How Much to Plaster On

I got a few emails from people in the last week asking about make up (duh.)  Specifically, they have been asking how much to put on.  Like, when do you stop putting it on?!?

I thought I would take a few pictures of different levels of made-upness, and tell you what I had on, and where I would go if I had that much makeup on!  Let's do this!

LEVEL ONE:  Little to no makeup.  I know, I'm so brave, right?  I'm not going to get into how dumb it is that women get so worked up about showing their faces, when it's totally 100% fine for dudes all the time, but that's neither here nor there, and this is a makeup blog.  This is my regular human face.  The only thing that is making me feel weird about these pics is that I don't have glasses on, it makes me feel like I have little teeny eyes in a big old face like a cartoon character.

WHAT I HAVE ON/WHERE I'M GOING:  When I get done up to this level, I put on some tinted moisturizer or bb cream, and Vaseline or some other kind of lip balm so I don't look dried out.  Here I have Cerave moisturizer, Skin 79 Oriental Gold BB Cream on my problem areas, and some Vaseline on my lips.  This is what I would have on if I was walking to the corner to buy mustard or Arctic Zero or a Diet Coke, or if I was going to get drive thru pho or something.  If I was going to the gym, I wouldn't even do the bb cream, because I get paranoid thinking about tinted stuff going in my pores when I am sweaty.

SHOES

My taste is a little plain when it comes to a lot of clothing.  I like weird, statement items, but you kind of need to pair wacky stuff with more understated stuff so you don't look like a mental patient (not saying I'm not a mental patient, just saying I like to be low key about it....)

That's why I have had a long term love affair with these shoes.  THESE SHOES!  They are basically as plain as possible, go with everything, and are so comfortable I wear them almost every day.

Question/Makeup Remover and Nails

Hey, Everyone!  Thanks for checking out my new site!  I've been getting a lot of feedback from y'all, and that is making it a lot easier for me to keep trucking along.  That being said....


Q: As a fellow pale chick, I am having the experience that finding foundation that matches my skin and is not just poorly made, hardly covers anything.  Makeup is a pain in the ass. I would love it if you suggested some brands or general tips for pale skin foundation matching.


A:  Lookit us, back on that Q and A stuff.  Meeeeeemoriessssssss............

Introducing The Pig/Photo Finish

You know what cheeses me off?  Blowing money on makeup stuff, and having it be really cruddy.  It's always a treat to buy some fancy thing, and when you spend decent scratch and the thing you bought is basically worthless, it is pretty insulting.

Enter The Pig!

The Pig wants you to have nice things.  The Pig does not want you to waste your money.  A lot of times there will be a product that seems to have a lot of buzz, or seems to be pushed pretty heavily by retailers or by other makeup blogs, and they just aren't that good.  That's when I will step in to give you a brutally honest take on things (brutally honest is just something I do), then we'll take whatever money you might have paid for that overhyped product and feed it to The Pig.  As this site progresses, we'll be able to see exactly how much money we've saved by not buying things that don't live up to their promises, or have cheaper alternatives.  

***This is about treating yourself to nice stuff, but being savvy enough to recognize when you should save your money for something else.  DON'T BE A MARK.  Being a mark never looks good.***

The Blackening

I am an unrepentant hair-dyer.

My hair is naturally a very cool-toned, ashy blonde.  So cool-toned it is almost grey looking.  Now, saying that, I need to point out that I have not seen my natural hair color since I was in 7th grade.  When my roots come in, they seem to still be that ashy blonde color, but who knows.  I started dying my hair when I was about 12.  I stayed home alone while my family went to a football party (hello, Ohio), and walked to Revco and bought some of that orangey, penny colored hair dye that everyone loved in the 90s, and dyed my hair before everyone got home.

I dyed my hair various red tones until I was 15.  I got a hair up my ass that I was gonna switch it up and try that purpley, cherry cola color that was also the jam in the 90s.  I got my dye and slapped it on, and it seemed WRONG.  It was not processing in any way that looked purple, or even dark purple.  It looked like tar.  Somebody in the factory (or, more likely, somebody bored in Revco) had put black dye in the burgundy-purple hair dye box.  I felt sick to my stomach for a little bit, then I rinsed out my hair and checked out the damage...

Red Lipstick/Messed Up Teeth

Look at my crooked teeth!

I actually had braces when I was in middle school/high school.  Being a poor hillbilly, I ran into some issues when it came to the monthly payments.  When the orthodontist put my appointments on hold while they sorted it out, I just went ahead and yanked them off with a little pair of mini pliers.  POP POP POP POP!  That's what it sounded like when I was popping those brackets off.  Up yours, Dr. Walters.  Fix some other sucker's teeth, I like my crooked teeth just fine.

Actually, I like people more if they have messed up teeth.  It's probably just me trying to have positive self-image or something, but I think it makes people look honest or more charming or something.  Rock out with your snaggletooth out, etc etc.

Anyway, for my first really real post here, I thought I would talk about lipstick!  I've received a lot of emails over the years from ladies asking how I do my red, and so I figured I would start by talking about that...

Hello Hello

Hello!

This is my new thing.  Scary!  I am going to put a makeup/product/clothes/purse blog here.  You might know me already, because I have had a site and blog at nataliedee.com for the past 9 or 10 years, and my fingers in other sites like marriedtothesea.com.  I guess that's why this is a little intimidating... it's just been a really really long time since I started a new online project from scratch.  The possibilities!  So overwhelming!

If we've not crossed paths before, then HEY.  My name is Natalie Dee.  Here I am:

What's crackin'?

I live in Columbus, Ohio with my husband and my 3 year old daughter.  I do comics and freelance illustration, and run an online store.  When I am not doing art stuff, or making sure a 3 year old doesn't accidentally kill or maim herself, I like to groom myself and look for sales and other superficial activities.  I like some fancy stuff, but I like cheapy stuff and drugstore stuff just as much.  I like my personal space, so, aside from haircuts, I am very much on the DIY tip.  Dye jobs, eyebrow waxing, manicures and pedicures, and anything else I can do on my own, I always will, because STRANGERS TOUCHING ME >:(

So, yeah.  We're acquainted, so now we can get down to the business of blogging this ish.

See you soon!
ND