A Very Potter Birthday | A Few DIY Decorations

"...Back to witches and wizards and magical feasts! To goblins and ghosts and to magical beasts! It's all that I love and it's all that I need, at Hogwarts, Hogwarts, I think I'm going back!"

Well, I got to relive my childhood last month! I've been reading Harry Potter with my 8-year-old niece since November 2015, and she has become obsessed! My sister and I were planning to throw her a Harry Potter themed birthday party, and then a week later she decided she wanted one. It's took a lot of time. Long hours making things, and so many hours spent in the black hole that is Pinterest, but it was well worth it! My sister and I did a couple of test runs on some of the party supplies, and I managed to finally figure out how to perfect the things we found on Pinterest.

First off are wands. What would a Harry Potter birthday be without wands? All of the posts I found on Pinterest said to just use a chopstick, hot glue, acrylic paint, and a paint sealant. I ran into a few snags with this, however. The chopsticks weren't sturdy enough, and the paint kept rubbing off. I needed something thicker, and I needed...well, a primer for the paint.

I started off with round wooden dowels that were 12 inches in length and 5/16 in diameter. I sanded them down on one end to round them off, and then I used hot glue to form the shape and give the wands texture.

I let them dry and harden completely for a day before I coated them in gesso. Gesso is a primer that painters use on canvas, so I figured it would be a good place to start. It smoothed over the glue gun "spider webs" and left a matte finish behind on the wands. Once the gesso was dry, then it was time to paint! With these wands, you can make then look however you want! But for the sake of the party and everything being fair I made them all look similar, but not the same. The only one that was custom painted was the birthday girl's.

When the wands were looking how I wanted them to I painted a little glitter paint on the tips to make them sparkle, and then I coated them in Mod Podge so they would dry glossy. (The paint I had was matte finish.) The Mod Podge, however, leaves behind the slightest tacky feeling, so I finished them off with acrylic paint sealant and left them to dry overnight. Come morning they were PERFECT! 

I put together a couple spell books, and the kids were able to take the wands outside and practice wizard duels after the cake. (Everything was melting then, but there was still snow on the ground so no Quidditch for these kids.) Making these wands was time-consuming. There were a lot of steps, and waiting in between for layers to dry. But in the end, they were a lot more sturdy and the paint stayed intact.

When we sent out the invitations I looked for a very simple, basic sorting hat quiz for the guest to fill out like an "application" to send back to us so we could figure out where to sort them for the party. Everyone got sorted, but how were they going to support their houses and show their "colors"? I popped back into the craft store and picked up some felt and safety pins, made a "tie pattern" out of paper, traced, cut, glued, and pinned. This one was very simple but took me about 2-3 hours doing it all by myself. The only thing is that you have to make sure you press down every part of the stripes when you're gluing them down. I used hot glue again because I didn't have any fabric glue around, but I imagine it would work better, and the felt will probably be easier to glue down.

The final bit of crafting and DIY decoration that I want to share with you all that Pinterest got me started, but I fixed and perfected is... The Sorting Hat itself! This hat is made completely out of recycled material! It's comprised of an old sun hat that my sister has not worn in years, newspaper, brown paper bags, hot blue, and some paint. We started with the hat by cutting the top off of the old sun hat, made a cone of newspaper, and then put it through the bottom of the hat and duct taped it together so it would hold while I sculpted.

Next was to paper mache! I did two base layers of paper mache, plus a little extra around where the hat and cone were taped together so it would look smooth and seamless. After it was all dry I folded a couple pieces of newspaper together and hot glued them to the hat. Then I did three flattened balls of paper and glued them where I wanted the nose and "cheekbones" to be. After that, I smoothed over it all with more mache. The bottom lip took a little bit extra to work with, but in the end, I had to glue some paper together like I had to for the eyebrows and then smooth it over.

Once it was all dry (I left it overnight), I went back to my sister's house. I worked on painting the wands while she did the layer of brown paper bag mache. She said she had to really douse the paper in mache because it was a stiffer, sturdier paper, but I talked her through some of it so it would work right and cooperate with her. We left the hat to dry overnight once more before we painted it.

We originally weren't going to paint the whole thing, just some small detail work, but you could see the "paste" layered over all the hat due to having to use extra mache to glue it all together. So we mixed up a bunch of different shades of browns, painted some parts with black, especially the mouth and "patches", and then it was done! The party was the next day, so it got a chance to dry overnight. The hat ended up perfect! This is the thing I am most proud of out of all of the things we did for this party. It looks fantastic! It will definitely be a keepsake and used for any future Potter Parties.

All in all, the party was a huge success! We painted some freezer paper to look like the night sky for the ceiling, bricks for Platform 9 and 3/4, as well as a Happy Birthday banner in Harry Potter font. We decorated the dining room to look like Gryffindor had won the House Cup, and played Pin the Scar on Harry. We had Polyjuice Potion Punch, and a Basilisk Calzone. The kids had a blast with the wands and were making up their own spells. And the whole thing was complete with a pink and green cake like the one Hagrid made in the first movie.

The party was a lot of work, but so much fun. I am glad, however, that the next birthday for my nieces isn't for a couple months. I am party pooped! ;)

Until next time,
Abby

Morphe 35P (Plum) Eyeshadow Palette

I've been meaning to write up this review since October when I bought this palette. But I figured what better way to come back from a slump than finishing up old things? I finished up my "hair journey" posts, and this one was just floating around. I also didn't get around to playing with this palette until last month.

I know that the Internet has been thoroughly obsessed with the Morphe 35O palette, but I don't see much about the it's purple sister. I'm not huge on orange, and I only really do warm tones once in a while. But give me some purple and I go crazy! I love the color purple, especially when it's cool toned and pigmented. I can't tell you how many purple eyeshadows I've bought in the past that were of inferior quality in texture, pigment, and price.

Now, I know how much people have hyped up Morphe and the 35O palette, and I can tell you, the hype is well deserved. These shadows are pigmented, the texture is lovely though there are a couple that's a little iffy but still workable, and it's affordable! One thing I love about this palette is that you can go all out and BAM! Purple! In your face! or cool-toned neutrals with a slight purple undertone. You can do pops of color, halo eyes, smokey, anything! This palette will serve any purple desire you have, and I love it. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is a makeup enthusiast, or a lover of purple.

You can grab it here: Morphe 35P palette.

Here are my swatches (left to right of the palette, in columns):

(Columns 1, 2, and 3)

(Columns 4, 5, and 6)

(The 7th and last column)

My Hair Journey Pt. 2 | Final Result. Spoiler, I'm Brunette Again.

I know I was supposed to finish up my "hair journey" last year, but I changed my hair after a couple months, and then I got into a slump.

I decided to bleach my hair at the end of June (2015). At that point, I'd never done anything drastic to my hair before, and I wanted to see what I looked like blonde. I got to about a medium-ish shade of blonde and thought I was going to go even lighter. But being blonde just didn't feel like me. And the stark contrast of my natural hair color growing out VS. the blonde was not my favorite thing.

After about a month and a half, the regrowth was getting to me. (This picture to the right is as of August 20.) But I still let it go until October 1st. It just made the blonde look darker. And my natural hair color grows out so dark before the sun gets to it to make it seem a little lighter.

I stuck with good old, trusty Ion hair dye. That was also part of why I waited until October to dye my hair. My local Sally Beauty Supply was always out of the shade of brown I wanted. Ion has a range of brown hair dyes called their "Mocha" range. I got the darkest one, shade 4WR (Medium Gold Mahogany Brown). This is essentially my natural hair color amped up. It's a little lighter and richer. My natural hair color can seem a little flat, and it's borderline black because it's such a dark shade of brown. I used a 10 Volume developer because I was depositing color, and not trying to lighten it. I left it on for about 30 minutes and then rinsed, and voila!

Now, it's been a few months since then. 5 months to be exact. It's faded some, but it's still very brown. It's a very, very subtle ombre. It doesn't touch on blonde very much, but there are the odd few highlights of blonde that pokes through in some spots. I'm very happy with it, and I've been thinking about going back over it with some more dye, just to help it grow out as, roughly, one shade.

As of the beginning of December, this is what my hair looks like. (I don't have a current picture more recent than December. Sorry.)

Well, until next time,
Abby

P.S. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments.

A Skin-saver! | Simple "Replenishing Rich Moisturizer"

Hey there! So, it's been a month. I was kind of feeling "blah" and I didn't really have anything to post about. I was scrambling for a minute before I just told myself to chill and take my time. I'll get to it when I get to it.

I was dog-sitting for my friend this month for 11 days, and I didn't have any toner or moisturizer to take with me. My mom had gotten some free Proactive from a friend so I grabbed some. I tried Proactive once before when I was about 13 or 14 and it actually made me break out. I thought it had been a while, and maybe my skin would take it differently this time around. It did, but not in the way I had hoped! I ended up having somewhat of an allergic reaction to it. It made my skin itch like crazy, and it dried it out too. Not horribly so, but it was pretty dry.

I looked up some moisturizers online, settled on this one, and went and bought it at my local grocery store. I also picked up some Burt's Bees Garden Tomato Toner to help kill whatever was causing this reaction naturally. I only used my usual face wash, the toner, and moisturizer for a few days while my skin calmed down, and then I used my normal face scrub and exfoliated my face really well.

That combo literally saved my skin. My face felt amazingly smooth after, and because Simple products have no dyes, perfumes, or harsh irritants it didn't cause me to break out either. And as for Burt's Bees, I've been a fan for a long time.

It says "rich moisturizer" and that made me a little leery because I have oily skin, but it didn't mess with my skins natural oil production. I could not recommend this stuff more! I'm definitely going to be looking into more of the Simple skin products!

Until next time,
Abby

Naked Smoky | Swatches & First Impression

~Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me...~

Hello, everybody! It was my 22nd birthday on Monday! (August 3rd) My mom got me the Naked Smoky palette as a present. I know I'm a little late to the game and there are loads of reviews and swatches out there, but I wanted to put this out there anyway.

One of the most satisfying thing about the packaging is the magnetic closure. It's a weird quirk I have. It's just satisfying to see and hear. This palette is GORGEOUS! The color range is perfect for versatile smoky eyes rather than the typical, plain black option. There are endless color combos from bronze to grays, taupes, and blackened shades. There are "...nine never-before-seen shades and three exclusives from past palettes." And for the first time in a Naked palette the brush is different! Rather than a blending side and a flat side to the brush, this time it has a tapered blending and a smudging brush. The palette also comes with a diagram with 4 different eye looks, and it tells you how to achieve the looks.

The texture of these eyeshadows are amazing. They're so smooth and buttery, and so pigmented! For me 2 of the 12 eyeshadows are almost like "nothing" shades because I have such fair skin, but those kinds of shades are perfect for blending out the darker, "harsher" shades. So without further ado, here are my swatches. (I fake tanned for my birthday weekend, so my skin isn't as pale as it normally is in these pictures.)

First four shades:

Second four shades:

Last four shades:

Now, as far as recommending this palette...I don't think I would tell beginners to go out and buy this. At least not until they had a little more experience. Smoky eyes aren't easy. They can come out looking like a racoon. But for a person with a bit of experience, and confidence, I would definitely recommend this palette!

I know Naked palettes are known for being expensive, they retail at $54. But if you were to divide 12 shadows into $54 it comes out as $4.50/eyeshadow. They're actually a decent value, and you'll have them around for a while.

Until next time,

Abby

My Hair Journey Pt. 1 | First Stages

If you've read my post about hair extensions (part 1), then you have a basic rundown of my hair. If not, I have thick, coarse extremely dark brown hair that has red and gold tints to it. It's oily, but my scalp is also very sensitive, dry and prone to some pretty bad dandruff. I've only ever dyed my hair once (black) and bleached 2 small sections, all of which has been grown out and cut off years ago. So starting this journey to blonde hair I started out with virgin* hair.
To start off: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL HAIR DRESSER! I only have basic knowledge that I've learned from my sister and the Internet. THIS IS NOT A TUTORIAL, just what I did to my own hair. DO NOT EXPECT IDENTICAL RESULTS IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS! This is just my personal hair journey and I'm only posting it as documentation for myself and if any of you are curious.
Also, if you are using bleach you will damage your hair. There is no avoiding it. My hair was in good condition, and I still had to cut about 3 or 4 inches off. I knew I would need to, but I also wanted to.

Technically this was a two-day process, but in total it only took a couple hours. I bought everything at Sally Beauty Supply. I went in with general knowledge and also asked the ladies working there for some advice. I got 30 volume developer and blue powdered bleach, and my hair color. I decided to go for an ash and neutral blonde because I have red and gold in my hair and the ashy/neutral tones would counteract it somewhat.
I enlisted the help of my sister and best friend, and together with my instruction we bleached my hair! When bleaching hair, you have to start at the ends. The farther away from your scalp, the longer it takes to process. Your scalp is a "hot spot" and the bleach will develop a lot faster! We didn't do the roots until about 5-10 minutes before we had to rinse the bleach, and we were checking it constantly.
We rinsed it out and used some purple conditioner, and it cut down on the brassy tones really nicely. Not like a toner would, but my hair was not light enough to tone. I didn't want to bleach my hair more than once, and I knew it wouldn't go platinum on the first try. I knew going blonde would be a process.
Next we went over my hair with the dye. I completely spaced on getting a lower level developer for the color and so I used my 30 volume (which lifts as well as colors). I got a level 8A(ash) and a level 8N(neutral) dye. I also used a color correcting additive to cut down red tones. We did the color the same as the bleach, ends to roots. I let the color develop and then rinsed with purple conditioner again.
Looking back, I would have used a lower developer and gone roots to ends because my roots turned bright YELLOW! The length of my hair was a nice color, but man those roots!

I went to bed and let my hair rest a bit, and then the next day we went back to Sally's and bought more dye and a 10 volume developer. I also decided on a level darker in color because my roots were so bright. I got some level 7N dye and a Red/Gold color correcting additive to cut down on the brassy tones. We applied it all over the roots and then went back and brushed it through the length a bit to blend everything together. I let it develop for 30 minutes and then rinsed. I didn't have the purple shampoo with me this time, but I only used the tiniest bit of shampoo and slathered on the conditioner.
It looks so much better now! It's a smidge on the brassy side, but I bought my own purple shampoo, so those tones will go down in time. The color turned out to be a medium-dark neutral blonde, but there's a small hint of red to it.

My hair is still in really good condition considering I bleached my hair blonde in one day. Only the very top layer is frazzled, but with some good, deep conditioning masks it'll be ok eventually.

Product List and Links:

Bleach: Salon Care Fast Blue Powder Bleach

Developer: Ion Sensitive Scalp 30 Volume Cream Developer

Shimmer Lights: Shampoo

Hair Dye: Ion Color Brilliance Permanent Creme

Levels I bought: 1 Level 8A, 1 Level 8N; 2 Level 7N

Developer: Ion Sensitive Scalp 10 Volume Cream Developer

Un-Red additive

Red/Gold Correcting additive

I hope you guys found this interesting, and helpful if you are on the same journey as myself. I did a lot of research before I started to consider going blonde. I came from pretty much a level 2 brunette shade and went all the way to a level 7/8 blonde. I'm still not done, but I'm really loving where it is at right now.

Until next time,
Abby

Hair Journey Part 2?

*Virgin Hair means untreated, unprocessed, natural hair.

NYX Cosmetics | "Invincible Fullest Coverage Foundation"

With my recent fake tanning experience, I knew I would end up needing new face makeup. All my years of wearing makeup has been geared towards buying the lightest shades of anything and hoping it works. And once I would find a "holy grail" it became a staple. But now with my tan I know nothing about tan makeup and what would work. So I enlisted the help of my best friend and we went shopping, and I found this beauty!
I have sensitive, combination/oily skin, and I love me a matte finish. I also have rosacea, which makes finding a foundation that covers and blends well a little difficult. I typically have to get "full coverage". With my tan, it's a little bit less noticeable though. I got it in the shade #5 Light/Medium.
This stuff is pretty amazing. I applied it twice, two days in a row. The first time I used my fingers, and the second time I used a damp beauty sponge. Both ways were effective, and it blended like a dream!
The second day I applied the foundation, I put it on around 8:30 - 9:00 AM, and went out and about in hot, sunny weather. I even wore this while putting makeup on a client in a hot, stuffy bathroom. I didn't take the foundation off 'til I got home around 7:00 PM that night. It lasted really well throughout the day, and I only touched up once with an oil-blotting sheet. I did use primer and a setting spray that day though.

Some of my "Pro's" are:

* Medium to full coverage. Buildable.
* Easy to apply and blend.
* Doesn't look cakey.
* Semi-matte, natural looking (skinlike) finish.
* Long lasting.
* SUPER lightweight. Feels like your skin!

A couple "Con's":

* The color range isn't the best. 10 shades but they're all too similar.

*Squeeze tube dispenser. Super messy!

* Price vs. Amount you get.

I've had other foundations with better packaging for the same price or less, and you get more out of it.

All in all, it's an awesome foundation and I would recommend it to anyone that has oily skin, would like a full-coverage foundation without it feeling "heavy" on your skin, and last a good amount of time with little to no "melting".

Until next time,

Abby