Bethezda's Preoccupations

Happy New Year

2013-01-01T11:44:00.001-05:00

Many blessings in the New Year to you and yours!!

Detrivore Green and Black

2012-11-30T15:59:00.000-05:00

Another eye look using Detrivore Cosmetics.

In this look:
Detrivore White Chapel on browbone
Detrivore Amazon (green) on crease
Detrivore Beetle on lid
Revlon Glistening Snow on inner corners

I wore this on Sunday for our first snowfall AND to take the kiddos to see Santa. Yeahhhh!!!! I'm telling you what, I never was a fan of Christmas but this year with kiddos that are old enough to "get" it, I'm totally going overboard on all things Christmas. Add in a healthy Yule celebration and we've got ourselves a season!

Pink and Black

2012-11-29T10:17:00.000-05:00

Well hello strangers! ;)
Wanted to share a fun eye look. Medusa's Makeup in Flamingo on crease and Dawn Eyes Cosmetics in Super Sparkle Black Pink on the lid. OMG isnt the black color pretty!! It's a black base with fusia glitter. I had to apply it wet with Manic Panic Glam Glue sealer to make the glitter stick but it's worth the trouble.

Sorry I've been absent. My laptop crapped out on me and as of now it's just a big brick. I don't have any funds to get it fixed so for now I'm on a borrowed computer and my phone - not very condusive to blogging. :( I'll be back soon and in the meantime I have a few things to post. I haven't been able to keep up with my blog reading either. So.... sorry for not making comments on any of your blogs. Anybody have suggestions as to what apps they like to read blogs with on their phone? So far I'm not happy with any of the ones I've tried.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!!!!

Happy Halloween

2012-11-02T20:41:00.001-04:00

Better late than never!

Building the next generation of Halloween lovers.

Birthday face

2012-10-29T18:36:00.001-04:00

Trying out the blogger app on my phone.... Bare with me.

Black is such a happy color.....

2012-10-28T10:01:00.000-04:00

Sugar Skull Makeup Tutorial

2012-10-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

Fist paint your face white.

I used cheap white face paint that I bought at the drugstore in the Halloween section. I did a base layer using a foundation sponge and then did a second thicker layer with my fingers. I patted a thick layer of MAC Shimmering White powder over that. You could use white baby powder if you don't have a true white foundation powder. You just need something to "set" the cake makeup.

Next I used a flat eyeshadow brush and a semi-matte eyeshadow in a bright color to fill in the hollows of my eyes. Make sure to really layer on the shadow to get a thick and even coat. You can make these circles as big or as small as you'd like.

Now add in your detail work. I used a thin pointy eyeliner brush and my Studio Gear cake eyeliner to paint on the black outlines. You can make this simple or intricate, depending on how much detail you want to mess with.

Lastly I added a bright accent color to the empty spaces. I also used a black eyeshadow on the nose over the eyeliner to darken and smooth the color out a bit. I added some liquid eyeliner and fake lashes to my eyelids.

This is such a fun look to play around with and experiment with. I actually put a spider web on my forehead and first and it was a COMPLETE fail!

Wanna see?

DERP!!!! Makeup FAIL!!! LOL

This was easy to fix. I just wet a washcloth, removed the areas that were messed up, added white paint back on and started over. That's what's nice about working with these cheap Halloween-grade makeups - it comes off with soap and water.

Here's another look I did like this last year.

Thanks for reading!
Also, thanks for all the kind words on my last post. <3
Cheers

What I've Been Doing

2012-10-24T14:06:00.000-04:00

Hello lovelies!

It's been a while since I last posted. I have to admit that I lost the blogging bug for a moment. I seem to waffle back and forth over what I want this blog to be. Is it a makeup blog? A lifestyle blog? Funny? Serious? I don't know really.... and I guess I shouldn't stress over it too much. Sometimes I just loose interest in things and need to step away from them for a bit.

I also found myself reverting into my own head and thoughts and shutting out the outside world for a few weeks. I tend to do this from time to time. It's probably not the best way to handle my introspection as I also shut out a lot of my friends. I'm sure a lot has to do with the changing of the seasons too. As we move closer to Samhain and to the Winter time I think it's natural to turn inwards a bit.

I've had some stumbles in life that set me back. I landed a job I was pretty excited about only to have them renig on their offer of employment at the last minute. It was even more upsetting because I had turned down another job at the Lancome counter in order to take it. So basically I missed out on two jobs in a matter of weeks. On the flip-side I FINALLY heard from the University and I have been accepted into the Masters Degree program in History. So in hindsight it's probably best that I'm not starting a new job at the moment. School starts in January so that will hopefully give me enough time to figure out financial aid and childcare as there's no way I can go back to school without those two things in place.

I've started volunteering at the local history museum as a docent/tour guide. As of now I'm still in training but it's great experience and I'm meeting a lot of people in the history community here.

My parents came up from Texas to visit for a week. That was fun as it allows me an excuse to be a tourist in my own town, although I feel like a tourist here anyway since I've only been living here for a year. Luckily the weather was gorgeous and the leaves are turning so we were able to do a lot of outdoorsy fall things.

Next Sunday is my 34th birthday and my mother brought me a day of the dead wine opener.

We visited some amazing city buildings that had ceilings like this:

And this:

We went places with trees like this:

And history like this:

We saw leaves like this:

And fields like this:

I will leave you with one of my favorite songs. Perfectly fitting for this time of year.

I I post

I actually posted this last year at about the same time of year. I am approaching my blog-aversary. What to do... what to do... hmmmmmmm.....

XOXO
Cheers

Franken-polish

2012-10-15T10:16:00.000-04:00

Hello

I made a nail polish with an old bottle of clear polish and some mineral eyeshadow. This is just a simple two step process. From here I can add glitter if I'd like but for now I'm going to leave it alone. The color came out perfect and super opaque.

This is a mini bottle of clear essence polish .16 fl. oz. I added a generous 1/8 tsp of mineral eyeshadow.

Next time I'll probably purchase a small funnel. It got a bit messy but I was working over a sheet of paper so I just tapped the excess onto the paper, folded it and used the sharp edge to pour the eyshadow into the bottle.

I gave the bottle a really really really good shake.

Then I pulled the sticker off of the sample baggie and put it on the polish bottle so that I can remember the color.

I'm really happy with the result. This was my first time frankening. I think I may be addicted as I'm already plotting out my next colors.

Here I added some snowflake stamps and Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor glitter top coat.

Have you frankened your own polish? Any advice?

So..... is this blog becoming a nail blog? The short answer is no. I have been organizing my polishes lately and have caught the polish bug, HARD. Not that I didn't already have it but I'm a bit obsessed lately. Luckily I've been earning a TON of swagbucks so I have been using them to buy amazon gift cards and I buy polish with those.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!

Glitter Nails

2012-10-08T15:03:00.000-04:00

I wanted to show you a mani I did using loose glitter. I can't believe I've never done this before because it came out so pretty. Pictures never do glitter justice so just imagine the awesomeness here multiplied by 100.

This was so easy to do.

First I painted one coat of Kleancolor Charcoal over each nail.

Now to put glitter on, I worked on each nail indivually. I painted a second coat of Charcoal on one nail and then poured a small, light grade glitter over the wet polish. Work over a sheet of paper to catch the glitter fallout.

Let it set for about a minute and then gently brush away the excess glitter with a soft bristled brush.

I decided not to put a top coat over this because I liked the textured look that the glitter made. Plus I was worried a top coat would dull the glitter a bit. The thick glitter look lasted about 6-8 hours until the excess rubbed off. I was still left with a glitter mani but not as WOW as when first done. This would be a fun look for a special party or something. Possibly a coat of Gelous would work to make it last longer.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!!

Random Nail Polish

2012-10-05T21:42:00.001-04:00

I have been organizing my nail polish. I finally got the mess under (semi) control and into color order. I'm now trying to go through and use all of my colors. Green starts it out so here's what I've had on my nails this week.

Elianto polish in Shimmer Green with green, white and silver glitter nail art polish

Sinful Colors Professional in Mint Apple with Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond on ring finger nail

Sinful Colors Professional in San Francisco

I'm hoping to eventually make a spread-sheet of all of my nail polishes just for my own enjoyment. Some people collect comics, some collect shoes, I collect nail polish and eyeshadow.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!!

Madd Style Cosmetics WIN

2012-10-03T22:52:00.000-04:00

Wow! I've had some clamshells of Madd Style Cosmetics (MSC) for a while but hadn't gotten around to playing with them. Ermehgerd I was floored when I started opening them up. Some made me literally gasp because they are just so pretty.
This is a look I did with three of the more neutrals.

xRay Spex on browbone, Atomic Dreamland inner lid, Final Fantasy outer lid and crease

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Trollop

What's your favorite MSC?

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

Guest Post with Lesthi from Lesthi's Blog

2012-10-02T20:55:00.000-04:00

Today's guest post is by Lesthi from Lesthi's Blog.

Hi I'm Lesthi. I'm a Swedish gothblogger and I blog at http://lesthi.blogg.se.

My blog is.... very random, I update about my outfits, my cats, cute stuff, larp, things I wish I could buy and stuff I do buy. ;D

But here in my guestpost on Bethezda's Preoccupations I thought I would show you the result of one of my biggest interests, making hair accessories. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading. And a big thanks to beautiful Bethezda as well!
I hope you wonderful people want to visit my blog. I'm always looking for more goth related blogs to read!

Good-bye! :)

Thank you Lesthi! I love everything you create, especially the rose crown. I may have to make one of those for myself. ;)
Please visit Lesthi's blog HERE.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!!

Club Night Makeup

2012-09-30T10:54:00.000-04:00

My makeup from Friday night.

I wore Detrivore's lip gloss in Coralline over MAC's Cyber. Cyber is a dark purple, almost black color. I like it but it's really dry. Coralline is a bright purple gloss that is pretty opaque. I loved the combo of the two and it lasted really well.

One way I get my lipstick to stay on longer is to use my lipliner then put on my base layer of lipstick. I get a tissue and blot this really well then I pat my face powder on over my lips. Next I repeat the process of lipliner, lipstick then gloss. This little trick really helps to keep lipstick on longer.

Skin:
MAC StudioFix liquid NC15
Detrivore Cosmetics Pallor Mortis Dehydrating Powder
MAC Beauty Powder in Briar Rose on cheeks

Eyes:
Physicians Formula black gel liner for brows
Kryolan CEL sealer over brows
Detrivore Cosmetics black eyelid primer
Studio Gear Cosmetics eyeshadow in Heather over lid and under eye
Ben Nye eyeshadow in Toast on browbone
Dawn Eyes Cosmetics eyeshadow in Holographic White on inner lids
Wet N Wild liquid liner in black for all eyeliner
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk on lower water line and into inner corner
Red Cherry lashes (lost the box, not sure what number)
CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion mascara

Lips:
NYX Plum lipliner
MAC Cyber lipstick
Detrivore Cosmetics lip gloss in Coralline

Thanks so much for reading!
Cheers!!! <3

Aspirin and Pepto Bismol.....

2012-09-29T20:47:00.000-04:00

Last night was our city's monthly goth/industrial night. I didn't go last month because I was still trying to get my grad school aplication done (which it is now, just waiting for a yes or no). So, I made it a point to go to last nights event since I haven't gone out in about four weeks!

I am attempting to take more outfit pics but I'll say it again, MY CAMERA SUX!!!! These are taken by my three year old. LOL

These were taken by my friend in better lighting.

Everything I'm wearing is thrifted or traded for except the tights. The jacket is Living Dead Souls and I got it at a clothing swap with a friend of mine. My boots are Demonia second hand from ebay. I actually broke the zipper on them last night. It's kinda a good/bad thing. I've been running and doing a lot of spin classes for the past few months and my calves have gotten noticably bigger. I didn't adjust the buckles on the boots when I was zipping them up and I pulled the tab off one of the zippers. Now I gotta find a shoes hospital and *fingers crossed* they can fix it. I'm sure the fact that I downed a shameful amount of tequila before going out had NOTHING to do with me breaking the zipper either. Derp!

This is what was going on before we even made it out:

Yeah, mommies gone wild here! What do you expect when we spend all week in yoga pants and changing dirty diapers? Unfortunately within the hour my friend here broke her arm "break dancing" (as SHE put it LOL) on the dance floor. She's got a good attitude about it though, otherwise I wouldn't post this picture which is clearly showing the reason she did fall on the dance floor. :o Damn I love time with my girls!

Guest Post with Coffin Rock

2012-09-26T11:53:00.000-04:00

Today's guest post is from French blogger and crafter Coffin Rock.
Her guest post is about her shop and the not-so-nice attitudes that people in the crafting world can have. Coffin Rock's native language in not English so please be aware that some of the translation may not be spot-on.

Hello everyone,

I didn't know for a long time what to write for my Bethezda's post until yesterday....

As you may know, I'm a creator (Coffin Rock). I do some dark stuff for the homes and I totally adore my "job"... I created Coffin Rock in 2009 and try to live with it since. It totally gave me self confidence, creativity, something to do when I don't work, my sense of organization and it makes me smile when I do a new horrible things to sell.

Unfortunately there are always people who are horrible assholes.... yesterday evening I posted a new thing, a big cloud cushion, and asked the people on Facebook to say what they think about it. A guy came to say that I had stolen (like other people) the idea of a friend of his, that is not fair and totally out of creativity. (His friend does some cloud pillows to hang on, for children, with drops and child fabrics- so it is not the same thing as I'm making except it is a cloud shape). He told me that ALL of my work is just the copy of tons of American creations and that I have to be shamed about that...

Different friends told him that cloud cushion is made since years, and that it is totally unbelievable that his friend made a legally right on it, and that I have a lot of potential of original stuffs...

I just told him that I never said that I invented all of my stuff, but that I am a creative one, I invented some shapes and design and that he is totally breaking my nerves saying that I'm a bad copy of real creative people. I really stayed calm and quiet, answering his not nice words with
intelligence and a lot of patience (but in myself I was just furious about his "artistic superiority style who knows everything" jerk!)

I do some bags, pillows, wallets, soaps and jellys... of course I didn't invent the the idea to mix fruits and sugars, to create a thing to carry others, but... please! I do it my way, with my personnel touch... I create for people who cannot find unusual dark things in shops....

He really upsets me, I made some bad dreams, didn't sleep so well, and I don't know why... on the dark side where we all are, there is not so much people (at least in France) who do stuff for the Gothics, and I try to do that, with honesty and labor. He was just thinking that I'm not an artist...

In fact I'm not an artist, I don't put potatoes together to show them into museum because it's too artsy (I hate that!) but I create some unusual stuff for the dark homes... that's it!

Yes, I'm a creative woman, yes I love that and yes I'm strong now! Thanks to the years of selling things, to avoid silly people and to live my life in the way I like it!

And you, Ladies in Black, are you sometimes bored by the "real art experts- which do nothing in fact except searching to kill other creative people" - who are bad with you and your creative side?

-Coffin Rock

Wow, sounds like you have a self-righteous ass-hat on your facebook friends list that needs to be given the boot! I'm sorry you lost some sleep over his rude comments.

Here are some examples of Coffin Rock's work:

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

Kleancolor Chunky Holo Clover

2012-09-25T09:53:00.000-04:00

As Tante Fledermaus noted a few days ago, I'm in a green phase. Green nails, green eyes.... no on the green clothes. *wink

This is Kleancolor Chunky Holo Clover over Confetti Wedding White. I loved how this turned out, it reminded me a lot of the new pastel Lime Crime nail colors that are so bright.

This is Kleancolor Chunky Holo Clover over black gel polish- using my Red Carpet Gel Manicure set.

I absolutely love holo colors. Unfortunately my camera does not pick up the shifting colors very well.

What holos do you suggest?

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!

And the winner is......

2012-09-25T08:50:00.001-04:00

JESS Q.!!

You won the giveaway. I sent an email to the address you provided.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

KB Shimmer: Cotton Candy... or as I like to call it, Barbie Puke

2012-09-22T11:07:00.002-04:00

KB Shimmer in Cotton Candy.

Barbie Pink with a TON of glitter! Looks like Barbie Puke to me, in a good way of course. :)

I really love the formula of all of my KB Shimmer polishes. They are gelly based and the glitter stays suspended really well so that you are not fishing for glitter too much. She has some new Fall based colors out now that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!

Black Rose Minerals EOTD

2012-09-16T18:05:00.000-04:00

Eyes:
Elf Eye Primer
Black Rose Minerals Noxious on inner lid
Black Rose Minerals Sirius on outer lid and into crease, applied wet to lower lash line
Ben Nye in Toast on upper browbone
Wet N Wild liquid liner
Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion mascara

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cucumber

2012-09-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

OK. Ever since I saw Eye Graffiti playing around with the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil (JEP) in Cucumber I've been wanting to try it out for myself.

This pencil is bright! I mean, wow, what a pop of color.

As a lot of you know, NYX JEP work really well as eye primers. Here I layerd Mazzie Cosmetics Sour Mourning over the Cucumber pencil.

Eye:
Detrivore Cosmetics Black Primer, lid
Mazzie Cosmetics Sparkle Charcoal, lid
NYX JEP in Cucumber, lower waterline
Mazzie Cosmetics Sour Mourning, lower waterline
Wet N Wild Mega Liner liquid eyeliner
Cover Girl Lash Blast Fustion mascara

How many NYX Jumbo Pencils do you have? Any other favorites?

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!

So-So-Skullicious OPI Halloween and 300 Follower Giveaway

2012-09-11T19:50:00.000-04:00

Huzzah! It's giveaway time.

I wanted to do a giveaway to celebrate 300 followers as well as to celebrate the best holiday of the year, Halloween!

Thank you to everyone that follows and comments on my blog. You guys are what makes this fun.

So my dear readers, the winner of this giveaway will receive one OPI So-So-Scullicious kit. It includes four mini bottles of polish in Hi, Pumpkin!, A-Rose from the Dead, Mourning Glory and Candlelight. This kit also includes sugar skull nail decals.

For some great swatches check out Hello There, Blondie HERE
or The Polish Aholic HERE

This giveaway is only open to United States residents. I'm soooooo sorry to all my international readers but U.S. postal law restricts the shipping of nail polish. Please don't comment that you get international shipments all the time. Those people are breaking the law and I do not plan on doing so. I promise the next giveaway will be international!

Giveaway ends September 25th, 2012.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Green Green Grass of Home

2012-09-03T23:13:00.000-04:00

This was a nice long holiday weekend. We spent Sunday with some friends at a BBQ, then went swimming in their backyard pool. It was nice to not have anything to do except relax. I've been so preoccupied with studying for my graduate entrance exams that I haven't been enjoying myself much lately. This weekend was a nice reprieve before one last push of studying before the test on Saturday. Today we took it easy as well and went to the mall to get Bath and Body Works Halloween soaps. I had a coupon that expired today. (Good excuse right?)

Tonight was spent lounging around the house. Kiddos went to bed early as tomorrow is the first day of pre-school for my daughter. I took advantage of a study-free night and watched a rare bit of T.V. Tonight's episode of No Reservations took Anthony Bourdain to Austin, TX, my hometown. Although they really focused on the hipster element that has taken over the city in the last ten years, it still got me extremely homesick. Thus the title, The Green Green Grass of Home. This song makes me choke up every time I hear it. Whether it's sung by Elvis, Johnny Cash or an old lady in church it just gets at my little black hearted core.

Funny story, when I was pregnant with my first child my hubby met me at work and we went to a cafeteria for lunch. I don't even know if cafeterias exist outside of the south, I certainly haven't seen any up here in NY. Basically it's a place where you can get old people food. You know the show King of the Hill? Well Luanne is named after the Luanne platter from Luby's, an Austin-based cafeteria. Anyway.... we went to the cafeteria and I'm eating my macaroni and cheese and fried okra and I'm pregnant. For some reason there was a guy playing a keyboard and singing in the cafeteria. I guess it was "classy" day or something although it was more like a strange scene out of a David Lynch movie. The guy started singing The Green Green Grass of Home and I friggin lost it. Just crying my eyes out. Why? I don't know.

Where is this going? No idea but I wore green on my eyes today. There's your tie-in.

Eyes:
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk for base
Mazzie Cosmetics Sour Morning- lid
Sephora Mysterious Forest- crease
Kleancolor Hardcore Liquid Liner
Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion mascara

Lips:
Morgana Cryptoria Vampire's Vineyard
NYX Gloss 31 Red Tint

Face:
Revlon Beyond Natural Foundation Light
MAC StudioFix Powder
Detrivore Cosmetics Blush in Spoiled

Cheers <3

Someone Special: Sophistique Noir Monthy Theme Post

2012-09-01T17:52:00.001-04:00

Sophistique Noir's monthly theme post for the month is Someone Special.

I'll jump on the bandwagon here and give you a few cutesy pics of my hubby-bubby Jason. This year will be our tenth wedding anniversary and we have plans to go back to Las Vegas (where we were married) to renew our vows.

We met my senior year of college. I was at home by myself on a Saturday night writing a paper for one of my anthropology classes. Around 10 P.M. I got the random urge to go get a fairy tattoo on my ankle. By this point I had about five tattoos and I had been going to the same guy for most of them. I dropped my paper and went out to the tattoo shop. When I got there they told me the guy I normally see had left town but the cute guy helping me said he would be happy to do my tattoo for me. (you see where this is going?)
Loooong story short, that cute tattoo artist was Jason and two years later we were married.

This picture is funny because it is taken two weeks after we met and Jason took me to his family reunion. Talk about pressure! But look at his face, it's like he knows that he's sitting next to his future wife.

My graduation from UT was the first time that my family met him. 2001

OMG too cute. 2001-2002

With my stepson shortly after we were married. 2003

While I was playing roller derby. We're the ones in the back row. *wink

Then we started making little fairy babies. 2009 and 2010

And here we are now. A lot has changed in ten years, yet a lot has stayed the same. We've had some major ups and downs but we ALWAYS have a ton of fun together. He is my best friend and I LOVE that we share so many interests in common.

Fan Expo Toronto: Frankenweenie, R13 and Old Makeup

2012-08-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

Hello! I wanted to share some of the pictures I took at Fan Expo in Toronto on Sunday. Fan Expo is a humongous comic and media convention. Last year was our first year to go and we were so impressed by the size of it! This show helped lessen our disappointment in not being able to go to SDCC for the past few years.

The floor was packed so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted.

We stopped by the Frankenweenie booth which was AMAZING! They had all of these dioramas set up with actual figures from the movie.

Of course we had to goof around:

I wanted a big poster of Sheldon for our bedroom. Hubby was not amused.

We also got to pick up a copy of the Robot 13 Volume 1 trade paperback from blacklist studios in which hubby did some artwork. These are also the guys who bring you Disappointing Monsters.

Here's a page he did (crappy cell phone pic). If you wanna see a nice cleaned up version, buy R13 here.

And what would a post from me be without a vain makeup shot?

I used an old Chanel Argents trio I had for the eyes. The one with black, gunmetal and silver. Remember that? Discontinued now but such a good palette. It's from the days when Chanel was doing the whole "vamp" thing. ;) - used my regular MAC foundation routine, Physicians Formula gel liner for brows, NYX Natural lip pencil and Revlon Lip Butter Peach Parfait lipstick.

Have you been to a good comic convention lately?
Or.... do you have any old makeup colors that you still LOVE?

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!!