Life Hack: $1 Magnetic Palette

I'm probably super late to the party on this little life hack, so I claim absolutely no ownership of the idea. I've seen it on countless blogs and youtube videos, and thought, "Well, shoot! That's brilliant. Why didn't I think of that?"

So, for those of you out there who also didn't think of that, I give you this post:

HOW TO TRULY CUSTOMIZE AN E.L.F. CUSTOM COMPACT

This is the E.L.F. Custom Compact. It measures 3x3 (perfect purse size), and costs a buck. I picked mine up from Target, but they're available online, and possibly at Walmart or Walgreen's, if your's has started carrying E.L.F. A couple of the stores in my area have.

And here's the inside:

Photo Credit: E.L.F. Cosmetics

I totally forgot to take a picture of the inside before I started this little project. Whoops.

Now, looking at the above photo, you see that the top half of the compact is a mirror, and the bottom half is sleek white with openings for four small pans and a tiny applicator. We're going to leave the mirror alone, and use a butterknife to pop that bottom white portion out. (It works best to slide the knife under the inside edge of one of the circles) Once you've done that, you'll be left with a shiny metal insert, and the inside of your compact will look like this:

The pretty shiny metal isn't attached to the compact, so you will want to use some super glue or hot glue to make sure it stays put inside. If you use hot glue, make sure that the glue is completely melted, waste NO time, and press the metal in as flat as you can get it. I waited a second too late, and my hot glue hardened enough to keep me from being able to press the metal down fully, and I couldn't get my compact to close when filled. It works now, but I got to spend a good ten minutes peeling and scraping out all of that thick glue, and let's just say that was less than fun.

Sticking in the de-potted pans was a cinch. There are two ways you could do it: A. Stick a full magnet sheet in the bottom, or B. stick magnets to each pan. Either way will work, but I chose to stick the magnets on to each pan. I thought it looked nicer. If you do decide to use the full sheet, you can skip gluing in the metal liner.

The finished compact isn't huge, but I was surprised at how much I could fit in it. Above, I have the three de-potted (de-plastic and cardboard-ed?) EM Cosmetics eyeshadows and lipgloss, an Urban Decay blush and teeny-tiny shadow from an old Face Case, and a Stila shadow from the Pro Artist Palette No.1. I honestly couldn't tell you how many, say, MAC shadows would fit, but this is great for all of those little sample sizes or fragments of palettes that most of us have lying around. I'm actually planning to take this on vacation with me, and this palette alone gives me multiple eye looks, as well as a blush and lipgloss. I may not have to take any other shadows, blushes or lippies. I probably will take more, but I don't have to.

I will warn you, though: the compact isn't the highest quality. It's sturdy, and I feel like my products will be protected in my purse, but the construction is not the greatest. The closure is flimsy and easily breakable. I also feel like a drop onto a hard floor would be catastrophic. That said, the mirror is huge and actually usable, and the lid stands up without having to be propped against something. Also, allow me to remind you that this thing costs a dollar! One dollar. One. A small Z-Palette, which is only marginally larger, runs $14 and doesn't come with a mirror. Also, taking the larger Z-Palettes I own into consideration, I really don't think it would be much more likely to survive a hard drop--at least, not without a few casualties.

So, there you go. That's my life hack o' the day. Has anyone else tried this? Any suggestions for decorating it? Let me know in the comments.   

All I Want For Halloween Is a Costume That Fits: Rant and Audience Participation

Why can't I buy a freaking Halloween costume?

Let me rephrase that: Why can't I walk into a store, try on, and then buy a freaking Halloween costume? You almost have to order online. My local Party City isn't sure they're even getting in some of the costumes they have on their Wall O' Stuff because the warehouse has already sold out online. If you go to the Spirit Halloween website, you can scroll through pages before you find anything that isn't "online only". Walmart has only a handful of adult costumes, and Target isn't stocking any in stores. I don't want to have to order a costume online!!

And why not, you ask? Because it's a crap-shoot, that's why. Back when we did The Night Shift, I needed to order a few costumes for our zombies and ghosties. Everyone was measured, and I used those measurements to choose sizes based on the provided size charts. Of those costumes, only one was usable out of the bag. Barely. And only because it was stretchy. Everything else was either waaaaay too big or waaaaay too little, or bore, in no way, any resemblance to the picture on the website. At least two costumes had to be scrapped entirely, one was altered and dyed, and we were able to salvage the accessories from another. Frankly, it was pitiful.

Of course, that was three years ago. Surely, the size charts would be improved by now, you say. Let's fast-forward to last year. I decided to be Belle. I researched, read reviews, studied Google Images, and decided on a very sweet costume. Again, I chose my size based on my measurements and their size chart. Again, my online costume arrived in a size that was nowhere near close, and the entire dress was sewn lopsided! Now, I don't expect a Halloween costume to be of the highest--or even decent--quality, but I do expect the sleeve openings to be sort of close to the same size. I wore the costume. It wasn't pretty, and it certainly wasn't flattering, but I wore it. Had I had the opportunity to try it on, I never would have purchased it. I would have found another one that was sewn a bit more symmetrically, and in the proper size.

So, we skip ahead to this year. Having been burned several times in the past, I decide not to buy online. Unfortunately, that means I'm left with only a meager selection of skanky cops, slutty red riding hoods, and store-bought zombies (and there's nothing sadder than a store-bought zombie. Seriously, just rip up something from the thrift store--it'll have more personality). A few generic sequinned slips and satiny catsuits (cause those are flattering) dot the aisles, but very little else. For fun, I tried on a random costume, based on what the online size chart recommended. I grabbed a sexy Robin (Yes, Batman's sidekick) in a size Large, and headed for the dressing rooms. It was entirely too big. Like, I would have to take it up several inches in the waist. In addition, it looked absolutely nothing like the costume pictured on the package. I'm not going to lie, it was cute, but it didn't fit and it wasn't what was advertised. Had I plunked down fifty bucks to order it off the website, I'd have been royally miffed.

Most likely, I won't buy a costume this year. Maybe, if I can find a good enough coupon, I might get a superhero corset and tutu (cause that's all they've got) and modify it to be trick-or-treater friendly. At least I can make sure that each piece fits. The thing is, as much as I complain, poor Thomas has it even worse. There are even fewer guy options, and almost all of them come with a horrible, stiff muscle chest. Let me tell you, those things hurt, and they really limit your range of motion. He won't order online, either, because of the sizing issue. He's a tall guy, and doesn't want to waste a fair amount of money on something that may very well be too short.

(And yes, we know we can return costumes, but rarely have we received them in time to do so. Either we won't have time to receive the new size, or the costume will have sold out, or it's not the size that's the problem, and we don't want to keep ordering and returning until we find something workable. Also, I really think that the order should be right to begin with. That's really the issue.)

So, I ask you: What do you think? Have any of you run into this problem, or is it more of a local thing? I'm just curious. We're heading to Florida soon, and may try to run in some Halloween stores down there. Is it worth the time and effort, or are we just going to run into the same selection? Does anyone have any tips for ordering online? Maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Anyway, leave a comment and help a girl out. Thanks!

Ramblings: Another Op'nin', Another Show

We're filming tomorrow! ACK!! So far, today I have furiously "company cleaned" in that way that can only be achieved through abject fear of houseguests thinking you live in filth. I have picked up the camera equipment that was supposed to have been delivered to my door yesterday, but wasn't because I had to leave the house for an appointment and missed them by eleven minutes. I've grabbed a couple of last minute props and costume pieces, and tonight, I'm going to paint my nails. Believe it or not, that's actually an honest-to-God task. They have to match my costume, and right now, they look like tee-total crud.

Any theatre kid will tell you that the day before opening is the most stressful. The sets are never finished. Heck, I've done performances where you had to watch out for wet paint. The costumes may or may not be altered, or in extreme cases, in existence. Will the jokes get groans? Will the melodrama get giggles? Will that cast member who's notoriously flakey (and there's always one) remember to show up? Will the audience like the show? Will the audience like me? Will I remember my lines? 

Film is no different.

Granted, you get retakes, to a certain extent, but you don't have the days or weeks (or longer) of rehearsal that theatre affords. There are still lights, makeup, wardrobe, egos, and nerves to contend with. Directors are still going to have their vision, and they're still going to get irritated with actors, who will, in turn, be irritated right back. Amazing performances will still come out of nowhere. Comedy and Tragedy will still be ever-present. Sure, instead of flash powder and scrims we'll just fix it in post, but that same "magic of the theatre" (as a dear former director always said) is still there. Not every scene works every time, but occasionally, everything clicks into place and you end up with something truly special--on stage and on screen.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. We're scheduled to film outdoors, and I've been freaking out a little trying to come up with a viable Plan B. The thing is, stuff like this always happens. I've slogged through flooded green rooms and danced musicals in the heat because the air-conditioner was knocked out in a storm. You keep going. S*** happens, but the show must go on (especially when you've rented equipment, and your lead talent is driving over from two hours away).

I had a point to this, but I've completely forgotten it. In any case, tonight I'll paint my nails--right after I paint my husband to look like a superhero for a quick shot we can get before tomorrow's craziness. I'll go to bed this evening, full of butterflies and knots, and wake up in time to curl my hair and put on my makeup and transform into someone else for a few hours. Then, I'll throw on my sweats, grab my brushes and blushes, and transform other people into their characters. We'll pray for sunshine, prepare for thunderstorms, and hope that the paint on the props is dry enough not to smear on the actors.

If not, we'll fix it in post. Magic of the theatre...    

'Ip, 'Ip, 'Ooray: September Ipsy Unboxing

Good Lord, this year is flying by! I saw kids at Party City picking out costumes for Homecoming Week already. That's just not right. Anyhoo, here's what came in my September Ipsy bag. For those of you just joining us, Ipsy is a beauty subscription service. For ten bucks a month, you receive a (generally) cute little makeup bag filled with full-sized and deluxe sample (read: travel) sized beauty products. It's a lot of fun, and a pretty darn good deal. Now, onto the goodies!

This month's makeup bag is precious. The material isn't the best (scratchy taffeta/satin/cheapo), but the print is super cute. I honestly consider the bag to be an extra, so it doesn't really bother me if it's not the most durable. It'll be handy to toss in a purse. Besides, like my mom always said, it's what's inside that really counts, right?

First up are a trio of Freeman paper masks: Purifying, Brightening, and Hydrating. As you probably noticed, I already tried the pink brightening one, and I have to say, I'm torn. I really like the idea of a (theoretically) mess-free mask, and I saw some very encouraging results. My skin felt smooth and soft, and I seemed less dull. Unfortunately, the application was miserable. The paper mask comes out of the package dripping wet. There were little pink splotches all over my sink and countertop. It's attached to a paper backing, so I first tried applying the mask side to my face, while leaving on the backing, so I could peel it away. That went...poorly. So, I peeled off the backing and tried to apply the mask directly to my face, and the edges kept folding up on themselves like cling wrap. Finally, I got Thomas to help me hold open the edges, and it still took some fiddling to get the mask unfolded and on my face. Then, it didn't fit right. The eyeholes are entirely too close together (Thomas said they weren't meant for humans). Worst of all, the fumes from the mask hurt my eyes. I had to take it off sooner than I would have liked, simply because I couldn't see. I've still got two more to try, and I hope they fare better. I really, really, really love the concept.

Next up, a Starlooks kohl eyeliner pencil in Obsidian (black). I like this a lot. It's soft, blendable, and dark, so it's great for a smoky look. I've also used it as I would a regular black liner, and had very little smudging; just a little fallout on the corners. Now, I'm really more of a gel pencil kind of girl, but I can't complain about the quality of the pencil. It's pretty darn great.

This is a dandy little mascara. It's So Big by Elizabeth Mott is very natural looking, but does give considerable volume and length. Yes, I did need to use two coats, and yes, I did have to contend with some easily-fixed spider lashes, but there was no smudging. It isn't waterproof, though, in case that's a dealbreaker. I'm still sticking with my Buxom, but if you're on the market for a slightly less dramatic mascara, this is a good one to consider.

Alright, here's a NYX eyeshadow in Charcoal. NYX does a great shadow, and this is no exception. It's a lovely color, nicely pigmented, and I haven't experienced any fallout. I did, however, see some patchiness in application and a little creasing, but I'm blaming that on my new primer. I'm pretty sure I hate this primer... Here's a shot of the shadow, mascara, and liner in action:

I used a little Tarte bronzer in Park Avenue Princess in the crease, and the Anastasia highlighter pencil in the inner corner. The rest is all Ipsy. I actually wore this look to a film festival that was screening a short that Thomas and I produced. It looked really nice and classic, which is appropriate considering the theme of this month's bag was Classic Beauty.

Lastly, here's my favorite item from the bag, a Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Big Apple. First of all, I adore the packaging. It's identical, save for the color, to the Cailyn gel liner I received a few months ago. The brush is housed in the lid, which makes this perfect for popping in your purse. Second of all, the color is glorious. It's a classic matte red, and extremely pigmented, but the effect this product leaves on your lips is a softer, slightly undone red. It's less harsh than a red lipstick, and just a little sexier and more wearable. I would not, however, call this a lip balm. Nosireebobhowdy. It's a tinted lip color. Or a tinted lip stain (it does stain a bit). It's not a balm. It's not moisturizing. It's not creamy. It's kind of dry, and you might want to carry a lip balm with you for top offs. That said, the color and finish are worth any aggravation. Here's a shot of it:

Love. It's a fairly long-wearing product, as well. I've had to touch up the very center of my lips, but rarely much more than that, even after eating and drinking.

Finally, here's a look I put together using all of the products in the bag (except the face masks, obviously). I appreciate that Ipsy sent products that could be pulled together to create a look, and I hope that's a trend they keep up. Maybe my bag was just a fluke, but if not, that's a really cool and thoughtful idea.

Well, that does it for this month's bag. If you're interested in joining Ipsy, here's my reference link. Full disclosure: I do get points for people who sign up using my link. However, that's not nearly enough incentive to affect my reviews. My opinions are unbiased. If I think a product (or entire bag) is less than wonderful, I'll tell you. If I love it, I'll tell you that, too. That's me; honest to a fault.

Now, what should I use this bag for? Any ideas? Leave them in the comments.

You've Gotta Start Somewhere: EM Cosmetics First Impressions

As some of y'all may have heard, one of the founders of my beloved ipsy subscription, Michelle Phan, recently launched her own line of cosmetics. Over the weekend, the company ran a special, where you could purchase a "sample" palette of your choice for ten dollars. It would consist of three full-size shadows and a full-size lip color. Considering I'm getting ready to go on vacation, this seemed like the perfect time to snag a travel palette and review some new products all at once. It's great when things fall into place like that. 

I had some issues ordering the palette, unfortunately. The site is new, and the sale inundated the servers, so I'm cutting them some slack, but basically, I received an error message instead of a confirmation. I'd used PayPal, and received a confirmation from them, and the money was immediately held on my bank account, but I didn't receive any sort of confirmation from EM. I contacted customer service...and they couldn't tell me if my order had gone through or not. It takes 30 minutes to an hour for an order to process. Now, during checkout, I'd created an account, so I tried logging in to see if anything showed up there...and my login didn't work. My email address wasn't recognized. The customer service rep had no idea why. After about fifteen minutes, the rep told me that I should receive a confirmation email shortly, and to let them know if I didn't. Approximately thirty minutes after my error message, the email receipt showed up, and everything was kopasetic, though I gave up on ever trying to get into my account.

The palette shipped out quickly, and arrived yesterday morning--incredibly fast service--but wasn't quite what I expected. Yes, I did get three shadows and a lippie, but not really in palette form. Instead, they were pressed into clear plastic packaging over a picture of the complete palette.

I have absolutely no problem removing them and placing them in another travel palette, but I don't think this should have been advertised as a "palette". These are three shadows and a lippie. The palette is non-existent.

The shades are lovely. I chose the Warm Fuzzies selection, which comes with plummy taupe, grape with gold shimmer, and deep teal shadows, along with a shimmery raspberry gloss. The largest shadow is not quite the size of a MAC shadow, and the other two shadows and gloss are close to dime-sized (give or take). Bottom line: they're small. They're workable, but far from a more standard full-size.

Left to Right: Lip Gloss, Plummy Taupe, Grape, and Deep Teal

The shadows, themselves, are...fine. They look velvety in the pan, but that texture doesn't translate to the brush. They're not chalky, but not buttery, either. They're...okay. Average. The pigmentation, unfortunately, is fairly awful. The above swatches are swatched two and three times, and that's the best I could make the color build. The taupe is not bad, and the grape is a little disappointing, but the teal is downright dud. The lip gloss, however, is gorgeous! It's pigmented (that's one swipe up there), shiny, not sticky, and feels unbelievably moisturizing. I freaking love this lippie. For me, that's the shining star of the group.

This look was created by using the taupe on the lid, grape in the crease and outer corner, with the teal darkening the outer corner and under the lower lashline. I like it. It's not spectacular, but it looks nice.

Here's the gloss swatched on the lips. It does coordinate nicely with the shadows.

Now, here's the $65,000 question: Would I, based off of this sample, be willing to spend $75 for the rest of the Warm Fuzzies and the palette that it is a part of (Warm Fuzzies is one quadrant)? That's 24 shadows, 8 lip colors, and 4 cheek colors. Um...probably not. Granted, that works out to slightly over two bucks per product, and a smaller travel sized case is thrown in, but that's a lot of money to pony up for some hit and miss shadows. I'd be much more likely to pay somewhere in the twenty dollar range for just one quadrant. Still, the shadows aren't amazing, and the colors aren't terribly unique. I haven't looked through my not-as-extensive-as-you-might-think collection, but I can think of two, possibly three shadows that could rival the grape, and at least one that doubles the taupe. I picked this particular palette mainly for the teal, because I couldn't think of anything I had like it, but the Wet 'n' Wild Fauna trio now comes to mind.

The lip gloss was amazing, but again, not a hard color to dupe. In fact, after I put it on, I tossed a Juice Beauty gloss into my purse. I didn't even have to look at it; I knew it would be close enough for touch-ups.

There are stand-alone eyeshadow and lip palettes for $38 and $28, respectively. That's a little easier to swallow, but still pricey, especially considering the quality of the shadows. The packaging is adorable, but I'm leaving that out of this, since I didn't get to test it out first-hand.

I'm not thrilled, but I'm also not giving this a final verdict. This is a new company, and there's a learning curve. The colors are pretty, if not thoroughly original, and with a few tweaks, I think the quality could end up being quite remarkable. There's definite promise here, and I'm excited to see what's in store in the future.

Have you tried EM yet? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.

Bizarre Halloween Tutorial: What Did You Do Today?

Oh, nothin' much. Just cleaned the bathroom, mopped the kitchen, and painted a severed hand? You?

I've gotta say, it looks pretty darn good, too.

Here's what it started out as:


Photo Credit



 And here's how it looks now:

As I've said before, my world is a little strange. The hand's for a short we're filming next weekend, and while it's still not quite finished (those seams! My God, those seams!), I'm really happy with it. Now, I know most of you guys aren't going to need to film a severed hand, but some of you may be planning Halloween decorations, so I thought I'd share how Thomas and I livened up the undead hand.

The hand, itself, came from the local party supply store. It was in a mesh bag with another hand and a couple of feet (and that is a sentence I never thought I'd write). The hand is almost exactly the same size as my hand. Aside from the zombie color and plastic bone sticking out, it was fairly realistic, and the whole bag cost about ten bucks. I guess, if we ever need any severed feet, we're all set.

I'm not counting that out...

Anyhoo, Thomas gave the entire hand a base coat of Apple Barrel acrylic in Lite Mocha (two coats), which looks like my liquid foundation, and repainted the red "blood". The red is really just a guideline for where to put the fake blood...that I still need to make and just remembered. Great. Once all the paint was good and dry, I started detailing.

The nails are fake press-ons from the drugstore. The hand had some nail bed detailing that I was able to use as a guide for sizing. The nail kit came with glue, but I opted to attach the nails with some rhinestone glue. Honestly, I figured there was less chance of gluing my fingers together that way.

Once the nails dried, I was able to file them into the shape I wanted. Then, I painted them with two coats of Essie Naughty Nautical. After that dried, I took a small detailing brush and touched up the skin-colored paint, adding in cuticles as I went. Finally, I painted one more coat of the Essie, just to clean up the cuticle area a bit.

When all of that dried, I was able to add the finishing touches. With a sponge, I applied a cream foundation over the entire skin area, giving the hand more of a natural skin finish. I set the foundation with a powder, then brushed a berry blush very lightly over the entire hand, concentrating the color around the knuckles and nails--where my own skin is naturally pinker. Then, I used a fluffy brush to apply a matte bronzer over the entire hand. The final effect is a little unnerving. It looks real. And off-putting. And kind of cool.

So, if you're in the market for a life-like severed hand...well, here you go. Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go reevaluate my life choices.

Oh, who am I kidding? I freaking love this kind of stuff. Bring on Halloween!

I Do Believe In Spooks, I Do, I Do, I Do!!!!!!!

In the five and a half years that I've been married to Thomas, some of the strangest sentences have come out of my mouth:

• "Do you think that body'll fit in the trunk?"
• "If it looks too bad, just cover it in blood."
• "I swear, I'm done with that skeleton! I'm just leaving him here!"
• "Seriously, there has got to be a price tag for that bag of limbs around here somewhere!"

And about a gagillion others just as disturbing. (Might I add, I work for a church...)

The oddest utterance to date, though, has to be the one that occurred over the weekend:  "Yeah, we should totally do Halloween Horror Nights."

What have I done?

In my thirty-three years on this Earth, I've been in a grand total of four haunted houses (okay, seven, if you count the real ones. Oddly, two out of those three didn't bother me, and the third was more annoying than anything else, but that's another story, nevermind). Now, out of those four, one was the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. Not going to lie, it makes me nervous. I love it, but it ups the anxiety level. One was my little brother's elementary/middle school fundraiser house, where the ghouls kept yelling out, "Boo, Curt's sister! I'm going to get you, Curt's sister!"

It was truly frightening, as I'm sure you gathered.

One house was at Niagara Falls, and boasted the most polite, well-mannered Ghost Face known to man. I ran through it with my eyes closed, clutching the jacket of a friend who was nice enough to go first. The last haunted house I attempted was at Universal Studios Hollywood, and I made it almost through the foyer before having to be escorted out by the Phantom of the Opera.

What have I done?

Truth be told, I'm really looking forward to going. For the past few years, Thomas and I have done the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom (and loved it!), but only toured Universal during the day. In broad daylight, you can see some of the decorations and scenes for the Horror Nights, and they looked really cool. I was especially impressed by the Walking Dead set up last year, with a car waiting for Sophia, and an abandoned school bus. We could also see ads for the shows that only run during Horror Nights, including one featuring Bill and Ted of the excellent journey fame. This year, they've added a live Rocky Horror show to the mix. It's never been my favorite movie, but I can see where a live performance might be a hoot. On top of all that, we're both super interested in horror makeup and scenic design. Why have we not been doing Horror Nights, again? Oh, yeah...I'm a coward. That's right.

We'd decided months ago that we wanted to do the behind the scenes tour (Unmasking the Horror. I still can't link--thanks, Blogger--but you can google it) that takes you on a lights-on, actor-free tour of three houses. Little by little, though, we started talking about maybe, possibly, trying to do Horror Nights just for the shows and cool decor. We could skip the houses, since we'll already have seen two of the ones we were most interested in (our tour includes Cabin In the Woods, American Werewolf in London, and La Llorona.), and the roaming scareactors (pronounced s-characters) are mostly Walking Dead themed, so they shouldn't bother me too badly. I've dealt with more than my fair share of zombies. I think I'll be okay. (key word: think) We'll just do the shows and ride some rides, and get to see the neat scenery. Plus, I hear they have margaritas. That's always a plus.

All of this is to say that, for the next few weeks, I'll be in mental preparation mode. There will be loads of research done on the event, the movies and legends behind the houses, and all that jazz, and it's most likely going to make its way over here. I'm a novice Horror Nighter, and a wussy, scaredy cat one, at that, so if nothing else, my probably idiotic attempt at conquering my fears might prove entertaining for you guys. Happy Haunting, y'all. Wish me luck.