Lip Stain

Lip color - it seems pretty cool, I mean bright pink lips can be pretty fun, and I'm all for colors!

Now I have a kind of love-hate relationship with makeup, and as a general rule I don't like to wear it at all, especially on a daily basis.  I don't appreciate the fact that we are expected to cake it on so that our "flaws" can be covered and our features "enhanced" so that we can appear  more beautiful to the world.  Then when we decide we don't want to wear makeup, everyone is shocked at how plain, boring and ugly we are, now that the world has become used to the made-up version of ourselves.  Sadly it's really quite easy to be convinced that makeup is the thing to wear, and we will be more attractive, more desirable ect. if we wear it.  Granted it can be fun, kind of arty - but I still sort of hate it.

I recently have become aware of the lip stain revolution.  These nifty little pens will provide you with supposed hours of brilliant color, without the stick of gloss or the smear of lipstick.  To top it off companies have all sorts of pretty shades displaced in snappy advertisements like so:

Clearly - lip stain is the thing to have.

But the other problem with the makeup industry is that it's honestly about as crappy for you as drinking liquid acid.  Alright, you caught me, maybe it's not THAT bad, but I wasn't as enthused about lip stain once I read a few of the top ingredients...

Among other things, the popular Covergirls Outlast lip stain contains:

Propylene Glycol - A cosmetic form of mineral oil found in automatic brake and hydraulic fluid and industrial antifreeze

Methylparaben, Propylparaben, and Ethylparaben - These estrogen-mimicers have been found in breast tumors, linked to breast cancer and known tocause hormonal activity in the body

Phenoxyethanol - The FDA warns that phenoxyethanol can cause shut down of the central nervous system, vomiting and contact dermatitis.

And as the cherry on top, these wonderful chemical sticks are complete with their own flavoring, so we just can't help but like those sweet toxins up!

That seemed like way too much bang for my buck, so for the 4th of July I concocted my own creation...

and apparently turned into a fish

This beauty (the color - not me) was created by artfully smearing on a a combination of black raspberries and mulberries (both hand-gathered in the woods).  I simply let it dry for a minute and off I went!  Not only did it last through dinner and desert, but for fireworks, soda pop and bottlerockets!  I got home the next morning (around 12:20ish) snuck a peek in the mirror, and found the color just as bright as before.  After 6 hours- THIS is what I would call Outlast Lip Stain! (pictures were actually taken when I got back).

A lip stain that is 100% free

100% organic

and has 100% of pronounceable ingredients?

Now that's something worth changing colors about!

What do you think:

 To make-up or not to make-up?

Fun With Photography

Thanks to the rain  everything was especially GREEN this evening - the perfect opportunity for some fun with photography!  I don't feel very writ-y so I'll just post some pictures of the fun times I had splashing in the puddles and trying not to get my camera splashed in the process!!

I discovered that I could turn into a ghost today - how cool is that?!

Rain pictures are things that would normally come with cheesy quotes about puddles, life metaphors, and my achy heart or something, so here's my cheesy poem:

The rain falls

down

just like Kirk did

when he made the climb

the climb of a mountain

A while ago my mom had given me this really big shirt - but it had a cool pattern on it, so I pinned it and called it an outfit!

Just making sure I don't take myself too seriously!

I also tried to take pictures of the fireflies because they were so gall dern perrrty!  Unfortunately this is what about 99.9% of my pictures looked like:

woot fireflies! can't you see them everywhere?

Many mosquito bites later I stumbled back to the house, with one sad photo to show that there actually were fireflies out tonight.  Either that or I witnessed a UFO!

Happy Puddle Plunking! 

Hair (not like a wookie)

Sadly/Fortunately, I do not have hair like a wookie, although I do have a lot of it!  So yesterday Z and I finally took up the challenge of crafting our locks into some loverly dos.  The process was consuming, but fortunately we had our minions: a hairbrush, a gazillion bobby pins, a book, and of course human hair - from our heads.

For those of you looking for a weekend project, I would highly recommend checking this little number out from your public library - or better yet purchasing it if you're looking for some longterm fun!

So with the assistance of a mythical hairstylist etraordinaire named Karin, and the mastermind and nimble fingers of Z my hair went from looking blah...

to HUZZAH!

Boy do I love the 40s!

Thanks to all those who collaborated on my head - I am seriously digging my princess Leia of the 40s look!  Now all I need to do is figure out how to do this by myself...

o dear.

p.s Z:

I don't know why but I only got 1 pic of me and 1 of you from my email...so you'll have to try sending them to yourself I suppose!  I'll email you the one of you I have!

CHEERS!