Evil Shades Deviant Lipstick Swatches

Hey all!  So I finally got a chance to try out some of the samples from Evil Shades!  I didn't have time to try out all my samples today, but thought it would be a good idea to begin with some lip swatches.  Let's start with the neutrals and end with the extremes.  The first Deviant Lipstick that I tried was Devious Virtue:

The lipstick samples were generous, enough for at least 3-4 applications and came in convenient little plastic clamshell containers.  Devious Virtue is described as: nude with violet pink undertones and subtle gold shimmer.  I applied it straight up with a lip brush, no concealer, no liner. (as I did with every other swatch)  This is what it looks like on:

Very pretty!  My favorite of the neutrals.  I'm such a sucker for girly, pinky-nude hues.  The texture is very smooth and moisturizing  and goes on semi-opaque.  It smells lovely, like banana-flavored Laffy Taffy, which is my favorite one, btw. :D

Next up, Silk Stockings, described as: neutral peachy base with multi colored sparkles and a soft blue shift.

Silk Stockings goes on very shimmery and sheer.  You can definitely see the hint of blue iridescence.  I would consider this more of an accent color.  I noticed that it made for a fuller-looking, pouty lip when applied at the center of the bottom lip and the bow of the upper lip.  I'm looking forward to experimenting with layering Silk Stockings over other lip liners and lipsticks.

Then there's Mage: magical cool tone green on the edge of metallic.

Mage actually looks more opaque in real life than in the photo, must be the lighting or something.  It's my favorite of the extreme colors I tried.  I showed my husband and he thought it looked pretty darn awesome in a fantasy/sci-fi kinda way.  Very befitting of it's namesake, don't you agree?  This would probably look amazing over liner...I'd probably have to use eyeliner, lol.

Last but not least, Cyanide: soft, yet bold cadet blue.

Like Mage, Cyanide looks more opaque in real life. (probably the lighting)  Still, it's not a 100% opaque color and would probably look best over liner.  It's a really pretty shade of blue in a silky finish with no sparkle or shimmer.

All in all, I'd give these lipsticks a thumbs up.  They smell good, feel good, and come in a wide variety of uncommon colors.  I'd say I'm very much looking forward to trying out some more! :D  Hope you all found this post helpful, shadows and blushes are up next!

Hugs,
Cat

Nude Jelly Bow Heels

OMG!  Look at these shoes:

I found them on ModCloth.  Aren't they just about the most adorable pair of heels you've ever seen?  I absolutely LOVE the color and the slight shine from the jelly material.  The bow is just the cutest and the little ditzy floral print on the insole is to die for!

I just HAVE to have them.  Wouldn't they be darling with tights or some ankle socks?  I just can't stop looking at them!  Just thought I'd share. :D

Lime Crime Cyber Monday Sale Extended!

Lime Crime Makeup had a 25% off Cyber Monday sale.  You know what that means?  Styletto and Countessa Fluorescent for me.  So, here's the bad news: the site got so many hits from the sale that they crashed.  Here's the good news: they are working on getting the site back up and running.  Due to the delay because of the crash, they will be extending the sale through tomorrow!  Yay!  Per instructions via Facebook, don't checkout your shopping cart until they make the announcement that you can do so...or else...I dunno, something bad will happen?  They didn't really say.  Anyways, can't wait to shop for more lippies!  Now's your chance to get your Lime Crime fix as well, they don't have sales that often. :D

*update* from what I've heard, it seems the site is up again.  Happy shopping!

Hugs,
Cat

Thanksgiving Wedding Weekend

Ahoy!  Sorry I've been gone so long.  2 whole days without posting?!  Unspeakable!  I usually try to post at least once a day, so I'm feeling terribly guilty.  But, to be fair, it's been a whirlwind weekend and I've been dying to catch you guys up with my goings on.  To make a long story short, I pretty much packed on about 10 pounds between Thursday and Sunday.  Thanksgiving day was CRAZY.  We landed in Washington DC at 8am-ish.  I got to my aunt's house, showered, got dressed, and at around noon, we went to an all-you-can-eat seafood and sushi buffet.  A few hours later, we had a full-on Thanksgiving turkey meal along with, since it was a special occasion family reunion sorta thing, fifty Maine lobsters.  Yeah, I said it, FIVE-OH.  50.  The next day was pretty much more of the same and on Saturday, the day of my cousin's wedding reception, we had an 8-course banquet complete with all the wedding cake you could eat.   Oh, and the wine and liquor was flowing all through four days as well.  Lemme tell you this.  My family knows how to eat, drink and be merry.  Today I'm back to soup, salad, and sashimi.  I need to shed some pounds before packing it all on again around Christmastime, lol.  Anywho, just thought I'd share a couple shots of my style and makeup at the wedding reception:

Asymmetrical jersey dress by Max Studio

Makeup: Coastal Scents, ELF, Wet N Wild

Sis, hubby, and me.

That's it for now.  Will get around to posting more fun and interesting things in the days to come.  Gotta hit the sack now in an attempt to de-jetlag.  Happy Monday and have a great night!

Hugs,
Cat

p.s. What did YOU do for Thanksgiving? (if you didn't celebrate it, what did you do instead?)

Black Friday Sales

Hello!  After close to 2 days of food and fun, I'm going to take a 15 minute break to talk about where I'm shopping this Black Friday.  First of all, I'm not going outside.  All my shopping will be done online where there are no crowds and product will be conveniently delivered to my home.  Sometime after midnight last night, my sister and my cousin tried hitting the sales at the mall.  After waiting in line for 45 minutes without budging at Abercrombie and Fitch, they called it a night.  Therefore these are my top online shopping destinations today:

I've been dying to get my hands on Sugarpill's Sweetheart Palette, now's my chance!

Y'all know how I love glitter.  Now I can get my glitter fix at L.A.Splash!

OMG!  Sale on vintage-inspired dresses and shoes at Daddy-O's (most of which are by Stop Staring!).  I'm such a big fan of Mad Men, so here's my chance to channel my inner Joan! :D

I'm totally going to get these dresses!

Daddy-O's is one of my favorite places to shop for outstanding dresses.  I love the vintage-inspired designs, they're so unique!  I get tons of compliments when I wear them out and I'm almost 100% assured that no one else will be wearing the same thing.  The best part is, prices for Stop Staring! dresses are lower at Daddy-O's than anywhere else and now they're all on sale for 20% off!  I'm so excited to share this sale with you guys.  Hey, but do me a favor, if you do stop by their site (and especially if you pick up something nice for yourself or a gift for a friend) be sure to mention StyleByCat. :D

Hope everyone's having a nice Thanksgiving weekend so far!  Have a great night and I'll see about posting some pics after attending my cousin's wedding tomorrow!

Hugs,
Cat

ELF Essential Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Perfect Pink

One more hour until I'm headed to the airport.  I thought I'd post a lip swatch of ELF's Essential Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Perfect Pink.  Since their liquid lipsticks are on the sheer side, I prepped my lips with ELF's Studio Lip Liner and Blending Brush in Nude Pink:

I love the velvet applicator tip and how the gloss comes out of it...remember the Play-Doh Fun Factory? Lol.

It actually applies much more modest in color on the lips than the way it appears in the tube:

I really like it!  It's the perfect Barbie doll pink without being over-the-top.  I imagine if one were to use it over a brighter pink liner or lipstick, the color would really pop!  Well, off I go!  I'll see if I can squeeze in a few posts over the holiday! :D

Hugs,

Cat

Evil Shades Cosmetics

Whoo hoo, I received my long-awaited sample mini haul from Evil Shades today!  But darn, I'm so disappointed because I won't be able to swatch and review them until I get back next week.  Boo!  Oh well just thought I'd give you all a little glimpse of what's to come:

Evil Shades is a really cool indie makeup line that makes lip, cheek, and eye colors.  Their cosmetics are high quality, pigmented, and come in bright, radical hues.  I'm so excited to start playing!  Definitely check them out.  Their stuff looks so damn cool and the prices are right!

Last Saturday

Remember when I did this makeup look for a bday party I went to last Saturday?  I meant to, but totally forgot to post a couple pics so that you could see what I did with my hair.  Anyways, here ya go!

Hubby and me. :)

Back of my hair.

We had an amazing dinner at Roy's in San Francisco and then headed over to Candy Bar for drinks and dessert.  It was a really fun and yummy evening!  I would post pics of the beautiful bday girl, Crystal, but she's a little shy and I haven't asked permission to use her images yet.  BUT, what I can do, is post pics of some food I ate.  You guys probably don't know this, but I'm almost more passionate about food than I am about fashion and makeup!

Pinot Noir

Jumbo prawns stuffed with dungeness crab

Brown butter seared salmon

Filet mignon and Maine lobster tail

Molten chocolate souffle

Waaaaaaaah!  Now I'm hungry.  Well, anyway, goodnight.  For real.  Lol, you can probably see how I'm trying to cram as many posts in as I can before I leave because I'm not sure if I'll have the time to while I'm away on holiday.  I don't know if I mentioned it, but we're having Thanksgiving with relatives AND celebrating a wedding. (my cousin's getting married)  Oh, and I'm also doing bridal hair and makeup.  *gleep*  I hope I don't disappoint!  I mean, I'm okay with makeup, but don't have much experience with hair.  I've been practicing on my guinea pigs (sisters) , however, and I think things are going to be ok.  Wish me luck!

Hugs,

Cat

ELF 11.11.11 mini haul!

Hey, remember when ELF had their 11.11.11. sale?  Well, mine finally came in after what I thought was FOREVER, even though it was only 7 days (counting the weekend).  It's funny how slow things seem to move when you're highly anticipating something!  Anyways, here's what I got:

Y'all know how I feel about the glosses, eyeliner, lipliner, and brushes, but I haven't gone over the cuticle pen or the toe separators yet.  I'm love love loving the cuticle pen!  It's my first time using one and it's amazing!  I have the driest cuticles and they look especially icky now that the weather's gotten colder.  One go-around with ELF's Essential Cuticle Pen and they've been neat and tidy for hours!  I cannot believe that it was only $1!

Oh, and this is the second set of Essential Toe Seperators I've gotten.  I thought I lost my first pair, but my husband found them in the couch the day after I bought them again.  Lol.  Anywho, they're the most comfortable toe separators I've ever had.  I bought the Daiso ones and those almost hurt.  I think I'll stick to these.  Again, just one buck!

Anyways, I was super-excited to get my Studio Lip Liner and Blending Brush in Red and Essential Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Ruby Slipper since I'm thinking about going with a red lip for a wedding I'm attending this weekend.  I know I'm wearing sweatpants from being in school all day, but I don't care.  I just ripped open the packages and gave it a whirl:

Sorry, these photos aren't really representative of the true colors of the lip products.  I was not in my own bathroom and the lighting was totally weird.  Both the lip pencil and the lipstick were a very deep, earthy shade of red, a pleasant surprise because I was expecting something loud and bright.  But really, they're a very subdued red.  The liner creates a really nice base and the liquid lipstick is a similar shade, just translucent.  The combination created a glossy, yet understated red lip.  My only gripe is that the liquid lipstick did wear off a little quickly, but I don't really mind reapplying.  If I end up going with these lips, you'll see it in a style post after the event!

I'll try to post another one of the lip colors tomorrow before taking off.  But for now, back to packing.  Grrrrr!  I hate packing!  :P  Oh well, toodles for tonight!

Hugs,
Cat

Airborne Unicorn

I know that some of you were looking forward to seeing a full-face photo of Airborne Unicorn.  I think I was finally able to get my camera to behave so that it would capture the color relatively accurately.  I really wanted to do a proper shoot with a nicer camera, but I'm hopping a flight to Washington DC tomorrow to visit family for the holidays, so I won't have a chance to do that until after I return.  In the meantime, I hope these will do:

Just playing around with my wannabe Wayfarers and different hairstyles. :D

With a cross-process filter.

With a lomographic filter.

I was super-bored during a long break in class, so I started messing with some filter apps. Hehe.  Welps, happy Tuesday y'all and have a great night!

Hugs,
Cat

p.s. Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the lipstick, lol.  The color is a bright, pink-purple bordering on neon. I noticed that after it had worn off a little from eating, drinking, talking, etc, it left a really beautiful stain that I put clear gloss over, making for a pretty smile all day long! :D

Evidence in the Deep End

So, today I'm going to show you all how I did this:

I used my UD 15th Anniversary palette (surprise, surprise) to get this look.  Ya know, the palette cost me $55 (minus 20% because of the friends and family sale) but I'm TOTALLY getting the biggest bang for my buck.  I've been using it every day and am getting such high-quality, versatile looks out of it.  Soooooooooo worth it...so worth it.

Anyways, moving on to technique.  These are the colors that I used:

I begin with a primed eye:

Then I apply Deep End to my lid, blending and fading towards my brow bone to form a gradient:

Next, I apply Evidence to my outer corners and bottom lash line:

After that, I darken the outer corners of my top and bottom lash lines with Blackout:

I use a little more Evidence to blend along my bottom lash line to soften the look:

Using black cream eyeliner, I draw a thin line along my top lash line and the outer corner of my bottom lash line:

For added glitz, I'm going to apply sapphire-blue glitter liner along my top and bottom lash lines as well:

And, to complete the look, I'm going to add some fancy, glittery false lashes:

Whoo whoo, all set!

Fun Fact: my high school colors were blue and orange.  How's about that for school spirit! :D

:: Eyes ::

UD Primer Potion in Eden

UD 15th Anniversary Palette

WnW Cream Eyeliner in Black

Sephora Glitter Eyeliner in Blue

Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof Mascara in Black

Daiso Long Cross Glitter Eyelashes Style F

:: Cheeks :: 

ELF Studio Blush in Twinkle Pink

:: Lips ::

Lime Crime Lipstick in My Beautiful Rocket

*Bargain Beauty Tip*

Don't feel like spending $55 on UD's 15th Anniversary palette to get this look?  You can get similar results using WnW's Blue Had Me At Hello for $5:

Lime Crime: Airborne Unicorn and My Beautiful Rocket

Yeah, totally loooooooong overdue post, but I didn't even get to open the box until today.  THAT's how busy I've been.  You know it's been beckoning to me.

Lol, I always have to photograph the packaging because it's so pretty that it'd be a waste not to.  I have a hard time throwing it away...hehe.

Ok, first up Airborne Unicorn, described as: "Medium violet-purple with a neon note."

Such a pretty shade of purple!  I've never had anything like this before, so I was so excited when I got a chance to try it. :D  First off, let me say that the color is really hard to capture on camera.  The hue is actually more opaque and a touch pinker in person.  Sure, the photos don't look bad, but trust me, this color is 10x more gorgeous in real life.  I guess Airborne Unicorn is so vibrant, my camera can't handle it, lol.  On another note, I've never felt comfortable wearing purples, but for the first time, I feel like I've found a purple lipstick that compliments my heavy yellow undertones as opposed to clashing with them. Yay!  I'm so anxious to create some cool looks with it in the near future!

Next up, My Beautiful Rocket which is described as: "True, luminous orange without red undertones."

Yep, that's orange.  Well, actually more of a tangerine.  Whatever, I LOVE it!  (like Airborne Unicorn, my camera had a hard time capturing My Beautiful Rocket, it's a bit redder in the images than in person)  I seldom see orange worn as a lipstick...or as makeup in general.  People go nuts over nudes, peaches, pinks, purples, reds...etc.  In my opinion, orange seems to be a forgotten color.  I just love how nicely it compliments my southeast asian complexion.  It's so vibrant and intense!  I feel totally fab in it.  I'm actually going to a girlfriend's birthday dinner tonight and at first I had reservations about wearing MBR out because it's soooooooo outside of the norm, but my husband assured me that I look great in it, so why not?  If anyone doesn't like it, they don't have to look at me, right?

My final thoughts?  Both lipsticks are smooth, creamy, and quite opaque with satiny finishes.  The colors are amazing and they smell like vanilla sugar cookie batter, IMO.  Yum!  I'd like to note that, while Lime Crime lippies aren't cheap, I feel like I'm totally getting my money's worth because the shades are so outstanding and unique.  Head-turners for sure!  If attention isn't your cup o' tea, these are definitely not for you!  I'm so addicted to these lipsticks, I can't wait to add more to my collection and am currently considering what other colors to get! :D  Check 'em out:

Creative colors put me in such a good mood!  Happy Monday and hope you all have a great one!

Hugs,

Cat