1/31/14

battle of the reds

here we go. like promised, i am having my two current-fave reds battle it out.







so, what they mostly have in common is the color. stila's fiery is a darker, deeper red and nars's dragon girl is wonderfully bright (which is why i bought it) and very slightly goes into a pink direction.

as far as the long-lasting goes... i highly doubt that there is a lip product out there that has more staying power than the liquid lipstick.  when they say "stay all day" they mean stay aaall day. it is just increeedible.  the lip pencil will not survive drinking from a bottle. (not the most ladylike thing to do, i know. but since i generally disagree with the over-usage of straws (that happens here in the us....), (it's a tree-hugger thing...) that iiis a factor that i take into account.

 the point for which one of the two feeeeeels better... will have to go to nars. it pretty much doesn't feel like you are wearing anything at all (on your lips). so i totally agree with the "velvet" part of name. the liquid lipstick dries completely matte, and therefore covers your lips in a solid coat of color. honestly, doesn't feel toooooo great. your lips will feel dryer than they look, though. an important side-note for this product is that you absolutely need to refrain from moisturizing during the day. it really messes up the texture, and will cause smearing and creasing and lots of bad stuff. don't do it. make sure your lips are well hydrated and maybe even exfoliated before you use this product. (i (try to) cover my lips in a layer of thick lip-moisturizer the night before.) the only thing you can do, when you really feel like you need to touch up, is re-apply a thin layer of the liquid lipstick. but(!) for a whoooole day you will only need to do that once. no lie.

reapplying will need to be more frequent with the pencil, but it does allow mid-day-moisturizing. i suggest a basic chapstick (i used burt's bees replenishing lip balm with pomegranate oil) (to not add sheen to the matte color).

another aspect i take into consideration is the fact that the liquid lipstick is a one-product kind of situation. i usually aaaaalways want need a lip liner. (just because my lips don't naturally have a defined edge. and i generally feel like it gives a more finished look.) (which is why i will choose this product for the glamour-update.) when i use the nars lip pencil i (have to) combine it with a lip liner (i used mac in beet) and also (like mentioned earlier) carry a lip balm in my purse.

so that's that. i hope this post helped you to determine which characteristics are important for you.

oh! the price is about the same.... i found both of these ladies at sephora. stila for 22$ and nars for 24$.


i would love to hear what your priorities are when choosing a lip color....
 or if you have any other products you would like me to compare.

1/29/14

poppy lips

my focus on lllllips continues….  i think it all started with reading about poppy king and her lipstick line, lipstick queen on into the gloss

i fell in love with her. her look… her charm… how she ended up with her own company... and especially after reading about how she views beauty and glamour. 

image from intothegloss.com… poppy king photographed by emily weiss in new york on august 2, 2013. 
 
 
soon to come... a review of my (current) two favorite non-classic-lipstick products. 

1/28/14

rainbow-time …little things that make me smile

sometimes i have a rainbow visiting me at the office….. sometimes on my co-worker's face….. to day on my keyboard. 

 

1/27/14

deep v

my friend rachel showed up at my place last friday night... in this deep-v bodysuit from american apparel


so i did her make-up… make-up that was worthy of a friday night in new york… with this veeeeeee. (….without pushing it too far. if you know what i mean)

1/26/14

what the hell was i thinking?

what the hell was i thinking, when i got my nails done… like this….
they are just soooo far from my usual look.


i got aloooot of compliments on them though… so i thought you might be interested in how i achieved this uber-gold-sparkle.

for the base i used essie's good as gold and opi's when monkeys fly (from their metallics collection)

i mean….. i guess i would like them more on natural, shorter nails. but i feel like it kind of pushed my acrylics over the edge…. but, whatever it's just nails right?

what do you think?




1/24/14

feline

like i have told you before… when i wear men's clothes (which happens alooot) like this amaaaying cos sweater (which i bought on my holiday visit in munich) i like doing stronger make-up….


skin: for sheer coverage with a natural glow i mixed mac's prep + prime, skin base and face and body foundation, on the back of my hand and worked that into my skin. …and just a small amount of blush to finish it off.

brows: for my brows i used dark brown and black eyeshadow

eyes: on the top lid i used one of my absolute favorite mac eyeshadows... performing art. unfortunately it was a special edition...... (why do you do that to me mac?). to deepen the crease i also used a medium grey. black luquid eyeliner for the cateye-effect. on the bottom lid i used a purple eyeshadow pen and black eyeliner on the waterline. to blend these together i used dark blue eyeshadow with a slanted eyeliner brush. mascara for both lash rows. (i was obviously having a bad eyelash-hair day…)

lips: in this look my eyes got the attention… so i just covered my lips with a layer of sheer pink lipstick.


have fun!

1/20/14

leather frame …love at first sight

i saw this jersey top (with a leather framed zip down the back) at the alice and olivia store... and i had to have it!

sorry mom, i know i know... it's black.....

1/18/14

brown sugar

for the days when you want to use natural colors, without doing a natural look....
 

eyes: i started by painting mac's antiqued on my movable lid, pulling the color from the roots of my lashes to the crease where i blended it with hush. also using a blending brush i sculpted my eyes with coppering, on the outer half of my crease. the upper lash line got defined with a soft band of embark, black eyeliner on the waterline and mascara. the bottom lid got a dusting with a shimmering gold-brown loose powder.

lips: for a more naturally intensified base i tinted my lips with revlon, just bitten, lipstain + balm, forbidden, before adding maybelline, color whisper, rose of attraction.


have fun

1/17/14

i can't do without… dust it

next to baxter, clay pomade my other almost-every-day beauty product is schwarzkopf, osis+, dust it, texture, mattifying powder. i have been using it for yeeeears. it is a white powder that texturizes the hair in a way that is very hard to describe…. it kind of makes the hair rough and dry-feeling. on the homepage it is described (among very appropriate adjectives) with  "natural feel"... which i will have to disagree with... because it essentially make it impossible to run your fingers through your hair. but it does absolutely not make the hair crispy and it is totally invisible on the hair. a nother reason why i love it… no matter how much you touch it, the rough texture will not lessen. (not like hair spray that does not really do anything once wind or hands messes it up.) the powder will work its magic until you wash it. (i also want to note that it keeps the shampoo from lathering properly, which is kinda strange at first…..) 



i put it on my roots for volume when i want that super-cool-swoosh. and truuust me, i do noooot naturally have volume. 


details on this make-up-look... here


it gives braided hair styles that fuzzy-touch......



don't have a tutorial for this make-up look (because it was pre-blog) but a similar thaaang... here


and it is a must for up-dos, because i have the kind of hair that (if i don't use dust it) will slip out of the pins and fall apart.


the story on this make-up… here


look at how it transforms rachel's beautiful sleek-asian-hair. 





can i get a "messy hair don't care"?
 
photos of rachel... by me

1/14/14

no-mascara

the look: i did it! (still inspired by the whole "pure gaga" look) i did a no-mascara make-up. it was kind of a big deal because, if i could only have one beauty product, for the set of my life, it would definitely be  mascara. 


skin: i didn't want the i-am-just-not-wearing-any-make-up-at all look. so i made sure to even my skin with a light foundation and powder.

brows: natural but groomed with grow gel.

eyes: for natural sculpting i used bare minerals, vanilla sugar for the base... mac, eyeshadow, quarry for the crease and swiss chocolate for the lash line... and for the highlights mac, paints in stilife.

lips: i wanted my lips in a-tone-darker-than-naturlly, without adding a thick layer of color or gloss. 


what is your first-choice beauty product?

1/13/14

black mesh...

i am in love with this escada sport top rachel is wearing. i feel like it is a every-ocasion piece. over a bikini at the beach… over a tank during the day… or just over a bra……..


all photos of rachel... by me

say hello to my left hand


 the funnest part about jewelry (to me anyway) is finding random pieces that tell stories… 

(from left to right)
vintage silver ring, from this crazy flea-market-house, in munich, that i went to with my parents before it was torn down to build an aldi (a discount grocery store)

gifted from my mom santa mouse (my sis has the same one in pink)

  vintage gold and rose gold double-ring gifted from my dear friend, christa

coral and turquoise ...my two favorite stones. i bought this queen-of-boho-rings from my super-special-jewelry-lady ching (who i most recently bought this pendant from)

isabel marant ring i bought in a random boutique in berlin. it reminds me of the crazy-fun times i had opening berlin fashion week (with my former company)

cos ring that was part of a set my friend bought. but like it usually happens with sets…. there was one she didn't like. (scooore!)

……..no, i don't take these rings off at night ….a faq.

and now the nails….
i really think this color is my all-time-favorite. it is one of the very few nail polish bottles i actually finished.  because of all my rings i don't really wear colorful nail polish ….even though i love it. i go for non-blacks like essie, wicked or nudes like opi, hopelessly in love. aaaanyway this is the perfect navy-purple-non-black…. opi, russian navy. and to add some extra bad-ass-ness i also used a matte top coat. 

1/10/14

one in a million...

there are sooooo many lip products out there. different price categories and finishes and glosses and tints and who-knows-what.... in an endless amount of colors. why buy one and not the other?

i saw this color (that has since been the newest addition to my lip-box on my make-up table) on a girl. and i didn't care... what brand it was... or if it is a classic lipstick or a gloss... or if it possibly is berry-vanilla-whipped-cream flavored. i wanted it because it was really bright. we know red lips have a certain power to them. so no wonder that the red-lip look is about as common, on the streets of new york as broken umbrellas.... so, if you do it, you better do it bright.


nars, velvet matt lip pencil, dragon girl… 

the color is so saturated and it feels amazing (like i am not wearing anything on my lips at all)! it is easy to apply (do to lack of a naturally defined lip-edge, i do combine it with a lip liner...) and doesn't wear off super fast.


what do you think? was i right to choose this one and not one of it's million competitors?

camel pooping lights …little things that make me smile

if you follow my life...style board on pinterest you might have noticed that i really like strings of light to give the room a comfy-feel. when i was looking for my very own, i knew that i wanted the lights to be very little (not the christmas-y ones) and i wanted the light to be warm. it took me for eeeever to find the perfect one….. 


i found it in a random garden and home improvement store in the east village. (no, aaall the light stores on bowery were no big help…). the package specifically said "warm light" and it doesn't have a big ugly black cable between the lights. it is a silver wire (which would also make it easy to wrap around things) and the lights are little bubbles on the wire. aaaaand they are led, so my tree-hugger heart is happy too.
 
it's also really good for a spontaneous photoshoot….
 
and my mom gave me this funny little camel. i forgot where she got it from though....
 
 
what random little things do you have in your room, that always make you smile?


1/8/14

clean winter

i get it... gone are the days of bohemian summer looks... with bronzed skin... beach hair and... bindis (i do miss my bindis......). i am in the mood for a very clean sleek look.


skin: I am going for the porcelain skin look, by evenly working foundation into my skin, as well as matting it with powder. using only a touch of frosted light pink blush on my cheek bones.

eyes: for this icy shimmer on my eyes i like using mac, paints in stilife. i have had this little guy for a while but never really used it. honestly, because it is not toooo easy to apply evenly. sorry, mac.... but multiple mac sales ladies have agreed with me on that. what is nice about it, is that it is a good product to use all over the lid. also as a base. this is in fact the ooooonly product i don't first use my beloved eye shadow base. since i apply it with my fingers (with the brush it is even harder to get even and it just gews-up my brush too much) it is a good little friend for your over-night make-up bag. on the bottom waterline i drew a light blue line with a eyeliner pencil.
lips: still not sick of my stila, stay all day liquid lipstick, aria

nails: essie, wicked


how did your look change in the winter?

1/7/14

buddha….. love at first sight

i already introduced ching to you (yes, i finally asked her what her name was) the lovely lady i buy my jewelry from.

the last piece i bought is a tiger's eye buddha pendant, set in silver. and this is what ching told me about it….. the tiger's eye has protective powers (i have always loved this stone ....being a crazy-cat-lady… and a leo... and it makes me think of "eye of the tiger" from rocky (you know… the boxing movie… i can't help it… i love me some rocky) and my tiger's eye bracelet had recently broken…) the smiling buddha is supposed to remind me to be kind to myself (something we should all remind ourselves of… no?) and on the back… is a butterfly (sorry, mom...), engraved in the silver… telling me that something beautiful will come (also always a good thing to be reminded of...). 

she tied the pendant on a thick black sting and said: "something more tribal for you. you are part of my tribe now." now there really(!) is nothing wrong with belonging to a tribe. especially in new york….. jk. when i hung him around my neck ching waved him good-by and told me that she sold him to me because she knew that i would take good care of him. …she is the sweetest!


sorry for the (totally unprofesh) selfie but i was on my way to have my nails done and i think this (escada sport printed coat… levi's flannel shirt… calvin klein jeans white tee) is the perfect look for my little buddha.

put a smile on my face

for the sake of my new years resolution…….


my friend took this picture of me, after i had chipotle… it never fails to put a big-ole smile on my face.