Update again?

Hey everyone!

I know it's been a while and I've been pretty out of the loop on the Blog/YT community lately. Internet's been crappy still, but I think it's finally been sorted out. huzzah!

So, last night I was feeling inspired and did a couple of videos. The first is an eyeshadow look using MAC's new Smoke & Mirrors palette (from the Holiday 09 collectionof course). The second is a review of a Keristase hair product, which I'll post here in the next couple of days in a text format so you can read it all here too =]

I'm thinking of running a contest, but not sure what theme to use yet... if I ever figure it out, I'll do a video/post here to announce it. I love contests, as I'm sure you do too, so I'm looking forward to holding my first!

So, what have I been up to lately? If you're here for beauty news and reviews, you can totally skip the rest of the blog post, I'm in the mood for a diary-style blog entry tonight for some reason.

My trip to Canada in September was amazing. I only spent two weeks there and I definitely didn't want to come back just yet. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take a whole lot of photos while there either.. I couldn't bring my camera, since it's pretty big and clunky, and needed my luggage space. And my mobile phone died while I was there and then I blew out my travel adapter, oops. So, only a couple pics of me and my good buddy at a block party.

Since then, things have been pretty monotonous. The weather in Canada was around 30 degress Celsius every day, so coming back to the near constant gloom that's been surrounding northeasten England since then was a downer. But still, can't complain too much! I was recently moved to a new team at work and... well, we'll see how it goes. I'm not one to blog a lot about work, but I'll just say I haven't been too thrilled with the change.

Last week I found myself in bed for four days with a case of the stomach flu, which wasn't so much fun... but that's cleared up now and I feel pretty good. More positive than I have in a while, actually! I'm looking forward to a lot, but the main things right now are a Christmas party my best friends over here in Englishland Steph and her boyfriend Lewis will be having the first weekend in December (Hm, maybe I'll get some guest-video-ing on while I'm at their place, since I didn't get to meet up with my darling Nadia while I was in Canada *sadface*!). Then, on the 7th I'm heading off to Cancun with some family, and will be spending two weeks doing not much else but lounging on the beach with a cocktail in hand and a good book =]

All of this is just to say that things have been going predominantly well, and I'm excited to finally have the time and internet access to get involved with this again. I've got a couple reviews lined up that I really need to do, and a few ideas for tutorials I need to film - although, as evidenced by my last two videos, something has been totally whack with the lighting in our office room / my webcam settings lately. Must get that sorted out!

Anyway, enough random rambling. Drop me a comment to let me know how you're doing, if there are any products (Available in UK please!) you want some reviews of.

Have a nice night, dolls!

Vix xox

Just a Quickie

I'll do a full, proper update soon but in the meantime, here are some before and after shots of my braces, as requested!

This is what my teeth looked like before I got braces. Not pretty, right?



Then, these ones were taken 3 days after I got my braces back in January 2008.









Then, this one was taken in July 2009, showing the progress and how the teeth were all nicely lined up where they should be =]



And finally, this is my smile after (more close-up shots on my youtube channel!)

A Very Not-Rare Moment of Indecision

So, I've looked at my payslip on work's HR website. I know what I'm getting and I know what my outgoings are going to be for bills, with money set aside for savings, food, bus fare, etc. If my Sugarsweet shopping list is around £110, I've got about a hundred spare to play around with this month. And I can not make up my mind for the life of me.

Do I buy some basics that I'm after? Like a couple items off my permanent-collection wishlist, or the BBR eyeshadows? Do I buy the Studio Sculpt Concealer I'm after?

Or do I put it aside to buy something from Kitty Kouture when it comes out? Or do I go ahead and buy a couple extras from Sugarsweet?

No... I narrowed down my Sugarsweet list to the things I really want and need. Anything else is superfluous, so I won't do that. But what should I do? Should I get some other items, get the mystery powder from HKK, or just shove it into savings until there's something I really want?

GOD, I suck out loud at making up my mind.

On an unrelated note, I wish MAC made Studio Fix Fluid in an NC10 or something. NC15 is just slightly too dark for me. I love the foundation to bits, but I could do with a shade lighter. Sigh.

Also, I want to appeal to you and ask, what do you think is the best concealer for dark circles? My MAC MA gave me Select Cover-Up in NC20 (which, incidentally, is clearly too dark, but whatever, with foundation on top you can't tell) but I don't think it really covers my dark circles so much as it makes them slightly lighter. That's why I want Studio Sculpt Concealer, for dark circles. Or is there something better that you can suggest?

I'm in the biggest indecisive mood right now, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm supposed to be going to Meadowhall with my aunt on Saturday and I don't know what to do with my Extra Budget. Makeup? A video game? (well, no. I need to play Fallout 3 and Silent Hill Homecoming before I buy MORE) Some stuff from Paperchase? Clothes? Shoes?

I wish I had more money. Thank god for overtime. I should have an extra couple hundred in next month's pay and LORD KNOWS I'm going to need it.

/rambling

Sorry guys, I'm very disjointed today.

Xoxo, Vix

Sugarsweet Wishlist

I had a hard time narrowing down this list. MAC appealed to my domestic, cupcake-loving side when they announced the Sugarsweet collection. In the beginning I was convinced I needed everything! Then, I cut out the permanent items. And now, finally, I've had to reason with myself and force myself to cut out things I don't need.

For example, I don't need any dark lipsticks - dark doesn't work for me. I don't need more sheer lipglosses right this minute, just because they're tri-coloured. And I know I'd go insane once the colours mixed. I'd rather spend that money on some dazzleglass, or lipglass colours I love.

So my final list is below:

Lipstick: Bubbles
Lipstick: Lollipop Loving
Lipstick: Saint Germaine
Shadestick: Cakeshop
Shadestick: Butternutty
Shadestick: Lemon Chiffon
Shadestick: Red Velvet
Shadestick: Penny
MSF: Perfect Topping

All in all, I'm figuring the cost to be just over £100, which is reasonable to me. Considering what I spent in the month of March. My impulse buy with Hello Kitty definitely taught me a lesson - be more discerning. I need to ask myself questions like "Do you really need a bright tangerine-orange lipgloss?" or "You have three hot-pink lipsticks that you NEVER WEAR. Do you honestly need a fourth?"

Still, it did jumpstart my collection. I may sell-swap the things I decide I don't love (I'm struggling even to have a grudging respect for Nice to be Nice lipglass right now) but for now, eh, the damage is done, I'll get over it.

Sorry there haven't been any videos either. I've been busyyy. And exhausted. I could fall asleep right now. I didn't even get a chance to sleep in this weekend, it sucked out loud. But, I digress.

More soon! I'm just thanking the Flying Spaghetti Monster that it's payday on Friday.

I need to get my hands on some more MAC. It really is an addiction. Ehehe. But I'm holding out for Sugarsweet for now. I've made a plan to buy 1-2 brushes per pay period (ie: month) but not sure it'll happen this month. Which is okay I guess since I technically bought 4+3 last month (4 brushes plus the HK set) so I'm ahead of the game.

ANYway I realize I'm rambling now so I'll leave off here.

Muchlove, chickadees!

Xoxo Vix

Striving...

Yesterday, I received my first ever totally random compliment on my makeup. And I gotta say, it totally made my day like you wouldn't believe. I mean, I've had compliments before, but only where they've been part of a conversation. For example, getting ready for a girls' night out, I asked my friend Becca "Is this eyeshadow dark enough?" and she told me she loved how I did my eye makeup. But nothing randomly spontaneous, y'know?

I was at work yesterday afternoon and one of the ladies who sits on my row of desks came over to have me look at something and see if I could help her figure out what to do with it. And as we were going through it, she interrupted herself to tell me that my eyeshadow was "well awesome" or something to that effect. And it totally made my day. Love! I've got photos of yesterday's Face of the Day, which I might upload when I get a chance =]

But that little conversation yesterday, it made me realize that this is something I want to strive for. To put real effort into my everyday makeup, instead of slacking and being plain. I want more days like yesterday. Maybe that makes me selfish and vain, but honestly I don't care. The compliments you don't expect are the ones that really make an impact, and it really made me feel good, both about myself but also about my skill at makeup application.

I'm rambling now, so I'll leave off there for now, but I just wanted to share.

In other news, I'm going to be opening a forum affiliated with my blog, where we all can talk about makeup and skincare and fashion, to post reviews and the like. It's not ready yet, I'm still tinkering with InvisionFree and trying to find a fabtastic skin, but when it's up I'll add a link to my sidebar. Hope to see you there!

XOXO Vix

Much More to Come

Dude, it finally came. And everything I had ordered (minus the stuff they already told me was out of stock and I bought separately anwyay) was included! I was so expecting for things to be missing, but no, everything was there. It was almost overwhelming, haha.

Anyway, my lack of updates (aside from the easy old colour collection dealies I've posted the past few days) is due to two things: a four-day migraine headache that had me so debilitated, I couldn't remember how to spell "legislation" while I was trying to do work; and the impending move! Luckily the headache finally went away last night, and most of the "This has to be done by Thursday night!!" work for the move has been done, so it's more chilled. SO I will have more blogging and more videos for you soon.

So anyway, just giving you all a little bit of an update. Watch this space; I'll have a haul (with pics this time) blog/video up for you this weekend =]

Vix xox

What the...?

Cross-posted from my main "personal" blog. When I started this second blog, it was specifically for health and beauty and makeup, but I'll probably have some personal updates going on too. The only problem is, if I combine the two themes into one blog, then I only really need one. So, we'll see. I'll probably keep the random, big news, or funny stuff here and keep the mundane day-to-day "so at work I did this and this" kind of stuff to my other blog. I'm rambling already and this is just a copy-paste entry. I have skill.

Anyway, onto the topic of this post...

I dream the most ridiculous crap sometimes.

First of all, about an hour after falling asleep last night, I started dreaming that someone was pounding loudly but slowly and persistently on my front door, demanding to be let in. I went to hide somewhere in the house so whoever it was - who clearly didn't want anything nicey-nice - wouldn't know I was home. The pounding actually woke me up and for a while I was convinced that my subconscious had incorporated a real sound into my dream. I pulled out my left earplug and listened for a while, but there was nothing other than the sound of my own pulse pounding in my ears.

So, I put it back in and went back to sleep. And then started to dream that I was having problems with my eyes. My doctor gave me some special contact lenses to wear and then told me to listen to a particular Britney Spears CD to stop the swelling.

Yes. Read that again. That's right.

I have no idea, it makes no sense to me either, but in the dream I was trawling a store trying to find this record, and then picked up two awesome hardcover books that were some kind of dark fiction, and the cover art was like Tim Burton's brand of stop-motion animation (think The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Coraline. I *know* Tim Burton wasn't involved in Coraline BUT it's the same "feel" since it was the producer of TNBC so shut up).

Yeah, I was a bit weirded out.

So now I'm just waiting for a confirmation email telling me my MAC Online UK order has been dispatched. Whoo.

OH, yeah. I had other biggish news.

The night before last my aunt had a phone call from my granny. I have a second cousin (my grandmother's sister's son) who has Down's Syndrome, and he lives in a care unit and spends weekends at "home" with his mom and dad, my great-aunt and -uncle. Well apparently there was some kind of fire in their main building, and the place is not habitable at all right now. They don't know yet whether any of the things in his living area are salvageable, but hopefully they'll find out soon. LUCKILY, nobody was hurt and everyone got out. My cousin is staying with my grandmother for the next few days until his parents come back home - they're away in Iman until Tuesday. So yeah, thank god everyone is okay.

It's still bad because... well lots of damage. And they can't move back in, and my cousin, he was really settled there, and now he's going to have to start all over again in a new place, and it'll take him a while to adjust. And he can't just stay at home, because my great-aunt and -uncle are in their seventies: not happening. Anyway I'll keep you all posted, and will do another makeup update when I get home. If I get time I'll upload a video review for my Blemish Balm. AND upload all the friggin' pictures I still need to add to all my previous entries.

So far, as a beauty blogger, I totally suck.