I GOT NAKED!!

So, this weekend, I bought one of those... Urban Decay... NAKED... makeup palette things... I suppose a look should be posted. Let's see what I come up with!

Stay Nerdy and Beautiful

Peter Thomas Roth

As the title suggests, this is a mini-review about Peter Thomas Roth's "Blemish Buster Kit".

In 2010, I was under a lot of stress from... stress-related things, and my cheeks started breaking out worse than when I was in high school (I'm 29, now)!! I've been trying so many skin routines, but my skin has merely plateaued, and not completely cleared up, which is aggravating. Recently, I was recommended to buy this Peter Thomas Roth kit from Sephora, with promises of near-instant results. At $35, I figured I would try it, since it didn't burn a huge hole in my wallet... After only four days, my blemishes were starting to recede, but the rest of my skin was taking a Beta Hydroxy beating! The skin around my mouth was SO DRY... (how dry was it?) thank you. It was so dry, that I was making it crack and peel from talking! No matter what moisturizers I put in that area, to calm it down, it stung like I had poured straight Isopropyl Alcohol on it. For the first time, since I discovered Sephora's existence, I had to return a product.

Evidently, the Beta Hydroxy formula is for extremely oily and acne-prone skin. Of course, on the front package, it says: MAXIMUM STRENGTH in all caps... You'd think that would have been my first clue, but no. The mixture of glycolic acid, beta hydroxy Acid, sulfur, and salicylic acid was really too much for my skin. I guess it's not as acne-prone as I had previously assumed. SO... what's the point of this review, then? Lesson learned: If you have really, REALLY oily and/or acne-prone skin, this kit is definitely for you. If you have combination skin, or you just have a few sporadic blemishes on your face, like me, this is way too strong and you will end up returning it. Let's put it this way: I'm using Aquaphor on my face, to bring it back to normal. I hope this helped any of you. Leave questions and/or comments below!

Stay Nerdy and Beautiful

Wow. Fashion World Upset...

Sad, sad Italian Vogue...

I just read this article on Yahoo!, and I was surprisingly upset by it. How clueless can they be?

Until next time: Stay Nerdy and Beautiful

How To Cheat at a French Mani

Hello, there! Well, I figured out a way to make a French Mani easier than using globs of white "French Tip" polish. I got the idea from bubzbeauty on YouTube, and tweaked it a little, to use what I had. Here are pics of the finished product:

Ya like my Hello Kitty spoon? Got it at Yogurtland. Hellz yeah.

The pics don't do it justice. I mean, it's not GLITTER, but it still makes the mani look polished and clean with that extra oomph. It shimmers like a Twilight vampire's skin... D: I might do a video tutorial on it; I might not. I don't think I'd be very good at editing, but we'll see.

Until next time: Stay Nerdy and Beautiful

ST:TNG Captain's Shirt Look

Ok, guys. Bare with me, as I attempt a tutorial of a makeup look inspired by Picard's and Riker's shirts in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here we go:

First prime your eyelids, to prevent your eyeshadow from creasing. I used Soft Ochre Paint Pot by MAC.

Next, with my Sephora Double-Ended Smudge/Shadow brush, I pat on Addicted (a red mineral shadow w/ shimmer) by Beauty From The Earth, covering 3/4 of the eyelid.

With my Sephora #13 rounded crease brush (a fluffy brush with a dome shape), I take Tijuana from the Kat Von D Memento Mori palette and put that in the crease, and cover the remaining 1/4 of my lid. Make sure you blend it out really well.

With the Smudge end of the Sephora Smudge/Shadow brush, I take a little more Tijuana and lightly smudge it under the lower lashline.

Next, as your highlight, under your browbone, take Agatha Pink (a light peach with shimmer, or you can use something close to your skin tone), from the Memento Mori palette on your shadow brush and lightly sweep it on, blending out the crease color.

Now, for mascara! Curl your lashes. I'm using the Tarte Eyelash Curler.

Apply your favorite mascara. I'm using the Urban Decay Skyscraper Multi-benefit Mascara.

You can stop here, if you like, but I wanted to intensify the look, to look dark, mysterious and... Star.. Trekky... so I used the Rimmel Eye Kohl in 061 Jet Black on my waterline.

That's it! Here's the finished look!

I hope you Trekkies, Trekkers, and makeup geeks liked this look. This was just something quick that I thought of, with nothing else done to the face. Foundation, powder and lips can really be anything, depending on your preference. Please leave comments below if you liked this look! 

Return From Real Life

Almost exactly one year ago, I started this blog, with the full intent of updating it on a regular basis, but it was put on the wayside, in favor of failing a whole term of college. DX

MOVING ON...

As it turned out, the IsQueen BB Cream didn't work for me. I liked the feeling of the formula, but the shade was too light (it only comes in two shades: light and lighter. XD) and I still broke out, no matter how often I used it. BB Creams are a nice idea, but this one in particular didn't work on my skin. Because of all the stresses of the past year, I've been lucky to have clear skin, period. While I was in Guam, on vacation, this summer, I discovered the joys of Lily of the Valley 99% Aloe Vera gel. That stuff is no joke. Every day that I used it, my skin cleared up! I thought it was a miracle! Seriously, if you have skin as dry as the sands of Tatooine OR as greasy as the Dagobah swamp, then this stuff is for you.

Holy A$$crackers, Batman! DC Shoes released a Ken Block vid on YouTube! A MUST-SEE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btViXvIDsi0

This was just quick, to let people know, if anyone even READS this blog, that I'm alive and well, and I'll hopefully continue this moar often. Please, leave questions, comments below!!

A Blog...?!

BAM! That (up there) was one of my first attempts at putting eyeshadow on myself after watching xsparkage on YouTube in early 2008. Seriously, I was bored, so naturally, I was surfing YouTube and found makeup tutorials by accident! It was amazing to me how simple it seemed; I wish videos like this existed when I was in high school ( :cough: graduated in 2001 ). Since this first attempt, I've been close to obsessed with makeup and have bought quite a bit. Unfortunately, I am a poor college student now, (getting out of the Navy REALLY hurts your spending budget) so I can't buy NEARLY as much I want to, but I figured out something. Why not work with what I have, use it up and save up for something else I want? Something to try?

I wanted to make YouTube videos, but I don't have a decent camera to do that, so I opted for a blog, at least to start out with. I'm no expert, in the very least, but I thought I'd put my... well, thoughts out there for people to read, criticize and possible make fun of. I'm a nerd, as it says in my blog title: I love Sci-Fi and watch and draw anime. I'm a Japanese major, also working on a German minor at the university I attend. I got out of the Navy last summer, where I worked on aviation electronics for five years. My mother never let me wear makeup while I was in high school, because she said I didn't need it and I accepted that fact. I had always been very against women who put on foundation and powder everyday just to look "normal", but recently... I started getting into that too. In a sense, that makes me a hypocrite, but now I see what all these women are really doing with this stuff for their face.

NO ONE has perfect skin, especially me. It's been freaking out because of my time of the month and this stupid weather where I live and I can't get the acne to go away completely. I'm sure I'm not the only woman in the world with this problem, but it's not any less annoying. I thought that ultimate organic cleansers and toners were the way to go, but after a month, my skin hasn't cleared up like I thought it would. I just recently bought my three favorite cleansers from LUSH: Angels on Bare Skin, Aqua Marina cleanser and Dark Angels cleanser. I try to use a different one each time I wash my face so my skin doesn't completely adjust and they can still work miracles. I hope my crackpot theory works!

Anyway, about foundations and such: I found this wonderful, fantastic stuff on sasa.com, which is a Hong Kong-based site that has all these Asian brands of cosmetics and skincare! I found out about the site from bubzbeauty on YouTube. (Go watch her! She's so cute and adorable!) The stuff is called Blemish Balm Cream, or BB Cream, which works like a light foundation, but also has similar properties to a moisturizer. The stuff I use is by the Japanese cosmetics brand IsQueen, called "High Definition Blemish Balm Cream" which also has SPF 18! (see the stuff here!) I think I'll do a full review with before/after pics on another blog, when I have the full sized bottle. (I just got back from a mini-vacation w/ my boyfriend, and the post office is holding my package, threatening to send it back to Hong Kong tomorrow, if I don't go in to sign for it! DX)

Okay, I guess that's my first official blog post and, hopefully, I'll remember to post more as time goes on. When I do reviews, I'm sure all the products that I already have will be quite outdated and unavailable, so bear with me, as I'm new at this. Leave comments with any tips you might have for the n00b. ttyl!