Thrifty Thursday Number One!

so, as promised, on thursday i've been looking for online deals!  and here are the ones i've found and deemed the most important (or at least the ones that are the least ridiculous):

ULTA -
*free cooler and mini grill with any $30 fragrance purchase
*free Ed Hardy duffle with $75 Ed Hardy men's fragrance purchase
*$3.50 off ANY $10 purchase with code 46544
*free 8 piece sample bag with any $25 ULTA.com purchase
*free top coat with any Nicole Nail purchase
*free top or base coat with any ULTA professional nail lacquer


Sephora -
*Stila eyeshadow palette for $10, no code
*everyday free shipping and 3 samples with every purchase
*Big Beauty Sale is going on - WAY too much to list!

LUSH -
*Sole Revival Kit - 7 products for $20 - includes: volcano foot mask, 2 little feet bath bombs, running to embassy body butter, pied de pepper foot lotion, fair trade foot lotion, and lemony flutter cuticle butter


Sally Beauty -
*free pool bag with 2 Ion Swimmer's full size products (on sale for $7.00 each in the litre size)
*free Seche Perfect with any 2 China Glaze polishes
*all ORLY polishes are $4.99 entire stock!

let me know which ones you use or if you find other deals!  what's the best beauty deal you've ever gotten?  where do you love to shop (and i'll look for deals there!)?

so there you go, ladies!!!  take your beauty deals and go shopping and be gorgeous!!!

Tuesday's Child - color-eyez

you know, when you look through fashion mags and read stuff online, the majority of the time, you see models with color on their eyes - bright greens, blues, purples, pinks, even oranges and yellows.  but when was the last time you saw a "how to" using those colors?  or the last time you visited a cosmetic counter and had an everyday face put on using metallic purple eyeshadow?  chances are, it wasn't recent.  well, after doing a little thinking and deciding that my life needs a serious color boost, i pulled out my eye palettes.  i have at least 35 eyeshadows, mostly MAC, some Arbonne, and my recent acquirements are Urban Decay.  so i decided to put them to some use tonight to take my mind off things.  so today's Tuesday's Child is eye color.  and by color, i do NOT mean neutrals.

my first eye is in greens:

using MAC bitter as a base color, i used a FaceSecrets eye contour brush (equivalent of a MAC 221 large fluff brush)  to sweep the color on from the crease to the brow.  then, using a MAC 239 eye shader brush, i patted the Urban Decay acid rain from just above the crease to the lash line. and yes, i said just above the crease.  we call it a "cushion" to bring the colors together.

now, when i say i "swept" the color on, i mean literal sweeping motions with the brush.  when i say i "patted" on color, i literally mean pat the color on.  it gives bolder pigment.

okay, so step one:

i realize that they look like the exact same color.  they almost are.  diff is that bitter has a velvet pearl sheen to it and acid rain is a little shinier.  and a slight bit less yellow.

following that, i used a MAC 217 Blending Brush to sweep Urban Decay graffiti into the crease and on the outer corner.

step two:

and with the eye open:

okay.  so we've got our shadow on.  looks a little scary right now, but it's okay.  it'll be gorgeous, promise.  we need liner.  i grabbed my  MAC PowerPoint liner in Tealo and lined just the outside corner about 1/3 of the way in on bottom and top.

next, i went back with a MAC 263 Small Angle Brush and used MAC humid as a shadow liner.  dot the brush in the shadow, then use small, firm pats with the angled edge of the brush up in the lash line.

then, of course, comes mascara.  y'all.  don't EVER skimp on mascara.  it closes in the color and keeps it from looking like it's all over your face.  it's NOT hard to apply and any eye make up remover will take it off, as will baby oil.  my personal fave is BeneFit BADgal lash mascara in black.  and finally, finally, your brows.  you can tell by looking at mine that i have plenty of brow there.  and i actually have a text book shape brow, thanks to years of happy plucking and trimming and shaping (and a minor case of trichotillomania).  however.  just because i have brows doesn't mean i pluck the uni and let it go.  i use just a bit of shadow (MAC embark for my dark brows) with a slightly fluffy angled brush - i bought mine at Sally Beauty a hundred years ago and it has a mascara-wand type brush on the opposite end.  i assume it's a brow brush, but that's what i use it for.  anyway.  i brush some shadow very lightly into my brows and comb through with the mascara type wand.  boom.  gorgeous brows.  and don't ever think that just because you have brooke shields' eyebrows that you can go without touch ups.  it's the frame.  the finish.  the closer.  trust me.

and see?  green isn't scary at all!!!

sooo...what about blue?  what?  1969 called?  no, no.  not THAT blue.  and not the remix from 1987, either.  check it out:

same exact technique as the green.  i'll label the pix with the color names again, but lay off the how-to talk.  i think i used the colors i listed.  i'm not so sure about the shimmermoss.  if anybody thinks they know for sure, please let me know!  it may be a discontinued color and i've lost my palette list.

definitely not 1969 or 1987 scary, is it?  

the fabulous part is that color can be so much fun!!!  these are simple ideas.  keeping a color family together.  wait til i get my color wheel out.  pinks and yellows.  oranges and purples.  blues and coppers. greens and golds.  the possibilities are endless.  

so.  now to you -

what's your favorite eye shadow?  brand, color?  what's your favorite color combination for eyes?  have a tip or a trend you want me to try?  comment and let me know!!!  and as always - 

go try it and go be gorgeous!!!

Winning Wednesday!!!

I'm gonna squeeze my Wednesday blog in just before midnight to make it count!

So, I know I haven't been great about updating, but I promise to get better.  And to prove it, I'm going to hold a blog contest!!!

Here's the deal.  I am offering your choice of a prize!!  The options are:
*a brand new, in the box Arbonne Intelligence Exfoliating Masque with Thermal Fusion
OR
*a brand new (meaning I've never used it) Lancome Colour Focus Palette 4 Ombres in Enchanted Forest  (this is a quad of eyeshadows - it's been discontinued, and I only have one of the three applicators, but the shadows have not been touched.)  Picture:

Here's the kicker - I have, like, NO followers for this blog.  That's just sad.  I know, I know...if I would actually blog on here occasionally, I might have people who read it.  I'm getting there.  But, to help get people interested, here's what I'm gonna do.  Between now and next Wednesday - that's June 16 at midnight CST - if we can get my blog up to at least thirty public followers, I'll send one of them a prize.  And I'm gonna give you multiple ways to win.  Check it:

1 - Leave a comment with your email address!
2 - Publicly follow The Color of Gorgeous, then comment and tell me!
3 - Become a Facebook Fan, then comment here and tell me!
4 - Share the blog on Facebook, then - you guessed it - comment and tell me!
5 - Comment and tell me which product you want and why!!!

So you've got FIVE chances to win something fabulous and you get your choice of what you win!!  Does it get more fabulous?  I think not.

Okay, so to recap.  I'm offering two fabulous products as giveaways.  All you have to do is enter!  Remember, the contest is over Wednesday, June 16 at midnight, CST.  Again, it will only happen if I have 30 followers or more by that time, regardless of the number of entries.  Winner will be notified by email.  Questions?  Comment them.  Your comment will be deleted and will not be counted in the final drawing.  Winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

Now, go be GORGEOUS!!!

makeup alley madness

Y'all.  I hate for my first for real post to be all negative, but seriously. 

Who's heard of the make up swap community called Make Up Alley?  I've been a member on there since March and at first I was all about it.  Ask Tripp.  L and I needed a 12 step program for it.  Make Up Alley is an online community of swappers.  People swap cosmetics, clothes, accessories, movies, books, etc.  Some is used, some is new.  You list your items, people message you about them, you look at what they have to offer and *boom!*  You swap addresses and then items.  Simple, right?

Not so much.  There's things to look out for, such as theft.  No, really.  They call them "swaplifters."  Basically, they convince you to ship first, for whatever reason (typically, the person with the fewest tokens, i.e. feedback, ships first) and then never sends you their item.  And most of the time, they'll stop communicating or block you.  Happened to me.  Twice.  And I've only made maybe 25 swaps.  Not good odds.  The thing about swaplifting is that it is theft and prosecutable.  But good heavens, can you imagine the amount of red tape you'd have to go through for that????  So have I taken action against the two swaplifters?  Nope.  Wish I could, because, seriously, I'm ticked.  I'd just as soon have my MAC 15 pan pro palette and Spring Up eyeshadow back as opposed to the items they were supposed to send me.

Another thing to watch out for - lunatics.  Again, I'm not kidding.  I had two girls claim the products I sent them were not in the condition I described.  Um, hello?  Did you LOOK at the pictures in the listing????  No?  Fine.  Send me my stuff back.  Another one - I accidentally sent the wrong product.  She sent it back and I sent the right one.  No biggie, my bad.  Two days later, "I got my product, but it's been used!  The foil was peeled back and so it was all dried up!  I'm going to send it back, and can you send me the first product you mailed?"  I was fine with that part.  I suppose.  Not terribly, since she never mentioned that she was sending me four sample size products instead of one, but you know.  But the next line got me - "Maybe you could send me that MAC 15 pan pro palette, too?  Something for my trouble?"  For your trouble???  No, "for your trouble" would earn you a couple of extras and throw ins.  Samples (you know, like the ones you sent me?) and stuff.  NOT my pro palette that cost me $15.  Really!  

And here's my latest and final - cons, liars, and crankies.  Not sure which the latest one is, really.  I mailed her a MAC 187 brush that I purchased when I worked for MAC about four and a half years ago at the MAC store in Green Hills Mall in Nashville.  Purchased it in person.  Didn't use it so much anymore, so I swapped it.  She got the brush (and I'm assuming the fabulous extras) and messaged me.  And I quote: "Hi, I received your package today. I believe this MAC brush is fake and I would like to cancel/reverse the swap. I'm sure you didn't know as fakes can be very hard to detect, so I will not leave you a negative or neutral token. I'll also include money in the package to cover your shipping fees. So sorry this didn't work out better."  Um.  NO.  You just accused me of swapping a fake, and therefore lying about it (catch the scathing condescending tone in the "I'm sure you didn't know" comment).  So I simply said, okay, fine.  I explained that I could ASSURE her it was not a fake, but if she wanted to cancel the swap, whatever.

And so.  In conclusion.  I'm finishing up my swaps I've already started and as of June 15, I will no longer be a member of MUA.  It hurts me to do that, because I really have had a good time and gotten some great stuff I wouldn't have gotten any other way.  But I'm not willing to put up with the junk that goes with it.  Maybe you are.  And if you are, then by all means, become a swapper at Make Up Alley.  Just remember, I am not endorsing nor encouraging such a move.  If you've got make up and stuff you don't want, send it to me.  I'll use it.  And I'll send you something in return, provided you're not a crazy, a con, a liar, or a lunatic.

Monday Madness' final conclusion:  Swap sites are such a great idea!  Too bad there's no way to completely moderate them and make sure things run completely smoothly.  Well, there is a way, but if you take people (i.e. the problem) out of the equation, you don't have much of a swap site.  

My review - go to Sally Beauty and join the Sally club.  Use your coupon and discount to buy the stuff you could swap for and save yourself the hassle.  I vote it totally ungorgeous.

Welcome!

welcome to -:- the color of gorgeous -:-!  i'm dedicating this blog to all things cosmetic - make up, nail polish, hair color, and jewelry.  in the last few weeks, i've rekindled my love for cosmetics and color and decided creating a blog about it would be just perfect!  you can expect at least weekly posts, hopefully more frequent, on *this* my amazing blog schedule:

Spontaneous Sundays - spontaneous because: a) if i blog on a sunday, it will be spontaneous, not expected; and b) i have no agenda for these posts!  because sunday is generally the only day of the week i actually wear full makeup, it'll probably be the day for new makeup pictures and experiments.

Monday Madness - a hodgepodge of things - could be favorites, could be newbies, could be lots of stuff.  you'll just have to check and see!

Tuesday's Child - product of the week!

Winning Wednesdays - you read that right.  giveaways on wednesdays!  not EVERY week, probably not even every two weeks.  but if i do a giveaway, it'll be on a wednesday.

Thrifty Thursdays - check out great deals online, in stores, wherever!

Fabulous Fridays - my new favorite product/color for the day/week/hour/minute.

Saturday Steps - when and if i have saturdays free for it, i'll choose new looks and do a step by step photo blog of how to achieve them!  if you're lucky, i might even do a video blog of it.  :)

i also want your feedback!  tell me about new products and colors you've found and love!  or hate!  we need to know the good and the bad.  :)  tell me if my reviews and pictures and step by steps are helpful to you.  post your own and link them!  the one thing to keep in mind about -:-the color of gorgeous-:- is that  all i'm here to do is provide you with tools and skills to help you feel gorgeous.  one of my favorite quotes is one that was used as a tagline for Clinique several years ago - "beauty isn't about looking young, but about looking good."  every woman is beautiful.  and when you find it in yourself, then it shows through.  be beautiful!!