Addicted to Pretty? Addicted to NEON.

So today, this came in the mail:

Sugarpill Cosmetics, Sweetheart palette from the Addicted to Pretty collection

I first purchased from Sugarpill Cosmetics about six months ago when I was on the prowl for the perfect matte white shadow.  I had a lot of matte white shadows in cheapie palettes I had picked up along the way, but most of them had just led to a lot of frustration at the color not being buildable, the white not showing up, et cetera.  I blogged about MAC Gesso last year as my first entry EVAR, and while it is a matte white that I could make work, it still involved a lot of effort and energy and uh.  I am lazy a lot of days.  A friend suggested I try Sugarpill's Tako, because it got good reviews on YouTube and the makeup blog circuit.  So that I did. Tako is the essential matte white shadow, as far as I am concerned, so when Sugarpill had their birthday sale last week and all shadows were on sale, I was more than okay with the Sweetheart palette having that color, even though I have a single already.

I don't own any of the other colors in a single, so I was excited to see how pigmented they were.  (I am not kidding anyone, any makeup purchase turns me into the proverbial child on Christmas morning).  I swatched all four colors on the back of my hand.  I am very fair-skinned, so often a color will look SUPER BRIGHT in the pan, then I have to spend enough time building the color to match how I feel it it supposed to look that I can practically feel myself aging.  Which means wrinkles, which I don't want. That is one thing I really like about Sugarpill - what you see in the pan is pretty much what you get.  I did not put any primer on my hand before swatching (though I would never use it without primer on my eyes) and the colors are still bold and bright. 

As for the colors: Sugarpill's website calls Afterparty a "bright turquoise" but to me, turquoise is more of a bright teal, with more green than this color has.  This shadow reminds me of the Cerulean crayon in the box of 64 Crayola set (I am dating myself here).  Which was, COINCIDENTALLY, my favorite crayon color back in 1990.  It is more a bright neon blue than a turquoise, at least for me.  It is not a matte, it has what Sugarpill describes as a "semi-pearly sheen".

The site calls Dollipop "vibrant, matte, hot pink!"  And..yes.  That is exactly what it is.  It is the perfect hot pink matte eyeshadow.

They stick with "vibrant green with a slight pearly sheen" to describe Midori, which is vague.  It is a kelly green, and the slight pearly sheen part is spot on, because it is very slight, but enough that it isn't exactly a matte, but definitely has far less of a sheen than Afterparty.

I can't wait to use this palette, though I am a little late for Carnaval, I may use it for my first real tutorial, which is probably coming this weekend.  (Probably.  I have commitment issues.)

Stay beautiful, party people.

In which I am a smurfette

Products used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion Original
• Urban Decay Foxy (cream/beige, lid)
• Sephora+Pantone Universe 17-6219 (green, lid)
• Urban Decay Cobalt (blue, crease)
• Urban Decay Venus (brow bone)
• Urban Decay Blitz (gold, lower lash line)
• Too Faced Perfect Eyes Waterproof liner in Perfect Black (smudged on upper lash line, water line)
• Smashbox Full Exposure mascara

I need to figure out how to get my living space set up so I can do video tutorials now that I figured out how to use iMovie, I KNOW.  I also used a sample of Urban Decay's Naked BB Cream and was not impressed, so I need to do an entry on BB cream and why Dr. Jart+ Black Label is my favorite, I KNOW.  FOTD posts get us through the hard times, YES?

Somewhat topical: I made a First World Problems meme that pretty much represents my entire life and I will share that with you now.

Don't pretend you don't understand.

 Stay beautiful, party people.

of mental struggles and how they lead to the perfect cut crease.

I have been anxiety's bitch for the last few months.  The idea of really DOING my makeup cripples me, along with thoughts like putting on my underwear or deciding what to have for dinner.

However, I managed this today:

Using mostly the Urban Decay Vice Palette, the outside of which I will not photograph because the second you take it out of the package it is fingerprint city (UD, WHY?).  I started with Echo Beach from lash to brow:

Then used Stila Smudge Pot in Cobalt to cut my crease (there are so many tutorials on cutting the crease, I will not be doing one):

Blended out with UD Chaos:

Then softened a little with Anonymous as a highlight on the browbone:

And a light dusting of Armor from lash to crease:

Finished with Makeup Forever liquid liner and BeneFit Bad Gal Lash:

And again: