Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Art of: applying liquid eyeliner


To preface this I want to say that I'm not the biggest expert on make-up. I don't know anything about foundation or blush. But rest assured that I am a tried and true savant on the art of liquid eyeliner. At the same time people often see the words liquid and eyeliner and want to flee in terror. The smudging! The asymmetry! The tiny applicator! Legitimate reasons, but trust me, it's nothing to worry about.

1. Use an applicator with a felt tip. The brush tips are unwieldy and make it difficult to vary line thickness and make points. They're also flimsy. The felt ones are more stable and can offer an even line.

2. Take your time. When applying, do it in little brush strokes as opposed to trying to get the perfect line all in one go. It's possible, but one eye twitch and you've smudged it. You're more likely to get an even line if you do it in increments. You can also go back and carefully correct any unevenness once you're done. Just make sure not to go overboard in the course correcting.
3. Symmetry is for suckers. Just as long as you don't have just one eye with a long flourish at the end. No one is going to notice if one spot is slightly thicker than the other or if one side has a finer point.

4. It's okay to make mistakes. For the longest time my eye would twitch whenever the cold liquid hit my lid. It's cool just have a q-tip and some make-up remover handy.

5. Colour can be your friend. Black is fun for a dramatic edge, but a dark brown is a great subtle look for the day time if you're timid. When you're feeling bold, purple, blue and green are great alternatives.

6. Do not put it on your lower lid. From experience I've been told it's too much. Use a pencil instead.

7. But also don't be afraid to experiment. Cat-eye is the most common liquid look, but that doesn't mean it's the only way you have to wear it. Make sure you have fun with it. It is just make-up in the end. If you can't wash it off you've done something wrong.
With love and cupcakes
Cathryn

*edit: As for brands, I like to use a Canadian kind called Annabelle which is available at Shoppers. Other than that, just try to find something with a felt tip and you can't go wrong.

Monday, September 28, 2009

some things...


...and there are some things you will find and you'll wonder how you ever lived without them

Sunday, September 27, 2009

An Ode to My Wardrobe

One of my favourite things to do is to peruse blogs in search of fashion and wardrobe inspiration. It's a fun way to squirrel away the afternoon and come up with the dream wardrobe I hope to attain. At the same time I realized that it's not very constructive to dream up the perfect wardrobe when I have amazing pieces that should be given their due.

To begin with, my boyfriend blazer:
These pictures are super old by the way

The story goes that it belonged to my mom, but two years ago she gave it to me when it got too small for her. I rolled up the sleeves, added some buttons and it became my own. This [and maybe a scarf] could instantly perk up my usual outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. Needless to say I wore it a lot.

Over the summer though, my dog peed on it. It had to be dry-cleaned and I didn't get it back until just the other day. I wore it out, and felt pretty bad ass and confident that I looked like a chic 20 year old university student. When I got home my housemate Mike, out of nowhere, immediately told me that it made me look five years older. I asked if that was a good thing and he kind of shrugged, but he still said I looked 25, which is cool since I normally look about 16. Plus it helped reaffirm my thought process that I do look awesome in it.

Now I'm not doing this to brag about my "awesome" clothes. Far from it. I just want to make a feature that reminds me that I don't need to buy this or that and suddenly I'll be this chic person. But in fact shows that I have plenty of things that make me feel good already right in my own closet. My university student budget doesn't always allow frivolous spending, and if your budget doesn't allow it either, perhaps you should also catalogue your feel-good outfit options.

With love and cupcakes
Cathryn

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sept 24, 2009

By Unknown*
On my old blog, in homage to the wonderful Gala Darling, I had a weekly post of Tuesday Tidbits. This time around I've decided to forgo beginning of the week affirmations and go with Thursday reminders as it's closer to the weekend [and I only have an hour of class during the day].

To start with:

Sleeping with the window open

Amazing first dates [and sober first kisses]

Getting some last bit of warm weather before autumn officially starts

With love and cupcakes
Cathryn

* If you know who this can be credited to, let me know

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Welcome!

A little about myself:

Since I've broken up with my boyfriend and only half-heartedly posted in my "fashion" blog, I'm going to combine the two into this.

I'm 20 years old and just moved back to Toronto for school after being home for the summer.

I'm excited for this chapter in my life. I'm at a different school, living downtown and making lots new friends.

But I hate introductory posts so I'll stop here.

With love and cupcakes
Cathryn