Makeup Time!

It's been AGES since I did any posts on wardrobe or makeup or any of that stuff, so it's about time I shared some great stuff with you.

I've got three terrific makeup items to rave about today:

1.  The first is Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.  This stuff is AWESOME!!  It comes in three colors, Original (which is what I use), Sin and Eden.  There is also an anti-aging formula, although I can't find that one on their website, but I did see it at Sephora when I bought mine, which is the regular formula.  I get NO creases in my shadow any more, and it isn't sticky or smelly.  The only thing I don't like is the wand applicator; in my opinion, it takes up too much room in the tube so you get less of the primer itself.  And who needs an applicator to put on primer, anyway???  Fingers are MUCH more accurate and you can use less primer because you can spread it better.  You're also more likely to get germs or foreign stuff into the tube if you wipe an applicator on your lid and then put it back in the tube than you are if you just squeeze the primer out onto your finger.  But maybe that's just me. 

 

Anyway, I highly recommend this primer.  I get mine at Sephora, but I'm sure you can get it at other places as well.  It's a bit pricey, at $20 US for .33 ounces, but it lasts a LONG time, and it's well worth it.  (Actually, I just found it on Urban Decay's website, and they have it on sale for $10 US!!  But of course there's shipping, so pop! goes the savings.)

2.  After you've got your primer on, it's time for eye shadow!  I recently found Almay's Intense 

i-Color in Trio for Blues (032) on www.BuyMeBeauty.com.  You HAVE to look for the one that says (032) because there are more than one of these called Trio for Blues, but ONLY this one has these specific colors (see below):

 

The top color is a shimmery silver-grey.  The middle color actually looks like deep-blue-to-almost-black in real life, but it looks matte black when it's on (at least, it does on me).  I'm a little bummed that HALF of the container goes to a pale pink that I would never wear in a million years, but hey, the other colors are worth it!  They go on smoothly and stay put.  And it's only $3.99 US at BuyMeBeauty!

3.  My final rave review of the day is for Maybelline's Waterproof Ultra Liner (in Black, of course).  This stuff is INCREDIBLE!  I've never had liquid eye liner that went on so nicely and stayed so well.  I was worried when I saw the short teeny bristles of the brush, but I think that's part of what makes it stay on so well.  It even makes it through crying jags fairly intact (NO raccoon eyes), which is a miracle in and of itself.  It's $9.50 US at most drug stores, but it works so well I'd pay more if I had to!

 

And now I must go and look for more makeup/skin care deals...  ;-)

Meetup Event: Goth Mall Crawl!

Yesterday our meetup group had our first Goth Mall Crawl.  I've never been a mall goth, and I was dying to find out what it was like!  No, seriously, I just thought it would be fun, and possibly nostalgic for anyone who had ever been a mall goth, only without all the angst.  Also I haven't been shopping with anyone besides Martin in ages, so it was perfect.

Anyway, while only four of us actually made it, we had a blast!  I knew both the others already, and one brought her 16-year-old daughter, who I have seen occasionally but haven't spent time with in a few years. We met at Hot Topic, and ended up spending probably an hour there, looking through everything (and I mean EVERY thing!) and trying things on.  I ended up with a bottle of awesome pink/blue spatter nail polish and two great pairs of shorts that had "Buy one, get one for $1" tags on them!  I was really lucky to find both in my size, as there was only one pair of each left, AND they were the only ones I liked. 

The Misfits shorts (I'm thinking of removing the back pockets so you can see the letters, it says "Misfits"):



The purple/black tie-dyed distressed shorts by LOVEsick, and the nail polish (which has a LOT more blue flecks in it than this pic does):

Then we had lunch, followed by a stroll around the rest of the donut-shaped mall.  I lost count of how many stores we actually went into; it really didn't matter because we were doing so much talking, anyway.  When we finally got back to Hot Topic, we'd been there for almost five hours... no wonder my feet hurt! 

The one thing we didn't do was take any pictures.  :-(  I guess we were too busy talking to care! 

Have you ever done the mall goth thing?  

Adventures in Eyeliner - GoodGoth to the Rescue!

This post actually started out as a rant.  However, it turned into something different, thanks to good communication and lots of determination.

It all started out when I ran out of liquid eyeliner in May.  I was using Hot Topic's Blackheart line, and I really liked it, so I wanted to get more.  However, I couldn't get to the mall right away, so I grabbed the tube of Milani eyeliner I'd bought but only used once; it was awful!  Seemed to take about six minutes to dry, so unless I kept my eyes scrunched almost shut while it dried, it smeared all over the top of my eye shadow.  I used it as lightly as possible during the week, then threw it out on Sunday before I went to the mall... two malls, as it turned out.

But guess what?  Hot Topic has discontinued their Blackheart makeup line, and there was no liquid eyeliner to be had there!  So I headed back to Sephora, where I had just purchased an eye shadow palette (more on that in another post).  However, they didn't have anything much in liquid liner, so I went downstairs to M.A.C.  They're pricey, but have a good reputation.  They had two types of liquid liner, one for thin lines, and the Penultimate Eye Liner, a pen-style liner which was supposed to be SO much more versatile than a brush applicator, with options for both thin and thicker lines; I picked that one, and walked out with a $20 (+ tax) liner instead of the $3 one I came for.  Problem solved?  Not even...

The Penultimate Eye Liner turned out to be the Penultimate Disaster.  It would only make very thin lines, it did not have any staying power and was gone under my eyes before the end of the day, and worst of all...  IT. WOULD. NOT. DRY.  Acckkk!!  After a week, I took it back to the store for a refund.  I decided to use just pencil until I could find something acceptable.  It didn't look right and didn't stay on particularly well, but at least I didn't look like I had two smeary black raccoon eyes!

Then I got an e-mail from GoodGoth.com advertising their "13% Off for Friday the 13th" sale.  I had found a liquid liner there that I liked awhile back, but they stopped carrying it when I tried to get more.  On the off chance that they had something else, I checked... and there it was again, Kleancolor's Hardcore Black Metallic Liquid Liner!!  For the same $20 (no tax, shipping included) that I had used to purchase a single liner from M.A.C., I got FIVE of these.  :-)

Nine days later... I finally received my order.  (They take anywhere from 2-9 business days to actually ship an order; I guess it depends on if they have it in stock or have to order it, but that's a bit long, if you ask me.)  I opened the box and happily put my liners away.  Next morning, I opened one and used it -- or tried to.  After several minutes of shaking and scraping inside the tube, I barely had anything on the brush.  It was either almost completely dried out or almost empty!  I tried all five tubes, and two of them were bad.  Arrrgghhh!!  At least I had three good ones, so I wasn't stranded again, but I was not a happy bat.

I checked GoodGoth's return/exchange policy, only to find that they don't allow returns OR exchanges on cosmetics "for health reasons".  In a total snit, I sent off an e-mail telling them that I was furious because I got defective items and couldn't exchange them, and that I was never going to buy from them again BUT I would be sure to tell all my friends about it.  After the weekend, I got a very nice e-mail from them saying that their policy is worded that way so people don't order makeup and then return it just because they don't like the color, or whatever.  But because I had received "defective" goods, they would be glad to exchange or refund, my choice.  Sweet!  I told them I'd love an exchange, and did I need to return the bad ones?  They replied that I did NOT have to return them (they took my word for it), and my replacements were already on their way!  Two days later, I had my package... and they didn't just send two replacements, they replaced my ENTIRE order!!  I now have EIGHT tubes of eye liner, which will probably last me for at least the rest of the year!  (And even if some of them turn out to be bad, I won't complain.)

So, true to my promise, I have now told my friends all about how GoodGoth.com came through for me when I totally did NOT expect it.  I guess the moral of the story is:  Don't give up, but do speak up!  If you never ask, the answer is always No.  If you DO ask, sometimes you get even more than you asked for!  :-)

Review: Does Smashed Makeup Work Better?

Well, I bit the bullet the other day and ordered some makeup from GoodGoth.com.  The items were pretty inexpensive and there was a 15% discount on all makeup, so it should have been a deal, but the shipping took care of that.  Grrrrr.

Anyway, I've been wanting a different look, so I went for some stuff I haven't seen in the stores.  I ordered three items: Hardcore Black Metallic Eyeliner and two Utopia Baked Eyeshadows, in Game (swirls of purple and different shades of fuschia and pink) and Danger (swirls of gray and white with hints of silver), all by Klean Color.  Each shadow comes in its own compact with a mirror and applicator.

"Danger"  (Doesn't this look like a black & white pic of the Earth?)



  
"Game"  (I'm still trying to figure out a reason for this name.)

Shipping was very quick; ordered on the 5th, mailed on the 7th, and received by me on the 9th.  (Add 3 Goth Points!)  The items were in a fairly small box, loosely wrapped in some paper.  Unfortunately, everything was covered in purple and pink dust!  There was Game shadow everywhere...  When I checked the compact, it was still sealed but the shadow was broken and in chunks, and about a quarter of it had leaked out into the rest of the box.  Obviously the packing was NOT sufficient.  (Subtract 1 Goth Point.)

When I opened the compacts, I had no trouble actually opening the top to get to the makeup.  However, I was unable to figure out how to open the bottom section to get to the mirror and applicator.  More Grrrrrr...  After checking the website for clues, I was finally able to get to the compact mirrors and applicators.  (Add 1 Goth Point for visuals, as the makeup itself did not come in a package and had NO instructions.)  But more crumbled chunks of Game were in the mirror/applicator section (take back that Goth Point!).

Since I was in a hurry the next morning, I didn't try the shadows, just used the liquid liner on top of a nasty eye pencil that I'm getting rid of because it rubs off and smears.  I was hoping the liquid liner would hold the pencil down and make the whole thing stay on longer without smearing.  Live in hope, die in despair...  well, it DID stay on better, just not quite as well as I'd hoped.  So I figured, hey, tomorrow is another day.  We'll just start over then.

Next day:  I tried the Danger eye shadow, as I've been wanting to try a gray shadow for some time now.  I LOVE the color!!  It comes out (on me, at least) as a darker, slightly metallic gray, which is just what I was looking for.  The applicators are nice; you can use BOTH ends instead of just one, and the tips are not that cheap stuff that falls apart quickly, but good sponge that should last a while.  I used Mary Kay's Eye Primer as a base; it's a bit thicker than other primers I've used, and it tends to hold the shadow in place a bit better.  

Results:  At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my eye makeup was almost completely intact!  The shadow was a little smeared in the crease, even with the primer, but not so much that it looked bad.  And my eyeliner was also almost completely intact!  (Definitely 2 more Goth Points for this.)

Today I tried the Game eyeshadow.  Much different than I expected!  The darker purple bit didn't show up much, but it mixed a bit with the lighter fuschia/pink, which dominated the look completely.  And I actually liked it!  Not as much as the other one, but I will definitely use it again.  (Another Goth Point.)  However, the crumbled bits of shadow still got ALL over the place, and I had major cleanup to do on my fingers before I was finished applying it.  I did manage to salvage most of them for later use, though.  And no, the "smashed" makeup did not work any better than the unsmashed one.

So, overall, I like this makeup, both the way it looks on me and the way it stays on me.  I'm still not very fond of GoodGoth.com, though, and doubt I'll buy much else from them.  The "discounts" usually don't make much of a dent as the shipping is so high.  Three small makeup items cost $7.99 to ship???  Really??  I don't think so...  

What new makeup have YOU tried recently?  Did you like it?  Why or why not?

BabyBat and the Three Goths: A Cosmetic Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there were three Goths: we'll call them (in no particular order) Trad Goth, Romantic Goth, and Cyber Goth.  They shared an apartment in Somewhere, USA.  Although they were all different types of goths, they did almost everything together, including going to each others' clubs and friends' parties, so they were rarely ever home.

One night, while the Goths were at a party, there was a knock at their door; it was BabyBat, a young goth who hadn't been in the scene long and was looking for help with her makeup.  Of course, the Goths didn't answer the door because they weren't home, but BabyBat had been to a couple of parties there and knew where the spare key was hidden, so she just let herself in and headed straight for the bathroom.  She figured they wouldn't mind (riiight...).

 

Opening the cupboard under the sink, she first found Trad Goth's makeup box. BabyBat pulled out his Mabelline Expert Wear Dual Brow and Eye Pencil, and spent quite a while trying it out.  Her brows looked okaaay but it was REALLY difficult to get them dark enough, while the liner around her eyes looked faded and jerky.  This pencil was just too hard for her delicate skin.  "Oh, this one is too dry!" sniffed BabyBat in annoyance.

Next, she checked out Romantic Goth's makeup bag.  She used Wet n Wild Color Icon Liner Brow & Eye Pencil for her brows, and Mary Kay Mechanical Eye Liner Pencil for her eyes.  BabyBat tried the brow pencil first; the color was nicer than Trad Goth's and it was much easier to put on, but sooooo soft that it smeared everywhere if she touched it.  When she lined her eyes with the liner pencil, it was very skinny and hard to handle, and it was too mushy and smeared into her liquid eye shadow.  "Ewwww, these are too soft!" cried BabyBat in disgust.

Finally, she pulled Cyber Goth's makup case out of the closet... and everything in it was JUST RIGHT.  BabyBat was thrilled, because now she could go to the club without wasting more time on her makeup.

Now, unfortunately, I have NO idea what is in that section marked "..." because I'm still looking for a brow pencil and eye liner that are JUST RIGHT!!  So, based on your own makeup experience, what would YOU want to find in Cyber Goth's makeup case???

The 50+ Face: Skin Care for Women and Men

As you can probably guess by the title, this post is going to be about ElderGoth skin care.  However, that does NOT mean that it's not relevant for those under 50!  Au contraire, it's a very good idea to make sure you are taking care of your skin as well as you can whatever age you are now, so that when you reach 50, your skin doesn't look 60.  (You want to have the face that "launched a thousand ships", not the face that sank them!)

Guys, this also applies to you, whether or not you wear makeup!  You don't REALLY want to look like Sean Penn in "This Must Be the Place", do you???  I didn't think so.

One major advantage that most goths have skinwise is that we stay out of the sun as much as possible, and out of tanning beds entirely. I knew a bellydancer years ago who must have lived in a tanning bed; her skin was brown, dry and wrinkled, and she looked at least ten years older than she was.  I don't know whether or not she used any kind of skin care, but if she did, I hate to think what she would have looked like without it.  ::shudders::

Anyway, back to our faces...   I don't care how expensive or cheap your makeup is, your skin care MUST be the best you can possibly find for your particular needs.  Right now I'm using mostly Mabelline and Revlon makeup items, but I save my pennies and buy almost all my skin care products from Estee Lauder.  This line is really excellent, and although people of any age can certainly use it, it's formulated with mature skin in mind. And, most importantly, it WORKS for me.

The best way to find the right skin care line for you is to shop for it.  (Yes, I'm giving you an excuse to go shopping!!)  Head for the nearest mall that houses either a Macy's, Nordstrom's, Sak's Fifth Avenue, or an equivalent store in your area.  Tell the sales associates in the cosmetics section that you are looking for the right skin care line for you, answer their questions, and let them work their magic!  (Try to get there early, so you'll be fresh, they'll be fresh, and you'll be able to wear the products all day.)  You don't have to buy anything right away; ask for samples so you can wear it the next day as well and see how it goes.  You may have to try more than one brand before finding the right one, but trust me, it's worth taking the time, especially since just going with the first one you try might cost you considerably more in both money and grief than waiting for the one that's perfect for you. 

Sometimes you do have to spend more to get the quality you need.  Case in point: I was running out of my Estee Lauder Daywear, but hesitated to spend money I really couldn't afford right then, so I tried a jar of Olay moisturizing cream, which was cheaper and available at the corner Walgreen's.  The company has a good reputation, so I figured it was worth a try.  It was a horrible mistake!!!  It didn't moisturize my skin at all, felt goopy and sticky, and the chemical smell followed me around all day AND night.  After a week, I returned it to the store, got my money back, and headed for the Estee Lauder counter at Macy's.

Once you've found the right line, don't go hog wild; you don't need every product in the line, after all, only the ones relevant to your skin.  For example, I have dry skin now (I used to have oily/combination skin), so I use Estee Lauder's Resilience Lift Creme and Perfectionist [CP+R] Serum to lift and firm the skin on my face and neck, Night Repair Serum and Daywear Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Creme under my foundation or by itself to protect my face and keep it hydrated.  Both cremes are SPF 15, and Daywear is available in both regular and oil-free formulas.  However, I stopped using Estee Lauder's liquid foundation; instead, I use Mabelline's Dream Smooth Mousse foundation on top of the Daywear.  Why?  Because it actually blends better on my now drier skin than the liquid formula does; the bonus for me is that it's also a LOT cheaper (Lauder's foundation is $23, while Mabelline's is around $10).  And yes, I consider foundation to be skincare as well as makeup, which is why I've included it in this post.

And don't forget that goth staple: SUNSCREEN!  Even if the skin care items products you use have an SPF rating, you need more than that if you will be outside for any length of time.  SPF only measures protection against burning, which is caused by UVB rays; we also need protection from UVA rays, which are what cause the deep-level skin damage that contributes to aging.  Make sure your sunscreen contains ingredients that will actually protect you from UVA rays: titanium dioxide, avobenzone, or zinc oxide.  And if your other skin care products contain one of these ingredients, so much the better!

Note for The Guys:  There are many excellent brands that carry skin care lines specifically formulated for men.  One of the best used to be (believe it or not) by Mary Kay.  I used to sell MK years ago, and from personal experience dealing with male customers, I can say with honesty that their Skin Management for Men was truly excellent.  I don't know what it's like now, but if you really would rather not hit the mall to look for skin care products, I recommend that you go online and find a Mary Kay rep in your area who can arrange to give you a free skin care appointment, or just give you samples if you'd prefer.  They can't put the product on you (they're not licensed to touch your face), but they can show you how to use it and let you try the products.  And if you find you don't like it after buying, you can return it for a full refund.

So, what do YOU use on your skin?  What works for you, and what doesn't?

The Shiny Black Sheep: Fashion vs. Style

"Fashion fades. Only style remains."  ~Coco Chanel

"Fashion mocks individuality; style celebrates it."  ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

"Style is the intersection of what you wear with who you are."  ~Leah Feldon-Mitchell

I found all three of these quotes in the same book just a few pages apart, and getting hit with all of them so close together felt like a cosmic two-by-four.  You may have figured it out long ago, but for me it was a fairly recent revelation: 

Goth is not a fashion; it's a STYLE.

When I was in my 20s, I ran after fashion, thinking it would tell me who I was.  My Bibles were Glamour and Cosmopolitan, and I read them religiously.  It's embarrassing to confess this, but I had an entire binder devoted to makeup, clothes and accessories, and I updated it constantly with magazine articles, pictures and lists of items I 'had to have' to look good.  I started with makeup, probably because it was less expensive and easier for me to 'catch' than clothes.  I remember finding an awesome look in one magazine: red and black eyeshadows worn together, with dark red lipstick and, of course, a dark red blush.  It WAS a fabulous look (at least on the magazine models), but I'm not sure it really went with my fair skin and blonde hair.  I wonder to this day if I looked like a bleached vampire (or perhaps a vampire's victim)!! 

Then there were clothes.  Although I read those magazines zealously, I don't think I ever really understood how fashion worked.  For some reason, I could rarely pull a look together, and when I did it was usually with classic pieces in neutral tones, with only the occasional zing! of a different color or cut here and there.  I think it's because I was afraid to try (or couldn't afford) what was trendy or different, so I stuck with 'safe' classics, and ended up looking pretty much like everyone else.  How boring...  Of course, many people say that about gothic black!  But WE know how special it really is.  Who knows, Coco Chanel herself may have had a touch of goth in her; she did create the Little Black Dress, after all!

Shoes are easier, at least for me; I've always managed to find great looking shoes that are all about me.  I still wear some of my designer shoes from the 1990s, and they look fabulous with my current outfits.  And hats!  Some people look awful or silly (or awfully silly) in hats; I look great.  Unfortunately, I rarely wear them except on weekends, because I work in an office building, and I'd look pretty strange walking around the office all day in a hat!  Hmmm, stranger than walking around in a shirt with a skull or a ribcage on it??  Something to consider...

 But I've learned that, while style includes the clothes, the shoes, the hair, and the makeup, it's more than all those things. Clothes, hairstyles and makeup looks go in and out of popularity all the time, and they are, after all, merely things.  Style is something you HAVE, not just something you wear.  Style is an attitude.  It's what makes you stand out in a crowd.  If you have style, you can wear a uniform and you'll still look different from all the other people wearing the same uniform.  Normally, sheep are just... sheep.  Unless, of course, you are the Shiny Black Sheep... 

 

                                                                           (Source)

Here is where Goth Style comes in.  We are the Shiny Black Sheep, who can take ordinary clothing and makeup and turn them into something exotic and extraordinary, because we have style. 

If style is "the intersection of what you wear with who you are", then we should all be able to figure out our own style, given a little time and some self-examination.  This isn't something for just the "chosen few", so don't think you don't/can't have it!  You do have to have at least an idea of who you are in order to find the clothes, etc. that emphasize your style; since you already know, you're that far ahead of the game.  And remember that you can and will change over time, so don't panic if who you are now doesn't agree with who you were five years ago, or even last year!

When I went through my closet for the Big Cleanout, I held up each individual piece of clothing and asked it, "Are you begging me to wear you?"  If the answer was No, into the thrift store bag it went.  If the answer was Yes, then came the next question:  "Do I have anything right now to wear you with?"  If Yes, those things were also taken out and put aside, as I didn't need to question them.  If No, it went to the side for more consideration.  Of course, I did have one of those "Not Sure" piles, but it was a fairly small one.  I hung those things on my portable clothes rack, and tried every single one of them on.  That made it easy to decide whether or not to keep or discard.  The few things that I just could not make up my mind about were put in the thrift store bag, but ON TOP, just in case I changed my mind.  A couple of things did get taken out and put back in the closet, but most ended up leaving for new homes.

Now, this process doesn't determine IF you have style (because, of course, you do!), but it does tell you something about your past and current styles.  Depending on how much you have in your closet, it can take a very long time... or not!  It honestly didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would, because I listened to what my clothes AND my heart told me.

One last thing (I've been blathering on waaayyy too long, I know!), but this is important!  Style is also knowing when less is more.  If you're covered from head to foot with bats, skulls and spikes, it's rarely style, and it's usually overkill.  Be selective, and you'll have people copying you (or trying to) because they love your style! 

Hair Dilemma

I'm a natural blonde, but for years I colored my hair various shades of red because I felt so faded out.  After a while, that got boring, so I went back to blonde.  I toyed with the idea of going black, but after seeing myself in a black wig, I decided it's too harsh for my skin tone.  However, I'm getting lots of white/silver in my hair now, and I think it might be interesting to go platinum white and see what happens. 

The scary part is that it's been over ten years since I've gotten my hair professionally cut, and almost that long since it's been colored, either professionally or at home.  The problem with going blonde or white is that it strips the color from your hair, and that's scary!  I especially don't want to try this and then discover that it makes me look old.  (I got some blonde-in-a-box the other day, to have on hand just in case I have to make an emergency repair.)  Because it's been so long, I no longer have any idea where to go to have this done, or what brands are best for use at home.  I've looked online at several sites, checked out reviews of various brands of home coloring systems, and am still totally confused.  All I found is that ammonia-free products are best, but you still get stuck with using hydrogen peroxide, which I already knew.

Have any of you gone platinum or white?  If so, any tips on what to use, what to do or not do, etc., would be GREATLY appreciated!