Lemming List

Hello everyone. I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging regularly, now that I've settled down a bit. You have no idea how much I appreciate all the support I've gotten from everyone, it means the world to me. I love you guys :3 I thought today I'd just show a few of the many items I'm lemming at the moment! Morgana's Vegan Lipsticks in Goldrush and Lush. Melissa is going to be releasing a TON of new lipsticks soon, so keep an eye out for those. The Stila Make Me Blush set, which you can only get at Sephora Evil Shades eyeshadows in Sweater Girl and CC41 from the new Pin Up Girls collection Physician's Formula gel liner in Glam Brown Eyes Suds n Sass Kiss My Sass lipgloss in Domina. There's a lot of Suds N Sass products I'd like to try! I've only ever bought a few shadow samples. Geek Chic's Geek Gloss in Happy Ending UDPP in the shade "Greed", which is also only available at Sephora (online only I think, I never could find it in the store) Any of these look appealing? What are you guys lemming right now?

short hiatus

It may be a few weeks until I post again. I'm not adjusting well to my move and I'm really overwhelmed with everything right now. I'm trying to stay caught up on everyone's blogs. If you want to talk to me you can e-mail or tweet me. I'll be back as soon as I can.

Brown & Red EOTD

Very frustrated right now :/ As I've mentioned every two seconds for the last few months, I'm moving to Texas. We were supposed to start the drive down tomorrow, but the weather is supposed to be so terrible that driving would be really dangerous. We're going to leave on Friday instead now, and get there Saturday. It's not that big a deal, except that Friday is my 2 year anniversary with my boyfriend, and I was really excited to see him. At least we will get to have Valentine's Day together! It will be the third Valentine's Day since we started dating, but the first one we'll get to spend together. Long distance relationships are fucking difficult- we've been long distance for the last year. But if anyone ever tells you that long distance never works out, they're a big fat liar :) Anyway, here is a look I did last week that I really loved. I used Hi-Fi's High Impact Shadow Fix over Concrete Minerals Electric Eye Primer. On my lid is Darling Girl's "Oracle", the crease is Hi-Fi's "Lords of Salem", and the highlight is Hi-Fi's "Hail Ceasar" (always showing up so dark in the pictures, gah). I also used a Collection 2000 gold glitter liner. I don't remember what lip products I used. My eyebrows do not actually look that awkward... And here is a picture of what my shadows looked like approximately 12 hours later, after a 4 hour shift at work where the A/C is broken and the building is always at least 80- The High Impact Shadow Fix is so amazing. Someday I will do a comparison post with Pixie Epoxy, but for me it's like this: I use PE when I'm using more sparkly shadows with a more complex look. I find the HISF makes it harder for me to blend, but the fact that it lasts so long makes it as worthy as PE for me. I just use it for simpler looks, or when I need my shadows to last for a long time. Before I go, I thought I'd add that I'm going to rejoin Twitter. I miss chatting with everyone, and I know it will be really nice to have your company since I will be away from my friends, family, kitties and puppy :3 So if you have a Twitter, leave your username in the comments so I can find you after I make a new ones.

Etsy makeup: Hall of Shame

This is somewhat ranty, fyi. Last night I was browsing makeup on Etsy, even though I'm pretty sure I know 99% of the non-repackaging companies who sell through Etsy. One of the first places I found was Caustic Cadet Cosmetics... womp womp. I'm sure a lot of you have experienced that phenomenon of googling a product to find a review or swatches, seeing a picture of just an eye or a lip, and recognizing which blogger that eye or lip belongs to. So I was surprised when this listing had a picture of a beautiful eye I recognized as Chloe's from The Makeuptress. This shop seemed like your typical shitty Etsy makeup store, so I had a feeling that the owner had just stolen the picture and used it as their product photo without asking. I emailed Chloe and, surprise surprise, that was indeed the case. As if that wasn't bad enough, I looked at some more listings, including this one for liquid liner. What an odd coincidence that all the colors in the product photo happen to look exactly like all the colors of Milani's Infinite eyeliner! Maybe it's because the picture was stolen from Karen's blog... from her post about Milani Infinite eyeliners. At this point, repackaging fails to surprise me. Etsy makes it really easy for lazy jerks to make a quick buck. But stealing pictures, especially of another product to pretend is your own, is pretty pathetic. Lest your face not be :/ enough already, let's look at Bad Bitch Cosmetics! First of all, and this is just me, but I hate that name. I hate the word bitch and find it extremely rude and demeaning. I cuss a fucking lot irl, but that is a word I do not say. So I would already never order from them just because of the name (which also violates Etsy's ToS by having vulgarity in a username). But even if they were called Delightfully Elegant Pony Cosmetics, I'd still have a problem with a statement they make in their profile. "Our products - like ALL mineral makeup - is all-natural. Which also means it's vegan. There is no mineral makeup out there that isn't. Just sayin'. " Snort. It doesn't take a vast knowledge of MMU to know that there can very easily be makeup that isn't vegan. Obviously they have never heard of carmine or beeswax, or any other animal by-products. So they're either knowingly lying to customers, or they're very ignorant about the nature of their own business. And of course, there was the recent crash and burn of Glittersniffer. Here is a link you might be interested in. In case you're feeling as disappointed as I am right now, I decided to link to some great Etsy makeup shops that ARE unique, original and awesome. I haven't shopped from all of these companies, so I put asterisks by the ones that I can personally vouch for. Brazen Cosmetics Concrete Minerals* Hi-Fi Cosmetics* Persephone Minerals RockABetty Beauty Scaredy Cat Cosmetics Shiro Cosmetics* ETA: Bad Bitch Cosmetics changed their profile statement a few hours after this was posted.

Tropical EOTD

The other night I was bored and decided to play around with my makeup a little bit. I really like this look but feel like I have done many very similar to it. Hopefully reorganizing my stash after I move will give me new color combination ideas! SHADOWS I USED: LID: Aromaleigh's "Coney Island" CREASE: Meow's "Torch" INNER V: Fyrinnae's "Banana Mochi" BELOW OUTSIDE OF WATERLINE: High Voltage's "Frostbite" HIGHLIGHT: Hi-Fi's "Hail Ceasar" (this always shows up so brown in photos but it isn't!)

mumbo jumbo

This post is going to be just a random mix of stuff. First off, you should go to CVS to check out their Physician's Formula! Right now if you use your CVS card, you can get $7 off any powder, blush, bronzer, or concealer. Most of those things are around $12-15, so that's basically 50% off! This is only through Saturday, so go! Now! I also got a coupon on my receipt for $10 off any PF blush, powder, or foundation. These don't expire for 2 weeks so hopefully one of the CVS stores in town will get those cute new heart blushes... I guess I'll be moving next week, so maybe I'll have luck in Texas. Also, I got this blog award from Elyse, Cait, and Susan.

And this one from Dee.

Ok, 7 facts about me... 1. Most of my clothes are Abercrombie, Hollister, and Married to the Mob, my 3 favorite brands. All of them are overpriced but to say I am a bargain finder is an understatement. I think the most I've ever paid from any of those brands was $20 for an A&F hoodie. 2. The radio stations I listen to most are the college alternative stations, and the better of the 2 classic rock stations in town. I love a good pop song though! 3. I used to be a neat freak about my room, but it's been a DISASTER for the last few years. It is so messy I actually took a 'before' picture a few months ago, when you couldn't see any of the floor, but I haven't gotten to 'after' yet. I took out 3 full garbage bags of trash and you couldn't tell the difference. I'm moving in to my first apartment in one week and I vow to keep it clean! 4. My dream job would be to work on the X-Files, or fight demons with Sam and Dean (this season SUCKS by the way). Sometimes I get sad thinking about how these aren't real, "lol" 5. If you have read my blog long enough, you know I LOVE movies, all kinds, especially the weird ones. I'm always on the hunt to find the newest, most disturbing movie out there. Currently it seems to be "A Serbian Film"... kinda scared to watch it. The last awesome movie I saw was a doc called "Join Us", about some people escaping from a cult in California. 6. I'm a huge reader, too. 7. Feminism is a HUGE part of my self-identity. It is so important to me, and I am extremely outspoken about that, and my other beliefs. Ok, I have to tag 15 of you guys! Sorry if you've already been tagged or don't ever do these! I tried not to tag anyone who I've seen get tagged. Jerry Kathy Wendy Robyn Mindy Darcey Jill when she's back from vacation! Elizabeth Mai Diana Emily Kira & Lydia Carolina Helen Right now I am feeling very proud of myself that I think I used everyone's actual first names :D I also thought Elvira's Thursday Poll was a really fun one today.

1. Lip Of The Day? - MAC London Life lipstick, with the Bubble Lounge lipgelee on top.

2.What is the first movie you remember seeing in a movie theater? - I don't really remember it, but I know it was Lion King. Apparently I was OBSESSED with it as a kid.

3. What makeup or beauty item will people remember you by? - I don't have a signature beauty thingy ;_; Maybe sheer lipsticks?

4. What was your first and most beloved makeup purchase you remember buying? -The first makeup I can ever remember buying was this Jane eyeshadow duo with a light and a dark brown. I still have it! I use it for brow shading sometimes.

5. What was the first beauty blog you remember reading? - Phyrra and Gothique were the first beauty blogs I ever read :)

I'll round out with saying soon I'm going to do a post of some awesome beauty blogs, I have recently found a TON of really awesome new-to-me blogs! And lastly... Tuesday the 11th was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. I know everyone probably has some cause or charity they're big advocates for, and this is mine. You can make donations here. Also very important is how much Australia could use help right now due to the horrible flooding. Two of the lovely ladies I tagged, Jerry and Kira, both live in areas very close to the flooding. There are so many people who have lost everything. You can donate here.

Good as gold: e.l.f.'s Gotta Glow blush

As promised, today I'm doing a review of one of my absolute favorite products of all time, e.l.f.'s Studio Blush in the shade Gotta Glow. I didn't used to think there was much point to highlighters/luminizers until one day when I was reading Mindy's blog and I realized how awesome and glowy her cheeks always look in her FOTD's. So I decided to go ahead and order Gotta Glow- for only $3, it wouldn't be a big letdown if I didn't like it. Well, not only did I like it, but I LOVE it and I use it every day. It is one of the only items I have ever hit pan on, and I will rebuy it as soon as I run out. I don't use it as on all-over face powder, because it is so golden, and because I work at Arby's (it's my last week!) my face gets gross and shiny really fast, so I don't want to make it look even shinier. I don't think I would recommend it as more than just a cheek highlighter, but if you can make it look awesome on your entire face, go for it! Sorry about the red blotch and the cat scratch on my hand! If you click to see the picture in full size, you can see the gold shimmer. My camera wasn't picking up on it very well on my hand swatch for some reason. On the cheek photos I applied it heavily, using three swipes. I wanted to make sure it would show up well in the pictures, but I think the flash made it show up a little TOO well, haha. It is not a huge obvious golden streak, and my blush is not that obvious! But you get a good idea. For $3, this is a Holy Grail item for me. I really don't like most liquid luminizers because I feel like they make your pores look huge, so the fact that this is a powder is perfect for me. e.l.f. can be really hit and miss with their line, but this is a freakin' bullseye. It is also a dupe for NARS Albatross (Charlotte from Lipglossiping did a comparison post here.) And I wanted to show you guys the amazing shirt I was wearing when I was doing swatches!

Swatches of my MAC collection

Ok, I finally got around to doing swatches of my new MAC stuff! I just begrudgingly decided to let MAC into my life a few weeks ago, so it's not a lot. Since I don't have a ton of their products, it means I can do a teeny review of each item along with the swatches. :) If you want to see product photos, they are a few posts back. First, we have a Mineralize Blush in the shade Love Rock. This is after a few swipes with a blush brush, so as you can see it is very sheer. It has tons of really fine glitter in it, which I personally LOVE. I feel like this blush looks really natural on me, but with anyone who has skin darker than 'fair', the color payoff probably wouldn't be very good. It's been my go-to blush lately, and I love it enough that I'd buy another Mineralize Blush when I run out of this one. Next is Liquidlast Liner in the shade Greenplay, and an Eye Kohl in the shade I Get No Kick. I don't have UD's Acid Rain liner to compare, but I think it's probably pretty close to Greenplay. I think the product is pretty small to pay full price ($16.50), but I do like the brush, and the fact that this stuff is pretty much bulletproof. I Get No Kick has already become a Holy Grail item for me. I've been using it every day under my waterline to brighten up my eyes. I have 4 different types of MAC glosses. From left to right is a Lipglass in shade Culture Clash, a Lustreglass in shade Wonderstruck, a Superglass in shade Cherry Electric, and a Lipgelee in shade Bubble Lounge. Once again, I think the full price ($14.50) for the Lipglass and Lustreglass is a bit much, because they aren't very big, but they are gorgeous and I like the smell. The Lipgelee is also $14.50 but has a lot more product in it, so I think the price is fair. But the best, most amazing thing of all is the Superglass. I would gladly pay the full $18 for this any day. In fact, I wish I had bought an extra when I was at the CCO, because this is the most awesome lip gloss in the entire world, and right now it's not available. Look at the amazing flecks of gorgeous it has! I even took this huge lip picture for you so you could see the flecks in action (Cherry Electric over Slimshine Lipstick in Swelter). The bad thing is that the flakies stay on your lips long after the gloss wears off. But I don't even care. That is how much I love this. Last but not least, some random lip products. I swatched each twice- first layered a few times, and then just one swipe. From left to right is a Slimshine Lipstick in shade Swelter, a Pro Longwear Lipstain Marker in shade A Classic, and a lipstick with a Lustre finish in shade London Life. The Slimshines are currently unavailable, and I haven't tried the lipstain, but I do love the lipstick! I can definitely see why MAC is known for their lip products. It's gorgeous, sheer but buildable, and very moisturizing. I can see myself with a huge stash of these in the future. I hope that was helpful to someone! In case you're wondering why I haven't been doing much with indie makeup lately, it's because I'm not ordering anything online right now since I'm about to move. In a few weeks hopefully I'll be ordering like a fiend ;)

Neutral EOTD with bright pink cheeks &lips

Hi everyone! I know I don't have the MAC swatches I promised you yet, ooops ;) But I've been super busy as I'm moving in less than 2 weeks. For the same reason, I'll probably be updating pretty sporadically for the next month or so until I'm all settled in. I will, however, be photo-documenting my moving-out experience, so you can all look at the pictures and pretend to enjoy them! Speaking of photos, check out Lady Gaga's upcoming products for Polaroid. This stuff blows my mind. It seems so advanced and futuristic to me :P What I used: Concrete Minerals Electric Eye Primer Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy Heather, by Elohi Cosmetics (lid) Fawn, by Elohi Cosmetics (crease) Eat Me, Drink Me, by Hi Fi (highlight) Maybelline Falsies Mascara Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Underground (waterline) MAC eye kohl in I Get No Kick (below waterline) mark After Glo blush elf Gotta Glo blush Sephora Collection Lip Attitude-Star lipstick in Delirious Rose 04 Lancome juicy tube in Paris Bubbly My eyebrow is going rogue, to use unfortunate Palinesque phrasing. I actually hit pan on the elf Gotta Glow blush as I did this look, so I'm going to do a review of it soon since I love it so much. I also would like to get the MAC swatches done before I leave, and a little review with swatches of the big NYX glitter cream palette I got a while ago. I hope everyone had a relaxing post-holiday week. Enjoy the weekend!

My favorite fragrances of 2010

I wanted to do some sort of "end of the year favorites" post, and decided to do one about perfume instead of makeup. In 2010 I started branching out fragrance-wise, especially by trying fragrances from lots of indie companies. Until somewhat recently, I've worn Calvin Klein Eternity Summer (2007 edition) since January of '08. Now I've discovered some scents I like a lot better, and it tends to sit untouched.

Chance Eau Fraiche, by Chanel I decided to list this one first because it's my favorite perfume, hands down. My mom gave me a little sample vial of it that she got somewhere, and I fell in love. I wish it wasn't so damn expensive though! I bought this 1.7 oz size at Sephora ($65) when I got the Beauty Insider coupon in the mail last month that gave me $15 off, and I've worn it almost every day since. I really can't describe the scent any better than to call it a fresh floral, so see if you can find it next time you go to the mall! Celebration, by Latherati Soap Foundry I have been meaning to review Latherati since I first ordered, which I think was this summer... I find I have a hard time reviewing body product companies though. In short, I LOVE Latherati- best lip balm formula I've ever tried, and Julie is so thoughtful and accommodating. Even though I go to indie companies to find more unusual scents, my favorite from Latherati is Celebration, which is a fragrance I can imagine being widely sold in stores. To me it smells like the description- champagne and strawberries. I just ordered the body spray and it should be getting here in the next few days :D Dia de los Muertos, by Lethal Lathers I loved my soap sample of this so much that I bought the solid perfume. It's a very foody type scent. To me it smells like lemon meringue pie or lemon bars, but more perfume-y and wearable. If you've smelled BABW Vanilla Lemon, this is a similar scent. Vice, by Haus of Gloi This is another gourmand scent. My boyfriend hates foody scents, so I have this just as a shower scrub, which I'm almost out of! :O I once saw on VH1 this restaurant which is SO exclusive that it only has 12 seats. Imagine, if you will, such a place. Or that place in 30 Rock that Jack likes with the gold covered ice cream. Imagine them serving you the most delicious chocolate coffee dessert recipe known to man. This is what Vice smells like. I also love their scent Picaroon, and their LE for summer scents in Zazz and Insalata Nocturna. Marshmallow, by Urban Decay The picture I put is of the old packaging that I have, but it comes in cuter packaging now. This is a body powder that is extremely sparkly. It not only smells of marshmallow, but tastes like it too ;) I think $29 is a crazy high price, but honestly I will pay that much when I run out because this is the PERFECT marshmallow scent. It is exactly what I had been looking for, and is a million times better than any other marshmallow scented products I've tried. Lost at Sea, by One Hand Washes the Other I really don't know how to describe this one at all. According to the description it is mainly coconut and citrus fruit, with maybe some ozone type scent mixed in. All I can say is that I love it, and I feel like regardless of what your general fragrance preferences all, you'll probably like this. OHWTO is also a big winner in my book for the many other amazing fragrances- Salty Mariner and Grass Stain are stock scents, but amazing. Barista! is a custom scent similar to Haus of Gloi's Vice. Pumpkin Bread (discontinued, boo!) was my go-to scent during fall. Vanillime and Desolation Angel are awesome lime-y scents (pretty similar imo). Becca also has a scent called Pink Lady, which is a great dupe for... Pink Sugar, by Aquolina I had seen this scent duped by basically every indie bath company, and knew it was one of the top selling perfumes at Sephora, so when a Sephora opened at my local mall this summer it was the first one I tested. It is REALLY sweet, like spraying yourself with cotton candy, so it's definitely not for everyone. I love how the scent changes over time- on my skin it turns from a cotton candy scent into more of a sweet vanilla.

Have you tried any of these fragrances? Which are your favorites? I'm always looking to try new ones!

Beauty Blogger Challenge

If you head on over to A Girl and Her Shadows, you can see that she has set up the Beauty Blogger Challenge, a fun little weekly questionnaire thing. I promised you swatches with my next post, but I am way too hungover to put that much effort into anything. Before you start thinking I am cool or fun, it was from drinking at my cousin's wedding reception on New Years... surrounded by my whole family... with my boyfriend in Alaska... where I did not do anything but sit in a chair all night and drink fuzzy navels. On the drive back home today, my dad had to pull over so I could puke on the side of the road. Not the best way to start off 2011 :P But I am moving to Texas in less than 3 weeks, and I'm really excited about starting a new chapter in my life. It's nice to know that even when I'm moving 1000 miles away, I'll still have all of you to talk to :) That's really comforting to me, I appreciate all of you so much! The question for this week is: Why did you start blogging about beauty? Do you think you would have blogged about other topics if you hadn’t started beauty blogging? Were you already blogging something else when you started? I started reading beauty blogs because I was following Aromaleigh on facebook, and Miss K sometimes would link to blogs that were using AL products. The first blogs I started regularly following were Phyrra and Gothique. Through them I found other bloggers, and eventually decided I wanted to start a blog too. I also started a movie blog at the same time, but deleted it after a few weeks because I wanted to focus solely on Eyeconic Makeup. I probably would have maintained a movie blog at some point if I never started this one, and I do a movie post over here every once in a while. Movies are my great obsession alongside makeup, so if you ever want to chat about some random film you think no one else has ever heard of, I'm your girl! Especially if it's horrifying/disturbing/disgusting :D I really hope some more of you participate in this weekly event, I think it's really fun and I'd love to see everyone else's answers! Thanks for reading my textwall. Your reward is pictures of my dog, Ginger, who I will miss very much when I leave! She loves to sit outside in the snow :3