Halloween Makeup: Explained

Check out my post This is Halloween: 2015 because this is a follow-up!

I did get some awesome compliments – and vodka – for my broken porcelain doll costume. Originally, I was sort of doubting it because I bought the costume. I don’t normally buy costumes in their entirety.

I don’t know why this upset me in my brainz.

The Clothes
What did I buy? Well, the dress which is the Leg Avenue Women's Pretty Porcelain Doll. I opted to rip off the lace overlay to keep it more simple and less. . .Halloween-ee? It’s a spiderweb type pattern. Whatever. I wanted a simple dress.

It did come with with the mask. But, whatever.

This is totally a “sexy” dress, by the way. Also worried me. I don’t like to be sexy for Halloween.

I decided to buy mismatched stockings – thigh-highs for some playfulness. I got a set of them rather than buying two - these are the Women's Harlequin Thigh Highs from Leg Avenue again. They were tight on my thigh, but, they sat lower. They were fine. The dress came with a petticoat, but, I bought a second one for extra flare from Be Wicked Costumes.

While I totally forget these gloves, I did get them. Once the whole look was together, wasn't as hot on them. They are the Mini Cropped Satin Gloves from Leg Avenue.

Finally – I bought the best wig I ever - the Baby Doll Curls with Bangs Costume from California Costumes. I think because it was short, it was easier to manage for me.

The Makeup
I totally waited until the last second to figure this out. I am in no way a professional when it comes to makeup, but, this look seems to look really complex but it's totally easy.

I used a lot of my own stuff for this – which you can learn about in my post called Makeup on my Faceup

• Black eye shadow: While I use cream eye shadow for my own makeup, I do have a pot of normal powder black. Awesome.
• Eye hadow: I used a little Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream Gel Shadows in Barely Branded
• Foundation: I used my own foundation which is Clinique Stay-Matte Oil-Free Makeup.
• Black eye pencil: I use L’Oreal Extra Intense Liquid Pencil Eyeliner
• Lips: I used the stickiest, reddest, glossiest thing I had. It by Revlon, but, I don't think they make it anymore.
• Eye lashes: Going need super-fake eyelashes. Just one, though. I got mine at the Halloween store. They are uber fake, possibly made of some type of paper.
• Blush: I went with the blush I have – because I don’t wear blush that often. No point in buying more. I just used a lot.
• White No Smear Cream Makeup: I got this at the Spirit Halloween store, as well. You just got to work fast with it. Any type of this makeup works fine. I like the stuff in the tube rather than the grease paint.
• Finishing powder: I use Revlon PhotoReady Translucent Finisher. Sometimes, but, it’s actually too white for me - I'm not into powder stuff and all that. Good for setting and making me look flawless for this look!

Start With Face
First, I mixed my Clinique foundation with the white makeup at about half-half. This gives you a more realistic "white" look. It wouldn't hurt to do it with wet hands because when the white makeup starts to dry, you got issues. Work fast! I'm sure buying a better quality white makeup would also help.

I applied it to half of my face and then up to my cheekbones on the other side of my face to give my skin that porcelain look. I did go over my lips and over my eyelid. I also drew it down my neck and applied some in a fade to my exposed chest. Just to give me a little porcelain glow.

There is no reason to put anything on the part of your face that will be "breaking" through the doll face.

I used a layer of the power to set the makeup and work out the imperfections in the white makeup. It also makes my face look better in photos. Some type of magic.

Make the Break
Next, I took my normal eye shadow brush and drew short lines from  for the cracks. You might think you want to start with the eyeliner, but, no. Start with the shading. You just draw where you want the face behind to be.

Like I did here really badly in yellow.

Then, go in with a nicely sharpened eyeliner pencil – or gel, whatever gives you a nice line. Go outside the eyeshadow and extend the cracks where you feel they should be. I did not do a fantastic job because I didn't have a lot of time or a sharpner. If I had done a practice run, this would have been sharper. You could also do a line of white eyeliner on the non-shade side of the black line to make it pop more. I did not.

Then use whatever smudge tool or brush you have to draw the shadow and shading into your face. My face looked enough like a disaster next to the flawless finish I didn't have to do anything else special. The more you shade and stuff the gritty and creepier it will look. Get some in your wrinkles or make wrinkles. It's awesome. Where it gets blacker it will look like pieces are missing - I wanted it to look like my face was behind the doll face, so, I didn't do anything in solid black.

I did add some fake blood under my eye with some black eye shadow smudged into it and on my temple to add some. . .yeah.

Back to the doll side! I used a little of the Barely Branded on my eye. It’s just a little shimmer. Nothing to dramatic – it didn't even really show up.

I lined my eyes with the black eyeliner and swept some black shadow into my eye. Nothing too dramatic, actually. Dolls don’t wear a ton of sexy eye makeup.

I lined my lower waterline and down into my under eye with white eyeliner. Just to really exaggerate it. Then I lined under it with the black eyeliner to make my eye look bigger – so they say – or more doll like. I also drew in my lower lashes with the black pencil.  I didn't want to put fake lashes on there.

I buffed in my blush – a lot for me and probably for anyone. Just really get that peaches look that a doll would have.

I also attempted to draw in my eyebrows JUST to make them different than the other side and make them black. I suck at this. Life goes on.

I glued on my eyelash. Make sure you know your right from your left. Just. .. so you know. You want to get the HUGEST ones you can find. I found these Zombie Doll eyelashes - but just one set.

I drew on my bow-lips with the super red glossy lipstick. Since I had makeup on the rest of my lip to dull them, it was a nice effect.

Then I sprayed my neck, dress and tights with the spray blood I got from Spirit Halloween. Fantastic. It does stain clothes and skin. But, it wears off of your skin after a day or two. I did use a little of the Vampire Blood tube I had - that stays wet looking and is good for wounds and stuff. I just didn't like it that much for this.

Apply wig. Done.

The Walk-By

It has been brought to my attention that some of you - I'll withhold names - have been abusing and misusing the office walk-by.

In a walk-by greeting, each participant has a total of 5 words normally used like this:

1: How are you?
2: I’m good, how’re you?
1: I’m good.

Don’t be the jackass who uses up 10 words and abuses the whole walk-by system. It’s the walk-by, not the sit-down, not the come-visit – WALK-BY. You duck it up if you don’t stick to the script and you make us ALL look bad.

Notices:
1: Hello, Amanda, it’s nice to see you how are doing?
2: . . .

No. No. Mmhmm.

This is Halloween: 2015

Well, at work, we do dress up for Halloween. As it had been brought o my attention that I am a tyrannical dictator when it comes to Halloween, I let the group take the led rather than. . .you  know. ..winning.

We were Star Wars and it was actually pretty fun. Not my cup of tea, but, everyone liked who they got to be - which is the point of Halloween.

I was Han Solo - or as the hubs said, Han Soloette. Haha. Funny. This was the first time I ever purchased skinny jeans and knee high boots for non-horse riding activities.

I guess this is a pretty simple outfit to pull off these days - I said I looked like a pumpkin spice girl - and the internet agrees.

I like to put some horror in Halloween - so I went as a broken porcelain doll to my LEGIT party where I like to win prizes for being awesome.

I really thought I did a good job with the makeup but I started later on the process and didn't do a good dry run on it. I needed to clean it up a bit. I also realized during a dry run that I didn't have a pencil sharper. Thanks Five Below!

If I could do this again, I would clean up the cracks - I did find my gel eyeliner had dried out so I didn't get a as sharp of lines as I wanted. And my white makeup wasn't obeying me as much. I liked the blood I got - which stains skins, by the way. But when I sprayed down the dress, it just defused which was not what I was going for.

ANYHOW. I did win "best costume" and I did have a blast. And I loved this look. I wish I had another party to go to to do this again.

Image Credits
Han Solo meme from duckduckgrayduck.co

Texts With Melissa: Love

What happened to Melissa? What happen to you STFU?

Oh wait. This is a blog. You can't hear me anymore than I can hear you. Also. . .let's talk about LOVE! Melissa recently had another baby. It's a. . .you know. . .baby. IDK. I'm not really into babies.

Let's break this down. . .

Melissa's sacrifice and pure love of her offspring in the cruel face of corporate america which deems her supporting of life shameful. And. . .how I am even worse for not wanting to be mother.

Women - we just can't do right anyway we go.

Things I Eat: Bitters

I am sooo bitter!

Kidding.

Not really.

My latest discovery in the world of beverages is bitters. What are bitters, Wikipedia?

A bitters is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter such that the end result is characterized by a bitter, sour, or bittersweet flavor. Numerous longstanding brands of bitters were originally developed as patent medicines, but are now sold as digestifs and cocktail flavorings.

Right. Well, they are good in cocktails like my all-time-current favorite Old Fashion which is made with Angostura bitters but with which I replaced with Black Walnut Bitters after going to a local bar and drinking something called a ‘81 Amaro (wild turkey 81 proof, amaro averna, orange peel syrup, black walnut bitters).

So I got myself some Fee Brother's bitters - the black walnut because I love walnut and black walnut. It's a Hungarian thing.

Bitters are commonly used for cockatils but nothing prevents me from bring it to work to spice up my coffee. I strongly recommend you give it a try. Just be careful - a lot of bitters contain alcohol and you don't want to be caught drunk at work.

At least this just looks like I'm adding Winchester Sauce to my coffee. . .

Mystery Case Files: World UpSideDown!

As anyone who knows me knows - my high holy day is the day after Thanksgiving as that is the historic release date of Mystery Case Files (UPDATE YOUR SITE, GUYS!) and this year the installment will be "Key to Ravenhurst."

Then this happened. . .

That meddling Carlos. . .we're friends, just so you know. Here is the evidence:

I don't know what to do with myself right now. . .

In Defense of Spiders

You know why I really hate it when adults smash spiders and kill snakes and freak out around lizards and frogs around children?

Because it teaches children that cute, fuzzy animals are worthwhile and when something is scaly or has more than four legs it is to be feared and when you fear something you should always kill it. Spiders bite you and they are ugly, we say. We don't rejoice at a friendly house-spider who catches other insects that can carry diseases.

We teach them that a daddy long legs in the garage should be met with screams and then immediate fatal action. I remember even having people tell me how fun it is to pull off each of its legs.

We don't teach them to respect bees and avoid them because we share the world with many different types of creatures and people - we show (and tell) children bees can sting and should be destroyed. We don't teach our children sometimes you get stung and it hurts but you won't die. We don't tell them that there are prescriptions of danger, truth and life outside their own world.

We don't teach children the number one sign of a healthy garden is a couple of snakes - we teach them to behead all snakes and fear them. All snakes! Because a couple are poisonous in the world. Which ones? Doesn't matter, all snakes need to die. We don't tell our children snakes like to avoid people and if you see one, it's best to leave it alone or walk away. We certainly don't teach them how to identify poisonous snakes - being armed with education is work, killing everything you fear is easy.

No wonder children run screaming from a bumblebee at a flower. No wonder they can't sleep with a fly at the window. No wonder, as adults, they run over turtles trying to cross the road with their cars.

Think about it. We teach children when something is different then the accepted fuzzy, pretty norm - you should destroy it.

We don't teach children that nature has a place for everything. Every animal, every human. We teach them only cute animals should be allowed to live and should be respected.

We teach them to fear things that are different. We don't take the opportunity to say, "Wow, you saw a lizard? Let's look up lizards and see what kind it was. I wonder if the lizard was scared of you!"

We don't say, "Wow, that spider sure is funny looking. I wonder why it has such long legs, don't you? Let's find out."

We don't say, "That bee did sting you. But, you'll be ok. I think that bee just got so scared when it saw you! Listen, when you see a lot of bees in a hole in the ground or in a hive, you stay away, that's the bee's home and you are big and scary. The bees think you are going to step on them or hurt their babies. Did you know they make honey, too?"

Kids who learn to face fear and uncertainly with education, to face things that are different with curiosity, and who learn they have a tremendous ability to hurt others - I can't say for sure, but, I think that those sound like some pretty awesome kids.

Then when someone comes into their world who is different - maybe it's not that hard for these kids to shrug and accept. And then they grow up. And then there might just be less hate and more understanding in the world. Maybe.

Being a parent is hard.

Look, kid, you don't have to fall in love with spiders, you just have to give them their space.

Writing, Writing - Brutal Fighting

I’ve been writing and re-writing up a storm lately – which is good, because if I’m going to have to sit and drink and watch football, I can amuse myself with writing.

Some of the major problems are that I have huge chunks of “missing reality time” because I am so mentally focused in another world. Ok, that’s really the major problem. While I get such joy and fulfillment out of investing myself in these characters and stories, it is brutal work. I don't leave my place for days, it feels. Nothing gets done. But it seems to be over in a snap. 

And now that I spend all this time spinning my creative wheels, I wish I could get some honest feedback on my little series – how does one go about doing that? Most people I know are far too busy to read things. . mm. .that they don’t actually want to read. And getting honest feedback is also hard. An actual critique not based on, "Well, I don't actually like stories about ____" or "It's so great with the good stuff."

Oh, and I have no idea where or how to get something like this published. That’d be cool those. Real goal there. Finish and get UNNAMED series published. Gotta get the ideas flowing!

I also wish I could surround myself with other creative people - other writers. People to talk shop with. Sometimes it's hard because really all I want to do is avoid people. I was part of a fantastic writing group and we were all supportive and all had different styles and I just felt so alive talking and working with them. 

Then it broke apart because we secretly hated each other and had no ambition. 

Oh well. Back to corporate America to get the monies.

Movember on my Mind

I know it's still October but that doesn't mean I'm not getting ready for Movember!

The Movember Foundation is a global charity committed to men living happier, healthier, longer lives. Since 2003, millions have joined the men’s health movement, raising $650 million and funding over 1,000 programs focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health and physical inactivity.

Are you Mo-ing this year? You should. I even got my event kit in the mall!

And I set up my box with MINIMAL cussing. Actually, opening all the Movember stuff wasn't that hard. And I can't open ANYTHING. I don't know if I'm weak or incompetent - probably both.

Movember is broken into four specific and important areas:

• Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men aged 15-34 in the US
• Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men in the US.
• Poor mental health since around 1 in 4 adults in the US will experience a mental health problem in a given year.
• Physical inactivity since around half (53.8%) of American men meet the federal guidelines for physical activity.

You can start donating to me and/or my team by going to my page (thusly, donating to me) Maddie's Movember Page!

Do it.

Facebook Status Update: Terror

What are you doing to me Facebook?! How is this a good idea?

I mea. ..other than for poking fun at my emotionally compromised wannabe photag friends?

Maddy Replies to Fear Quote

Someone posted this on Facebook the other day

And I wanted to reply:

Probably make really bad and destructive decisions that result in hurting myself and others. About a week after not being afraid, I'm sure I would be dead and probably someone else, too.

But, I didn't. Because it was part of a sales pitch or something. 

Avatars R Us

I got some questions about how I make the avatar I use on this blog. Mostly from people who I turned into avatars. 

I use a site called Avachara which lets you create free avatars. I do advise you to check out the boy AND girl tabs for features. Items are broken into two sections based on gender - but you can mix and match by clicking on the Boy or Girl tab.

Not your style? There are aplenty of others ones! Take, for example, this Great Gatsby one where you can choose a gender.

You get a couple more options for saving stuff. Pretty awesome. 

I'm an awesome hotel guest!

Or you can just spend all night making yourself into a superhero with the Create Your Own Superhero maker from Marvel. It was a little harder for me to save it - I think it actually downloaded some other software. Just letting you all know. 

Even with some weird stuff being downloaded on my computer - I still make a good superhero. 

And, yes, you can make an Avatar avatar with the Doll Divine creator.

Here is me as. .a person lacking sleeping and playing around -

So - enjoy!

Things I Eat: Green Salad

But Amanda, I hate salad. Salad is bad. Eww. Salad.

Salad is @#$%ing awesome. Not the crappy house salad stuff you get at a fast food place - I mean, a REAL salad. So full of texture, flavor and super easy. Let's get our salad on!

What You Need
1 green anjou pear (any pear will do)
1/2 spinach greens
1/2 kale (I like it a little choppy for the feathery texture)
1 parsnip
Salt
Olive oil (a good quality)

What You Do
LIVE LIFE!

You know, make half and half mix of the spinach and kale. Then you take the parsnip and with your favorite veggie peeler, make it into thin ribbons. Cut up your pear into bite sized pieces and throw that in there. Drizzle the olive oil over it and a touch of salt - then toss that bowl of goodness like #yolo!

Trust me, this is a good time. Super quick, super easy and very delicious. It's not that bad for you either.

Trust me, once you start really playing around with greens and other veggies (even meats) and flavors and spices in a salad, you will be hooked. Sure, maybe not all the time. . but. . .at least some of the time.

Normal Dot Problems

Why do we do this? Who does this? Who thinks this is a good idea? WHO?! WHO ARE YOU?!

I feel like I have done a great service to the world when I save this to my Normal.dot

Continue with your regular scheduled life! I have fixed the problem.

Maddy Replies to Harold Whitman Quote

Another Facebook post everyone seems to like

If everyone followed this quote, almost no one would want to do all the stuff that, as Mike Rowe says, makes civilized living possible.

Let's focus on what the world needs. Because we are here to take care of each other and we are here to be adults. Be an adult, look around, do what the world needs and find something you enjoy in that. Life and the world isn't about you, what you want, what makes you happy all the time.

Truth!

Things I Eat: Chicken Soup

Just when you thought you couldn't be having a more super-awesome life - you get thrush. You wanna WebMD that? Here you go - Side Effects of Life: Thrush.

Gross? Well, life is gross. Get over it.

But, food be thine medicine and when you have a gut infection, it's a good idea to do three things:

• Take medication - I have a standing script for fluconazole and nystatin
• Rest - Duck you. 
• Eat well -.. .ok.

With a candida infection, you need to cut out a lot of sugar - which includes SUGAR and things like corn, potatoes, rice. I like to make myself a big ol' pot of chicken soup.

What You Need

• Chicken: I got chicken breasts, you want to make sure you have the bone in. I have used thighs, drumsticks, whole chickens and boneless. You want bone-in something. 
• Onions: They cure everything. 
• Carrots: No, I didn't have any. They are also a little sugar. So, all's good. You can add them.
• Parsnips: Delicious white carrots. 
• Italian parsley: There is more than one type of parsley - I like Italian instead of curly. 
• Celery: I had some from the farm share program thing I do. 

What You Do

Get a big pot. Chop up the onions, carrots, parsnips, celery and throw them into the pot. Throw in the parsley but make sure you remove any metal bits or twist ties. You can tie a bunch together with twine made for that purpose. I just let it go in there all free and natural. Then put the chicken in there. Then cover everything with water. Then boil it for at least an hour. Or longer.

It's tough to mess this up. Things will eventually start just falling apart. I like to bring out the chicken and (after it cools a little) remove the bones and then put it back. You can keep cooling until the chicken has started to shred or you can keep larger pieces. If the chicken is NOT cooked, keep cooking. 

It makes a lot of soup. A lot. Freeze some. Or eat it all. I'm not going to tell you how to live.

When I was feeling better, I also toasted up some Brown Rice Tortillas from Trader Joe's with a layer of Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread with a healthy layer of onion powder, touch of garlic powder and sprinkle of salt. 

I hate soup, but, this is good for my tummy and actually delicious. I even took time off from writing to enjoy - as you can tell by the computer under my dish. 

Enjoy!