Introduction!
A little bit about me and why I'm starting a(nother) blog...
(This is basically the long-winded continuation of my userinfo, so give that a read if you just want the basics!)
MY BEAUTY PHILOSOPHY (such as it is)... I appreciate makeup as a (lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek) art form and although I often sport very natural looks and think they look fab, I'm not really of the "invisible makeup" school of thought. I like a little kick, sometimes a LOT of kick. I like makeup for makeup's sake, and although I have a lot of respect for her talent (as well as her product line), I'm much more Kevyn Aucoin than Bobbi Brown. I think cosmetics are fun, and if you do too, you'll probably like it here. If you view makeup as the tedious chore you resentfully undergo every morning to make yourself feel marginally less disgusting, you probably shouldn't read on (or maybe you really, really should, because sugar, that ain't how it ought to be!) It's all about the fun for me, the creativity and the individual style, and less about adhering to mainstream beauty standards, etc. In other words, everybody into the pool! (And subvert the dominant paradigm while you're at it! *solidarity*)
Like anyone, I have some biases - I'm basically a MAC zombie who branched out a bit. I absolutely overspend, and although I'm not one to collect for the sake of collecting or hoard backups, I do tend to accumulate lots of similar products. I'll strive for fairness and objectivity, but this ain't Consumer Reports - it's just me and my tastes, which may or may not apply to you at all. (In other words, don't send the brute squad when my holy grail foundation breaks you out or something. Especially considering that, at the time of this writing, I still lack a true holy grail foundation.)
IMPORTANT: one of my goals with the blog is to demonstrate how you can be a successful glamour queen yourself without ever setting foot at a department store makeup counter or digging yourself into credit card debt. I'm completely, 100% in favor of directing folks towards things they will actually like and use. In other words, enabling you to save yourself a lot of frustration and money while still indulging your shimmersweet tooth.
(LOLZ, MAC blush joke! Get it? If you get it, you might just want to start a makeup obsession blog of your very own, because you're clearly as geeky as I am. In other words, friend me right now!!!)
Oh, and yes, I do have a life outside of makeup. But that's what my regular journal is for. Here, it's all about my hobby - love it or leave it!
Stats about me, so you can see whether my taste will be useful to you at all:
AGE: 30 (i.e., too old for glitter and cotton candy-scented perfume but I wear 'em anyway)
ETHNICITY: English/Italian
LOCATION: Western New England, and miles away from a freestanding MAC or Sephora, alas!
SKIN TYPE: Dryyyyyyyyyy, some redness, some flakiness
SKIN TONE: Cool, ridiculously fair, precious little ability to tan
EYES: Blue, bespectacled (unless I break out the contacts)
HAIR: Long, straight, high & lowlighted, bottle & natural brunette
EYEBROWS: Ill-matching and probably overplucked - I neurose about them a lot
MAIN OBSESSIONS: Colorful eye shadow/liner, bright/deep berry lips, gloss, fabulous lashes (real or faux), avoiding sunburns
TURN-OFFS (on me, anyway): Tans (real or faux), bronzer, super pale matte nude lips, and the overbearing influence of the "no makeup" look
FAVE PUSHERS: MAC, Urban Decay, OPI, LUSH, Ben Nye, Fyrinnae, NARS, Prescriptives, Archipelago Botanicals. (This list subject to change and not at all exempt from rants and scrutiny.)
OCCUPATION: Marketing g33k. I do a lot of writing about very mundane things. I'm NOT, I repeat NOT, in the beauty industry and anything I write should be interpreted thusly. I don't know my allergens or how to perfectly match foundation to any skintone other than my own. (Ha - I can barely accomplish THAT!) My experience is strictly as a somewhat obsessive consumer and hobbiest.
OVERALL STYLE: By day: relaxed corporate. By night: varies from sultry and sophisticated to ridiculously girly. Occasionally: drag queen! On average, sort of boringly mainstream with a playful edge. I'm far from being a fashion plate.
ABILITY: Nothing to write home about. I'm no guru, but I don't feel like I need a bag over my head most days. Once again, just remember, I'M NOT A PRO, grain of salt, etc. etc. etc.
HOW I AFFORD ALL THIS CRAP: Halfway decent job (for once!) + lots of swapping + years of collecting + really poor self control + not too many other consumerist obsessions (i.e., I love fashion and shoes, etc., as well, but I'm kind of a thrift store junkie and not a designer label whore). Cosmetics are my big discretionary splurge. And no, I'm not in credit card debt (anymore), which is one of the things I'm most grateful for. Because I've been in debt (mostly because of spending money I didn't have on pesky frivolities like food and gasoline), and it's very un-fun, and I don't want to encourage anyone to dig themselves into a hole buying high-end lipstick just because I said it was the most amazing thing EVAR.
Finally. If it's not obvious from this intro: I tend to write A LOT. And I write fast. Sometimes I'm funny, often I'm not.
That's about all you need to know! Thanks for reading, commenting and questioning my sanity. (Or not.)
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girl_decorated) wrote,
