Get Ready With Me: Gold Eyelids and Fishtail Braid

Before/After

Okay! We should start this Get Ready With Me with... makeup! Now, I'm going to present it like I do all of my makeup and then I go on to something else. That isn't true. Usually, I take a really long time doing my makeup because I watch whatever I would've watched the night before if I watched TV in the evening and I check all of my social network sites while getting ready. Plus, halfway through makeup-ing, I usually make my breakfast. You don't need to know all of that, really, but since we're doing a "get ready with me" I thought I'd be honest about how this doesn't really reflect my "process."

So, first, I used LUSH Vanishing Cream Moisturizer as my moisturizer. Not too long ago, I bought a bunch of LUSH products and they gave me several moisturizer samples. I'm going to review all of them on here pretty soon, so watch out for that.

Next, I used Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser as my primer. I've been looking for a cheaper version of Dr. Brandt's Pores No More primer because I loved that stuff. I've heard some good things about the Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser, but, quite frankly, it's slimy and significantly less impressive than Dr. Brandt's Pores No More. It's disappointing.

As per usual, I used ALMAY Clear Complexion Blemish Heal Concealer. I'm practically obsessed with this stuff.

For my liquid foundation, I used Neutrogena's SkinClearing Liquid Makeup. I'm still looking for a really good liquid foundation that will help my numerous skin problems. This one suffices, but I'm not stoked about it.

I used e.l.f. Studio Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder for contouring. I did your run of the mill make-a-duck-face and splash the bronzer just below your cheekbone, grin and color the apples of your cheeks in with blush, blush/bronzing technique. 

Then, I set my face with ALMAY Smart Shade Loose Finishing Powder. 

For my eyes, I coated my eyelid and brow bone in L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Iced Latte. Then, I dusted Maybelline Color Tatto Pure Pigments in Breaking Bronze in the corners of my lids.

I lined Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Liner in Black Black over two-thirds of my upper lash line, missing the corner of my lids to keep my eyes "open." As usual, I use my Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Mascara, which is pretty much my favorite black mascara.

Now, on to hair!

I have crazy amount of thick, frizzy, and curly hair. So, after sacrificing a hairband or two, I beat it into a fishtail braid. And I would totally tell you how to do a fishtail braid, but... it'd be kind of hard to tell you, I'd have to show you. Speaking of, should I do a fishtail braid tutorial on my beautythekat youtube channel?

Now, for breakfast... I had an orange julius and chocolate peanut butter oatmeal. Recipes? Okay, here you go.

Orange Julius

Blend:

1 Frozen Banana

1/4th cup of Concentrated Orange Juice

3/4th-1 cup of Vanilla Almond Milk

1 splash of Vanilla Extract

1 dash of Sugar

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal

1. Bring 1 cup of vanilla almond milk to a boil
2. Stir in 1/2 cup of rolled oats
3. Follow instructions on box, you may have to let the oatmeal boil anywhere from 1-7 minutes
4. Stir in 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips

After breakfast, I brushed my teeth with my Crest Be Inspired Vanilla Mint Spark Toothpaste. I mentioned it in my April Favorites video. It's a pretty nice toothpaste, you guys. 

Then, post toothbrushing, I used my NIVEA "A Kiss of Milk & Honey" Soothing Lip Care chapstick? lipbalm? stuff. Then, I colored my lips with NYX Matte Lip Cream in "Prague." 

Then, uh, here's the finished product:

Beauty Advice for the Undergrad

So, as you may know, I'm graduating at the end of this week. So, I'm pretty much an expert in all things collegiate. Recently, over on my other blog, I made an Advice for the Undergrad blog post. So I figured I should also write up a beauty/lifestyle advice post to go along with it. And that's what this is. So, here we go:

1. Try out lots of different styles. When you're in your late teens/early twenties stage of life, it's totally acceptable for you to wear cheetah print leggings with huge neon green t-shirts. Why? Because you're figuring yourself out, that's why. If you spend 98% of your time in sweats with your school logo on it... that's fine, but you're kind of missing an awesome opportunity to wear whatever the heck you want just to see if you can pull it off. Now, part of this is just not letting it bug you what other people think of you. Basically, if you're walking around in a cocktail dress made out of aluminum foil and you keep thinking do I look like takeout? You're going to look like takeout. But, if you're walking around in a cocktail dress made out of aluminum foil thinking that's right I bet you wish you had a cocktail dress made out of aluminum foil, people probably won't even think twice about it. "Is this true?" You ask. I don't know, but it's nice to think of life that way, isn't it?
2. You need three different levels of getting ready in the morning. 
• The first is "I have an hour and a half before I have to leave for class, SO:" at this stage, you spend a little time on your hair. Flat-iron it, curl it, do whatever to make it look nice-ish. This is the day you want to put together a nice outfit. Maybe you want to try out that hot aluminum foil cocktail dress trend that all the cool kids are rocking. Maybe you want to wear a three piece suit. I don't know. You do you.
• The second is "I have forty-five minutes before I have to leave, SO:" at this stage you brush your hair, you wear coverup, mascara, and foundation, and you put on real clothes. By "real clothes" I mean not your sweatpants. Seriously, who are you? The One Tree Hill boys in season one? 
• The third is "Oh shoot I have to be at school in fifteen minutes, SO:" at this stage, you throw on some coverup and finishing powder, you incorporate part of your pajamas into your outfit, and you braid your hair once you get to Intro to Sociology. 
3. You need three different levels of eating breakfast in the morning. Eating breakfast is non-negotiable. Seriously, it's not cool/mature/chic to skip out on breakfast. You haven't eaten for around ten hours, so you need to break that fast. And since you care about your sanity, you need to break that fast with something a little more than just "coffee." 
• The first is "I have an hour and a half before I have to leave for class, SO:" make yourself a proper breakfast. Like, a breakfast sandwich, a banana, and a glass of milk. 
• The second is "I have forty-five minutes before I have to leave, SO:" make something quick that you can eat while you're getting ready. Like, oatmeal. Or cream of wheat. Or a bowl of cereal with banana slices. 
• The third is "Oh shoot I have to be at school in fifteen minutes, SO:" grab a poptart and a water bottle and scarf that down while you're mad-dashing to class. 
4. Dress up for presentations. You're probably going to have to do a presentation for every class. And when you do, you want to look presentable. I'm not saying you have to wear a ball gown. I'm not even saying you CAN'T wear jeans. I'm saying: wear a button down shirt, or a simple dress. Brush your hair. Don't show up in sweatpants. Don't wear a graphic t-shirt. Wear something you would wear on a job interview or a date. And if you would wear sweatpants and a stupid graphic tee on a job interview or a date? Don't. What's-a matter with you?
   
   This is what I wore to one of my presentations this past year.

In my "Advice for the Undergrad" blogpost, I had a lot more tips than just four. So, in part, I feel like I've let you down by not coming up with twenty awesome beauty tips for the college student. But, ultimately you can boil my beauty advice to just this: take care of yourself, try new things, find out what you like, and then wear whatever you like without really caring what other people have to say (or sneer) about it. Unless what you like is sweatpants, in which case... don't JUST wear sweatpants. Seriously. Unless you are super cute, you can't get away with wearing sweatpants every day. I mean, yeah, you can "get away" with it, but you can't "talk to me" if you're only ever going to wear sweatpants.