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How Bittersweet it is

Everything is coming up purple! And by that I mean Bittersweet. Urban Decay’s “signature” color. Why? Because look at that gorgeousness!!!

  

  That is the color of happiness…. Or possibly Barney the dinosaur, which is the exact opposite of happiness… I suppose that makes the name bittersweet appropriate. 

Ok on to a quick review the Revolution gloss is very long wearing. I’ve worn it a few times now including shifts at work where I don’t get the chance to touch up and it’s lasted great. The pigmentation is… Well it’s ok, by ok I mean it is super purple but because I have naturally very bright lips it just looks like a cool tone pink 

  
Yup those are my stupid bright naked lips.

  
This is Bittersweet all by its lonesome

I could A. Prime/conceal my lips (yuck) B. Pair it with a nude gloss or C. Manage to find an epically purple lip liner. I’ve just been pairing it over a Marc Jacobs Enamoured Hi-shine lip lacquer  in Moonglow that tones down my lips and eventually mixes with the Bittersweet to make a strange lilac color

  
I suppose that is exhibit B1 with Marc Jacobs gloss. It also works well over nude lipstick like Lancome Rouge in Love in 124M (a great dupe for which is Rimmel London’s Lasting Finish by Kate in 113)

  
I think this was my favorite iteration of any of them because it was the truest purple. 

Oh and not to forget the Afterglow Blush, it is … Epic! I had been on the hunt for a purple blush for a while anyway because every “cool tone” (or for that matter warm tone) blush just ends up looking a generic pink on my lovely pink skin. So I figured the only way I would get a true cool tone was to go all out. (I solved the warm tone a while back with Luminous  Peach from Too Faced, which is just straight up orange) 

  
Bittersweet delivered. I was worried at first it would just look bruise-like on my fair skin, But being light handed and making sure everything was blended it looked just dandy. You may be able to notice above the swatch I blended what was left on my finger.

I might do a tutorial for an all purple look later on so you can see everything in action along with a purple smokey eye. Let me know if you want to see something like that. 

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Caulk (hehehe)

I’m finally, really, like for realzies finished with the bathroom. If you missed the first part be sure to click here. When last we left, it looked pretty good but lacked a backsplash and therefore lacked some functionality. I had to wait three weeks after painting the bathroom before I could do the tile work in order to let the surface fully cure. But yea! Hooray! The wait is over. So first I measured out and cut the tile. I took the easy/cheap way out of this by getting tiny little square tiles on a sheet. I say cheap but these were one of the most expensive things in the bathroom at $10 a sheet. Luckily it only took 3 of them and it means I didn’t have to buy or rent a tile saw.   Next we used tile adhesive to stick them to the wall and the tiny bit of counter. Unfortunately I’ve fallen flat at pictures for this step but it’s a pretty basic process that only requires one specialized tool called a notched trowel.   After a couple days drying time it was on to the grout. I’ve had the pleasure of laying tile before so the grout was the fun part. You just mix it per the instructions on the bag until you have kind of a peanut butter consistency (having an old hand mixer is really nice for this part) then just use a float to start mushing it into the spacing and scraping off the excess. You have to be careful not to work your grout too much or it will become stiff and crumble. After letting the grout sit for about 20 minutes (or however your mix directs you) you simply start wiping the grout down with a very slightly damp sponge to get off excess until your left with just a slight film. Let that film dry then just buff it off with a soft clean cloth. After a couple days of letting the grout dry it was on to the final finishing touch. All those raw edges of tile and grout needed to be polished up. Caulk will work just fine. Caulking is pretty easy if you know what you’re doing and a horrible mess if you don’t. Trust me, I speak from experience.  You simply run a small bead of caulk along the edge to be sealed then get your fingers wet and with very light pressure run it along the bead to smooth it out. After all that just let the caulk cure and use a grout sealer to protect the finish and prevent mold and mildew. Officially done! If you missed how i made my mason jar soap pump you can find it here  Don’t mind my half blue half beige outlets. But check out my new plate covers, beadboard to go with the ceiling. Woohoo fancy!

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Meta Bows

Guess who can actually see what they are doing now?

  
Yeah I broke down and got glasses. I knew I needed them when cross stitching was getting hard, but with one of my new jobs it was actually getting to the point where I would have to stop what I was doing just to let my eyes rest.

So enter my new glasses with bows on the bows. 

   That’s right, there are so many bows at this point it’s getting a little meta. 

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The Mouse

I thought I would take a minute to try to explain something I know I’m terrible at explaining. We will see how well this goes? 

I had to take up some straps today. It’s the bane of my fashion existence, apparently I have a short torso or something?

At any rate it’s an easy job, just put on the dress and pin up the straps at either the front or back seam (possibly both if they are super long) 

This was only an inch so the front got it, luckily due to having a tie in the back the bust was adjustable or it might have been a bit big too.

  
So once you have your straps pinned you just start sewing, nothing fancy or new. This dress had a seam along the front I could hide the new seam in. 

  
Then I took that excess material created when tucking up the strap and started to sew it down. This is where things get a bit odd. It’s a simple whip stitch running through only the underpinning of the dress so it doesn’t show on the outside of the garment… Yup I’m terrible at explaining things…

  
At any rate it makes that flap and the rest of the dress lay flat, without cutting away the excess and risking fraying. It also means that flap of fabric won’t catch on anything, particularly in the wash. 

  
(I never said my sewing was pretty, but it’s effective)

Soooo I took a dress that was originally priced $70, worth maybe $40, I paid about $25, and made it fit like it’s …. Well I still wouldn’t pay $70 for it… 

  
All done the dress lies nice and flat and you can never tell they were taken up … So technically I lied a bit like my cross stitching it’s pretty from the front but the back is a mess. 

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A Plethora of Jars

Somebody (I won’t name names) has gone a little glass jar happy. Between candles and target bins and advantageous clearance finds I’ve accrued quite a collection.

  
The latest acquisition is these colored Ball Heritage Collection Jars (they are the 100 year old ball design) on clearance for $1 a piece

  
Anyway, what is a girl to do with a whole bunch of pretty jars? I mean I could do wedding decor, but I’ve only got my own wedding to plan and really that’s not going to happen any time soon and it’s going to be a small affair.

So I better go for smaller projects

A Frankenstein project involving an old soap pump and one of the aforementioned mason jars
First I just poke a hole in the lid of the jar and using tin snips and needle nosed pliers make it large enough to fit the base of the pump through

  
Then just seal it with hot glue or even silicon caulk 

  
Tah! Dah! Super easy!

  
You could paint the top or embellish the jar, but I’m lazy lately.

  
Also I used a foaming pump, the ones from bath and body are the perfect size and length for  a mason jar. You can use whatever pump you have after a bottle gets emptied, it just happens to be the one I had. And foaming hand soap is super easy and cheap to make. It’s essentially 1 part liquid soap to 6 or 7 parts water.