Bridesmaid Dress Shopping!

Haha... isn't this wedding dress ridiculous? I saw it on a "design your own" wedding dress site... haha

This past Saturday (the 23rd) Kay ( my little sister, best friend, and Maid of Honor) and I went with Joe to David's Bridal to try on Bridesmaid's dresses. Even though I already knew which one I wanted, Kay and I picked up several different styles. I also picked them up in my size because I want my reception dress to match the girls (plus a veil :D). Of course, my fave (the more versatile dress which can actually be worn again and again as a little black dress) was the one we chose!

Here's a photo of the chosen dress. We agreed upon black since the wedding colors are predominantly white and black with pops of yellow and lots of B&W print. I have to say, Kaylin was an absolute bombshell in this dress. She might upstage me :) Joe and Kay seemed quite impressed with me in it as well!

That's not even the best part, though. While I was there I perused the wedding dresses and saw a dress that I had previously tried on with my best friend Dan(ielle) for fun. Not only was it still there, but it was also super flattering and.... ::drumroll, please:: IT WAS ONLY $99! How incredible! So I called my dad and he said, "I'll be there in 30."

Once my padre arrived we sent Joseph packing to the tux place next door. I then showed my dad the dress and patiently wanited for an assistant... and waited.... and waited.... blahblahblah. They were super busy. Finally we got this incredible woman named Ashley who was incredibly helpful and sweet. When I came out in the dress both Kay AND my dad loved the dress! We also showed him us in the BM dresses and he liked those as well.

He them proceeded to buy the wedding dress (!), order my corset bra (!!), buy the hoop skirt (!!!), order Kay's MOH dress (!!!!), aaaaand buy my Reception dress since they had the black in my size!!!!! So now I have a wedding dress and my reception dress chilling out in my dad's closet! Alterations will happen next year. I would put a photo, but I think Joe checks my blog occasionally. (You can't sneak a peek this time, mister... nice try, though!)

Oh, I think I will also try to put a wedding expenditure tally in the sidebar if anyone's interested :)

::Prays to God::

Please let me have the strength to lose some weight... and tone my arms... and legs :)

FOTD: 5/25 Bronzeyish Orange

Another soft and pretty look. I felt very pretty in this makeup and that's always a good thing. I tweaked this one a smidge just a bit as well after the photos. I added a little bit of Copperbeam Pigment into my crease for some definition.

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)
[MAC] Basic Palette Red and White AQ mixed with Tropical Palette's Yellow AQ (color base)
[MAC] Evening Aura e/s (lid)
[MAC] Amber Lights (outer 1/3 of lid and crease)
[MAC] Blonde's Gold (blended above Amber Lights and along lower lashline)
[MAC] Dipdown Fluidline (upper lashline)
[Revlon] Cream Colored e/s (highlight)
[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara (1st coat)
[Loreal] Voluminous Mascara (2nd coat)

Cheeks:
[MAC] Fleur Power Blush (lower cheeks)
[Covergirl] Pretty Peach Blush [apples]

Lips:
[Revlon] Power Walk Pink l/g

FOTD: 5/23 Pink with a POP of Purple!

For years I have been into a bold eye, particularly this past year (including 2008). A strong defined crease and super dark liner have always been my go-to. Lately, though, I have been migrating towards a softer, sweeter look. Bare lower lashlines, soft and diffused creases, smudgey liner... it just calls to me. This look is along those new lines that I'm just recently exploring. This really is a new beauty expedition for me. The first day I was allowed to wear makeup (under the rules of only light blush, light eyeshadows and brown liners and mascaras, and clear gloss) I left the house in black liner, silver eyeshadow and black mascara. So much for that.

I did tweak it a bit after I took the photos (a couple of hours later). I changed the Plum Dressing to Fig. 1 (for a better pop) and I added some Brown Down to the crease for a bit of definition.

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)
[Mehron] Basic Palette White AQ (color base)
[Body Shop] Pink (no name) e/s (lid)
[MAC] Gold Dusk Pigment (directly under brows for some shine)
[MAC] Plum Dressing e/s (under lower lashline)
[MAC] Top Hat e/s (high up on lower lashline to darken)
[MAC] Brun e/s (wetlined on upper lashline)
[MAC] Powerpoint Engraved e/l (waterline)
[MAC] Graphology e/s (set waterline)
[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara (1st coat)
[Loreal] Voluminous Mascara (2nd coat)

Cheeks:
[MAC] Fleur Power Blush

Lips:
[Revlon] Power Walk Pink l/g

We found a wedding photographer!

One of my main struggles with planning this wedding so far is finances. I cautiously mentioned to my dad (aka the wedding financer) about "who pays for what" and "when things get paid for" and he said that Joe and I pay for everything unless someone else offers.

Um, what?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not spoiled (much), but it's my family's job to help me take on the financial burden that is my wedding. I'm just hoping he'll come around and suck it up and do it. He really does have the money and it's 16 months away.

Aaaaanyways, I sent a MySpace message to Mae who is a photographer and asked her for a quote on prices. She replied that for everything I want it would be $1000. Before, when I spoke to my dad, he quoted that a photographer would cost between $600-$1000, so her estimate was just on the line of being too expensive. When I told him about it he just grunted and said we would talk about it later.

Psh. Later. Yeah, right. I got up from the table and brought up her photography website (www.photographybymae.com) and clicked on some of my faves. I brought him in the room and showed him.

::shows him the first photo::
"Hmm..."
::shows him a second photo::
"She took these?"
"Yes, sir and she edited them herself, too."
::clicks on third photo::
"Book her."

...."Really?! Are you serious??"


So... that's all it took. Awesome.

Oh, and just so you know... this is what I get for $1000:

- Coverage of getting read for the wedding.
- The entire ceremony
- The entire reception
- The posed photos of the wedding party
- An album with 25 photos (I'm seeing what it will take to make it 50)
- A free bridal shoot
- A free engagement shoot
- PLUS the copyright release to where I can print my own photos

Sweeeet.

So. Freaking. EXCITED!

::checks off of To Do list::

FOTD: 5/19 Blue and Green... ugh.

So, before you scroll down and witness the nightmare that was my eyeshadow, let me preface that I am aware that it looks like crap... and I look like crap. I was so very tired. I had a decent idea that wouldn't blend and wouldn't... look good. I'm not even going to list what I used. If you want to know, ask. I just think that when I fail, I should share as if I did great. You guys deserve everything I come up with. :)

I don't think the closed eye photo looks bad... but eyes open, it was a disaster. Gah.

FOTD: 5/17 Peach and Purple

This is sort of a double look of the day. I did this same look yesterday, but I improved upon it greatly today. I'm only going to include pictures from today, though.

Joey and I went back to our new Sunday School today. This is our third week. Now, Sunday Schools always make me uneasy. I have no idea why. It's like I'm back in grade school and I feel like I'm the kid that doesn't fit in. Luckily, I always feel braver with Joseph at my side. With that said, we decided to go to a Sunday School lunch at one of our teachers house.

I was so apprehensive. It turned out really well, though. Like, really. There were at least 10 other couples plus the 4 teachers. We met a lot of people, swapped some wedding info and just had a good time. Pretty successful, I think. Oh, we're also going to a local baseball game wth the Sunday School on the 29th. That should be fun, too :)

My original makeup idea (since I don't really know anyone in SS and didn't want to scare them off) was to go light and pretty. I ended up with dark and pretty... haha

Eyes:

[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)

[Mehron] Tropical Palette Peach AQ (color base)

[MAC] Paradisco e/s (lid)

[MAC] Sketch e/s (crease blended upwards)

[MUFE] #92 (lower crease to enhance purple)

[MAC] Pink Opal Pigment (highlight)

[MAC] BTFL (line upper lashline)

[MAC] Fab Orchid e/l (line lower lashline)

[MAC] Fig. 1 (along lower lashline)

[MAC] Engraved Powerpoint e/l (waterline)

[MAC] Graphology e/s (set waterline)

Cheeks:

[Revlon] Blushing Berry Blush

Lips:

[MAC] Missy Slimshine

[Revlon] Blazing Fuschia l/g

Revlon Lip Product Review!

I have recently started using Revlon Lip products.


They. Are. FANTASTIC.


Every color is creamy, pigmented and non-sticky. I realize that a lot of these colors look similar. That is due to the fact that not only did my camera not pick up on the glitters and shimmers, but my lips are also naturally very pink. Sooo... these colors may look different on your lips if they are less pigmented.

I have included stills of all the colors with color labels as well as the tutorial so that you may see them on the back of my hand for a swatch on my skintone (no pink interfering with the color).

FOTD: 5/15 Golden Lemon, Coppering, Cranberry, and Brun

I recently gave my best friend a sample of all of my MAC pigments. I asked her today what her favorites have been and she responded that she absolutely loves Golden Lemon Pigment. I was very surprised.

I originally bought this color because it is absolutely gorgeous. I used it once when I first got it (almost a year ago) and have yet to use it again. I could not for the life of me remember why I had this stigma against it. As I was getting ready today I decided to bust it out. Then... it happened. I had golden yellow glitter bits sprinkled all down my face even after brushing and the eventual (and dreaded) wiping. The only way to completely get rid of it (which I still sparkled a bit) was to wet a rag and wash it away. There went my undereye concealer...

Now, don't get my wrong. I love this color. It has the prettiest shimmer to it. I just abhor fallout. When I use it in the future I'll put a thick layer of face powder around my eyes to help protect me.

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)
[Mehron] Basic Palette Yellow AQ (color base)
[MAC] Golden Lemon Pigment (inner 1/2 of lid)
[MAC] Coppering e/s (outer 1/2 of lid overlapping the Lemon a bit to blend)
[MAC] Cranberry e/s (from outer corner over Coppering swept up into crease)
[MAC] Gold Dusk Pigment (highlight)
[MAC] Brun e/s (wetlined on upper lashline, along lower lashline)
[MAC] Dipdown Fluidline (under lower lashline as a base for Brun)
[Maybelline] Espresso e/l (waterline)
[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara (1st coat)
[Loreal] Voluminous Mascara (2nd coat)

Cheeks:
[Covergirl] Pretty Peach Blush

Lips:
Revlon] Sparkling Champagne l/g

Soft and Smoky: Purple, Navy and Grey Tutorial

I slacked off a bit on tutorials for the past week... I haven't had much time, but I recorded this quick and easy tutorial. The purple was so soft and pretty over the white base and the navy really complimented my eyes well. Just fyi: navy eyeshadow/liner makes every eye color stand out (just like purple)!

Eyes:

[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)

[Mehron] Basic Palette White AQ (color base)

[MAC] Parfait Amour e/s (lid)

[MAC] Divine Night e/s (crease)

[Jemma Kid] Must Have e/s (over grey in crease and lower lashline)

[MAC] Gold Dusk Pigment (under brow highlight)

[Revlon] Matte Cream Colored e/s (blend out grey)

[MAC] BTFL (upper lashline)

[Rimmel] White e/l (waterline)

[MAC] Chill e/s (set waterline)

Cheeks:

[Covergirl] Pretty Peach Blush

Lips:

[Revlon] Blazing Fushia l/g

If you guys want a tutorial for no-heat curls like in my photo and video, just let me know!

FOTD: 5/9 Electric Green and Electric Eel!

I went to the movies yet again! This time it was a treat from my dad with my little sister, Kay, in tow. First he took us to a pizza place called Hopjacks... that place is soo delicious! Then we went to the theater and saw Fighting ( good movie) and then we saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (SO GOOD!). Oh, and yes, we always do a double feature when my dad is picking up the tab :)

I ended up with this crazy bright look. It is a run-through of my next tutorial idea. I bet you're on your toes in anticipation, huh? I usually don't do run-throughs, but more prefer the route of winging it, but this look warned of extreme failure. Now I know what I want :)

Eyes:

[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)

[Mehron] Tropical Palette Lime Green AQ (color base including lower lashline)

[MAC] Kelly Pigment (lid and smudged over BTFL)

[MAC] Gulf Stream e/s (crease)

[MAC] Bitter e/s (blended lightly above crease)

[MAC] Teal e/s (intensify crease)

[MAC] Plummage e/s (darken crease, smudged along upper lasline and lower lashline)

[MAC] Vanilla Pigment (highlight)

[MAC] Freshwater e/s (lower lashline)

[MAC] Electric Eel e/s (brighten lower lashline)

[MAC] Mutiny Pigment (pop of color on inner lower lashline)

[MAC] BTFL (upper lashline)

[MAC] Evgraved Powerpoint e/l (waterline)

[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara (1st coat)

[Loreal] Voluminous Mascara (2nd coat)

Cheeks:
[Covergirl] Pretty Peach Blush

Lips:

[Revlon] Coral Glow l/g

Weird shot for the eyes closed glimpse, but... well, again, the best I got :)

FOTD: 5/8- I'm on Fire!

Yeah, yeah... yet another weird face shot... it's all I've got in me these past couple of days. It also doesn't help that I did not feel attractive in this makeup... something about it just made me... eh.

It did have an upside, though. Joey took me out to lunch today and was commenting how much he loved the colors of my eyeshadow. He said it reminded him of something* which then spurred on an entire conversation of a BRAND NEW makeup series! :) I'm actually super excited about it.

*By "something" I mean a super special secret that will only be revealed once I start my new series since it is one of the installments. :D

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)
[Mehron] Basic Palette White AQ (color base)
[MAC] Goldmine e/s (lid)
[MAC] Gold Dusk Pigment (over Goldmine e/s and highlight)
[MAC] Coppering e/s (crease, outer 1/3 of lid, and lower lashline)
[MAC] Cranberry e/s (upper crease)
[MAC] Heritage Rouge Pigment (darken crese a bit and outer 1/3 of lower lashline)
[MAC] BTFL (line upper lashline)
[MAC] Engraved Powerpoint e/l (waterline)
[MAC] Carbon e/s (set waterline)

Cheeks:
[Revlon] Pinking of You Blush

Lips:
[MAC] Missy Slimshine
[Revlon] Sparkling Champagne l/g*

* I want to do a review of Revlon lip products soon. They are absolutely fantastic. Hopefully I'll be able to get to that shortly.

FOTD: 5/7- Neutral with Bright Pink Lips

Ok, ok... I know my face looks a little odd in the first photo, but please take this look at face value (minus my face)... maybe I mean to take it eye value? Anyways, Joey and I went to see the new Star Trek movie Thursday night.

Now, believe me, I have never seen a single episode of Star Trek. ::shrinks away from Trekkie's gasps of horror:: Alright, calm down. I'm about to redeem myself. I have to honestly say that I loved that movie. It was so entertaining. I gasped, awwed, and even teared up a bit for Spock. I also enjoyed the fact that they started from the beginning of Kirk, Bones, and everyone else joining Star Fleet. I do have to say, though... the greatest joy from that entire movie was when Spock first did the Vulcan Salute thing (what is it called?) when he said, " Live long and prosper."

I understand your confusion. Why would that be so joyous to a non-Trekkie? As Spock raised his hand in the infamous Vulcan Salute I detected a slight movement to my left where Joseph was sitting. Not only was his hand raised in the Vulcan Salute, but so was every other persons in the theater. Oddly enough, so was mine (I was just imitating Spock... I wasn't doing it because I'm cool enough to know what it means haha).

Anyways, on to the makeup. That is why you're here, right?

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)
[Mehron] Basic Palette White AQ (color base)
[Jemma Kid] Editor e/s (lid)
[MAC] Soft Brown e/s (above crease)
[MAC] Brown Down e/s (crease)
[MAC] Brun e/s (darken crease just a bit)
[MAC] Gold Dusk Pigment (highlight and lower lashline)
[MAC] BTFL (line upper lashline)
[MAC] Carbon e/s (smudged along upper liner)
[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara (1st coat)
[Loreal] Voluminous Mascara (2nd coat)

Cheeks:
[Revlon] Pinking of You Blush

Lips:
[Revlon] Pink About It l/s
[Revlon] Sparkling Champagne l/g

FOTD: Pafait Amour, MUFE #92 + Orange

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do today. I was actually testing out a look for a tutorial idea, but then I ran amuck. I added orange to contrast the purple and then added the pinks to try and blend the two together.

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot
[Mehron] Tropical Palette Plum AQ
[MAC] Soft Brown e/s (above crease)
[MAC] Parfait Amour e/s (lid and lower lashline)
[MUFE] #92 e/s (crease and outer 1/2 of lower lashline)
[MAC] Orange e/s (above MUFE)
[MAC] Romping, Posthaste and Sushi Flower e/s (all used to blend between purple and orange)
[MAC] Nylon e/s (highlight)
[MAC] BTFL e/l (upper lashline)
[MAC] Engraved Powerpoint e/s (waterline)
[MAC] Graphology e/s (set waterline)

Cheeks:
[Revlon] Pinking of You Blush

Lips:
[Revlon] Pink About It l/s
[Revlon] Sparkling Champagne l/g

Now I'm off to the unveiling of the new Camaro with my dad and Kay :)

Dwarf Seahorses

This is the next installment of my Sea Life Series. I absolutely adore seahorses. I went to the Tampa Aquarium this past year and took as many photos of their various breeds as I did all the other animals combined. The long snouts and the super quick way they flutter their fins just fascinate me.

During my search for creatures native to the Gulf of Mexico I stumbled across these yellow seahorses (shown in tutorial video). This is my interpretation.

Eyes:
[MAC] Painterly Paint Pot (base)
[Mehron] Basic Palette Goldenrod AQ (base)
[MAC] Soft Brown e/s (blended into crease)
[MAC] Heritage Rouge Pigment (outer half of lid, into crease and outer 1/3 of lower lashline)
[MAC] Goldmine e/s (middle 1/3 of lid and entire lower lashline)
[MAC] Blonde's Gold Pigment (inner corner of lid/ lower lasline and just under browbone)
[MAC] Brun e/s (darken crease, outer 1/3 of lower lashline, and over liner on waterline)
[MAC] Shroom e/s (highlight)
[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara (1st coat)
[Loreal] Voluminous Mascara (2nd coat)
[MAC] Engraved Powerpoint e/l (waterline)

Cheeks:
[CoverGirl] Pretty Peach Blush

Lips:
[MAC] Freckletone l/s
[Revlon] Toast to Shine l/g

I love the way this lip combination looks. Nude, yet not pasty.

FOTD: Typographic and Sketch

This was my makeup from yesterday. I want to church and then I went to the Opera that my dad is in, Aida. It was wonderful. It was also in Italian so I had to infer what they were saying from body language and such.

This look is going to be difficult to explain. I started out doing one thing and after throwing on the colors in random places, this is what I got. It's not the greatest, but it's less attrocious than the original idea (that obviously didn't work haha).

Eyes:
[MAC] Bare Canvas Paint (base)
[Mehron] Basic Palette White AQ (base)
[Jemma Kid] Editor e/s (all over lid as base color)
[MAC] Typographic e/s (outer and inner 1/5 of lid and smudged under ower lashline)
[MAC] Sketch e/s (outer and inner 2/5 of lid and blended above crease)
[MAC] Paradisco e/s (middle 3/5 of lid)
[MAC] Pink Opal Pigment (highlight)
[MAC] BTFL (line upper lashline)
[MAC] Powerpoint e/l in Engraved (waterline)
[Maybelline] Full-n-Soft Mascara
[Loreal} Voluminous Mascara (over Full-n-Soft)

Cheeks:
[Revlon] Blushing Berry blush

Lips:
[MAC] Melt in Your Mouth l/g

As always, if you ever want a tutorial on a FOTD, just request :)

Crawfish Festival!

Another year, another batch of mudbugs come and gone.

I went to the annual Crawfish Festival today. Kay, dad, Joe and I all went together and there we met Nancy (my dad's friend), Jana (my second oldest sister), Noah (my nephew), Mercey (my niece), and Keith (Jana's baby daddy- Noah's dad). We stayed about 7 hours and had the greatest time!
This is Kay and I before the festival.

My Poke.

I need to explain. Kaylin is a beast with boiled crawfish. They seel these in "flats" that contain 3 lbs. of boiled crawfish plus 2 boiled new potatoes and 2 mini ears of corn. Kay ate four flats. Yeah, you heard me. This 16 year old girl consumed 12 lbs of crawfish, 8 new potatoes, 8 mini ears of corn PLUS a strawberry green apple snowcone (16 oz) and half of a large Dip n Dots. You think I'm kidding. This is her working on her second. [[Look at her earrings... crawfish!]]

Joe eating his fried gator tail bites (yes, it's real gator... and it's delicious!) plus Kay's random finger.

Joe holding baby Noah with Jana. He's 5 weeks old :)

My favorite food is the crawfish pie. ::drools:: It's a mini pie crust filled with this orange thinck sauce that had veggies and crawfish in it. I also discovered the crawfish cake which is astounding as well.