My Khaleesi Costume!
I loooooooooooooooooooove Game of Thrones. And of all the characters, Daenerys Targaryen (aka Khaleesi) is my absolute favorite. She's just exquisite with her dragons and her long flowy platinum blond hair and she looks great even when her outfit starts to fall apart from enduring an endless Jesus Walk through the desert. I am obsessed, so it was only fitting that I paid homage to her this Halloween. My makeup was all nudes and browns to stay true to Khaleesi's costume color palette.
Here she is in all her glory:
And here I am in all my fandom. I'll just say what you're thinking: I needed more muscle and less stomach to even come close to her fabulousness, but it was damn fun to try.
Despite multiple attempts to bribe my fiance into dressing up as
Khal Drogo (Khaleesi's husband), he chose to be Lil Wayne instead, so we made quite the random couple.
Since Khaleesi is the Mother of Dragons, I dressed my dog up accordingly.
I love Halloween because my friends and I always make an effort to get together and no one is allowed to not dress up. This year, we did the San Francisco pub crawl on Polk Street and -- even though I despise the overuse of this word nowadays -- it was EPIC.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN YA'LL!!!
Labels: Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones, Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons
Sally Hansen Gem Crush
I thought this Gem Crush line from Sally Hansen was going to be my ticket to Nail Paradise over the Holidays, but it seems it just wasn't meant to be. To her credit, Ms. Hansen assembled an amazing array of colors (check the full lineup
here), but the polish just didn't have any staying power for me. I'm used to glitter polishes that are almost too thick and annoyingly difficult to remove, like the one from American Apparel I reviewed
here. Granted, I'm no lady of leisure -- I do my own dishes, walk my own dogs then wash my own hands -- so I guess my lifestyle just isn't conducive to this thin a polish. It literally chipped within minutes of drying, and the next day, half the polish was gone from my fingers!
I might try another layer of topcoat before I discard this bottle completely, because as you can see, it is quite pretty. This color is called "Big Money"...maybe it was intended for ladies of leisure after all.
Labels: Sally Hansen
Smokey, Sultry and Bridal?
I was thumbing through the latest issue of Vanity Fair, and decided to start looking for wedding day makeup inspiration. All the looks that jumped out at me consisted of subtle smokey eyes and soft pink lips. Whenever I do my makeup for a special event, I always work on my eyes the longest. I need them defined, or I just look tired in pictures. The subtle smokey eye could work particularly well as my bridal look because it won't be so drastic on my facial structure: medium-sized almond-shaped eyes with just a slight crease, and full lips. Of the 2 examples below, I could probably achieve Olivia Thirlby's the most.
I love how this L'Oreal model's eyes are outlined in purple. She's a lot fairer than I am though, so this might not work on me 100%.
Here's Olivia Thirlby's smokey eye/soft lip. I really like the violet color of her eyeshadow. I think this is beautiful and totally achievable. A definite project for this weekend!
Will post the results if I'm proud of 'em!
Labels: Wedding Makeup
Think We're Getting Maui'ed...
Just got back from a location scouting trip to Maui, and I am going through some serious beach withdrawals. At least I know if all goes well, I'll be back on that beautiful island in a year for my wedding. And at least I'll always have my pictures when I start to miss this view:
Beaches call for a truly tailored makeup routine, given the sweatiness and saltiness of it all. I lived in 2 coats of mascara, gloss and the occassional sweep of bronzer the entire 8 days I was in Hawaii. I snapped this picture for my Instagram (@gloss_e) and was asked what lip color I was wearing - it's Buxom lipgloss in Sugar. This is my fool-proof go-to gloss - it looks great ANYwhere you wear it. From the Beach to the Ballroom, it just works.
Because I'm going through my beach withdrawals, I spent the entire afternoon trying to recreate this look and recapture that vacation feeling with three new gloses that are included in
Sephora's "Give Me Some Lip" collection (which is back in stock!!). I played with:
- Bite Beauty Lip Shine in Vintage (sheer mauve)
- Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Baby Doll (soft pink shimmer)
- Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Tint in Hope (warm rose)
This Bite Beauty Lip Shine had a faint cherry Starburst smell when I first applied it to my lips - I loved it! It's a slight shade darker than my natural lipcolor, and had a nice shine to it.
Laura Mercier's Lip Glace in Baby Doll had more sparkles than the Bite gloss, so it looks more shiny in pictures.
The Tarte LipSurgence color is matte - I'm a gloss girl, but this formula would probably be fabulous on a windy beach. It has great staying-power and hasn't dried my lips out yet. I've had it on for four hours, and that's usually enough time for my lips to acheieve Sahara Staus.
Sad to say this little exercise didn't help me feel like I was in Maui again, but I was psyched to finally dig into this box. It's been sitting on my bathroom counter tormeting me with its pretty shiny packaging. Was definitley worth the wait, and I'm looking forward to trying out the rest of the lippies.
Labels: Bite, Laura Mercier, Sephora, Tarte
My Latest From Sephora
Two of my most recent (and most coveted!) Sephora purchases are pictured here. I'm so excited to dive into their latest
Give Me Some Lip collection. Sephora, Bite, Laura Mercier, Hourglass, Tarte AND Fresh all in one package?! Give me some lip NOW! I've been dying to experiment with some of these brands, and love the ones that I've already tried. Given my addict status, I'm super proud of myself for holding out on opening all of these, but I have one too many Buxom glosses to finish up :)
The other product I'm featuring in this post (in the first picture, with my doggy brother, Hercules :) is
Korres' Volcanic Minerals Mascara. This stuff ROCKS (pun intended). It makes my lashes super dark and super thick. I haven't experienced the curl ability that other reviewers have been raving about, but its' other abilities more than make up for it. In the picture above, I'm wearing 2-3 coats on my top and lower lashes, and not much else. When a mascara defines your lashes this well, you don't need much more to draw attention to your eyes.
I love this picture of Hercules and I, by the way. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (@gloss_e), you know that I'm a certified crazy dog lady. Dogs just love you so much and so unconditionally, I think we can all take a queue from them. On that note, I'm gonna go take mine for a quick walk, otherwise, we'd be like this all day:
Labels: Bite, Fresh, Hourglass, Korres, Laura Mercier, Sephora, Tarte
Guess What Addicts!
We're engaged!!! This goofy picture is now infamous among our friends & family (it's how we announced it). Every time I look at it, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Our 14-year-old relationship is renewed and infused with new energy and lots more love.
Needless to say, I've been less focused on makeup lately as I'm obsessing over venues and color schemes and flower species...there are too many details in wedding planning! Of course, when I get that far, you'll be kept abreast of all the decisions I make...especially the ones involving lipgloss.
Love, your favorite (engaged!) gloss addict,
Dolled up in Dolly Wink Lashes
Last week, I had the honor of being one of the guests at a super intimate wedding in beautiful Napa Valley. It makes think twice about throwing my money away on a huge wedding...this was small, special, and a true celebration of love. That's exactly what I want for my own wedding...one day :) For now, I'll keep my wallet focused on my new lash obsession: Dolly Wink lashes by Koji. I recently bought two pairs from the
Tokyo Japanese Outlet on Amazon, and couldn't be happier with my purchase. With their expert eye-opening design by Tsubasa Masuwaka and light, fluttery structure, applying these lashes makes you an instant flirt - don't say I didn't warn you! I'm wearing the "Sweet Girly" lashes (in the turquoise packaging) in the pictures above - will do another post with the "Dolly Sweet" lashes soon!
Love,
Your Fave Flirty Gloss/Lash Addict...
Labels: Dolly Wink, False Lashes, lashes
