EOTD Next to Nothing and a bath-story

I spent some time by myself this morning, had a tiny aromatherapy spa. Put castor oil on eye lashes and roots of my hair, grape seed oil on the face and hair ends, added some ordinary seasalt and a tiny touch of fresh coriander (I love this scent) to the bathwater and had a long relaxing bath. Later scrubbed the face with baking soda and warned the cellulite off my thighs with the help a big scratchy glove. Bliss! I love baths, so much more pleasureable then showers. It was so worth it although I had to shampoo twice to get all the oil out of my hair but it evens out since after oil treatments my hair has no need for a conditioner. Really, almost any oil will do for one's hair but I use the cheaper ones like grape seed or olive oil. It's so easy to have a spa in ones own home, most of the stuff is just sitting there in the fridge or kitchen cabinets. The only things missing are a manicurist and a foot massage. :D

Water one uses makes a huge difference. In the country my hair dos not get as greasy as fast as it does in the city. Tallinn is built on limestone and so is also our water reservoir, lake Ülemiste. This means very harsh water which is hard on hair (oilyness, dandruff), skin (dries it up, becomes flaky, especially in the winter) and household appliances. My hair feels so very different when I have bathed in a bog lake, silky smooth and shiny, makes me want to bring some of that soft water home in huge canisters. Rainwater is also splendid for ones hair. Sometimes it's recommended to put some vinegar in the rinsing water just to achieve the same soft result. I don't know about you but I think vinegar does not smell very nice.

After bath covered myself with jojoba oil from face to foot and pondered about todays look. Came up with this:

Colors used are:

E.L.F.'s mineral eyeshadow primer (yeah, it's the stinky one)

EDM's Olive Fair in o-glo all over the eyelid and on the browbone as base, also used as foundation all over the face;

E.L.F.'s cream eyeliner in brown on upper lashline topped with The Conservatorie's Brown Cocoa;

MoonStone in the crease and lower lashline;

Satin White applied very lightly on the browbone and inner corners;

EDM's Fairly Light Neutral o-glo for contouring the cheekbones;

whatever was on the blush brush as blush (I suspect Scorpio the Eight mixed with a touch of Garnet);

E.L.F.'s eyelash curler (for one dollar - an amazing find);

Lumene Natural Code "eye dramatizer" mascara in black (a very good find, although not waterproof, will not budge from it's place during a day's wear; looks nice and sleek too);

Slight touch-up of the eyebrows with E.L.F.'s "feather proof" brown eyeliner pencil;

E.L.F.'s mineral lipstick in Rosy Raisin as the finishing touch (gone in an hour as usual, lipsticks do not stay on me :S).

And here's a pic of all the stuff itself (quite a pile, is it not?).

EOTD Old Bruise

I spent some hours this week looking at blending and makeup videos on youtube. I really really can't blend worth a squat so am trying very hard to learn. Still the look turned out with a sharpish crease-line :S. And of course, one eye is greener then the other :S.

(these pics are taken closer to the window)

Colors used are:

TKB Tradings Pennsylvania Green on outer half of the lid

TKB Tradings Scorpio the Eigth on the inner side of the lid and also as blush

TKB Tradings Mermaid's Gold just above the iris

Just a tap of TKB Tradings Echo in inner corners and a bit on the lower lashline

TKB Tradings Cyprus Green in the outer crease and lower lashline.

E.L.F.'s dual ended eye shadow primer
EDM's Pearl Sunlight under the eyes and as highlighter
EDM's pressed powder in Fairly Light as concealer on spots (this was a mistake, looks very disgustingly caked, franky I dont't like the product at all, it is unusable on my skin. I try to use it but I always fail. Any tips? Personally I think their new formulation in pressed powders absolutely sucks - too much oil.)
EDM's  Sandy Fair as foundation

TKB Trading's silica microspheres as setting powder

Lumene Natural Code mascara in black

Before and after

I dont know about you but I feel there are not enough before and after pics of MMU out there... So here's a before (right after a hot sauna, abrasive facial peel with sugar and honey accounts for the bright red complexion):

After:

EDM's Sandy Fair in intensive, eye makeup is a mess, it was bright purple but I dissolved it using bright orange - it looked quite bad. No blush or lip stuff.

Although MMU is not very potent if skin needs serious coverage it's perfect as an all over color to even out the tone differences. Too bad that during the summer it'll turn out quite shiny like on this pic, which is taken 2 hrs after application (I think I used EDM's Olive Fair in o-glo that day, mixed with Intensive Fair concealer):

About E.L.F. brushes, in general

I remembered that I read form somewhere that the E.L.F Studio series blending/contour/crease brush can scratch the lid with its ferrule... I looked at mine and thought: how? Apparently E.L.F. has somewhat changed the design of the brush during the last year, mine looks and feels soft and useable but just look at the review a blogger made about her brush haul in October 2009 and this blogger in March 2009. This brush used to be real crappy indeed... It also looks bad on the pics Sirvinya took of her brush haul in September 2009.

I have the impression they modify the brushes all the time, this accounts for the constant rants about the quality not being stable. For instance the Studio powder brush  I got some time earlier this year has a shorter and thinner handle then the one I got in a kit later on.

The softness of the contouring/crease brushes of their ordinary line has improved and the shape of those seems to have changed at least twice. Too bad they really have not changed the glue in the ordinary line brushes' ferrules - those still  tend to shed like mad and larger (natural hair) brushes are still scratchy.

Just look at these: the same eyeshadow brushes but one's ferrule is rounder then others and of the slim ones, one has the hair all blotched (hair moved when ferrule was attached and this messed up the shape of the brush):

PS! If you wonder, what's so special about e.l.f.'s limited edition glitter brush set (studio)- there's just some tiny glitter pressed in the handles of smaller brushes, otherwise identical to ordinary Studio line brushes.

Here's a pic of powder brushes: some bought in sets and some separate.

Evening on Muhu Island

Fog moved quite fast, and I'm still not sure if it was fog or smoke caused by mum, burning the trash. It was far when I finally got the camera.

You have to imagine the sounds of crickets yourself... and of course the wet feet.