Bling Bling Nose Ring

Some of you may have noticed that earlier this year in September I got my nose pierced. I had been considering the piercing for quite some time, going back and forth between whether or not it would look good on me (and whether or not it would get me kicked out of my parents' house). Ultimately I decided that I didn't care and that since I wanted it, I was going to get it. It was spur of the moment decision to finally get it done so I hopped in my car 30 minutes before I was set to leave for North Carolina for the 5 Seconds of Summer concert and got it pierced all by myself.



PICKING A PIERCER - The first thing you're going to want to do when you decide you want any kind of piercing is find a place to get it pierced. Most tattoo parlors employ piercers so that's where I started looking. You will want to do plenty of research on the parlors in your area and find one that has good health ratings, keeps things sanitary, etc. I found that reading reviews was the number one easiest way to decide whether the parlor was the one for me. I decided to go to The Bellrose Tattoo in Daphne, AL. I was not necessarily anxious about getting my nose pierced but I will say that if I had been, the staff and the piercer himself would have put me at ease immediately. They were all very chill, friendly, and the prices were fair.

JEWELRY - I decided to get a mid size stud with a white crystal in it. Pretty basic but that's what I thought would be the easiest to deal with as a first piercing. I believe I was pierced with an 18g needle but I wear mostly 20g now which is smaller. I just prefer it that way. I read online that it is easier to get pierced with a stud at first and then transition to a hoop later on if that's what you want. A hoop will move more and therefore irritate the piercing, putting you at higher risk to develop infections and keloids.

PAIN - Now I had watched tons of videos on piercings and tattoos before firmly deciding that I would be ok with the pain. It was like a hard pinch, definitely unpleasant, and it hurt. But it only hurt for about half of a second before it felt like nothing. It was sore the next day but only when it was being cleaned and messed with.

AFTER CARE - I was instructed to use Dial soap on the end of q-tip to clean the piercing twice a day. However, after watching many different videos online and looking at some forums I decided that I'd rather use sterile saline solution. I had no problems doing this. Be careful not to over clean the area because that can cause keloids! Once in the morning and once in the evening should be enough. Around 2 months after my appointment, I developed a slight infection. Nothing too scary, just some tenderness around the piercing area and a little bit of discharge. I used Tea Tree oil once a day to fix this and it worked really well. The infection went away after a couple of days.

FINAL THOUGHTS - All in all, I'm so glad I got my piercing. I think it's fun and it's what I wanted and that's all that matters. Sure, you will find plenty of people who disapprove of body jewelry (but are totally ok with earrings?) and will have plenty of negative things to say about it. The pain is very little and the after care is simple. If you hate the way it looks on you, you can always take the piercing out!

EVERYONE IS A WINNER.

xx Anna

Whatevah you say, Mistah J!

Every now and then I get a little bored and since I've been on a major Harley Quinn kick lately (as made clear by even my last blog post) I figured what better way to cure that boredom then to use whatever makeup I have rolling around my old makeup drawer and make myself look like the newest imagining of Harley Quinn?

I didn't buy any new makeup to create this look so I used a lot of really old, really cheap makeup that I've had for years. I mixed white cream face paint with a drop or two of my regular foundation and applied it as usual. I then used a roller ball blue eyeshadow and red pigment eyeshadow to use on my eyes. I created more definition by using a matte cool brown in the crease and outer corner areas. Then I used a black eyeliner pencil to line my eyes all the way around making sure to be messier than usual. After that you just use your fingers and a brush to smear it down your cheeks. I used NARS Dragon Girl on my lips which is really a little too bright for this Harley Quinn look but since this was just for funsies I let it be.

Harley Quinn is probably my favorite comic book character of all time. I find her creation story fascinating and the current storyline in her stand-alone comic has proven Harley to be quite a fighter despite her silly, sing-song henchwoman origins. Her flaws make her relatable and her ability to make wrong decisions makes her, in my mind, an even stronger female character than the typical do-good heroine.

xx Anna

I am so excited for the new Suicide Squad movie. If you haven't seen the trailer you can check it out below:

Too Faced: Return of Sexy

Two eyeshadow looks featuring the Return of Sexy palette
featuring Stila long wear lipstick in 'Patina' and NARS velvet matte pencil in 'Dragon Girl'.

Gonna be real honest and let you know that I'm not a huge fan of this shadow palette. It originally caught my eye because of the seemingly super sparkly shadows and the inclusion of a purple hued section which I'm super in to, but the pigmentation is non-existent and the sparkle is rather dull, even with an eyeshadow primer. Don't get me wrong, it's an ok palette. It's just not as fun or flirty as I wanted it to be and at gut-wrenching, very unsexy $49 there are a lot of better options out there. A Too Faced alternative would be their Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette, a much better investment than this chalky brick of a palette, but it has no purple/pink shades.

Also pictured above is Too Faced's Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in the shade 'Chihuahua' (that's a mouthful). This shade on the website looks like a dusty mauve color and the packaging is even more pink, but applied to the lips this lipstick is more of a muddy, brown color which is really unfortunate. The formula is also pretty weird as it's very sticky and also separates in the container. It's possible that maybe I just got a faulty product but I probably won't be purchasing this lipstick again.

I'd like to point out that Too Faced is an awesome company and have a lot of products that I really like but I'd probably avoid these if at all possible.

xx Anna

Call Me a Narsissist

Now I don't consider myself a beauty guru by any means but I do enjoy playing around a bit with makeup. I own entirely too much of the stuff, some of which I don't even use (here's looking at you, $42 'Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat'; I hate you), which means I've been able to narrow down my favorite beauty brands over the years and the only brand I've been able to trust and rely on wholeheartedly is NARS cosmetics.

I have struggled with finding a solid foundation routine for years but was finally able to find solace in NARS All Day Luminous foundation in the shade 'Mont Blanc' because I'm a vampire and I hate the sun, paired with their blusher in the shade 'Super Orgasm' which I love to say in a ridiculously enthusiastic voice. The good people at NARS also recently sent me one of their Illuminating Multiple's in the shade 'St. Lucia' which I wasn't sure what to do with at first but I've discovered its good for light contouring, blushing, etc. You can do just about anything you want with that magical multiple.

Not to mention the wonderful majesty that is their lip pencils. Hands down my favorite thing to slap on my mouth for any occasion. Between the three different consistencies they have to offer in a pencil (satin, velvet matte, and velvet gloss), there are literally dozens of colors to choose from and IT. IS. GLORIOUS. I find that lip pencils are a lot easier to use than a typical lipstick and they seem to last a little bit longer and they're all so damn pretty.

Basically I feel like NARS has been consistent and concise with the quality of their products, something I feel is sometimes difficult to find in the makeup world. This makes their higher prices absolutely worth it. You deserve the splurge; trust me. Plus, the customer service end of this company goes above and beyond to make you feel special and important. 

Purchasing their products have left me so satisfied that I felt like they deserved a quick little shout out from me, the ever pleased #narsissist, to them, the ever impressive NARS cosmetics company; I <3 you.

Check out their site right HERE.