The Curse of the Giftcard

Does this happen to anyone else? Me and my younger sister both are experiencing this (and have been for the past several months).

My mother gave both of us gift cards to Smart Set for Christmas last year (as in 2009).  We had both asked for them.  We had both gone shopping several months before several times and loved almost everything we tried on or even saw.  So yay giftcards right? Wrong.  Since then either a) nothing we see tickles our fancy or b) the things we might like don't fit right at all.  It's the curse.

Of course, in the meantime there's all the lovely precious adorable articles of clothing that are in EVERY other store other than the one you have the gift card for. 

There is of course fantastically gorgeous jewelry which I love and want and covet.  But I made the stupid decision to not spend my giftcard on jewelry because I have so bloody much of it already.  I don't wear it that often either.  And I am fully capable of making my own most of the time.  So I don't see the fiscal responsibility in purchasing more (but ooooh how it tempts me).  I may have to give in soon though. 

...but then once I spend my giftcard I shall for sure find something fabulous I want in the clothing section.  Ugh. Such is the curse.

- Love, Becka

I am a Camera Whore

I think I only look good in pictures taken by myself, so I tend to take a lot of pictures of myself by myself.  Lol.  So this is what I looked like to go to work today (boo working on a Sunday).

More after the break with a breakdown of what I used on my makeup.

Test Drive: Tresemme Waterless Foam Shampoo

I think I saw a commercial about Tresemme Dry Shampoo and I wanted some, but I couldn't find it in the store when I was randomly browsing so I got this instead.  So I thought I would do a play by play and first-time thoughts on the product for you readers out there.

Photo taken from the Tresemme website 

It cost about $6 here in Canada and it's hilarious to me because it's called "waterless" but the first ingredient is water.  They mean rinseless...but it's still funny.

This seems like an awesome product for me because I tend to get sweaty-head at night and wake up the next day after a really nice hair day with some greasy roots and pouffy ends and it's annoying to use baby powder or corn starch to dry it up and then style and the you get the weird powdery feeling on your head.  So I thought I would give it a go.  I wore my hair up today because of the greasies...so this is my starting look.

 Oh yeah! Hehe...So the instructions say to take 2-3 pumps and distribute throughout hair.  So I did the 2-3 pumps...

Not a lot, honestly.  It ran out quick, so I put in approx 6-8 pumps worth.  However, I think I did too much honestly because I don't think you're supposed to saturate the hair at all, just work it through as best you can.

Then you're supposed to towel it off.  The back of the container makes it seem like you put it in and towel dry right away, but the site says to put it in, let it sit, then pat dry.  So I think you'd just experiment to find out which works.

This is where I speculated that I put too much in because it wasn't towelling dry at all...just...towelling.  I got the same effect as if I had just done a quick water/shampoo/rinse of my root area, which defeats the purpose of the "waterless" foam if it's like a shower in a can basically and I have to dry my hair still.  I shall try next time using less.

Final result...wet roots.  Not what I had envisioned.  However, they are drying now (30 mins later) and they feel a lot softer and cleaner than before I did this, and it smells lovely.  Very fresh-scented.  I have hopes of it working better when I follow the 2-3 pumps only...I'll keep you updated.

- Love, Becka

Blonde Blonder Blondest!

So my need for blonde wasn't satisfied with the honey/caramel bronde that I had going on.  It definitely was lighter than my proper brown, but comparing it to my hair colour now it's massively darker.  I'm kinda glad it went that way though because I went blonde gradually, well...gradually enough.  It's not like I went medium brown to light blonde in one day and shocked everyone (I just shocked my sister and her husband, they had gone away while I was still brown-haired..lol).

So here's the before and after from bronde to blonde!

Bleach Review: Kaleidocolors by Clairol Professional

So I wasn't satisfied with the blonde result 100% so I went back to Sally Beauty Supply and bought myself a packet of bleach thinking I would put in some lighter streaks to get a different effect.  Well, I then changed my mind and decided to go lighter all over.  One packet of bleach wasn't going to do much to my hair for sure so I went back and bought myself a tub...lol.  I plan on being blonde for a longer period of time so I'll need more for touchups and stuff.  Also I might do my sister's hair as she's wanted a streak bleached to put purples or blues in for some time now...and she hasn't been able to get it done herself so this might work.

picture found on google imgaes search

 

I bought the Kaleidocolors powder in Blue Azul from Clairol Professional
Cost: with my beauty club card it was $20.95 from SBS, well worth it as each packet of 2oz is about $5 and I used approximately 8oz total so far to do my whole head so that would've been $20 from packets and none left over!
Claims: "Lightens up to 5 levels and adds cool tones, for black to medium blonde hair;" "Lightens and tones in one easy step;" and "10 minutes to perfectly toned highlights."
What I liked: It definitely works in 10 minutes.  Although I went from a medium blonde to a light blonde so that's probably why.  The instructions, however, have you sitting under a heated dryer with a cap on your head for the 10 minutes so the extra heat and the cap would probably lift at least from a medium brown depending on how you hair handles.  It smells great.  It only faintly smells like chemicals and actually smells more like some blue-raspberry sweet bubblegum kind of scent.  I had vague images of people trying to eat it because it smelled like candy.  Heh.  It's also not *too* damaging.  My hair was pretty porous and dry to begin with from the stripping of the darker colour last attempt, but this didn't make it any/much worse.  However, I also drenched my hair in conditioner and olive oil after.
What I disliked: It didn't really add much cool tones.  My hair looked green while developing, but once rinsed it was still yellow/golden coloured which is pretty standard for bleaching hair.  I think it would've been nice if it gave you an estimate of how much to use for a whole head of hair as it just gives you the ratio to mix at and I had to keep going and mixing more and more to get my head covered.  But I guess professionals would be able to tell just by prior experience how much to use.
Would I buy this again? Yes, but I don't think I'll actually run out of the powder as I have probably enough to bleach my whole head at least 4 more times.  I would also perhaps try the violet shade as well if needed, but my hair goes more golden/orange easier than it does just yellow...so blue is the opposite of that rather than just purple.

Result pics to come...

Blonde Becka (aka, don't do what I did..)

So finally I am some sorta normalish semblance of a blonde shade.  Lol.  I'll give you the story in pictures as I took pics pretty much every step of the way.  Keep in mind I did all this today between the hours of say...10:30am and 4:00pm.  I don't suggest you do this all in one day, but I am a stubborn girl and I have kicked the crap outta my hair before and so I know sorta how it handles...but even I shouldn't have done all this (I could've gone without one of the steps I did...)

Remember the brown hair before?

well, it is no more...it has been replaced with this crazy lady.

That is so strange.  I don't notice too much of a difference when I just look at it with no comparisons, so I am glad there is actually a dramatic change between the brown and blonde.

My trip to Sally's!

So the other day I searched on google for Beauty Supply stores in my hometown and I got a few weirdo places and one that seemed okay so I checked that out on monday and it seemed smallish with not that many types of hairdye.  So I was a bit bummed but whatever.  So I check online on Sally's and maybe I can order stuff? Nope, it's US shipping only for the time being.  Ugh...so I store locate for nearest one thinking I might cross the border sometime in the near future and...lo and behold, there's one near my neighbourhood! Yay.

So I bus there (worst bus ever....the driver kept braking at random times and drove probably like 60kmh in the 90kmh bus only zone...).  It's amazing! I've never been to a beauty supply store before but I am totally going to go there often I think.  Esp if I am going to be dying my hair again regularly.  I got their club card because it was only $5 for the whole year...

A (condensed) History of Hair

I am about to embark once again in drastic hair changes (going blonde hopefully this weekend), so I decided to do a post dedicated to where I have come from in terms of hair-dye adventures.  I have been dying my hair since I was in grade 6.  Back then it was semi-permanent red shades only.  And they probably looked awful.  I remember them turning out bright red on the top and being just subtle red on the ends...I have since learned this is due to both the heat of the scalp speeding up processing as well as just the "freshness" of the hair (stuff at the ends is obviously less new...lol).  I don't remember the first time I did a permanent dye, but it was probably also a red shade.  I played around with red and auburn and darker browns until about grade 10 when my boyfriend at the time liked blonde hair, so I attempted a blonde dye.  Blonde dye over red dye = orangey hair.  Haha.  I tried to pass it off as strawberry blonde though and it didn't look awful, just...not awesome.  So back to browns and auburns again.

Here's on of the earliest pics I have of reddish hair colour

Nothing special really...

Then in grade 12 I bleached for the first time.  It was totally covert and hilarious now looking back as I did it completely wrong basically.  Okay, not wrong...just really awful for my scalp.  I slathered the bleach mix on, wrapped my head in saran wrap and then stuck a hat on my head and ate lunch with my mom and she didn't know what was going on.  Haha.  Then I checked on it after an hour perhaps and it was yellow so I rinsed it out and had strawfeeling yellowy hair with orangey ends.  I tried to tone this down a bunch with semi and perm colours in blonde, but it still was pretty yellow looking.  Haha.  I eventually dyed the underside hot pink and put some streaks of pink in and got that for my grade 12 class pic.  But for grad I needed to go back to brown, so I did. 

More story after the jump...LOADS of pics, sorry anyone with dialup still...

I am a horrible blogger :(

I promise I'll blog more, I've just been busy with work and then there was a heat wave so I didn't feel like sitting in my un-airconditioned room for anything other than sleeping (which was horribly uncomfortable anyway).  Nothing like it feeling like 44'C with the humidex! Also I feel my room is hotter than any others because it gets the most sun directly from sunrise til just before noon and it has no cover from trees, so the rest of the house is blocked by trees but my room doesn't have that so it's hot hot hot.

Makeup relatedness:
I have been wearing my rimmel primer and a TEENY bit of mineral powder only lately.  It's been too hot to put anything else on as I just sweat it off as soon as I walk out the door, and even in the heat wave the rimmel primer made me look less shiney so that's a bonus.  It has minor coverage because of it's tint, so that's good.  Other than that just mascara and maybe a teeny bit of eyeshadow or eyeliner.

Hair relatedness:
I've gotten over the fact that I dyed my natural hair to a gross colour and then redyed it to practically my natural colour again (I was in tears over the fact that I just processed my hair for basically nothing...haha).  SOOO...now I wanna go blonde.  Actual blonde.  I"ve done it before and it's always been really golden blonde shades because I've never used the purple shampoo/mousse/whatever that tones it out.  However, I don't know what I am doing 100% so any advice would be welcome.  I think I'll either strip the colour I have now and do a salon-style thing with the separate developer and colour, or else just bleach and then tone.

Pictureness:
Some recent ones after the jump.

Update and a Question

So I'm back from my mini-vacay to Sarnia to visit my boyfriend.  It was fun.  Canada day was a bit of a bomb at first because I didn't know anyone at the BBQ my boy took me to and he knew most of the ppl there so I felt all alone and blah.  But watching him play with his band was fun and then we had a good time afterwards watching fireworks and stuff.  The Sarnia ones were on par with the ones here in Ottawa generally.  The ones in Ottawa this time might have been wicked awesome though because they doubled the budget due to the dear-old Queen visiting. 

So yeah.  I was sorely tempted to purchase makeup items while I was there because their Wal-mart is better stocked than the one's here.  I almost bought Soft Nude by Revlon for 7.97, and I almost bought either a nude or the Rose Sorbet lipstick from Rimmel, but I chickened out last minute.  I think once I pay my tuition I will get the Rose Sorbet one for sure and most likely Soft Nude as well if I can find it here (otherwise I'll send my boy to get it...heheh).

What I did buy was Maybelline The Colossal mascara in waterproof from the Superstore (Loblaws by another name...hehe) because it was on sale for $5.99 which is decent and it's my fave mascara for big lashes. 

So that's that.  My question I have is if anyone has tried the Rimmel lipstick in either the nude or the rose sorbet and what their verdict is.  I like the lasting finish lipsticks well enough but have never tried the moisture renewal ones...

Some (semi) Recent Purchases

Most of these are from today and there is a FOTD and NOTD thrown in as well :)

I suppose I'll start out with the FOTD.

You can also see the final hair colour here, but it's not that different from my natual hair colour.

Used:
Rimmel Fix and Perfect primer
Revlon Concealor
Physician's Formula loose mineral powder in Translucent/Light
PF mineral wear blush in Berry Perfection
MAC blacktrack fluidline
Loreal Voluminous
Revlon colorstay lipstick in Sheer Watermelon

One more face pic plus the purchases and NOTD after the jump :)

I promise I'm not dead!

Lol.  So long since I've last posted, but like I said, I was busy busy busy.  I have also been getting more hours at one of my jobs so that didn't help matters.  So the wedding was wonderful! There were a few glitches but nothing major.  I was afraid that either me or my sister (the bride) would have a major rant moment somewhere in there about something trivial because of stress but she was super calm the whole time which I think set the tone for everyone else.  It was hilarious, at one point while getting ready she said "Guys, it feels like I'm getting married..." and we're like..."uh, you are.."

Not much makeup-specific pictures because I was rushed with that aspect.  I spent my time on her makeup which makes her look like she's not wearing anything really and then barely had time to do my own let alone the maid of honour's (she asked me like as I was doing mine if I would do her eyes).  But everyone looked fabulous so it's all good.

More pics after the jump!

An Apology FOTD + New Frames!

Ugh, I have been a busy bee lately and have neglected my blog.  My little sister has finally moved back home and now it's feeling really super busy because her wedding is next weekend (the 18th of June).  There's a bunch of stuff I have to do for it still and its all so hectic.  We hosted a bridal shower for her this past Sunday and it was difficult but fun. My sister is the black sheep of the family, so to speak.  What I mean by that is that she's weird and super social and has loads of friends and keeps in touch with everyone and everyone loves her.  The rest of my family is on the shy/quiet side and don't particularly enjoy big gatherings.  I did quite well though...I was kinda in charge so I had to explain the games and everything and I have grown so much from my former shy self because of my schooling and just working with new people almost on a daily basis that I got through it fine.  Heh. 

Anyway, onto the FOTD! I have been doing boring looks lately with just eyeliner or just mascara even so I though I would go for a bright look for summer.  Urban Decay's Deluxe e/s in Graffiti is just what I was looking for in this look.  It's so awesome.

My Nail Polish Collection (Thus Far)

So I was thinking about doing this for a while, but never got around to it.  I kinda was going to do it alongside my makeup collection post, but that never happened lol.  So when I saw Leah do this, I was reminded of it and since I have the weekend off and nothing to do...haha, I thought I'd go for it! 

Here's how I store them.  They're all just jumbled into a basket on my bottom shelf near my desk for easy access.

Time for some Blog Lovin'

So I thought this was really cool because you get to design your own award to share.  So thank you muchly to Helen from In Elegance.

And here is my Award:

And I shall award this to:

http://rachelmaya.blogspot.com/
http://boobie-monster.blogspot.com/
http://peamakeup.blogspot.com/
http://joannerama.blogspot.com/
http://yourstalkerslittlesister.blogspot.com/

- Love, Becka

NOTD: Emerald City

I started out today trying to do a gradient nail effect from yellow to red.  That turned out horrible, so I just started over again and grabbed the nearest colour which happened to be this lovely green by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.  I am glad I did because I love the colour.  It took 2 thicker coats or 3 thin coats to get the shade I desired (2 on the thumbs for some reason I got more on the brush for them).  I think I shall do my poor naked toenails in this shade as well. 

- Love, Becka

My tips to beat the heat.

So we in Ontario have been having a crazy weather May.  The average temp for May is usually low to mid twenties.  Today the high was low thirties with a humidex of mid thirties.  It's crazy hot.  They say this will pass and get back to more seasonal levels soon, but if this is a taste of summer, it's gonna be a scorcher!

taken from google images, searching heat

Experimental NOTD + quick FOTD

So my foray into fancy nail polish techniques as mentioned in the last post was successful!  I am totally in love with this look and have been thinking up different colours I can do it with and if I need any more nailpolish (Need? Maybe not...but definitely want).  I chose purple because the sparkly nail polish I have is kind of purplish in it's base.  So here's the final result:

FOTD + OOTD from Yesterday

I didn't have time to post this as I went to work early yesterday and I worked today as well, so now you're getting it.  :)

Here's the look in natural light.  For some reason the open eye version of this didn't want to upload to photobucket. Hmmm..

Review: Avon Smooth Minerals Lip Tint

Photo taken from the Avon.com website. 

Brand: Avon

Name: Smooth Minerals Lip Tint

Colour: I have this in "Smooth Nude" and "Smooth Shimmer"

Cost: The website says they're $3.49 at the moment.  I think that's about right.  I actually got them because my Mommy decided to buy them for me.  Thanks Mom!

What I liked: I love the smoothness of them.  They definitely live up to their name.  They are pretty sheer but still give some colour.  The Shimmer one is like a nice cross between a gloss and a balm IMO, and the Nude one is darker than what I would call nude but it still is close to my natural lip colour and works well.  I like the packaging, reminds me of the Softlips balms.  They go on smooth, they make your lips feel nice and they've got minerals in them which are nice. 

What I disliked: The smell isn't all that great.  It's certainly not horrible or strong, but it could do with some sort of yummy scent rather than a waxy scent.  I also had trouble putting the product down in the tube.  It goes up fine, but it took a bit to get it to go back down which could be a problem if you put it up too high.  Also I notice in the ingredients it's not exactly groundbreaking in substances...just your basic oils/waxes/etc.  And it may contain carmine which if you're against that sort of thing then this is no good.  I would think only the Berry shade though would have it, but you never know.

Would I buy this product again: Probably, but I am sure there are other products that can give you the same results so it's not something I would rush to get.

Sunny NOTD + Earrings!

I had the day off today semi-unexpectedly because my one work called yesterday and said a few people had cancelled so there wasn't any use for me to come in.  Kinda sad but that's how the industry goes.  So I've had a relatively boring day with the hilight being going to Best-Buy to get a new mouse.  My mouse decided to stop clicking.  My dad tried to fix it but it still takes a lot of force to click the mouse and occasionally it doesn't work.  My computer is slow enough without having to deal with a touchy mouse so I shelled out the $21 to get a new optical mouse. 

On to the nails! I tried a few days ago to paint them yellow in the sun, but quick drying nailpolish + heat from the sun + wind = dries way too fast = sticky lumpy mess.  So I tried again today and I love the result.  I used a combo of 2 layers of Sally Hansen Instadri in Lightening and Claire's brand nailpolish from the non-neon rainbow set.

The SH gives the opacity, but it's a creme colour so it's hard to get it perfectly even without doing 3+ coats which is ridiculous, so I put the Claire's on top because it has a bit of shimmer which helps smooth over imperfections, plus it added more of a Taxicab yellow as the SH is a bit too light for what I like.

FOTD - Purple BBQ look

This afternoon I am going to a BBQ party for my sister and her fiance at his parent's house.  Today is also my first day off since last Wednesday.  I am stoked.  I also finally charged my camera's battery so here's some pics of today's look.

Natural light by my window.  Flash pics and products after the jump.

Urghh so sorry

I haven't posted in a week.  I started my 2nd job last Friday and I worked all weekend as well because they want me trained and able to work by myself by this Sunday.  So much pressure haha.  The Sunday's are pretty dead at a pay-day loan company though so, I'll be okay for sure. 

The major thing which has been going on in my life related at all to makeup/beauty/health whatever...is...I seem to have come into contact with some lovely poison ivy a week or so ago, on the back of my leg.  Yay! Not.  It is seriously the worst thing ever.  I have had my legs covered in mosquito bites and have it itchy and stuff...and this is worse.  I had to put anti-itch stuff on all the time and even then it would itch because my pants would brush against my leg.  I would wake up at 4AM or 5AM with my leg ON FIRE practically and I was scratching in my sleep.  I really hope it doesn't scar at all because I scratched so much. 

So I went to the Dr's and she wrote me Rx for some cream for it, but, because my Dr is practically the worst Dr in Ontario...she didn't put the strength of the cream on the Rx.  And so when I get to the pharmacy they call her, she doesn't do phone-in prescriptions, so they fax over the request.  She doesn't fax back.  That was yesterday.  I checked in today and they still never heard from her.  It is now 10:30 PM and I still haven't heard from the pharmacy, which means they have yet to hear from her.  She isn't busy.  There is no excuse.  It's really annoying because it's not like my rash is just sitting there being patient while this is all going on.  It is getting somewhat better, but still itches like mad.  Argh.

Right now Lanacane extra strength anti-itch creme is my favourite thing.

My *realistic* summer wishlist.

So I got the job! Yay! And to celebrate I already bought new mascara (L'oreal Voluminous, which seems to be everyone's favourite).  In other good news I went to my job-that-I-already-had today and my boss was in and told me that she was pretty sure I would be getting around 20hrs a week there this summer unless it was super slow at times.  This means that with both jobs I should be averaging around 30 hrs a week, which isn't full full time, but it will get my needs met.

So that means shopping!

I need to make goals of paying off my credit cards so I don't end up just spending most of my paycheck and then wondering why I have no money.  So I thought I should make a wishlist.  A realistic wishlist.  I have a separate wishlist for if I am able to pay off everything and have loads of excess cash, haha.

So here goes...

Step By Step: Bronzed Babe

I decided to take pictures of every step of makeup I did this morning (afternoon? I don't remember when I did it). I started off today really lousy and barely got out of bed. I was kinda down because yesterday I was supposed to get a call about a job if I got it, but no call came. So I called today and it turns out they just haven't gotten my police check back yet which is why they didn't call. I'm supposed to call again tomorrow because they should be getting it tonight. So that perked up my spirits and I went and tanned in the sun for a while reading my hydrotherapy book (DIY tips to come another time) and then I went in to do my makeup.

This is the finished look

 Warning, pictures without makeup are coming up.

Lazy Days FOTD

I feel like I have been wearing practically the same look for a while.  These pics are actually from last Wednesday but I honestly don't look that different today.  And I just haven't been getting pictures...oops.

Look, I am so bored! Hehe.  This was right before I left for my final practical exam btw.  I was not a happy camper, so stressful.  But at least I had pretty eyeshadow!

Custom Nail Polish

I got this idea from watching this pursebuzz video on youtube.  The only issue is that I am not a huge fan of nude nail polish.  When you have to have clear/no nail polish on for clinic at school, when you get to wear nail polish you want it to be fun and bright.  So I decided to try this with mineral eyeshadow instead of just mineral foundation.

The Results:

A few recent purchases...

So my exams are done! These last two practicals went okay, but not as great as the midterm ones.  Usually the assessment is something concrete and easy to find, but most of the assessments today were all vague and could be interpreted differently.  I'm sure I passed though, and that's all that matters.

I haven't been buying much because I haven't been working much and I need to get a 2nd job so I can pay tuition, but I still have been trying to buy some things.

Review: Shimmer Strips by Physician's Formula

I've had this product for a while now and I go through periods of not using it, and then using it almost daily and then not using it again. 

Brand: Physician's Formula
Name: Shimmer Strips custom bronzer, blush and eyeshadow
Colour: Vegas Strip (Light Bronze)
Cost: I got mine on sale for about $12 I think
What I liked: This makes an excellent everyday eyeshadow.  The lighter shades are great for hilighting both eyes and face and the darker shades match well with them for crease work or allover lid colour.  There was a time where I wore the 2nd lightest shade all over my eyes every day with the darkest shade in the crease.  Everyday.  The texture is easy to blend and it is very shimmery.  There is also a lot of bang for your buck, especially if you use it as eyeshadow.  This has lasted forever and I have barely made a dent.
What I disliked: I find it overly shimmery for using as a bronzer.  I only use it as a hilight.  The colour payoff isn't that intense because it is so shimmery.  Even the darkest shade comes out light because of the shimmer.
Would I buy this product again: Yes, I don't think I can even get to the bottom of this though, but if I did, I would totally buy it again.  I would like to check out the other colours perhaps as well.

Ps: I think it would make a nice body shimmer for a night out too.  Just take a big fluffy brush to your collarbones, decolletage, etc.

Night Out

So on Thursday I had an exam and we were going to go out that night because the morning class on Friday was cancelled.  I thought I had to work though, so when my boss left a message saying it wasn't busy at work and I didn't have to come in, I was super excited!  We started out the night at my friend's house and then later walked over to the school for the 1st annual Drag Show!  It was so much fun!  This totally wasn't something I normally would do, I am normally a homebody and love just lounging around and I don't go out much...but sometimes all you need is a completely opposite night.

I was getting ready and decided I needed to be fabulous looking so I went a lot brighter with makeup than I would normally wear out, and then as a final touch I added sparkles under my eyes a bit because, hey, we're seeing drag queens here...there needs to be sparkles!

Pics after the jump.

40 Beauty Questions

I have an exam tomorrow so I am procrastinating as usual and blogging.  However I didn't want to take and upload and format and post pictures this time so no pics.. :(  I actually forgot to wear mascara today so my makeup isn't all that great looking anyway.

The 40 questions are after the jump!

Sunshine Award!

I got a blog award! Yay...my first one.  Nominated by ..R May A..

Rules:
- Put the award on your blog
- Pass the award to 12 positive and creative bloggers
- Link the chosen ones within your posts
- Inform the chosen ones by commenting on their blog
- Share the love and the link to the person who gave it to you

This shall be hard to pick 12...

I tag:
Daisybee
Bree
Makeup Kitten
Milly
Olivia
Vivianna
Fashionfreak
Fee
Blahh
Jo
Leah
Helen

There's quite a variety there...:)

Yay for awards.

New Brushes! + FOTD from yesterday

So a few weeks ago my boyfriend, Sean, was all like "hehehe" and I asked what and he told me it was a surprise.  Well, a couple days later we got in a bit of a tiff and to cheer me up he told me he had bought me some makeup brushes online!  He bought me this Sigma brush set and, like it says, it comes with a free foundation brush.  Well, they came today.  I got home late from my clinic and there was a package on the stairs with my name on it, I was super excited.  Pics of the brushes in they're cuteness after the jump, plus my aztec gold look I mentioned before...I did it yesterday and forgot to blog.

FOTD - Bronze Babe + Baking!

Yesterday I was totally planning that today I would do an "Aztec Gold" look as I have two very different colours both called Aztec Gold.  Well this morning while getting ready I totally forgot all that and just used my L'oreal e/s palette in Kerry's Bronzes.  Meh.

Saturday's Happenings

So it was raining all yesterday and normally my hair just turns into a frizzy ball of ugh when it's humid and wet out, but not this Saturday. No, my hair decided to do awesome things and suddenly I realized I had actual curls in my hair. Normally, yeah, I have waves. I can only really get any curl if I don't touch my hair at all when it's drying (as in, no combing it through at all, so I therefore get a weird part and slightly curled hair). If I just comb it all out I get decent classic hollywood starlet waves (score!). But yesterday I had actual curls. This is how I wish my hair always was. No wonder I love rain.

Pics after the jump.

FOTD - Keeping it Simple, +NOTD

I wanted to just do a look with more eyeliner than I normally would wear, and see how that went.  I like it, actually.  It wouldn't be good for some days at school because eyeliner + mascara + face cradle = smudge.  The "I just had a massage" look isn't so fashionable.  It is however, one of my favourite looks because it means I just had a massage :)

Some more, plus how my nails look after the jump.

All Dressed Up

And no place to go.  Well, actually I am not at all dressed up, I'm in lounge pants and a hoodie.  But I did do my makeup all extravagant because I was bored and wanted to post some look.  I decided to dig out my palette that I always forget that I put together and use just the colours in there for a look.  I'm actually hitting pan on one of them and it's kind of chalky texture so a lot comes out when  you put a brush in, so I think this one might get used up fast if I do looks with it more often.  Then I can count it in my pseudo P10P thing I'm doing.  :)

So yeah, I was bored, and I made this look.  If you have questions as to the colours used, just ask, cuz I don't feel like listing them.  Hopefully I'll be able to remember.

Mini FOTD - Dark Green

So I'm still sick, but I feel okay other than my nose being stuffed up and feeling like a pillow is inside my head. That didn't stop me from completely rearranging my makeup shelf. I blame the fact that I have a project to put together for Friday...so yay procrastination!

For the FOTD I am just going to list the eye stuff because I'm lazy. Pics are after the jump.

NYX e/s in Lime
Fyrinnae e/s in Boy Toy
L'oreal e/s palette in Kerry's Bronzes, the lightest shade as hilight
The usual eyeliner and mascara

Relief

My sore throat is gone. I am so happy about this. I absolutely hate sore throats and would rather have any other type of sickness (except maybe puking cuz I haven't done that in a long time so I think I forget how bad it is). I am still stuffed up and whatever, but it's honestly glorious compared to how I was yesterday. When I get sick I usually feel really out of it and get really silly and hyper at the same time. So I was making huge jokes and dancing around in class today. Then to make everything even more awesome I didn't have a client in clinic today so me and the other person who didn't have a client had some fun joking around and I got my hands massaged. Awesome! I got paraffin wax on my hands and elbows and now they're ubersoft. I am definitely investing in one of those for when I have a clinic of my own. :)

I also went on a walk this evening to the dog park near my house. I saw the cutest puppy ever and fell in love with it.

- Love, Becka

FOTD - Think Pink, and EOTN, and a Rant

I was sorely tempted to do another shimmery neutrally silvery eye look for today, but I figured my last two FOTDs were that and I should pick a different colour, so I went with pink. Yesterday was the "pink it your way" thinger that I got invited to on Facebook and I wore a pink coat when I went out, so I decided to continue the pink trend for today as well.

Baking, Baking, Procrastinating

Mmmm cookies. So I have a project due this week in my theory of massage class. Big, huge case study group project. I've assigned myself the most work because I am kinda a control freak for school things. I feel like most projects I can do all by myself and also I don't want people to think I am slacking off in the group so I assign myself huge amounts of work and then give the other people smaller tasks and I always say "I'll put it all together." (I was also drilled with grammar every day of grade 12 English so I am usually the best proofreader for projects as well...) Anyway, yeah, so I have that due. Thus, I have been doing anything but that. Today I baked some Chocolate Chip Squares and they turned out awesome and gooey and delicious (I've had two already) and then I baked some Shortbread with Chocolate chips in it just using a basic shortbread recipe. Yum!

Now I think I'll watch some Lost and crochet a bit more. Haha.

- Love, Becka

FOTD - Bluish Silver

This looks a lot bluer in person, but for some reason on camera it looks almost completely silver. Meh.

Quick Update of Mini Haul-age.

So I went back to the warehouse sale yesterday and got the other two colours of gel blush from Revlon (a peach and a cherry red kinda colour), and I got some anti-aging primer stuff which smells awful, haha. And then I got some Almay TLC foundation in Buff, some Revlon concealor in Light/Medium, some Neutrogena hair cream thing, and Revlon Colorstay lipstick in Sheer Watermelon. I LOVE the lipstick stuff. It does stay on pretty well, not through the whole day, but its a great sheer colour so it's no super obvious when it fades.

I then met up with my mom at Walmart and she bought me a new bra (I was dying to get a new one, it's so hard to find decent ones that aren't a billion dollars). We also go these two flowy cardigan things, one black, one grey. Hopefully I can get decent pics sometime, but they're comfy and will be great for a bit of a cover-up in the summer for work and stuff.

- Love, Becka

Ps: It's thunderstorming here and I love it.

So This is Where I'm At...

I realize this is kinda silly because I plan to go to the warehouse sale again and buy a bunch more makeup tomorrow, so I'll have to update again with more pics, but oh well.  I just spent the last hour taking pictures of my makeup and sorting through and throwing out a bunch (mostly lip stuff and nail polish).  So here is my stash!

Naked!

I went to school without mascara today.  I know, OMG!  Haha.  I had lined my eyes all nice with my MAC fluidline, and I even put on lip stuff this morning.  And then I go and forget mascara.  I think the fact that I remembered to put on lip gloss threw me off.  I was getting distracted because my Duwop lip venom glosses have gone separate and all that comes out now is clear goo while the colour remains in the tube, so I was trying to get colour out.  I should probably just toss them though because they've separated.  I think I'll go through my makeup tonight and throw out a bunch and take pictures of what's left and post for you guys my stash.  :) Yay makeup-porn to come.


- Love, Becka

FOTD - Silver

I was watching some videos on youtube last night and one girl on one of them had some awesome silver eyeshadow.  Then I remembered that I had silver eyeshadow! So naturally I did that today. 

Happy Easter!

Lent is over! I can drink Coke again whenever I want hahahah!  I won't go back to how I was though, because that was sad.  I was having about 3 cans a day, give or take.  Unfortunately I didn't lose much weight which is disappointing because I know other people who cut out Coke and then they like lose 40 lbs or something in a week.  (Hello, exaggeration).  I lost, about 3 lbs total?  And that includes me doing a bit more physical activity (strength training once or twice a week and walking a bit more) and trying to eat a bit better as well.  So while it's not nothing, it also ain't much at all, and thus confirms my thoughts that drinking Coke wasn't having that large an effect on my weight.

My First Warehouse Sale....

And Walmart purchases.  So I read in the newspaper that there was a "blowout cosmetics sale" going on at one of the arenas in a nearby sportsplex.  I was intrigued but I wasn't going to go out of my way to make a trip to see what it was all about.  This morning my sister and I were doing a whole bunch of shopping and were going to go to Wal-mart, but never ended up making it there because we ran out of time.  So I had just gotten back from a 3 hour long shopping trip with nothing to show for it.  I wanted something.  I know I am doing Project 10 Pan, but I have set myself different rules, so I wanted to get myself primer.  So I set out for Walmart.  They didn't have the primer I wanted, but I decided to try out something different.  I picked up a few other things there and then left.  On the way back I thought "hmmm, I could go check out that warehouse sale thinger" so I did.  And I ended up getting, combined with the Walmart excursion, 7 cosmetic related items for about $30.  Score!

I am not cut out for being a hacker...

So I asked in my last post about making "read more" cuts like you can have in LJ.  Well so I googled it and found a bunch of sites giving me html coding for creating the cuts.  I went through and tried to figure it all out, copying my template and expanding wigets and whatever else they have you do.  And it wasn't working.  Seriously, I was frustrated.  The best option I had found, I followed the instructions perfectly and then it wouldn't let me save at all because I was missing a closing around a "div" or something.  Now, I have always been stellar at following instructions to a T (if they are well given anyway), so I was quite upset that I wasn't getting anywhere.  But I eventually figured it out.

That's the last of it...

I don't think I shall move over the complete tutorials to this blog. I will just link to the other blog with finished picture looks. Does anyone know if you can do blog cuts here like you can on LJ? It would be nice so that when I do future tutorials or other super long posts I don't want it to take up the front page of my blog entirely. Ya know?

Mermaid Tutorial



Smoldering Tutorial


Smokey Eye Tutorial



Well there you go, folks. I think that's all the useful posts from my previous failed blog. If you do end up going there through these links there is a big picture post of my stuff, but it's way outdated and I while I still own a lot of the eye-related things, the rest of it is dead and gone.

- Love, Becka

Another one from my other blog

I always think of things to post about as I am doing makeup in the morning, but I don't blog until after classes are done. This leads to me forgetting what I was going to blog about and having to do more thinking while I sit with the "new post" open. Heh. So here's some filler from my old blog. All about easy makeup to get into.

Slice and Dice Slacker

So I went to upload the pics of my haircut from my camera and....haha. I haven't uploaded pics to my computer since February. There were a lot of pictures. So here are the pics from my haircut.

Before:

Not a good pic of my hair, but basically you can see it's not that special of a haircut.


This was right before I cut it.

After:

Not a fair comparison really because I straightened it and I normally don't. Haha.

Well there you go. Haircut. I didn't take off any length at all, just added loads of layers and got rid of some weight of the hair especially at the ends. And I trimmed my bangs a bit. All in all one of the best haircuts I have ever a) given myself and b) gotten in general.

- Love, Becka

MIA

So on Thursday my boyfriend came up for our anniversary of 5 years and he just left again today so I was....busy. Haha. He messed up my routine and thus I didn't blog. I barely went on the internet at all actually. So sorry. He was going to buy my some primer, but we didn't have time for shopping and when we did he was pretty broke so he's gonna give me some money to buy it when he gets paid. So I am looking forward to that. I have so much to do now that he's gone because I didn't do anything while he was here. For instance, where are those photos of my hair? Haha, I'm a slacker and they're on my camera still. I'll get those up tonight or tomorrow, I promise.

- Love, Becka

Review: True Match by L'oreal

Okay, so I am a bad girl and haven't uploaded my photos from my haircut yet. I am notorious for not uploading pictures. I'll take loads and loads and then never do anything with them except let them sit on my hard drive until I move them to my external hard drive where they "rot" away into nothing. Haha.

On with the review!


Brand: L'oreal
Name: True Match
Colour: N1
Cost: It was around 12 bucks at wal-mart.
What I liked: I liked the bottle, somewhat. And I like how liquidy it is, it runs well without getting all over the place easily. I liked how it has built in SPF.
What I disliked: I cannot seem to get this foundation to not look gross on me. It looked fine the first day, but after that no matter how I apply it, it looks cakey and just accentuates pores and bumps and lines. It seems to sit on top of my skin and then just disappears after a couple hours.
Would I Buy it Again: I would only buy this again if I had amnesia and completely forgot about how much I hated it.

I know some people love this stuff though, so honestly, try it out if you want to. Also, when I tried it over top of a bit of primer that I had sampled it seemed to work a bit better, but I don't actually own primer yet, so I can't give a good review of it over primer. I will be getting primer (present from boyfriend yay) this weekend at some point so I shall make an amendment to this as I try it out.

- Love, Becka

I Really Shouldn't

But I can't resist. Haha. So I have been growing out my natural hair for almost 2 years now trying to get out all the dyed bits (they were gone in November 2009) and then get it nice and long and healthy and virgin again. I also, however, have hair ADHD apparently and I love changing it often. Growing hair out is a long and boring process. I have already given myself bangs twice and let they grow out again. It isn't enough apparently. I am bored again.

So I was watching the lovely youtube and saw videos on how to cut one's own hair. Now, I have been cutting my own hair for a long time because a) it's cheap, and b) if I mess up, I don't care too much, but if a hairdresser messes up I get pissed (and I have paid for uneven hair before so, no). I haven't really ever used these techniques though. So I shall see how they work tonight! Expect pics tomorrow after I properly shower and style myself.

- Love, Becka

Dirty Dirty Dirty

So here's one of my posts I did over on my old blog. I shall move it here because it's really important. I personally used to never wash my brushes, or wash them once a month or every like, Friday the 13th or something random like that. And I did actually know people who never would wash their brushes and they kept their dirty brushes in a bag under the sink with the rest of their makeup. Like, hello warm moist dirty place for bacteria! Haha. So Here it is:

Unfinished...

I have the horrible habit of completely forgetting to do anything to my lips when I put on makeup. I am not huge into lipstick, but I do own quite a few glosses/glazes/stains/etc. However, I only ever seem to use lipbalm the most. And I only really put it on if my lips are sore and dry and peely. Bad habit, I know. Lips are fragile and thin-skinned and need protection from the elements. I think I read somewhere that lips had a higher instance of skin cancers forming, and that women thus have less of that location because a lot of us wear lip product. Interesting.

I want to love lipstick, I really do. It always ends up looking like I'm playing with my mother's makeup as a kid though. The rare exception is when I have unnaturally coloured hair. Case in point, me with black and red hair. Dark lipstick, looks nice IMO.


Yeah. If I tried that now with natural coloured hair I would look like either a) that I am trying too hard to go for an avant-garde look or b) like I set my makeupgun to whore like Marge on the Simpsons. lol. So maybe I am doing things wrong, maybe I can try again later. Actually, yeah, I'll try again a lot. I have a few lipsticks that I need to use up.

- Love, Becka

Project 10-Pan

Haha, so I am starting off my makeup postings with a post about how I am not going to be buying makeup. Yay. It's okay though, I used to have another blog as well so for makeup related things I am just going to move some of them over to here so it won't be dead on the makeup front for the next while.

So yeah, I am doing Project 10-Pan. Well, a semi-relaxed version which may or may not result in 10 used up products. P10P is when you commit to using up 10 items of makeup before you purchase another. For anyone out there who has seemingly suddenly acquired more eyeshadows than there are colours in the visible light spectrum, or has 7 different black eyeliner pencils that all give the same result...this is a great help. My relaxed rules on this are due to the fact that I don't own more than one or two mascaras at a time, and I only usually have one liquid foundation at a time. So once those are gone, they're gone. So I am allowing purchases of foundation and mascara (but only when I run out).

All About Me - Lame Survey Time

So I just went to a random survey site and picked some questions that I thought I would answer on here.
Nickname: Becka, Beckers, Becks, Becky, Bear, Boo
Zodiac Sign: Libra, and I so am. I am kinda vain, I like pretty things and hate arguments. I love balance in life.
Marital Status: Legally single, but I am in a long term relationship.
Language: English, and Frenglish
Heritage: 1/2 Dutch, 1/4 English, 1/4 Czech
Ethnicity: Whiter than a ghost
Hair Color: Born blonde, turned medium brown..and at the moment, is all natural
Eye Color: Greenish most of the time
Height: 5'7" ish
Piercings: Yes, a few.
Tattoo: None at the moment
Shoe Size: 8.5
Body Type: Curvy
Best Physical Feature: Eyes, and I have pretty feet.
Most Overused Phrase: I say "like" a lot
Favorite Quote: "Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now." From
Favorite Season: I like aspects of all of them but I think I like early Fall and late Spring the best.
Favorite Holiday: Christmas and Valentine's Day
Favorite Color: Rainbow, but if you make me pick one, Purple.
Favorite Video Game: Katamari, and MarioKart (any of them really, N64 is best though)
Favorite Food: Pasta, Pizza, Candy
Favorite Drink: Coke, Water, Peach Juice
Favorite Dessert: Bread Pudding, Pecan Pie, anything warm and caramelly
Favorite Candy: Do I have to pick one? I love sugar
Favorite Snack: Tostitos and my dip I make
Favorite Fruit: Peaches and Strawberries and Cherries
Favorite Veggie: Spinach
Favorite Store: Shoppers Drug Mart, the 24 hr kinda are the best
Favorite Make Up Brand: Drugstore - Maybelline, High End - Urban Decay
Favorite Cartoon: Tv - Simpsons, Family Guy, Newspaper - Non Sequiter, Sherman's Lagoon, Internet - QC, xkcd, Natalie Dee
Do You Think Your Attractive: Some days
Do You Get Along With Your Parents: Yes, actually, we get along quite well
Do You Want To Go To College: I should hope so as I have almost 6 years of post secondary schooling already. Lol
Do You Want To Get Married: Yes.
Do You Want To Have Kids: Yes
What Is Your Goal This Year: Pay off my Credit cards so I can buy makeup more.
What Do You Want Your Career To Be: I am going to be a massage therapist
Do You Shower Daily: Nope. Every other day, sometimes every day.

Welcome! First post...

So I got inspired and decided to make a new blog on blogspot because it has a nicer layout in my opinion. This won't specifically be a makeup blog, but that's probably what I'll mostly talk about. That or hair or fashion or knitting or whatever random bits there are in my head. The title "Cake for Days" is kinda an inside joke with my and my boyfriend, Sean. It was a couple birthdays ago and I had received several cakes and had baked my own and all that. So I joked that I had enough cake to last for several days...or...cake for days. And then I decided that I would make a "bubblegum-punk" band called that. But the likelihood of me being in a band is slim to none, so thus I'll use it as a blog name.. Haha, how lame is that. So....yeah...That's it I suppose. I'll probably be posting more during the summer months than what will start out with because I am in school. I think the next post will be a "get to know me" post with answers and shiznatti.

- Love, Becka.