makeup wasn't looking half bad, some 16 hours after application, and after... a LONG walk up, general fireworks merriment, takeaway, and OMG Bailey's hot chocolate (the best thing EVER, seriously, I highly recommend it!). My friends and I may have become a bit silly, especially when faced with a camera, but clearly MAC and BB were working overtime, above and beyond the call of duty!

That was my Saturday night... and I unfortunately spent most of this week completely barefaced. Crazy, really. But I'm feeling a bit more back-in-the-game now, so hopefully I'll be able to put together some new and exciting (well... for this town, anyway) looks soon. In the meantime, thanks for reading!

I took my inspiration for this look from the shades included in Too Faced's New Romantic: Unicorn palette from a couple of years ago - it's very soft, very girlish, shimmery pinks and plums with a bit of brown, and very wearable.

Base: Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream; Garnier Pure Active 24-Hour Moisturizer

Face: Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil (all over, as base and finishing powder); BE foundation in Fair (as foundation and concealer); Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain (under eyes)

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; champagne shadow from the TF palette on inner third of lid and browbone/blending; the green/brown shade in the middle of the lid; the plum shade on the outer third of lid and in the crease

Liner: Bobbi Brown gel liner in Ivy Shimmer Ink on upper lashline

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash mascara (black), several coats

Cheeks: BE blush in Poppy; shimmery light pink highlighter from the palette on cheekbones

Lips: Benefit Full-Coverage lipstick in No Competition (applied sparingly with a brush); purple shimmer gloss from the Too Faced palette; topped with BE Buxom Lips in Dolly and blended together with a brush

"What's this?" you're asking. "Two looks in one day? Isn't that taking procrastination to an extreme?"

Well, yes, but it's been a while since I've used someone else as a canvas for my artistry... but my friend - we'll call her Kate, though that's not her name - texted me and asked if I'd do her makeup for an event this evening. Since the other option was writing an essay, I quickly agreed.

The Occasion: a black-tie drinks event

The Outfit: a brown lace dress (gorgeous!), teal-green pumps, and a green-and-gold scarf

The Objective: evening makeup with definition and class, but nothing too dark or dramatic (aka the challenges of working with pale red-heads when you're a pale brunette!)

For the eyes, I used MAC shadows in Honesty (outer half of lid), Naked Lunch (inner half of lid), and Femme-Fi (browbone & blending), and Bobbi Brown metallic shadow in Bash (crease, and upper lashline), and finished off with a coat of BuxomLash mascara.

A swipe of MAC blush in The Perfect Cheek across her enviable cheekbones was followed up with a dusting of BE Mineral Veil over the whole face, and on her lips I used a lip brush to apply MAC lipstick in Lovin' It and Global Goddess Moroccan Mystique lip veil in Casbah.

And would you believe she's not wearing *any* foundation or concealer? I'm having a hard time concealing my jealousy!

Better lighting in this picture, I think - even with the fire-alarm and my notice board in the background...

And lastly, a quick snap of artist and victim before "Kate" headed off to her soirée!

It's a bit blurry, but it still doesn't disguise the fact that I have, arguably, the ugliest draperies in the world. And there's nothing I can do about it.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this little experiment, and thanks for reading!

Hello, all! I know I've been away for a while - something about flying to the other side of the Atlantic and being set tons of work? I'm pretty well settled back into university life now, so I thought I'd take a bit of time to put together a proper look - since it's a luxury I don't usually have time for! It's pretty conservative for me, and I think fairly wearable for most; I was inspired by the lovely green-and-gold tree outside my window as well as by the Ivy League collection from Bobbi Brown. (Don't mind the hair - freshly showered! Also, it made a *really* weird shadow on my face in the first pic. Ugh.) So, without further ado:

Base: Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream; Garnier Pure Active 24-Hour Moisturizer

Face: Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil (all over, as base and finishing powder); BE foundation in Fair (as foundation and concealer); Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain (under eyes)

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Stila shadow in Wheat all over lid, Bobbi Brown metallic shadow in Bash in the crease, Stila shadow in Starlight on browbone and for blending

Liner: Bobbi Brown gel liner in Forest Shimmer Ink on upper lashline (outer 3/4 only); MAC Kohl Pencil in Rosemary & Thyme on lower lashline

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash mascara (black)

Cheeks: BE blush in Poppy

Lips: Bobbi Brown shimmer lipgloss in Rose Gold

I think it turned out quite well, and it's not something that's going to get me odd looks here (I pulled a Dita face earlier in the week, and the bold red lips got some really strange stares :-( ) And the glasses just pull it together and give it that finishing "Ivy League" touch. (I'm growing quite fond of my glasses, can you tell?) I've missed my fellow beauty junkies, though! I'm going to make more of an effort to get to Sugar and post and comment on things... it's much more fun than my work sometimes! (And speaking of glasses, MissChevious did a beautiful tutorial for glasses-wearers the other day!)

Oh - and - I just want to give a little shout-out to Sophia (aka retail_therapy), who sent me some AWESOME and inspiring makeup p*rn (Sephora Beauty Junkie guides from Singapore) which have been very nice procrastination tools - when I get tired of essays and translations and just want to look at pretty makeups :-p And she sent me a cute little gold eyeshadow which I will have to post pictures of and use in a look... soon, soon! So: thank you Sophia, for being amazing! :-D

Right, that's everything, I think, and now I must venture out into the English rain (typical), and get some work done. Thrilling, right? Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you lovelies soon!

Still no internet Chez Bailaoragaditana, even though Verizon people were supposed to come today! Argh! The neighbor's internet is just not cutting it anymore! I did go out for some tapas and churros this afternoon in DC, so... I had an excuse to put on makeup! Yay! This particular look was inspired by the colors of the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, using products called Marrakesh, which were in turn inspired by Marrakesh! It's very meta, no? :-p

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin-Enriched Face Base, Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream, MAC Oil-Control Lotion (t-zone only)

Face: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain (under eyes); Bare Minerals Mineral Veil (as base layer and finishing powder); Bare Minerals foundation in Fair (as foundation and spot concealer)

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Stila shadow quad in Marrakech: darker pink on inner third of lid, gold on outer two-thirds of lid, dark brown in the crease, light shimmery pink as highlight up to the browbone

Liner: MAC Fluidline in Blitz & Glitz on upper lashline and upper waterline, applied with a MAC 209 brush

Lashes: Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara (black)

Cheeks: Bare Minerals blush in Lovely

Lips: Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips & Cheeks in Velvet Plum; Global Goddess Moroccan Mystique Lip Veil in Marrakech

I'm quite pleased with how well this turned out, to be honest, because I was worried about the darker pink shadow - pink isn't the best color for me (since my skin is pretty naturally pinkish to start with), plus it has these flecks of silver glitter (I hate glitter with the fire of a thousand suns!) which I was afraid would get everywhere, but they didn't! The lips are a little more plum-wine-y than they look here (a bit more brown, maybe?) but overall it was a good intro-to-fall-in-DC look, I think.

Now, in totally unrelated but really adorable news, my two Siamese cats have trained *themselves* to use the toilet! It's quite amazing, really, and they've been doing it for a few months but I've never been quick enough with my camera... until today! So, behold: Empress the amazing self-toilet-trained cat!

She hasn't learned to wipe yet, but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time! She even sniffs around to make sure she hasn't left a mess, which is certainly more than you can say for some *human* toilet-users!

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and hopefully I will have real internet access soon (damn you Verizon!).

Another very quick look - I actually did most of this (including the pictures) in a moving vehicle on the way to the family farm! So some of the pics are a teensy bit blurry, but hey - I'm catching up on my laxness, no? It's a pretty basic neutral look, as I figured I didn't need to impress/scare any relatives with crazy purple eyeshadow, and I didn't want to have to worry about it all falling on my face during a hay ride or something... So, without further ado:

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base; Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream; MAC Oil Control Lotion

Face: MAC Studio Sculpt foundation in NC15; Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit in Porcelain/White (eye area only); MUFE Hi-Def finishing powder

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar (darker shade)

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Stila pan shadow in Wheat (all over lid), Stila pan shadow in Golightly (along upper lashline), Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Navajo (browbone)

Lashes: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara (black)

Cheeks: Bobbi Brown matte blush in Desert Rose

Lips: Stila Cherry Crush Lip & Cheek Stain; MAC Suntints lip balm in Full of Grace (small amount, dabbed on lightly)

And bonus photos of two of my cousins (one of whom bears an uncanny resemblance to Enrique Iglesias...) learning to spin on my mom's spinning wheel:

(He's adorable, but he's not the one who looks like Enrique...)

He, however, does.

Anyway, five-minute posting time is over (yes, I've given myself a time limit for these things, or else I'd never sleep!), so I'm off again. Thanks for reading, and continue to enjoy your (long or not) weekend!

So this morning I was playing with the Bobbi Brown Ivy League Collection for fall (LOVE, by the way - absolutely madly in love with the whole damn thing!), instead of doing my actual work...

This is what resulted:

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin-Enriched Face Base (all over); Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream (eye area); MAC Oil Control Lotion (t-zone areas)

Face: MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW15 (under eyes); Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish pressed powder in White (under eyes); MUFE Mat Velvet+ foundation in 15 Alabaster; MUFE Hi-Def finishing powder (all over)

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar (darker shade)

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash shadow in Golden Leaf (inner half of lid); BB Metallic shadow in Bash (outer half of lid); BB Matte shadow in Ivy (crease); BB Metallic shadow in Maple Sugar (from Nude palette) as blend/highlight

Liner: Bobbi Brown longwear gel liner in Forest Shimmer Ink (applied with MAC 209 brush)

Lashes: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara (black)

Cheeks: BB blush in Desert Rose

Lips: MAC lipstick in Lovin' It

With the ultimate Ivy League accessory, for added realness:

I'm starting to get used to my glasses now. It's nice to be able to see things :-p so I'm starting to feel face-naked without them. Also, my sister chopped off about six inches of my hair yesterday (I just wanted a trim, but... she was "evening things out" and it just went badly, gahh!), so my hair is considerably shorter than I usually wear it. It's still long by most standards, but I'm kind of confused by the short swingy-ness of it!

And finally, a pretty picture of a place that I really want to be right now:

Anyone want to guess where this was taken? (People who know me in real life, and therefore know *exactly* where this is, are disqualified from answering.) Bonus points if you can tell me which part of the structure this is...

Anyway, thanks for reading/looking! Hopefully I should have new stuff to share with you soon :-)

Soooo... today (Wednesday) was my second day trying out my new BareEscentuals starter kit.

The kit contains four powder products: Mineral Foundation in Fair and Fairly Light, Mineral Veil, and Warmth (a red-brown color). Being lily-white, Fairly Light is a bit dark for me, so it seems that I'm only going to get any real use out of three of the four. Rather surprisingly, the Warmth powder can look both light AND natural on my skin, which I really wouldn't have thought possible since it's such a deep color. In addition to the BE kit, I used Stila's Guinevere palette from last holiday season on the eyes and lips, plus a bit of MAC Lipglass in Liqueur and Global Goddess Exotic Eyes mascara in Black. UD Primer Potion under the shadow, obviously, and I used MAC Kohl Power pencil in Feline to line upper and lower waterlines.

The resulting face was this (at the end of the day, unfortunately - I forgot to take a pic this morning):

With eyes that looked like this:

A fairly bizarre close-up, but hopefully demonstrative. I used the peachy-gold shade all over my lid, then a bit of the darker shade just against the lashline, with the lightest shade above the crease for blending purposes.

My thoughts so far with regard to Bare Minerals:

- It takes a long time to apply. The first day took forEVER, because I was very carefully checking the instructions every few steps. It went faster today, but still took longer than my usual slapping-on of tinted moisturizer and concealer. I guess in a way it's kind of nice, because there's that sense of ritual and routine to it, which I like, but sometimes, there's just not time! I can't imagine doing this every day! (But then... my standard beauty routine isn't all that short, either. Maybe just the difference is what feels so weird to me. Hm.)

- It does look astonishingly natural, especially in person. It blends in amazingly well, even when I used the crazily-dark Warmth shade on my cheeks. It really is all about small quantities of product, though.

- It definitely needs an oil-control product underneath it if you have oily skin. I didn't use my MAC Oil Control lotion the first day, only the Skin Rev-er Upper, and it showed pretty quickly, even though I did a priming layer of Mineral Veil as instructed. I wasn't obnoxiously greasy, but I was definitely shiny, and it wasn't nice. This time I used an oil-control lotion, and voila! No shine.

- It lasts. I dunno if this is the nature of the product or the combination of priming things, or the application process, but I haven't had a problem with fading or even product rub-off. It stays on until you take it off. These pictures were taken something like 8 hours after I put my makeup on. And it stayed pretty much the same for another 6.

- You really can sleep in it. I took a nap (unintentionally) on the first day of my trial, and was pleased to see that not only did I not leave makeup on my pillow, I also hadn't mussed my face. And today (two days later - my first day was Monday), my face didn't seem to have experienced any negative reactions (ie, no breakouts, etc).

Conclusion:

It's only the second day, but so far, so good.

Anyways, thanks for reading! *besos*