monday Madness - Rock It Like You Mean It Challenge part deux

so.  eight days and i completed my challenge.  sadly, i do NOT win a million dollars or a vacation.  i DO win the ability to look at my closet in a new way.  i also win the desire to NOT wear black again for a long long time.


before looking at these pictures, you must solemnly swear to look ONLY at my outfit and NOT at my horrible mess of a room.  it's been a non-cleaning because i'm depressed kinda month.  birth control sucks.

sunday - black capris, white shirt, black blazer (yes, it's a tad small, hence the brooch holding it closed) and my fabulous black pumps with black and white bows.  the only other jewelry is tiny rhinestone studs.

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monday - THE jeans (the only ones that fit), gray puffy sleeve shirt, and the vest.  oh, and the patent squared peep toe pumps.  i think the jewelry is black metal.

tuesday - kinda fuzzy picture...THE jeans, cream colored tank with brown scoop neck shirt, and camel peep toe heels.  the jewelry is wooden - the bracelet is a catholic piece i bought in mexico with lots of madonnas on it.  and sequins.

wednesday - yes, it LOOKS like the same outfit, but it's not.  sunday's capris, tuesday's cream tank, black cardigan and black flippies (seven weeks after knee surgery, they don't recommend heels for long periods of time, so i gave myself a break in the middle of the week).  the jewelry is all gold today - long triple strand gold beaded necklace, gold cuff (i think i took it off for this) and gold hoops.

thursday - this is a look that is so totally un-Sarah.  THE jeans, black puffy sleeve button down, patent peep toe pumps.  the jewelry is probably silver - silver cuff, silver straight earrings.

friday - THE jeans, fabulous white old navy shirt (that sadly now has sweet tea stains on it), and my black flippies.  my nails for this day are sonia kashuk #1 - ocean breeze and my bracelets match it.  the earrings are probably my silver straights.

saturday - okay, i was proud of myself for this one.  different cream tank with a beaded bib necklace, the vest, and my distressed capris and black flippies.  the jewelry is antiqued silver.

and back around to sunday - and this picture makes me look huge, wow.  anyway, it's tripp's favorite white pants, this fabulous black slinky, flowy shirt i bought for new years two years ago (and have worn once since then), the same pumps from last sunday (yes, i'm a shoe re-wearer) and shiny hammered silver jewelry - including a new necklace that has the serenity prayer inscribed on it (i will be selling these for $15 a piece in a few weeks...)

and have i learned anything from this experiment?  at first i thought it would be super easy, given the amount of neutral colors i own.  but when loren specified that it be a combo i hadn't done before, that made it more difficult.  i felt i had to put more effort into it than jeans and a black t-shirt.  i learned that keeping it neutral isn't as easy and you would think if you've got stipulations and guidelines to go by - no former outfits, no color, look nice.  sounds easy.  maybe for most people it is.  but i've gotten into a fashion rut and this is helping me get out of it.  

sadly, it put me in an eye make up rut - same selena gomez look over and over and over again, just in different intensities.  

so this week, my goal is - only one article of "color" this week.  i can wear it with black, gray, white, or denim, but NO other colors.  just the one.  and my eye make up - same look but IN COLOR to match or at least coordinate with my chosen color.  today didn't count.  :(  should have.  i wore the distressed capris, a blue tank, and the black cardigan.  but since i didn't start my challenge until tomorrow (how's that for grammar?), today doesn't count.  i'll go from tuesday to monday.  and i'll be sure to take pictures of the eye make up, too.  

how did you do on YOUR challenge?  anybody????  tell me you went out and were gorgeous and you're gonna do it again this week!!!!

REVIEWS!!!

okay, i'm looking to do some reviews on my blog.  i keep up with a lot of other blogs - beauty, fashion, baby, kid, etc - that do reviews on products and i love them.  they help me decide whether or not i need the product, especially if it's something i'm already coveting.  so i'm asking for your help!  i need products to review - whether you have things for me to try or you know of things that you would LIKE to try, please leave me some comments and feedback.  i need to know what you want reviewed, what interests you, what looks you want to see tried, etc.  i'll make myself a list and see what i can do!!!  don't forget to share my blog on facebook, myspace, xanga, twitter, whatever you use.  spread the word so we can all be gorgeous!!!

Monday Madness - Rock It Like You Mean It Challenge

so.  today is monday.  and yes, it's been manic.  let's pass all that.

my friend loren over at My Dead Best Friend's Closet put up a challenge last week.  MDBFC is a fashion blog that loren totally rocks.  and her RILYMI challenge (i'm all about the initials tonight) for last week was no neutrals.  this week, she put to me - neutrals in a new way.  and i took it just a bit further.  i'm going nothin but neutrals all week.  black, brown, gray, white, denim.  two days into the week and i've managed it so far.  her only stipulation was that it bee a combination i've never worn before.  i'm trying to figure out what the mess i'll be wearing the rest of the week, but like i said, so far, so good.  i'll post pictures at the end of the week so you can see if i rocked it or not.

so i'm spreading her challenge.  can YOU do nothin but neutrals?  what are your favorite combinations?  and are you rockable enough to pair the black and brown and make it work?  (that is such a complicated combination...only certain people can do it and do it well.)  post a RILYMI blog and link it to mine and/or loren's.  post a picture on fb and link it.  post a picture anywhere and link it!  share your ideas here and let us know you're taking the challenge!  who knows?  maybe we'll put together another challenge if this works and do a giveaway prize.  (i'll talk to her about that...)

ready, ladies?  on your marks, get set...

GO be gorgeous - in nothing but neutrals!!!!

Saturday Steps - Round and Round

So, as far as make up looks go, my new obsession is Selena Gomez.  Yeah, I know she's a Disney tweenie star, but she's a gorgeous one.  And a very talented singer.  Her latest video, "Round and Round" is a fabulously vintage style video.  Complete with fabulous clothes, hair, and of course, makeup.

Having had the video shoved at me from all angles while my children watch the Disney Channel, I decided to try Selena's look. You have to acknowledge - regardless of your feelings for her talents - that she's a very pretty girl. And her face is perfect for a number of different looks and styles. She's got a versatile face. I love those. So my goal here is to recreate this look:

I know that stills stolen from video aren't the greatest quality, but this one shows a fair amount of the look I'm going for.  Now, you can find video how-to's to get this look all over the internet.  I'm not able to do a video how-to today, so you're getting stills.  Although I'll be honest, if you can't work an eyeshadow brush, even a detailed video's not gonna help you achieve this look.  It's a bit more complicated than you expect.  Ready?  Here we go:

*Step 1*
We're going to start by assuming you know how to apply concealer and foundation. Nevertheless, here is my before picture, followed by the concealed and foundation-ed one.

before

concealed

You'll probably notice that I did indeed conceal my lips.  There's a reason.  I promise.  I also, though you can't see it, added some loose powder under my eyes.  This helps with shadow fallout, so it doesn't stick to you cheeks, because that's SO attractive.

Moving on

*Step Two*

The eyes.  I'm starting with a neutrally gold color for the base.  Mine is MAC, and I'm pretty sure it's called Brule.  Anyway, I put this over the entire lid, from lashes to brow.

Next, I'm using a MAC 239 eye brush to apply Hard Candy eyeshadow in Wink, with MAC Gold Tease over it.  The reason for this is that I don't own the perfect rosy gold shade I need.  What would be perfect is MAC Soba or Mulch.  But as I don't have those, I'm making do with a mix.  That's totally acceptable when you need a new shade, FYI.  Try it.

These are fantastic pictures, aren't they?  Yikes.

Okay.  So we've got our base and our lid colors.  Now's the tricky part.  We need crease, lash, and corners.  So we're going to start with the crease.  I'll start with a MAC 217 blending brush that's seen better days.  I'm going to use MAC Era just in the crease going toward the inside, but not past the middle of my eye.  This is going to give us a base for the darker shade we'll blend in to a cats eye in a moment.

Now.  Using my 239 brush again, I'm going to use just the tip edge of the brush and MAC Embark (a dark chocolate brown) to create a V shape at the outer corner of my eye.  

Then I blended it down so it wasn't so stark:

So, we're almost there.  Selena's cat eye is darker, probably a deep smoky gray, which I don't have.  I've started with a chocolate brown so I'm going to lighten my black eyeshadow (MAC Carbon) with MAC Vanilla, a pale beige color.  Then I'm going to use the same brush and go very lightly over what I've just done, the same way, but extending the shading further into the center of my eye.

I know this seems redundant, but it adds depth to the smoky look.  You can do this in fewer steps, but you don't get the deep smoky look Selena's got going on.

Still hanging in there?  Good.  Eyes are almost done.  You think it's taken a long time to read this part?  Trying doing it, taking pictures, and blogging all at once.  Taking me FOREVER.  Anyway.  We're on to the lining part.  I personally only use pencils.  I really kinda stink with liquid liner.  The one thing I would like to use is gel liner, but I don't have any in black right now, so we're gonna use pencil and powder - dynamic duo if there ever was one.  You want your liner to stay put?  This is how.  I'm going to line the entire eye - all the way around on top and the inner rim on the bottom.  NOT under the lashes on the bottom.  Too smoky.  We want cleaner.  Observe:

First, I line with the pencil:

top

bottom - inner rim

Then, using my Aveda angle brush (found online only in a set), I PAT the eyeshadow on, in short, small dots, not brushing it on:

I went back and added some more color in the corners, blended it a bit more and touched up the color on the lid and under the brow, just to bump it up a bit:

And then I'm going to use my Hard Candy Ginormous Lash mascara in Carbon Black (from WalMart, which excites me) and apply to top and bottom lashes.  

As an afterthought (after checking my sources again), i brushed a TEENY bit extra Carbon under the lower lash line.  Not overly smoky, but just a bit less stark.

Final touch for the eyes is of course the brows.  Selena has very straight brows.  Mine don't grow that way and I have never tried to follow "brow trends."  I simply keep mine textbook arched and I'm happy with that.  And even though they're thick, I still try to fill in a little and make them look a little cleaner.  I use an angled brow brush and MAC Embark on mine.

Tada!

*Step Three*

That was the world's longest Step Two.  Whew!  In all honesty, doing this for myself to go out, probably wouldn't have taken me ten minutes.  This step by step stuff makes it slow going, and when you're first trying out a look, it does take time.  Work at it and it'll speed up. 

Step three is the cheeks.  They're neutral and matte, but the girl's got cheekbones to kill for.  So I went for my old stand by - MAC Strada.  And it has been discontinued (I'd be thrilled for someone to send me one for free!!!).  I've been told that Personal Style beauty powder, also by MAC, is a good replacement for it.  Haven't tried it myself.  Love my Strada.  But I brush it on the apples of my cheeks and lightly sweep back and up on the bones, using my MAC 168 angled blush brush.

*Step Four*

LIPS!  I'm using my MAC Whirl lipliner, wishing like crazy I still had a MAC Subculture.  But Whirl will be fine.  Remember I concealed my lips?  This way, none of my natural lip color shows through.  All we're getting is color from the color we apply.  I line the outer line of my upper lip and fill in at the outer corners.  Then I use the side of the pencil to do the bottom, again filling in the outer corners.

The absolute final touch is the gloss.  I'm using MAC Instant Gold.  You can achieve almost the exact same shade with a gold pigment and clear gloss.

And there it is:

Yes, it's a lot of work.  But Selena Gomez doesn't wake up looking like that.  Sorry.  If she did, we'd never be able to recreate that look.  Love the "Round and Round" video.  Love the look.  Love Selena Gomez.  Yep.  You heard it here - I'm nearly thirty and a Selena Gomez and the Scene fan.  Sue me.  However, I totally rock this look and if I had time to do it all the time, I would.  I'd be takin' you ALL round and round, baby.

Now go try it and go be gorgeous!  Send me your pictures, comment them, link them, whatever.  I wanna see my gorgeous-ness being spread "Round and Round!"