Learn to love liquid liner....

Two years ago I stumbled upon a fabulous pen-style liquid eyeliner and it was love at first use.  After years of using traditional pencil liners as well as the click-up "automatic" liner, I dumped them both for my new bestie, 'felt' pen-style liquid liner. 

Admittedly I was intimidated by classic liquid liner because you need such a steady hand to apply it properly and unfortunately my hands are really shaky.

 I mean I'm super shaky...as bad a Lindsay Lohan on day 2 of 30 day rehab stint.  

And since liquid liner sets so quickly and the color is so dark, any mistakes you make (janky zig-zag lines) can quickly ruin your whole eye look and you have to start over...

{just say no to this mess in a bottle} 

This is where a pen-liner comes to the rescue. It offers the smooth, controlled application of a pencil liner without the goopy, unforgiving nature of the dip-in-liquid/cream with a tiny brush type of liner.

{some of my fave liners: Wet n' Wild Mega eyes, Smashbox Limitless Liquid Liner, NYX Liquid Liner in Dark Brown}

The line is clean, bold, and you can easily control the thickness of it from inner eye to outer eye. 

Want cat eyes or maybe a more subtle slightly winged look? A pen-liner makes it easy peasy and anyone can create a gorgeous look, it just takes a little practice.

Of course for the lower lash line I still rely on my traditional kohl pencil liners, but for the upper lash line you can't beat the finished look you achieve with a pen-liner. Perfection!

Check out mama-to-be Beyonce's look, her makeup is totally simple and clean- just a nude lip and some bold liner on the top. How easy is that? Very.

Just about every major drug-store brand of makeup has a pen-style liner so it's definitely worth a try. 

You'll never bother with messy liquid liner again...you can thank me later.   :)

images via google

End of an era...goodbye gel nails?

So after 12 long years Mama has decided to give up on gel nails. 

In 1999 at my first big-girl job straight out of university, all the women in the office had gel nails...they caught my eye instantly. They looked clean, professional and dare I say a bit glamorous?  I was hooked and have had a love-affair with nails for years now.  

I've always kept them short, square-oval shaped and simple (no Lady Gaga dagger shaped nails here).

However after 12 years of consecutive wear - as in I've never had them off, I've finally decided to take a break.

via

Will I go back to them? I'm not sure, they're hard to let go of. My own nails have always been pitiful. They're ridiculously soft and paper thin. As in the kind of nail that you can bend back and forth, peels and never really grows worth a darn. And no amount of strengthening top-coat would ever help, thanks for NOTHING Sally Hansen...

So last Saturday when I took them off (I was in desperate need of a fill anyway) I decided to let my own nails "breath."  It's a myth that gel or acrylic nails will wreck your own nails, if they're properly applied the nail underneath may grow a bit thinner but they won't be damaged. So now my natural naked little nails look fine. But it's not fine.

{Srsly Gaga, how do u get through the day with those...}

The problem is that I cannot function. I feel like I'm all thumbs! I miss the strength my gel nails had. They were like little tools to help open containers, scrape food residue off dishes that didn't come clean from the dishwasher (gross, I know) and I always felt my hands were strong and capable.

Not anymore.

Now my fingertips hurt, I can't open my eyeshadow palettes, can't get the lid off the coffee tin without it hurting. I could go on and on.  I suppose I'll adjust and my hands will "toughen up" with time but for now I'm dying! (First World Problem, I know...)

So what to do? Should I go back to dropping $35.00 for a fill every 4 weeks or should I put my gel nails behind me?  When you paint gel nails the color lasts forever, they always look polished and they make my fingers look longer and even thinner.

(maybe I'm delusional here?)

Gel nails, yay or nay? Speak!

Halloween hangover...

Halloween was fun fun fun this year! I swear I'll never outgrow it. Never. Here's some pics from last weekend. We went out Saturday nite for a drink or 6 and then on Monday night I took my little monsters out trick or treating. My sugar binge is finally over. I think my skinny jeans are crying right now.

{Avast ye matey! This pirate likes a party...argggg.}

{my God-daughter is the cutest cupcake, AND bunny around}

{super fun Halloween party at "Craft", love the John Cusack's character from Say Anything holding up the stereo over his head-with fake arms of course.  The Madhatter made her own costume including the hat, she won best costume of the night!}

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Onto the kiddos, I took them trick or treating in my parents neighborhood first...let's just say they made off with toys, full-size candy bars and left feeling like Halloween kings! (There's almost no kids in my parents neighborhood so our kids were treated extra special!)

Then of course we headed back home to raid our own neighborhood and then dove into the sugar stash they collected...

{Halloween extravaganza in my parents neighborhood...}

Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween, I'm looking forward to next year already!