Before it was lame, but still just as sparkly.

Twilight

I got this pretty new blue pigment that looked so good in straight black, but spread like poster paint. I didn't want to grey it out by adding white powders, so I threw in a couple background colors like navy, purple, and a little bit of blue-tinged green. It's still the blue sparks that will stand out though =)

From start to finish

The lip balms I made recently are finally completely finished, packaged and ready to be bought.



Before, left, and after being shrinkwrapped. Shrinkwrapping is fun. The fruit oil based lip balms are currently available in Cherry and Peach, and the nut oil based balms are available in Coconut Cream and Chocolate Mint.

Late last night I was up making two colors that would best be described as, "colors I wish my wings were, if I had any." Unfortunately, even in the sun they don't look anything like they do when applied. The first is a shiny pink, you can see many different colors when applied; blue, purple, turquoise. The second is a delicate blue-purple that looks almost grey until you put it on, when you can see the underlying violet and pink. Both have a slight hint of both gold and silver shimmer.



Valkyrie (pink) and Seraphim (blue). They look so plain looking..lol. They are both so gorgeous that I'm pressing them right away for use in my palette. I find both colors strikingly pretty =)

Next up we have Magma, a deep red with gold sparks. You can hardly see the sparks in the sunlight, it's much easier to see once applied.



Should have another 3 colors posted later today or tomorrow~

Post name goes here.

While I haven't retaken the pictures of the lip balms yet, I do want to share a couple colors that have not been on here yet.

First up is the signature color I created for the Green Room in Camrose. It is a deep green base with fiery sparks of red and gold. When I make a signature color, a lot of it has to do with the time of year it is, and how I'm feeling at that point. This delivery was on Christmas Eve, so of course it has Christmas written all over it.



This color is only available from the Green Room in Camrose, or from myself, retailing for $20 CDN. These are the last 3 jars that I will be making of this color before next Christmas.

Next up is Flora, a delicate purple lilac color which some may or may not already be familiar with, as I have used it in the DSK Steph palette I made in November. Any color I make can be pressed into a custom palette.



I'm also aware I take massively blurry photos. I should really work on that.
Lastly, a container of all the jars I filled yesterday.

Sugar post with lip balm teaser~

Sugar and brown sugar scrubs have been among my newest projects after finding some good looking recipes online. Of course, every recipe I end up working and reworking until I'm happy with it, and these scrubs are no different. One variety of cane sugar scrub, and 3 different kinds of brown sugar scrubs came out of this endeavor.

The first is a blend of oils similar to the ones used in the nut based lip balm, using brown sugar, cane sugar, safflower oil, hazelnut oil, and kukui nut oil. There should be almond oil in there, I'm not sure why there isn't =P This batch is scented like vanilla hazelnut, and is designed for extra dry skin.

The second is a fruit oil mixture similar to the fruit balm, containing brown sugar, cane sugar, safflower oil, almond oil, plum kernel oil, and pomegranite oil, and uses vanilla and blood orange essential oils for scent. This mixture is enriched with vitamins and moisturizes skin.

The third brown sugar scrub uses a mixture of oils suitable for normal, or anyone's skin. Safflower oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil are used in this mixture, and it is mildly scented like pineapple and coconut.

Lastly, I made a white sugar scrub, which results in slightly less coarseness of the scrub. This is a nice hand scrub, while still being a good body scrub. The oils are the same used in the last brown sugar scrub; safflower oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil.

Below you can see one of each sugar variety...



It's a little hard to see the label on the brown sugar scrub because of the darkness of the sugar. The new label fits perfectly =)

All this aside, the last time I used a sugar scrub, I basically tried it one time and felt so slimy that I haven't even looked at another since. Since I've been having a lot of good luck (is it luck?) with the performance of most of the natural oils and butters that I've tried and worked with before, I figured I'd go out on a limb and whip up a batch of this. It was a relatively quick and easy fun project, with a much easier cleanup than I'm used to.

Trying it for the first time with some leftover on the dish I used to mix it, I smeared it all over my hands and started using the sugar crystals to exfoliate. After about 25 seconds, I noticed the sugar dropping off my hands into the sink. I brushed all the sugar off and my hands felt as good as new, without that horrible grimy feeling I usually get after applying any sort of treatment.

Here's what it looks like inside...



This is my container, so it is a mixture of all the leftover bits of the brown sugar scrubs. I open this container like, 5 times a day because I find it fascinating, how the sugar never mixes with the oil. If my skin is a little dry, I'll just dip into a bit of that oil and apply it where my skin is dry. My unbelievably picky dad couldn't even complain about a greasy residue; that's where I know I have taken the right path in life.

As my supper is now ready, I leave with a photo of today's mass project (I so didn't mean to make this many, I have only 3 tubes left =p) and I will be posting better pictures of each different (VAST!!!) kind.



I am so longwinded on the internet.

It was a long winter...

I say that like winter is somewhere near being over, but this warm weather has tricked me into thinking that spring is here. If only~ I noticed it'd been an extremely long time since I posted something here, apparently when a holiday rolls around, I take a long time off...1 week for Labour Day, a month and a half for Christmas...but at least I have some news to report.

The week of Christmas I did an order for a local salon, they bought 129 jars of my eyeshadow, and they are for sale at the Green Room, Camrose. The 5 gram square base jar retails there for $20 CDN, or 3/$50. They also have their own signature color, Mistletoe, available from them and myself only. Signature colors I create for a client are based on a few different things, my mood at the time, the season...this particular signature is a gorgeous holiday green complete with sparks of red and gold, partially due to my Christmas Eve delivery (what a day that was XD) and to the excitement at my first real contract job.

My business license for 2010 should arrive any day now, but I can still practice business until it gets here =p Since the eyeshadow job, I received a small shipment of new oils that I've been working with, and a better lip balm has formulated itself out of these new ingredients. My new batches of uncolored lip balm are $6 CDN, and so far come in 2 different recipes; one using nut based oils for extra dry skin, and a fruit based recipe for moisture and vitamins. Two flavors of each formulation exist; cherry and peach (3 of each available), & chocolate mint and coconut cream (4 of each available). They are sweetened with a vegan sweetener, and the flavor oils are made with all natural ingredients. I really hope to expand my flavor and fragrance choices in the future.

The last thing I've worked on recently is a brown sugar body scrub. Last time I bought a sugar scrub, which was almost 3 years ago, I used it once, and it was so greasy and slimy that I haven't touched a sugar scrub since. Again, I have formulated 2 different batches similar to the lip balms; a nut based oil formulation for extra dry skin, and the fruit oil based formula for moisture and vitamins. The nut based formula comes in scent Vanilla Hazelnut, and the fruit oil scrub is scented with Blood Orange and Vanilla essential oils (just for Dawn).

After testing a small amount on my hand, I found the oils to absorb into my skin extremely quickly. I could just brush off the sugar, and didn't feel a need to wash my hand off at all. When I applied it to my mom's hands later, I could again just brush off the sugar and continue using my hands normally. Mom bought 2 containers after not being able to choose between the formulas, using the gift card I gave her for Christmas, so I currently have 2 left with the plan to make another batch before lunch. Assuming I finish this post before lunch, since I've been looking at heat seal bands for this size of container. Speaking of which, the heat seal bands for the lip balms should be here any day, and I'm just waiting on the labels. The sugar scrub does have a label, and I think I really like how it looks on the jar.

Some time in the future, I plan to make a completely organic version of this, released in a higher end line. Some oils I use currently are organic, some are not, but of course the organic ones are much more expensive.

Going to look through my camera later/take some photos to post on this beast. Also handing out samples of the scrub to people. SAMPLEZ.

Gift Packets =D

Yes, I am very happy about this; it's one of those projects that's just burning a creative hole in my brain, and I can't think about anything until I bring my vision to life!! And it was awesome. These are so cute!



I actually made 3 of these, the other has a silver present ribbon decoration on it. They are for my dance instructors =) They each include a body butter, 2 eyeshadows, and a lip balm.



The small ones were so much fun that I made a big one just for kicks, I can't really imagine anyone wanting it lol. But it is so pretty. And has little chocolates in it. Things that went into this: 3 eyeshadows, 1 blush, 1 bronzer, 1 shimmer dust, 1 dual ended eyeshadow/crease brush, 1 body butter, 1 lip balm. So like... pretty much some of everything I've made so far. Too bad I don't have any veil or foundation powder to add, but I'm getting there.

In future projects, I'm really aching to make some holiday scented lip balms and butters, but I lack a couple necessary supplies =P

A few new creations..

The first new color on here today looks white, and it is, but it is designed to be a highlighting/underlying base color for looks using pinks and purples. Pretty and shiny, maybe you can see a bit on the spoon there..



Our second new creation is a blush that looks like a brick wall...lol. It's much less orangey in real light, not the crummy dining room light I'm stuck with until we get some longer days and real sunlight! These pictures just aren't doing any of my pretty colors any justice! I will be pressing a blush palette in addition to making a couple sample Christmas baskets, so look for that!



Next, I have a color that I ended up with completely by accident, trying to make something very different from this. It so happened that I thought this color was just amazing, and left it at that. I will try that other color again sometime though. Ended up with a gorgeous shimmery plum that looks fantastic wet or dry, with lots of metallic color payoff. I was worried that it would look too much like Purple Haze, but it is much pinker and less dark. I think it looks great with my green eyes ;)



Lastly, a gorgeous rich antique gold, complete with what I like to call "rainbow effect", where you can see a beautiful pearly rainbow when it's applied. I first noticed this on Aztec Gold, and I had to check to see if the two were TOO similar. Not even close. This color has a touch of bronze, and some green to make it a bit earthier, but Aztec Gold definitely looks a lot greener than this does. This is a great color to just wear alone, like I'm doing today, because of the subtlety and the drama it has at the same time.



Hoping to introduce some more projects later today!