Halloween Boxes from Julep

I ordered two boxes for Halloween because I wanted both scarves. The brown was my favorite and when Alex said she liked the black one I gave it to her.

The brown scarf and box

It seems the picture wants to be side ways. The items listed in the box were the brown and cream scarf, Fiore- brown cream and Karen- peach pearl nail polish colors. I ordered the mystery add-on for this box. The add-ons were the lip scrub in the gold dish, and Karen and Zora-peachy cream nail colors. The also threw in a few treats, the nail decals and a nail polish ring. Yes, this box has two Karens and if you remember from July this make three of this same color for me. I guess that means there are more to share. I noticed this happened to a couple other people who were less pleased. 

Black scarf box

This box came with the black and cream scarf, Tracy- blue glitter sea salt finish, and Amity- a white, silver metallic. They also included the same treats. Tracy and Amity are also duplicates to my collection. I really wanted the scarves. I gave the extra decals to my nieces and the ring to my sister, so eventually this whole box will be gifted. I love the scarves. I painted my nails to match using Debra and Fiore. I later changed it and used a lighter brown for the scull.

I painted my ring to look like either a cats or a dragon's eye.

Since I finally got my zigzag stickers and my Fiona- ogre green in the mail I thought I would tack it to the end.

Zag Max Mystery Box, Avon Haul, and Challenge Entry

I walked down to the post office to check on my Avon order and found my  Julep mystery box was waiting for me as well. I had to ask if I had any packages as they are not very good at passing out slips. Since I was not receiving emails from Julep I had no idea when it would come. The postal worker was nicer today.

I opened my mystery box first, it was a large box with two smaller boxes inside. When I opened the smallest box I was confused. I first noticed the loose candy corn. This is my fourth box with a pack of candy corn and I've passed the others off to Danny. He won't mind that a few escaped their packet. The color selection of the polish was off some how. I had Charlie- bright yellow cream, Madison- bright pink jelly, Marion- turquoise shimmer, and a silver blue? It seems they sent me Fina instead of Fiona- ogre green. I really wanted that green.

I then opened the larger box and found my mystery items. I had peeked at others boxes so I knew I was going to get the dry shampoo, sea salt spray, beach tonic, and one step. I even know Nellie- fushia and Clara- peach cream, were some of the colors sent out. Nellie was the only duplicate this time and I was thrilled to get the hair products. I did not notice at first, but I was missing the zigzag stickers.

I called Julep and they said they would send out Fiona and I could keep Fina as it was their mistake. I was not on the list for missing stickers, but they would be sending those out as well. She also fixed the email problem and checked on an order that had given me an error message. If they had not sent the wrong polish I would probably not called them.

My Avon order came with my eyebrow kit, a eyebrow pencil, eyeliner in plum, navy and pewter, and finally a cuticle cream. I had bought a cuticle scraper as my polish was looking uneven and I thought the cream would help too. I tested out the eye brow kit and pencil. The colors are good, the application needs work. The brush in the kit is junk. It is too small and stiff. It doesn't smooth out wax neatly and just digs into powder. The pencil needs a careful touch so they don't look drawn on. I used short strokes but used too much pressure for one stroke and had to blend it in. I think these could work well as a team if I use my other angled brush.

I was playing with my frankenpolish. Today is the deadline for crafster.org nail art inspired challenge. I entered this post:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=428440.0#axzz2iOHIl81i

There were only two other entries at the time. One used her snakes shedded skin as a nail applique and the other matched her nail stamps to her henna tattoos. 

Fun with Becky

Last week I spent a day with Becky. It started with a morning cup of coffee and ended with take out and a late movie. We watched World War Z, I loved the book and this is a truncated version of it. There was so much in the book that it would make a better tv show than movie if you tried to put it all in.Mom came over sometime after coffee and my make up. Becky wanted to give her a makeover as well. I decided to try kitten wings with my look.

I think Mom looks very pretty. The close up on me is scary. Mom said the make up made her eyes itch the next day. She has a lot of allergies that I am starting to have myself. 

After that the boys found a cabinet in the garage that they wanted to paint for Ramon's room. Grandma took Ramon to buy paint for it. He chose royal blue and she picked up the beige color to calm go with it. I decided it also needed to be aged so that the blue did not look like plastic. We sanded it down, we really should have used a finer grit, and then rubbed it with brown acrylic paint. Since his walls are a more country blue, distressing it helped it fit into his room. He plans to use it to replace the large tv console taking up one wall of his room. 

Disney Villains Look Books

I went Walgreen's today to replace my usb cord to my phone. My cat ate the last one. I had trouble finding them at first, but I found something cute while I was walking around. I guess this is the second year they released the Disney Villain pallets. I don't think I was aware of them last year, not that I was wearing make up much back then.

They had four pallets; Ursula the sea witch, Evil Queen from Snow White, Cruella deVille, and Malicifent from Sleeping Beauty. They also had eyelash kits, bags, nail art kits, and a nail polish cube. I picked up Evil Queen and Cruella pallets and eyelashes. The Cruella kits are for my sister and nieces. The girls are into make up videos and have wanted to try eyelashes. They also have a lot of dogs, not 101 even after both sets of puppies due around Halloween, but enough to make it fitting.

This year's kits have omitted the blush and I am not sure about the lip colors. Cruella has a pretty nude pallet  and peachy lip color. I keep thinking of Cruella with bold red lips. Actually, I think all of them had dark red lips in the movies. Cruella did have the nicest eyelashes. Ursula's were sold out and Maleficent's were too long. I bought a red and silver glitter polish to go with for my sister.

The Evil Queen set had a darker neutral eye shadow set and hot pink lip color. The eye lashes are also more dramatic. I do like that they give you a long brush even though it is smooshed from being crowded. I also like that they included both liquid and pencil eyeliner. The detailed directions for day or night application was interesting but not something I would follow.

I also picked up the WNW Fergie eye pallet that Ipsy was putting in some of their bags. I love the Desert Festival color theme.

Make up and aging

After five years of working 3rd shift, I finally switched to 1st shift. I really like being awake and enjoying daytime, even if it means early hours. I get up at 4:30 am, shower and wash my hair, then do my make up, drink coffee and watch videos while it dries. After so many years of rarely wearing make up, I have noticed a few things. I'm starting to get my grandmothers droopy eyelids. Her's were so droopy she could hardly open them. She went to have them fixed but the plastic surgeon over did it and she could not fully close them and had to use eye drops routinely. Sounds scary, I wonder if laser would be a safer option? At this point my droopy eyelids only effect the way my eyes and eye shadow look.

I had to look up several videos for droopy/hooded eye make up tutorials. Even still I find that subtle and neutral looks are easier for me. I did get to try a shaded fall look on Alex today. Alex has the biggest, boldest almond shaped eyes. I used a soft plum on the lid, a dark plum in the crease and outer lid, then blended a gold on the inner lid. I used a pink highlighter on the brow bone. Although I kept it much more subtle than you normally see today, it still had a lot of drama. I remember when I was young I used navy and pink for dramatic eyes. It doesn't work for me now. I have also found that I need to keep my foundation and concealer light under the eyes or it cakes in the creases. Luckily the mineral water I use to set my make up helps reduce caking.

I have also struggled with finding fashionable clothes for plus sizes. Two years ago I discovered Catherine's and it was so nice to have clothes that fit. It was refreshing, although a good chunk of their stock was matronly. Last year I discovered Dress Barn and was thrilled not to have to dig through their clothes for something I would wear. I also found that they had more choices in pant length. I can wear heels again. This month I have been struggling with a costume for Alex. The largest corset I could find is too small, so I had to find a jacket to cover the back. I was disappointed as I hoped it would also be able to double for cosplay. Today while watching vintageortacky on youtube she recommended Hipsandcurves.com they sell corsets, costumes, and lingerie for plus sizes. In the future, if we want to try to put together a costume there are more options available to us. I want a Steampunk costume.