Magpie Heart

In the mood for something new and shiny?  Always.


Baublebar Lightening Rod Drops

I bought these earrings to wear to the Wichita Art Museum Color Party.  It was the tenth anniversary of the party so they asked people to dress in any of the colors from the past ten parties.

I bought a cheap but awesome tonal sequin dress from Forever 34, but when it arrived I realized that I looked like 10 lbs of potatoes in a 5 lbs sack.  Nope nope nope.

I ended up wearing a black goddess-y maxi dress with neon embroidery from last summer.  I still wore the earrings, and I copied this hairstyle.

You guys, I looked like some kind of Electric Kool-Aid Earth Goddess from the Moon.  I felt awesome. Totally worth the $34.

Drunk. Terrible Lighting. Very Happy.

Klimt Tarot - Pocket Golden Edition

Use them. Frame them.  Keep them in a pretty silk pouch and just enjoy the knowledge that you possess them.  Whatevs.

Here is a good Tarot reference guide for getting started!


Real Techniques Brushes - this set, this set, and THIS BRUSH for starters

 

You guys.  You GUYS.  The expert face brush alone is worth its weight in gold.  These brushes are so ding dang cheap and so well-made... plus they are synthetic which means precious baby animals are not being harmed for your vain ass self.

I was a MAC/Sigma/Zoeva/Morphe brush-aholic.  These are better.  Plus they are so cheap that you can buy multiple sets... and you will want multiple sets.  The base shadow brush from the eyes starter set (purple brushes) is a more wonderful MAC 217.  Which anyone who spends any amount of time doing make knows is the end all be all of eye shadows brushes.  It's your base shadow brush, your crease brush, your blending brush, your concealer brush, your nose contour brush.  You can't have enough of them.

And that expert face brush will change your foundation/blush/bronzer/contour game.  So so good.

OH!  And the deluxe crease brush from the eyes starter set is my new go-to concealer blending brush!

Riotous Late Summer Tingles

I'm heavily into dog pool parties and other dog pool party related interests these days.

Today I thought I would share some bits and bats that are really putting the jive in my turkey these days.


1. This mock turtleneck poncho top from Forever 21 which is light enough to wear in 80° weather, but black enough to make me look like a witch (my favorite aesthetic).

2. Devil's Spoke by Laura Marling... is goth folk a genre?  It should be.

3. This makeup tutorial is the perfect summer to fall transition... nude lip for summer, berry lip for winter.

4. Opinion sharing time:  This should have been the song of the summer.

Get off my areola, indeed.

5. Planning on making these pretzel bread bowls and filling them with beer cheese soup very soon.  Hello Oktoberfest.

6. An important reminder:

I hope y'all are kicking this Monday to the moon!

P.S.  Only 19 days to go!

Vanity

One of my main hobbies besides navel-gazing and talking about myself is vanity.  I devote a lot of time to all 3.

I swear to Glob if any of you are actually nodding your head and thinking 'yes... she is indeed very vain and self-involved'... well I'll just... i'll just... write about you in my diary.  HOW DARE YOU?

Seriously, though,  I spend an unsettling amount of time thinking about very shallow things.  I have a lot of flaws, and this is the most minor of them... so I haven't spent a lot of time correcting it.

What I have spent a lot of time doing is watching make up and hairstyling tutorials on YouTube!!

I thought I would share some of my absolute favorites.

My #1 A+ Gold Star Go-To for make up tutorials is world famous make up genius Lisa Eldridge.  I treat the video section of her website as my own personal face closet.  I browse it before getting ready for a social event the same way I do my actual closet to find an outfit. (Also I find her voice incredibly relaxing)

 Here are my absolute favorites:

1. Grown-up Girly - This is the perfectperfectperfect going out/date make up.  This is my absolute favorite out of all of her tutorials and the one I duplicate the most frequently.

2. Gold, Sparkly, Glittery, Glossy - This is the simplest, most awesome party make up.  Super terrific for holiday parties!  I love this one so hard... I wish I had a party to go to right now so I could wear this again.

3. Chocolate Berry - I love this one for fall.  So warm and slightly dramatic without looking overdone.

And now for hair tutorials!  My favorite hair tutorials are by the gals at Luxy Hair.  Unfortunately because this is a company that sells clip-in hair extensions, you kind of need somewhat long hair in order to make these tutorials useful.  I chose my curling wand because of their recommendation and I love it (it's the Cortex 4 in 1 Pro).  These ladies basically taught this clueless hair-haver how to curl and style my hair.  For going out I rotate one of these two looks.

1. Perfect Curls

2. Easy Everyday Waves

And that is the sum total of my hair styling abilities.


This morning I felt motivated so I decided to try out a tutorial for my Urban Decay Naked Palette.  I tried this one because it looked the least drag queen-y.  I have to say... it's a lot more eye shadow than I'm used to wearing to work, but I like it!  Maybe I should get all gussied up for work more often.

This is the tutorial I used:

Do you have any favorite tutorials you can recommend?

Cruise Talk!

It's getting close, you guys!  Another January and another cruise!!

My sister in law Kristine and I are leaving on a cruise to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, and The Bahamas in the middle of January and I fucking cannot wait.

We finalized our flights, excursions and our hotel in Miami for the night before the cruise departs last Saturday.

We're staying  at this super cute hotel in one of those sherbet-colored art deco buildings in South Beach.

Hotel Shelley

So since this time we have to fly to our departure city instead of driving (the ship left out of Galveston, TX last time)  I am definitely going to have to pare down my packing list to essentials.  Which means I can't coordinate a different shoe for each dinner outfit.  And also I can't bring a different dress for each night of the cruise.  Bummer Summer.

BUT... I am 50 lbs lighter than I was last time, and I get to buy some super cute new clothes for the trip! Huzzah!!!

Champagne for everyone!

There will be two fancy evenings on the ship.  These are the outfits I have planned.  Same dress and shoes, different jewelry.

I have a pair of cheap rhinestone stud earrings to wear with both,
but I can't find a good dupe for them on Polyvore.

In addition to using the same dress and shoes for two nights, I'm planning on relying pretty heavily on the same basic cosmetic items instead of packing all of my eyeshadow palettes because I might maybe who knows want to wear a blue eyeshadow on a whim because I know I never will and it's a giant waste of precious suitcase space.

Here are my essentials:

With these and a few eyeliner pencils I should be able to paint my face to perfection every night.

On the last trip, I painted my nails black for the entire trip and just kept adding coats of polish to cover the chips.  It worked great!  And I think black nails looks super chic when they are nicely done.  My favorite black polish is from Avon and it's called Warm Black.  I think it might be discontinued which is sad because it flows onto the nail so well.  So it looks like I need to start hoarding that one.

Okay... so this has been a post about absolutely nothing, but I've enjoyed it because I am seriously so excited about this trip.  Bless your heart if you read this entire thing... you're a real trooper.

What I Actually Wore

I decided it would be fun(?) to do a 'What I Actually Wore' set to contrast with my super expensive fantasy 'What I Wish I Wore' sets.  It turned out to be an exercise in futility because Polyvore doesn't keep sweaters that Target sold 5 to 6 years ago in its database or a selection of cheap knock-off made in China jewelry either. I managed a rough approximation of what I am actually wearing as I sit here typing these words that you are reading.

I don't own a Balenciaga bag.  I don't own a knock-off Balenciaga bag, but I felt that this bag most accurately represented the slouch of my canvas messenger bag which I bought off of Etsy.

Neither do I own a Tory Burch wrap bracelet or a David Yurman pave diamond bracelet.  What I do own are two $4 bracelets I bought from Sam Moon that look kinda sorta like these.

Also, my Target wedges don't have that much platform because I'm already 5'8" and I don't need to walk around like Frankenstein towering over everyone and frightening children.

I do, however, own these exact trousers from Old Navy and a white Fossil watch.

So now you know.

Oh and here is a rough approximation of all the shit I put on my face this morning to achieve a "natural" look.

I'm about as natural as Kim Kardashian.  It takes a lot of work to look this average, you guys.

Okay... This Is Just Awesome

You guys, I could watch make up and hair tutorials all day, every day.

I could also watch vintage newsreels all day, every day.

So check out this AMAZEBALLS 'Secrets of Makeup' newsreel from 1936.

I just DIE.