Monday, February 28, 2011

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencils Spring 2011

Urban Decay has just announced the newest member of the 24/7 family: the 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencil. The 12 shades of waterproof eyeshadow are new for Spring 2011 and I have them to review, so I'm going to do my best to show you how pretty they are!

Like their eyeliner counterparts, these come in pencil form with a shiny silver cap. They're chubby pencils, about twice the diameter of a 24/7 eyeliner. They are actual pencils (not twist-up/automatic) so will need to be sharpened, but if you have the Urban Decay Grindhouse sharpener, they fit perfectly in the large side.


The shades are:

Barracuda, black with silver glitter.



Clash, a bright aqua blue with a hint of green, iridescent sparkle and a subtle purple sheen.





Clinic, a medium blue-toned emerald green with shimmer and subtle silver sparkle.


Delinquent, an amazing jeweltone purple with iridescent sparkle.



Lit, a light bronzy gold shimmer.



Mercury, a grey-silver shimmer.


Midnight Cowboy, a light peachy-beige gold with silver microglitter, just like the powder eyeshadow.


Morphine, a light lilac purple with blue duochrome and shimmer.


Narc, a mossy, olivey yellow-toned green shimmer.




Rehab, a light brown/taupe shimmer.




Sin, a delicate champagne shimmer.



Wasteland, a chocolate brown shimmer.



And, on my arm, applied straight from the tube, no base:

Sin, Midnight Cowboy, Lit, Morphine. If you enlarge this, you'll be able to see the gorgeous glitter in Midnight Cowboy. Also note how awesome and glowy Morphine looks. It has really strong blue iridescence so it looks like it's glowing blue. It's amazing.


Delinquent, Clash, Clinic, Narc. I tried to capture the sparkle in these, you may need to view it full size to see it. Delinquent is incredible, look at that rich purple color and all that electric purple shimmer in it!



Mercury, Barracuda, Wasteland, Rehab. Barracuda really stands out here, doesn't it? I love that glitter. And I'm not sure if you can see it very well, but Rehab has a really pretty reddish-gold duochrome sheen to it. It's subtle, but when you catch it just right, it's so pretty.

The texture of these pencils is really similar to the 24/7 eyeliner. They're soft, silky and extremely smooth. They really do glide on, no tugging or skipping. They're very opaque and pigmented and you really don't need more than one or two swipes of color.

You can apply them as eyeliner or eyeshadow. You'd think with such a chubby pencil, you wouldn't be able to get a nice line, but that's not the case. The thickness of the tip actually makes a really even line that isn't too thick. If you prefer a super thin line, you can always sharpen the tip before using it to line.

I've been testing them out over the past week to see how they hold up, and these are a few of the ways I've used them:
(All of these looks use Too Faced Shadow Insurance as a base.)


This is Lit on the lid and on the lower lashline, a green Anastasia shadow in the crease, Delinquent as liner and a tiny bit of Clinic on the outer edge of the lower lashline. Isn't Delinquent amazing?





This is a silvery smoky eye using Lap Dance and Stilletto from the Too Faced Naked Eye palette and Urban Decay Delinquent 24/7 shadow as eyeliner. Seriously... just look at that purple! It's so awesome! I can't get enough of it.




This is Morphine on the lid with Kat Von D Prague (from the Truth palette) in the crease and on the lower lashline and MAC Blacktrack Fluidline as liner. Morphine has that amazing blue glow that I love all by itself, but it does something cool when you layer with it. When other shadows are layered over Morphine, they become duochrome! Prague is a matte formula, but you can see in this picture that it takes on a red pearl duochrome effect everywhere it touches Morphine.

Now that I've used these a few times, I have a few observations.

First and foremost, when they say 24/7, they mean it! This is by far the longest wearing eyeshadow I've ever used. At first I was afraid that they'd crease due to the creamy texture, but that is absolutely not the case. They are bulletproof. No amount of rubbing or sweating or crying or rain will make these run or crease. Once they're on, they're on. They're so hardcore that they're even a little hard to remove- they don't come off easily with soap and water. I'd recommend an oily makeup remover to take these off- I use pure jojoba oil.

Because of this long-wear formula, you have to work quickly. They set extremely fast. Faster than the 24/7 pencils. Because they set so fast and don't budge when they're dry, you can't really blend them. I've tried and failed. There's literally no time to try to smudge your lines or blend out the colors, and if you try to blend after they're starting to set, it causes some uncomfortable tugging on the lid. Lightning fast. That's why I'm sticking to using these as a lid color or a liner.

The slight tackiness/stickiness (disappears after a few seconds) of these when they're freshly applied makes them a great shadow base. You can lay down a base of 24/7 and then pat your powder shadow on top while the 24/7 is still sticky to intensify the colors and smudge/crease/fade proof them. Also makes a good base for glitter if you work quick enough!

These would definitely be ideal if you're a swimmer or for a trip to the beach since they're waterproof and they don't melt. One color as a lid color, another color as liner and some waterproof mascara. Pool-proof makeup.

Besides being totally waterproof and crazy long wearing, another advantage of the 24/7 Glide On Shadow is that there's no glitter fallout. This is especially pleasing to me, as I've had a love-hate relationship with Urban Decay's glitter shadows. I am extremely happy that they've made Midnight Cowboy into a pencil. In pencil form, you can enjoy all the glitter in the iconic Midnight Cowboy without it ending up all over your face. The glitter stays on your eyelids and doesn't budge. Very, very happy about this.

I'm someone who never uses cream or liquid shadows because they're a pain, but these have changed my mind. They're creamy but they don't crease! They're easy to apply- just scribble all over your eyelid and you're done. They make nice, bold, even lines as eyeliner and they stay on all day. They're not really blendable, so I personally can't use them as a crease color, but as a lid color and a liner, they're great.

My top picks? Delinquent and Morphine are my must-haves from this collection. Delinquent is the purple pencil I've been searching for all my life. It is pigmented, sparkly and very obviously purple. Morphine is just insanely cool and you know I can't resist a duochrome. Midnight Cowboy is another top pick because it's a perfect neutral lid color and unlike the powder version, the pencil has no glitter fallout. Mercury is also great for an extremely fast, easy smoky eye look.

All the colors are gorgeous, vibrant and sparkly but I have a soft spot for purples and glitter. I really hope they do more glitter shades! I'm hoping for the old version of Oil Slick with the rainbow glitter. I'd also love to see SWF, Goddess, Kiddie Pool, Uzi and the other Midnight shades in pencil form. One can dream...

Have you tried these? I want to know what your experience with them was.

They're available now on Urban Decay's website, Sephora and Ulta.

(These were sent to me for review.)



Playing with China Glaze Crackle Glaze again...

I did this mani that I really hated, but I didn't feel like taking it off and starting over. No matter what I layered over it, I still hated it... So I figured, why not add one more layer just to see what it looks like? I didn't necessarily love what I ended up with, but it was at least better. I photographed the evidence:


Here's me playing with China Glaze Fault Line and Broken Hearted. I don't remember everything it's layered over, but it included Milani Magenta Metal as the base and Sally Hansen HD in Byte on top of everything. I liked the subtle crackle effect of Fault Line with little glints of duochrome sparkle from Byte peeking through. Fault Line still doesn't crack as well as the other shades, but I did get it to crackle more this time by applying it over completely dry polish and waiting 5 minutes before applying topcoat.



This one I actually liked. It's China Glaze Lightning Bolt over the random pink polish mess. I love the way the glass fleck sparkles in Byte shine through the cracks of the white polish. White crackle is really neat. I want to do it over neon yellow... think I'll try that soon.


So, there's that. Just thought I'd share a few more layering combinations with the crackles. I'm still a bit obsessed with crackle. I don't think I've done more than one or two manis in the past month that haven't had crackle on them...

Dungeons Dragons



Dragon tattoos added advantage of being so fluid that they can conform to and flatter the contours of any part of the body. Many tattoo addicts have even gotten dragon designs whose tail begins at one ankle and winds its way up the leg and torso with the dragon's head finally resting on the chest. Dragons can even coil themselves into intricate full and half sleeve tattoos, and a dragon in flight with its wings spread makes an excellent lower back tattoo.

Small Tattoos 2011


Small feminine tattoos have been a part of the human culture for many thousands of years. Tattoos used to be just a man thing, but today more and more women are getting inked as well. Some idea placements for tiny tattoos include the ankle or foot area, top of shoulder, wrist, pelvic region, nape of neck, hip, belly button area (this compliments a belly button piercing very well), under the ear lobe and top of breast. Don’t put a little design in a large area of your body, it will make it look like it is floating in space and often looks unattractive. You want to make your tattoo stand out and be the focal point of the eyes.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Temporary Ink Tattoos


The best thing about temporary tattoos, is the fact that they are indeed temporary. If you have been thinking about getting a permanent tattoo, you should first give a temporary tattoo a try. Tattoos that are temporary provide an excellent way to test out designs, and see if a tattoo is right for you. With temporary tattoos, you don’t have to worry about infections or unsanitary equipment, as there is no piercing of the skin involved. Temporary tattoos are safe, and remove easily with soap and water. This is very cost friendly as well - as permanent tattoos require surgery to remove.

Star Tattoo Designs 2011



Star tattoos are created just like all other tattoos. There are many tattoo designs to choose from, star designs are some of the most popular. Of these tattoos are based on famous stars. Beautiful tattoos are designed by talented people with great artistic skills. The star tattoos are applied with sophisticated tattoo machines that use many needles to implant pigment underneath the skin. Beautiful tattoos are often a normal five or six point star design, but there are others with a more unusual number of points on the star.

Sleeve Tattoo Ideas



If you are terrified by the a real tattoos because of the pain involved and also the permanency, then one of the best options for you would be to opt to wear a tattoo sleeve shirt. A very popular piece of fashion clothing, tattoo long sleeve shirts give the illusion of a tattoo, thanks to the fabric which gives the skin a slight flush. The designs on the fabric look like fresh ink making it seem like you are actually sporting a tattoo. Whatever your excuse for sporting this latest trend in fashion, choosing a tattoo sleeve shirt is a brilliant way of indulging your adventurous self.A tattoo sleeve is made of nylon fabric that is painted on with fabric paints in popular tattoo designs and then worn on the arm to make it look like you are sporting a sleeve tattoo. Tattoo sleeve shirts for women and tattoo sleeve shirts for men are both readily available in the market for prices starting from USD 15.

Body Art Tattoos



A tattoos is essentially a wound when it is still fresh and due to the bruising experienced during the process of getting it, the skin will usually release a fluid that creates droplets on its surface. Now all this usually happens when you do not disturb the tattoo and the bruises. The fluid then dries along the surface together with the particles and tends to forma scab. Over a short period of time the skin would heal but if you interrupt or disturb the process you might end up having to cope with an infected tattoo.Minimal damage would more or less meet with a rate of healing which is proportional to the amount of moisture that the tattoo is exposed to.

2011 Small Flower Tattoos



There are some people don’t want giant tattoos. Some men have a small tattoo because they work somewhere that doesn’t look kindly upon a tattoo that rises from their shirt collar with the last supper tattooed on their forehead. It must be discreet while at the office. Small tattoos are for people who want a tattoo but don’t want everyone to see it. They are much easier to hide than larger ones and if ever removed, they are cheaper to have removed. Small tattoos can have a big meaning or no meaning at all. Many small tattoos are simple and other people might have the same one. The reasons for them are many but once a person has made the choice to get one they are committed.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

MOTOROLA XOOM NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE FROM VERIZON, NO CONTRACT REQUIRED TO UNLOCK WIFI

The Motorola Xoom Android tablet is now available for purchase from Verizon Wireless. Best Buy has been selling the tablet to pre-order customers since February 24th. Verizon is also charging $799 for a contract-free tablet.If you sign up for a 2 year data plan you will be able to pick it up for $599.

Meanwhile, Verizon has confirmed that customers who are willing to buy the tablet at full prize will no longer be required to register for a one-month data plan. It was earlier reported that paying for at least one month's data plan is required to unlock the tablet's WiFi functionality. Of course, if you are not interested in using 3G, there is really no point in buying the tablet at the moment by paying the contract-free price of $799, because Motorola has plans to offer a WiFi only version sometime soon. And that model is priced at $599.

In related news, Verizon will reportedly offer free upgrade to 4G in about 3 months. Customers will have to send in their tablets to get the upgrade, though.

DELL UPDATES XPS 15 AND XPS 17 NOTEBOOKS WITH SANDY BRIDGE PROCESSORS

Dell has updated its XPS 15 and XPS 17 multimedia notebooks with Intel's latest 2nd generation Core i series Sandy Bridge processors and new NVIDIA GeForce 500M discrete graphics. The XPS 17 is also available with an optional 3D capable display.

The 15.6 inch XPS 15 L502x and the 17.3 inch XPS 17 L702x also support the NVIDIA Optimus automatic graphics switching technology. Select models also feature the Intel Wireless Display technology and built-in TV tuner. Full HD display resolution is also available as an optional feature. Dell says the new XPS notebooks aren't affected by the recent chipset issue that affected some Sandy Bridge laptops.

The Dell XPS 15 L502x and 17 L702x have a starting price of $1,049.99 and $899.99 respectively. Both models are expected to start shipping on March 15th.

CLOSER LOOK AT THE FUJITSU STYLISTIC Q550 WINDOWS TABLET

Fujitsu showed off a Windows 7 tablet with an Intel Oak Trail processor and a 10.1 inch display at CES in January. However, Fujitsu didn't reveal a lot of details back then. Now it looks like the tablet is ready for prime time. Fujitsu will reportedly show off the tablet at the CeBIT trade show in Germany in March.

The Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 is aimed at business users, rather than consumers. It will run Windows 7 Professional operating system. It will be powered by an upcoming Intel Atom Oak Trail processor. The tablet has a touchscreen display which recognizes both pen and finger input. There is also a fingerprint scanner and a smartcard slot.

The Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 will also have a solid state disk of up to 64GB, front and rear facing cameras, a USB port, and optional 3G mobile broadband. The tablet will reportedly be available in Europe in April. No word on pricing at the moment, but bear in mind that Fujitsu has no history of launching cheap computers.

WIFI ONLY HTC FLYER UP FOR PRE-ORDER IN GERMANY

The WiFi only version of the HTC Flyer Android tablet is now up for pre-order in Germany. The Flyer is powered by a 1.5GHz single core processor. It has a 7 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The tablet also supports a pressure-sensitive stylus.

The 3G-enabled model of the tablet went up for pre-order at Amazon Germany last week for 669 Euros. Now German retailer Cyberport has started taking pre-orders for the WiFi-only model. It is priced at 499 Euros (about 685 USD) but that price includes the VAT.

Besides the stylus support, what makes the HTC Flyer interesting is the operating system it runs. It will ship with Android 2.4 at a time when most PC makers are busy announcing tablets with Android 3.0. The Android 2.4 is very similar to the version of Android that HTC has been running on its smartphones for a while. The company has also developed a new version of its Sense user interface with full screen widgets to run on top of Android. No word on pricing or availability in other parts of the world.

MSI WINDPAD 110W WITH AMD ONTARIO CHIP COMING

MSI has been showing off Windows based tablets for a while. While none of these machines are available in the market yet, one of them - the WindPad 100W - is now up for pre-order from Excaliber PC. It has an Intel Atom Z530 processor and Windows 7 operating system. It is priced at $649.

Now it looks like the WindPad 100W has a sibling called the WindPad 110W. This model will have an AMD Fusion processor. Digitimes report that MSI will show off the tablet at the CeBIT trade show in Germany next month.

The MSI WindPad 110W will reportedly have a 10.1 inch display. It will be powered by an AMD C-50 dual core processor with Radeon graphics. Of course, the AMD C-50 isn't as powerful as the AMD E-350 Zacate processor. In fact, the C-50 is no better than the dual core Atom processor. On the bright side it comes with powerful Radeon graphics which means that it will be able to play 1080p HD video. It also supports the DirectX 11.

The MSI WindPad 110W also has 32GB of storage, a G-sensor, ambient light sensor and WiFi. Still no word on pricing or availability.