Dress everyday like you'd run away with the Doctor in those clothes.

I think I'd end up scaring several aliens with my technicolor skull tights, Zim boatneck sweatshirt, and grey thigh high socks.  The makeup wouldn't be that appealing, either.  I really liked this at home, with the warm bathroom lights, but I kind of feel like Mimi out in public.

First, I went to Ulta yesterday to buy NYX High Definition Eyeshadow Base, thanks to this article with really good comparisons!  It had a thicker texture than the ELF one I'd been using, but went on smoothly enough.  I don't really know yet if it is making any difference, since mineral eye shadows have been staying on me pretty well, even through derby, until I just rub it off my face.

Second: the positive.  I really love how I overlapped the liner and the shadow.  It makes it a bit more dynamic and interesting.

Third:  The negative.  Yeah, the colors are not really my thing.  You'd think Femme Fatale's Sunfire would be EXACTLY what I would want to wear.  Instead, it is salmon.  I don't like salmon.  It isn't pink (which some can be decent) and it isn't orange.  And it didn't have the gold flecks from the picture, either!  Waaaa.  The blue is Riptide.  It was a bit more cobalt in the bag than on the site, but really nice and trippy.  On my face it looks pretty blah and thin.  I even tried layering it a few times to make it more intense!  But it didn't really make a difference.

So yeah.  Learning experience.

I caught the Ipsy bug

From none other than Cephalogal.  Fancy that!  In the past year I have splurged on Smash Cosmetics, Sweet Libertine, and Femme Fatale eye shadows.  I've been reviewing them on Facebook, but I should be collecting them all here in the not too distant future.  Mostly so I can catalogue how the colors look on me.

But for now, My First Ipsy Bag!  It was all pink and shiny.

A gold wristlet.  Whatevs.

Nailtini polish in Champagne.  Exciting.

Star Looks pencil in Amethyst.  I don't know if I'll use it much.

Bombshell lip crayon in Shameless.  It's very moisturizing, I love the texture, and the color is very wearable, but it stinks like rancid sheep.

.em Lash Gallery mascara in Black.  Can't have too many black mascaras.

Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Subtly Suntouched.  I never wear bronzer, but I did find myself wanting some a few months ago to placate my blinding pallor.

BHCosmetics Galaxy Chic baked shadow in Sun.  Right up my alley.

All full size-ish.  I'd say it is definitely worth $10.  Here's the first run through.

 

I'm wearing the eye liner, mascara, lip pencil and bronzer.  The amethyst liner just looks glittery silver on me, which I am perfectly ok with.  I love the featheryness of the mascara!  The lip crayon has a very useable color.  The bronzer (which I swear I piled on!) is invisible.

Pay no attention to my irritated nose.

For eye shadow, I used Femme Fatal's Emerald Dream which is significantly bluer in person.  It's not bad, but I forgot to put on primer and it creased like a mofo.  The glitter pencil also went everywhere within a few hours.

I can't wait until my hair is not Ronald McDonald red so I can try out the Sun shadow.

Autumn in The Valley

I've been a bit sporadic in my updates...  But life has had its changes, and I will probably be getting back on track.  I flew down to Texas in August to empty out my mother's storage unit and drive her truck back to PA to sell.  It was amazing to be able to spend two days with Amalthea and Kakashidactyl, and to meet some of Burn's oldest friends.  And then I got home to a lot of bullshit and debt.  So, in order to get everything back in order, I decided to transfer back to SCAR.

So what am I supposed to do with 15 hours back into my week, no longer stuck in the car commuting 80 miles each way, three times a week?  I was a Phantom in Rocky Horror.

It was a blast!  It was also another three months of no life outside of Derby and rehearsals.  I'm the christmas ham on the left.  

As soon as the mic packs were off, we all ran to get pizza.  OMG, The Arena's pizza is SO GOOD!  Kuges got a whole series of pictures with people stuffing their faces with said delicacy.  It rocked.

So now that I "have time", I plan on updating the last three swaps I was in (Alice In Wonderland, Buffy and ... I could have sworn I'm missing a third one...), finishing all those half socks, and the sweater I started for Burn last winter.  And maybe I might even knit something for myself this year!  You can also expect to see a huge thanksgiving post coming in a few weeks MUAHAHA and a lot of makeup swatches.  Blame it on Cephalogal, who should be scheduling some Crafty Bitches shenanigans already.

[recipe] Brownie Cheesecake Bites

Welp, I made four dozen of these, and they kind of disappeared in one night.  I'm glad I managed to remember to take a picture before we ate the last two!  I made them for Q's birthday and even the non-diety people enjoyed them.  It was such a blast to have Isilzha over and NanoNuki in town again.

BROWNIE BASE

1/2 cup Butter (one stick)

2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch salt
3/4 cup Splenda
2 tbsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Melt butter and chocolate in 30 second microwave bursts, or over a water bath.  Mix in all the powders and vanilla, then the eggs once the butter has cooled down enough to not cook them.  Spoon in to mini cupcake tins and flatten down to fill base.  Bake for 5 minutes at 325F.

CHEESECAKE FILLING

1 lb full fat cream cheese (two standard 8 oz boxes)

1/2 cup Splenda

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 cup cinnamon (optional)

Beat all together until fluffy and spoon into the prebaked brownie cups.  Bake for 15 minutes at 300F.  Stick in fridge to set, or as long as you can tolerate not burning yourself.

The original recipe from All Day I Dream About Food is written for a 9" buttered springform pan, but cupcakes are always more entertaining ^_^  My other big change was to add the cinnamon.  Of course, this is completely optional, but it made them divine.  And since there is never enough cinnamon for Dan, he made a fantastic sauce to bathe them in.

CINNAMON SAUCE

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup Splenda

1 cup cinnamon

Next time I really want to try and make this caramel sauce from Blondie's Paleo and Keto Journey.  I am such a sucker for caramel!

Just keep swimming.

I finally said Fuck It and went to the Natatorium yesterday.  It was soooooo awesommmmmmeeeee!!!! I did 20 laps (1 km) where I alternated 5 crawl with 5 back, and finished in 32 minutes.  I hadn't done laps since 2008!  So I don't really know if it was a good time or not, but I loved every second of it (that I wasn't getting water up my nose).  And then I had regular derby practice, which was started with 40 laps in 6 minutes.  Twice.  I finally got that over all body exhaustion I hadn't gotten at the gym on tuesday.  Unfortunately, I was so hopped up on endorphines that I still couldn't sleep.

But I loved it!  And I'm so glad that I convinced myself to take the plunge (ha, ha) even though I was on a tight schedule due to practice, couldn't find my Speedo and had to wear a VS tankini (which probably slowed me down every time I had to pull it back into place), and was perpetually moist until I woke up this morning.  Love!