The Urban Decay Build Your Own Palette

Urban Decay's latest goody is the Build Your Own Palette and to promote the release of their reformulated eye shadows, they sent some of their staff to my local Ulta for an event over the weekend.  The event included make-overs with access to all of their products and a free gift with purchase.

First things first, I'm going to show you the Build Your Own Palette.  For $18 you get this cute little tin that comes automatically with the eye shadow "Walk of Shame".  There are 5 additional spaces in the palette for you to add your own choice of shadows at an additional cost.  This is what the palette looks like.  This will be very nice for travel.

Each additional shadow is $18 a piece.  These are the shadows I chose.  

Left to right top: Walk of Shame (comes with the palette), Asphyxia and Roach
Left to right bottom:  Woodstock, Peace and Freelove

Here are the swatches!

Left to right: Walk of Shame, Freelove and Roach
Walk of Shame blends right into my skin which will make it perfect to buff out the rough edges on some of my smoky eyed looks.  

Left to right:  Woodstock, Asphyxia and Peace

I love the reformulated shadows!  My horrible picture taking of the swatches do not do them justice.  Most of the shadows I saw were even more pigmented than the original UD shadows, if you can believe it.  I'm looking forward to building up my collection, one by one.   

Okay, so back to the event.  I ended up getting a make-over.  I have never used UD's face products.  I love their primers, shadows and liners so I was excited about trying some concealer and foundation.   Here's the before and after.

That before seriously looks like a mug shot!  

The gal went with a neutral look on me.  I asked for something a little funky so she put the blue glitter liner on.  You can't tell it in the picture but I had a couple of blue streaks in my hair (washes out in one wash!) so she wanted to match me up with that.  

I have to say that I like their concealer sticks.  As you can see, it works.  All the face make up worked well but I was most impressed with the Urban Defense Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 20.  It gave me a great glow.   And I really like the idea of putting on a moisturizer that can cover up some of the flaws but isn't heavy.  So I bought it.  

This retails at $30 but this will last for a long time which is how I justified buying it.  I got mine in "Halo".  

Urban Decay gave a free gift with purchase which was filled with all sorts of goodies.  

The plastic bag (kind of like a pencil bag) included sample sizes of the original eyeshadow primer potion, Supercurl curling mascara, 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in "Delinquent" and Lip Junkies in "Midnight Cowgirl".  I want to show how wonderful this shadow pencil is.  

The top line is as drawn and the bottom line is blended out.  It has a nice sparkle to it.  

And I was entered in a drawing to win this bad mammer jammer.

This included a full size primer, set of brushes, 2 eye shadows, a couple of lip junkies, eye pencils, a Big Fatty mascara and some other stuff.  I don't think I won it because I feel like I would have received a call by now.  Bummer!  

I really liked the event and was happy to try some other Urban Decay product.  Some items on my wish list are:  

• 24/7 Concealer Pencil in CIA
• Afterglow Glide-On Cheek Tint in Indecent
• Complexion Primer Potion
• Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Glam Rock

So I've decided that once I find my full time job, I'm going to try to work part time at Ulta so I can get a discount!  Great idea, right?

Sincerely, 

Jules

aka The Broke Ass Bitch  

P.S.  I don't know if I'm feeling this new Blogger.  

Under My Umbrella-Ella-Ella

I just got back from a delicious dinner with my friend, Stacy.  We have been friends since the 3rd grade, all the way back when we were Garfield Wildcats!  

Me on my 10th birthday with Stacy behind me, almost 25 years ago.  

Stacy and I recently went to the Mall of America and while we were there, Stacy was looking at the Hello Kitty umbrellas at the Sanrio store.  So when I saw this digi stamp Birds Cards, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.  

I cut and folded Color Mates card stock in "Deep Orange Dreams" into a card.  I had the red and white polka dot paper in one of those bulk pads of paper.  I printed the cute umbrella digi stamp.  They also offered a stamp with just the umbrella which I also printed off so that I could use it as a template to cut out this...

The Hello Kitty paper is from Sanrio and it's called "Red".  I used some 3D pads under the Hello Kitty umbrella so that it hovered off the paper.  

Copic pens used for the digi stamp: 

Outline-V09 (Violet)

Words-YG03 (Yellow Green)

Inside-RV11 (Pink)

Rain drops-B14 (Light Blue)  I also used Marvy Pigmented Caligraphy pen in Sky Blue

Handle-EK Success Writer Metallic Collections in "Silver" and American Crafts Precision pen in "Red"

And I used Distress Stickles in "Faded Jeans" on the rain drops. 

Birds Cards also had this sweet sentiment available in digi stamp.

After using the lemon card stock, I felt like the inside needed a little sumpin' sumpin' so I added the cutesie cupcake in the corner.  

Birthday girl with her card

Happy Birthday, Stacy aka Anastasia Beaverhausen!  And just remember, Australia, in our forties, it's going to happen!  

L.Y.L.A.S.,

Julie 

MyGlam Bag: April 2012

Hello, everybody!  I hope the start of your week has been splendid!  Mine has started well.

This post will be about a subscription service called myglam.  I found out about myglam through a couple of YouTube gurus.  How the service works is you sign up to get a bag once a month for a low cost of $10.  The themed bag typically has 4-5 makeup samples and occasionally even full sized items.

I attempted to get the service a couple months ago but was put on a waiting list.  I was happy to hear I was eligible for the April bag and I received it on Saturday, April 14th!

The theme of the April bag is "Girls' Night Out" which couldn't have been themed better since the day I received the bag I was literally just about to walk out the door to go to a drag show.

This is what the bag looks like.

The bag reminded me of Jem and you know I'm all about Jem!  The bag is not the highest quality bag out there.  I believe they are intended to switch out every month or at least that's what I plan to do with them.  

When I opened the bag I found the card that comes with each bag that explains the theme and the products included.  

The first product I pulled out were these All-Belle false eyelashes.  

I have never heard of these lashes before.  The box appears to be written in Chinese.  I can tell by looking at them that they're no Ardell but I'm happy to try anything.  And if I ever go to another drag show, I'll be wearing these babies.  

The bag also included a sample of Dermstore Lip Quench.  

This is formulated to soften and smooth thin, dry lips.  I have since tried it and it is very hydrating.  It also has a nice, fruity smell.  I think this will be my night time lip treatment.  

I have to confess that I looked at all the sneak peaks the myglam Facebook site showed me and I knew I was going to be getting an Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencil.  It was just a question of what color I would be getting.  I was hoping that I'd get Perversion which is the blackest black but this is what I got...

It's Radium, which is a nice pop of blue.  I love it!  I'm glad I got this!  This pencil was a travel sized so now I'll buy the full sized in Perversion.  Here's a swatch of Radium...

I love it!  

The last items in my bags were two eye brushes.  One for the eyelids and the other was an eyeliner brush.  

I think I'll be able to use them.  They seem like they're good enough quality to get the job done.  At the very least, they would make fine travel brushes.  

Overall, I'm pleased with the bag and am happy to spend my $10.  I'm looking forward to next month.  I'm going to keep getting the bags for awhile.  If I find myself disappointed with a total of 3 bags, then I'll cancel the service.  

You can sign up for myglam here:  click here for your bag  You may be put on a waiting list but they will inform you when you can register via email.  

I recorded myself opening the bag.  It's on YouTube now.  You'll get to see me all dolled up.  Forgive the clicking noises.  I was using my laptop and it was dark out so I don't have the best lighting going on in this clip.  And I was getting confused on where to position my hands.  One day I will have a video camera.  :sigh:  

Enjoy!

Red lipstick kisses,

Jules

Makin' Bacon

Happy Easter, everybody!  I hope you had a wonderful day and don't have a bellyache from all the sodium filled food.  I made Easter dinner for some friends, a tradition I started last year, and have plenty of leftovers.  Yum, yum!

It was a busy weekend for me.  Not only did I celebrate Easter but I also celebrated my nephew, Zach's 10th birthday.

Zach likes money (don't we all?).   And he saves it, a trait that I'm quite jealous of.  I am horrible at saving money.  I'm hoping that once I get back on my feet I can start adopting some of those money saving habits.  And I really hope Zach continues saving his money too.  Maybe he can give his good ole Aunt Julie a loan one day.   ;-D  

Because he enjoys money so much, I immediately thought of him when I saw the Reminisce "Show Me the Money" paper at All About Pictures in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I cut it down for the front of the card.  I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to put on the card besides the money paper.  On a scrapbook day, Jennifer brought over her Cricut Expressions 2 and some of her cartridges.  I looked through them and then all of the sudden it came to.  Money, saving....PIGGY BANK!  And you know my Potato Head lovin' friend Jennifer had the Toy Story 3 Cricut cartridge which featured Hamm.  Perfection!  I found some army green card stock, cut it into squares, glued them into a giant square in the middle, centered Hamm on them and the rest was history!

I spent some time googling a bacon joke.  I found a lot of not so appropriate ones but finally settled on this corny ass one for the inside of the card.

I love this card!  I hope it gives other people ideas on card making for boys.  It gets kind of tough once they reach the double digits.  And no one wants to be that lame aunt that makes babyish cards.

I think Zach liked it.  He thought the joke was funny.  :)

OD'ing on Cadbury Creme Eggs,
Jules  

Got Crabs?

I have another birthday card for you today.  Another Principal friend and Lunch Lady, Judy, celebrated her birthday yesterday.  Judy has quite the sense of humor on her so I knew a sappy sentimental card would not do for her.  

Here's the latest card from my "WTF?" line...

I've been using the blank cards you buy in a pack at Michaels.  This is the first one that I just cut down myself using my Martha Stewart scoring board.  I picked yellow card stock.  The paper with the beach theme was from a brand called Die Cuts With A View from their "All About Boys" line.  This one was called "Under the Sea UV".  If I recall, I got this one from one of those $5 grab bags at the now closed Memories on Fifth.   This is what the whole 12x12 looked like.

Super cute, right?  I just cut out the bottom right hand corner because I wanted my focus to be on the crabs.  I adhered that to my card stock.  

I found two crab stickers at Michaels from Jolee's By You called "Crabs".  I placed them in the left hand corner of the card.  Those stickers are what gave me the idea for the card.  I just happened to remember that I had the sea paper.  They went together perfectly.  

And lastly, I added the smart ass "Got Crabs?"    You know my love for the double entendre.

And just in case you couldn't tell this is a birthday card...

Judy loved the card, or at least she said she did.  

Have a crabalicious day,

Jules 

Coffee With A Friend

My friend, Sara, just had a birthday.  I worked with her at Principal Financial Group for many years.  Sara is also one of the Lunch Ladies.  She and I both love coffee.  She prefers hers black while I enjoy the cream and sugar.  We have a few Principal coffee stories.

Sara would bring in her own little mini thermos and drink that in the morning.  And sometimes she would get coffee out of the machine which seriously smelled like motor oil and looked like sludge.  It was so strong that I could smell it coming down the hall.  And the machine would put cream in your coffee whether you wanted it or not.  I used to ask Sara if she needed to borrow my comb to straighten her chest hairs after drinking that coffee.

Sometimes I would bring in my big thermos of coffee.  If I didn't have it all gone by lunch time, I would give the rest of it to Sara.  She started referring to herself as the "Coffee Beggar" or "Coffee Bum".

And occasionally I'd sneak off to the nearby coffee shops during my breaks to pick up fancy coffee for us.  Leaving the work property was a no no during break time.  I'm such a rebel!

I found the cups (they're actually tea cups, hence the tea bag on top) digi stamp here!

I knew that I wanted to use bright colors and have them up against an electric blue background.  I used my Copic markers to color the cups in.  And I used Distress Stickles for the rims and handles of the cups.  You can't tell by the picture, but I gave the cups a little dimension by using a 3D foam pad behind each cup.  I staggered my stamp letters for the "Coffee?"

And the inside included a reminder to call me whenever she wanted to chit chat over coffee.

One thing I know about working at Principal is that I will never find another group of people like the ones I've worked with.  I've had so much fun these past almost 13 years.  And Sara is definitely one of a kind.  

Sniffles,

Jules

Dearly Beloved...

It's a wedding card, y'all!  


My friend, LouAnn, got married over the weekend!  I had worked with LouAnn for many years at Principal Financial Group.  We started eating lunch together, along with a bunch of other gals, and we became the "Lunch Ladies".  


I'm going to give you a little back story on LouAnn and her husband David.  They were previously married to each other back in 1981 and have two sons together.  Things didn't work out the first time around and sadly, they divorced.  But fate brought them back together years later and it's been peas and carrots ever since.  I'm so happy they could find love in each other once again.  So without further ado, here's the card.  

The back is purple card stock from the brand Color Mates in "Deep Lovely Lilac". The light purple with the cream swirl is from Anna Griffin, called "Cream Lavender Squares". I scalloped the edges of a cream colored card stock with crazy scissors.  

The cake is the very first digi stamp I printed.  I got it free from here.  I personally drew the cake stand.  I used Copic markers to color the cake (light blue, pink, burnt sienna and purple).  

I added some Stickles to make it look like frosting.  

I found a letter stencil laying around and used it for the "Two Hearts".

And I stenciled the "Come Together Again!" on the inside on lavender card stock.  I originally attempted to stencil on the card and messed up.  

Congratulations, LouAnn and David!  I'm so happy you found your way back to one another.  And I hope you liked the card!  

Hearts all aflutter, 

Jules