I'm projecting into the future but I'm sure by this point I've succumbed to food coma and am wrapped up on the couch watching Charlie Brown. Or at least that's my hope for the day and since I'm visualizing it now it damn well better come true.

I hope that all my readers out there are happy and healthy and spending the time with their loved ones. Blood relatives are not, being with those who make you happy is what's important. Life's too short for anything else. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I blame my roommate and her bad influence, but this past weekend I bought TWO scarves. Two! And they're mostly decorative - I didn't buy them to actually stay warm.

I consider my purchases a bit random, but they just 'spoke' to me, if you'll forgive my use of the phrase, and at Forever 21 prices I couldn't resist. 

The first scarf is this cute fuchsia on black with fringe:

It's my new favorite and I've already worn it about 4 times. In fact I'm wearing it as I type this :)

The second is an almost French-inspired (or I like to think so at least) infinity/circle scarf:

While I don't want to sound like a complainy pants, as nice as it is to have your birthday on a Friday there are some drawbacks too. Like the fact that when you try to stretch your birthday celebration out for multiple days it's inevitable that some of them will fall on a weekday and you'll have to design your makeup accordingly.

Unsurprisingly I like dramatic makeup for evening. Day too depending on who's opinion you're taking, but for evening you'll really see it. But if I have to wear my makeup to work I kind of have to pretend at least that it's not ridiculous...especially when I'm wearing contacts and nothing is hidden behind glasses. For my happy hour get together I decided to go with an old staple - purples.

This purple is again my new fav Mac's Violet pigment with the Graphology to smoke out the crease. It's hard to tell in the bottom picture but to make it slightly more 'evening' I added more Graphology in the crease, smudged black eyeliner across the top lid, and lined my waterline. With the mascara is still slightly subtle but emphasizes everything enough for a dark bar.

On my lips is a Wet N Wild lipstick that I of course don't have with me....grr it's a subtle pinky brown and worked very well (I think) with the purple eye.

I do have to admit that I LOVED my outfit for the night. Neither the top or the boots are really office appropriate so I changed into them later but I think the whole look is so fun. The shiny sequin top you saw in a different Forever21 focused post that I did before (you can find that here), the jeans are Faith21, and the boots are Kelly and something that I got from DSW a few weeks ago. I was a little concerned about 4'' stiletto heel but actually by the end of the night everything was feeling pretty comfortable. I probably should be concerned about showing this outfit off too much because I do intend to wear the exact same combo again, but you now what? I don't care. It's fun, I like it, why not show it off?

Hello my  beautiful blog readers! In case I have not inundated you with the news in person, let me tell you that today is my birthday!! 25 years I've spent on this great earth, playing and messing around, trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I don't know what that is yet but I want to say thank you to everyone who's been putting up with me while I figure it out. 

Turning a year older is a momentous occasion in my opinion, whether it be my turn or someone elses. It's almost like your own little new year chance, an opportunity to reflect and keep it moving (possibly in a new direction, possibly not - it depends). The roomie proclaimed this to be my  year, and I feel for the most part if hasn't been too bad (some people could have been less idiotic in general, but I've decided to be the bigger person and let it go). 

One of the things I've had the most fun with this year is this blog. It might have evolved from its somewhat emo-esque beginnings, but I think it was necessary. I didn't so much need an outlet in that way any more. With makeup becoming more and more the focus I needed to be able to put that stuff here. It's hard to change directions and focus on something you never knew needed the focus. Makeup was always something I liked but it wasn't anything I took seriously as a hobby or a career option. Lately though with the support of the people around me I have started to. I don't know where it'll take me but I'll try to be brave and jump in with both feet. 

I think that's probably the hardest thing for me. Forcefully changing my path. Walking off the well trodden road in front of me and trying something different. An extreme aversion to drama has be quite comfortable in places/times where things don't suck - when they're going pretty good. Why rock the boat when the boat's not that bad? Well because sometimes the boat can be better than just not bad. Amazing I know, but I swear it had to be a possibility.

In thinking about all the things that had to come together to make me me I decided that music had to be discussed. I have always loved and been involved with music. Chorus for forever (DC is the exception not the rule), band sometimes, and everything else whenever there's time. I mean - my sorority line name references a song by one of my favorite bands because there's little that means as much to me. So you lucky people, here are the 25 years of ME (if it's not completely correct I don't care. I went by random Googling with Billboard Chart listings. I didn't want to double check because truthfully I have better uses of my time. This is just a disclaimer the list is probably not perfect and that's ok).

1985 - "Take On Me".....a-ha
1986 - "Faith".....George Michael
1987 - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" .....Whitney Houston
1988 - "Never Gonna Give You Up"..... Rick Astley
1989 - "Straight Up"..... Paula Abdul

1990 - "Hold On"..... Wilson Phillips
1991 - "Two Princes"..... Spin Doctors
1992 - "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)"..... En Vogue
1993 - "Can't Help Falling In Love"..... UB40
1994 - "The Sign"..... Ace of Base
1995 - "This is How We Do It"..... Montell Jordan
1996 - "Wannabe"..... Spice Girls
1997 - "Criminal"..... Fiona Apple
1998 - "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It".....Will Smith
1999 - "I Want it That Way"..... Backstreet Boys
2000 - "He Wasn't Man Enough"..... Toni Braxton
2001 - "U Remind Me"..... Usher
2002 - "Complicated"..... Avril Lavigne
2003 - "Lose Yourself"..... Eminem
2004 - "This Love"..... Maroon 5
2005 - "Hollaback Girl"..... Gwen Stefani
2006 - "London Bridge"..... Fergie
2007 - "Before He Cheats"..... Carrie Underwood
2008 - "Lollipop"..... Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major
2009 - "I'm Yours"..... Jason Mraz
2010 - "Raise Your Glass"..... Pink

I hope you've enjoyed that large random rendition of songs I love even now. There were a LOT more that could (and should probably) have been on this list, but it's a good one anyhow. Use it as a starting off point to make your own - I'd love to see and hear it!

Just in case you couldn't tell, that's me on the left in my favorite childhood post: thumb in the mouth, finger on the nose. When I was REALLY small I could suck my thumb and twirl my hair at the same time, but alas that could not happen forever. Awesomesauce.

Yay for new makeup!! I picked up a few pieces from the CCO on Sunday and then got in the stuff I purchased from Sephora's Friends and Family Sale. 

Unsurprisingly I couldn't want and wanted to try everything, so I did my usual cray-cray/schizo two eyes two eye looks. 

On the right eye is this ridiculous bright blue angled look, which I based on the gold and red Arabic eye I did forever go. Click here for that post.

On the left is a soft day look that is essentially not that different from what I usually do, but it only uses one eye shadow duo by Too Faced. I think this'll be a great one to take with me travelling because the brown is SO pigmented and buildable, even to night life appropriate. 

Both looks had UDPP as the base and was finished off with my new YSL Effet Faux Cils mascara. Which I can't decide was worth the money or not. There's going to have to be an indepth comparison post I think. 

Hope you guys like the rambling and the random! Later!

To make sure I used this wonderful Sunday filled with its extra-houry goodness, my friend and I dropped by the mall. I didn't pick up a lot of stuff (yay me!) but what I did pick up are a couple items I've decided to call Birthday Goodies!

Will I wear them to birthday celebrations? I have no idea. But they were purchased the week of my birthday and it makes me happy to think of them that way.

The first thing I bought was this cute little purse/clutch from F21: 

They're surprisingly comfortable and I even like the peep toe so I'm excited to add them to my collection.

I also picked up a few things at the CCO (Cosmetics Company Outlet) but I'm hoping to actually be proactive and possibly do a video about the makeup I've bought over the last few months, so we'll see how it goes. 

Hope you're all having a wonderful evening, I'm going to go now and take my Pepto Bismol and curl up in bed. Night!

Today, Forever 21's plus size brand - Faith 21: Extended Sizes - has been renamed Forever 21+: Plus Sizes.

And I'm not sure how I feel about this. The terminology marketers use when reaching out to bigger girls changes all the time. Plus size, extended sizes, using different numbering for garments like 0 - whatever; consistency is pretty much non-existent. 

I guess I just can't help but wonder, why change the name at all? What type of re-branding does Forever 21 think this is going to do for the line? As of right now Faith 21 is already known as one of the few lines were a big girl can pick up affordable items that don't look too shabby. They might not last forever, but for those few times you wear it, you're gonna look good (probably - caveats on this kind of things are always necessary). 

Yes the new title might bring in more of a connection to Forever 21 (though I don't think that was really needed), but the way they classify the clothing line changed as well. Hmm... Is this simply a matter of political correctness? I didn't particularly care what the line was called, as long as I could get a dress for less than $25.

I can't say that I'm insulted. I'm not. I can say that Forever 21 you've made me consider once again what type of advertorial drivel I'm being fed by the fashion industry on a day to day basis.

Yay for my derby girl costume! It might have taken a bit to bring together, and I recognize that it was probably not at all authentic, but it was TONS of fun! I wore the whole outfit to the Ms. Adams Morgan Pageant, which is a drag queen pageant and was hilarious by the way. There were 10 contests vying for the crown, and audience members were treated to small vignettes ('Law and Disorder') between each talent act. I don't think I've seen such grandiose lip syncing in my life :)

I have to admit that that in the end my costume wasn't the cheapest option I could have gone with. I bought each item I was wearing new (a lot of it from Target) and the skates were a new purchase as well. I don't regret any of this mind you, mostly because I'd budgeted about $100 to spend on an authentic belly dancer outfit. Luckily for my wallet I didn't spend the whole budget on the new costume, so in the end while it was more expensive than one of those 'in a bag sets' it was a costume that was unique and made me feel spiffy. Plus people at the pageant were very impressed by my friend and I's ability to skate around the hotel AND go up and down stairs.

Now for costume specifics: 

The crop jacket is from Torrid, the black and purple tank tops from Target clearance, the skirt (which actually has two tiers of ruffles) is from Hot Topic, the pink tights + black fishnets + white and black striped socks are all also from Target. Finally the skates themselves are from Dick's Sporting Goods and have very cute lavender wheels (I'm annoyed that while stationary my costume apparently made me look short and wide, but I assure you that in life it looked much better). AND I just realized that my friend had skate padding that I was supposed to borrow and forgot about. Dammit. Oh well - there's always next year!!

And of course I'm sure you're interested in hearing more about the makeup too:

  

Originally when I did this look I used a silver liner along the bottom but I decided you couldn't really see it so instead I scrapped it in favor of just continuing the color gradation along the lash line. Everything else is pretty much the same except that I didn't end up using the NYX gloss on top of the Wet 'N Wild lipstick. The Megalast lipsticks really do last forever but with the gloss on top there seems to be a bit more smearing that happens. I knew I'd be eating and/or drinking so to limit the number of touch ups I used just the lipstick - which still looked great!

One of the biggest things that surprised me from this look was how long everything lasted. I've used the MAC paint before as a primer but for some reason on Saturday night my eye makeup was creaseless and just as vibrant at 2:30am as it was at 7pm when I left the house. I'd have to say similar things for my foundation. Shine is an inevitability for me, I've tried almost everything, but the MAC pro longwear concealer hid my acne scars the NARS Sheer Matte did the rest of the work at evening out my skin tone - I highly recommend both products.

Products Used:

Eyes -

~~MAC Paint in Untitled

~~NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Purple

~~FaceFront Cosmetics Loose Mineral Eye Pigment in Little Gremlin

~~MAC Pigment in Grape

~~MAC Pigment in Violet

~~FaceFront Cosmetics Loose Mineral Eye Pigment in Heroic

~~Stila Eye Shadow in makalu (matte black)

MAC eyeshadow in Soft Brown

~~MAC Idol Eyes (silver for highlight)

~~MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

~~Sephora Kohl Pencil in 01 keep black

~~Rimmel Mascara Combo

Lips -

I leave you with the 'aren't we tough' pose my friend and I did (in the middle of a jewelry/accessory store - that's right. We're some badass muthaf*&kas):




And ok sorry one more fun picnik-ized photo that I also like:

While I'm still working on the more mammoth 'this is what I looked like for Halloween' post: PICTURE FUN!

 Hmm what am I going to do with my great derby girl makeup and all this time to take pictures before I go wait for the bus?

 Think Dana, think. WAIT! I got it!

Time for a ridiculous 'ROCK 'N ROLL' shot that will make me look like an idiot!

Egggscellent.