Back with the crafting...mostly

Another pair of Socks that Rock are done! Part of the Ravelry Socks that Rawk Quarterly KAL.

Pattern: Breaking Hearts by Turtlegirl76
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Rabia
Needles: size US 1.5 (2.50 mm) Knit Picks nickel-plated dpns
mod: 6" leg instead of the 6.5" spec'd in the pattern

Love how the colorway knit up.

Still playing with my Cricket loom, this time making a little washcloth out of some kitchen cotton, Sugar'N Cream in Violet Stripes. I still need to wash the washcloth (heh) and trim the fringe to a much shorter length.

I also had a great mail weekend when I received a few goodies.  I got my prize yarn for Irish Girlie Knits Design Spring KAL.  It's Chameleon in Ballerina by Dubai Knits, aka Jhocy, who moderates Irishgirlieknits' Ravelry group. And speaking of Irishgirlieknits, I also bought her cute canvas bag to use the next time I'm knitting up an Irishgirlieknits pattern.

On the beauty side, I received my order from Nolan Roberts Cosmetics. For those who enjoy competitive reality tv, Nolan Maka'awa'awa was the winner of the Blush makeup artist show.  The show originally aired when I didn't own a dvr, so I never watched it.  It was a fellow makeup addict friend of mine who recommended I check out his make up. He has ties to Hawaii as I do, so I figured I would show a little support and try a few of his items. He has a small collection so by the time I finally got around to ordering from him, some of the items I wanted to try were out-of-stock.

He's got bonus points from me for his beautiful packaging for shipment, but here they are out of the wrapping. Going clockwise from the top are his Dream Cream (an oil-free, paraben-free, non-fragranced moisturizer w/subtle champagne shimmer), Valley Girl lipgloss, Pretty Woman shimmer powder blush, and Cafe matte eyeshadow.

They're swatched on my arm in the following order: Cafe e/s, Pretty Woman blush, Valley Girl lip gloss, and Dream Cream  unblended.  I don't have a face-of-the-day pic with them all on since I've got all the colors mixed in with other brands.  I will say however, that his items are very long-lasting (I believe he gears his formulations for those who work out & dance).  His gloss especially is really long-lasting but doesn't get that tight dry feeling. I love the fact that his Dream Cream is paraben-free for those who have issues with parabens.  It still absorbs really well & isn't at all tacky-feeling or too filmy-feeling which can happen with creams that have silicone in it.  Also, the shimmer is really subtle so I don't have to worry about being all vampire-sparkle-y.  (I will warn you though Nolan has a fun Twilight Edward tutorial video up.)

So thumbs up so far and I'm looking forward to when he re-stocks his permanent items as well as some new summer items he's got planned. 

More with the "knitted" make up

Okay, I lied. I'm not quite done with the knitted make-up review yet. But first up is my first little wonky scarf that I wove on my fun Schacht Cricket Loom. Even the Monkeys got to help me out.

Not surprisingly, I will need to work on keeping my selvedges more even as well as how consistently I beat the weft yarn. Not to mention weaving the ends in evenly as well. Like other yarn-y adventures, I'm going to be learning how to better calculate my yardage requirements. I chose some Knit Picks Swish Worsted yarn (Dublin & Semolina) I had in my stash thinking it would be enough. While I warped plenty of yarn for the length I hoped to weave, I ended up not having enough for the weft and so the woven section of the scarf's quite a bit shorter than what I was hoping for. And since I was weaving from the stash, I decided not to buy one more skein 'cause it would defeat my entire purpose of weaving from the stash.

In the end, the final dimensions of the woven section turned out to be (excluding the fringe) 5"x50." A little short for me, but probably pretty good for a kid scarf.

As noted in my last post, I wasn't happy with my Revlon Custom Eyes palette in Sweet Innocence so I exchanged it for the Rich Temptations palette.  I also caved and got the Physician's Formula Cashmere Wear bronzer.

Here's the bronzer swatched on my arm. It's heavily applied in comparison to the much smaller amount I would use for my face so it'll show in the pic. It's got a nice shimmer/glow so it wouldn't give a too sparkley effect that some bronzers (or certain mineral foundations) do. 

The other reason for no bronzer-on-face pic is that I took quite a few badly aimed & un-focused pics of my cheek before I gave up & did the much easier to photo arm swatch. For now, I will give the bronzer a thumbs up.  I may report back later on how long it wears on my face.  

Lastly, here are pics of the Rich Temptations palette on my eyes.

There were a couple colors that has that too-hard-pressed issue the returned palette had, but not as badly. Since these colors were more pigmented &  not chalky, they were easier to work with. I even like the grayed green  & played w/a little of it on my lid. My one caveat is that like the Naturally Glamorous palette I did keep, the colors in this palette are also all shimmery.

In the end, I think I can give the Revlon eyeshadow palettes a good recommendation.  Even the one color palette I didn't like may work for someone cooler-toned & paler than me. But just to make it clear, they won't replace my love for NARS Cosmetics.