DarkByDesign

Those Who Cannot Speak

2011-02-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

Animal Cruelty and make up... I was thinking about this for a while and I really wish I was able to put my money where my heart is and I know for so many people that its no possible. I know its a cost thing since its cheaper to test on animals who don't have a choice than paying humans. Also what happens to those animals? They can loose their eye sight and they can develop horrible skin conditions. Its just not fair. I'm trying my best to purchase cruelty free products but the funds aren't always there.

Celebrity Inspired #1

2010-12-23T22:21:00.000-08:00

Katy Perry (L)

So its a classic 'pin up' look with the neutral eyes with a slight cat eye liner and bold coloured lips. Love it.

Eyes:
I put UDPP on the lids and then took a champaign colour on my eyes to give the eye a bit of dimension and then a matte light brown and put it lightly in my crease so there was some depth. Did a thin line of liner with a small cat eye and put on false lashes.

Lips:
Took a burgundy lip liner and lined my lips and filled them in completely took a burgundy gloss from revlon and put it over.

This look was so simple and I think it came out really nice.

christmas numero dos.

2010-12-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

COMPLETLEY CRAZY. - and not at all traditional. Just the way I like it.

This look is extremely wacky and I would never wear this out... well maybe without the glitter. LOL. There is GLITTER EVERYWHERE, all over my pants, shirt and floor but you're all worth is :) I must admit, the glitter looks extremely sloppy but you know what? bite me. It just wasn't working out.

Eyes:
First, take tape and put it from the end of your eyebrow down on a diagonal - for that sharp looking edge. I took a red lipstick as my base so the red came out really bright and it worked perfectly! Then i used my coastal scents 78 pallet and used the red all over my lid. I took some gel liner from coastal scents and cut the crease and blended it outwards. I took some Sephora aspen summit no.23 in my inner corner and then brushed some LIGHTLY over the black. (this shadow is really pigmented and frosty) Put on some liner and natural lashes because dramatic lashes would take away from the red.

Face:
I used lash glue and put it on my face and brushed glitter from Ardene all over. This glitter is NOT OKAY for the eyes. It is NOT cosmetic grade so DO NO USE IT ON THE EYES. I have tried and it HURTS SO BAD.

Lips:
Ripe gloss from Loreal HIP jellies

christmas numero uno.

2010-12-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

I decided to do two christmas looks. One green and one red. These are definitely not traditional looks but I really like them. Hope you're happy megz.

Eyes:
I used an ELF cream eyeshadow in Olive on my lids and then I used my 88 Coastal scents pallet. I used the lime green colour all over my lids and then took a light brown shade and put it on the outer corners. I took a darker brown and used it in the crease. I used a navy blue just in the middle of my lid and blended it into the outer corner just to add something interesting. Used a cream colour for my highlight. Throw some liner and mascara on then I used some crazy ELF lashes that have glitter on it! hahah

zomg! black!

2010-12-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

Ooh, a classic black smokey look! I know Megan, you wanted a christmas look but I wasn't feeling it so you'll get it later!

I know I don't do a lot of black smokey looks because I like brown smokeys better. I can wear them in the day and not feel totally awkward :D

Anyways, products I used

Eyes:
Avon liquid eyeshadow in twinkle snow - its like a really pearly white. I don't know how I feel about this product... its really weird.
ELF ivory eyeshadow all over the lids and then over top I put ELF pink ice just so it wasn't too white. I put a light brown colour in my crease to blend into my brow bone area and then used a shimmery black in the outer corners.

Some black eyeliner on the upper and lower lashline, and put some false lashes on!

Olive Green Smokey

2010-11-25T22:12:00.000-08:00

I'M ON A ROLL! TWO BLOGS IN A WEEK. WOWZA

So i'm going back to my make up looks! I was in the mood to do an olive green look but the green didn't come out as green as I had hoped. But thats okay, you can never have too many dark brown smokeys in your life.

Eyes:
I first used Elf Mineral primer then NYX dark brown jumbo eye pencil as a base and blended it out with my finger. Next I took Sage from Elf, its one of the single eyeshadows and put that all over my lid. I took a silver from a Maybelline "charcoal smokes" quad and put that in my crease and then the purple/taupe colour from the same pallet on my outer corner. On the lower lashes I used some jumbo pencil to line and set it with Sage again. I put black liner on and fake lashes from Daiso, they have no name or number.

Lips:
Carmex and then some berry haute lipstick from revlon.

Anyways, hope you guys like it and I want to get back into doing this! yay fun!

as much as this pains me... I'm being forced to do it...and id like to take this time to holla at mah gurfraaand, emlay! so um, emlay if yous there and read'n, leave a comment gurrrl. um, ok, dat all for now, baaaayyee bOO
-barfs-

Also, I'd appreciate it if you'd spread the word and make requests! <3

PROJECT 10 PAN

2010-11-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

Not sure if anyone knows too much about what project 10 pan is but i'm on a mission to complete it! Basically project 10 pan is not buying ANY makeup until you completely finish 10 makeup products and you're not allowed to get anyone to buy you make up.Honestly, I think this is going to take me FOREVER because I have so much stuff and I change up what I use everyday. I even made a sign to remind me about project 10 pan because I always seems to find myself in the makeup aisle in a grocery store. Seriously, I don't know how i get there....

I also thought i'd do a review on Rimmels Fix & Perfect Primer. I like this primer a lot, I think it gives my face a smooth canvas for my foundation or even just powder. When i'm in a real hurry, I just squirt some primer on my fingers spread it out and brush some powder on my face and it looks done. I love the smell, it smells like grapefruits. The packaging is great, its a squeeze bottle so it comes out easily. Its pretty moisturizing too, it doesn't dry out your skin though I wouldn't use it without a moisturizer under it. Some cons are that if you already have really dry skin it may emphasize the dry patches son your face. Just make sure you put lots of moisturizer on the night before and the next morning! I made this DIY moisturizing face scrub, so i'll test it out to see if its worth blogging about!

I really need to get back into photography... I miss it :(

Night pretties!

FOUNDATION, YO

2010-10-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so if you didn't know, I really love Rimmel's Lasting Finish Foundation because it gives medium to full coverage and it smells like grapefruits and its in a squeeze bottle. But, I was playing around one day with my foundation that is too dark and my foundation that is too light and you know what? They give me the BEST coverage I have ever had and there is no cake! SRLSY NO CAKE. So by now, you're probably wondering "what is this no cake she's talking about?" I'm talking about MIXING Cover Girl's Clean Foundation with Maybellines Super Stay foundation!! They mix together really well and blend together like a dream!

So my Cover Girl is in Classic Tan and my Maybelline is in Nude. Mixing those together for my skin colour... and I think anyone in the same skin range can use these because you can tweak it to fit your colour just play around a bit with the amounts you use. I take some of the Classic Tan on my stippling brush and just dot it all over my face and then I take the Nude and stipple that right on top, I just use a little less so it isn't too light. When they are both on my face I just mix it together with the brush on my face. Simple enough. Add some powder to set, then we are DONE!

Welcome to my Castle.

2010-10-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

TAG GAME.

SKINCARE

-How many times do you wash your face daily?
1-2 times a day. Depends on how tired I am in the morning, but always at night

-What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo)
Combo… oily on the forehead and dry on the rest

-What is your current facial wash?
I use a combo, Avon blackhead clearing cleanser & Purpose facial cleanser

-Do you exfoliate?
Of course! Once a week or if I feel my face needs it extra badly that day.

-What brand do you use?
Of exfoliator? St Ives fresh skin exfoliator

-What moisturizer do you use?
Morning - Clinque dramatically different lotion
Night - Nivea light night regeneration cream

-Do you have freckles?
nope

-Do you use eye cream?
sometimes… lol when i remember. I use avons eye cream

-Do you or did you have acne prone skin?
yes!! urghh >:(

-Did you ever have to use Pro-activ?
I have, I didn't notice a difference though!

MAKE-UP

-What foundation do you use?
Currently Rimmel Lasting Finish

-How about concealer?
I just use more foundation in problem spots

-Do you know your undertone color?
yellow

-What do you think of fake eyelashes?
LOVE them. Just too lazy to put the on every morning

-Did you know that you are supposed to change your mascara every 3 months?
yes i do. I don't though.

-What brand of mascara do you use?
Currently, Cover girl - falsies. LOVES IT.

-Sephora or MAC?
MAC

-Do you have a MAC Pro-card?
no sir.

-What makeup tools do you use in make up application?
brushes & eyelash curler

-Do you use primer for the eyes?
I use Urban Decay Primer Potion for my eyes

-For the face?
Rimmel Perfecting Base

-What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?
TAUPE. any taupe i'm down for.

-Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner?
Liquid all the way, Pencil just isn't dark enough

-How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil?
not too often, don't use it very often

-What do you think of pigment eyeshadows?
they are good… but i prefer potted ones.

-Do you use mineral makeup?
noopes

-What is your favorite lipstick?
hmm… toughie because I love lipstick… Probably Pink Blush from Rimmel

-How about lipgloss?
NYX french kiss

-What is your favorite blush to use?
A peachy one from Forever 21. There is no name but its the cream blush that is the peachy tone.

-Do you buy your makeup on ebay?
Noope

-Do you like drugstore makeup?
Like drugstore make up? LOVE drugstore makeup. No time for snobs.

-Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets)
Don't have any here… But I went to one in Seattle. Wasn't that great.

-Did you ever consider taking make-up classes?
I have

-Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?
only when in a rush. Getting mascara on your lids >:( ANGRY FACE FOREVER!

-Name a makeup crime that you hate?
When the person who is doing the make up blows on the eyeshadow!

-Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones?
Lipstick - Colourful PINK!
Eyeshadow - Neutral TAUPE!

-Which celebrity always has great make up?
Katy Perry

-If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item,what would you use?
Eyeliner. Makes you look more done

-Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on?
Do it all the time

-Do you think you look good even without any makeup on?
I don't look horrible…or at least I don't think I do. TEHE.

-In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?
I don't want to say MAC but, they are cruelty free and they have a recycling program and viva glam… but I can't afford to only have MAC in my collection…

-What do you think of Makeup?
Best thing ever.

Dry, Crusty lips?

2010-09-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

Nasty.

This is how I exfoliate my lips every so often. When I feel my lips are getting dry and feel nasty I take one cheap, cheap kitchen item and make them soft and smooth again. The one ingredient is SUGAR! So basically just get your lips wet and with a wet finger get some sugar and rub them all over your lips. I mainly focus on my bottom lip because thats where most of my dryness is! I also do the sides of my mouth too because they can get a build up of dead skin there too. After most of the sugar has dissolved I do it one more time. I just put more sugar on my finger and rub until I feel its good enough. I don't recommend you do this more than once every two weeks because your lips will get too used to the exfoliator. After you're done wash your mouth off and if it gets in your mouth its fine because it tastes good! Then just put some chapstick on right after so it will keep your lips soft and smooth. It is pretty abrasive and kind of makes your lips sting and sore for about 20 min but its worth it! :D

wash yo brushes, foo

2010-07-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

I finally washed my brushes! I haven't washed them in a loong time! Thought i'd blog about the process I go through each time. For the eye brushes I take my homemade spot cleaning brush cleaner (do a post about this stuff later) you can use any brush cleaner (if you don't have brush cleaner do what I do for my big brushes, keep reading). I put some at the bottom of a plastic cup, like 1-2 cm of the cleaner and put brushes in and swirl my brushes around for a few sec and then pour out the nasty liquid and rinse them clean. For my big brushes I take L'oreal kids 2in1 shampoo because its gentle and has conditioner. You can also use baby shampoo, whatever is gentle. Then put some shampoo in my palm and swirl my brush in it till lather then rinse clean. DONE. Put it on a towel to dry and leave it over night.

Neutral Day time

2010-07-28T17:47:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting around waiting for Degrassi to start so I decided to do another make up look. More on Degrassi, can't believe whats going on now eh? Drew is so lame, does he always need his mommy to get him the things he wants? I looove Zane! :D The gay boys are always the best!!1! Video on Trial is on right now... its so lame put Degrassi on!! I hate how its only half an hour episodes. Totally lame, should be an hour long!

Anyways, I guess now to the make up part of this blog.

Products used:
urban decay primer potion
revlon12 hour colour stay pallet in copper spice
-champaign gold colour on lid
-dark brown colour in outer corner
NYX red bronze
l'oreal lineur intense liner
maybelline las stiletto in black
avon black pencil liner

prime lids with UDPP then put the champaign colour on your lids. take a rounded brush and put the brown shadow in the outer corner for more depth. take a blending brush with the red bronze on it and do "window wiper" motions in the crease. Blend it out. Take the champaign colour again and go over the lid just incase some brown or red bronze go on it. Line your top lids very, very thinly. Apply mascara. On lower lash line/waterline do a thick black line. Then set with any black shadow.

Party Time?

2010-07-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog, I was feeling very party/club-ish for some reason... This is the make up look I came up with! yay :)

Products used:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Black shadow Coastal Scents 78 Pallet
Claire's blue shadow
Loreal Linear Intense
NYX nude shadow
Lashes from china

2010-07-22T20:26:00.001-07:00

Hey all, Check out my other blog! Its a personal blog that will have basically what i'm doing with my life. Lots of pictures to stay entertained! :D

THE AMANDA CHU

My Secret

2010-07-15T16:29:00.001-07:00

So, I was in the midst of cleaning my room and decided that I wanted to blog instead. Procrastination? Anyways, I was opening up a new bottle of my serum and decided to write about it. I really like serums so I thought i'd tell you my favourite way of using a serum... WITH A HAIR STRAIGHTENER, I know, I'm sure its no big secret, but honestly, I just started this trick a couple months ago. What I do is take serum, any kind is usually fine, right now i'm using Avon Advanced Techniques Dry End Serum but I also like the Garnier Fructis Sleek&Shine serum. Both of these are great. I just like the smell of the Avon one better. Doesn't smell like celery.

So basically, I take some in my hands and rub them together and put them on the ends of my hair up to the halfway point and then let that sit for a minute and straighten! I know easy!!! hahah

It leaves my hair straighter than it was without the serum and it stays straighter longer! Srsly, when I used to straighten my hair it would get wavy again in like an hour but with the serum it lasts all freaking day. yay!!

And it smells good in your hair and makes it shiny.

HAIR OMG

2010-07-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

SOO, I haven't posted in a while... but anyways I thought I should tell you about a product I've been using for a while... and that is the Sunsilk Hydra TLC Shampoo and conditioner. I hate it. I forced myself to use up ALMOST the entire bottle until it became too unbearable to use. It dried out my hair, made is very dull and brittle. I have ALOT of split ends... I'm not sure if its due to the shampoo or if its because I need a new cut but It seriously screwed my hair up gooood.

I was going to use it up all the way because I spent money on it but decided that it just wasn't worth ruining my hair over it. I mean, it was really cheap so what can I say? It was like $2.00 for a bottle. I guess you get what you pay for.

I threw out the shampoo and conditioner and went back to what I had in my hair stash...Herbal Essence Body Envy Shampoo and conditioner... I loved this stuff, it smells soo good and it works. After using it for only 3 washes my hair was seriously shiny, not too soft but I can deal with that. It was SO shiny, I couldn't believe it.

Anyways, that was my little rant on Sunsilk. It sucks. Never again.

vaaaseline!

2010-07-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

I love vaseline! Its great for so many things! I have been using it a lot more lately so I thought i'd share my new love for it. I use it a lot for my lips. It's a great lip conditioner and base, a base for lipsticks anyways, it makes the lip stick go on alot smoother and fills in the lines in your lips. Its also great for a make up remover. just slather some on your eyelids and into your lashes and let it sit for about 30 seconds and wipe it away. It not only takes off make up but conditions your eyelids. I sometimes take some vaseline and put it on my eyelids and then take a clean mascara wand and run it through my lashes and it conditions them and helps them grow and thicken. I'm sure there are a lot more ideas to use vaseline but these are what I use it for!

Did I mention? It's dirt cheap! (L)

Mascara, mascara, which one to choose?

2010-06-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

So I have been playing with a lot of different mascaras that I own. I have now come to the conclusion... I very much dislike waterproof mascara. Why? Because it pulls and it damages and it is so damn hard to take off. SRSLY. I was playing with my Maybelline Volum` Express Turbo Boost mascara and I wore it for a day and was like "why is this sooo hard to take off?!" the packaging didn't say it was waterproof so I was kinda confused but then I looked really, reallly close and saw on the bottom of the tube in like size 1 print it said waterproof and that is why I now dislike waterproof mascara. I used every single eye makeup remover I own to try and get this stuff off and I thought it was hopeless until I used my Avon Cream Makeup Remover and even then I had to let the remover SOAK into my eyelid... kinda stung my eye. Some pros on waterproof (since I think i've talked enough about how much I dislike it) are that it keeps the curl of your eyelashes and if you have a crying fit, its less likely to be running down your face. Honestly, to me thats about it.

My favourite mascara of the moment is Bare Minerals Buxom Lash. LOVE IT. Makes my lashes look full and natural with no clumping! (L)

2010-06-29T00:21:00.001-07:00

So now that it is summer, I tend not to wear as much makeup since its only going to melt off my face anyways. Honestly, I think on hot summer days, its just best to skip the heavy foundation and hit up the tinted moisturizer. The tinted moisturizer I use is the Mark Get a Tint in 'Golden/Honey'. Its okay, on the face it feels okay, not very moisturizing but the coverage is good. You neeeed to wash your hands after because it makes your hands feel really dry and tacky. That is the only downside to it. Other than that, the only eye makeup I use is some eyeliner, I'm trying to use up my Coastal Scents Gel Liner in 'True Black' because it is starting to dry up! I do a pretty thick upper lash line and then I do some on my waterline. I honestly think gel liner is the best liner to use on your waterline because IT STAYS! Then I throw on some mascara. If i'm really feeling summer-y, I use my Mark Face Glow in 'Solar' as a highlight. I put some on my cheek bones, down the bridge of my nose and some on my chin and forehead. For my lips, I usually like to go for a cool pink colour and I like to use Avon's Lipstick in 'Coral'

Basically, that is the fresh face look i've been going for, for the last few weeks. Its simple, fast and light!