/Etc/ Halloween

Trick or treat! It's Halloween today! I'm so happy~ Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and it's the beginning of all the other wonderful holidays to come at the end of the year. It took me a while to figure out who or what I would be this time around. I don't even think I dressed up as anyone last year (in 2012 I was the 11th Doctor Who). I thought about who I could be, who would be easy to dress up as and I finally decided last week. I'm going to be Chibi Maruko Chan~!

via tlzd.net
She's fairly easy to dress as and we basically have the same hair so why not be her? Here's a short tutorial on how I'd do my make-up & dress up as Maruko Chan.

/How-to/ Trimming Bangs

I kind of need a haircut, the last time I cut my hair was in early June. I tend to get my hair trimmed/cut every three months and I've been wanting to get a really short haircut (too much hair! too long!).

Anyway, between my visits to the hair salon, I trim my bangs at home. This saves me time and money plus it's a very easy thing to do. You only need a few tools to do this and before you know it, you'll be able to trim your hair at home too.

/How-to/ Natural Body Balm

these were purchased by me.
I may have mentioned this before, but I'd like to say it again because I don't know when or where I said it: I have sensitive, problematic, eczema-prone skin. It spans from my face to my arms to my legs and back--it's everywhere. I didn't even know it was all eczema until a recent visit to my doctor (even though I know I was diagnosed with eczema as a child). As a result, I'm very particular about what sort of products I use on my skin, paying close attention to the ingredients. I like to use natural and/or organic moisturizers as much as I can on my body. I've used many different oils ranging from jojoba to vitamin E to coconut (a favorite of mine), but they never seemed to hydrate my skin enough. One day I had the crazy idea to combine coconut oil with shea butter. This is the what happened.

/How-to/ Arrowroot Finishing Powder

i bought these
I promised I'd do a post about the diy powder I used from my Valentine's Day look and here it is. I know it took a few months to do it (sorry, things happened and I'm a full-time procrastinator), but I really want to make a guide on how to make this because it's super easy and just as effective as finishing powders used to set make-up.

/How-to/ I, Brow

Do any of you remember when ITG made a post about how they were looking to hire contributing editors? Yeah? I applied (no chance in Hell would I ever be picked) and here's the submission I sent in, complete with web references and pictures.



Eyebrows: the often-neglected facial feature that seems to only get attention when they become unruly (i.e.: too hairy). In response to this unruliness we turn to tweezing, threading or waxing—to an extreme extent there’s brow bleaching as well. Sometimes we go overboard; sometimes we don’t do enough, but these procedures might have to go on hiatus as it seems bold brows have become the new statement eye (in case you haven’t noticed see here (originally supposed to be Marc Jacobs), here (because I like this better than Rochas), and here).