Makeupscience!

Science Sundays: Mike The Headless Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:33:00 +0000

Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. What the heck am I doing talking about headless chickens on Science Sundays? Fear not, there is a method to my madness. Mike the Headless Chicken was a very special rooster who was born in April 1945. He was going to be killed and cooked up for a meal, but luckily (or perhaps not), he lived for 18 months after his head was cut off--read more to learn how!

According to the story, on September 10, 1945 Lloyd Olsen was going to cook Mike up and serve him as the family dinner. Knowing that his mother-in-law would enjoy the tender neck meat, he attempted to leave as much of the neck as possible on the chicken as he cut its head off. However, after the blow not only did the chicken not bleed to death, but it continued with its normal activities and was found the next day sleeping with his own head under his wing. Impressed by the chicken's will to live, Olsen fed it a mixture of milk and water with an eye dropper, along with small bits of corn. It grew from 2 pounds to 8 pounds, and was a happy healthy chicken until he died 18 months later when he choked at night.

But how could he have survived at all?

Turns out that when Olsen cut off Mike's head, he had missed the jugular vein and a blood clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. He had also left one ear and most of the brain stem intact--which regulates basic functions (heart rate, breathing, temperature) and most of a chicken's reflex actions. It was the mostly intact brain stem that had allowed him to live life as a regular chicken, even though the rest of his brain was gone along with his head.

The brain stem is a very primitive part of the brain. It is the most crucial, since it controls all of unconscious processes that allow us to live. The rest of the brain controls sensory perception and higher function (though, being a headless chicken and all, Mike didn't need much of that).

You'd think that, being the control system of our bodies, we would need our entire brains in order to live, but it isn't so--not in chickens, and not in humans either. In extreme cases, people with grand mal seizures that originate in one hemisphere of the brain have half of their brain removed in order to alleviate their condition. These people survive and remain almost completely functional, if not for some peculiar limitations.

Isn't the brain amazing?

L'oreal H.I.P. Eyeshadow Duo in Mischief

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:38:00 +0000

I love brightening champagne shades; and when I bought this duo on clearance for $4, I didn't own any black eyeshadows. The darker side looked black enough in store, so I thought it was a great deal. Turns out the darker side is actually a navy color. Even though I don't wear navy eyeshadow, I love the color of the lighter side.

As you can see, the lighter side is a very neutral, almost cool-toned antique gold with silver shimmer. It's similar to my skin tone when applied to my eyelid, so it takes a bit of building to be noticeable. As you can also see, the navy side of the duo is rather under-performing. The navy shadow is hard to the touch, and has barely any color payoff. It might be better with primer, though I haven't tried to use it that way. Honestly if you want a navy eyeshadow there are better options out there, and probably for less.

The duo compact is chunky and it has a little compartment which opens up to reveal a sponge-tip applicator. I thought that the reason these were on clearance is because it was supposed to come with a mirror on the bottom, though from what I've seen on the internet this is not the case.

For some reason, this eyeshadow duo often sits at the back of my makeup drawer, ignored--I should use it more often. In all honesty though, this isn't a product I would recommend. The gold eyeshadow is nice, but it's not outstanding enough to warrant buying the entire duo for it, and much less for the $8 this usually sells for.

L.A. Colors Tea Time Eyeshadow Palette

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 01:17:00 +0000

Sorry for not posting for a while! I just recently started working at lab for the summer and I've been trying to figure out how to manage my time. Well, today I'm going to talk to you about this L.A. Colors eyeshadow palette, which in my opinion has a great selection of neutrals for an even better price.

I got this palette for around $2 at Pharmamax, since I had decided I needed more taupe eyeshadows in my life and I was thrilled that this one had so many. Unfortunately only one of these, the 4th one, is a true taupe. This palette actually includes a slightly coppery gold, a neutral champagne, a bronzed antique gold, a taupe and a sort of burgundy brown color. I find that the colors in the picture with flash are more true to life than in the picture without.

With Flash

Without Flash

As you can see from the swatches, the first two shades are much more shimmery than the rest of the palette. They're almost metallic, but they don't quite get there. What I see when I wear them is sort of like a strong, diffused sheen...if that makes any sense. The other three shades are more of a satin finish.

As for the formula, these eyeshadows are decently pigmented on their own, but I prefer to use them over a primer to bring out their true vibrancy. They're very soft, they feel almost creamy--and they're also a bit powdery, which could cause fallout without primer. Not the greatest but hey, $2 for 5 eyeshadows! I find that when worn over a primer these don't give me any problem at all.

Science Sundays: Water Bears

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 23:27:00 +0000

For the first edition of Science Sundays on this blog, I'm going to talk about my favorite microscopic animal of all time. These cute little guys are called water bears (due to their bear-like gait), or tardigrades. They're arthropods from the phylum Tardigrada, and oh yeah, they're nearly indestructible.

Water bears are small; they range from 0.3-0.5mm, and have four pairs of legs. These little guys have been found almost everywhere--including in sheets of ice and at the top of the Himalayas. Most of them live in moist places though, preferring patches of moss and the like. Something peculiar about them is that they're eutelic, which means that every single member of a species have the same amount of cells in their body. I think that's kinda neat. But even neater than that is the ridiculous amount of things that they can survive.

Water bears can survive:

Temperature extremes– They can survive temperatures from 151 °C to -200 °C. They can even survive for a few minutes at temperatures near absolute zero.
High Pressures- They can withstand the pressure of 6,000 atmospheres, which is almost six times the pressure of the very bottom of the ocean.
Dehydration- Some species have been known to survive up to 10 years in a type of stasis known as cryptobiosis.
Radiation– They can survive doses of 5,000 grays of radiation--5 or 10 are enough to kill a human.
The Vacuum of Space – They have been known to survive for 10 days in space when protected from radiation, and sometimes even if they aren't protected from cosmic rays.

So basically, these things will be able to survive a nuclear apocalypse. Along with cockroaches, they might become the kings of the new post-apocalyptic world. But that's okay with me--look at how cute they are!


Awwwww.

Revlon Moondrops Blase Apricot Nailpolish Dupe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 22:55:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my favorite drugstore lipsticks post, I own Hot Coral and Blase Apricot from the Revlon Moondrops line. Blase Apricot is a very bright orangey coral color, and as far as my knowledge goes, it's also a dead-on dupe for MAC Vegas Volt. Around a month ago, I bought Wet n' Wild Wild Shine polish in Blazed, and when I got around to using it, I found it looked exactly the same as Blase Apricot!

Here's how it looks like next to my nails:

As you can see, on the camera Blase Apricot has a bit more pink in it than Blazed does, but I find that in person they look almost identical. Here's a blurry picture with flash to show how similar they can look:

Amazing quality.

And here's a lip swatch!

On the lips, it looks like they're both the same color except Blase Apricot is slightly more toned down, though this could be remedied with a heavier lipstick application.

Something interesting about these is that on me, Blase Apricot tends to dramatically change color in different lightings. Indoors it looks really orange, like in my lip swatch, but outside in daylight it looks more like the picture with flash--sometimes pinker, even. I was surprised to find that Blazed also pulls the same color-changing trick! So they both change into the same color in different types of lighting. I wish they would stay pinky-coral though, since I prefer those types of colors.

It's kind of interesting how their names are similar, too. Blazed vs. Blase Apricot.

Now, Blase Apricot is supposedly an exact dupe for Vegas Volt in color, but the Revlon Moondrops formula isn't perfect. I quite like the formula, but it has a strong scent and taste. It has that retro perfumey scent that's quite strong, so people who are sensitive to smells would want to steer clear. It also has a perfumey taste, which I'm not crazy about but I can tolerate. It could be a dealbreaker for a lot of people though.

However, if you want a drugstore dupe for Vegas Volt and a nailpolish dupe to go with it (and aren't sensitive to smell or taste), then you can't go wrong with Revlon Moondrops Lipstick in Blase Apricot ($8) and Wet n' Wild Wild Shine nail polish in Blazed ($1). That's even less than the cost of Vegas Volt on its own!

Bettina Gel Eyeliner Follow-Up Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:13:00 +0000

So yesterday I decided to test the wear of the Bettina gel eyeliner that I reviewed in my previous post. I applied it with the brush it came with, or well, I did most of the time. I found that the brush it came with was thicker than I'm used to for an eyeliner brush, and by consequence I was surprised by how thick the line it made was. Not only that, but it had a few stray hairs so it deposited color in places I didn't want it to. Then, it made a mess when I was trying to go over the outer flick and define it. By that point, I got frustrated and switched to my usual eyeliner brush. My usual eyeliner brush is actually Studio35 and I got it in a cheapie travel pack at Walgreens; but I've found it to satisfy all of my eyeliner needs. Anyway, point is, the brush this came with doesn't. Don't bother with it.

This is how my eyeliner looked like when I applied it at around 1:00pm:

Even though the line was a lot thicker than I'd usually wear, I think it ended up looking okay. I'm not wearing any other makeup on my eyes other than a bit of Wet n Wild Brulee under my eyes and my inner corner/sides of my nose.

Now, here's what it looked like at 11:00pm when I got home:

Basically, it looks exactly the same. It looked the same when I finally removed it at 2am, too. So that's more than 12 hours without budging on a 95 degree summer day and stupid levels of humidity. Bettina Cosmetics is a Puerto Rican brand, so it's probably formulated to withstand the ridiculous heat and humidity. I will say this, though: most eye products don't fade or crease on me, even without primer. My lids are fairly dry, too; so YMMV. My Jordana FabuLiner does fade slightly throughout the day though, so it's better compared to that.

After the relative mess it was to clean it off my hands, I found that it was easy to remove from my eyes. I just let the soap break down the product first, and it removed cleanly.

All in all, this is a great product. The girl at the makeup counter at Walgreens told me that they sell well, and I can see why. They do a stellar job and at $4, it's a steal. If you're able to get your hands on Bettina products, I highly recommend you try this.

Bettina Gel Eyeliner Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:11:00 +0000

Today, I bought Bettina Cosmetics Long Wear Gel Eyeliner in Onyx. I've always been curious about gel eyeliner since it seemed so much easier to apply than liquid eyeliner, but I could never find a cheap drugstore alternative. I've heard good things about the Wet n' Wild gel eyeliners, but those retails for around $6-7, which is a bit more than I was willing to pay for something I might not like. I saw these ones being sold at Walgreens for $4, and I thought the price was right. They were a bit hard to spot though, they were at the very bottom of a narrow and easy-to-miss Bettina Cosmetics display (although the nail polish display is quite prominent). Bettina Cosmetics is a local brand from Puerto Rico, though it's also starting to be sold in some parts of Florida. Their nail polishes are popular and the quality of this gel eyeliner seems to be pretty nice too, but I haven't actually tried anything else from the brand. I want to though, since it feels great to be able to support a local brand.

The pot it comes in is quite small, as you can see here, and it comes with an eyeliner brush. I was surprised at how small it was, but it contains 3g of product, same as a MAC Fluidline. I suppose this is the size most gel eyeliners are, then. In fact, the other day I went to a Sephora for the first time (the closest one is 2 hours away and I've only recently been interested in cosmetics), and I was surprised by how small all the eyeshadow palettes were. They seem a lot bigger in pictures without anything as a reference. Anyhow, here's how it swatched on the back of my hand:

It's a pretty nice, dark line. Here's how it looked after I rubbed back and forth with my finger for 10 seconds:

Well, it's not the best ever, but it didn't completely rub off, and it didn't degrade much more than this after I continued rubbing. It didn't smear after it set, which is important. I try not to rub my eyes while I'm wearing makeup, so I think it will do just fine though everyday wear.

One bad thing about this is when I went to go wash the eyeliner brush. I washed it with regular soap and water (I know, I know, I shouldn't do that), and holy moly, the eyeliner got all over my fingers and I had to scrub to get it off! Some of it decided to stick around on my nails, too. I guess I put way more eyeliner on the brush than was actually needed. It didn't completely come off the brush, either, so I suppose I'll only be using this eyeliner with the brush it came with. That, or invest in a good brush cleanser, which I guess I should be doing anyway.

I haven't worn this yet, but from the rudimentary "testing" I've done, I don't think there should be any problems with wear. Oddly enough, I have a harder time removing my Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows from my skin, though they wash out just fine when they're on my eyes. I'm guessing it could be the same with this. All in all though, it seems like a promising product and for $4 it's worth a try.

Update: I did a wear test; you can read about it here.

These Kleancolor baked eyeshadows are fantastic!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 02:41:00 +0000


Top: Champagne, Glitter Copper, Khaki Bottom: Golden Poppy, Pearl, Onyx

I like baked eyeshadows because they're so versatile. They can be worn sheerer when dry and more intense when wet. They're especially great as liner. In fact, I don't actually own any colorful liners, I just use baked eyeshadow wet and it works just as well.

As you can see, some of these eyeshadows say American Eyedol while some of them say American Eyecon. On the Kleancolor website, they only list the American Eyedol line. I had bought these all at the same place from the same display, so I was very confused, thinking that the American Eyecon ones were perhaps an older, discontinued line or a manufacturing error. I emailed the company about it, and they said that the American Eyecon ones are actually from a new line, and that since most stores still carry the American Eyedol ones they only list that one on their site. However, they carry the same colors with the same quality. Go figure.

These are dirt cheap, I bought them for $1.59 each at Pharmamax. However, these are some of the best-performing baked eyeshadows I've used. And the icing on the cake? They're huge! Each single packs a whopping 4.5g (0.15oz) of product. Here's how they swatch, and these are dry without primer!

Onyx, Pearl, Golden Poppy, Khaki, Champagne, Copper Glitter

Onyx: Do you see how black that is?! It becomes an even darker, more intense black when used wet, too. I'm not really one to sport smokey eye looks, so I use this one wet as liner. It creates such a smooth, dark line, and it stays put all day. It even outperforms my Jordana FabuLiner (the only liquid liner I've tried, I'll admit). It's amazing, you need it.

Pearl: This one is a shimmery white. I own a lot of these kinds of shades because I love the brightening effect they have. What sets this one apart from the rest is that when applied to a damp eyelid, the little iridescent shimmers shine through. When applied dry it's a standard sheer white, and when applied wet it's an opaque, uniformly shimmery white; but it's when it's applied the way I described above is when it really shines.

Golden Poppy: It's a shimmery orange color, totally on-trend. Not for me, unfortunately, as I look ghastly in orange eyeshadow. I've heard it's good as a blush though--the last time I tried I applied too heavily and had seriously shimmery cheeks, but it might look better applied sparingly. It's worth looking into, at least.

Khaki: This one is a beautiful color. It looks a bit taupe-y in the swatch photo, but it's actually more of a dark, browned olive. If it was a little lighter I'd wear it as a lid color. It's too dark for that, though, so I wear it wet as liner instead and it looks great like that.

Champagne: It's a light gold color, certainly lighter than their Gold, but I don't know if I'd really call this one champagne. I like this one for its versatility, as this one can also be used sheerly on the face for a beautiful golden highlight. I'm all about the golden shimmer these days, but blush is sometimes a bit much on me, so already having a golden highlighter in my stash makes me happy.

Copper Glitter: This one is a very pigmented copper shade with fine microglitter in it. Like I said before, I look terrible in orange eyeshadow, and that extends to coppers, too. I wish I could find a way to make this one work for me, but it's just been sitting in my makeup drawer, neglected.

I love this eyeshadow line--the only complaint I have is that the line is mostly brights, and I'm more of a neutral eyeshadow kind of girl. I wish they had some taupes, or maybe even a lovely metallic pewter--I'd be really happy with those!

It seems the brand was thoughtful enough to swatch the line themselves, which you can find here.

My Go-To Eyeshadows

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Top: Wet n' Wild Sweet as Candy Trio, Revlon Polished Bronze, Revlon Nude Slip
Bottom: CoverGirl Mink, CoverGirl Tapestry Taupe, Wet n' Wild Nutty, Wet n' Wild Brulee

These are my favorite everyday eyeshadows. I rarely ever do anything fancy on my eyes, so I use these on their own on my lid, with the exception of Brulee, which I use around my eyes as a sort of powder concealer.

Here are swatches of these on bare skin with no primer:

Wet n' Wild Brulee, Wet n' Wild Sweet as Candy Trio (Browbone), CoverGirl Mink, Revlon Nude Slip, Revlon Polished Bronze, CoverGirl Tapestry Taupe, Wet n' Wild Nutty

Wet n' Wild Brulee: This shade is a bit hard to see because it's so similar to my skin tone. Wet n' Wild's mattes are great, and this one is smooth and easy to blend. I feel like with my particular skin tone, I don't like it all that much as a lid shade, but it it has a great brightening effect when used around my eye. The one I show here is actually my second one--I use it every day, and is a staple for me.

Wet n' Wild Sweet as Candy (Browbone): This one is a shimmery white. I have a lot of these, but I like This one in particular because it has good pigmentation and is easy to blend. The shimmer is fine, and when applied lightly is great as a brightening wash. I love to use this one when I'm wearing brighter lipstick.

Covergirl Mink: This is supposedly a dupe for MAC All That Glitters. I don't own All That Glitters, so I can't make a comparison. This one is a peachy/tan/gold color that is somewhat frosty. It looks really nice with bright watermelon pink lipstick.

Revlon Nude Slip: This is like a darker, less shimmery version of Mink. It's a beautiful color, and blends in well with my natural eyelid color, creating a sort of my-eyelid-but-better shade. The Revlon eyeshadows in general don't get much love (and I see why, the Perle ones are glitterbombs), but I really like the Satin formula. They're super-pigmented, smooth and easy to blend. They don't sell these anymore at Walgreens (I was told they were being discontinued), but I've still seen them in stock at Wal-Mart.

Revlon Polished Bronze: This is a subtly shimmery brown-leaning bronze. It's a nice, soft shade, only slightly darker than my eyelid color. I don't wear this one as much because I prefer to wear taupes, but this really is a lovely color.

CoverGirl Tapestry Taupe: This is my go-to taupe. It's a medium gray-taupe with no purple undertones, which I prefer because purple tones in my eyeshadow makes me look sinister. It's a pretty basic shade, and it looks great with anything I wear.

Wet n' Wild Nutty: This one is slightly darker than Tapestry Taupe. It's got lots of silver shimmer over a brown base, as you can see due to the curvature of my arm. The shimmer in this one is beautiful. I feel like it wears best over a primer, though, since in my experience the silver shimmer seems to wear off during the day, exposing the brown base. A lot has been said about this shade on the internet, lots of people seem to love it!

My Favorite Drugstore Lipstick Brands

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:34:00 +0000

I haven't gotten the hang of photographing swatches yet, so I'll start off with a list of my favorite lipstick brands. I suppose the title is a bit misleading since I only own drugstore lipsticks, but they're still my favorite out of the brands that I do own. I've tried other ones, but these are just the ones I like best right now. Eventually I'll be swatching all of these and doing mini-reviews of each, but for now here's an overview of the lipstick brands in general.

1. Revlon

I love these, but they're kinda pricey for drugstore, so I don't own as many as I would like. They have two lines of lipstick: the first two of these are from Super Lustrous line, which have black packaging. These are nice and creamy, and have no smell. Then, there's the Moon Drops line, which have green packaging. This line is mainly composed of vintage Revlon colors--some of them going as far back as the 1950's! These have a strong synthetic smell, which I suppose is how lipstick used to smell in the old days. It's not for everyone. They last a long time though, and stain the lips, too. Hot Coral is my HG red.

2. CoverGirl

Heavenly, Temptress, Fairytale, Flame

These are from the Color Perfection line. I love the formula of these. They're creamy, but they don't have much slip. In fact, it's almost like they become one with your lips. The only bad thing is that they apply a bit darker than they show in the tube, and get darker throughout the day. The staying power is phenomenal, though! They stain like crazy so even if the lipstick itself wears off, you still have nice, even color on your lips. I would buy more of them, but most of the colors in the line are either too dark or too frosty. Heavenly is my HG special occasion lipstick. It's a dark enough pink to be dressy, like something you'd wear to a job interview, and it has enough staying power that I don't have to worry about touching up. Love it.

3. Rimmel

Nostalgia, Kasbah, Airy Fairy, Kate #14

The first three are from the Lasting Finish line, and #14 is from the Kate Moss collection. Let's see how I can describe the formula of these...it's creamy but thin, and it's slightly sticky. The staying power is great though, and I usually don't have to worry about reapplying these unless I've eaten. They can get drying though, as the day goes on. I love all of these lipsticks, though with the exception of Airy Fairy, a light hand is best with these. Applied heavily, Kasbah is way too dark for my pale skin, though applied lightly it's a wonderful dark nude. I'm sad that Airy Fairy was (supposedly) discontinued though--I'll have to buy a backup one of these days.

4. Wet N Wild

Within These Adobe Walls, Pinkerbell, Coraline, Just Peachy, Hot Paris Pink

I own more of these than I care to admit, so these are just a few of my favorite ones. They're the most affordable lipsticks at the drugstore (and high quality too!), so I just can't help myself. Within These Adobe Walls is is from the Megashield line. Pinkerbell, Coraline and Just Peachy are from the Megalast line, and Hot Paris Pink is from the Silk Finish line. All of the lines are nice, though most of my lipsticks are from the Megalast line. I suppose it's because they're all matte, and Wet n' Wild seems to think it's a great idea to make most of their lipsticks frosty. I would definitely buy more from their other lines if that wasn't the case. Within These Adobe Walls is a lovely every day pinky-coral, and Pinkerbell is a dupe for Viva Glam Nicki.

Intro Post

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Hello, world!

Welcome to the grand opening of my new blog, Makeupscience! This is where I will post any and all thoughts I may have regarding makeup, beauty, or other random tidbits. The goal of this blog will be to swatch and review all of the items in my stash, and compare the colors between them. I tend to gravitate towards a few colors, so I tend to buy a lot of products that are similar to each other. It might seem crazy to have so many similar products, but I like having variety within the colors I like. I don't see a lot of people talking about regular drugstore products, so hopefully this will help a few people avoid buying products that are similar to products they already own.

I'm completely new to blogging, so I'm still figuring things out. There might be a few glitches here and there, so please bear with me! I only have a crappy camera at my disposal, so until I get a better one (or improve my technique) my pictures won't be the best quality, and I apologize for that. I try to take the best pictures I can given my circumstances, and I hope they'd be helpful or at least fun to look at regardless.

And so this isn't a pictureless post, here's a picture I took on my phone a while back:

It's my favorite (and so far only) teal eyeshadow, Sally Girl Baked Eyeshadow in Dark Green, and my 10-sided dice. It's beautiful, isn't it?