Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and a happy holiday season! This year has been so much fun, especially because this was the first Christmas with my husband. 6 months of marriage has flown by so fast, it's unbelievable. I feel so blessed that we have our health and happiness this year, not to mention our loving friends and families.

I have a lot of things to post soon that have been piling up including a review for J. Lynne cosmetics, a tutorial on applying false eyelashes, photos of a few new holographic nailpolish I bought, and TONS of FOTDs that I need to organize. Before I do that though, I just wanted to share my look for Christmas this year. :)

I actually did this look for Christmas eve, but I think it's wonderfully Christmassy.



I just did a pinky-brown eyeshadow look with the revlon colorstay quad in copper spice with NYX cherry on the inner half of the lid.



Here was my outfit. Sheer white turtleneck sweater with a red sweater over it, vintage red belt, the cream scarf I wear practically everyday, and my lovely birthday boots!



They are the VANELi Ninon boots in Tmoro suede. I'm a little obsessed with the spat detailing on the side. Gotta love oversized buttons.



This was our Christmas tree. Are those Halloween ornaments still hanging on it?



Anyway, I wish you all a very happy holiday and God bless. I am so thankful for everyone who reads the blog, and especially those who stick up for me (you know who you are!) There is nothing better than receiving the love and support that I do from you guys. ;)

Holiday Olive Eyes

It's almost Christmas and surely plenty of you have been going to holiday parties. Here is a look I did for a recent Christmas party I went to. To get into the spirit, I used some of my new olive green shades of shadows that I've been raving about. What can I say, they are gorgeous and look especially great on brown eyes! How can I resist?

Just to show you a comparison of colors, I swatched a few of my olive and green shades of NYX shadows, and also the green color from the L.A. Colors shadow set in Mesmerize.



Aren't they all so pretty? I love green shadows, but I am really loving Mermaid Green and Herb for the season. Herb is the darker, creamier cousin of Luster. While the L.A. Colors shade is a fair dupe of Mermaid Green, it doesn't get the gorgeous green sheen Mermaid Green has. I've heard that Mermaid green is a good dupe of MAC Humid too. And I'm really looking forward to springtime when I can wear Lime Juice more often. It's such a unique color! It's in the same color family as Kiwi, and they go very well together.

It's been a while since I've done a proper tutorial so here is one on how to get holiday olive eyes.

Holiday Olive Eyes

Tools Needed:
- UDPP (Urban Decay Primer Potion)
- NYX Mermaid Green
- NYX Luster
- NYX Vanilla Sky (golden highlighter)
- Revlon Colorstay quad in Nude Elements (white highlighter)
- MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (black cream eyeliner)
- Shiseido Eyelash curler
- Covergirl Waterproof Lash Exact Mascara

**NOTE: for those of you new to my blog, I use eyelid tapes in my tutorials. That is NOT skin, just tape to create a "double eyelid" look. You can find out more about it under "Labels" on the bar to the right. Please keep comments conscientious and relevant to the post. Thanks!

First, start off with a clean base of UDPP. Apply Mermaid Green to the lid in an almond shape like this.



Next, apply Luster across the mid-lid.



Apply Vanilla Sky or any golden highlighter under the brow. Then, take the black cream liner and line your upper lash line and outer half of the lower lash line.



Add a touch of white highlighter to your inner tear ducts. Curl lashes and apply mascara. This is the finished look!





Sorry about how red my eyes were there. It had been a long day! Anyway, I also wanted to show you a new gold nailpolish I got a couple days ago. The color is Rimmel 606 Dazzle, a lighter golden color with gold glitter. It seems like metallics were the trend this winter and I'm not a huge fan of pewter hues so this works for me. I'm going to try to keep this color until Christmas!

Here is the result after two coats and a topcoat.



And just because it matches the color scheme of the rest of the post, here is my food from my birthday dinner on Sunday night. Yay Japanese food! In the photo you can see udon noodles, tempura, and my favorite green tea ice cream. Yummy! I must say though, I feel a bit older now that I am officially 24, in my mid-twenties.


Is it just me or did my ice cream suddenly look like a crocodile? I didn't even notice him sneaking up on me, so I had to take a picture.



There I go again, playing with my food like a good little adult. :P Haha. Anyway, hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas everyone!

China Glaze "Red Curl Grl" and forum?

Hey everyone! Just wanted to do a little post on my recent goings-on. I've been busily working and trying to keep warm in this ridiculously cold weather we've been having lately. Did a TON of online shopping... Black Friday and Cyber Monday are so evil yet so wonderful. Maybe I will do a post on all my recent purchases soon. Speaking of which, I'd like to get some feedback on what things you guys would like to see posts on. Should I post more about fashion? More swatches? Hair? Please let me know about any tutorials you'd like to see, and I'll add a list of requests to the side bar to keep track.

I love the holidays and the colors we get the prerogative to wear during this season. I haven't busted out the bright red China Glaze "Red Curl Grl" nailpolish I got at the same time I bought China Glaze "For Audrey" so I decided to see what it would look like.

I did two thin coats, then a Sally Hansen Quick-Dri Topcoat and it really came out nice and smooth. I just love how China Glaze polishes go on so smoothly and perfectly.




Red Curl Grl is a very warm, ruby red with fine red glitters in it. It's definitely a brighter red than I've used in holidays past but I think it's a fun color and perfect for toes all year round!

I did find that the polish started chipping after 3 days but I was doing a lot of hand-work and moving heavy stacks of magazines around. Or, it could be the top coat. I'm not sure yet. I'll have to test the top coat out more and see.

I'm also considering adding a forum to the site. Is a community like that something you guys would be interested in? I think it would be a lot of fun to share our product swatches and discussions in one.

Here's some questions I have for you:
-What would you like to see more of on the blog?
-What products do you want swatches or reviews of?
-What do you think of a forum being added to the site?
-What is on your Christmas wishlist this year?

Anyway, I'm going to go out and maybe look for a new nailpolish and something cute to wear for my birthday tomorrow. :D Have a great weekend!

Bday NYX Haul

My fantastic older sister sent me a huge NYX haul from cherry culture for my upcoming birthday on the 14th. I think she got me more than I asked for... Yay for lovely sisters! :D


From L to R:
NYX Girls Special Glitter Nail Polish in 229 and 251
NYX Eyeshadow Trio in Team Spirit
NYX Mosaic Powder Blush in Paradise
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Pots and Pans, Oyster, and Cottage Cheese
Free Cherry Culture lip gloss
NYX Single Eyeshadows in:
-lime juice
-Algae
-Mermaid Green
-Space
-Morocco
-Cherry
-Hot Pink (matte)
-Plum
-Golden Dune
-Herb
NYX Round Lipstick in Circe


Here are the shadows with flash:



Swatches were taken with NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Cottage Cheese as a base, without and with flash. Aren't plum and morocco gorgeous with flash?



Mosaic blush in Paradise and Jumbo eyeshadow pencils in cottage cheese, oyster, and pots and pans. These all have more sheen than the photo shows, and Paradise is redder.



Team Spirit Eyeshadow trio without and with base. I love these colors!



I really love some of the colors I got this time, especially the eyeshadows. There are some great shades for the holidays like plum and mermaid green. Lime juice is this amazing acid yellow-green color that I wore as a highlighter today on a green look, which turned out really cool. Morocco is also a surprise as it looks blue in the pot but turns a beautiful, indigo purple when swatched.

All were smooth and highly pigmented as usual, although Golden Dune was a bit crumbly with its shimmer. Luster in my last haul was similarly crumbly and Herb is the smoother and more pigmented cousin of Luster. They look almost the same in the pot but SO different in real life. I'll have to do comparison swatches of my olives, browns, and greens soon.

Anyway, just wanted to leave you all with my salute. This is the real Jen! Wonky eyebrows and all. ;)

Hello Kitty + MAC

I must be wayyyy behind the curve on this one, but I found out today from a Women's Wear Daily fashion newspaper (gotta love work) that MAC will be collaborating with Hello Kitty to come out with a makeup collection. I am SO excited! I love makeup, I love hello kitty... What could be better than a cute collection full of pink makeup!?!?

The collection will be coming out February 12, 2009 in stores and February 10 online for the US market. There are two collections with the theme including a low-end Hello Kitty Colour Collection and the high-end Hello Kitty Kouture.



As cute as it is I don't think I'll be buying the $35 black vinyl Hello Kitty, but I am definitely wanting to check out the lip glasses ($14) and tinted lip conditioners (14.50). And the pink blush looks pretty gorgeous too.

As the group president of Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. John Demsey said, "[Hello Kitty] may not have a mouth, but she’s going to sell a lot of lipstick."

More power to her! The waiting list for the collection goes online at maccosmetics.com on Jan. 7th. Will you be in line?