Another Day, Another Emo Kid

I really completely suck at doing my blog.  I'm so sorry.  I'm going to tell you about what's going on in my life right now.

My head spins, my throat closes, a tear spills, another piece breaks.
Don't you see?  Don't you see me?
My eyes close, my fists clench, my stomach drops, another piece breaks.
Do you hear?  Do you hear me?
A light shines, a sparrow sings, I love, one more piece breaks.
Can you feel?  Can you feel me?
My way gets lost, my mind reels, I lose my footing, another piece breaks.
Won't you touch?  Why won't you touch me?
It's dark, it's gloomy, it's depressing, and another piece breaks.
Don't you help? Don't you help me?
I cry, I scream, I call out, I plead
Another piece breaks.
I hurt.  Can you save me?
Can someone please help me?

Yup, that about sums it up.  Any comments??

And The Winner Is....

I hope you all can forgive me for dragging my giveaway out so long.  Lots of serious personal stuff happening in my life right now.  But I have drawn a winner *drum roll please* and she is........

Wait for it.......

Mrs. Stephens!!!

Please contact me within the next 24 hours so I can ship this box full of goodies to you!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered!!  I will have another giveaway when I hit 100 followers & of course that giveaway will contain all manner of make-up, bath products from Lush & philosophy and nail polishes from Zoya AND China Glaze!  Stay tuned!!!!!

How About An End-of-Hiatus Giveaway?

Hello my lovelies!!
To make it up to you, gentle reader, for being absent for so long (October 15th was my last entry) I am having a GIVEAWAY!!!!!  I discovered this new nail color from Sinful Colors that is a...wait for it....FLAKIE!!  It's called "Green Ocean" and it is frikkin gorgeous.  So I bought extra so I could giveaway one, and started going thru my accumulated new & unused beauty products.  I gathered several selections plus the Green Ocean & came up with, what I think is, an awesome collection of prizes!!  Check out the pics!!

This giveaway includes the following items:

• Of course, the Sinful Colors "Green Ocean" nail polish
• Bath & Body Works Scentportable Clip in a daisy sort of print
• Bath & Body Works Scentportable Refills in Pineapple Orchid
• Two HIP Color Presso lip glosses in 182-Trendy & 680-Spunky
• HIP Jelly Balm pot in 420-Savory
• Blush Cosmetic Brush Set containing 4 brushes, 1 sponge-tip applicator & one dual side lash/brow brush
• Sephora Tropical Jasmine Body Wash 2.5 fl. oz.
• Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in RSVP
• Two Bath & Body Works Liplicious lip glosses in Blue Colada & Forever Sunshine
• Three Meow Cosmetics eye shadow samples from the "Glacial Grove" Collection:
• Permafrost
• Wild
• Icebound
• Eight Aromaleigh eye shadow samples (these are VERY generous samples made by me) from various collections:
• Pure Drama Liner in Copper
• Pure Hue in Antique Green
• Gothic Lolita in Burnt Roses
• Valentine 2005 in Call Me!
• Drama Queen Liner in Topaz
• Opulent Lustre in Tapestry
• Rocks! in Downward Spiral & Spaceoddity

I may be inspired to add a few bits & bobbles every few days until the end of the contest.  A full size Philosophy shower gel?  A sugar scrub or bath bomb or soap from Lush?  Some additional eye shadow samples??  I'll post pics of the additional items as I add them :-}  OH!!  Just to assure you, all of the items pictured & being given away are brand-new, unused & untested.

Now, for the rules:

1. You must leave a comment on this post with the following information:
• You must be a follower of my blog (whether a brand-new follower or you've been with my blog for a while) & indicate such in your post with your "follower" name; 
• Your email address so I can contact you if you're the winner;
• Your favorite item from the giveaway & why;
• Something you are grateful for
2. You can earn (1) additional entry for Tweeting about this giveaway ~ send me the link to your tweet
3. You can earn (1) additional entry for posting about this giveaway on Facebook ~ send me the link to your post.
4. You can earn (1) additional entry for posting about this giveaway on your blog - send me the link to your post.

All told, you could have (4) entries!!!  The only required entry is the comment on this post. Contest will end on March 20th at 9pm PDT.  I will enter all of the entries into random.org to come up with the winner.  The winner will have 24 hours to respond to my email or I will have to choose another winner.  Keep checking back to see what I've added ~ each day could bring a new little (or big!) surprise addition!!

So, good luck everyone!  And thanks for sticking with me...  

Since I went back to work in October, it seems as though I haven't had time to do anything.  The Fibromyalgia is still with me, and it's a daily battle, but I love my job again and that matters to me so much.  We moved to a new building and with the move came a renewed sense of teamwork & positivity.  And bigger desks!!  Going to work has been a joy....

Please enter my giveaway & ask your friends to become followers and enter my giveaway.  I Love doing stuff like this & want to let you know how much I appreciate each & every one of you!!!  My lovely readers!!

Love,

Shayne

So, I figured that I would swatch my entire "Ciao Italia!" collection from Aromaleigh for you.  Kristen still has not only full sample size sets left but probably about 85% available in full sizes.  This is a wonderful set.  This collection isn't as light as say, Les Papillons.  This collection has heft.  It's very earthy.  This collection is bold, in-your-face and demands attention.  Enough chatter....let's just look at the pictures, shall we??

Which colors are your favorites??  Do you have any colors from this collection?  Let me know in the comments!!

Concrete Minerals

I received some eye shadows from the lovely Emily over at Concrete Minerals.  I chose to purchase her Youtube Guru & Blogger Love listing which included 4 sample size eye shadows.  I selected the following: Wicked, Smut, Prude & Strobelight.  I ordered on September 30th & received my package on October 11th.  Fairly normal turn-around time in the MMU world.  I swatched the colors for you, Gentle Reader....did you think I wouldn't??  Check it out...

**The following pictures were taken inside with flash**

Here are Emily's descriptions of the four colors that I chose (descriptions taken from her shop):

• Wicked ~ (bright purple with aquamarine shift)
• Strobelight ~ (Chrome silvery-blue) This steel blue reminds us of a disco ball! Makes a stunning accent, especially with darker contours.
• Prude ~ (Pale shimmery pink) The perfect highlighter to brighten-up any look! Try below the browbone or on the inside corners of eyes!
• Smut ~ (Dirty silver with pink-purple undertones) It’s impossible to get the beauty of this incredible color to show-through in photos. “Smut” seems to be an instant favorite of anyone who even glances at it! This shadow looks just as good on as it does in the jar (and it looks reeeeally good in the jar) and compliments every color eye!

 **The following pictures were taken outside in sunlight with no flash**

Emily's eyeshadows are incredibly pigmented & blend very well.  Smut is much more complex in person than in the photos.  It really isn't a brown shade, but more of a purplish maroon with a pink shift/duochrome.  It's my favorite out of the four that I purchased.  I was very happy with Concrete & will be purchasing more colors in the future.

Have you tried Concrete Minerals?  Do you like them?  What do you think of the colors I chose?  Let me know in the comments!!!

Ephemeral Soul Light

I went with a very soft & toned down look here.  Ivan said that it looked "very nice" and he liked it much better than the darker & brighter looks I've been doing lately.  I tried explaining to him that while I love doing the soft looks, I love doing the bolder looks too.  Makeup is a form of creative self expression for me & it makes me happy.  It's the artist in me dying to get out.  You know, I never thought about it before but both sides of my family are fraught with artists: my dad with music, his sister with drawing, painting & doing stained-glass work, my mom & her crafts & cross~stitch.  My Grandpa was a carpenter & a drummer.  My Gram was a painter, sculptor & doll maker.  My mom's oldest sister is a photographer.  I used to draw - I was quite good actually.  I'm also an artist with music and now, with make-up.  I guess I come by it quite honestly.  Anyway, on to the pics:

Do you like my headband??  I took an open sort of scroll work plastic headband and looped a scarf through it.  It's actually quite a large scarf ~ I got it with a Tarte collection of Lock N Rolls this summer.  There were several inches of fabric left on either side of the headband so I just tied those at the nape of my neck.  I thought it looked cute.
For face, I used my normal products:

• Meow Pampered Puss in Sleek Chausie
• BE Brightening Pearl MV
• Smashbox Soft Lights Quad in Luminary on cheeks

On eyes, I used to following:

• Aromaleigh Les Papillons "Air & Light" lashline to browbone
• Aromaleigh Les Papillons "Ephermeral Violet" patted on middle & outer third of lid
• Aromaleigh Les Papillons "Soul Takes Flight" crease & outer V
• Blend, blend, blend

I also used Temptu's Retouch Highlighter in Champagne right under my brows.  The highlighter blends in beautifully so you can't tell that there is a product there.  All you can see is that your brows look a little lifted & your eyes look a little brighter.

I haven't worn my hair down in months.  I want to cut it short, Ivan wants me to keep it long.  But it looks so jacked when it's long.  I made him a deal ~ I'll keep my hair long & won't cut it if he lets me get Wen.  He agreed.  Heehee SCORE!!!

Bette's Wonderland

This look was done with newly acquired colors from Aromaleigh & Fyrinnae:

• Fyrinnae Nijiro lashline to browbone
• Aromaleigh Gothic Lolita Wonderland inner third of lid, inner V & tearduct
• Aromaleigh Bete Noire Bette middle third of lid
• Fyrinnae Arcane Magic Glitterboi outer third of lid & outer V

I didn't use any liner with this look.  For mascara, I used Bare Escentuals Flawless Definition Mascara & Buxom Lash over the FD.  I'm in love with how this looks & have been using this combo quite a bit lately.