Overcast Blues

The past two weeks here in Boston have been gray and rainy. The ever-present clouds made me appreciate the little peeks of blue sky even more than usual. Clouds really do have their own kind of beauty. Their different shapes, sizes, and intensities can really make a day feel gloomy or cheery. They could be an eerie sign of forthcoming rain. Or they could just be stray clouds wandering the bright blue sky.

Another snap from last week's little hike.

It was a beautifully, clear, cloudless sky today, though, which made me miss them a little bit. I thought I'd put together some colors to remind me of the skies of yesterday.

I pulled together a few dark, cool-toned eyeshadows. They consisted of blues, grays, taupes, and a few other muted colors. There was nothing too loud in the colors I picked out. There's always this fragile serenity to clouds, so I used that conceptualize my colors.

1. Avon Big Color Eye Pencil in Bluesmoke: Like the name suggests, this is a nice, deep navy blue with this gray smokiness to it. I think this would create the perfect navy blue smokey eye along with Revlon's Matte eyeshadow in Riviera Blue (3).
2. MAC Pigment in Deep Blue Green: This is one heck of a pigment. It has a rich, deep bluish-charcoal base, but then it also has this gorgeous teal duochrome that makes it just so pretty.
3. Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Riviera Blue: I remember I thought these eyeshadows were the bomb when they came out. Oh silly young, makeup noob me. It's a nice, deep gray-blue color in the pan, but applies so unevely.
4. Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow in Frigid: In the pan, Frigid looks like a very promising, unique indigo color. However, it applies more purple rather than indigo. I still quite like it, though, because it's still a really different color. 
5. MAC Eyeshadow in Moth Brown: I received this from Dovey this past week. I've never had much luck with giveaways, so this was such a pleasant surprise! Moth Brown definitely did not disappoint. It's this complex purple-gray-taupe that's so darn pretty, she explains it better here.
6. MAC Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe: Between the two cooler taupes, Satin Taupe looks so much more brown. It adds a layer of complexity to the colors I gathered.
7. Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow Quad in Sandstorm (the last shade): This is a deep, almost completely gray taupe. This really reminds me of dark rain clouds.
8. Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Birthday Suit: I thought the group needed a little light, and this was the best fit. As a champagne color, though, it's not too bright nor too dark, which was perfect here.
9. Rimmel Lipstick in Airy Fairy: This is a cool-toned, mauve-pink with a gold sheen. It's such a unique shade because the color itself is very cool, but the gold sheen warms it up and creates a lovely lip color.
10. Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Pink Truffle: What's a fall/cloudy color palette without a deep lip color? This is like my beloved Revlon Soft Rose's younger sister! It's a browny-rose pink that I just adore.

Is it just me, or would 5, 6, 7, and 8 make a lovely quad? I'd totally buy it.

Some close-ups of the swatches.

(I was too lazy to swatch it on my nails.)

Also, befitting with the theme is this Essie nail polish in Power Clutch. It's a rich, charcoal color -- totally reminiscent of smoke and dark clouds. 

The other goodies she packed into the package.

I really want to thank Dovey for hosting such an awesome giveaway and for being so generous with the samples! As you can tell already, I'm lovin' Moth Brown. I hope you guys enjoyed this post. It's been a while since I last played with some colors, huh? Have a great rest of the weekend! :)

Thinking Pink

Hey y'all! I said I was back, but oh-so conveniently, I started getting sick this past Monday. First, I got an intestinal infection (still recovering, can't eat oily foods and dairy until the end of the month) and then on Wednesday, I caught a cold! I've lost 5 pounds this week...scary. And you know that nasty, crunchy cough? Yeah, I have that right now (le sigh). But anyway, let's not brew on my sickly-ness.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and to show my support, I decided to do a pink look.

Now, more than ever, we need to find a cure for this horrible disease. I personally don't have much experience with a family member having breast cancer, but there are millions of strong, beautiful women who are affected by it right now. This post is dedicated to these women and their families. Stay strong and fight through it, ladies!

Love the boobies! // Can you identify some products in my make-shift pink ribbon?

Didya miss my face? Haha, I hope I don't look too tired here. My skin's been acting up because of my health lately (or lack thereof). Also, please excuse the fact that I'm in my pajama shirt!

For this look, the star of the show was my Urban Decay Roller Girl palette, which consists of a ka-pow! bright fuschia pink (Woodstock) and 3 lovely neutral shades (Verve, Suspect, Darkhorse). I applied Woodstock all over the lid. Then, I placed Darkhorse in the outer v and outer lower lashline. I used Suspect to blend Darkhorse into the crease, and I also used it to line my lower lashline. Lastly! I applied Verve as an inner corner highlight. I also used:

• Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Vintage Lace (highlight)
• Avon Professional Eye Kohl Liner in Dark Brown (top liner and waterline)
• Maybelline XXL Pro Volume Waterproof Mascara in Very Black
• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink in the Afternoon
• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Pink Pop (just a little bit)

Oh yeah, my little toys had a little something to say too:

...so let's save them!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I will be back in tippy toppy shape very soon! I would love to see you all do some pink looks this month. Let's show our support for the boobies!

Beautiful Blue Beach

Haaaayyyyyy guissseeezz! 

I'm back from Puerto Rico! It's actually been almost a week since I've come back, but my internship started so I haven't had the time to check back in. My Puerto Rico post will come...soon enough! I took soooo many pictures that I don't even want to look at them yet, let alone edit them. In the meantime, I did sift through some of them and found these shots of the beautiful beach my resort was next to. They really blue me away (ehehehe I had to).

The varying colors of blue, light blue, dark blue, blue-green, green-blue...such a multitude of blues blending together into the horizon. The sky, the clouds, the water -- they were all so beautiful and clear. The sand was so finely grained and had such a vibrant color. As the warm waves washed up on shore and retreated back again, I pondered about life and its mystique.

 

The only things obscuring complimenting the sky were these fluffy white clouds, passing by and moving along their ways. How great it would be to reach up and grab some off to eat like cotton candy (though it wouldn't taste very sweet).

And so, I decided to pull some colors from my collection to remind myself of that temporary getaway, that "paradise lost." While definitely not as beautiful and vibrant, these do make me reminisce about where I was a week ago. Along with this little turtle as my companion, I took another trip back to Puerto Rico in my mind.

Clockwise from my travel companion (Just noticed how it went from blues to gold/champagnes...I did not plan that little spectrum -- how cool!):

• Urban Decay eyeshadow in Painkiller: This gorgeous, vibrant aqua blue screamed "THE OCEAN" to me. It's so bright and blue-tiful. 'nuff said.
• L'Oreal HiP pigment in Valiant: This is such a complex blue to me. The base color is a cornflower blue, but because of the purple duochrome, it flashes an indigo that's so pretty. I don't know about you, but an indigo eyeshadow is hard to come by in my opinion. 
• Lancome Le Crayon Kohl in Le Bleu de Jim: I've showcased the beauty of this eyeliner before, but here again is this beautiful, bright, super-vibrant, kapow cobalt blue eyeliner PENCIL. I still, to this day, am shocked by how bright it is despite being a pencil. This color really represented the sky to me. Sometimes the sky can be so blue, it's shocking.
• L'Oreal Color Chrome Eyeliner in Gold Charge: This is the most perfect gold color ever. Not to mention, the eyeliner is smooth and stays on forever. Gold is such a summery color. Like coral, it invokes the images of the beach, the sand, and the hot sun.
• L'Oreal Colour Juice Lip Gloss in Strawberry Smoothie: I picked this not only because of the name, but also because the color of it is exactly the same shade as how the sand was. Yes, it was that orange.
• MAC lipstick in Marquise D': This has the prettiest golden sheen ever. It may seem like a boring ol' sheer pink lip color at first, but that sheen running through it just makes it beautiful. I think that this is perfect for summer, not only is the lipstick light and sheer, but the color is just gorgeous.
• L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Iced Latte: This is the quintessential champagne color. And white is the quintessential summer color. People wear white bikinis, white shirts, white dresses, white hats, white pants -- white everything in the summer. It helps people stay slightly cooler since white reflects sunlight (as opposed to black). Here, Iced Latte is the perfect balance of that summer white and the beautiful pearls in oysters. 

I just realized there was a whole lot of L'Oreal goin' on in this grouping...oh well! Here are swatches of the colors. Doesn't it scream the beach to you?

1. Marquise D', 2. Strawberry Smoothie, 3. Iced Latte, 4. Gold Charge, 5. Valiant, 6. Painkiller, 7. Le Bleu de Jim

One of my mentors gave me these magazines that my company publishes. They talk about the projects that the whole firm works on and other design interest stories. He's letting me keep them! I really liked the cover on this one. Try finding the items that were in this post! Some of them are pretty well hidden. ;)

Tell me if you found all of them!

It's only my third day at the internship and already I'm being exposed to so much design and architecture. It's really amazing how much work goes into one single project. I can't help but feel scared and overwhelmed about what my future could be like. But at the same time, I'm really loving every minute of it. 

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

It was another typical day on Maggie's bookshelf: the books were stacked on top of each other in disarray, the little trinkets were all on the verge of falling off the shelves to their doom, and the miscellaneous items were all just...miscellaneous. Everything was just the usual.

But on this day, Domo, an inhabitant of Maggie's bookshelf, happened upon an Urban Decay eyeshadow. The eyeshadow had always been there, but Domo had never really taken notice. There was someone familiar inside that eyeshadow -- it was his robot friend from way back when! Domo was extremely confused as to why his friend was stuck in there. In desperation, he let out a thunderous roar...

Note the comic book-like effect. 

But alas! His frantic outcry was to no avail; nothing happened. Domo started clawing at the little eyeshadow. His friend wasn't moving either. He seemed perfectly content in that little container. Domo flipped it over and read the label on the back. Whatever it was, its name was Ruthless.

Domo walked away, sad that he couldn't free his dear friend. But suddenly, the eyeshadow flipped open! It revealed a pale taupe rectangle with a pearlescent sheen. It had the slightest signs and marks of prior usage. Startled but still curious, Domo slowly inched back toward the eyeshadow.

I'm getting quite tan...

He finally realized that he had actually passed by this eyeshadow many times in the past. He just never really paid much attention to it. He stared at the interesting color it had.  Domo thought, huh, it must look good on the skin. And so he borrowed Maggie's hand to swatch the eyeshadow. Indeed it looked great on her skin. It was a lovely medium-tone lid color. It was the perfect natural smokey eyeshadow color. There was this nice golden sheen to it too.

Excited by the eyeshadow's pretty color, Domo began to dance. It was a simple, silly dance, but the eyeshadow seemed to feel compelled to join in as well. He lifted his little arms up and down as the eyeshadow opened and closed. It was a delightful little show. 

By now, Domo had forgotten his little friend stuck in the eyeshadow. The little robot seemed fine in there; he had his pet dinosaur to keep him company anyway.