I Really Haven't Forgotten You... Promise!

I've been slacking. I've been slacking on everything. The other morning, I looked into my pot of MAC Blacktrack Fluidline and realized it was almost empty. The bottom was bare and I was scraping the sides. Never before have I run so low without having a replacement on hand. I also use Dark Diversion Fluidline...

It's less brown and more burgundy than the photo, or maybe it'a just my monitor. 

  It's limited edition, but it's been re-launched with at least 3 collections. It would look gorgeous with blue eyes. It looks pretty awesome with mine. I can't rely on it completely, though, as it matches most things but not everything. It's pretty similar to one of my favorite shadows, Sketch. Regardless, I need a black liner. Below is a picture of Sketch, BTW.

The photo doesn't really do it justice. I find it darker, plummier ... closer to the photo of Dark Diversion. Again, maybe my monitor. 

 The other thing that happened, that proves I've been slacking, is that I ran completely out of my MAC eyebrow pencil, in Stud. I looove these eyebrow pencils. I have no idea why... I just do! They always look perfect. When I had darker hair I used the MAC brow pencil is Spiked. I think those are the only two colours I've tried, but I loved them both. I'd been filling my brows in for a week with MAC eyeshadow in Mystery. It looks good, but I prefer the look of the pencils. I used to use Embark shadow to fill in my brows, but it pulls slightly too red (unless you have dark red hair) and Mystery is perfect.

Mystery, which is the cooler of the two. Not too cool for my warm complexion.

Embark, which is the perfect brow and liner colour for dark red hair.

Sooo needless to say I decided a trip to MAC was in order, and the empty brow pencil (it's mechanical) made for 7 empty MAC containers. You only need 6 to "Back2MAC" for a free lipstick, or if you go to the MAC store rather than counter, you can choose a lipstick or an eyeshadow. I ended up getting a lipstick anyway, but I went to the MAC store because I wasn't completely sure what I wanted.  I ended up getting Blacktrack Fluidline, Stud eyebrow pencil, and Girl About Town lipstick. I really, really love this lipstick. I'm actually psyched to wear it tomorrow and plan my face and outfit around it. I wore it tonight and it held up for an impressive 6 hours (I didn't eat, but earlier today I ate ice cream with Candy Yum-Yum + Morange to create a coral colour that matched my sweater. The lipstick survived the day and the ice cream. The miracle of the apply-blot-powder-apply-blot formula.) I will probably photograph this lipstick on myself tomorrow... but I hate my lips, so I can't say for sure that the pictures will make it to the blog.

MAC's Girl About Town

Rumor has it, Kim Kardashian is wearing Girl About Town in this picture.  The makeup look itself is actually pretty hot.  I think the fuchsia is a more fun look than the nudes she usually wears. Photograph is not my property.

The lipstick is so popular that when MAC recently launched matching lipglosses and nail polishes to match their bestselling lipsticks, Girl About Town was included. It's one of those products that makes me want to kick myself for not buying it sooner.

This post should have been called "Things I Love From MAC." heh heh. I need to go to bed.

-H. Cat

(As a side note, none of the pictures I used on this blog are my own property. As I get around to taking photos I will gradually phase out the ones I do not own.)

Bow Hair Tutorial, Sort Of.

I have a minor obsession with bows and most things cute and feminine. If you can twist it into something darker, even better. So of course I liked Lady Gaga's bow hair and all the variations circulating the internet after.

This works best with at least shoulder length hair, I'd assume. If your hair is super long you may have more work to do in hiding/tucking your ends in. I used unwashed hair, because believe it or not- that nappy brillo-esque hair I have is too silky to style after washing and ironing.

Of the 3 times I have attempted this, the 2nd time was my favorite. This is a picture of that attempt. 

I don't have a webcam and it's kind of dodgy trying to take pictures while styling your hair. I also wrote this with the assumption that everyone knows how to properly use bobbypins and backcomb, so if you don't- I'm sorry!

The first thing I did is not mandatory, but if you want to pop up the front of your hair like I did, it may make it easier.

My bangs had a weird kink in them because I had a stiff hairband in to keep my hair out of the way while I showered, etc. I sectioned off the front of my hair and put it into a ponytail, but farther down the hair. Basically you'll hold the hair tight and try to pop up the front to suit your taste and figure out how far down to place the elastic. 

Grab all of your hair and gather it into a ponytail. It should be placed really high at the top of your head... You could attempt a bow at the back of your head but you'd need some awesome mirror to mirror navigation skills. I'm too impatient for perfection, as you'll see. 

So this is the ponytail I ended up with. It also doubles as my imitation of a shrunken head. 

Next you'll need to pull a section from the very front of the ponytail. Nothing too small or too big. This will be the "knot" of your bow. Don't worry. You don't really have to tie your hair. 

Clip that section from the front of the ponytail aside. 

Divide the remaining ponytail into two sections. You'll only be working with one at a time, so pin the other aside for now. 

Using a brush for teasing or a comb, take the unpinned section and tease it from the base down. You want a lot of volume. 

It'll look all messy and crazy like this. But then you'll brush over it very lightly, smoothing it out, but not overworking it, as to ruin the volume. After, it should resemble the picture below. 

You'll fluff that part up and tuck the end under and hide it with a bobby pin. 

That's what it'll look like pinned in place. I didn't get a really clear shot, but here's another, this one from the back:

In this picture I've already repeated the steps with the second section. You have probably figured out that it's exactly the same for both sides. 

Now take the smaller section that you would have separated and clipped aside first

Wrap it around each end of the bow and across the middle if you can. You can experiment a bit with how you wrap it to make it look better. This is my 3rd attempt, and I much prefer the way I wrapped the center in my second attempt, which was the very first picture 

When you've got it all wrapped it, hide the ends and pin it securely. 

All done! 

Just a wee bit messy!

Whatevs!
-H.Cat<3>