Mock Made Up: 2015

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

December 2015 Ipsy bag!

I got my bag today woo!!!
I got a fabulous. @acureorganics cell stimulating mask. I already have it and it is so awesome! You turn into Swamp Thing for about 15 minutes and then voila! Glowy goodness.

@elizabethmott Thank me later Eye Primer. It goes on slightly pink and takes a bit to tacky up. Not sure about the wear time but it doesn't interfere with shadow color.

@kloraneusa Floral makeup remover. It's not irritating, yet and smells like the floral toners I get from etude house.

@modelco_cosmetics Gorgeous nude lipliner. It's the Illusion Lip liner. Not sure how to sharpen it. The tip broke off and it's plastic. and the lower swatch of nude on my pic.

@ilovepacifica Power of Love 100% Vegan Natural Lipstick in Tender Heart (top nude swatch in pic)

Annnnnnd I got the most beautiful eyeshadow palette from @emcosmetics in Bali Bronze which is perfection for me. Most of the shades were on point with my tarte, urban decay and wet n wild (my holy trinity of shadows) shades. Shades 3 and 4 were the only ones that did not apply like buttery smoothness. But all palettes have one or two hinkey colors.

Verdict: I am pleased

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Moisturise me... spray, spray

I am seeing a big NOPE in off the cuff skin care from sales representatives. It pains me when they suggest using a physical or chemical exfoliating products more than 3 times a week. You have to let the skin heal before you can take more of the top layer of dead cells off. I am seeing a lot of people who are suffering from chemical and irritant dermatitis from over exfoliation and thinking it's an acne break out.MEEP!

Your skin needs nourishment, not just stripping all the oils away and calling it a day. It also needs moisture added after cleansing. Yes, even if you have oily or combination skin. I use a gel moisturizer and/or a hyaluronic serum when my skin is being temperamental like that, especially in the summer.

But the summer has past and we are inside with the central heating on and my skin is complaining that's dehydrated. It feels tight on my face and I am getting chapped lips. I am upping my water intake and going into skin care offensive. I brought out the 1-2-3-4 punch!

Tonight I am wearing a Freeman Mask in Honey-Dew and Chamomile. It's a sleeping mask (worn overnight) and my dehydrated skin has already soaked up quite a bit of it!

Facial Cleansing Routine for 12/17
---------------------------------------------------
Sei Bella Moisturing Foaming cleanser

Boots Botanics Brightening Toner (the AHA makes it exfoliant!)

Timeless Hyaluronic Acid

Sei Bella DayTime Delivery Lotion (Broad spectrum SPH 15)

tarte Maracuja C- Brightener Eye treatment

And the aforementioned mask

My skin feels better already!

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Chronic illness and Beauty Blogging

One of these faces is not like the others. One of these faces doesn't belong. I was trying to make a collage to show some of my makeup looks, but accidentally snapped my true face. This one on the lower left was an accidental shot. Those of us with chronic illness get used to faking the smiles, hiding the pain. But sometimes it shows through. This was real, so here,#invisibleillness #chronicillness #chronicpain
The blushes I was raving on are Milani Baked Blushes and 2 tarte palettes (Poppy Picnic, Showstopper)

The Lazy Makeup Artist Guide to Palettes aka How to see palette colors without depotting

Instead of doing all the work of depotting my palettes to put them in z palette just so I can decide on colors, I literally copied them on sticker paper, trimmed it and applied it to the backs of them. Way easier than melting and burning and magnetically sticking them to metal and stuff. My son was freaking out that all my makeup palettes were open on my bed and was afraid to touch them. So, I did well. :)

Makeup Mistakes AKA Underestimating Inexpensive Palettes

So underestimating palettes is a mistake. This is a Claire's palette from eons ago. The primer is Jessie's girl, a very inexpensive primer. I'd originally used Urban Decay primer but that seemed to muddy the color a bit. I forgot to photo it. This is a $7USD dollar palette. Vibrant and full, as much as the a far more expensive artist palette (Greater than $100USD) that I swatched at Sephora a while back. Do not judge a makeup by it's packaging. Go by quality, not price tag and don't be afraid to experiment!

Face of the day- Blast from the Past

Look of the day from August

On eyes Summer breeze,barefoot in the grass, sweet tea, peach poppy, ice cream cone and picnic basket from tarte's Poppy Picnic LE Summer collection palette.‬ Best warm, nude, matte palette ever.

Base: on eyes, primer is Elf glitter primer and Rimmel‬ Scandaleyes in witness white,
Face primer is Etude House Baby Choux in Mint, mixed with ‪Palladio primer,
Correcter is ELF HD lifting concealer in brighten, concealer is ‪Milani‬ HD in 01,
Foundation is ‪‎L'Oreal Magic Nude Skin in 310 Light Ivory,

On cheeks, Glisten from the Poppy Picnic palette.

Mascara:, Revlon‬ bold lacquer in blackest black, Essence Volumizing Lash Powder underneath.
Liner : ELF mineral liner in black

Brows: So Susan dual shade powder, Pencil The BrowGal by Tonya Crooks 04,

Lips: Urbandecay 24/7 glide on lip pencil in ozone, filled in with NARS Mauve satin lip pencil, MeNow no.18 long lasting matte lipcolor

Three generations!

This is me, my eldest daughter and my granddaughter out on vacation about a month past. We had a great time swimming and partying for my youngest daughter's 10th grade birthday party. No one ever believes me when I say that I am a Mimi! I believe in the power of sph and moisturizer!

New Doggie!

Rose Eleanor aka Rosie the Ewok

This is our new doggie, and by new I mean she was born last February so she's about to be a year old! She's a yorkiepoo, but we aren't sure what generation she is. She's either an F1 or F2. We'd like to match her with another yorkiepoo before we get her fixed so another family can have a dog even when they are allergic. For some reason, Rosie doesn't set our allergies off like shedding dogs do.

Claude os, aperi oculos

My tattoo. It reminds me that in times of crisis, I need to close mouth and open my eyes. Observe, understand. It is rubbish latin for close hole, open eyes.

Sei Bella Eye Candy Neutral Eye-shadow Palette

Limited edition Sei Bella Eye candy neutral eyeshadow palette. Very similar to my urban decay naked palettes and my too faced chocolate bar palettes. Gorgeous colors that I can't wait to play with.
-------------------------------
UGH! It's now sold out! This is part of the reason I don't try to brag too much about my Sei Bella makeup too much. No matter how much they are loved, the limited editions are REALLY limited and unless you have a membership to Melaleuca, you can miss out really easily!

Current Favorite Blushes

My favorite blushes right now happen to be all from tarte. I have no idea what order they are in but they are"
Overjoyed, Holidaze 2015
Rejoiced,Holidaze 2015
Glisten, Poppy Picnic spring 2015
Fame, Showstopper
Unleashed, Rainforest After Dark
The photo on the left is in yellow incandescent and the shot on the left is in full spectrum lighting #tarteholidaze #tartecosmetics

Hourglass Ambient palette or E.L.F Illuminating Pallete?

I swatched the Hourglass Ambient powders a couple of weeks ago with my youngest daughter, I am kicking myself for not getting a picture. This E.L.F illuminating palette is spot on with another shade thrown in as a bonus.The pros are the pretty packaging for the hourglass one, but I am picking the E.L.F palette over the hourglass one, and not just because the 50 dollar difference. The hourglass one is hard and this is smooth as silk. It also has Argan Oil and Vitamin E❤. I love it! ‬

Monday, August 17, 2015

As red as a tomatox?

I got a sample of Tony Moly's Tomatox Brightening Massage Mask and I have to tell you, I wish I had a time machine to go back and stop myself from using this mask.

When I put it on my face, I was instantly hit with the smell of permanent waves (big thing is the 80s and early 90s) and my skin started to burn as soon as I had applied it to my skin. I rinsed it off IMMEDIATELY. But it has left me with a rash, and a flare up. My skin was in pretty good condition this morning, and now it's all red and angry. The skin on my chin has a half dollar sized raised red welt. I think I am going to have to use hydrocortisone to soothe it. Maybe that's why they call it Tomatox. Your skin turns the color of tomatoes. *grr*

DO NOT USE if you have rosacea, acne prone skin, sensitive skin, or eczema. I am still debating whether to post an image or not. *frowns* Brighten skin, Korean style? nope, nope, nope, nope, nope...

More printable goodness! Cleaning binder cover

The cover for my cleaning binder is translucent and the writing on the first checklist was showing through. I needed something that was in the same color scheme that wouldn't make me crazy.

So I made this. It's letter sized and I printed it out on cardstock.

Printable Chevron Turquoise and chocolate Cleaning Binder Cover Page

Enjoy! Are there any other printables you'd like to see?

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Blush Collection, Expanded and Swatched.

So I got this crazy idea after sorting through my brush drawers for the umpteenth billionth time, that I ought to swatch or some how mark my blushes so I could know the finish, the color without having to open them all and taking up precious time. I get pretty tired sorting my makeup and sitting in the chair, so I decided to just sort them once and for all.

I sorted by color, first. Light/Brightest to darkest. I then grouped similar colors together. I swatched them on watercolor I managed to scavenge from my youngest daughter. The paper worked wonderfully, I was able to use my fingers to basically smudge the blush onto the paper and have it 'grab' the pigment and shimmer and/or glitter.

I discovered that I have far more coral blushes than anything else, and being a neutral/warm leaning person, that works out well for me. I discovered a few shades that I am particularly fond of and I discovered a few finishes I really enjoy and a couple that I wasn't a fan of.

Here's what the drawer looks like now. All of them are marked with a light pencil or eraseable frixxon pen so it's not overly evident from a distance. I lost count at 120 blushes. I think I might just be a bit of a blush hoarder...

Blush drawer of doom

I just realized that I haven't swatched my 'complete palette' blush like my Tarte Showstopper and I think I have a few more that I will get to later. I am seriously contemplating organizing my eyeshadows in a similar fashion, but I may go mad doing it! (grins)

What do you think about swatching blushes? Is it completely anal? Overly OCD?

Thursday, July 30, 2015

So I needed a sign for my shredder... and I love pink and watercolor

I am setting up my mail center/command center and I needed a sign that informed people TO ONLY SHRED PAPER. We are getting a nifty log maker for shredded paper, and so I want to make sure that no plastic gets shredded, because that would suck to burn.

And since I made it, I figured, hey... why not share?

Pink Watercolor Recycle Sign - Paper only

Aw heck, here's a bunch more *thanks to Amelia for the inspiration!*

Recycling Signs

You can either print one page for portrait, or landscape, I've included both. You can print on regular paper but I think cardstock looks really nice.

Here's my inspiration!
Clean Mama, The secret to keeping mail off counters

So, here you go and now I am off to do more organizing, I just didn't want to forget :)

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

May 2015 Birchbox

I've been slacking off a bit, sorta and I miss the details on this months Birchbox
The box was curated by Emily Shuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere. It's supposed to bring out our everyday elegance and I can't say that she did it wrong. The products scream deluxe to me. *squee*

Naobay Oxygenating Cream Moisturizer
W3LL PEOPLE - The Expressionist Mascara (already super duper love this)
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water
Living Proof: Restore Shampoo, Restore Conditioner, Instant Repair Lotion
and English Laundry: Perfume- Notting Hill

I will be reviewing the individual products very very soon!

If you wanna join just click https://www.birchbox.com/invite/mockmadeup

Friday, May 1, 2015

Get Fit and Get Moving! :)

Everyone always talks about their new year's resolution is to lose weight or diet with this fad or that program. For me, the time to get moving is spring time. The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and the wind is perfect. Here in Iowa it's about 72 degrees and I love it.

With that in mind, I decided to make a cool and fun Sport tek tee shirt. It wicks away moisture to help you have a more comfortable work out, whatever you decide to do. I am partial to chair dancing out on the back patio myself! So um, here! <3 <3 Love you lots!

Women Sport-Tek Competitor T-Shirt, White Get Fit by Mocksoup
Put your picture on t shirt designs at zazzle.com

Friday, February 20, 2015

Pressed Pigments = Super easy to use eyeshadows.

Home pressed pigments

Top one to press is a pink shimmer mica, I have been dragging this around since my last bout of makeup creation. Beautiful shade, light with a purple shimmer finish. I got it as a mica tester back when I was formulating my own colors and I loved it.

Second pigment to press was an indie cosmetic creator from Fairfield from a consignment shop called The Rose, called TigerEye. It is a beautiful deep copper brown with a duochrome green effect. It reminds me of MAC Club and of a pigment I pressed earlier in my pigment adventures.

Third is called Lavender Dream. which has a beautiful silvery pearl effect and fourth is a highlighter/eye shadow called Swedish winter from yourMinerals Sweden. Gorgeous finishes.

The fifth is Nyx Ultra Pearl Mania in Oro, a gorgeous coppery brown that is simply divine. Opaque coverage,

The sixth is from The Rose, as well. A shimmery pink brown called Nude that swatches a bit more sheer than Oro. I misplaced it while photographing it and you can see it's next to the number 5 swatch. Meep!

Why press my pigments? I find loose minerals do not adhere to the skin well, and they are messy. I don't have time for that. Adding the binder to the also powder acts as an adhering agent, much like a very expensive primer. The one I use has 3 different silicones, lending a buttery texture to the pigments.

I use a 1 to 1 ratio with drops of binder and 91% alcohol to liquefy the pigments. I mix them up using a sanitized mini spatula and then I press into a godot (also known as an empty makeup tin), using tissue and a pressing tile or coin. I let it sit overnight so the alcohol evaporates. Voila! Gorgeous eyeshadows in the morning!

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Meal/Menu Plan Service - Green Chef

The first meal we tried with Green Chef was the Paprika Chicken. This was amazing, too. Green Chef is an organic meal service. There is less selection than with Plated (previous post) but they are have a lot of gluten free options. There is a special on Facebook for a code that gives you a weeks worth of meals for 9 dollar shipping. I don't have the link but if you can find it, it's a great deal to see if it's up your alley.

The choosing is more finicky, they have 4 different meal plans with gluten free, omnivore, carnivore and herbivore with different pricing for each of them. It's harder to find ones without tree nuts or peanuts, so that's something to think about. But the meals we have gotten seem very well thought out. It's possible to recreate the menu but the printed intruction cards do not have set amounts on them. All in all, it's a great service, if your set amounts for your grocery budget aren't fluctuating.

The link is Green Chef - Menu/Meal Service

So, yeah, these DIY meal services- Plated

So I am trying out some of the various food service/prep delivery service. Since Mark is working so much during the day and I can't really be on my own while shopping, we've had to get creative with meal planning.

Okay, both Green Chef and Plated are both PHENOMENAL services. But I am just going to talk about Plated now. We haven't had a bad meal yet and it's expanding our culinary expertise. Instead of just eating in a restaurant, we are learning how to make gourmet for less than a trip to Applebee's and 10 times more delicious. Plated includes amounts rather than just the instructions. We add them to our kitchen recipe binder so we can reproduce it time and again.

The first meal from Plated we opened was the Vietnamese Caramel Fish. To be frank, I am not the biggest fish fan and I loved this meal. The sauce and marinade was divine, and the flavor melded together beautifully. The bok choy and vermicelli gave it a delightful texture. It will be a repeat.

I'll let Mark take it from here:

"You pan-sear the fish for a bit and that makes up for the non-breaded issue. I used a couple splashes of rice wine for extra caramelization. Then with the red pepper & ginger sauce, along with the lime juice, made for a really good flavor combination. All I know is I now have a way to make tilapia taste pretty damn good."

Me again! <3 I think you'll love it, if you really love food. There are veggie, land and sea options, and you can select your menus when you want them. And with the first few meals paid for, it's a pretty safe thing to see if it's up your alley. I like the ability to personalize them and skip weeks if I so choose. I can click and pay and they'll send it out the next shipping date.

Here's a link to some meals free with the purchase of 2 of them, I think. It might be something else, but it's still a great deal to try it out.

Plated Meal Delivery Service up $30 dollars off referral link

Monday, February 2, 2015

Feel the Burn- Beauty Without Cruelty - Aromatherapy Skin Care AHA Facial Cleanser

Ow, ow.. ow ow ow. OWWIE!

I wish I could say that this cleanser was good for my sensitive skin, but that would be a gravely misguided. My skin turns bright red and I now have irritant dermatitis forming around my mouth and chin area and my skin feels tight. Very depressing.

I was hoping that it would be an AHA product that I could use. Not happening. I discovered the warning on the website that I should perform a patch test before using it on my skin, and I KNOW that I should do that with my rosacea, but I wasn't thinking. I was hoping for a cleanser to use as a chemical exfoliant. Big.fudging.fail. I think I may have mixed up Beauty Without Cruelty and Juice Beauty in my head. Not my best moment.

AND IT HAS LAVENDER in it for the love of pete! I must give this to someone else or bury it in the backyard. :( Please learn from my mistakes and toss this out if you get it or someone gifts you this in an attempt to help your skin 'clear up'. It will not help you.

Ingredients that were too tiny to read on the package:
Purified water, Aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice*, sodium C14-16 olefin
sulfonate,
cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium lauryl glucosides hydroxypropyl sulfonate,
Lavandula
hybrida (lavandin) oil*, Pelargonium roseum (geranium rose) oil, Citrus sinensis
(sweet orange) oil*, Cananga odorata (ylang ylang) oil*, Lavandula angustifolia
(lavender) extract*, Calendula officinalis (calendula)
extract*, Anthemis nobilis (chamomile) extract*, Lonicera fragrantissima
(honeysuckle) extract*, Cucumis sativus (cucumber) extract*, panthenol,
allantoin, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate,
glycerin, glycolic acid, malic acid, citric acid, tocopherol, sodium benzoate,
potassium sorbate
*Organic
10% Organic Content

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Makeup brush recommendations, in a quickly thrown together format.

Brush companies mentioned:
www.sigmabeauty.com
www.eyeslipsface.com
www.realtechniques.com
and not shown but I like is www.crownbrush.us

When starting in makeup I suggest 5 basic brushes to get you going on this awesome vanity filled adventure!

First off is your Eyeliner Brush. Now most people stick with pencils but nothing can top a bit of drama with a flat definer brush pushing a bit of a dark color into the lash line. It's a look that can still be wearable by day but with that pop of "Wow, you look great today!" ishness. I also like to use flat definer brushes to smudge out liner that is too harsh for a more demure effect!

Second is your powder application brush for eyes.Some brushes that I suggest are the flat shader from Sigma, the Up & Up Smudge brush from Target or any other brush that has a flat stiff brush that can pack color on. Dense bristles will pick up more of the product and patting it will lay that color on exactly where you want it to go.

Third, you need a blending brush. Never forget blending unless you are going for a cut crease, and if you are doing that... you don't need this Brush Primer (psst and email me because I never get it right!). Select a brush with fluffier bristles to impart a more diffused look with your shadows. I use a pointed blending brush for my deep set eyes, but most people can get away with a wider and thicker dome shaped head. If the head is a bit flatter but still fluffy, you can apply shadow and it will look a lot more diffused that if you would have used an application brush.

Four...th..uh ly?, You need a blush brush. I recommend a fluffy blush brush with a dome for people who are doing their makeup and aren't too experienced with them. It leaves a diffused finish and is great for the apples of your cheeks. Real Techniques makes an amazing couple of blush brushes and the price point is great. Sigma is pretty fantastic, too, if you prefer natural bristles but that's a personal choice.

and Fif...fth..screw it, and number 5, I recommend a big fluffity powder brush and powder puff for application of a setting powder. You apply the setting powder with a puff and then dust off the excess. I really love the Sigma line and the Real Techniques lines, again for those.

Cleanup, currently is Isopropol Alcohol 91% and a mesh puff to knock off the color, and then a conditioning spray for my natural brushes. I get mine from The Honest Company. When I wash them with shampoo, I use The Honest Company Shampoo and Body Wash. It's cleansing without being overly drying. The alcohol already dries them out enough!

There are more advanced brushes, if you want to know more about those, but I don't want to overwhelm anyone! Basically if you get 5 brushes, you will be golden, and can only go more expert from there.

If you are getting brushes, CONGRATULATIONS! I am so proud of you! This is a huge step! Great job! And thanks for sticking with me!

<3

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Beauty Bundle from E.L.F January 2014

I got my Beauty Bundle from E.L.F and holy crap am I amazed at all the things I received! It is a complete load of awesome.

Whole Lot of ELF love that I am feeling

I got
1 Zit Zapper ($1)
1 Pout Perfector ($3)
1 Contour Studio brush ($3)
1 Pressed Mineral Blush in Wanderlust ($5)
1 Matte Lip Color in Natural (this is a duplicate what I already own but it's a gorgeous color) ($3)
1 White Eye Widener Pencil ($1)
1 Mineral Lip tint in Rose ($3) (god, totally amazing to wear. It's like a luscious butter on your lips)
1 Mineral Eyeliner in Black ($3)
1 Nude Nail Polish ($2)
1 Mineral Eye Brightener in Buff ($3)
1 Retractable Kabuki Brush (This is so soft, it's amazing) (not available for individual sale but I estimate it's roughly worth $6
And the pièce_de_résistance.... 1 Brush Apron! ($15)

56 brushes HOLY FREAKING CRAP!

I am completely shocked at how it fit ALL of my brushes. Also kinda freaked me out that i have 56 brushes and yet I am still compelled to buy more. It could fit my 4 travel brushes without even breaking a sweat.

So I got $48 USD worth of E.L.F products for $19.95 plus shipping. Most were of the higher end lines like the Studio line and the Mineral line and I would have purchased ALL of these and do not mind getting backups of what I already had.

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/makeup/gifts/beauty-bundle-plans I am hooked on this plan and it's not every month, it's every other month and that's a bummer, but I'll live through it. ;)

Saturday, January 10, 2015

About Clothing- Gywnnie Bee

So I am trying out a new subscription service called Gwynnie Bee and it's for women sizes 10 and up. I just barely match the minimum requirements. Never have I been so happy for my gabapentin and provera weight gain! *laugh*

The first month is free, and you add clothes to your closet, and they send you out one outfit at a time.

It would be unfair of me to withhold something so awesome from you guys and *hint* I am thinking about another clothing subscription service as well.

Here's the LINK and have fun picking out your outfits to wear that are chic and flattering!

With designers like Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, and amazing shops like Three Dots, DKNY and ABS, beautiful clothes are all over the place. It's amazing. I am adding some knit dresses and some tunics to my closet.

What clothes would you add to your Gwynnie Bee Closet?