From Airbrush Systems to Cheap Glasses!

I've always wanted an airbrush makeup set. The problem was, I've heard tons of horror stories and I didn't want to shell out all that money, just to put it in the closet never to be used again. I got lucky! My friend April at Atomic April's Glam Salon put together an airbrush makeup class. I emailed her right away and told I was in and asked if I could get the kit now! So a couple weeks ago, I went over to the salon and fell in love! My kit was waiting for me in all its glory. April has been in the beauty industry for many years and she knows a lot. When she talks, I'm listening. She went over the basics about airbrushing, even make us some packets with helpful information and then set us loose to practice on each other! Now let me tell you, airbrushing someone else is MUCH easier than trying to airbrush yourself! By the time I left the salon, I felt uber confident in my skills! The next day, however, I realized that it definitely takes practice. April said, "It's helps you build character (when you are learning)" and she wasn't kidding! I hated the job I had done, wiped it off and put on my old staple. I didn't give up though. The next day, I tried again, and guess what?... it wasn't so bad. Every day I have progressively gotten better and better. I'm not perfect by any means, but I don't look like a clown either! What system am I using? I'm using the Stream Cosmetics "Extreme" system. How much did it cost? $220. It included the compressor, airbrush gun, hose, 4 foundations, primer, blush, bronzer, pearlizer, and a gorgeous gold carrying case. It'll be easy to travel with for sure! Where can I get one? You can order on the Stream Cosmetics website. Make sure you use distributor #1941! You can also call Glam Salon at (702)433-GLAM and let them know you are interested in the airbrush system. I really do love the system. I don't feel like I have so much gunk caked on my face all day. It also holds up well, even in Vegas heat!

I tried taking before and afters, but I'm terrified of putting up a picture of me without makeup. But, in these next few photos, I've done my foundation, blush and bronzer with the Stream system. A few years ago, I heard, through the grapevine, that there was a website called Zenni Optical that sold glasses starting at $6. And yes, that INCLUDED the lenses! I immediatly checked it out. I haven't bought glasses at the eye doctor's in 4 years now. I opt to get contacts with the insurance money and pay a heck of a lot less to get my glasses online. I just received my last order and thought I should share. I got 4 pairs of glasses for only $50... and that included shipping. Here is what I got!

And my look for the day! I went more neutral. Ling told me once that he likes the girl next door type of look. He rarely gets to see that, since I'm always going nutso with my eye makeup. So I thought I would surprise him.

My face makeup was done using the Stream System and my eyes were done using Chinovi Cosmetics (my personal line!). Hope you enjoyed! Ness PS... I don't know what is up with the spacing. I had paragraphs... I swear!

Stay at Home Girlfriend

Okay, I've been on "vacation" for 4 days now... and I am bored! I guess if I had kids like a stay at home mom, that would be different... but the dogs don't ask much of me and I don't have to drive them around anywhere. I've watched TV more than I'd have liked to... same goes for snacking. It has to stop! Next week will have more structure... hopefully.

I have done a lot of stuff with Chinovi Cosmetics. I've got things organized and I've got some papers about getting an LLC to go through... maybe that's how I'll spend my Friday.

While watching all the unnecessary television, I've been focusing on people's makeup. I was watching Country Strong (I <3 Leighton Meester)and I just loved Leighton's eye makeup throughout the whole movie. It was very neutral/smokey/metallic... if that makes ANY sense. So, since I have all kinds of ingredients laying around... I made colors that I was inspired by. One of the colors I was loving was a metallic sand/bronze/silver color. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to create. But I was successful! Later, I was cleaning out some jars of MMU I purchased a couple years ago and a blob of a few colors caught my eye... I immediately smeared it all over the back of my hand and got to work recreating it. Today I decided to get all pretty for Ling. He came home yesterday and I still looked like I had just gotten out of bed. I was dying to wear the new colors... so guess what?... I'm wearing them! Here they are!

I'm not a fan of this photo... but I think its funny. I never ever notice that my mouth us totally uneven... or my nose either for that matter. It wasn't until I started taking photos of my FOTD that I noticed it. haha!

I LOVE the combination of these colors! What do you think? Is there anything you'd like to see?... color combos, looks, etc?

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting Started

Now that I am no longer working full time, I have no excuse not to blog and work on getting Chinovi Cosmetics off the ground.

You may have noticed a couple changes in my layout. I follow a fabulous makeup guru Kandee Johnson, who asked if anyone wanted to learn how to make a blog header. Of course I wanted to learn. I don't know if she ever did a blog about it, but one of the comments someone had left stated that you could just google it if you were curious. I was curious. I finally got my butt around to making one this morning before going to the eye doctors. What do you think?

Now, on to my most favorite thing. My cosmetic "company." I have named it Chinovi Cosmetics. Some of you are probably saying, "What?" Well I have lots of nieces. Two of the younger ones now live closer to me and they are little princesses. They are always wearing dressups when I come over (unless they are in the pool) and they always have their hair all done up. Their names are Chilali and Honovi. Again, you are probably saying, "What?" Chilali (shh-lay-lee) and Honovi (huh-no-vee) are my oldest sister kids. My oldest sister is part Cherokee Indian, so her children have native American names. Obviously, I combined their names and Waalaa (is that how you spell it? haha)!

Okay, now... some people have asked how I got started. Well... I've always had a love of makeup. I thought I wanted to become a makeup artist, but I'm not so much about doing peoples makeup. I love doing my own, but I don't feel like I have the skills to make people look flawless. I can't even do that for myself! So a few years ago, I stumbled across About Face Cosmetics. It has since closed up shop. But before she closed... I ordered a TON of eye shadows. I'm talking a couple hundred. I was pretty bummed that they closed up shop and even though I had a couple hundred eyeshadows at my disposal... I wasn't satisfied. I like always having new colors to play with. I was spending a lot of money at Ulta, Sephora, WalMart, Target and the local drugstores. It was ridiculous really. One day I was browsing around TKB Trading's website when this special little kit caught my eye. I talked with Ling to make sure it wasn't just some stupid purchase I was going to make. I'm really great at that, btw. I thought about it for a week and I was so unsure that Ling even offered to get it for me (probably just to shut me up). Finally I gave in. I was seriously waiting by the front door waiting for the FedEx guy to deliver it. I was more excited than I was on Christmas morning. Here is what was inside the box:

Ling took a picture of me making my first product ever!... "Gidget Blush"

All my life, I've felt creative... I just didn't know how to express it since I couldn't paint, draw, write, etc. I FINALLY get to express my creative side. Yay! I also find it to be very therapeutic at times. I've been formulating since March, and I finally feel confident in my products. My next step is to get my LLC, and then set up a site so I can sell online. I cannot WAIT!

If you are curious to see what I've made so far... please see previous posts. If you would like to be notified when I am giving out samples or when my site goes live, please email me at chinovicosmetics@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

Transformation!

One of my friends, Atomic April, recently opened her own salon... Glam Salon! A couple weeks ago, see had a deal going on Groupon. Since I love her so, and the deal was amazing, I purchased it! I got over $150-$200 worth of services for only $50. What a steal!

Here is what I looked like before I went to see her:

Yea, I dilly dallied and then realized I only had a few minutes to get ready and get out the door. But, as you can see... my hair is just brown and boring. Sure, when I feel like curling it, its cute... but really... I work in a warehouse, so my hair only gets done on weekends or special occasions.

I do love my makeup though. I don't know why my face looks so pale in these pictures, must be the lighting.

I just introduced my sister in law, Holly to Inglots get eyeliners, and she said she wanted to go get one. Well, she was stuck up at a cabin with the rest of my family, so since I came home early to go to work, I stopped by the Inglots store and picked up the black one for her. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely cannot enter any sort of makeup/beauty supply store without purchasing SOMETHING!... so I got the green eyeliner. I'm not sure what number it is... sorry. But, I LOVE IT! It is so creamy and just delicious!

Anyway, back to my hair! I went to April and first she lightened my hair so we could put some copper accents in. After the color was done, she gave me this AMAZING hair cocktail treatment. I have no idea what it was called, but it smelled so good and it made my head feel wonderful! While I was relaxing, her nail technician, Tracie, came and started giving me a mini-pedi. Talk about the royal treatment, right? Next came the haircut. I told her I'm still trying to grow it out, but I need some shape and I want to get rid of all the damage from bleaching it last summer. I love what she did. The cut isn't too drastic, but my hair feels so much healthier!

When I got home I also made my makeup a little more dramatic since Ling and I were going to dinner. Or so I thought. We agreed on carnitas tacos and rolled tacos from Amigos tacos... so romantic! haha!

So, here is my after!

Red hair tinsel. April is the creator of PopTinsel!

All eyeshadows used are my creations! See previous post for more info!

Look what I've done!

**12/5/11 EDIT.  I removed colors I do not carry.**

So, I kind of took a hiatus from making makeup. I had a lot going on with work and my family, and I just didn't have the time to devote to it. I feel that I shouldn't be making it, unless I feel the inspiration to, or else I just come out with some crappy makeup and colors.

Well, the bug finally bit a couple Saturdays ago. I was just in my makeup room cleaning up and reorganizing when I just sat down and started formulating. My creative juices really started flowing, and then Ling made me stop so we could have date night. We watched "Bruno" and ate pizza... pretty low key, but it was nice.

After "Bruno", we saw that "Cool Runnings" was on. I swear I watched that movie probably 100 times or more when I was a kid and I hadn't seen it in at least 15 years. I started watching it with Ling in the mancave and then decided to get back to my makeup, so I watched the rest of it in my room. I got inspired! I made two colors: Sanka Man and Cool Runnings, which were inspired by the movie. I actually am wearing them right now! "Hey Sanka Man... you dead yet?" "Yea, man." haha!!

I'm a little annoyed that you can't see just how awesome these colors are. Cool Runnings has green and red interference and sparkle... so beautiful!

Sunday morning, we woke up at 5 thanks to my precious dogs. Ling went into the mancave and started painting again, and I retreated to my lab. I created a few more colors and then decided I was going to be cool and hook the digital camera up to my laptop and pretend to be a professional photographer and take pics of all the products I've made. So after hunting down the software to do so and spending 2 hours photographing, I called it quits. I got at least 90% done. Whew! Right before bed I told Ling that I wanted to do something in GIMP (photoshop) where I could do this and that and blah blah blah, and even though he was ready to pass out (11 hours of non-stop painting will do that to you) he totally got me all set up and going. Such a wonderful bf!

Now, about samples... I do need people to sample some of the products and give me their honest opinion so I can work out the perfect formulations. Let me know if you are interested!

So, without further ado, here is all is. I've included the names this time in case you were interested in trying out samples. **Warning... there are LOTS of photos!**


EYE COLORS

I created this trio for the Lady Gaga album release party I went to at the Cosmopolitan. Great for a sparkly smokey eye!

BLUSH

BRONZER

I was trying to recreate BE's Warmth. I feel like I got close!