This or That: Ball on Friday

So what is best way for an engineering student to procrastinate on a Thursday night? Probably the better question is what is the best way for an engineering student to work productively on a Thursday night. I won't try to answer that though - three years of my degree has taught me... that probably isn't possible. So instead I'll just let you in on my nightly activities for procrastination.

Tomorrow I'm going to a ball. Perhaps that is not as cool as the word inevitably suggests but it is reasonably cool nonetheless. I'm torn about whether I am actually looking forward to it or not... My closest friends aren't there and my social threshold on a Friday night is variable and often low (all this procrastination takes up a whole lot of time you know and I end up at the end of the week feeling rather worse for wear).

However the one thing I always enjoy about dressing up is it gives me a reason to put on make-up - despite my addiction to the stuff I don't wear a lot often. I wear day make-up on the weeks and the occasional outlandish eye while hanging out in my room but I don't get an opportunity to try things and have people see it often. Which gives me the opportunity to practice today for looks I might do tomorrow - forgive my eyebrows I intend to take care of them a bit better tomorrow.

The big question is - left or right? Though I know its not a question I'm likely to get an answer from while on here.

The right. Now this is the more subtle look... Very much my standard eye routine with different shadows. It is a little darker in person (the shadow in across my cheek prevents some of the contrast I think).

The left. Now I'm still very much new to any sort of adventurous make-up. In particular the smokey eye - yes i've lived under a rock. So this is me trying to do it - with of course purple. You can't quite tell that the eye-lid in the first photo is is a dusky maroon colour but the purple in the second one does much better. 

Because you can't go beyond the plain dead face look to compare them head to head.

 And when it comes down to it... which would look better in photos? Well damned if you can't tell a huge difference because in the end when I smile my eyes crease up completely anyway... Can tell I prefer the foundation that's on the left side of my face when compared with the one on the right side of my face... I did mention I'd half and halfed my foundation to test for colour right?

I like the darker one because it is very different from me but I'm not really sure if I could pull it off... And if I can guarantee myself I wouldn't stuff it up on the night when I've gotten myself into a tizzy and am completely behind schedule getting ready. On the topic of getting ready - I should probably go iron my dress because I forgot to put it into the dry cleaners because I didn't realise this ball was this week until Tuesday... This could all go horribly wrong - wish me luck!

Money Bags: I Struck Gold

Now I'm not going to claim aspirations to beauty blogging. That seems to me to be a lot of work and I'm not that good at make-up. Its simply my latest interest (thus why it gets a showing on my patchy, occasional access blog). 

However one of the big things in the make-up world - familiar to everybody who has even a passing interest in it - is Australia is among the most expensive countries in the world for having such a habit. Things that are cheap overseas simply aren't here - double/triple mark-ups are fairly routine. Which is not to say there isn't some cheaper options out there - you just don't hear about them all that much.

Ulta3 has been a long time favourite for nail polish. As a girl who is required by work not to wear nail polish I like to go all the more crazy with my toe nails and the $2.50 bin of nail polishes you can find at Terry White Chemists really help me scratch that itch. Certainly if you browse the interwebs you find many great testimonies to the awesomeness of Ulta3 colour selections. Until now, though, I've generally ignored the fact that that bin was connected to a slightly higher priced (~$7) selection of make-up.

I was looking for a costume to go to a bush dance the other day. For the life of me I couldn't find something good. Did eventually find a shirt which was in the old fashion fine flower patterns (which if the stores are anything to go by are about to be quite popular) but the line at Target was too long for me to get it in the time I had - I suppose that is another story. Before I'd gotten to Target though I was already feeling a bit down on my luck. Thus perhaps a little bit more predisposed to buying make-up than I would be otherwise.

If I couldn't actually have a good outfit - I could at least have good make-up right? This particular eye shadow palette draw my eye. What says Aussie Bush like a deep burnt orange? Hell its practically like picking the earth up and painting on there - you could turn all these colours into Aboriginal body paint or something.

Added bonus is that the palette's name is 'Money Bags'. The bush dance's official theme was Gold Rush so that seemed appropriate.

I am not claiming extensive knowledge of the good and bad of eye shadow but these are some of the nicest I've had the pleasure of working with. The orange of course is my favourite of the bunch - outwise I could probably have talked myself out of another reasonably basic set of light,mid,dark brown (though I admit this brown is also quite red as shows up under flash). If you like warmer shades these ones are really good.

 No Flash

 Flash

  Flash

 No Flash

I just felt like Ulta3 deserved a mention in the great blogosphere even if only on such an obscure blog as my own. I love the quality I've found in this little palette and think people should give Ulta3 a try if you live in Aus.

Practically Making Money

Ok... I really shouldn't have been buying things today. Particularly not make-up things. I mean realistically I already have more than I need and I only use it 2-3 times a week when I'm on a roll.

But I do really like new things. It makes me forget things like leaving my USB in the classroom again and having to start my entire three week lab due Monday from scratch to get the report done. Buying make-up is better than buying food - I already do too much of that.

However I did do the intelligent thing of only allowing myself $20 dollars to spend today. After all I haven't got all that much to last me from now till this Thursday ie pay-day. Perhaps more importantly more than that would really be wasting my money.

Everybody knows I'm sure that $20 dollars doesn't go all that far in make-up... One thing pretty much. Unless you find a sales bin. And see because make-up is already in surplus in my life I really don't care if what I buy isn't particularly great - for one thing I'm unlikely to be able to tell the difference. So I found a very impressive sales table at Terry White Chemists - everything for $5 dollars.

SUCCESS! That means I get to buy myself 4 different things with my $20 dollars. Surely I won't hate all of it :). So what did I get?

• Prestige Liquid Eyeliner (Legend) ($11.16)
• Prestige BakedShadow Quad Mineral Eyeshadow (Joia) with free eye pencil ($29.95)
• Prestige Let Loose! Duo Shimmering Shadow Dust (Earth Angel) ($17.46)
• Loreal Paris Glam Shine (Moon Crystal) ($22.95)

So can you add up all those original prices? $81.52... and that is why I like that particular Terry White chemist.

Now I should probably go ACTUALLY do that lab report I mentioned I need to start from scratch...

Saturday Night At Home

I am just going to outright apologise to anybody who stumbles across my blog. This is pretty much a journal of things I wouldn't put in my journal. Currently that seems to be make-up. If you look at some of my older posts you'll find everything from Plinky posts (I still do those from time to time but Blogger doesn't like Plinky anymore so they don't show up here) to critical analysis of movies.

Why did I say all that? Mostly because the one thing I suck at more than anything is starting. The number of hours I spend contemplating the first few sentences of an essay is incredible (notably I am not Arts student, I do engineering instead).

So getting to the point. My day today was supposed to consist of study, assignments and generally getting my academic life in order. Clearly that is going to have to wait for another day. Instead I blog surfed through the make-up communities... As if I haven't done too much of that already in the last few days.  It is amazing how many hours you can spend doing that.

I couldn't actually do my make-up during that time though because I was headed to gymnastics (I'm no gymnast but flipping into the pit - and then having to climb back out again - repeatedly is good fun for something a little different). I've only done it a handful of times in the last 3 months and it would appear no more because our class ceases to exist from today :(. 

However I couldn't leave without going out with a bang. I managed to ram my knee into my own nose. I am rather hoping it isn't broken but it certainly just a little bit swollen. How does a person ram their own knee into their nose? An attempt at the vault (I told you I was no gymnast) where I was to use my hands to avoid having any contact with the vault with my legs. Well after a few tries I actually managed to get over the vault without my legs stopping me. But only just. Pretty much I got over the vault and tipped head first into the pit. My legs following behind and catching up to my face which had been stopped by the foam with enough force to give my nose a direct and rather brutal hit.

After gym I decided to pretty myself up for dinner and a movie. Dinner being myself alone at the mess hall and the movie being Enchanted since it was on Channel 7 tonight and I needed to watch some ads for a uni assignment. What a thrilling life I lead. See if you can tell that my nose is swollen =P.

This photo seems to pick up on the really goldy colour of my lids that none of the other photos I took did... 

Who is this person? Apart from the fact that my camera (which runs its own routine) has made me look like its summer not the middle of winter. I have to say that looks nothing like me (in a completely good way =] ).

Finally this one as you can probably tell has been auto-corrected unlike the others. However it probably does the best job of actually showing what my eye-make-up really looks like.

Coloured Eye-liner...

That awkward moment when I realise I have a rather large variety of colour eye liner. Now compared to true make-up fiends I'm sure my collection doesn't scratch the surface. However when you take into account that 6 months ago my solitary liquid eye-liner had been relatively untouched because I couldn't master it and didn't like it... I have accumulated a LOT of eye liner.

So yes there is some not liquid eyeliner in the bunch... a gray pencil and a purple pencil (in dire need of sharpening)... and some gel liners which I'm not sure I like.

And I'm not one for all the pretty lines and stuff so this photo is dodgy but I mostly wanted an excuse to make lines of all of them.

They are in the same order as they are in the photo above.

Now because I am a make-up hopeless its all reasonably low cost eye-liner. The gel liner 3 was $16 dollars before reduced and would be the most expensive item in the list. The four that look mostly the same and the pencils are epic cheapies - $3. 

However my favourite of them all is the bronze/gold one (its called Golden Girl) - which is made by a chemists brand Ultra3. Basically the one that started it all (my fascination with not black/brown eye-liner). I'm going to have to collect some of its friends I think. That is now at all how I should be thinking - must resist urge to buy more eye-liner.

Justifying My Purchases

So... I don't have the abilities of the all around dedication to be one of those epic make-up bloggers... That simply could never happen. However strange things happen when I'm on holidays.

More to justify my spending of HEAPS of money than to actually achieve something I did this. I'm not a huge fan of my shadow abilities but I really love my new copper eye liner... I'm glad I don't feel like I just wasted $6.

Addicted

I have an addictive personality.

It is as simple as that. I've known this for years. The tendency to develop habits quickly and quite concretely, the fickle but in-depth interest in things, the high achiever and over thinker... even the simple fact that I'm naturally anxious and can be both a good loser and a terrible loser depending on how I've approached the game.

It is probably the only thing I can remember for many life and awareness classes during a spare lesson delightfully called 'Options' in high school. Drug, alcohol and sex awareness, career options, study skills—it was that kind of class - procrastination central. Our teacher—the only other thing I remember from the class, the man dressed like a pirate from black longer hair held in a ribbon and white loose flowy shirt and black vest—described a set of things that made an addictive personality and stated that they were most likely to develop severe drug addiction. Good thing I never thought to try drugs is all I can think.

What am I addicted to at the moment? Make-up. It isn't a new addiction since I get it every time I'm on holiday however too much time and just enough money also allows for my other lesser known addiction... shopping. I'm perhaps even less of a shopper than I am a make-up artist... certainly more complex shopoholics actually set my teeth on edge (think The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopoholic - I hate that character sooo much). However as soon as I have money it just seems to go.

Where did my money go these holidays? To supporting my make-up addiction... Now if only I could practice USING all this stuff - the only thing I can guarantee I'll use with high frequency is that deodorant lol.

A Secret Facination

I don't know how to say this... and have you believe it... but I have a growing facination about make-up. I'm sure you believe the 'obsession about make-up' part. Loads of women proclaim their make-up obsessions all over the internet. Wait I'm doing that right now too... so what do I mean secret?

I very, very rarely wear make-up... I might wear light day make-up on a Saturday to the shops once a month or put some on for going out for dinner (which probably happens even more rarely) but I don't wear make-up to work and I rarely wear it anywhere. Not a very good obsession? I think that makes for something that could only be described as a secret obsession. Make-up is my down time, my easy relaxation, and one of the only things I can take simple pleasure in. Make-up and music - the easiest pleasures around. I put make up on to study, to watch tv, to lounge around my house - on a days when I'll know nobody will ever see me - because the me the world sees doesn't wear make-up.

My make-up story is not a traditional one. I think I got my first make-up at 15... I only think that because I certainly did USE the stuff when I did receive it so I don't remember. Some girls have their mothers bemoaning their make-up tendencies... my mother went out of her way to attempt to entice me to wear the stuff... with little success. At 17 I joined the military... and at 18 make-up started to seem worth it - I got out the assortment of make-up I had (so pretty much the stuff I'd gotten at 15) and put it on in accordance with the solitary make-up lesson I had this one time at mum's insistence.

Then at 19 I started to think a little bit more creatively... make-up was kind of like nail polish only it washed off when I wanted it to and I could repeat the process without the lasting detriment of the canvas I was working from (sure excessive make-up can lead to break outs or whatever... but 4-5 days of bad skin is nothing compared with the 4-5 months of dodgy nails that nail polish abuse leads too).

Now at 20 I actively look into make-up... I love reading blogs about make-up, trying to imitate (generally with little success) the pictures and tutorials... Unfortunately I don't have the money to invest in the better quality products nor the desire to own expensive products that I'll probably only use a handful of times before their best before date... But I work with what I have and have a hell of a lot of fun...

But this is a secret. I'm not the kind of person to wear make-up let alone ENJOY make-up for make-ups sake. I don't get along with the kinds of girls who loved make-up in school or the ones who wear it daily now. I'm not that type of girl. I'm a study in contradictions a lover of romance, addicted to the colour purple, now admitting to make-up addiction - on paper I read like a girly girl I'm sure. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm not a very good one in actuality though... I never mastered the girlish giggle, my preference for conversation is social and cultural transitions rather than who's dating who, I study engineering and know more about control engineering than I do about flowers, cooking or men - and all my friends know that side of me... Certainly few if any of them would be interested in make-up.

And because everybody loves make-up photos a few of my own eyes =D.

Here's looking at you. (the day I was looking into 1920s makeup - I'm not going to show you the make-up I did on the night of the costume party though... I picked a gray with a blue tinge... and I looked ridiculous :( )

Today's make-up which is perhaps not really day make-up that looks nice being worn casually to the shops but I'm going to because I need to buy new eye make-up remover :P. Why am I playing so boldly? I'm in my hometown for the week - nobody to notice or to give me alternatives to do....

My attempt to follow along a blog tutorial - without having the brighter bolder colour varieties that had had... (I love the slightly hazel look my eye has in the photo though). (You can probably tell that I didn't bother with foundation that way and I've used the forbidden air brush to hide what I could)