Thank God I'm Pretty: 2012

So, it's that time of year again! Time for me to go scouring my local drugstores looking for the fantastic, limited edition Halloween collections from brands such as Wet N Wild, NYC, Color Club, and others. This year I have my sights set primarily on the incredible Fantasy Makers line. As I'm sure you probably already know, Fantasy Makers is synonymous with Wet n Wild around Halloween, and this year they have come up with some absolutely brilliant products. I first saw the possible slew on Nouveau Cheap's website. If you haven't been there, go check it out! It's a great community for those of us who love the pretties but are on a budget.

In that post, I noticed one of the tombstone nail polishes, and decided I HAD to have it. Not to mention the fact that most everything else made my jaw drop. As far as eyeshadows and such go, I have (with very few exceptions) every palette from the Color Icon collection. They're absolutely lovely. And the eye shadows in this year's collections seem to be formulated/packaged the same way, so that excited me as well.

On Saturday, I made a trip to Rite Aid, hoping to find a display like the one in the link above. While they had a decent selection, they didn't have the individual nail polishes, lip products, or glitter palettes. While I was there, I did see the Vampiress Wicked Look Kit, and had to snatch that up for the mini-fast dry nail color and the lipstick, primarily.

Today, I went to Kmart, Walgreens, and Shopko. Kmart and Walgreens had absolutely NOTHING in the way of fantasy makers, which disappointed me. But Shopko did have this display up, and of course I rifled through it.

Still none of the lip products flying solo, nor the Ghoulish Glitz display, but I did discover a couple things that made me rather happy.

While in the post I linked you to above, it shows only two varieties of the tombstone nail polishes, my local Shopko had FOUR! The Glow in the Dark (Go with the Glow) and the red one I had been lusting after (Once Upon A Time). They also had two additional varieties, Nail in the Coffin and Rest in Pieces, which are pictured below.

Left to Right: Go With The Glow, Nail in the Coffin, Rest in Pieces, Once Upon a Time

Go With The Glow: Basic sheer glow-in-the-dark green

Nail in the Coffin: Sheer black base with fine multicolored glitter (to me it appears to be pink, blue, and silver)

Rest in Pieces: Semi-opaque black/gray base with LOADS of purple glitter. This appears to be an EXACT dupe of Night Prowl, a permanent color in the Wild Shine nail line.

Once Upon a Time: Again, that sheer-ish charcoal base, this time with different sizes of red glitter. It's absolutely beautiful and I'm seriously in love with it. With this nail polish, it was mentioned in Nauveau Cheap's post that the mini nail polish in the Vampiress Wicked Look Kit could be a dupe for this, but that it looks closer to an old LE shade, Behind Closed doors. So I decided to put that debate to the test, since I now own both.

Can you tell the difference? I can't.

Two coats on bare nail, with flash

Two coats on bare nail, no flash

Front of bottles, side by side

Side of bottles, side by side

So, I'm quite convinced that these are the exact same shades, one just comes in a convenient mini with the Vampiress Wicked Look Kit. The small size of the bottle is what worried me, so I'm glad they are the same, and that I have both. Plus, who doesn't love those adorable tombstone bottles!?

ONWARD!

Shopko also had all four of the individual 6-pan glitter palettes. I want to try them, I often have problems with glitters/creams, so I'm hesitant. Please share your input for me and others who foam at the mouth for these beautiful palettes.

Pixie Dust: By far and away the most diverse of the glitter palettes, with several different shades, glitter densities, and finishes

Fairy Flight: A more earthy set including greens and golds, and that stunning black.

Meteor Shower: A rainy, cloudy celestial mix of blues and grays

Stars and Snipes: Definitely the one you'll want for any glam devil/vampire look this year. Different shades of red and black for some serious intimidation.

So, while there do appear to be a few repeats in these glitter palettes, I think they all work well independently and are really quite beautiful.

Next I examined the Wicked Nails. And here's where I'm a bit disappointed. As you can see, there's not really much variety, and clearly, two of the designs are repeated, in different colors.

Tangled In My Web: Somewhere between fishnet and spiderweb, these have some fleur-de-lis designs and are actually my personal favorite.

Moth to the Flame: Shiny black base with silver flames

Cougar Attack: Metallic blue and black tiger/zebra stripes

Pit of Fire: Same layout as Moth To The Flame, just instead of a black base, it's red.

Starry Nights: Silver base with white iridescent stars

Seeing Stars: Same layout as Starry Nights, just a black background and silver stars.

Needless to say, I think they could have done better at bringing some more festive patterns and colors into the mix.

I have to say, I really do like the Wicked Look Kits this year. they're all a little different, with something special to draw you in.

Even though there are only four varieties, I quite like them. The packaging (which, yes, I am drawn to) is great, and the models do their job. The lipstick seems to be a mini Mega-Last, and the nail polish a mini Fast-Dry.

Vixen features a bright red nail polish (likely a mini version of Red Red), as well as a scarlet lipstick. The eyeshadows appear to be matte, black and true red (which is an elusive shade who hasn't been seen since Holiday 2010). The lashes are long and slightly feathered out, mostly black with red tinsel on the outer third.

Witch strikes me as a basic goth kit, with a black nail polish (which I truly could not tell the finish of), black lipstick, and a black and white eyeshadow. The lashes are in a sunburst/spike layout thicker at the length

Siren includes a purple nail polish with subtle shimmer, a mid-toned purple lipstick, lavender and teal eye shadows, and long, flared tinsel lashes.

Vampiress is DEFINITELY vampy. The nail polish, as mentioned above is a mini UOaT, a dark blood-red lipstick, sparkling black and dusty red eyeshadows, and criss-cross lashes with rainbow glitter embellishments.

Alright, it's getting late and I'm getting a wee bit sleepy. But never fear! Only two more to go (seeing as how I didn't capture the colored mascaras and hair-colors). Though there are repeat colors between these Hauntingly Hip sets and the glitter palettes above, I enjoy the stencils available and the combination of colors chosen for each set. Plus they come with a mini black eyeliner, which is always handy.

Again, I've got a favorite in Seductive Swan. Maybe it's because I've always been a fan of Swan Lake, and adored Black Swan, but I think this palette is beautiful. The stencil does leave something to be desired, but chances are, if you're skilled enough to be applying these in the first place, you'd be able to easily tweak them to your liking.

Madame Butterfly is definitely gorgeous. Full of bright, glittering colors and a very unique and detailed stencil.

Enchanted Angel runs pretty close to fairy flight, and I actually like this wing stencil better for the Seductive Swan. This palette is more woodsy/earthy than I regularly picture Halloween angels, but I'm all for interpretation!

Devlish Diva has my favorite stencil of the bunch, and the colors in the palette just SCREAM fire and brimstone.

Now, I'm not much for false lashes, but I have to admit this years Bewitching Eyes make me want to reconsider and see if I can't make them affix to my lid and be LONGER than my natural lashes. These are self-adhesive, as you can see, which makes me happy. Lash glue with me is a joke. I'm saving the best for last, by the way. (At least, my favorite)

Twilight lashes are thin and comprised of holographic tinsel.

Red, feathery, and tapered to the outer edge, these ones certainly live up to their name.

This photo doesn't capture it well, but the Hologram lashes are black feather interspersed with more holographic tinsel.

Mysterious lashes I think are absolutely gorgeous. Thick and full, these lashes have a fun cat's eye extension at the outer edges.

Extra Long would be my vote for any kind of a doll-look. Extremely dramatic and full, I can't imagine they wouldn't up that glassy-eyed factor.

And, though I'd probably never wear these ones, I think the idea and execution of them are breathtaking. The lashes themselves are very similar to Hologram, with the black long-short pattern with holographic tinsel, but I love the lashline embellishment. The adhesive strip below the rhinestones has some blue iridescent shimmer to it, and the rhinestones are some of the more... sparkly I've seen on any costume lashes.

So, that is episode 1 of my Fantasy Makers 2012 adventures. Stay tuned and I promise there will be additional entries as I find more goodies!

I know baking cupcakes is pretty self-explanatory, but I've had some requests for cooking/baking videos, so I decided that this was the perfect time to do one. Just so it's more of an actual TUTORIAL, I did throw in a few basic baking tips and tricks. I'm no pro, but this is the first video tutorial I've ever filmed for anything. The item I refer to that my grocery store didn't have is powdered milk. There is one variety, the labeling is all in Spanish, and the canister is 64 oz. Under no foreseeable circumstances would I use 64 ounces of powdered milk when I'm not even sure if it's what I need.

Let me preface this video with... I don't like chocolate cake. I adore chocolate. I love brownies and most chocolate cookies, but most chocolate cakes, to me anyway, are dry, too dense, and the chocolate flavor isn't as intense as I would like. My family voted for me to do Devil's Food cupcakes, but I knew if I did, I wouldn't enjoy them. So I decided to try out the chocolate fudge mix.

For a mix, I was really impressed with the overall texture and flavor. I baked them for 18 minutes in a 350 degree oven (the low end of the suggested baking time), and they came out perfectly done and even, which is miraculous in my oven. Though completely cooked, they had a wonderfully soft, fluffy texture, and the chocolate flavor was very rich and satisfying (the frosting may have helped out with that a bit).

Another issue I often have with cupcakes/cakes is the density. I know a lot of people prefer a very fine crumb in their cake, but I like when the eggs and leavening agents do their job and the end result is is a light, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth cupcake. I definitely needed to eat these over a plate or napkin.