No Such Thing as New Blacks

I have a strong tendancy to choose black over any other given color - probably some lingering side effect of my teenage pseudo-gothness (il faut bien que jeunesse se fasse...). I thus hereby declare the saying pink/grey/brown/turquoise/green-striped-with-purple-poke-a-dots is the new black bullshit obsolete.

Seeing that I am working today (Halloween), and felt too lazy to put a costume together, I decided that wearing some thick creepy black-and-red make-up would do the trick. Things you need to know about me : I rarely if ever wear colorful make-up; I own a ridiculous amount of colored make-up, because it's pretty; I (fairly) succeed in talking myself out of buying colorful make-up now - my drawers are full enough as it is.

For these reasons, I decided that buying a black base for the sole purpose of this black smokey-eye would be silly. That is why I used Mac's Blacktrack as a base.

I had my eye on Blacktrack for a very long while before I decided to purchase it, just because I already multiple black liners, either liquid or pencils. As it turns out, I adore this product as a liner - I find it easier to work with than a pencil (I have rather wrinkly eyelids) to draw a very thin line. I do  set it with a black eyeshadow, but I don't think it's a necessity.

As a base, I have to say, it does a very decent job. The product is very smooth, creates a nice opaque surface, it's smudgeable (thus, blendable) and once it is set, it does not budge. A little goes a long way - you do not need to build a thick surface for the shadow to go on very black, and if you put too much, it will crease. Sheer it out, and you'll be able to rock your dark look all-night.

Youtube Crush

I've always had a certain interest in make-up, but it has definitely grown out of control in the past years, since I've discovered the Youtube Beauty Community. Since then, I've fallen in and out of love with tons to make-up artists and bloggers... but this time, it's the real thing. I've found the one.

Some of you might recognize him from Temptalia - his videos have been featured on a few occasions. Dustin Hunter (aka youtube's Dustyohunter) is, and I quote his channel presentation :


"My name is Dustin Hunter, I'm an artist and a musician living in the wonderfully wet Pacific Northwest. I have two large dogs and wear far too many band t-shirts.


Musician: I write, compose, sing, play guitar and piano. I'm a fan of just about anything glam rock and prefer 20th century composers when it comes to my classical tunes (gimme some T.Rex with a side of Stockhausen and I'm a happy camper - Not as happy as Pamela Springsteen, but happy).


Visual Artist: My weapon of choice has always been a number 2 pencil and a ream of plain, white, copy paper. Give me a ballpoint pen and I'm set for days."

Dustin is an incredible source of information, tips, informed reviews, knowledge about products, photography, objective descriptions, organization tricks, subtle/man make-up advices, creative ideas, do-it-yourself tutorials, driving advices, jokes and cute smiles. I think he's fascinating, funny, interesting, has gorgeous eyes and offers series of exhaustive reviews of different product. Special mention to his pigment series, and the very recently uploaded Guide to MAC foundations. His videos are very professionnal, and have obviously required hours and hours of work and dedication.

CLICK HERE for his channel. You know you want to.

PS - this is quite possibly the least representative video of his channel, but he's in the shower and he is yummy. :)

Your Best Friend of the Week

If you've never heard of Mehron before, you're hearing it from it now, and it's about time !

 A little history

Mehron was founded by Mehron Melik in a loft in Broadway, New York, in 1927. For years, his "Mehron Ladies" went from show to show - burlesque, vaudeville, silent movies, ballets, etc. - to provide products and tips & advices on stage make-up.

After the beginning of WWII, Mehron stepped back from the make-up industry to spend a few years meeting with severely disfifured soldiers to teach them how to apply make-up in order to hide their scars wounds or burns. He traveled for two years from New-England to Virginia, stopping in many veterans hospitals, and helped hundreds of soldiers to regain a little pride.

During the 50's and 60's, the important growth of the entertainment industry in the United States ended the "Mehron Ladies" era : Mehron products were now carried by retailers. In 1971, Martin Melik took over the company, and he has been working hard since to developp and improve Mehron's selection of products, and improve the company's image, focussing on impeccable customer services.



Why you care

Mehron is one of the leading brands in stage make-up in the industry. Their products are long-lasting, apocalypse-proof, very pigmented, affordable and easy to get your hand on. In my area, they are carried by some crafts store, any costume store, and around Halloween, even in drugstores.

Some of you who are Youtube addicts like myself might have seen some people use Mehron's water-activated colors as eyeshadow bases - it is one of the many examples of how versatile their products are. I personally didn't think picking up some stage make-up items could be useful for everyday use, but after purchasing a few things to do some Theater Make-Up, I often found myself reaching for them for every day use !

That being said, the great think about Mehron is, even if you don't ever use the product you purchase after Halloween, it's so dirt-cheap that it will have been worth it anyway. At my local drugstore, I found some fake blood, tooth-stain or colored foundation (green, white, grey...) for only 3-5$ each. In specialized stores, most of their products are available in a wide range of colors and size - and, I can't stress this enough, are incredibly affordable for the quality of the item you are getting !

I cannot stress this enough - if you are doing some stage make-up for a show, movie, production of any kind, if you plan on doing some body painting, feel like adding some versatile products to you collection, or just want to be the Joker this Halloween, do consider Mehron !

As I said, Mehron should not be hard to find this time of year - that being said, if you live in a town that does not believe in stores, Mehron products can be purchased online on the following websites :

Mehron's official website

Silly Farm is an amazing website to get any kind of special effects make-up. That being said, I have never purchased anything from them because the shipping fees to Canada are super mcduper expensive. Their products are incredibly affordable, though !

Have a great Halloween !

Because for Once, Being Yourself Is Overrated !

Remember when you were a kid, and Halloween would come up, your parents would make you go to a field, pick a pumpkin, spend a whole afternoon with your hands in orange goo to empty it, draw on it with a sharpie and not even let you risk a few fingers by cutting it yourself, throw you in a stupid mouse suit with your winter coat underneath (where I live, it freezes by Halloween, sometimes even snows), make you ring at every single door in your neighborhood for hours ONLY to collect candy that they will end up stealing from you anyway ? Oh, the cavities and stommach aches from the cheap potato chips... No wonder the second we turned 16, Halloween stopped meaning free candy, and started meaning booze and creepy parties ! One's gotta deal with their traumatisms...

All jokes aside, I love fall, I love make-up, I love parties, and I love how on every October 31st, you can combine all of these elements. Every year, I start planning my costume in the middle of the summer, think of how awesome it's going to be, and then forget about it until I realize on October 28th that I have no idea what I'm going to come up with that year. You'd think I'd learn - think again. It's October 24th, and I have no idea what I'm going to wear next week-end. Don't judge, procrastination is fashionable.

I'll be going out downtown this year, so the plan so far is only to wear something thrashy and black and a funky face make-up - I'll probably be doing a few friends' make-up too. I think that a lot of people in the twenty-ish area and up will be doing the same - whether it's for school, work, or going out. Whilest looking for ideas online, I stumbled upon a bunch of old Mac face charts that were somewhat Halloween themed, so I figured those could be helpful for some of you !

Click below to see more...

Get Rid of Old Make-Up and Receive Some More Old Make-Up

You know, that funky green nail polish you got on sale at the CCO and only wore once, to an alien-themed party ? Or that gorgeous blush that cost you a fortune, and that after wearing it for six months, you realized it made you look like a clown? Every make-up enthusiast has at least a few items they got on impulse and never used, or received as a gift, or plain got sick of it - got check it out your make-up stash, I'm sure there are a bunch of items that are there for the sole purpose to collect dust.

I hear you say : what are you trying to say ? That I should throw those away? But but but they're so pretty, and were so expensive !!

I know what you mean : I am biologically unable to throw away make-up. I would never dare to ask someone to do it. What if I told you you could trade the make-up you don't use for other items that you might enjoy more ? Sounds too good to be true ? Enters Makeupalley. 



http://www.makeupalley.com/  - Check it out !

Makeupalley is an online community on which make-up enthusiasts can sign up, upload a list of the items they are willing to trade (your "swaplist"), upload a list of the items they are on the look-out for, and,well, start trading ! You can browse other people's swaplists, contact them and offer them to trade for something you have. All the trades are conducted through mail, so you have to pay for the shipping fees. Many Makeupalley-ers will agree with me on that one - it's not an amazing way to save money, shipping fees can add up to be pretty expensive, but I find it more responsible than throwing products away, it allows you to get in touch with some amazing people, and more often than not, people include little extras !

Makeupalley's "security" system in their token system - whenever two people swap, they leave each other feedback in the form of a token  (either positive, neutral or negative) with comments. Normally, the more (positive) tokens a person has, the least you should worry about swapping with them. In general. Always (and by all means, always!) read any negative/neutral tokens, and the last 10-25 tokens (even if they are positive). Some people will leave positive tokens, but write in the comments some negative aspects of the swap.

Makeupalley members all have a common phobia : swaplifting. Swaplifting is when two people agree to swap certain items, exchange adress, one person sends their end, and never receive the products they were supposed to get in exachange, and never hear from the other swapper again. It can happen, but they are ways to avoid this (and ways to deal with the situation, if it does happen).Swaptawk is THE place to turn to if you want advices about the ethics of swapping, or how to deal with a swaplifter. Swaptawk is the reference when it comes to swapping etiquette, or how to deal with a swaplifter. Definitely check it out *here*!

Most Makeupalley members will ask newcomers (i.e. people with less than about 40 tokens) to send their end first - that means that you should send the items you have agreed to swap, and once the other member has received them, then they will mail out their end. It's a little annoying, but it's the only way members can protect themselves from being swaplifted - they have had to go through the same for their first tokens !

I started swapping items this summer, and traded with 7 different members. I have only had amazing experiences - the girls I dealt with were nice, honest and generous. Makeupalley is a great experience if you do take the necessary precautions :)

Makeupalley also has a few interesting features, like message boards and product reviews. I find the product reviews uploaded by the users very useful, but frankly, I don't care much for the message board. Personnal opinion.

It's a great website, do check it out here !

60 Seconds Affair

As I mentionned in my Budgeting post, I had an eye on OPI's Girl Talk this week. Seeing that I'm poor, I guilted myself into picking up Rimmel's Torrid instead - somewhat similar color, and it was on sale. Also, I have to admit, I was intrigued by the "60 sec. drying".

This item turned out better than I expected for three dollars. The color is pigmented and opaque enough to be worn with only one coat, which I find is rare when it comes to dark nail polishes. I did not care to actually time it, but it does dry very quickly if you only apply one coat. I find that the second coat takes a little longer to dry - but I forgive Rimmel, that's completely normal.

Now, on the down side - it takes just about 60 seconds for this nail polish to be messed up after you apply it. Even if it's not as bad as some other cheap nail polishes I've tried, Torrid tends to chip like crazy. I've worn it all week and had to touch it up at least once a day for it to be presentable. I also found that once dry, it would easily transfer on a surface it you brushed your nail on it by mistake (for example, on a piece of paper). Lastly, the color has a metallic finish, but somehow seemed to look a little flat - it has different levels of color (undertone, midtone, highlight), but still, it doesn't look deep at all. It is hard to explain, but I find it's the nail polish's biggest flaw.

Still, for 3$, I think this nailpolish does a great job. It is a great way to add colors to your nail polish palette, and perfect for any of you who like to change their nail color daily !








The actual color of this product is a mix of these two pictures.



A mid-deep burgundy, with purple undertones and orange highlights, to be precise !





Philosophy - Update

I mentionned the Make-Up Optional set this week, but specified that young skins might not need the firming products. Here is another package that might be more interesting for us youngsters! It includes Hope in a Jar and Purity Made Simple, but also the Amazing Grace 3 in 1 : Shampoo, Shower Gel and Bath Gel. I am in love with Philosophy's 3-in-1s : they smell amazing and I find they do a great job as a shampoo as well !

This set is a limited edition offered by Sephora - and it happens to be on sale right now! It can be purchased for 55$, which is a great deal for four full-size products.

You need that. Get it.