spectrum cosmetics

matte, highly pigmented eyeshadows in a variety are hard to come by at an affordable price.
my secret is spectrum cosmetics.
this little etsy shop is run by Erica out of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
these are mineral based shadows in virtually every color of the rainbow!
and even better: no bismuth-oxychloride in the major of her colors.
i am so impressed with the color payoff that it is totally worth it.
at $3 each for the small, and $5 for the larger size, it's very affordable to pick up the full collection of mattes.
(which I did)
i'd like to try out some of the other finishes she offers in the future.
some thoughts on applying these:
these are loose pigments so it can get messy and it can/will stain clothing, brush bristles, etc.
expect fall down, so use shadow shields or don't finish your base until your done with the eyes (this trick is actually pretty standard among pros)
when layering over cream shadows use a patting motion with a flat shader brush the blend with a fluffy brush.
without a cream base, it's a good idea the lay down a skin tone matching eyeshadow as a base; a dense fluffy brush works best for this.
these can be used wet or dry and can be mixed together for unique shades and it plays well with other brands.

eye of the day

when trying to enhance your eye color, look to the color wheel.. opposites attract and enhance

Blogger meetup!

What fun I had today!
I attend a bloggers meetup hosted by Mikaela, founder of Indie Ogden (www.indieogdenutah.com) and a great food blog (mamamousesays.wordpress.com).
I was held at a locally owned coffee shop, Grounds for Coffee.
Really great coffee and cocoa, but I had iced tea.
Oh, and baked donuts!
I was good and only had one since I'm supposed to watch my blood sugar, but they were SO good!
Such a great variety of bloggers from the northern Utah area, plus a goodie bag!
Contents in pictured below.
I'm currently sporting the Indie Ogden tee.
It's pretty damn comfy.
I did cut the neck band out to make it an off the shoulder top.
I'll do a photo round up of the event later this week.
My toddler tagged along and had a blast playing with the other kids that were there.
And he thoroughly approves of the popcorn from Sweet Pop'n, which is one of the new shops in town.
We didn't even make it to the freeway ramp before he was out.
I pretty excited about the lip balms I got. They are made by my friend Kristen of Silver Firs Farm, and I'll a full review of them on my beauty/fashion blog (tiialinhearts.blogspot.com).
We went on a walking tour of 25th street.
And while I'm familiar with 25th street, it was nice to hear those not familiar musing about it.
Really good day, and now I'm beat.

there is life here...

I have been incredibly busy with the other side of my life which is my etsy shop (tiialin.etsy.com)
I launched a gofundme (http://www.gofundme.com/2np570) to raise the last bit of cash to finish my collections for that and to expand just a bit.
So this blog fell into a state of silence. I plan on changing that and to include more fashion and accessory posts.
I want to expand into those because I believe in the full scope of self-care.
Inside out and outside in.
It's not vanity, it's a communication to the universe about how you see and value yourself.
I read somewhere that someone calls sweat pants "give-up-on-life" pants, and I think they are absolutely right.
I haven't given up and I don't want you to either.