sue's blog

Lots of plastic

Sorry for the lack of FOTDs. It's just too hot here, and I'm exhausted from the heat. Plus, I have to get started on that 25-page report...

Anyway, yesterday I went to IKEA to look for storage solutions. My minerals are everywhere; stashed in the biscuit box, smaller plastic containers, and in loads of baggies. I had my eye on this flat box from IKEA, something like a tackle box. It was RM19, kinda pricey, but it was nice and big, and quite deep too. One thing I didn't like was that it didn't snap shut tightly. :( I'll probably tie it up with a nice ribbon or something, since I'm afraid that the lid would open when I'm carrying it. I got two earthenware bowls, to use as a swirl bowl. It was so cheap, at RM1.60 per bowl!

Ikea-glis

Swirlbowl

I've transfered all my jars into the IKEA box, and I can fit it quite a lot as I can put 3 layers of jars. But I still need more jars.

I need to find jars wholesale here..LOL. I'm desperate for more!

I just love the bowls though, it's nice and heavy, and the price is unbeatable. I was looking around in the kitchenware section at Tesco earlier, but everything was so expensive.

Then today I went searching for more storage. LOL, yes, I fully intend to expand my stash, and now since I'm starting on MIY. :) I found a neat tackle box where I could remove the dividers (so far all the one I found were fixed), and it was at quite an okay price of RM12. Then I went to this huge D.I.Y. store, and found a bargain section (I'm a bargain hunter). There were loads of plastic stuff going at RM5, and all of good quality too.

Looking around, I found an excellent storage for my MMBB samples which I'm getting soon. It's actually pill boxes, but it was just sooo cute, I couldn't resist getting them. It's not totally airtight, so I may need to do some DIY to make sure none of my minerals spill out. There are 7 rows of boxes, with each row having 3 sections. And all of it fits beautifully in a larger box. I got two of these and another square container to keep my TKB micas.

Pillboxes

Storageboxes

So I'm hoping that all these would fit my mmu, for now. LOL, until I can lay my hands on a traincase. In the pic above, the tackle box at the bottom is the one I got today for RM12, very sturdy and good quality plastic.

Ok, I need to take a shower. I'm melting here...arghhh...

First MIY attempt

MIY is FUN!

I spent the evening mixing colours, and only stopped when I realised that the sun was going down. I wanted to get some pics of the swatches, so I reluctantly stopped mixing. Initially I just made 4 colours, but I couldn't help it; I made more and ended up with 9 colours. I'd have to say that never judge a colour just by looking at the baggy. There were one or two colours which looked muddy, mossy, and totally unappealing. But when I swatched it wet, it was just gorgeous!

Colourinbaggies2

Look at baggy #2, the middle one on the top row. It looks totally horrible in the baggy, and I thought "What a waste of micas". I'm glad I didn't throw it away!

Taking a cue from Dayna and RoxyJ, I mixed only two colours at a time. And when I tried 3 colours, the outcome was #2 (the muddy mossy brown). I didn't have much colours, mostly reds and some oxides. I mixed approximately equal amounts of micas and I'm totally in love with the end results. Now which colour to use as a lippie colour? ;-) I want to make a blush as well, but I need to wait for my Magnesium Stearate to arrive (it wasn't in my package). I find the TKB micas to be extremely pigmented, as I swatched a red shade on my cheek and I looked like a Chinese opera singer! Whoaaa...it was great for lip colour, but I need to lighten it for cheeks.

And since I have some light colours, I was thinking of making my own e/s. Yup, since I can't wear shimmery e/s, I want to make some mattes, but not too sure how. I don't have a grinder, and oxides aren't that easy to mix in baggies. Any suggestions?

9&8closeup

7to5closeup

4to1closeup

Here's how the colours look to me:
#9: A rich bordeaux
#8: Bronze, milky chocolate with hints of pink
#7: Purplish-fuschia
#6: Coral red
#5: Pinky flesh tone
#4: Coppery-orange red
#3: Plummy-wine
#2: Shimmery brown with hints of purple
#1: Purely pink

These were taken in natural light, somewhere around 6pm, so it was a little shady. I took some pics with flash as well, which I don't really fancy as it somewhat washed out the colours. :(

And I made a mental note to myself to do the swatches in two rows on my arm, instead of a single row, as I was
struggling to fit all of them in the camera's frame! :P Which is why the pics are broken up into three. :)

Here are the swatches with flash. (on the right)

I'm totally in love with #3, although it may be too dark for a lip colour, but I love the rich wine shade. So ladies, which looks good? I was thinking of using #2 and #8 as a brow highlighter, as it's a shimmery bronze-brown colour that looks very neutral. #5 would make a great overall lid colour, a flesh-tone pink, just sooo pretty. Dayna, now I know why you love MIY. It' s SO addictive! :)

All-flash

All-noflash

Here's the colours with flash and without. Darn, it wasn't easy trying to take this! LOL, I need to apply the colours closer to each other next time. What was I thinking, spacing it so far? Duh!

9to6noflash

6to1noflash

Here's more pics of the colours close-up without flash. Yeah....I took loads of pictures, as I was SO excited with all the colours.


Now I need some help. I have TKB's Matte Base, so what are the portions to micas that I should use if I want to make blush/eyeshadow? I have some Silk Mica and Authentic Silk Powder, and the soon-to-arrive Magnesium Stearate, so how can I add these to my colours for better adhesion, slip, sheen?

As for my lip gloss, I have the Lip Balm Base, but I want a glossier texture. Unfortunately I don't have any oils. :(  What can I do to make it glossier, and not a hard lip balm? I intend to put it in a pot.

Anyone can help me out with this? Dayna, the MIY guru, any suggestions? :-)

Today, I shall experiment with more colours! Yipppeeee.....

Dope is here...

When I got home last night, my mum greeted me with "Hey, your makeup is here."

Then my brother said, "Oh, you got more dope?"

Yes, my brother has nicknamed my mmu stash as "dope". :P Especially when he saw my Silk Powder, and he went "Hey, this looks like the dope that Daniel Craig was using in Layer Cake!" So now my mmu is known as dope in my family, even my dad is referring to my mmu as dope. LOL.

Anyways, I was SO excited to see a huge package from USPS Global Priority, which means it's...TKB!!! I was going insane worrying about it over the weekend, as I was afraid that it got held up at the Customs. So seeing that huge parcel, I breathed a sigh of relief. Tied together to my TKB package was my samples from TaylorMadeMinerals. Double yay!

I had the quickest shower ever, and started to rip open my package. I decided to take some pics for Jade as she ordered some stuff with me, and will only be getting them this Saturday. :)

Usps-tkb

Usps-tkb2

Yes, the package looked like a squashed bomb.

Tkbhaul

Tkbhaul2

Here's my TKB haul. Jade ordered 25-5gm jars, and some micas. I ordered a whole bunch of micas and balm base.

5gmjars

Jadetkb

Jade, this is for you. I'm totally in love with Aquarius Mica. It's a gorgeous deep sea green colour...heavenly! It's the second mica from the left.
Left pic (L-R): Hilite Copper, Aquarius, Swiss Chocolate, Mermaid's Gold.

Balm&butter

Freebies

20gmjars

The free tweezer is just so cute! And the 20gm jars are lovely...wish I could get more...:(

Tkbreds

Tkboxides

And here are my micas! I love all the reds!! Gorgeous, and would make great lip colours! Unfortunately, I think I don't have enough balm base...rats...

Tmm

And let's not forget my TMM samples. I got the new foundation shades, Gertrude and Katharine. Looks like my schedule for this weekend is full. :) Lots of sampling and mixing to do!

And when my brother saw my micas, he was quite interested as he wanted to know how to make makeup with all the micas. Ahahaha....who knows, I may just get him to help me mix some stuff. :P



Btw, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I used the Pampered Puss formula. I like a sheer coverage, and since it's the one that's least likely to irritate my skin, I got that. Thanks to Jade for telling me that. :)

Why I

...hate regular makeup.

I was at a huge exhibition for Oil & Gas from Tue-Thurs. As you all know, I had a little fainting episode on Monday. I was deathly pale on Tuesday, and I wasn't in a mood to wear any makeup as I felt extremely tired and was still sick. When I got to the exhibition, my supervisor FORCED me to wear HER lipstick, as much as I refused and told her that I'm allergic to regular cosmetic.

I was quite put off as she made me use her lip gloss, and I just went euuuwwwww in the washroom. I didn't bring any of my mmu as my brain was somehow detached from my body that day. She gave me her lipliner and her MAC Lipglass. One of the lippies that I'm allergic to. Arghhh! I layered a lot of my lipbalm, and had to force myself to put the lipgloss on and I gingerly smudged a little lip liner. I was disgusted. She might not have any qualms sharing her makeup, but this is lipgloss!! She shares it with everyone, and that lip wand must be contaminated with loads of bacteria!! Ok, I maybe overreacting, but I just can't share my lipbalm/lipgloss with people. I can just visualise residues of their saliva getting all over my lips as I applied the gloss...euwwww.

So as soon as I left the office to interview the exhibitors, I immediately wiped everything off. But after a while I could feel little bumps around the outer edge of my lips, crap! On the second day, I wore my mauve lipliner and layered Meow's Kitty-Licious, which gave me a most natural look, just like my-lips-but-better. And guess what?

"Why aren't you wearing any makeup today?"

What?? Am I suppose to wear lipcolour that can be seen a mile away? So once again, she made me wear her lipstick! Arghhhh!! Which I immediately wiped off the moment I stepped out of the office. :P

Yesterday, I brought my mmu, Lumiere's Desert Rose to use as a lippie, and finally she's satisfied seeing me with some colour on my face. :P 

I never want to use regular cosmetics again! EVER!

 

 

Pill Popping Junkie

I fainted this morning.

Thank God my brother was with me, so he sent me home. Awwww..he's so nice today. :P

I've been down with a flu since last week, and today, I really don't know what happened. I just started seeing white spots, and then I couldn't see ANYTHING! It was creepy. I could feel blood draining from my face, body, and my hands were eerily pale and cold.  Then I was drenched in cold sweat. ..and my heart started beating real fast.

It all happened when I was standing in the train, and I just somehow slid down to the ground when I started seeign white spots. And guess what? The supposedly "caring Malaysians" didn't even give a crap. Dammit!

They just sat there and stared at me, like I was nuts or something.

$&%^(*#&%*&(*$(

Anyways, I went to see a doctor, and he said that I have low blood pressure. Which probably caused the fainting spell. The blocked nose due to my flu is another plausible reason. I have so many pills to take, it's a little freaky. There's another one which I forgot to add in this picture.

Pilljunkie

So, I won't be blogging much this week, as I have to be at an Oil & Gas exhibition to write articles from tomorrow til Thursday. Also I need to recover fast! I'm tired of the flu and my whole body aches. Wish me well, for I still have a lot of sampling to do.

For now, lemme lust after Forever Female's Powder Brush in my dreams. :P

Puss Puss

I'm slightly better from the flu, and thanks for all the well wishes. ;) I still look a little wasted in my pics today.

So today, I decided to try my Meow samples which have been sitting in my makeup box since Tuesday! I tried Meow's Fierce Abyssinian in Pampered Puss, and Fierce Ocicat in Pampered Puss.

It was a gloomy, rainy day today, and all my shots are crappy. Grr...I tried my best to get the best lighting, and this was all that I can do.

Fierceabyss

Here I tried Fierce Abyssinian in Pampered Puss. First I used M.A.D's Medium Concealer, and then M.A.D's Green Corrector, and Fierce Abyssinian. Hmm...looks like a match to me! Or is it just the lighting?

Once again, MAD Medium Concealer, MAD Green Corrector, and Fierce Ocicat. Looks like a match to me too? Arghhh!! Initially I though it was the lighting, but I tried looking in the mirror from 100 different angles, I didn't see anything.

Or was it that I didn't apply enough?

I haven't tried Naughty Chartreux as the lighting got even worse! But I LOVE Pampered Puss!! It's just glides on my skin, and oh-so-smooth! And I'm not too sure if I should use more, but as soon as I see my that my concealer is not noticeable, I stopped buffing. But when I wiped it off, there's actually colour on my wet tissue, so I guess I applied just enough. So, a totally clean look, and I believe this might just be my 2nd HG!

Over at Jade's blog, I mentioned to Jen that I could possibly have BOTH warm and cool tones, and she said I just might. And I think after trying Meow's Abyssinian and Ocicat, I'm both warm and cool at the same time. *faints*

Anyways, I got myself a lipliner yesterday, which I used in the pics above. Love the colour, it's a pretty mauve from SilkyGirl.

And then I decided to try Meow's Serial Kitty Feliner, using it wet. Ok, please don't laugh at my horrible 1st attempt at lining my eyes. The first two picture, I lined with a flat angled brush. I look scary!!! The line was so thick, and I couldn't control the line...sheshh...I suck.

Here I used a different brush, a thin liner brush.

Linerbrush

Here's a pic of the thin liner brush I used.

I think I need to work on lining my eyes. And getting them off isn't easy!!! Btw, Serial Kitty is actually a shiny gray liner, very shiny to me! It's not shimmery, but it has a sheen that makes it shiny. Ermm...I hope I'm making sense here. At the site it's "True Dark Black liner with a gorgeous sheen and smooth silky, creamy feel". But I don't see it as black, it's steel gray to me.

Ok..I'm pretty blank at the moment. Shall stop here before I start not making sense. And my pics are all over the place!! Arghh!!! I can't get the formatting right! Dammit!!

Foxy Mama

Well, ok, I'm not a mama yet, but I thought it suits the name of the blush that I'm using. :)

On Sunday, I took loads of pics, and here's one of the FOTDs I did. I tried using the MAD Medium Concealer again, this time, putting on more and blend, blend, blend. Here's a shot of a before and after of my concealer application. Btw, those are zits drying up, so there's a flaky bit of skin on the biggest zit that I REALLY wanted to pick at, but had to restrain myself as it would start bleeding, again. Yes, been doing that so many times. Someone slap me please.

Zits

Zits-concealed

Erm, the lighting is a little off, as the left hand pic looks a tad darker, and the right one brighter. The weather was cranky that day, sunny one moment, gloomy the next.
This is just the concealer alone, no foundation. And yes, I'm hairy on the face. I have sideburns like Elvis . :P

Hmm, I think I did ok, but I used the dry method, just dipping my brush into the powder and dabbing it on the spots. Maybe the wet method would give better results.

The next thing I did was dab some MAD Green Corrector over some redness on my rashes, and for foundation I applied Lumiere Medium Golden. Here's me with just concealer, corrector and foundation. I did not use any primer underneath, just my moisturiser.

Concealer&fdtn

I look wasted.










Then I went on to applying blush, Lumiere's Foxy Brown (Veena Blush), and for lips I used Lumiere's Desert Rose (Mineral Blush). I just <3 these colours.  Foxy Brown is a purely pale brown colour, but immediately warms up as you buff the colour on your cheeks. It's not shiny/shmmery, but gives a nice warm 'glow'. Desert Rose as a lip colour, I love the reddish-coppery hue that it radiates. I don't think it's that noticeable since I didn't apply much...

Blush&lip2

Blush&lip

Then I realised that I forgot to use eyebrow liner. :P So I lined with Ianti Eyebrow Liner. 

Browliner

Eeee..my nose looks HUGE! 8-/
 









And now...some pictures of me with glasses. :P I don't like wearing them, but I'm blind as a bat without them. And I don't like taking pictures with them as the flash/sunlight would be reflected on my lenses, hence my eyes sometimes 'disappear'. Crap.

My eyes also looks wa yyy smaller with them on, and some of my friends didn't even notice that I actually have double eyelids until I took them off. Now you see why I dislike wearing glasses? Besides the fact that it fogs up whenever  leave an air-conditioned room into someplace warmer, and when it rains I'm blinded instantly.

I think I need to install some mini wipers on my glasses.

Foxyglasses

Foxyfront

Foxyside

I had to take from so many angles just so that the light was not reflected on my lens...grrrr...but you can still see the greenish glint on my glasses. *Sigh* I have no idea how to avoid that. Darn. And you can see just how vision-impaired I am from the foxyside.jpg. See how things appear so much tinier through the lens?


I wish I had 20/20 vision. Bleh.

Moi first EOTD

Over the weekend, I turned into a camera ho'. :P

I took loads of pics, so I have 4 FOTDs (well, technically I can't say that it's FOTD as I didn't go anywhere, so I did them one after the other!). But for today, I really need some help. I did some EOTD, but ermmm, I can't seem to see anything on my lids! :( What did I do wrong?

Here's a step-by-step on my EOTD:

1. I applied a little MAD Green Corrector to camouflage some redness on my lids.
2. Then I applied Lumiere's 3D- Rested, which works as an eye primer.
3. Next I layered Lumiere's Rosewood(shimmer) all over lids.
4. Then I used Lumiere's Pink Satin (shimmer) on my brow bone as a highlighter.
5. Next, I lined my brows with Ianti Brow Liner (it's a Korean brand)
6. As a final touch, I use clear Aloe Vera Gel as a mascara.

Pink Satin is almost translucent pale pink shimmer, and Rosewood's a soft brown with specks of shimmer. Both the colours were very subdued.

Here's a close up of my right eye:

Ermm...can you see anything? The other pic with eye closed. I swear I can't see any colour *sigh*

Eotd

Eotd-close

These are taken from the right side and left side, eyes open.

Eotd-right

Eotd-side

And here's with my eyes closed taken from the side and top.

Eotd-sideclose

Eotd-top

Honestly, even I can't seem to see any colour..blehhh. I think it's because my lids are pigmented, making it much darker. Plus with my eczema appearing on-and-off, I can't even remember if I have ever seen my lids in the same colour as the rest of my face. :(  It seems as if I have dark brown eye shadow on all the time..

After a while, my lids itched a little, probably from the shimmer, but my brow bone was fine (where I applied some colour as well). So I guess I should scratch out shimmery colours for use on my eyes. Matte colours are fine on my lids, but then I don't have much e/s colours as I'm not that adventurous with them.

So my dear fellow bloggers, any tips on improving my e/s application technique? I'm utterly clueless with e/s, and when I see all of you doing gorgeous EOTD, I'm in awe!

Or should I just ditch wearing e/s since my lids are so pigmented and sensitive? I can't use regular mascara as it makes my eyes itch and water, so unless I can find some mascara from a mmu company, then it's back to clear Aloe Vera gel.

And eyeliners all contain some form of silicones, so what the heck am I going to use as a liner? Grrrrr...

Btw, I wear glasses so I need to wear something that would make my eyes pop, so I'm guessing I should use pale colours? Agrhhh..it's all so confusing...

*edit to add this*

My glasses make my eyes look smaller. So I need to do something to make it bigger.


Please help this lost girl in figuring out e/s...

Just so you know.

After so many disastrous incidents with my skin, I think I can identify what exactly that makes my lips/face burn and itch.

Dimethicone and cyclomethicone.

Having tried numerous lip balms and skin care products only to find that I'm allergic to them, I really wanted to know what is it they put in them. I've been comparing all the ingredients for loads of products. Yesterday, my friend brought her bottle of The Body Shop Olive Dry Mist Oil. So I did a patch test, right on my eczema rash. 

 

Yes, I have nothing to lose. *grins wryly*

 

My friends who have used it told me that “it leaves a wonderfully moist feeling on the skin”. So without hesitation, I spritzed some on my arm (inner elbow). Then I rubbed it in until it absorbed, and waited. And waited.

15 minutes later, I knew the results. The patch was drier, and skin started flaking. And the ultimate indicator that my skin hates the product, it started itching.  Then I took the bottle and looked at the ingredients:

Cyclomethicone, Heliantus annuss, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Caprylic/Capric Tryglyceride..etc...

So I Googled for cyclomethicone, and discovered that it is a silicone. So that's what is causing all the sensitivities! Grrr....  I even went to a pharmacy after work yesterday just to check out some ingredients on skin care products and lip balms. Hah! Silicones are the culprit for making me look crappy!

I discovered that ALL the lip balms/lip sticks I have used, contains some form of silicones or parabens. This is what I found at Wikipedia on parabens:

"Allergic reactions

In individuals with normal skin, parabens are, for the most part, non-irritating and non-sensitizing. Parabens can, however, cause skin irritation and contact dermatitis in individuals with paraben allergies, a small percentage of the general population."

Darn….why didn’t I know about this earlier??? It would have saved me from a lot of pain and money wasted on the products too! I only started being more careful with my skin care products since my eczema got out of hand a few years ago and only used stuff that’s made for sensitive skin. However not all worked for my skin. I’m sticking to Simple, the only cleanser that really moisturises my skin without aggravating my rashes.

Thanks to visiting all the mmu forums, I read about how some people are allergic to paraben, silica and a million other things, I decided to analyse the ingredients in everything that I used. I stumbled upon a site www.cosmeticdatabase.com which lists hundreds of products and the toxicity of its ingredients. Makes an interesting read, and a little scary too.

I’m just glad to know all this now, rather than late with my skin breaking out all the time! And as per Jen’s recommendations, I got a bottle of Flaxseed Oil supplements today, and hope that would help. *keeps fingers crossed*

By the way, I got a pot of Blistex’s Daily Conditioning Treatment lip balm on Thursday, and I’m really loving it. When I first removed the foil seal *poof*...it smelled like poster colour! Eekkkk…how am I going to use this, I thought. Tentatively I dipped my finger and swiped a bit. Then I applied it on my lips, and went to bed. The next morning, my lips were still moist, and some cracks on my lips were gone!

Blistex

p/s: Sorry, my camera takes crappy pics at night, or maybe I'm crappy at changing the settings. :P

Yippieeee! This one’s a keeper!

On the lips,  there wasn't any discernable smell,  and it tasted pretty much like Vaseline.  I’ve been using it only for 2 days, but I can see that my lips aren’t dry anymore (especially when at work as the crappy air conditioner is blowing right into my face!), and I hope to get smooth, kissable lips by the end of the month, or sooner! :D

As for tomorrow, I'm going to be taking loads of pics to entertain everyone throughout the week.   And I can't wait for my Meow samples that Jade's mailing to me.... :)

Til then, night ladies!

I've got a great job.

"You're paid to shop for makeup".

That's what Jade said when I told her that I would be looking at MMBB's site this morning. She asked me if I'd like to order some stuff from MMBB as she was going to place an order. I said that I'll give her my list by this afternoon, when I should be doing my work instead. Oh well, that can wait. :P

So what did I learned here during my internship?

How to shop for mineral makeup efficiently, and doing it without getting caught. :P All thanks to Firefox browser. Hehe..

Anyways, I got a little overexcited, and got some supplies to make lip gloss last weekend. I got some stainless steel bowls, as recommended by geminisc, stainless steel measuring scoops, and some empty 10gm
jars to fill my minerals with. I SO wanted the Pyrex measuring cup, but it is so expensive!! RM 36.90! Ackkkk...

I really like the scoops though, as the sharp edges makes it easier to scoop the minerals, rather than the plastics scoops, which has a rounded edge. The only thing that I'm still hunting for is ziplock baggies! :(

The bowls were RM2.10 each, scoops were RM4.90 (paid by my dad :P), jars were RM2 for a pack of 2 so RM6 in total for the jars. I plan to get about 100 baggies by this week, so I can send out some samples I have to Jade, and to formulate my colours too! :)
 

I need some suggestions as well. Can anyone tell me how to make a mauve shade for lip gloss *edit* ? TKB's got a Soft Mauve mica, but it contains Bismuth. :( I don't want Bismuth in anything I use, it may irritate my skin. So which micas should I mix to get a mauve? Red Oxide-Blue Shade...with..er...some purple? Susanna, Dayna & Jen...would appreciate some ideas from you ladies. :)

Well, I gotta get back to 'work' now. Yes, selecting my colours for the MMBB order. :P