There’s been quite a to-do lately on some of the blogs I like to read about independent mineral makeup companies purchasing pigments from manufacturers and simply repackaging them to sell to consumers. The problem is that these companies are claiming that these colors are created and/or developed by them, when in fact no creativity was involved at all.

My experience with mineral makeup, specifically eyeshadows, has been limited to companies like Bare Escentuals (who I’m assuming make their colors themselves), and smaller companies like AromaLeigh, Meow Cosmetics, Fyrinnae, and J. Lynne Cosmetics. These companies also create their own colors and formulas. I appreciate their creativity and the unique colors they have to offer. As a former small business owner (making soap and lotions), I especially respect the smaller companies’ dedication to their craft. I know what kind of time and effort and trial and error has to go into developing your own formulas and techniques and product! I also know how awesome it feels to develop a product that is truly all your own creation.

With that said, I want to wholeheartedly support the Mineral Makeup Mutiny.  I pledge to support independent companies that are doing interesting things with color, creating interesting shades, and working hard to make something new and different for their customers. I have no interest in supporting companies that buy pigments wholesale, divvy them up into smaller jars and slap a label on them. If I wanted that kind of product, I could do it myself.

I love makeup. I love fun, interesting colors, both bright and subtle, and so far some of my favorites have come from the aforementioned companies – like Cupcake Sprinkles from Fyrinnae and Strawberry Despair from AromaLeigh. The hard-working entrepreneurs behind these companies have earned our support and respect!

Its been kind of a tough week for me. This morning, I left the house without filling in my brows because I forgot to do them when getting ready – major lack of sleep going on. I think only other brow-philes will get this one, but it’s sort of like leaving with jam on your face or something. It makes a “what is wrong with this picture???” moment when you finally see yourself in a mirror later on.

On Sunday, I decided to try out some fake nails. I’m not mentioning any names at this point, because I actually liked the nails themselves and the tale I’m about to relate probably has a lot more to do with my own ignorance than any actual FAIL of the product. Anyway, I put them on around 9 pm. After painstakingly getting them all finished, I decided that the length was just a bit longer than I was going to be able to tolerate the next day at work (I wear my natural nails quite short!) and decided to take them off. Okay, no problem. Bust out the nail polish remover, and soak per instructions. And soak. And soak some more. Ummm… they now look like hell but they aren’t coming off! Crikey! Seriously, at this point I was thinking that nail glue would make an adequate substitute for bolts for holding together the space shuttle! The stuff wouldn’t come off my skin, either!

It was getting quite late at this point, and I had to get up early the next day. The nail tips were soft enough from all the soaking that I decided to just cut them off, file them smooth and deal with diseased-looking nails the next day until I could figure out a Plan B. So that’s what I did. This morning (about 36 hours later) I discovered that they had come loose enough that I could pretty much pop them off each nail. So much for space shuttle glue. I am now happily fake-nail free. Probably popping them off isn’t the best idea, but it sure was entertaining.

The moral of the story? Lack of sleep causes BROW FAIL and if I want to put on fake nails, I better be ready for at least a 36 hour commitment.

It’s not that I don’t have things to review, I do. But at the moment, the creative muse is tired, cranky, and sulking in a corner somewhere, so I’m bereft of inspiration. Borrowing from The Non-Blonde’s Currently post, here is my list of current stuff.

Book: Beauty Pop Volume 2. Clever little manga.

Song:  Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) by Mika.

Frequently worn outfit/item: Comfy zip cardigan sweaters. Have them in black and tan.

Perfume: Needing citrus to improve my mood. The Body Shop Satsuma, L’Occitane Feu D’Orange.

Makeup: Bit of a MAC addiction brewing. I wore Hello Kitty again today, planning another Aquavert look tomorrow.

Food: Greek yogurt. Claire-made pesto pizza with veggies.

Drink: Starbucks venti non-fat latte. Yes please.

Guilty Pleasure: Slices of crusty bread with melted smoked mozzarella. Hard to stop at one slice.

Bane of my existence: My blood pressure.

Anticipation: Warmer weather and my tulips blooming.

Wishlist: Stila Indian Summer collection.

Today is my 30th birthday. How weird is that? My darling husband gifted me with a bunch of stuff to make my life easier – all techie stuff, lol. His co-workers were amazed that he could “get away” with it, since after all batteries and the like aren’t very romantic. I laughed because it’s all awesome. He gave me a new keyboard and battery for my laptop, which is awesome because my cat has yanked a bunch of the keycaps off my laptop. We put them back on, but they aren’t the same and it makes me NUTS when typing how some of the keys don’t click like they are supposed to. The new battery is awesome because the old one won’t hold a charge anymore – which meant having to bring the power cord along if I want to take the laptop off my desk and blog somewhere else.

He also gave me new battery for my phone, a T-Mobile G1, which I love. I cruise my favorite blogs on my lunch break and Twitter like crazy with it too – it’s basically a mini-laptop away from home. But the battery life sucks, so he got me  new battery with more capacity. Woohoo! The last thing was an adaptor so that I can charge the phone and listen to music at the same time – the phone only has one jack-thingy so you can either charge it or have headphones plugged in, but not both. Now I can! Woohoo!

Happy Birthday to me.

I have a pile of stuff to write about (MAC Hello Kitty, Maybelline Lash Stylist, Cargo PlantLove, Bare Escentuals stuff…) but we did inventory at work today and I’m beat. So I’m taking another break (yesterday’s post was pretty lazy too!) and following the lead of Oh…pretty!, which is a blog I like to read. Because I use and have SO MUCH product, this is going to be what I used today. I tag everyone who reads and wants to do this, like Oh…Pretty! did. If you put a link to your list in the comments, I’ll read yours too!

* Shampoo: Aveda Shampure
* Conditioner: Nature’s Gate Pomegranate Sunflower Hair Defense Conditioner
* Styling products: Living Proof No Frizz for Thick Hair, TRESemme hairspray
* Shower Gel: Suave Exhale Lively Juicy Tangerine Body Wash
* Body moisturizer: L’Occitane 15% Shea Butter Body Lotion
* Deodorant: L’Occitane Purifying Deodorant
* Fake Tan: none
* Cleanser: 40 Carrots Carrot + Creme Cleanser
* Moisturizer: Cosmetic Surgeon In A Jar Firming & Tightening Cream
* Eye makeup remover: none
* Exfoliator: Cosmetic Surgeon In A Jar Ultimate Skin Exfoliator
* Primer: none
* Foundation: Stila Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer
* Foundation brush: none today, but usually EcoTools
* Concealer: Benefit Erase Paste
* Powder: Clarins Lose Powder
* Blusher: The Body Shop Roseflower Blush in Pink
* Bronzer: none today
* Highlighter: Guerlain Meteorites
* Eyeshadow base: Urban Decay Primer Potion
* Eyeshadows: MAC Hello Kitty Lucky Tom
* Eyeliner: MAC Hello Kitty Lucky Tom (purple color used as liner)
* Eyelash curler: Tarte Picture Perfect Lash Curler
* Eyelash base: none
* Mascara: Maybelline Lash Stiletto
* Lipstick: none today
* Lipgloss: L’Occitane Honey & Lemon gloss
* Nail Colour: Citra Formaldehyde Free Healthy Nails
* Perfume: Fresh Patchouli Pure

My name is Claire and I am a makeup junkie. Actually, I am a cosmetics junkie… Stash photos are always popular, so I figured I’d share mine – although I’m kind of embarrassed about how MESSY the top of my desk is. I guess we’ll call the top of the desk the “Before” photo and I’ll just have to tidy it up. There is a little backstory: when we purchased our house two years ago, we had been living in a studio apartment. All my Stuff was crammed into a train case and in a medicine cabinet, and I did my makeup sitting on the floor of my apartment (the train case lived under the bed). The first thing I wanted upon moving into the house was a vanity for all my makeup and stuff. I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I ended up purchasing a small desk and a stand mirror, and it is still pretty much serving me well. Although I really probably need a “real” desk for files and paperwork now.

Here is the top drawer. (Click for larger photos.) The top drawer houses foundations, powders, random blushes, mascaras, eyelash curlers, concealers, and random other bits (I think there are even earrings in there!). My attempts to keep it organized invariably fail when I go rooting through in a hurry looking for something, but I do go through and toss really old stuff on occasion. Unused stuff tends to sink to the bottom.

Then there is the middle drawer. This drawer holds bronzers (and a few Cargo and Nyx blushes), eyeshadow, and various palettes. Since the palettes are skinny, they are stacked pretty deep – two Sephora palettes, and Urban Decay, several Fresh palettes… Also, eyeliner pencils and a few other random makeup items end up in this drawer. I don’t rifle through it as much as the top drawer, because until recently I haven’t been wearing eyeshadow very often.

The bottom drawer has lip products and makeup bags in it. This actually stays pretty well sorted. One basket holds balms and tinted balms, one holds wand glosses and random pot glosses, and one holds tube glosses. I recently tossed out stuff that was more than a year or two old, because it just seemed EWWW to keep them any longer than that. I am kind of a makeup bag nut, so I have too many. I’m such a sucker for gift with purchase bags, but I try to give some away once in a while.

Now for the top. This is where the real mess is. I haven’t organized the top of my desk in a few months and my cats keep cruising across the top and knocking stuff over, which means it gets put back kind of haphazardly. But the top of my desk shares space with random skincare products, hot rollers, books and magazines (both beauty and non-beauty), and my laptop. Geez, I need to organize it. I usually read my email and various news sites while I do my skincare and makeup in the morning, so my laptop is occasionally the scene of random makeup spills. So far, only powder, which blows out with compressed air.

I also usually have various products and PR handouts lying around my desk because this is where I write Claire’s Beauty. Having one desk for everything works okay, but I really need to find a better way to organize my files and handouts. I bought the file holder thingy in hopes that it would help, but it’s already getting full. A mini file cabinet may soon be in order. Of course, if I could somehow keep my cats from playing chase across my desk, I might be able to put a second organizer on top and put stuff on top of that. But I think I’m dreaming, because playing Chase across Claire’s desk seems to be a favorite game in my house.

I share this office area with my husband, and it’s one of my favorite places in the house. The corner of the room (just off to the left, you can see the window in the first desktop photo) is comprised of two really big windows looking into our backyard, facing north-west. The room gets a lot of natural light, and is an ideal place to be. I particularly like it in the summer, when we have flowers blooming in the backyard, but even this time of year isn’t bad. I can see where my daffodils are coming up, and in another few months our apple tree will be in bloom. It’s nice.

There you have it, a tour of my desk. Maybe I’ll clean it on my next day off and then I won’t be so embarrassed!

How on earth does one write about a perfume for which it seems everything has already been said? Chanel No. 5 is one of those perfumes that everyone has heard of, even if they’re not “into” perfume – their mom or grandma or auntie wore it. They may not be able to tell you what it smells like, but they’ve heard of it. It seems pointless to deliver an academic treatise on this perfume – there are plenty of places where you can read that, including Wikipedia. All that is left, I think, is to tell one’s own story about it, since that is the only truly unique way to write about something so many others have experienced.

My mom wore Chanel No. 5 Eau de Toilette when I was a kid. I didn’t really like it, it was too strong to my nose, too grown-up. As an young adult, I still found it too “perfumey,” being firmly stuck first in a soapy-clean phase (best exemplified by Pleasures, the ultimate soapy-clean scent) and then a tutti-fruity phase (in which many Bath & Body Works body sprays were purchased). In the last few years my perfume tastes have expanded and I no longer enjoy either the soapy cleans or the tutti-fruities (thank God!) anymore – but I still didn’t see the charm of No. 5.

Lately, I’ve been on the hunt for something different, something with more complexity than what is found in the usual dreck of mainstream women’s fragrances. I was passing through Macy’s one day and happened to pass the Chanel counter. On a whim, I sprayed my hand with No. 5 Eau Premiere, having read the review in the first Newsletter edition of Perfumes The Guide. It was a revelatory moment.

My first thought was that I didn’t remember ever liking No. 5 this much. The fussy “perfumey” smell I remember from my childhood was gone. This scent was complex, and interesting, and oh so good on my hand! It was, dare I say, really beautiful! I visited it again a few weeks later to see if I was still intrigued. I was.

And then the quandary. Eau Premiere is a “modernization” of No. 5, and generally I’ve always been rather snobbish about such things. What could be better than the original? So I sprayed and sniffed the No. 5 of my childhood. I think it’s beautiful, but larger than life. For me, the Eau Premiere is more wearable because it has that same sense of beauty as the Eau de Toilette but it’s not quite so much of a good thing. I’m definitely in awe though, as though I’ve been searching the world over for my one true love only to find that it’s been right here all along.

I turn thirty in a little more than two months. It seems appropriate that I should finally appreciate the “grown-up” perfume that my mom loves so much.

It’s snowing here in Portland today (again… still…) and while I have been really unhappy about the two feet of snow on the ground outside, it is kind of pretty on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I got the Christmas present I wanted (more on that later) so here’s hoping all your holiday wishes come true too!