Thursday, December 15, 2011

Jun in Wonderland Pages 1 and 2

I finally got another panel of Jun in Wonderland done. It only took me 7 months between panels @_@ ...go me?





Zeph, why you gotta keep a floofy Angel waiting, huh >O?

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Art Challenge : Bedtime

I'm a little late with the art challenge for last month but I think it ended up worth the wait. I've been crushing hard on my boys [and girls], as well as their Sig O's lately and their AU selves are no exception to that love at all.

So for November's "Bedtime" theme, I figured AU Lan would do. Alone in his room, he's free to undo his masking spells, show his scars, his true hair and eye color and truly relax before going to bed.



Like with all of my art I could prolly pick this apart until the day I die, but I'll try to be happy with it just the same. AU Lan makes that easier, that's for sure ^_~

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Holiday Rush

Welp, it's coming up soon, isn't it? Christmas... I swear every year I tell myself that I'll start everything early. I even make grandiose plans for it -lists, wishlists, decor ideas, you name it. I tell myself that instead of rushing around and scrambling last minute to get things bought, crafted, sewn and done, I'll be on it months beforehand. Every year I say to myself that this time... this time around, things will be done on time.

So what happens instead? I put it off and I put it off, or things come up and it gets put off for me but before I know it's December and I'm realizing that I only have 10 some days to get my act together just so everyone will get their gifts before the start of the next year itself. You'd think that after all these years I'd learn but sadly... you can't teach an old Mouse new tricks.

Or some such ~_~

Bah, humbug I say. Ah well, at least the decor is up right?



All the pretty blue and white. It gives off such a Wintery feel and I love it.



Though despite all the pretty sparkly lights, my sewing area currently looks like this ->


XD

Like I said, maybe I'll get my act together early one of these years. Not likely after all this time, but eh, you never know. Miracles can happen, right?

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Lime Crime Review

Ever since the move, I've started taking slow baby steps back into the realm of casual makeup wear. By casual I mean a little more eyeshadow worn, some mascara and perhaps the occasional lip glosses.

Mineral wear has been my current fav kick, especially the eyeshadows that are handmade by various sellers on Etsy. I love the colors, the sparkles and the fact that they don't cost an arm and a leg [plus hay, I'm all about supporting fellow artists when possible over supporting the Man if you know what I mean <_<... >_>...]. One of the reasons I've grown to dislike wearing regular makeup over the years has been because of the weight eyeliner, shadows and mascaras carry to them. I can always feel the stuff on my eyelids and it's an all day consciousness that I have to tend to in order to ensure I don't wipe at/smear or upset the makeup in any way.

It's exhausting quite frankly, far higher maintenance than I'd like and when it comes down to it, I've become a lazy bastard over the years and dislike the upkeep so I've defaulted more often than not, to wearing no makeup at all save a foundation base. It's also another reason I've grown to love mineral wear so much, it feels more like I have a light dusting of sparkle powder on me over a bunch of crap stuck to my face. The only drawback has been that it doesn't exactly stick around for very long in terms of wear.

Well this is where Lime Crime came in...
Makeup; So bright, it's illegal!


I've heard a lot of mixed reviews on the company, I've read all the past dramus and that drama has always made me a little weary of buying from the company in general in truth. Despite all of that however, it hasn't stopped me from popping back in here and there and looking at the pretty shadows, glosses and various other things available for sale [in my defense though, I tend to surf the net and stare at pretty things mindlessly when my brain isn't allowing me to think properly enough to get anything productive done...]. This last time I went in, I happened to luck upon a sale and thought -why not? Sales are perfect opportunities to test things out, I think. If it's good then you've lucked out and gotten it at a bargain price, but if it's bad, you haven't wasted a ton of money and you know better for next time.

Either way it's a win win situation, yes?

So anyway, I digress. Back to the product review. I wanted to try out Candy Eyes because of the above mentioned reasons and at 15% off the original price, it wasn't going to be a major loss if it proved to be inadequate [Well... it'd still be a loss, just not a major one, that's my point. Heh]. The shipping was fast - it arrived in less than a week after ordering and came like this ->


The packaging is really cute...


...Both inside and out.


The product itself was wrapped in a lot of purple tissue paper, which kept it nicely cushioned surprisingly. There was also a cute logo glitter sticker included and an add postcard for their Carousel Lip glosses [I really like the photography on it -haha].


The foundation itself comes in a little aqua dome with a twist cap. The cap is a little hard to twist off at first and it has an odd locking mechanism when you go to close it that 'snaps' so if you don't do it properly, it won't close all the way. It took me a few tries to figure out that it wasn't going to break during that snap and until I figured that out, the lid was loose and jiggly.


As you can see by the cracks around the edge of the inside from the product, it came separated. In past experiences with cream makeups or bases, I've learned that if it's separated, it's usually a single step away from drying out or curdling altogether so I have to admit I was a little worried about it.

But again, this is why I bought it on sale, because as said -if it ended up being not usable, I wasn't actually losing all that much. So I tried it on. the cream itself is nice a smooth, it doesn't clump when you spread it and it doesn't feel heavy at all once on. After the initial application, came the test. I decided to try on one of my favs [from an etsy company that is sadly, out of business D:] called Frost. I'm on this white eye shadow kick as well and I love it, it's just a little hard to layer up and see once on. I figured this would be the perfect subject for the Lime Crime Primer test. The result ->?


So the area closest to the eye is where the primer is, the area above is the same shadow without primer. As you can see there's a noticeable difference. With the primer I was able to layer it and get a true white going, without it remained as it usually does -partially sheer. That in of itself was already win for me. For once I could see the shadow, instead of having it be more of a sparkly accent to my eyelids.


As for it lasting an entire day no matter the activity as the reviews and the product itself boasted? This was mostly true. I spent all day in that shadow, even slept with it on and when I woke up, it was still mostly there. It's not as rock solid at it's been claimed to be because there was some fading in the end, but there is a fair measure of truth to it just the same.

So in short [haha, too late], it was a good discounted purchase and I don't regret it. I'm not entirely sure I'd pay full price for it, but then again I'm also a little cheap when it comes to buying makeup itself and balk at most of the pricetags so that could be just me. Would I recommend it though? Probably, yes.