swing the day away

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Hogwarts Makeup: Ravenclaw

Here is the next installment of my Hogwarts-inspired makeup posts. I am a Ravenclaw. It's what I got sorted into when I had joined Pottermore, which I don't really use all that often anymore. I was happy to be sorted into Ravenclaw. I think as a librarian, it suits me well as they value knowledge and learning.

The house colors of Ravenclaw are blue and silver in the movies and blue in bronze in the books, so I decided to incorporate all three. I am in love with this bronze lipstick from NYX Cosmetics. It's unique, but not too crazy, so it can be pulled off with different looks and for different occasions.

I did a larger wing for my liner and shadow since Ravenclaw is bird-themed. Its animal is the eagle, even though raven is in the name of the house. It's a pretty simple and basic look. Definitely less dramatic than Slytherin.

Oh, how I wish Hogwarts were real...or that I lived closer to Florida so that I could easily drive there for a weekend trip to the Wizarding World. I think if I lived close enough, I would get a season pass if they had one and spend many days wandering around and going on all the rides, not just the Harry Potter ones. I am so curious as to how they are changing the Jurassic Park ride. I will assume they are going to update it with Jurassic World stuff. Hopefully it will be ready by the next time I go!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Barbie Girl

I really can't help but feel like Barbie when I wear these sunglasses. It's funny because when I was wearing these I had that thought and then happened to glance at a box of old stuff that I have in my room and I could see a pair of Barbie sunglasses that looked exactly like these at the bottom of the box. I don't think Barbie was ever necessarily my favorite, but I did have a lot of them when I was little and I loved the My Size Barbie I had...mostly because I could wear her awesome clothes. I mean, she came with a pink sparkly tutu skirt!! I kind of wish that I still had it and that it would still fit me.

I really love polka dots, and while I love the classic black background, white dots pattern, I think I love the white background, black dots more, especially when they're bigger dots. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it's brighter and more fun with bright colors? I don't know, but I love this dress. I just wish it was a little longer because it's pretty short which means I can't wear it to work or on breezy days.

Have you guys heard of Postmodern Jukebox? I don't know if I ever mentioned them before, but they are this group that does modern songs in the style of old music. For instance, they will do a swing or doo wop or jazz or 20s version of songs. It's awesome. They actually did Barbie Girl in a Beach Boys style.

Dress: Forever 21//Belt: Thrifted//Shoes: LifeStride//Sunglasses: Gift//Lipstick: NYX

Here's another question... HAVE YOU SEEN JURASSIC WORLD YET?!?! BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME. Sorry for screaming, but I loved every minute of it. I have seen it twice already. The first time was in IMAX 3D, and I highly recommend seeing it this way. It was so intense and awesome. There are a lot of shoutouts to the first movie too, which was neat. I really can't believe how insane IMAX 3D is. There was a trailer for the movie The Walk about the man who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers. I swear I was literally getting anxious because they show you his view looking down and it feels like you are there. It is so high up. I don't know how anyone could do that! I think watching the movie in 3D would be enough for me. :)

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Peachy

These photos were also taken in April. I am slowly getting through my backlog of shoots and outfits. Can you actually tell that my hair is red in these photos? I had just dyed it about a week before these were taken, so you can kinda tell it's reddish. It didn't last very long since it didn't change my hair color THAT much and it washes out in a a couple of months or so. I can't wait to dye my hair dark again. Part of me wants to do it now, part of me wants to wait until the fall when I always do it. Part of me also really wishes I didn't care about saving my natural hair color and having to bleach it so that I can have a cool pastel hair color or a nice bright red.

I know it's just hair, but I don't know why something doesn't sit right with me having to strip my hair and lighten it and go through a whole process to get a different color, and then when I want my real hair back having to wait it out while it grows back and risk it looking weird and awkward while that happens. I'm not too in the know when it comes to hair dying processes, but that's what I imagine would happen. I am open to any suggestions for those of you who know more about this stuff. I suppose I could dye it to a color that's close to my natural hair until my actual hair grows out enough?

This dress is another that I got from Lindy Bop. It was a Christmas gift from Chris's mom. It was one of the many dresses that I was lusting after on their website. There are too many that I want! I love the classic shape and print of this one, but I also love that it's brown and not the classic black and white. It reminds me of I Love Lucy, though it's hard to understand why since that show was in black and white. I love Lucille Ball so much...

The cardigan was a more recent find...probably towards the beginning of the year. It's actually from J.Crew, but I found it at Goodwill for probably about $7. I love the peachy color. It's really springy and it's easy to pair it with a lot of different colors.

Dress & Belt: Lindy Bop//Sweater: J.Crew (thrifted)//Shoes: Payless//Sunglasses: Delia's

Unfortunately, these shoes just recently broke on me. :\ I wore them to the renaissance faire last weekend and one of the straps broke while I was trying to get it back up on my foot. I'm really upset about it since I loved these shoes. They were the perfect shade of yellow, they were decently comfortable and I love the bow on them. They reminded me of Minnie Mouse. Needless to say, I am now in the market for new mustardy yellow shoes. I'm sure I will find something sometime soon!

Friday, June 5, 2015

Hogwarts Makeup: Slytherin

In the past, I did a series of outfits based on each of the Hogwarts houses from Harry Potter. I had a lot of fun doing it because I love taking a theme or color scheme and figuring out how to make it work. Now that I'm getting more into makeup, I thought I'd do some Hogwarts-inspired makeup! First up is Slytherin...mostly because I couldn't wait for an excuse to wear my black lipstick from Colourpop.

Now, I am definitely not a professional or anything when it comes to makeup. I have always liked it, but never got into doing entire "looks" until a year or two ago. Because one of my best friends is a makeup artist, it definitely inspired me to get into it as did the whole pinup style/look with the cat eye liner and red lip. I do get to pick up some tips and whatnot from Sarah (my friend), which helps. I think the best advice she gave me though is that there are different methods and techniques for doing things, but you can pretty much do whatever YOU want.

I love doing my makeup because it's like painting. It's an art, and it's relaxing and fun to do. I love working with colors and being inspired by different themes and schemes. I love how it can totally transform a look and it can convey certain emotions or vibes. Dark and dramatic, bright and happy, classic and simple, and more! It can be used to convey your mood and it's easy to morph and change it as much as you want.

My favorite makeup item is lipstick. I am always lusting after a new and unique color. I have a collection of probably over 30 lipsticks now with colors from red to gold to purple to yellow to silver to pink. I love using darker lipsticks when I'm feeling more into the goth/vampy/dark look. I have this black and I have a deep brown that I love too. They are both from Colourpop, which I am obsessed with. They have an amazing selection, great products, and everything is $5!! This lipstick is their black that they call Bull Chic. I love. They are probably my favorite makeup brand at the moment. I am actually in the middle of trying to figure out what I want to order next. I feel as though I may need to collect all, if not close to all, of their Lippie Stix.

So because Slytherin's colors are silver and green, I decided to use them for my eye makeup. I went with the black lip because they are known to be dark wizards, and what says dark and mysterious more than black (and some crazy-looking eyes as seen in the below photos)? I dabbed a little bit of silver shadow on my bottom lip as well to add a little pizazz to it. It's a pretty simple look. Again, I am not a professional. I just do what I feel looks right on me. I do know that I need to invest in some lip liners.