DIY blushmaking from March

Totally forgot I had this one to tell you about. :)

I bought a mini grinder and as the first project decided to try and make a blush. Did not end up so good - looks nice and pink in the baggie but totally orange on the cheeks - used too much iron oxide red. I guess true pink is not achievable with any oxides - needs either red  lakes or beetlepow(d)er. Grinder was surprisingly big as well - I only had TKB tablespoon-sized samples to play with and therefore tried to use them sparingly.

I do have some complaints about the grinder though :S. It's not as powerful as I'd like - it made noises as if the task would be to difficult for it whenever I tried to shake the powder loose from one or other side. The grinding bit is placed in the middle of the jar and does not reach the bottom of the jar so mixing is not as effective as it should have been. I was hoping to use it for small batches but unfortunately it wont work that way - it wont reach the pigments. Turning it upside down wont help either.

looks dirty on my skin

DIY MMU is a very messy business - gloves are strongly advised. I cannot remember what was it excatly that I used but I seem to remember various white and colored micas, titanium dioxide and some pearl powder being used. I got a bit smarter as a result - one should be very careful with oxides - those buggers are very potent. Also - one should not use titanium dioxide as base material - it's much too clingy and much too opaque and texture will be horrible, better to use some treated half-opaque micas instead. 

with very light hand

PS! It was quite difficult to clean up afterwards - especially the grinder...

First custom made palette

Friend of a friend ordered this set of 9 colors. I hope she'll like it, took me 3,5 hours to press the set. I should try to get some nice patterned ribbon or something to make them look more professional. One pan contains a lot of pigment, I was surprised at the amount I was able to squeeze into them.

Price for the full palette is 415 to 450 kr (ca 27-29 EUR) depending on the "difficulty" of a pigment. Some of these buggers are a tad difficult to press. 35 kr per color and the palette itself cost me almost 100 kr with all the duties and taxes... 

Pressing

Pressing pigments is fun. Loads of fun! I've been doing it last week, 4-6 colors at a time, too tired to make the entire batch at once. After all I have over 100 pigments to press - I do not even have enough pans for them all. And the palette can comfortably fit only 28 of them. It looks so neat with the partition, I do not have the heart to pull it out - without it the palette could fit 40 colors.

Pressing is easy, most pigments do your bidding without any fuss. Just remember to go easy on the pressing medium! Less is more... because more will just end up as oily goo.

Stuff you need for pressing:

• pigments
• pans
• pressing tile or suitable coin
• pressing medium
• hairpin or toothpick
• pipet 
• syringe
• high % alcochol
• kitchen paper
• if have weak hands, a pressing tool
• rubber gloves (it's a messy job)
• eventually: a palette would also be nice.

Lift some pigment onto the pan, drop 1-2 drops of pressing binder (I use TKB Trading's MyMix Clear Pressing Medium and a pipet) in the pan (get the pans with a pressing tile or two, do not bother with the press packs, those special handles are not comfortable), sprinkle some alcohol (80% vodka from a syringe, anyone?) until the pigment is wet (more wet then  the "liquid sand" consistency, make it into nice goo - easier to mix this way). Place kitchen paper over the pan, place the pressing tile nicely on top and press down. Excess liquid will be immediately sucked out by the paper tissue, repeat pressing with a fresh dry tissue and lay the fresh eyeshadow out to dry for 12-24 hrs. Done.

Now, the unpressable baddies are the sparkly colors. 24K Gold is unpressable, needs some mixing medium in a powder form too, liquid mixing medium alone will not work. All you are left with is some very greasy looking glitter... Other colors behaving this way are Storm and Limerick.

For some reason I cannot comprehend, WinterRose and Brown Coco are also acting up and seem to have difficulties staying pressed... as soon as I touch the pigment with my brush it tries to leave the pan, all of it. It just crumbles out of the pan. Blackest Black matte tone also dried up in a funny way, showing little cracks on the surface. Metallics on the other hand press like a dream... So do the MyMix colors I recently acquired. 

MyMix Clear Pressing Medium is mostly silicones, not good  for some people. You do not have to use it, it's also possible to use fractionated coconut oil or jojoba oil  or some other oil for pressing but the downside is - those might go rancid in a year or so, jojoba a little sooner... Solution would be adding a small amount of preservatives but then what's the point of the entire DIY business? Same stuff is available in any store, already pressed and nicely packaged.

PS! The Irish Eyes Collection had two colors that bled whilst pressing (colorant dissolved in alcohol): Dublin and Lucky Green. They bled blue. Next to them is the unpressable glimmering Limerick.

EOTD dark blue or brownish gray

Playing with piggies continues. Trying to make the unwearable colors wearable, mixing and matching.

This time the poor victim was Totally Teal. I started out trying to turn it into something reminding me of TKB's Ocean Green (blue with golden gleam) by adding gold sparks and Satin Orange Gold but the result was still too brightly tealish. Added some Blackstar Red into the mix and got this:

Overall impression - kinda blah... Will not attempt again. In daylight the color is more grayish, in artificial light the blueness creeps out.

EDM's Pearl Sunlight under the eyes
EDM's Sandy Fair in intensive as foundi
my mix dry all over lid and wet as liner, blended upwards with Simply Naturals' Polished Silver
Blush was TKB's Paris Pink, straight

I love mixing colors: EOTD green

Here's a new greenish golden eyeshadow, lovechild of Indian Blue (2/3) and Oriental Beige (1/3). Good to know I can use Indian Blue at least this way - it's much too blue for me to be used straight. Also mixed 2/3 of TKB Trading's eyeshadow base with 1/3 Artisan Coral to get a nice natural looking blush - very, very nice sheen. I should add some Artisan Coral to my foundie, I liked it that much. Pic taken in daylight, all dry.

The eye makeup: Indian Blue/Oriental Beige mix all over lid, Simply Naturals' Twilight in the crease, Conservatorie foundi (my lighter mix containing lots od TiO2) on the browbone, under the eyes and as foundi.

Curled the lashes too but I cant see much difference. Mascara wand can do the same fob with less fuss.

I tried the wet application of foundi today and I did not like the effect. Apparently one needs to do some serious moisturizing beforehand cause now my skin is a bit too wrinkly on the cheeks - this has never happened to me before.

EOTD Brown: Dark Bronze and Dusty Rose

I think the blush mix turned out just fine: equal amounts of TKB's eye shadow base, Strawberry and Winter Rose (nice blueish sheen). Very nice subtle tone, absolutely love it.

The Conservatorie's Dark Bronze (in the crease) looks much darker in the jar and TKB Trading's Dusty Rose (all over lid) is the same old pinkish-orange with strong metallic sheen. I think the combination makes my eyes/face look too red. I'm running out of options, what to combine with Dusty Rose - it makes the entire look too bland. Maybe some black in the crease, or some contrasting color...

Rest of the stuff used: for base and on the brow bone Everyday Minerals foundation Ivory in intensive, Pearl Sunlight under the eyes, Lumene's Blueberry Curl mascara. Forgot to use eyeshadow base and totally forgot about eyeliner, all applied dry.

Weekend EOTD's: Green and black

Dabbled in green on Friday but the color did not exactly meet my expectations... all the hilites and sparkles somehow managed not to show in the end result.
Mixed Green Apple with TKB's eyeshadow base, Radiant Gold and Hilite Blue - almost looks the same as Green Apple itself does, only somewhat cooler (as in "less warm").

Used it all over lid and then decided to try the trick I've seen done many times - applied black pigment in the crease to make the color there a bit more saturated - a mistake. I should have applied the black there first and then apply the green all over lid color. I mended it with some more Green Apple in the crease. Satin Orange Gold in inner corners and on the browbone, some Breath of Spring used to blend up from the crease. I am really, really disappointed in the EDM dome blending brush...

Now the dark one: colors used are Blackest Black in the crease, Blackstar Red all over lid, Hilite Red in inner corners and blended upwards from crease, EDM's Pearl Sunlight under the eyes and Fair Neutral as foundi and as highlighter on the browbone. All dry application, picture taken in daylight. Pardon the lack of symmetry, still learning how to blend. HOW  DO  THEY  DO  IT?!?!

Skin feels terribly dry and flaky, MMU makes me look a bit wrinkly now.

The importance of waterproof mascara...

... was revealed to me today. It's -20 and windy here, very very cold. My lashes froze over on my way to work, moisture from the air I breathed out condensed on the lashes  - and as I arrived and entered the warm hall - it all melted and deposited itself under my eyes. Since I have quite long lashes it messed up my eyeshadow too. Would not have happened with waterproof mascara. I have never bought one of those cause they are more difficult to remove afterwards - I do not like to rub chemical stuff around my eyes.
Colors used here are: TKB Trading's mineral pigments Athena all over lid, Dusty Rose in inner corners and blended on the crease, Ivory Lace on the browbone, Lumene Blueberry Curl mascara, Manhattan's eye shadow primer.

Panen tänasesse postitusse ka Crucible Collectioni näidised - segatuna läbipaistva küünelakiga. Järgmisena vaatame, kas leiab ka sillerdava hõbeda kusagilt. And here's TKB Trading's Crucible Collection mixed with clear nail polish:

Crucible Red became dark orange :S - not at all similar to what it looks like as powder. Crucible Khaki on the other hand is not as greenish as in powder version. Of these four I like Forged Gold the most. Crucible Gold remains dark metallic gold color.

Lily Lolo's Golden Lilac remake

I've come across several wonderful reviews (Sirvinya's for instance) of Lily Lolo's Golden Lilac - a soft lilac with golden sheen and thought, why not make a copy using TKB's purples, hilites and sparkles. I cannot use TKB's purples on their own anyway.

Made 2 sets: one with Grape as base and the other with Pure Purple. Unfortunately it was not Pure Purple that gave the better result...

 I used zip loc bags and did not measure the amounts. Small amounts of course :D.

Mix based on Grape is in inner corners, Pure Purple mix in outer corners and Hilite Gold as highlighter. No other makeup anywhere. No primer, all applied dry.

Since I do not have Lily Lolo's version of Golden Lilac, I cannot compare it in person but it looks very similar to the swatches posted on the net.

PS! One of the pale-skinned blue-eyes reviewers on Makeupalley complained, that the color was too gray for her eyes so I started to suspect my mix is still too pinkish. Solution - added a little orange to balance out the purple.

TKB mineraalpigmentidest saab ise endale segada just vajaliku tooni, samuti saab olemasolevaid ja mittesobivaid värve endale sobivamaks muuta. Vajab vaid veidi harjutamist ja värvisegamise kogemust. Puhtad raudoksiidid ei segune kuigi hästi, neid tuleb nt kohviveskis segada - TKB lauvärvipõhi enam kohviveskit ei vaja, seguneb suurepäraselt vilgupõhiste mineraalpigmentidega.Oksiide tuleb seevastu ALATI kohviveskis segada, sest muidu jätab valmissegu nahale triibud - kilekotis mudides/segades ei õnnestu oksiide kuidagi ideaalselt baasiga läbi kloppida.

Nails and frankenpolishes

Firstly - I am lazy. Very lazy and I admire people who have the patience to apply the undercoat, then 2-3 layers of polish and the top coat and wait at least 30 minutes for it all to dry. IMHO nails take at least an hour to do. They loose their luster on the second day and wear/chip off at the third day the latest and then you have to do it all over again! Not to mention - nail polish removers stink quite unpleasantly and they do not get everything off.

My nails always come out as a total mess, therefore it's not worth the trouble. The only way they can look good with polish is when I use just one layer of protective undercoat - that dries up quickly enough and I do not have the opportunity to mess them up. I usually wear my nails clipped short and do not think about them much. I promise I'll start wearing nail polish regularly when it only takes one coat to apply and it would take at least a week to even show some signs of wear.
But since I am willing to go through a lot just to do some research I got myself among other things some bottles of nailpolish: black, white and blood red. Why black? Naturally because of all the hilite and interference colors I recently acquired from TKB that  look their best over dark base. Luckily the polishes were on sale in local store - dollar per bottle.

 

 All these are mixed with black polish: 24K Gold, then Crucible Red, Hilite Green, Hilite Red, Radiant Gold, Satin Orange Gold, Sparkle (this does not look like much at all), Travel to Earth (my favorite - warm greenish tint) and Travel to Jupiter. Since I mixed the polish and the powder right there, on my nails - the surface is not nice smooth and pretty - sorry, it's all about color here.

Only now did it occur to me that I could have left my poor nails in peace and done the swatches on some piece of plastic instead. Would have been easier to mix too. The colors would look a lot better if mixed properly - the polish and powder poured in a fresh bottle, added a metal ball and shaken well - at the moment I just dipped the polish brush in the polish and then in the powder and just wiped the brush clean with tissue paper.