Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Guest Post: Zoë Goes Green

March 16, 2015MiscellaneousChelle

Zoë’s fulfilling her duties and hijacking my blog for today to share her take on the Canadian Beauty Bloggers theme of the month which just so happens to be my personal favourite colour; GREEN. Take it away Zoë!

Okay so there was a lot of pressure when I found out I was guest posting on Chelle’s blog this month! Back in December she did a gorgeous colourful makeup look over on my own little internet space, Writing Whimsy, so I really wanted to do something awesome for her despite the fact that I have a bad habit of continually resorting to the same pretty neutrals. However, I decided to do a little digging in my stash and came up with this look that used a little green, while still being everyday wearable for me. See Chelle–maybe you are rubbing off!

I started off with a green primer because it’s green. The MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Microperfecting Primer in #1 Green* also helps cancel out redness, and provides a
nice base for my favourite foundation at the moment, L’Oreal Magic Nude Liquid Powder*. A little MUA Blush Perfection Cream Blusher in Yummy which I love although the packaging is basically destroyed, along with a sadly LE Essence Cream Highlighter in Light Up!* which I just hit pan on, help give my cheeks a natural glow.

I’m wearing Benefit Gimme Brow on my brows, and this was actually my first time wearing MAC Cosmo lipstick, but I think I’m in love. Then I added a light dusting of Guerlain Meteorites Compact in Clair 02* all over for some radiance (there’s some green in there too!), before I moved on to the eyes.

I started off by applying Rimmel Scandaleyes in Gossip Green* all over the lid, which is a really pretty cream base. I love these Rimmel crayons and I used a mix of the shade Bulletproof Beige and the MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua Shadow in 28E for my inner corner and lower lash line. My only complaint is that all of these jumbo eye crayons require sharpening. I also used a Maybelline Color Show Kohl Liner in Barely Beige*
to brighten up my waterline.

I used my MAC Lucky Green Eyeshadow (which I actually picked up the same time as
Cosmo!) which is a gorgeous golden lime shade that I swatched in store and fell in love with, even though I rarely use it–hopefully that’ll change now! I blended the L’Oreal Infallible in Bronze Divine, which is pushing the green definition but has a definite green tinge to it, into my crease. I finished off with a coat of a favourite mascara, Smashbox Photo Op Eye Brightening Mascara*. I even put on a green sweater for the photos!

When it comes to eye makeup I don’t own that much in the green category but it was
fun to go outside the bronze and brown shades I usually reach for. I really need to find ways to wear Lucky Green more often! I think the next step is finally pick up the gorgeous Make Up Geek shadow in Jester I’ve been lusting over ever since Chelle first shared it. Do you have any favourite green shades?

Chelle’s Aside:

Fun fact: Cosmo lipstick was actually one of the very first shades of I owned from MAC… back in the late 90s. I may just have to go and repurchase that shade as my old tube (thankfully) is lonnnnng gone and it looks wonderful on you!

Moving on… I’m super happy that Zoë busted out a green look for my blog today. I think it works beautifully with her eye colour and seems to just liven up her face. (hint hint, do it more often Zoë!) Thank you for taking the plunge and trying something new! I expected to see Lucky Green on you all the time now! 😉

February 2015 Favourites

March 2, 2015Favourites, MiscellaneousElizabeth Mott, MACChelle

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I feel like I haven’t had a lot of consistent favourites in the last two months. I think it’s because I keep reaching for different makeup combinations, which means I really don’t use the same products very often. I do have a few however, but it’s mostly because they’re shiny and new to me!

But let’s first start with the gross one. This is a well-loved Lash Card by Elizabeth Mott that I think a friend gave to me because she wasn’t using them. And I can’t tell you how OFTEN I use them – near daily really. I’m awful at applying mascara – I tend to get it everywhere on my lid and nothing seems to prevent me from doing so except for these.

These go on your eyelid in the most unflattering way, but as you can tell from the mascara build up left behind, they save my eyelids from complete and utter destruction. They’re really just a piece of flexible cardboard — a business card would do the same thing — but the shape of these is perfect for fitting around the curve of your eyelid.

(And, by the way, when you look in the mirror it says “Lash Card” the right way, I didn’t flip these photos!)

I wore MAC‘s Kinky (which I won in a giveaway on Swatch and Review) for three straight days this past month and I can’t ever remember the last time I did that with *any* lip product. It’s bright red, flat matte and stays put until I take it off. Using this lipstick made me realize how much I really love MAC‘s Retro Matte formula, which leads me to my next item…

This colour is everything to me right now. MAC‘s Relentlessly Red is another lipstick in the retro matte formula and it’s beyond stunning. It’s a pinky-red and vibrant as all hell. I wasn’t entirely sure it was that flattering on me, but I got a few compliments from people so I guess that’s saying something!

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And just for comparison, here’s Kinky and Relentlessly Red beside each other. Kinky is very, very similar to MAC‘s Russian Red, so if you missed out on the limited release of Kinky, you can still pick up a similar colour. Relentlessly Red, however, is available in MAC‘s regular lipstick lineup so snag it whenever you want!

Another short but sweet month!

Guest Post: Sarah from Workaday Ramblings

February 20, 2015MiscellaneousChelle

Hello, I’m Sarah from Workaday Ramblings. This month’s CBB guest post theme is red, pink and white, and since Chelle has an amazing red eyeliner that appears in her posts semi-regularly, I decided to guest post about red eyeliner.

I love red eye products because they are so unexpected, but can look awesome. I don’t have a red eyeliner exactly, but I do have a few red loose eyeshadows, which can be used as eyeliner.

For my look, I’m using quite a few products as I actually included base products too, which I don’t always wear. But the main products for my eye look are Moi Cosmetics eyeshadow in Juliet, Essence How to Make Bright Eyes palette, Beauty People eyeliner in Glitter Beige, and Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara.

I started with a base of colour, and a bit of shading, using the Essence How to Make Bright Eyes palette. My actual red eyeliner is Moi Cosmetics eyeshadow in Juliet. I used a damp angled brush to apply it like an eyeliner. I finished with a swipe of Beauty People eyeliner in Glitter Beige under my eye as I love the champagne-pink-gold shimmer colour, and added a coat of Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara to my lashes.

Overall, I think this is a fun look that offers an unexpected eyeliner colour. Part of the trick of wearing red on your eyes is figuring out what shades of red look good, and not like you’re sick. All it takes is a bit of experimentation, and you’ll end up with a look that’s different from everyone else.

Chelle’s Aside: Sarah’s such a sweetheart and I really hope you visit her site. When I first started blogging, Sarah was my most avid commenter and really made me feel welcome in the blogging world. I’m tickled pink (red?) that she did a red eyeliner look since it’s one of my absolute favourite things to do on my own eyes. I think it looks gorgeous on her and I hope she wears it often! It’s such a striking look and really sets off her eyes. And good GOD, can we TALK about her lashes? Are those even LEGAL?

Hit Pan #3

February 18, 2015Hit Pan, MiscellaneousAnastasia, MAC, Maybelline, NYC, TarteChelle

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Pan porn time! This is my third instalment of products I’ve hit that oh-so-magical pan on.

Let’s take a moment here and just stare at this one in awe. That blush right there? That’s the first blush I have ever hit pan on and I’m more than a little excited about it. (It’s the little things in life…) Tarte‘s Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed has been my default blush throughout the cooler months.

I don’t know what it is with bronzers lately, but I have no luck finishing them up! I used this bronzer for almost 70% of 2014 and I *only* hit pan on it because I finally snapped and stuck a pin in the middle of the product to see how far I had to go. And now I can safely say that I am nowhere NEAR finishing this damn thing up. While I love the shade, I would also love to have some variety in my life! With a price tag around $5, NYC‘s Fire Island Tan is definitely a compelling option since it seems to last FOREVER! Lovely shade too, particularly if you want a bit of a bronzy-shimmer in the summer.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Blonde

Oooo this one’s neat. Halfway through 2014 I switched to using Anastasia‘s Dipbrow Pomade in Blonde (I was using an eyeshadow before). And man oh man – this stuff is magical. It makes my non-existent brows finally look like I’ve got hair where hair is supposed to be! The only downside is that using a pomade is a lot more time consuming because you need to be a lot more precise. So although my new brow game has tacked on an additional five minutes, it’s soooo worth it!

Now this isn’t something you see often… I mean, how often do you get to claim that you hit pan on a lipstick? Tragically, I’m a chronic lipstick murderer so I had to depot (de-bullet) this one and throw it into a sample pot from MAC. This was a limited edition shade called Hibiscus from the 2011 summer collection. It’s a *beautiful* shade, but I don’t reach for it often because it now requires that I have a lip brush with me.

Maybelline‘s Color Tattoo in Barely Beige is in my Use Up 2015 bin, but I haven’t been using it much lately since I think it’s starting to dry up. This is the easiest shade to reach for when you haven’t got any time in the morning. Throw this shade all over the lid, blend a brown into the crease, whack on some mascara and you’re good to go!

It really surprises me how long it takes to use up a gel liner. I picked up Tarte‘s black gel liner in March of last year and I’ve been using it non-stop ever since. I mean, if you look at my Makeup Looks you know that I do winged liner at least 4 out of 5 times, so it’s surprising to me how long it’s taken me to hit pan. I’ve been super impressed though, it’s just as creamy and smooth to use as the first day I bought it and it’s almost 12 months old now!

And, of course, I had Kolme helping me out while I took photos!

Social Media Blitz

February 11, 2015MiscellaneousSocial MediaChelle

It’s very odd to me that running a blog these days seems to require a lot more self promotion in the social media world. Back in MY day (when I was in high school and throughout university in the late 90s/early 00s) Facebook didn’t exist, Twitter wasn’t anywhere on anyone’s radar and Instagram wasn’t even possible since data plans didn’t truly exist for cell phones. Back then it seemed to be about getting known for your content and posting on message boards was a great way to make people aware of your site. (Hell, my Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan site is still online for anyone interested.)

Now, the world seems to revolve around hash tags and self promotion via social media. I’m not opposed to it really, but it sure did take me a long while to hop on the bandwagon! (Probably due to my outright stubbornness to be perfectly honest.)

So where can you find me? Here’s the list!

If you’re looking to keep up with me or what I’m wearing on my face on a day to day basis, you can see me posting near daily on Instagram as @mu_your_mind. Instagram has become my latest and greatest obsession and I’m surprised I held off as long as I did to join it. I’ll typically post my eyeshadow look of the day using my lower quality camera on my phone (before it makes it live to this site in a collection of looks) and some shots from my life as random things happen. For instance, I went snowboarding at Blue Mountain this past weekend and the trees were covered in a beautifully thick dusting of snow. I love Instagram for this – getting to take a picture and share it with people immediately – it’s actually quite a gratifying experience. Oh and instant hauls? Hell yes!

Next up is Facebook. I’ve created a Facebook page for this site, which helps get my posts out to the general public a bit more. It’s neat how a few hash tags will increase my viewership exponentially (my New Year’s Resolution post had something ridiculous like 306 audience reach when my average is usually around 40-50). I was originally linking to my blog posts on my own personal Facebook page, but I felt more than a little ridiculous telling my friends and family what was in my garbage or what makeup I was buying that month, so I’ve created that separate page for my site so I feel less like I’m spamming my friends and more like I’m spamming people who actually care about the makeup side of my life.

While not technically social media, Bloglovin’ is for anyone out there who has a plethora of bookmarks on their browser bar and is loathe to click the “open all in new tabs” button. Through Bloglovin’ you can input any URL and add it to your feed. I follow about 80 or so blogs and keeping that in a bookmarks folder was a living nightmare until I discoveredBloglovin’. Now, Bloglovin’ gives me a feed and alerts me whenever there’s a new post on any particular blog I’m subscribed to. This site is INVALUABLE for anyone and everyone who is an avid blog reader. If you’re so inclined, you can add my site to your feed!

And last, and certainly the least, there’s Twitter. Dear jesus I do not like Twitter. It’s one way to get noticed (hell, I was tickled pink when Marlena of Makeup Geek re-tweeted my swatches and review of her Foiled Shadows) but it feels like a sandbox where the cool kids hang out to get noticed. I dislike trying to condense my thoughts into 140 characters, so I really only use Twitter for blog promotion/connecting with others when necessary. It’s also helpful for getting up to date information (like when the MUG eyeshadows are back in stock… squeeeeee). If, however, Twitter is your thang, you can find me on there as@mu_your_mind.

That’s my social media round up du jour. I’d love to connect with you via any of these platforms! I realize not everyone likes to leave blog post comments, so please connect with me via your social media of choice. 🙂

As a side note, since most of my handles have been forced to be condensed to “mu_your_mind”, I do end up referring to my site as “Moo Your Mind”. And then all I can think about are cows…