MyGlam Review (December, 2011)

Alright, so for those of you who may not have heard, there is a new thing for makeup addicts and non-addicts alike! ‘Tis called MyGlam, the website being http://www.myglam.com. For $10 a month, you get four to five makeup products in a nice, little bag, mailed to you! These products range from deluxe sample size to full sized products. It appears to be founded, or at least run, by makeup artist Michelle Phan (http://www.michellephan.com/) I’ve been following her for quite a long while now, and when she posted a video on her YouTube explaining the bag, I was rather curious.

Upon coming across this, I was unsure. After all, I am a young teen with minimal income, and have to hang onto as much money as possible. No frivolous spending! (Yeah, right. XD) But it is only $10, so I thought, “Hey, why not? If it’s not worth it, I can just cancel.” My bag came this morning… And good Heavens, was it worth it!

To start off, the bag is adorable.

 Picture taken from the front page of MyGlam.com

It is rather nice quality, too! I would guesstimate that the bag alone is worth $7, or thereabouts. It seems to be quite sturdy, and has a cute little mirror inside, attached to it. The mirror on mine is black, not blue as pictured. The bag is one that I will definitely use to hold my makeup now.

Now for the products inside of this magical bag of glamorous wonders. How good were they for the $10 I paid? Let’s see.

I’ll start off with the Soft Matte Lip cream by Nyx.

Picture from MyGlam.com

I was a bit skeptical of this, especially being the fact that I am not always a big fan of lip colors. I don’t wear bold lip colors very often, or very much lip color at all, for that matter. But I tried it nonetheless. I must say, I am thoroughly impressed! The shade that I received is Milan, and it’s a pretty pink color. Perfect for my tastes; slightly bold, but not overpowering. The cream goes on very smoothly, and as claimed, not quite like a gloss, nor like a lipstick. And the best part? It is perfectly matte! This is a wonderful product that I will most certainly be using again and again, and will be heartily recommending to my lip-color loving friends. One of them costs around $6 by itself.

Next on the list is the two products from Urban Decay.

Pictures from MyGlam.com

I’m sure that anyone who ventures even a bit into the world of makeup has at least heard of Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. Tons of makeup artists use it, and recommend it. After using it today, I have joined the group that recommends it. It works very well, making the eyeshadows more intense and lasting. Moving on to the eyeshadow that was included in the bag, which would be Sin by Urban Decay. There’s a good reason that it’s a best seller! It is a gorgeous champagne shade that shimmers something beautiful, and is great alone for a nice gleam on your eyes, or blended with other colors. The case is cute; it looks like a subway token, and has a lid attached. No more lost lids! Huzzah! The Primer Potion costs $19, and Sin costs $17.

Now for the blush paper and oil blotting paper from Mai Couture.

Picture from MyGlam.com

I have a mixed review on this one. It’s the only product that came in the bag that I wasn’t thoroughly impressed with. Let’s get the bad things out of the way, shall we? The blush paper is what I had a problem with. I am not a big blush wearer anyway, but I tried this to see how it was. The color that I received was Sunset Blvd, which appeared to be close to a shade that I wear anyway, when I do wear blush. But for convenience sake, I thought the paper would be a nice alternative. The problem? I could barely see it on my skin. Maybe it was the shade, I don’t know. But I’m very pale, so I would think that peach would show up on my skin, at least somewhat. I understand that it is meant to be sheer, but I couldn’t see it at all, even when I rubbed it on the back of my hand. Maybe an ever-so-slight tint, if anything, but it was barely there. Props to you if you love it, but it just isn’t for me. But that’s my opinion, don’t murder me. XD

But what I WAS impressed with was the oil blotting paper! While I only got a small amount of blush paper, I got the full size packet of blotting paper. It’s a cute little case that is convenient to throw in my purse. It is lightly scented with lavender, which is lovely, and the product works very well! It does exactly what it claims to, that is removing excess oils from your skin without screwing with your makeup. I love it! It is something that I would buy again, and recommend to anyone looking for a good oil blotting paper. Blotting paper by itself is $13, with the wallet carrying case, $25. Blush paper by itself is $17.50, with the wallet, $29.50.

This brings us to our last product in the bag. Lights, Camera, Lashes! by Tarte.

Picture from MyGlam.com

I make no claim to be a mascara expert by any means. I don’t wear it all the time due to the fact that I already have long, dark lashes. But for when I do, this is now one that I would definitely turn to! Most mascaras that I’ve tried feel really heavy and I cannot stand to wear them. This feels nice and light, actually, and it did make my lashes even darker and fuller as it claimed it would. According to the website, you can apply multiple coats of it without clumping, which I can’t say one way or the other. I only put on one coat, so as to whether that is true or not, I cannot say. Nonetheless, it is a really nice mascara that was wonderful to include with the Sin eyeshadow. Put together, it creates a nice daytime look without eyeliners or anything. The tube costs $19.

So all in all, MyGlam is a fantastic deal. Let’s see how much we’ve saved this month alone… $91.50 would be the price of all the makeup together, not including shipping and what not. Deduct the $10 that we paid for the Glam Bag, include my guesstimation of the price of the bag and we’ve saved an amazing $88.50!! Going with the least price on the blush and oil-blotting papers, that is. One thing is for certain; I am staying signed up for this wonderful website. I don’t know if I’ll be doing a product review every month, though I may. I felt it important to review the first bag for those curious, but we’ll have to see about the monthly reviews. (: I love this bag, and I am looking forward to many more months of membership with MyGlam.com.

50,101

I crossed the finish line with 50,101 words. But my book is not yet finished! I guesstimate that I have about another 10k words of plot left, give or take a few thousand. Christmas will put a hindrance on my finishing the book, due to having a slew of Christmas presents to draw, but I do plan to finish it in early 2012. You know, before the world ends. ;D

So congratulations to anyone who is reading this and is a fellow NaNo novelist who finished a book this year. :D Here’s to a published book in the future, and to next year!

Hatsune Miku Picture + Speed Paint Video

Miku! :D And a speed paint video to go along with it.

More info about the picture on my DeviantArt page.

Breaking the “Rules”

Do you know what I often find myself doing, without even realizing it? Trying to please everyone. I speak against it often, and I very well know that I shouldn’t try to please everyone. It’s impossible. Why am I bringing this up now? Because I feel it is important to share this with whomever may be reading this. I don’t usually share overly personal things on this blog, so cherish this. ;D

Let me start with one example to make clear the point I’m trying to get at. A few months back, I read one person’s opinion on anime. He is a comic artist that I was and still am a fan of. He happened to say that everyone and their mother draws anime now, and that people should deviate to different styles. I became so overly worried by this. What do people think of my art?! Am I just like everyone else because of the art style I’ve chosen? I went to the point of questioning my worth as an artist, even almost feeling guilty over it. Now I know what you must be thinking. “Oh Taylor, you silly mongoose! It’s just one opinion! Who cares?!” It’s true. It IS just one opinion. But because of my subconscious tendency to want to please everyone, to never let anyone down, I let it get to me way more than I should have.

I’m not saying that he doesn’t have the right to his opinion of anime. He has as much of a right to his opinion as I have to mine. I’m also not saying that he doesn’t have a point; it’s true that everyone seems to draw anime now. But the fact is that I shouldn’t make it my mission to please him. I don’t even know him, and he probably doesn’t know of my existence. So does it really matter? No. There is no law saying that I can’t draw anime, or any other style, for that matter.

I still am trying to break myself of this habit. Even just now, I made the same mistake again! I read a post on the NaNoWriMo forums about “rules of writing” or some odd thing like that. One of their “rules” spoke strongly against a “character looking in the mirror and describing themselves” scene. On my first or second day of NaNo-ing, I did a scene that was just that. Cole looks into the mirror, and he observes what he sees. Upon reading this “rule of writing”, I stared at my screen for a few moments, pondering this commandment. I, again, started to question my worth, this time as a writer. Is my book now terrible, and not worth writing at all, because of this? I scolded myself for even thinking of writing such a scene, one that has been used countless times. How could I commit such a terrible sin?! I felt guilty, and like I was no longer worthy to participate in the sacred ritual, the NaNoWriMo, which can only include the masters. Those who are trained in these “rules”. I am obviously unfit to try and take a place among these master who always know what they’re doing.

Then, it dawned on me.

Who. Cares.

Who bloody CARES if I write a scene in which my character looks in the mirror and describes himself?! Sure, there are a million other ways to have a character’s appearance revealed, but so what if I choose THAT way?! Why should I feel obligated to abide by this person’s “rules”? I shouldn’t feel guilty for not following their standards. The only standards I should even begin to worry about living up to are God’s standards. This unknown person who took it upon themselves to establish rules to my writing is, in fact, not God. Chances are, they’ll never read my book. I may edit out that scene in which my character looks in the mirror, but so what if I don’t? It doesn’t make me any less a writer, just as drawing anime doesn’t make me any less an artist. I’ve read books that are simply marvelous and the character looks in the mirror, and points out their features. It may not be all of the said features, maybe just their hair color or something of the sort. But I didn’t throw the book aside and say “Bah! This writer obviously doesn’t know the universal law prohibiting such obscene scenes! I shan’t read anymore of this garbage!”

So why, in Heaven’s name, am I writing all of this? What importance does this have to you?

I hate my own faults, but I hate them more in other people, to put it simply. I want to tell you that it doesn’t matter if you do something differently than some other random person. Even if it’s someone close to you, not some obscure internet opinion, it’s okay. I don’t know if someone, anyone, reading this has the same problem I seem to, the undying need to please everyone. But please take it from a struggling person; you can’t please everyone. I know anyone can tell you that; in fact, you’ve probably heard it a million times before. Nonetheless, think about it. There’s always going to be someone, somewhere, that disagrees. Who doesn’t like the way you do things. But ask yourself; does this person’s opinion really matter so much? Am I going to let it impact my life so much that I stop doing something I love because they don’t approve? I try and keep those questions in my head whenever I feel like I am going to torment myself over someone’s opinion of me or something I do. Obviously, I fail at times.

But no matter who you are, whether you’re an artist, scientist, writer, chef, ditch digger, whatever. God loves you, and the opinions of others don’t matter. Do what you do because you love to do it. I LOVE to draw anime. Yeah, I could draw a different style. I have proven that I’m capable of it. But why should I, if what I love to draw is anime? If you are changing or you have changed from doing something you love to something you don’t really like so much, even despise, just because someone said that they didn’t like what you’re doing… Please question it. I hate to see people unhappy, especially if they are for the same reasons I sometimes am. It may be that nobody reading this has this problem. Well then, that’s fantastic! But I hope that if you do, you’ll take the journey of breaking yourself of that with me. I felt the need to share this with you all, maybe for the off chance that it will encourage someone out there. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.

Another habit I seem to have is rambling about my bad habits. ;D But I digress. A ramble though this was, I hope that it has encouraged someone out there.

Love you all, God bless.

Oh, dear.

Never, under any circumstances, should I write while in pain. Ever.

Last night, I wasn’t feeling all that well. I was getting some really bad stomach pain. But since it’s the NaNoWriMo, I still had to write. Not a good idea, it turns out. The scene I was writing was the reading of the will of Cole’s father, Todd. (Oh, yeah... He dies)… But before I go into that, I must inform you that during the previous scene, that is, the funeral scene, I acquired three new characters that I’ve no idea what to do with. They’re Cole’s aunt, uncle and cousin, on his mom’s side. His cousin is named Vincent. He is one of the very few characters of mine that just came with a name and I didn’t have to think for an hour on what to name him. Unfortunately, I hate him, as do I hate his parents. Todd hates them too, and that comes into play.

You see, I started writing this will-reading scene of mine. Before hand, I watched this, so that may have influenced the loopy-ness. In any case, I did what I planned first, and gave Cole and Ivy their inheritance and what not. Then, against my better judgment, I let Todd continue on. He started addressing his sister in law, brother in law, and his nephew. Me being tired and ill, I didn’t question it as much as I should’ve, knowing Todd’s tendency to want to have the last laugh… and the fact that though he’s usually quiet, he has a very good sense of humor. He left them his, and I quote now, “very precious, very old and considerably treasured potato” which he saved just for them. That’s right. Their inheritance was a potato. But it comes in a fancy box, so it’s special.

Good Lord, I must’ve been loopy to let Todd do that. It’s against NaNoWriMo law to go back and edit (I could end up in NaNo Prison!), so I must continue on with the potato haunting my mind. Though who knows? This potato could work to my advantage. It is the NaNoWriMo, where we take risks, add the most random of things, and hope it works. I think this is one of those risks.

I must spend today in its entirety writing, as I seem to have fallen behind, due to being social, then being sick. Today I feel better, and socializing isn’t required until tonight. I seem to be in my right mind, which is still insane, but in a good way… So I must write. :D

Happy November, You Wonderful People!

Oh, dear. I seem to have neglected posting on this blog. Oops.

I told you in my last post that we would be meeting Cole’s sister, did I not? Well, I have more pictures of Cole to show you as well. I posted them to my DeviantArt a little bit ago and forgot to post them here.

 

Cole from a front view. And, as previously promised, he now has color. Auburn hair and blue eyes. I rather like his appearance. He’s a fun character to work with, messed up as he is.

Now we meet his sister.

This is Ivy. Isn’t she pretty? I’m going to enjoy working with her character.

Because I think it’s a rather accurate description, I’m going to copy here what I wrote on the post of them on DeviantArt.

“I introduce to you my two main characters from the book that I've got planned for this year's NaNoWriMo! I cannot wait to really get to know these two during those 30 days of writing insanity! These are just some concept sketches for their appearance; I needed a good idea of what they looked like before I started to write about them.
If you have not guessed already, I'll have you know that Cole and Ivy are siblings. They are six years apart, Ivy being the younger one.
Ivy tends to be very upbeat and happy, but... once you've given her reason to despise you... she doesn't forgive easily. Not easily at all.
Cole is very laid back and quiet. Introverted, even. He has... quite a history. One that he'd rather you not know. He'd do anything, anything, to make sure it's kept a secret.
Oh, and by the way. One of them is dead.”

Well, that’s that. Hopefully I shall blog more about them as I write. (:

Ah, and I did a Halloween picture. Ashley from Wario Ware stars in this one. :D

Happy (late) Halloween, and Happy November! :D

May I Introduce You To…

I would like to introduce you all to the start of a man named Cole. I say “the start” because this is the first time I’ve seen his face, and more may come into view. ‘Tis black and white because I felt that was more fitting of how well I know him at the moment. My hope is that as I get to know him, more color and definition will come to his physical appearance. Why is all this so important? Well, it just so happens that he has a story to tell. One that he shall tell through myself throughout the month of November. Please keep in mind that he is not all he seems. Like everyone, he has secrets, parts of his past that he’d rather be kept silent. I said “like everyone”, so you may be wondering what makes his story so different. It’s because of the fact that his secrets are dangerous. While for most, the parts of their past that they’d rather people not know about is just some embarrassing things that they cringe thinking about. Cole, on the other hand, is a bit… darker of a subject.

Well, no more on that. I’d rather not spoil the fun of November. Without further ado, here he is.

Before tonight, I honestly had no idea what he would begin to look like. But I felt as though tonight was the night to find out, so I put my pen to it’s tablet and let it flow. And his face appears to have taken shape within the short time of twenty minutes, rounded.

Next, provided my mind is willing, we'll be meeting his sister.

Ah, and he does have a last name… But I’ve purposely left that out for now. For the time being, he is just “Cole”.

WIP Sketch - Echo

A request from a friend on Minecraft. :3 I usually charge for these such things, hence commissions, but~ this person is awesome, so I’m doing it as a request. X3 It almost seems like it’s getting me past my art block, so I find that payment enough. :D

Thought I’d put up the WIP sketch for you guys. ^_^ Watermark because I am paranoid. XD

Minecraft Doodle?

I won’t be posting This Sunday’s Outfit today. So I’ve something else to post today.

I’ve been playing Minecraft on this awesome server called DewCraft (www.dewcraft.com) and the people there are awesome. But a majority of the guests we get lack the intelligence to read the signs at spawn, which give instructions on how to apply. So I doodled this up for those wonderful people on the server in honor of the guest’s stupidity.

Yup. And that’s not just any character; it’s my custom Minecraft skin… personified. *le gasp*

See?

Boo-yah.

This will be on heck of a week, though. I go in for surgery on my wisdom teeth tomorrow. They’re putting me out… This should be interesting.

This Sunday’s Outfit (10-2-11)

Sorry for not writing at all this week. There wasn’t much of interest to write about, to be perfectly honest. But here I continue what I started last week, which is my Sunday outfit. (:

A rather laid back outfit, though one of my favorites. :3 Very comfortable and cute, which in my opinion, is the best kind of outfit.

This Sunday’s Outfit (9-25-11)

Ha, I told you I had something cool to add to this blog! I am quite a fan of fashion blogs, and I thought I’d make my blog into more of a mix and add a fashion element. The thing is, I simply don’t have the time to make an Outfit of the Day post every day. Also, since I have no social life and spend a good amount of time at my house drawing and gaming, my outfits aren’t worth posting online every day, as they usually consist of jeans, a tee shirt and boots. So I decided to post my Sunday outfits, the one day where I actually wear outfits worth posting online. I dress up for church on Sunday, but not necessarily in a drab skirt or dress like most picture when they think of people going to church. You see, I like to put creativity into my outfits for church. Does it get me weird looks sometimes? Most certainly. But that’s what I aim for in life; it’s kind of like a score for me. The more weird looks I get, the better. ;D

So without further ado, here was this Sunday’s outfit. A day late, I’m afraid, because I messed up something. But here it is.

A bit of a simple one for me, but I rather like it. I was up late babysitting the night before, and, on top of that, didn’t sleep well. So I was going for something a bit quick and comfortable. You’ll probably see those boots often, as they are a favorite of mine. Also, black tights. I adore black tights and wear them often, even in the summer. As if I’m not strange enough, I have a strange thing about showing my legs. So when I wear shorts and skirts, I pair them with tights. I’ve not been quite daring enough to try colored tights yet, only black. Though I may, soon… (:

Yes, I need to get an actual camera and not just use a cell phone camera. But I’ll get to that eventually. :3

I have quite a few things on my winter wish-list for my closet… I’m thinking of getting into scarves this year. We’ll see how that one turn out. Some of the other things, I may end up sewing by myself, though we’ll see on that one.

Among the things I want to get are a pocket watch similar to this one, these gloves in black, and a cloak such as this one, though I may make that myself. (: I have an eclectic taste in fashion, but I’m perfectly fine with that. Who wants to dress like everyone else, all the time?

Art Block takes another victim!

Art block has attached itself to my brain and won’t let go. It’s quite relentless, I tell you.

I’ve started numerous sketches, the finished product in my head. And a glorious finished product it is! … I sketch some, then I lose interest. The only reason I can think of is because I come to a slightly more difficult part of the picture, and then think to myself that nothing is right in the world, and it’s all this drawing’s fault. So I save it, saying that I’ll work on it later. Then I don’t. The next day, I just start yet another sketch and the vicious cycle continues. This has been going on for about a week or two now. And it’s driving me to insanity, the little distance that I had left. ;D

Take, for instance, this partial sketch.

(Now that I look at it again, his arms bug me… I must fix them eventually…)

I had much fun sketching this one while it lasted. It’s a picture of a couple OCs that belong to my best friend and I. Yes, that bird is immensely inaccurate, I know. But I was just putting a quick sketch in there until I stopped being lazy and drew an actual bird. But that aside, I got the one character’s basic pose done without giving up. I surprised myself. Then I moved on to the second character… and things went south.

I wanted the envied element of perspective in my picture, which meant that my mind created this epic pose for her, and I, of course, thought that I’d just draw it with no trouble, even though the part that is coming out at you and must be drawn perfectly was her hand. I am terrible at drawing hands, and it takes me forever to do so. So I started the hand… And then spazzed with frustration, deleted the hand and gave up. This picture has been sitting around for a few days, and it probably thinks that it is going to rot in my save files forever, never to see the light of day again. Hopefully, that will not be the case, being as I had high hopes for this picture.

So basically, aside from a half hour a day of attempted drawing, I’ve been spending my free time playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Minecraft in spurts. I play one of them for a half hour or so, then switch to the other one. After repeating that a few times, I go on Facebook and stare blankly at my newsfeed for a while, then go back to gaming. I know that I should be working on starting my math work (I’m homeschooled, and homeschooling + the attention span of a A.D.D. ridden goldfish = a failing student…) or reading some Shakespeare… But I just can’t bring my mind to concentrate on anything for any length of time these past couple weeks. Ah well, I will hopefully resume a normal mindset and be able to do something productive soon…

Ah yes, and I was going to start something cool on here today, a weekly occurrence on my blog… But unfortunately, I messed up something vital to this weekly occurrence, so it’ll be posted tomorrow. But from that point forward, it will always be posted on Sunday. Just thought I’d let you know.

The Amazing Redesign and Return!

Oh my. It's been a long while.

Probably the first thing you'll notice, if you've visited my blog in the past, is a complete redesign. It's still in progress and may have minor changes soon, but the main part is done. A whole new header and layout. (:

You can read some older entries if you so desire, but they're not all that good (the art, and before that especially... the writing. *shudder*.), to the point where I might clear out some of the oldest ones... I've not decided if I shall yet or not. **EDIT** I did clear out the oldest posts. In the oldest posts, I was twelve years old. I took quizzes, and posted their results here with terrible grammar. So I deleted those horrible posts... And I cleared out a bit of the old art, leaving only a few. While before the great purge, I had about 128 posts, I now have 40. Wow. /edit

I plan to be much more active in my blogging, not only writing about art and possibly noveling and such, I'll actually write about other things as well. SO PREPARE YOURSELVES.

I aaaalmost created a Tumblr account. But I said, "Nah. This blog is WORTH IT." XD

Well. Expect posts from me soon.

The Amazingly Delayed Update!

So I just realized that I’ve not updated this blog since last November. Wow.

So here’s a quick update! I’ve still been doing a ton of art, surprise, so I’ll put a few on here… To read about them, just click the titles and it’ll take you the Deviant Art page. (:

Beyond Birthday SpeedPaint

A Smile in Gray

CE The New Challenger

(I only did the character on the left… Ry belongs to Ry-Spirit on DeviantArt.)

Nathalia

Carendell's Saviours

So yeah, that’s a sum-up of the good art that I’ve done. I did a lot of in-between art, but these are the pieces that I like the best. (:

Oh yes, my brother and I started doing some Let’s Plays together on YouTube. (: http://www.youtube.com/user/GCatLetsPlays is our channel, if you’re interested. We only have 2 videos up, because my brother keeps forgetting to send me the other recordings that we have so that I can post them. >.> Nyeh.

Well, there’s not a whole lot more to say, surprisingly.

*waves*