Jewelry Jewelry Jewelry!

I've been in 'uploading' mode the past 12 hours! I've been searching through all my vintage jewelry boxes and all my old jewelry supplies to list new things in the shop. Here's a few that I've already listed..

 ^ Vintage

 ^ Handmade by me

 ^ Vintage

 ^ Handmade by me

 ^ Handmade by me. I made these today and I absolutely love these! They're western style earrings. I almost kept them for myself -- but I have wayy too much jewelry already!

 ^ Vintage

^ Handmade by me

I just realized most of these were made by me. I <3 making jewelry :D It makes me happy.

 I just thought I'd share a few pictures of things I've uploaded on my shop because I really have nothing else to talk about? I haven't really done anything exciting, tried any new products, or anything. :P Lazy lazy Lauren! Oh wells.

If you like any of the items shown above - please visit my shop:

www.thirtyonewest.etsy.com

REVIEW: Maybelline Color Tattoo!

So, as you read - my boyfriend got me these bad boys a few days ago! I've tried out all of the colors and wanted to give my little opinion of these.

I really really wanted 'Tough as Taupe' more than any other color -- and it is my least favorite out of all of the colors I purchased. It's a matte one - and it works good and looks nice -- but it's very drying. I'm not sure if it was just the one that I got - but it was drying. When I tried to apply layers on to this one -- the second layer kind of 'chipped' off. It was kind of crusty :P But I mean I kept working with it and eventually got it to look nice. This is a nice color - but it's not truly a taupe color. It has grey undertones to it. It's still pretty - just not the exact color that is pictured. 

Then I tried the 'Pomegranate Punk' and 'Tenacious Teal'. I LOVE these! These are creamier than the Tough as Taupe. They are a metallic-like finish and look gorgeous! I really do enjoy these. I have been wearing the 'Tenacious Teal' all day today for 12 hours so far, and I've been running around, bathed, sweated, etc -- and NO creasing! Amazing! :D 

I wore Tenacious Teal with my own Thirtyonewest Anchor's End on the outer corner of my eyes ;)

I have heard a bunch of people comparing these to Mac Paint Pots - and the Tough as Taupe one doesn't remind me of one at all. I do like it, it's just very dry. However, the Pomegranate Punk and Tenacious Teal kind of remind me of Mac Paint Pots. The Paint Pots are a bit more creamier than these - but those are also $17-18 compared to $6. Also, the Color Tattoos dry faster than Mac Paint Pots - which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you are going to use them.

I picked up mine from Wal-Mart for $5.88 each. I would recommend these! I plan on purchasing all the other ones as well - they're are 10 total.

Huge Elf Haul & Other Randomness

I really liked my cat eye makeup I did the other day, so I decided to take pictures in my pink wig. Yes, I took about 743248423473 'i love me' pictures :P haha.

:D I really like my pink wig :P I want to get more colors! Woooo - i'm a nerd, and a loser. This is what happens when you don't have friends and have a boyfriend that works 6 days a week lol.

Speaking of, my wonderful boyfriend took me to Applebees last night and wanted to get me a few goodies from Wal-Mart (which is right next to Applebees). So I heard about the new Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadows - and I wanted to get one to try it out. I just planned on picking out one for my boyfriend to get me - but he told me to get 4! I only got 3 though because I don't want him to spend a lot on me :P While waiting at the check-out they also had The Dark Crystal for $5! I about shit my pants, and my boyfriend grabbed it and got it for me. I love The Dark Crystal! They also had the Labyrinth for $5 but I already own that movie ;)

:) Awesome goodies from my lovely boyfrienddd! I got the colors Tough as Taupe, Pomegranate Punk, and Tenacious Teal (I think that's what the teal one is called?). I have only tried out the 'Tough as Taupe' one -- I wore it today - and I like it. Kind of a dry cream shadow though.

Anyway, I have been waiting on my package literally ALL day from Elf - I kept checking the tracking number every 10 minutes just about. It didn't ship till 9:30 tonight! :P Such a Saturday wasted on me anxiously awaiting on a dumb package. But I ordered like a shit load of stuff! $65 worth -- and everything was half off! 

Woohoo! Tons of goodies. Now I'm broke for the week! lol I got all of the eyebrow kits & studio pressed powders for my kit because I love them both oh so much. I also got all the other blushes that I didn't already have. I wanted to try the cream blushes as well -- so I got one of those to test out. I got a ton of other crap as well - I'll do individual reviews on items I personally like once I test them out a bit.

That's all for my weekend! Tomorrow I have to work 7 hours - so yayyy! Can't wait! Not.

Goodnight Sugar Plums! :)

Cat Eye Tutorial

I'm lounging around today on my day off and decided to get pretty, so I figured I would share this look with everyone else ;)

 1.) Take NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk and apply it to your brow bone. Blend it in with your fingertips well.

 2.) Next, go over the blended in white with a shimmery creamy white. I used a color out of my 88 warm palette.

 3.) Take a crease brush and use a brown color to go into the crease of your eye. I used Ben Nye's eyeshadow in Mink Stole.

 4.) After you do the crease, you're going to draw an edge connecting it to your lash line with the same brown color.
Then, go back in with the creamy white color and put it on your lid inside the brown eyeshadow.

5.) Use a cosmetic tip Q-Tip and with a black eyeshadow, draw a wing. I used Mac's Carbon.

Don't mind my mole ;)

 6.) With the Q-Tip, go into your crease with the black eyeshadow. Blend it out well with a blending brush.

 7.) Go in with the Q-Tip and draw the black eyeshadow on like an eyeliner on your lash line. Afterwards (optional), if you'd like a more dramatic look, go over the wing & lash line with a black liquid line. It will look darker and give it more of a smokey look.

 8.) Next, go under your water line with the brown eyeshadow used before and add a little eyeshadow. Lastly, go over your lashes with some mascara. I use Tarina Tarantino's mascara. I loooove it! Make sure when you apply the mascara to go in an outward motion away from your nose. It gives round eyes more of a cat-like shape.

Finished! :D

Lush & Sephora Haul

Well, kind of a haul. I only got 2 things from each place :P 

My boyfriend ordered me some stuff from Lush that I have been wanting & when I got paid last week, I decided to go ahead and order the primer I was wanting for my kit. However, the primer was $45 - and you get free shipping with orders over $50 - so of course I had to purchase something else! :D I got a eyeliner as well :)

 Bubblegum Lip Scrub - $8.95

Enchanted Eye Cream - $25.95

I received my Lush items in the mail last night, and I've already tried them both out. I love them! The Bubblegum Lip Scrub works well - but it's $8.95 for a jar of sugar, jojoba oil, and flavoring. I think I'll make some myself :) Possibly even some to sell on 'Thirtyonewest'?! It smells really good - and you use this stuff to scrub all the dead skin off your lips (which I tend to have a lot of). Then once you're done, you can lick it off. Yummy!

 Thanks Dan with the big beard & gauges for making me some yummy lip scrub :D

Next, I got the Enchanted Eye Cream. This goes on light - it's not a thick cream. I applied it under my eyes & it soaks in nicely. I applied this stuff on last night, and when I woke up this morning my under eyes felt nice and smooth! It's currently 6 pm and they are still nice and soft!

Here's what the Lush website says about the cream:

"Gentle, soothing cream to minimize fine lines around the eyes. It's perfect for night and day. A small dab of Enchanted, applied carefully with the little finger, refreshes the area around the eyes and softly tightens the skin. Use it to give yourself a little lift, even if there's no-one else around.

We wanted a low-fat moisturizer for the skin around the eyes, and Helen felt it needed to be as light as possible to give the best effect on your delicate eye area."

I'm quite uncertain who Helen is - but whatever! I really like it. A bunch of reviews said it helped with their dark under eye circles - but I have only been using it for a day - so I can't really say much about that.

And from Sephora I got:

 Cover FX Skin Prep Anti-Aging Serum / Foundation Primer - $45

Makeup Forever Aquarelle in Black - $20

I haven't tried these out - I literally just got these in the mail 5 minutes ago! But I got them for my kit. I also got a free deluxe sample of Laura Mercier foundation primer! Woo hoo! And I got a couple of samples of cologne for Joshua.

That's all for my haulage today. I'm about to place a HUGEEE order with Elf - 37 items. Yep. But I got 50% off, so I couldn't help myself :P

Until next time loveys! 

Multi-Use Video Using Thirtyonewest Pigments!

Wing from DivaMakeupQueen was sweet enough to do a review for my shop! Hope you enjoy ;)

I Started Makeup School & Other Exciting News!

I've had my package since last Wednesday -- and received my final package today, so I decided today would be a good day to start! At the moment, I don't have a DVD remote for my DVD player, so I can't skip down to the next video on the disc :( And my netbook doesn't have a CD-Rom thingy -- so I can't watch it on my computer! Haha, so I have to go and watch my videos at my sister's house. But I have been reading my first booklet, and it's very helpful about helping you pick out  what part of makeup artistry you want to get into. I really like it so far! Here's a couple of pictures of my booklets I am reading now & the 'kit' I got from school.

I got a bunch of different booklets - there are like 3 in each unit (& they're are 6 units). All that I got from the school for my kit is a 21 piece makeup brush set -- which is rather cheap. The eye brushes are decent -- but I'll have to buy separate face brushes which I planned on doing anyway. I got a concealer wheel - which I haven't used yet - but it looks very pigmented & creamy. Nice quality ;) Then I got the org. 88 palette like from Coastal Scents (& I already own one that I got off EBay) and the 10 blusher palette. 

Yay! I'm really excited to start doing my own freelance work!

Oh! I know this is kind of off topic - but I'm really excited about it and don't really want to post just one entry about it :P Lazy Lauren!

Anyway, I am going to be creating TONS of new items for my Thirtyonewest cosmetics line! I'm having a sale in our Etsy shop (www.thirtyonewest.etsy.com) - everything is 50% off so I can use that money to go towards creating new things! My vintage stuff is over piling in my house and is beginning to look like a hoarder's house -- no shit. Really does :/ So I'm just going to get rid of it all & mainly focus on creating new, great cosmetic products & start working on jewelry again. I may continue to do vintage items in the future -- but it's gotta go at the moment. Too much at once! 

But once I get some money, I plan to make pressed (yes, PRESSED!) bronzers, blushers, highlighters, etc. I want to kind of design them like Mac Skinfinishes! I'm also going to make Whipped Lip Scrubs - which is a scrub that will help remove the dead skin off your lips to make them look nicer & feel softer - but once you lick the extra sugar off your lips - it'll be a moisturizing balm! :D Also I want to start making lipsticks! Wooo, so many things & soo little money $$ :(

Haha, anyway - sorry I'm blabbing, just really happy at the moment. But it would mean a lot if you all would go and purchase a few things from my shop ;)

My Current Playlist

I was requested a couple of days ago to do a playlist of songs that I like! Someone commented on one of my entries and said they loved my songs on the playlist I have on this blog - that they'd like for me to post a few other songs to check out. SoOoO, why not! :D When deciding this list, it was kind of hard to pick and choose what songs I liked - just because I like a lot of different types of music. And there is a whole bunch of randomness going on at the moment on my playlist on this blog :P These are rather old - but goodies :)

Salina - The Avett Brothers

Die Die Die - The Avett Brothers

Hand-Me-Down Tune - The Avett Brothers

Coral Bracelet - April March

Baby Shoes - Bad Books

Fragile Bird - City and Colour

Harmless Sparks - David Bazan

Lost my Shape - David Bazan

Happiness - Goldfrapp

Finding Something To Do - Hellogoodbye

Getting Old - Hellogoodbye

Evil - Interpol 

No I in Threesome - Interpol

Ice - Lights

I Can Feel a Hot One - Manchester Orchestra

Simple Math - Manchester Orchestra

The Cave - Mumford & Sons

White Blank Page - Mumford & Sons

Alright - Supergrass

Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

20 Minutes - You, Me, And Everyone We Know

The Good Life - Weezer

Only In Dreams - Weezer

Devil's Crayon - Wild Beasts 

Hope you enjoy ;)

December 2011 Favorites!

Firstly, I want to post a picture of this cute new shirt I got! Well, a part of it -

 I got it on sale for $10! It's a crop top but in a size Large - so I can wear it without an undershirt :P You like?!

It was sooo cold today! My boyfriend and I cuddled up on the couch & watched a movie!

Anyway, I don't really have too many favorites this month because I haven't really had the money to buy anything for myself since I had to get a ton of Christmas gifts for everyone! So I just have a few products I'd like to share that I enjoyed this past month.

 Mostly Elf stuff - only one thing that isn't (& it's Lancome).

 Elf Studio Pressed Powder in Sand

I have just recently been using face powder, and this was the first one I purchased just because I was placing an Elf order & figured why not? It's cheap! And I actually really like this. It covers nicely. I like it! However, it's very powdery. So it wastes a lot of product if you use a brush with it rather than a sponge. I've heard this is a Mac Studio Fix dupe - but I wouldn't know :P I haven't used any other powders to compare it to.

 Elf Complexion Perfection

I've heard mixed reviews about this product. Some people love it & some people hate it. Obviously since it's in my December favorites - I love it. I use this before I put on anything. I mix my Elf Powder Brush in all 4 shades & then apply it. It makes my skin tone look more even. I think the people who don't like this is if they buy this palette for a certain shade & realize that it's actually kind of translucent more so than a color corrector for certain areas on the face.

 Elf Studio Bronzer in Warm Bronze

I've done a review on my Mac Gold Deposit bronzer which I love (see review here: http://stfulaurenpack.blogspot.com/2011/10/review-mac-mineralize-skinfinish-in.html )

But since it is winter - my skin is extremely pale now. So I needed something a bit lighter. So I've been using this Warm Bronze & I love it! It's very nice & gives you just the right glow (if you're on the lighter side such as I). 

*But here recently, I purchased the Mac Matte Bronze & haven't really used it yet - I want to start using a Matte Bronzer more so than shimmer because it's suppose to look more natural looking than glittery. It's also suppose to define the areas you contour and if it has glitter in it -- it kind of defeats the purpose. So I'm going to start using a matte bronzer to see how that works. I'm blabbing on about a new bronzer because even though I got a $23 Mac bronzer -- I am also going to be purchasing a $3 Elf bronzer (the Cool Bronzer) which is also matte to see how the colors differ & see which looks best! I'll be posting up on that once I get it & test it out :)

 Elf Studio Blush in Pink Passion

I like the Elf blushes! Last month Berry Merry was my favorite. Now I'm back into my pink cheeks again & this is one of my go to pinks. It's a matte BRIGHT pink! Really pretty. I loove it!

Lancome Cils Booster XL Mascara

My last favorite! This is just a sample size of the product - I got it with my full size Doll Lashes mascara. I looooove this stuff! I plan on purchasing a bigger tube of it for my kit. It extends your natural lashes & makes them look extremely longer than usual.

New Year Resolutions

Just ate my New Years lunch! Gross turnip greens, ham, black eyes, & cornbread!

Figured I would do a few little things I'd like to do/change this year.

• Appreciate the people in my life more. Don't take anything for granted.
• Drink more water! I have pee pee issues & I get bladder/kidney infections quite often -- so I need to AT LEAST drink 2 glasses of water a day :P
• Go on dates w/ Joshy Poo more! We go out to eat & what not often, but I want to go on more little adventures - just because! :)
• Take/post more pictures on my Tumblr (www.stfulaurenpack.tumblr.com) more!
• Post more entries on this blog more often! I want more requests please! :D
• Get a new job! Start working on freelance.
• Make tons of new shades of eyeshadows for my Thirtyonewest collection!

That's all I can think of for now! Hope you enjoy ;) Happy New Year y'all!