Pinkeye woes

YOU GUYS I GOT PINKEYE BECAUSE OF MAKEUP.

What!?  You ask.  But Leslie, you have great brushes and high quality eyeshadows and you've never HAD pinkeye before, sooo what gives?

I don't know!  I just don't know.  I opened up my Ariel palette one day last week (hadn't touched it in a year) and went to town, and then the day after I opened up my Vice palette which I also hadn't touched in a year, and I guess there was some bacteria in there.  It also didn't help that I don't wash my eye brushes nearly as dutifully as I wash my face brushes.

But guys, GUYS, it was the most awful two days ever.  My eye was super red and it HURT. SO. BAD.  Even closing my eyes didn't help the pain.  It hurt so much to blink that I and everyone else thought it was a stye, but no!  MY MAKEUP HAD INFECTED ME AND CAUSED ME PAIN.  I laid in bed with a warm cloth pressed to my eye and cried.

After a terrifying three days in which I didn't wear any makeup or contacts, I figured the worst was over and I could go back to wearing makeup and contacts.  DEAR GOD WAS I WRONG.  I could only stand to have my contacts in for a good 10 minutes before I gave up and took them out.  My husband laughed and said I should throw them out, but they're expensive and there's a good week left in them. 

My eye feeling better, I put on my makeup (again using my old palettes, I don't know, I'm stupid I guess), and around 2:00 PM at work the telltale signs of incoming pinkeye were present.  Not again, I thought.  NOT. A. GAIN. 

I quickly took my makeup off when I got home and, yep, now my OTHER EYE was turning red and looking irritated.  I at least had the intelligence to clean my eye brushes before I put makeup on again, so I was at a loss.  Had my EYE SHADOW done this to me?  It would KEEP doing this to me?!  I...would I have to throw my precious palettes out?!  They were only a year old!  I loved the colors and couldn't find them anymore!

TO THE INTERNET!

And lo, Wayne Goss had the sacred answer.  I must spray the bejeezus out of my palettes with 90% isopropyl alcohol.  And it WORKED, my dears, it WORKED!  I sprayed the living shit out of my palettes, and now I'm two days of wearing my old eyeshadow with not a pink eye in sight!

Moral of the story:  I should be spraying my makeup with isopropyl alcohol fairly often.


Also, sorry for the lack of posts.  I have a bunch of pictures I've taken, but I've been having a weird quarterlife crisis lately and just haven't had the drive to do much of anything except work, eat ice cream, and cuddle with the husband.  I'll try to be better!

LUSH is the best ever!

I'm ghostly pale, which means my face is extremely sensitive.  Everything pisses my face off.  I can't wear any powder whatsoever, and my quest for the perfect primer and foundation is ongoing. 

I made a post two years ago about my epiphany moment with Burt's Bees, and I'm here to say that I was wrong.  Well, not completely wrong, but mostly wrong.  Burt's Bees was of course better than what I had been using, but it still wasn't good for my face.  It did a good job clearing up my redness, but it wasn't helping so much in the pimple department.  It's only 95-99% natural, after all.

So there I was, my face STILL pissed off, and didn't know where to turn for better face care.  I mean, Burt's Bees was the best I could find without having to make my own stuff at home!  I'm pretty lazy, so that wasn't going to happen.  What could I do now?  Live with it?

No, my friends.  I went to Lush.

This encompasses how I feel about Lush.  If I were a better artist, the unicorn would be sparkly and be shooting the rainbows out of its eyes as lasers.  But alas, MS Paint and clip art unicorn for you today.  Yes, it has a penis.

Lush Cosmetics is the best thing that ever happened to my goddamn face.  There's SO many products, and I can honestly say I've tried almost all of their moisturizers (still not sure which I like best), most of their cleansers, and can accurately say my face loves me.  If only I'd stop putting makeup on it, then it would be completely blemish-free.  But, c'mon.  That's not gonna happen. 

Here's my LUSH regimen:

1.  In the morning, I slather my face with 9 to 5 in the shower and then skip steps 2-4.  This saves a lot of time since I don't have any makeup to remove.
2.  In the evening, my first step is to take my eye makeup off and wet my face (I use Neutrogena extra sensitive remover cotton pad thingies).

3.  I then get out my Clarisonic and smother it with a good helping of Ultrabland.  After my Clarisonic's done and its white brush head is completely the color of my foundation (good god that was all on my FACE?!), I wipe my face with a damp cloth until it comes up clean (even MOAR foundation omg face I'm so sorry).
4.  Exfoliate the shit out of my face using Ocean Salt. 
5.  Spritz Eau Roma toner all over my face (about 3-4 spritzes).
6.  Cover my face in the holy grail known as the Full of Grace bar and massage that shit in.
7.  If I have any problem areas (usually my chin and eyebrows--I think my beloved Dior eye pencil breaks me out nooo), I cover them with some Grease Lightning.
8.  Slather face with moisturizer.  I've tried Celestial, Imperialis, Enzymion, Vanishing Cream, Cosmetic Lad, and Gorgeous, and am currently using a mix of Imperialis and Enzymion.  Vanishing Cream broke me out (yeah, it doesn't really make sense), and I'm going to give Celestial another go when I run out of Enzymion/Imperialis.  I really don't think Gorgeous is different enough from the others to justify $90 for a moisturizer. 

BONUS steps for smexy lips:

I also slather a bunch of the Mint Julips on my lips to exfoliate them, and then cover them with Lip Service.  I have buttery lips in the morning!  Until I put lipstick on.  Sigh, it's a process.

I also love how their packaging showcases these dueling rabbits.  Because animal cruelty sucks.  Unless it's a duel, then that's out of our hands.

Do any of you use Lush?  Have any products you'd like me to review?  Let me know!

Let's Talk About Foundation.

For pale beauties, finding the right foundation is often complicated.  Drugstore foundations never get the color right, mineral foundations oxidize into bizarre colors, and almost everything breaks me out.  Seriously, I can't even wear Bare Minerals Matte, which is supposed to be the "good" one if your skin is sensitive.  If I put it on, I have a guaranteed pimple on my chin by the end of the night.  Speaking of pimples, I've struggled with Acne and terrible redness in my cheeks and nose for ten years.

Finally, at twenty-two, I'm taking charge of my skin.  And what I've found out is oh so simple:  I've likely been allergic to everything I've been putting on my face for the last ten years.  Once I started looking at ingredients of products I had been using, I found that known skin irritants were in all of them, especially the anti-acne ingredient salicylic acid.  Could I have been GIVING myself acne and redness with the products I was putting on my face to ward them off?

Yes.  Yes I was.  And maybe you are, too.  But the madness can end here, today, by switching to natural skincare products.  It's really not that difficult or expensive, which is what had kept me using Neutrogena for those ten years.  Most Target stores now have a "natural" section in their beauty department, and that's how I found Burt's Bees.  I've been using their Sensitive skincare line (cleanser/daily moisturizer) for over a month now, and my face isn't RED anymore.  It's still quite oily, and there's a shadow of a pimple on my chin, so perhaps it's not my Holy Grail of skincare.  But it's a step in the right direction.  Update:  I'm going to make a part deux to this most, as I'm NOT using Burt's Bees anymore.  It was MUCH better than Neutrogena, but it still gave my skin problems and I've stopped using it.

How To Figure Out If You're Pissing Off Your Skin:

1. Get a natural, sensitive-skin friendly cleanser and moisturizer.  I recommend Burt's Bees because it's readily available at Target, but there are WAY more options out there.  I can't stress enough that it needs to be natural, fragrance-free, and allergy-free.  I used some Philosophy cleanser (supposedly the gentlest stuff for skin) and I had such a bad allergic reaction to it that my face was pretty much on fire.  I must not have been the only one, as it is mysteriously not on sale anymore. 
2. Cleanse and moisturize your skin morning (or afternoon, if you're nocturnal like me) and night, and, on days that you wear makeup, use a toner after cleansing.  I like rosewater/glycerin toners (of course BB has one).  They're pretty good at sucking up oil, too.  You can try using it every night, but I haven't yet done the skin piss-off test with it.  I imagine it doesn't irritate.  
3. Don't think that because your face is oily you don't need moisturizer.  Because you do. Morning and night.  Everyone does.  Except people that don't have issues with their skin, but we hate them.
4. If you have REALLY bad acne, get some Zapzyt benzoyl peroxide gel (found at most Wal Marts and drugstores).  It doesn't have any irritating fillers.  It's pretty drying, but if you use your moisturizer day and night you shouldn't get any dryness.
5. Try not to wear any foundation for a week.  This may be impossible if you go out in public a lot, but try your best!  Even just putting on powder may break you out!  It did for me.  I don't ever leave my house, so this step was simple to accomplish.
6. Once your face is looking pretty damn good, introduce your favorite foundation.  If it pisses your skin off, you'll likely notice by the end of the night.  My reactions always happen on my chin.  Also, if you have bangs, forehead acne is just inevitable.
7. If that foundation pissed your skin off, wait for the reaction to clear up and try a new one.      

And that's how it's done!  I've been trying a new mineral foundation from Faerie Organic, and the lightest shade (Porcelain) is a beautifully perfect match!  They sell samples for about five or six dollars, which  made me happy.  Also, I don't think it's breaking me out.  I've only tried twice, though, and I still have some lingering kindof pimples (red dots that are under my skin) from a blowout after trying a translucent powder from Physicians Formula.  The irritant in question must be Lauroyl Lysine, because it's also in Bare Minerals.  So, avoid that.   

As for liquid foundation, I use Clinique Acne Solutions (in shade "Fresh Alabaster" of course, and it's pretty yellow until blended in with a brush) on days where I'll be out for a long time, and I worry that the salicylic acid in it might be pissing my skin off.  But my skin doesn't blow out nearly as bad as when using Bareminerals/Physicians Formula powders, so I'll keep using it.  I also just purchased the much-raved about Tarte Smooth Operator tinted moisturizer in shade 00, and I'll be sure to update this with my results.

UPDATE:  Tarte's tinted moisturizer seems to pass the skin piss-off test.  It blends in nicely but doesn't have great coverage, so I top it off with a bit of powder.  So far so good.  The Tarte stuff has a super gross clay/sunscreen smell to it for the first 30 minutes or so you wear it, though :(  Especially if you go outside!

I hope this helps, as my quest for clear skin has been quite successful.  Share your quests with me, recommend some foundations, talk about what hasn't worked for you, give me some tips!  :D

<3

Manic Panic Hair Dye Guide

Although I proclaim myself as a mistress of Metal, I'm pretty tame in "real life."  I've never had any piercings (not even my ears), no tattoos, no hair dye, and I hadn't started wearing makeup until about two years ago, and not advanced makeup (with my Kat Von D eyes and such) until four months ago.

So, at twenty-two years old, I finally decided I desperately needed some sort of physical change in my life.  I also wanted to do something shocking to surprise my fiance once he gets off his aircraft carrier [soon].  He hasn't seen me in person since October! So, out of all the "crazy" things I could have done, dyeing my hair with semi-permanent dye is by far the least damaging and non-permanent option.  My mind made up, I went on a research-quest to find the right dye for me, and decided on Manic Panic.  The brand has punky/metal colors, is Vegan and vegetable-based (I'm not Vegan, but I like when products are!), and supposedly washes out quicker than most dyes.  Winwinwin. 

I think it's cute.

I picked the color "Vampire Red" because it looked like a deep red in swatch photos and on their website, and I wanted red hair.  I have very pale skin, and red hair is just lovely on us pale beauties!  I didn't want "natural" red hair, either--I wanted super sexy, unnatural, Metal, Little Mermaid hair.  And I got it.  I wasn't expecting unbleached hair to come out so, well, vibrant.  Though, it's becoming a bit more purple as it sits in my hair and mixes with the oils in my head.  Which is still cool.

Forgive the duck face--I've been culturally brainwashed.  Photo on the left taken by Rachel Kertz.

Just look at that RED hair.  And that's without bleaching.  I always considered myself as having brown hair, but I suppose I'm naturally blonde, aren't I?  All the more reason to dye it.  And, with virgin hair and this being my first experience with hair dyeing, I learned many things.  I will share my new secrets with you.

MAGIC RITUAL OF GETTING RED HAIR:

1. Cover your bathroom (or wherever you dye your hair) with towels.  Everywhere.  The dye got places I didn't know it could go.   
2. Cover your face, ears, and neck with Vaseline.  You'll thank me later.  Also, wear a shirt you don't care about (though the dye washed out of mine).  
3. Really, have a friend/significant other/SOMEONE ELSE put your dye in for you.  You do NOT want this stuff in your sink.  SO messy.  Make sure they wear good gloves. 
4. My hair is crazy-long and very thick, but I only needed one jar of Manic Panic.  The friend who dyed my hair used a wee bit of a second jar, but it probably wasn't necessary. 
5. You can let your dye sit however long you want.  There aren't any bad chemicals in it to seep into your brain and give you cancer (Manic Panic is rated 4/10 on EWG).  The internet says the longer you leave the dye in, the longer it lasts.  The jar suggests 20 minutes and I let mine sit for four hours.  And it hasn't really gone anywhere in the five days since I dyed it.  I expect it to last at least a month.  UPDATE:  It's been two months.  Still red.  I've got some roots showing, though.  But this stuff isn't budging!  :D
6.  Please, do not get any dye on your scalp.  My scalp was covered in dye and it took over an hour to rinse all of it out, and I had to shampoo my head twice to get it off my scalp. 
7. Rinse your hair in the shower--NOT the sink--if you left your dye in longer than the instructions advise.  Even if my scalp wasn't dyed red, it would've taken a good 30+ minutes to get my water to turn clear, and even then it never REALLY turned clear.  I just had to give up.  Make sure you towel dry your hair really well after getting out of the shower.  
8. Mentally prepare yourself for all the bleeding that will happen if your hair gets wet.  Because it bleeds like a mutha.  Rain is now my enemy. 
9. Also mentally prepare yourself for ridicule from just about everyone!

And that's how the magic happens!  Granted, it seems like quite a bit of work, but it's really not so bad.  I just have to accept the fact that, with Manic Panic, that whole "when water turns completely clear" thing will just never happen.  Ever.  I always wait until the dye pouring out of my hair is a light pink (rather than blood) color before I hop out of the shower.  And my pillowcases and clothes are fine.  My towel that I let my hair dry on, though--that thing is stained pretty badly.   

I only go outside when driving places, apparently.

Stay tuned for the funny ways you'll get treated once your hair is an unnatural color!

<3

Makeup Monday - Basic Smokey Eye Tutorial

I've already posted a video about getting Kat Von D eyes, but what if that's not dark and Metal enough for you?  Well, lucky for us, the lovely lady from the Kat Von D video has another tutorial about basic smokey eyes.  And she gets them really, really dark.  For concerts I'd probably put some glitter eyeliner on top of it all to give it more pop, but overall I like it a lot.  I still prefer the Kat Von D eyes, though.  That look is more feminine, and has the opportunity for added color!   

This video made me curious about eyeshadow primer/kohl pencils, because they sound ridiculous.  I mean, really?  Stuff to put UNDER your makeup to make it last longer?  Geez.  Makeup is complicated.

But then I tried Urban Decay's eyeshadow primer, and realized that it's really, really important.  I never realized how much my eye makeup faded until I put that stuff on.  My eye makeup remained perfectly intact all day!  How have I not used this gloriousness until now?  Especially at concerts!  Thanks to this stuff, my makeup will remain glorious throughout all of ProgPower USA.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and seriously try out these primer things!  They're magical! 

Must-have Earplugs - Etymotic ER20s!

Lovers of Metal everywhere all face a real problem—the shows are so damn LOUD.  Metal can’t be turned down and tamed, so we embrace the epic volume.  It fills us with the power of Metal.  But it really hurts.  And, if you go to enough shows without adequate protection, it probably messes with your hearing.  That’s the last thing a lover of Metal wants to risk!  Ugh, a life without Metal?  No thanks.

But what can we do?  Earplugs muffle the sound!  Why even go to a show if you’re just going to muffle the sound with silly earplugs?  Those foamy ones also feel really strange and don’t quite fit into my small lady ears, anyway.

 
Fret no longer, Metal brothers and sisters!  Etymotic Research has the answer!  These earplugs are seriously the holy grail for Metal fans.  They don't muffle the sound at all; they lower the decibels to a quieter volume (which, for a Metal show, is still loud).  They come in different sizes, too, which is good for my lady ears.  I purchased the blue ones for myself, and they fit wonderfully!  I didn't have to constantly readjust them in my ears; they stayed put until I was done with them!  They also can't really be seen in your ears once you have them in, which is a plus.    And they're only $12!  The larger ones are white.

They're adorable, too.

Now, what about the sound?  Well, I can honestly say that these earplugs are the SHIT.  I tried them out at an Eluveitie/Children of Bodom show and they were so good that no one could hear me talk, even between band's sets.  Because the ETY ER20s lowered everything to a reasonable volume, I didn't need to yell.  Everything was normal volume to me.  My friends couldn't hear me because the music was extremely loud for them and they didn't have the protection I did.  Had any of them been wearing ER20s, we probably could've held a normal conversation during a set like it was no big deal. 

The music also didn't sound muffled at ALL.  It was wonderful.  It just felt like the volume was turned down.  I even stood in front of the huge speakers for a while and didn't get pummeled by the volume (though my poor little heart still felt all the bass).  For curiosity's sake, in the middle of a Children of Bodom song I took one of my earplugs out.  I immediately jumped and shoved it back in my ear.  It was a huge difference.  And, at the end of the night, I took my earplugs out and felt totally fine.  These earplugs had done the job of giving me a very enjoyable night of Metal thrashing that didn't include destroying my hearing.

For only $12 for a pair that can be reused over and over again, what are you waiting for?  Everyone who goes to Metal shows needs a pair of these.  Think of it as saving your hearing for more Metal in your later years. 



     

Metal Eye Makeup Tutorial!

Kat Von D fits my personal Metal aesthetic, and I especially love the way she does her eye makeup.  But, I'm a total noob when it comes to any kind of makeup stuff.  I needed help.  So, knowing that YouTube holds all the secrets, I found this wonderful tutorial that showed me how to achieve awesomely gorgeous eyes similar to Kat Von D's!  It turned out to be strangely simple given that I have never done more with eye shadow than, well, put it on my eyelids (because I am totally new at this makeup thing).

THE VIDEO!

                          

I used Kat's Sinner palette ($36 at Sephora) rather than the one used in the video, but came out with similar results.  For my eyeliner, I used Maybelline Line Stiletto ($6 at most drugstores and Wal-Marts), and I really like how easy it is to make lines with.  It will come off if I rub my eye, which kind of sucks, but I'm a noob and I don't know if they all do that.  I'm sure the total effect would have looked better on me had I used mascara, but I'm terrified of mascara getting into my eyes and bothering my contacts, so I didn't use any.  My contacts are very sensitive to foreign things. 

I first tried getting this look using the spongy brushes that come with eye shadows and was a bit disappointed (I looked a bit like a raccoon), so I took a chance and bought a rather expensive makeup brush at Sephora ($18, but it's double-sided!).  It made a HUGE difference and I love the way it blends the eye shadow like in the video!  I definitely recommend it.

The inspiration:  Kat Von D. 

Good luck, let me know if this tutorial worked out for you :D  I'll update with photos once I finally do it right, because watching this video again made me realize that I have in fact been doing it wrong!  So stay tuned for that.

Being Short at Metal Shows

I don’t know what it is about Metal shows, but tall people just love to stand in front of short people.  Perhaps they just don’t SEE little 5’2” me when they start walking.  They find an open spot and travel through the raging crowd just to find out that, oh, there’s a tiny person there.  Well, too late to turn back, let’s just stand in front of her.  She won’t do anything. 

And I DON’T do anything!  I get super angry and passive aggressive about it, but I usually just sigh and try to find a window around their shoulders.  But often that’s impossible, as these Viking men are as wide as they are tall, and I literally have to move myself to see anything but the tour dates on the backs of their shirts.  What am I to do?

So many tall people -_-  But Hansiiiii <3

Things that often don’t work:

• Yell (they can pretend not to hear you, and it’s very possible that they really can’t hear you, anyway)
• Try to get their attention through poking/tapping/nudging the shoulder (they can easily ignore that, too)
• Move to a different spot (the same thing will happen again when everyone’s taller than you)

Things that I may try:

• Say “fuck it” and just push through to the front of the stage and use above ignoring tactics on naysayers
• Invest in platform shoes and Dr. Scholl’s gel insoles (has anyone else tried this?)
• Bring a box to stand on and dare people to tell me I can’t

Now, there's a girl who must know my pain.

Seriously, though, what have you done about this?  Or, tall guys, what would get you to move aside for a tiny person?  If a tiny person stood in front of you without asking, how would you react?  I remember I was able to stand front row at a DragonForce concert because a kind, tall person took pity on me and MADE me stand in front of him.  So, tall men, keep in mind that it might get you points with us tiny ladies if you let us stand in front of you at shows.  ;D

Expect to see a post about platform shoes in the near future.

(Photos taken at Blind Guardian/Seven Kingdoms show at the Masquerade in Atlanta in 2010.  If you've never listened to either of these bands, you need to go do so immediately.  YouTube.)