Bailaoragaditana's Aventuras

So, you want to know how to get completely immovable, unsmudgeable waterlines? I'll let you in on a little secret: Liquidlast.

Seriously, ladies, MAC Liquidlast liner is like glue. Once it's on and dry, it will not go *anywhere* until you want it to. (A simple swatch lasted three days on my hand once, showers and swimming and everything... do not doubt the magic of the liner!)

Upper waterline, lower waterline - you name it, Liquidlast sticks to it! Not a single flake or smudge to be found, more than 12 hours after application. And after I'd been out in the rain and wind (it was SO windy in Oxford today - I was almost blown away in Rad Square at lunchtime!) with watery eyes and other dangers to makeup.

I paired the intense eyes (lids were more neutral - Stila Wheat, Starlight, with Golightly in the crease and lower lashline; several coats of Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! mascara) with pinky-nude lips: BE Buxom Big & Healthy lip stick in Amsterdam, topped with Buxom gloss in Zena.

The rest of the face was the usual; I really tried to make the liner the centerpiece of the look.

I did have to spend about five minutes with a bunch of q-tips and some oil-based eye makeup remover to get the liner off (it's like the superglue of eyeliner, for real!), but it was totally worth it to not have to worry about smudging or raccoon eyes.

I've acquired a few makeup goodies in the past few weeks (only a few, unfortunately), which I'll share with you all soon, and I'm thinking of something a bit brighter/more dramatic for tomorrow... In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Just a quick look this morning before I get down to essay-writing and other fun things; this particular color combo (and application style) was inspired by my best friend in the whole wide world - her favorite color is green, she loves champagne eyeshadows like no other, and I don't think she'd know how to live life without black eyeliner and tons of mascara!

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

Face: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain (under eyes); MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15; MUFE Hi-Def powder

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Stila Precious Pearl palette - white and green shadows

Liner: Bobbi Brown gel liner in Black Ink, applied to upper lashline and upper waterline with the Sephora professionnel angled liner brush

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

Cheeks: BE blush in Lovely

Lips: Hollister lipgloss in Nude (I think it's called Rose Shimmer on the UK website, however... which is really confusing)

The final look is, rather surprisingly, quite wearable (I think!). Also, I'm quite pleased that I managed to snap this one in the 5 seconds of bright sunshine that entered my room :-p

And, of course, with glasses:

Not that I'm out to prove that gasses don't have to mean boring eye makeup or anything... ;-)

I haven't used Studio Fix Fluid in ages, and I was reminded of how good it can be for heavier coverage - especially when my skin is a bit drier from the cold and powders make it look flaky. Also, I am majorly, majorly LOVING the Hollister gloss. It's become my holy grail nude gloss, and if I even hear rumors of it being discontinued, I might cry. And then buy 500 back-ups. That's how much I love it.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed; I'm off to get some non-makeup-related work done! :-p

Thursday night was big party time for me. Why? Because it was the BONES season premiere! I got super-addicted to the show last fall (it took like half an episode for obsession to set in!) and then lured my family and friends into loving it, too. So much so that my mother decreed that we would host a dinner party and get even more people hooked on Bones. "It's going to be bigger than the Super Bowl Party!" she proclaimed. And so it was. But I needed a nice face of makeup for the evening, so I took the opportunity to play with my new Bobbi Brown palette. This look uses the cool eyeshadow quad, which I think is quite on trend for Autumn/WInter '09 - the colors are very similar to the MAC Tone: Grey shadow quad, although (astonishingly for Bobbi!) quite a bit more shimmery. The shadows are just ever-so-slightly more blue than they appear in the photos, mainly the eyeliner shade (Navy matte).

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

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

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Bobbi Brown Navajo metallic shadow all over lid to browbone, BB metallic shadow in Rockstar on outer half of lid, BB shimmer wash shadow in Gunmetal in crease, BB matte shadow in Navy as liner on upper lashline

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash mascara (black)

Cheeks: BE blush in Lovely (as contour) and Kiss (apples of cheeks)

Lips: Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips & Cheeks in Blushed Rose

Oooh, and I even did coordinating nails! I was so proud of myself, because I am super nail-inept! I used Boys in the Bottle polish in Mark in the Dark, a dark green/teal/blue shade that matches the Gunmetal shadow almost exactly.

I'm really liking the neutral looks I've been doing lately - my sister was like, "Wow, your makeup looks natural for once!" (thanks a lot, sis!) - but I'm itching to do something crazy and bright in the next few days, so keep your eyes open for that. In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Another tragically short post - I'm piggybacking the neighbor's wi-fi, because a huge oak tree fell in our front yard late Sunday night and took out our telephone and internet lines! It's been more than three days without internet and I'm going crazy! We went to dinner at a family friend's house, and I had about ten minutes after my shower to do something with my face, so I decided to keep it super simple! The only really exciting part of this look is the blue eyeliner (which is one of the things I exchanged for when I returned my face & lip primer potions from UD). The lighting is slightly wonky as usual, although I really have no idea how I managed to get two *completely* different types of lighting from one photo session in the same place at the same time. (Seriously, there's like three photos with *cool* tones despite *warm* lighting. Le sigh.)

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 only); Bare Minerals Mineral Veil (all over); Bare Minerals foundation in Fair (all over and as concealer); Mineral Veil again (as finishing powder)

Brows: Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash shadows in Nude (all over lid) and Woodrose (lightly at the crease)

Liner: Urban Decay Ink for Eyes in Binge (blue), applied with a MAC 209 brush; I extended the line into the inner corners of the eye, and drew a line beyond the outer ends of my eyes as well

Lashes: MAC Plushlash mascara (black)

Cheeks: BE blush in Lovely

Lips: Laura Mercier sheer lipstick in Bare Lips; Urban Decay Ultraglide gloss in Video

I quite liked this look, actually, and it held up very well throughout the evening (I'm still wearing it as I type, some 8 hours later). It's been kind of nice being internet-less for a while, because I am super way more productive that way (fewer distractions!) but I've missed Sugar and a few other awesome sites, so here's hoping the Verizon people show up tomorrow as promised and fix my bloody internet already! (Is it weird that I haven't missed the phone at all??) In the meantime, thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll be back soon!

Hmm, I seem to be slacking in my blogging. I blame the stupidly hot Washington summer. I'm barely wearing makeup these days because 1) I'm not going outside, I'll either burn or melt, or possibly both! and 2) I'm just now getting my skin back on its best behavior, I don't need sweat and makeup gunk ruining all my hard work! But I did go out for Thai lunch (what else?) with a good friend, "Jasmine" (the one who did my henna), and it was kind of cool-ish outside, so I figured I'd do some gender-performing and put on a full face of makeup. The original inspiration for this look is from the summer Sephora catalog, but it ended up being much darker/brighter, because I just don't have enough makeup... (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

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

Face: MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW15 (under eyes); MAC Studiotint tinted moisturizer in Light (all over); Bobbi Brown blemish concealer stick in Alabaster (or possibly Porcelain? I can't read the label anymore...); MUFE Hi-Def finishing powder (over top of face makeup & blush)

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar, darker shade

Lids: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; MAC shadow in Cool Heat (inner third), MAC Freshwater (middle third), MAC Parfait Amour (outer third), MAC Blue Flame (crease), UD Shattered (browbone/blend on inner half of lid), MAC Beautiful Iris (browbone/blend on outer half of lid)

Liner: Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Black Ink, applied with MAC 209 on upper lashline, lower lashline, and upper waterline (and, as you can see, I have been practicing my upper lashline technique - with much thanks to my BFF, khorshid khanoom!)

Lashes: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! (Black)

Cheeks: MAC powder blush in The Perfect Cheek

Lips: Urban Decay Ultraglide lipgloss in Video

Then there was Thai food and Thai iced tea (my favorite!), which actually had perfect timing because the second we got inside the restaurant it started to *pour* rain and thunderstorm like crazy for more than an hour. And I normally like thunderstorms, but the AC was on so high in the restaurant that I was shivering! In August! In DC! That's not supposed to happen!

Also, as you may note, the blush I used is from the new MAC collection - I bought the Photo Realism quad, The Perfect Cheek blush (which totally lives up to its name, btw!), and a lipstick, and I've got a ton of Back2MAC that I'm going to haul into the store this weekend and swap for some of the lipsticks and glosses. I can't decide if I want the other two quads. I might possibly pick up the Violet Trance shadow, too... hmm. Anyway, I've done some serious hauling recently and I should really get off my arse (or more precisely, *on* my arse) and get some makeup-porn pictures together for you lovelies. But in the meantime, thanks for reading, and hope you're having a great weekend!

This look actually has nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz. (Sorry.) But I was playing around with my Bobbi Brights palette tonight, and wanted to try making a rainbow just for kicks. It was easier than I thought, although blending was a real b*tch.

In rainbow order, the shadows are: Watermelon (red/pink), Samba (orange), Nugget (yellow/orange), Shamrock (green), Blue Denim (bright primary blue), and Mulberry (plum-purple). I placed a tiny bit of MAC Carbon in the crease, and blended like a madwoman using UD matte shadow in Foxy and MAC Ricepaper. (All on top of a base of Too Faced Shadow Insurance.) I used the MAC 228 brush to place each of the colors, working from the inner corner outwards, and the MAC 239 and an angled blending brush from the Sephora/Kat von D brush set to blend the crap out of the crease and browbone.

Liner: Bobbi Brown gel liner in Black Ink on upper lashline, and MAC Kohl Power pencil in Feline on upper and lower waterlines

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash (black), several coats (I actually really like how my lashes turned out... it's almost enough to make me start putting it on the lower lashes, but maybe not quite yet.. :-p)

Long and pretty voluminous, wouldn't you say? And when I've got my eyes open all the way, you can't even tell I'm smuggling rainbows on my eyelids! (But ARGH! stray hair that keeps getting in my face! It's really annoying... stupid summer humidity!)

Brows: Bobbi Brown eye shadow in Mahogany (matte deep brown)

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin-Enriched Face Base (all over); Urban Decay Complexion Primer Potion Pore Perfecting (all over); Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream (eye area)

Face: MAC Studio Sculpt foundation in NC15; MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW15 (under/around eyes); BE Mineral Veil (as finishing powder); MAC Blot Powder (pressed) in Light (on T-zone)

Cheeks: MAC blush in Peaches

Lips: Bobbi Brown Creamy Lip Color in Nectar

I think it turned out pretty decently, and it's not actually horrendously unwearable (by my standards, although even I probably wouldn't turn up to an interview or a tutorial with anyone but my main tutor, with this much color on my face). I was more impressed by the Primer Potion for face this time around, simply as a base layer (I think it's easier to work with than Prep+Prime), although I'm decidedly disappointed by the lack of oil-control and still might return it, because I don't think it will be very useful to me if it has no oil-controlling capabilities at all.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and have a great weekend! It's my 21st on Friday, so I'll be pretty much MIA all weekend, but hopefully will have goodies upon my return to Sugar! Lots of love xx

No time like the present to get caught up, right? This was vaguely inspired by this look from Urban Decay, but mostly the result of smearing on a combination of green and gold shadows, to match my green tee :-p When I was first putting it on, I was scared it was going to look really terrible (it did, I swear!) but it actually turned out pretty decently!

Base: Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base; MAC Oil Control Lotion (on T-zone only); Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream

Face: MAC Studio Sculpt foundation in NC15; MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW15 (under eyes)

Brows: Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in Mahogany (deep matte brown)

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance; MAC Goldmine shadow on inner half of lid; UD Vert on outer half of lid; MAC Humid in crease; MAC Gorgeous Gold up to the browbone and as blending shadow; Bobbi Brown gel liner in Black Ink on upper lashline, and topped with Sephora Nano Eyeliner in Forest Green; tightlining on upper waterline with MAC Feline pencil, and lightly on lower waterline with the Sephora Nano liner

Lashes: BE Buxom Lash mascara (black)

Cheeks: MAC blush in Peaches (sheertone)

Lips: Bobbi Brown Creamy Lip Color in Nectar

Also, a gratuitous shot of my new glasses! (I don't need them for close-up stuff, but I was struggling to see the writing on the board, so I knew it was time to go see the optometrist...) I was actually somewhat concerned that my penchant for crazy eye makeup (on occasion, anyway) would be crushed by my new glasses, but I'm happy to report that I experienced no real difference. Yay!

I did, in fact, take that shot in the car on the way to get delicious, delicious Thai food with khorshid khanoom, in case you were wondering:

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! (Apologies if you are now craving Thai food :-p )

Much like blue, one color that I used to be obsessed with - but which I've avoided like the plague since I was a senior in high school - is purple. It was, once upon a time, my favorite shade of the rainbow. I felt that ROY G BIV gave violet the short shrift. But one day, looking in a mirror - as I am often wont to do, being a vain, vain girl! - I realised: "That looks really unnatural and kind of scary." So I ran (figuratively speaking) for the naturals and nudes which were less... clownlike upon my fair visage. I've worn pretty much nothing but neutral tones - from beige to dark brown, bronzes and coppers and olive greens - since I was 17. But I've been feeling that I should venture (slowly) back into the world of color - I've already managed to wear bright orange, gold, green, and blue without scarring myself psychologically. So it's time to give purples another chance.

For this experiment, since I have almost no high-end (read: highly pigmented) purple shadows, I once again turned to my trusty Bobbi Brights palette, which has an array of both red- and blue-based shades of purple.

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar, darker shade

Lashes: Urban Decay Big Fatty mascara (black)

Liner: MAC Kohl Power pencil in Feline (upper and lower waterlines)

Lids: Urban Decay Primer Potion as a base on lids and lower lashline. Wisteria on the inner third of the lid, Bluebell on the middle third, and Mulberry on the outer third; Orchid on the crease and outer corner, Blue Iris above the crease (as a blend/highlight) on the outer half, and Periwinkle as highlight/blend on the browbone all the way across. (Yes, I was determined to use all of the purple shades. I didn't use Ultra Violet because it's a strange shade, has weird glitter stuff in it, and is really hard to work with.) On my lower lashline, I put a line of Wisteria.

Lips: MAC lipstick in Rue D'Bois (medium pink lustre, limited edition from the Euristocrats release last year), and MAC lipglass in Quick Tease (LE, from Brunette/BBR)

Face: MAC Oil Control Lotion, Bare Minerals Foundation in Fair, BE Mineral Veil

Cheeks: Bare Minerals blush in Blushing Beauty (light pink shimmer)

Yes, I deliberately wore a purple sweater to match my eyeshadow. Because I'm cool like that :-p Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Blues are a color group I've been avoiding for a few years, after an adolescent relationship gone wrong. I mean, looking at pictures of yourself with teal eyeshadow, turqoise mascara, and violet lipstick is pretty traumatic, and you come to this realisation - OMG that looks AWFUL! But just as in actual relationships, inexperience and immaturity have to be dealt with at some point, and so it is that I have faced my makeup demons by wearing blue eyeshadow once more. This time, via a method other than slapping it on with those little spongey applicator things.

Inner third of lid: Ocean (all shadows are mattes from the Bobbi Brights palette)

Middle third of lid: Blue Denim

Outer third of lid: Pacific

Highlight/blend: Sea Foam

Lower lashline: Cornflower (I really should have used a primer on the lower lashline, because the payout was fairly weak without it - and my choice of brush was pretty poor as well... ugh)

Mascara: Urban Decay Big Fatty (black)

Liner: MAC Kohl Power in Feline (black) - I was originally going to use a blue pencil on my waterline, but it looked kind of funky, so it got replaced...

Lips: Marquise D' lipstick (light coral pink, with slight shimmer - definitely one of the best shades I've found, anywhere!)

On my face: MAC Oil Control Lotion; Bare Escentuals Foundation in Fair, Mineral Veil loose powder; MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Blonde (shades of golden pink) used as blush

I probably won't take to wearing blues every day like I used to, once upon a time, but I'm now slightly less afraid of them. I'm still working on the proper application of Mineralize Skinfinish - I'm thinking the lighter, shimmerier side needs to be kept away from the apples of my cheeks/anywhere near my nose, because it makes my pores look gigantesque and unflatteringly huge. Ah, well... learn from my mistakes, ladies! And thanks for reading!

Sorry for running out on everyone yesterday - I wanted to play with my Bobbi Brights palette just as much as you did, but friend stuff and all that... So I'm going to try to make it up to you with a very bright and crazy look which is realllllyyyy not for winter - you could maybe wear it in the summertime, with a matching top or swimsuit or dress. It's based on the the peach, pink, orange, yellow, and lime green shades of the palette - tropical fruity fun!

(A note on the photography: all the colors are much brighter in real life than they look in the pictures. The combination of my crappy camera and the bright lights in my bathroom makes for severe washing-out. So just keep that in mind...)

This was what I started out with, but I decided that I would do a few variations, so bear with me here....

First look:

I started out with Urban Decay Primer Potion, obviously, and two coats of Bourjois Yes to Volume No to Clumps mascara (black). Then, in the inner portion of the lid, I put Sherbet eyeshadow, which is a sort of pale peachy-pink. Overtop of that, I layered Nugget, a golden dandelion yellow. In the middle third of the lid, I applied a liberal amount of Samba, a strong melony-orange, and blended it with the yellow to soften the edges. For the outer third of the eye, I packed on Watermelon shadow, a hot reddish-pink coral which was definitely the strongest color in the look. I used Sherbet as a highlight and to blend all the shadows together at the browbone, and then topped it with a light layer of Nugget. On the lower lashline, I applied Macha Green, a medium yellowy-lime shade, to the outer half with a stiff brush. I then added several coats of Global Goddess Exotic Eyes Lash Building mascara in Blackest Black to pump up the volume and the length.

For the second version (above), I added a thick line of Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Honey, a metallic gold shade which I absolutely adore.

In the third version, I lined both the upper and lower waterlines with black, using MAC Feline Kohl Power dipped in Bobbi Brown gel liner in Black Ink.

The lip look I paired it with is similarly summery - it's a combination of pink, coral, and orange shimmer that would go great with a tan, which is something I definitely don't have! I used MAC Slimshine lipstick in High 90s (coral-pink) as a starting point, then topped it with MAC Lipglasses in Lychee Luxe (hot coral pink) and Pink Grapefruit (bright orange-pink shimmer), and lightly blotted (because it was getting too glossy, if you can imagine such a thing).

Given the insane brightness of the eyes and (to a lesser degree) the lips, I kept the rest of my face very minimal. I used Bobbi Brown Oil Control Lotion SPF15 as a base, then MAC Studio Fix Fluid foundation in NC15 and Studio Finish SPF35 concealer, also in NC15, followed by a very thin dusting of MAC Blot pressed powder in Light. On my cheeks, I used the matte pink "Model" shade of blush from the Smashbox duo I got recently, and then I gave my whole face a dusting of Make Up For Ever's High-Def Finishing Powder using the Sephora black kabuki brush (which handily doubles as a cat toy, apparently).

And this is me, pretending to be sunbathing on the beach in Cádiz...

... with my funky mismatched eyes. ¡Ay de mí! I'd be laughed out of town...

Some general thoughts on the Bobbi Brown Bobbi Brights palette:

I had a lot of fun with this look, even though it's not something I'm likely to wear again. This, I think, is the true genius of the Bobbi Brights palette. It's perfect for experimenting with insane looks - be it fruit punch or purple pansies - without requiring a huge investment into a lot of full-size shadows you're never going to wear. (Of course, at $70, it's not exactly dirt-cheap either.) There's not a lot of each color, but there are a lot of colors. The colors themselves are surprisingly bold for matte shadows - Bobbi isn't skimping on the pigment here, thankfully - and not at all chalky, which is another common complaint with mattes. They blend pretty easily, or as easily as you can blend watermelon pink and dandelion yellow, anyway. The only shadow that I've messed around with so far that's really unappetizing is Ultra Violet, which is for some reason a shimmer shadow. The payoff isn't nearly as rich, or smooth, and it has awkward bits of fuchsia glitter/shimmer stuff in it. It would have been much better left as a matte, I think. That's the only real complaint I have about the product itself - the tiny size and big price tag are more in the category of marketing, and I'm not even going to mess with them. Sooo...

If you're looking for reasons to buy the palette: it's small and extremely travel- or purse-friendly; it's great for experimentation; you don't have to buy loads of different colors to play with; and all the shades are totally exclusive to this set.

If you're looking for reasons to pass: it's really small, so there's not much of each color; it's pretty expensive; and you can get similar shades (and more of them) for a lot less money in a Coastal Scents palette.

Hopefully that's helpful - I honestly don't think it's a bad palette, but I realise that most people aren't going to want to shell out big bucks for something like this when you could get the exact same thing for a third of the price, without Bobbi's name attached. If you do want it, though, you've got your justifications too :-p

Anyway, I've got some crazy studying to do - yay for La Celestina! - so I need to get off of Sugar and go read about non-makeup things for a while... Thanks for reading, and enjoy!