Makeup Withdrawal

BabylissPro Nano Titanium Jumbo Roller Hairsetter

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I've wanted hot rollers for a while. I used to do roller sets all time when I was still at cosmetology school- the old fashioned way. You know, hair rolled up in jumbo rollers and sitting under a loud hooded dryer while reading a magazine. Does that remind you of old grandma hair? Honestly, I loved how they made my hair super shiny with lots of volume and movement. Sexy, not old-ladyish.

Since I have neither the space for a giant hooded dryer in my home nor the time it takes to set my hair, it made much more sense to get a roller set.
Last month, Morgan, being the epitome of Perfect Boyfriend Material, ordered me the BabylissPro Nano Titanium Jumbo Roller Hairsetter as a Chinese New Year present (hey, I don't do very many traditional Chinese things... but New Year is mandatory) since he couldn't find red envelopes.
I couldn't wait to try them out.

This set comes with 12 jumbo rollers that are 1'1/2" in diameter. The rollers are flocked with soft velvet to hold onto your hair. The hairsetter also comes with 12 roller pins and 12 roller clips. The BabylissPro Nano Titanium Jumbo rollers cost about $45-60 for a set, depending on where you buy it. Morgan ordered mine off of Amazon.

First, I need to mention that I was NOT looking to create well defined curls, which is why I wanted jumbo sized rollers. I already knew that I can't get great curls from rollers (my hair does not hold curls well, I need a very hot marcelle style curling iron, a tremendous amount of hair product and lots of prayers in order to get a head full of curls), what I wanted was body and big loose waves.

After a few practice runs, I could easily do my hair in the morning in about 20 minutes (not including heating up time). I would get up and the first thing I would do was to turn on the setter so that it could heat up. There is a dot on one of the rollers that indicates when the rollers are hot, but I find that the dot would turn white before they were well and truly hot. During the seven minutes that it takes to heat up, I brush my teeth, wash my face, etc.
I use a heat protectant specifically designed for hot rollers that also provides a bit of hold (Kenra Platinum Hot Spray) and spritz it throughout my hair. Then it takes about 5-10 minutes to section out and roll up my hair. I like to use the clips instead of the pins, they're just easier to use (especially in the back of the head, where it is both hard to see and reach).
Then I apply my makeup while the rollers are in my hair (10min). I then go over my head with a blow dryer on cool. This step is super important because though the heat creates the curl shape, the cooling of the hair is what sets it.
All in all, I love my new rollers. If I had to name a flaw, it would be that the rollers do lose heat very quickly, so sometimes I put a hot air bonnet on top or wrap a towel around my head while the rollers are in. Oh, and that the heat indicating dot is a liar.

I'll try to have a tutorial up soon, because it is much easier to explain hot rollers with pictures!
Here's a sneak peak (using my sister's head):

Have a wonderful night, folks!

Product featured was given to me as a gift. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 25: Inspired By Fashion

Friday, February 10, 2012

I buckled down last night to finally finish my Nail Challenge. It's taking way longer than I thought, but I've been extremely busy and plagued by nail breakage and an inability to finish any great undertaking that I ever start.
Story of my life.

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Today's nails are inspired less by current fashion and more by a figure of fashion. Alexander McQueen made such great contributions to the runway, and I feel sad whenever I hear his name and think about how a man with such vivid ideas took his own life.

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I used images from his Fall 2009 show to inspire me. A contrast of red, orange, white and black with bold lines, striking patterns with some interesting found objects, feathers and bondage gear thrown in.

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I used Milani Techno Red, and painted the design with acrylics.

*sniff sniff* This makes me all sorts of sad.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Some Ways To Get Your Daily Fix

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I'm sure that with the death of Google Friend Connect, many of you readers are turning to new ways to follow your favorite blogs. Even though I'm a Blogger user, I still think it's kinda awful that Google would do this. I know that numbers aren't everything but I can imagine that if you're a Wordpress user, the sudden drop down to "zero" followers may make it feel a bit lonely! Never fear, luckily there are some great ways out there to keep getting your daily dose of your favorite blog, no matter what blogging platform they use.
I thought I'd try to help by pointing out a few new (and old) features here on this blog!

I've had a Bloglovin' icon for a really long time, on the left hand side of the page. I like that Bloglovin' is quite simple and elegant to use, easy to keep track of your favorite blogs' most recent posts.

hellocotton's little friend widget is a new thing here on MakeupWithdrawal. Doesn't it look quite a bit like GFC? You get to see all the friendly faces of the followers. What I like about hellocotton is that the site really seems to encourage interaction between readers and bloggers. It's like a little community, where you can see what others have to say about the post without ever leaving the page.

Of course, if you're all fancy and great with feed readers (in other words, not me) then you can always subscribe to the RSS feed with your favorite reader. I know that many people like Google Reader but I've heard that it has a limit of 2500 blogs (who has time to read 2500 blogs?!)

Last but not least, we have the old standby- email. This sends you an email of each post so that you can be sure that you never miss out! The only drawback to this is that it doesn't update instantly, you usually receive my complete post in email form about 8-12 hours after I've published it. You can cancel your subscription at any time (why would you? wouldn't you miss my happy little face? No?). Doesn't a little dash of beauty sound great in between your work emails?

Anyways, no matter what you chose to do, I hope you stay in touch! I'd love to hear from everyone, how do you follow your favorite blogs?

FOTD

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I really wanted to do something with green eye shadow today. My CosmoProf just released the newly redesigned line of TIGI cosmetics and they have the most incredible, pigmented green I have ever seen in pan form. Ever. All of the shadows that I swatched were so sinfully saturated and smooth, I had to try my hardest not to walk out with a palette or a quad. Anyways, I came home and decided to bust out my Wet'n'Wild I <3 Matte palette again.

I didn't have class or work today, so I decided to go a a little darker in the brows and more intense with the eyeliner.

I used:

Brows: NARS Bali shadow, NYX Brow Shaper

Eyes: LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer, Wet'n'Wild I <3 Matte palette, Urban Decay Secret Service shadow, La Femme sealer, Kiss Me Heroine Make Volume + Curl mascara, MAC Gel Mixing Medium

Face: Laura Mercier Foundation Primer, Mary Kay Medium Coverage Foundation, MUFE Full Cover Concealer, Milani Minerals Compact Powder, Rock & Republic Foreplay blush

Lips: BECCA Gisella lipstick

Max Factor Max Effect Fantasy Fire

Monday, February 6, 2012

Today I received the most amazing package in the mail. I squealed the entire time it took to cut open the package then realized how awesome my friend Jian is, from Pinkfish Tart. Not only is she sweet and sent me extras THAT SHE HAD NO BUSINESS DOING but without her, I would not have my hands on the prettiest color I have ever seen in a bottle.
I would write Jian a haiku... but I'm horrible at poetry.

Here is two coats of Fantasy Fire over Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz. I took these pictures in various lighting conditions and odd angles because I wanted to capture that amazing rainbow color shift from red-violet through copper, gold, yellow green and finally green (oh Clarins 230, how I wish I owned you) that Fantasy Fire has.

As you can see, Fantasy Fire is very sheer and definitely needs some matching underwear. I bet that it'd look the best over a indigo or purple jelly finish. The only down side to this polish is that in comes in a scant 4.5ml bottle that costs £3.99. This is my smallest polish I've ever purchased, and probably the most expensive one if you do a $/ml comparison.

Totally worth it.

Thank you again Jian, for helping me obtain this beautiful, distilled unicorn pee color!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.