Happy Halloween! Nails of the moment

Happy Halloween! I did a couple nail looks this past week that are a bit Halloween-y. Aside from that, I'm not doing much for the day because my door's not easily accessible to trick-or-treaters, and my boss thinks marking the day during school hours is not conducive to learning. Both looks involve black crackle.


Milani Smoothee
Sinful Colors Charcoal
Sally Hansen Shattered Ink
Milani Glossee


Orly Bonder
OPI Tangerine Dream
Sally Hansen Shattered Ink
Orly Glosser

NY Times science section on makeup!

A bit ago, the NY Times published an article about a study involving makeup. Specifically, how people at work perceive a woman differently depending on her level of made-up-ness.

Both "natural" (you are not obviously wearing makeup but look better than you usually do) and "professional" (enough to look polished, makeup is obvious, somewhat more defined eye and lip makeup) looks increased others' perceptions of a woman's competence, likability, and trustworthiness. Turns out also that people generally don't trust you if you're wearing a lot of obvious makeup.

On the one hand, people should just let women do what they want with their faces. I don't like how makeup is something else society can make up rules on, and then call rule-breakers freaks. I'm glad makeup isn't expected of all of us all the time (I've gone out for work and play barefaced).

On the other hand, I can understand why someone might want to keep the makeup subtle at work. I work at an elementary school, and kids notice everything. So at work, I tend to keep things neutral. I'll break my colors out over the weekend.

What do you think? Is your work look significantly different from your leisure look? Why or why not?

Look of the Day - classic retro

I wanted to do a more retro look.

I used the left-hand side of the WnW Comfort Zone palette and some layered mascara for the eyes - Cover Girl Lash Blast length works well as a base for me - and their eye enhancers for green eyes works nicely over that.

Lips are Raspberry Port lip crayon from Ecco Bella and a lip glaze from HiFi cosmetics that I don't know what it is because the label fell off the tube.

Instead of blush, I used some ELF studio golden bronzer around the edges of my face. Still pale!

Also, I do not apologize for anything about how I look here. (Bloggers really need to quit pointing out their imperfections. Like now.)

Nails of the Moment - Toronto sure is shiny!

This started out in kind of a weird way. I wanted to use up the rest of the glitter I'd sprinkled out from last time, so I put some Sinful Colors dark gray down as a base on my ring fingers and used up the glitter on that. Then, I did the rest of my nails with OPI Paint Your Toron-toes Rose, and decided that I didn't like the way the holo nails didn't blend in. So I did a strip of red down each ring finger. Looked bad. Milani Gems to the rescue!

Also, I'm still around - just been extra busy with work lately.

Nails of the Moment - Holo!

The webcam pic doesn't do this justice.

Orly Bonder
Sinful Colors Nirvana
Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers confetti glitter
Orly Glosser (2 coats)

I gave it a base of the Nirvana, then used a brush dampened with alcohol to apply the glitter. Then, I sealed the glitter in with two coats of clear polish. I love it. So did today's group of second-graders.

September 11 used it!

September '11 Used It!
In September, I used up six full-size products and five sample sizes.

- SN Devoted cream blush*
Not bad - though the formula's recently been reworked to exclude the cyclopentasiloxane Karen used to use. I found it easiest to use with a duo-fiber brush: then it was fine over powder foundation.

- Garnier Nutrisse Moisture Rescue Gel Cream*
I used up some of this in my frankenlotion, and used the rest of it on my face as a moisturizer. It's ok, but I don't think I'd buy it again. I've tried other water-based serums that I liked much better.

- Sally Hansen (Carmindy line) luminizing face primer*
Don't waste your time. Even if you really want to look like a vampire from Twilight, there are cheaper ways to do that. It didn't even really help my makeup stay on. Instead of "Luminizing," it should say "contains chunks of glitter."

- Silk Naturals Oatmeal Serum*
I liked this better than the Green Tea and Aloe, but if I use their Awesome Sauce, there's not really a need to keep it around.

- Nuance Salma Hayek Volumizing Conditioner*
Worked fine, smelled a little "ripe" for my tastes.

- Garnier Fructis Intense Cleanse anti-dandruff shampoo*
Just slightly too harsh for me. I did enjoy the little scrubby beads in it, though.

- Aromaleigh seafoam pure matte eyeshadow sample
Nice pale blue.

- TanTowel (one)
First time I'd ever tried a self-tanner. My legs glowed for a couple days, but I was glad when it wore off because I didn't apply it super evenly, and it was nice to be the same color all over again. I think I'm fine with being super white and don't want to spend the time to look darker.

- Urban Decay makeup remover sample decant (new kind)
Does not smell as good as the old kind.

- Sample baggie Meow Pink Inc. Blush - Cashmere
I want a full size of this pretty badly - it's beautiful. Subtle, but leaves me glowy. Hard to overdo.

- Boots Naturals makeup remover sample decant
Fine. Nothing special.