I’m Never Buying Brush Cleaner Again

On my agenda for IMATS this year was to come home with new brush cleaner. I was all set to go get more Parian Spirit, as I have used and loved that stuff for several years. However, I think they just lost a customer. Not really anything (much) they did wrong, but more about what Cinema Secrets is doing right. 

The only real beef I have with Parian Spirit is that their booth at IMATS was cash only. None of the other booths I was shopping at had that issue. I prefer to use my debit card instead of carrying around cash, so I decided to go elsewhere rather than leave empty-handed. I tried the Japonesque booth since they carry a branded version of Parian Spirit, but they weren’t selling it at the show – probably because Parian Spirit was there.

Then I remembered Cinema Secrets has brush cleaner, so I cruised on over to their booth. Reasons why I will be sticking with CS. I vastly prefer the fragrance of the Cinema Secrets brush cleaner because it’s vanilla vs. the strong citrus of PS. I also like that the CS has no expiration date. PS has a shelf life of approximately 6 months for maximum effectiveness.

So I got the 32 oz bottle. I will decant it into a smaller spray bottle and use that. But 32 oz of brush cleaner is a lot so it will last me a very long time, basically forever…I’ll be set for life. Okay not really, but a very long time – hence the title of this post. Because I got the giant bottle, the price worked out cheaper than the Parian Spirit too.

So, sorry Parian Spirit. Nothing personal really. See ya.

IMATS LA 2012 Rundown of Day 1

This is just a quick rundown of the Day 1 activities I got up to. ;)

++ Things That Were Awesome ++

+ Getting my brows done by Eugenia Weston / my experience at the Senna booth in general. Posted about that earlier. I am now known as the Senna stalker. :)
+ Meeting up with David Klasfeld (OCC Founder) and learning about the new OCC concealer. David is a doll!!
+ Hangin’ out with my girls Bren (OMG Bren) and Mai (Portrait of Mai).
+ Meeting Jenn Stazz & hanging out with her. She’s so sweet!
+ The drag queens at the Sugarpill booth (including the lovely Misty Maven aka Josh/petrilude) looking so FIERCE.
+  Spending way too much money on super fun goodies.
+ Seeing the lovelies of Beauty Army once again (met them at The Makeup Show LA).
+ I met Cora (vintageortacky on Youtube) and she is SO nice.
+ Watching a guy in full-out special FX demon makeup/costume nurse a Corona at the IMATS After Glow after party.
+ Epic mermaidness at the Lime Crime booth, plus getting a free shopping bag with a UNICORN on it. Even though I didn’t buy anything.
+ Checked out the new upcoming Naked Skin foundation from Urban Decay. Got shade matched and got a 2-week sample in 2 colors to play with. This doesn’t launch til next month.
+ Petting and fondling my new kabuki and powder brushes (more on that later). They’re so sofffffft.
+ Went to the Beautylish event afterward across the street. Cuppy cakes! So yummy. And they gave me a t-shirt. Not sure if it fits yet, but if it doesn’t look adorbs I can wear it as a PJ shirt or give it to my mommy.
+ Got a PurseBuzz BOW and one of her adorable lipstick necklaces.
+ After Glow had bruschetta. For free. YUM. I’m kind of obsessed. I love tomatoes.

— Things That Were Not Awesome —

– Random guy at booth yelling “ARE U BUYING ANYTHING” at me when I was just trying to see what his booth was. Err, no I am not buying anything – now!
–  $3 cans of soda.
– The press badges got royally f’ed up and NOBODY has the correct info on their badge, so they just blacked it out with a magic marker instead of reprinting them. Wtf. Also, press check-in lady was kinda rude/just not thrilled to be there, even at only 9:30.
– Speaking of press stuff, there’s NO PRESS BAG. I’m not whining about no free swag; the point of a press bag is to put all the brands’ contacts and one-sheets about their latest new products in it. So there’s no press materials? Da f—? Pain in the ass.

So that was day 1 in a nutshell…recap of day 2 coming soon, although it was pretty chill and not as action-packed hahaha…

Got My Brows Done by Eugenia Weston

Hey! I’m blogging from my hotel room at IMATS LA (yes, I got a room – I ain’t driving back and forth between OC and Pasadena every day!!! HELL NO.) and I just haaaaad to share this with you all. I got my eyebrows done by Eugenia Weston!!!!!! For those of you who don’t know who she is, let me educate you!

Eugenia Weston is the founder of Senna Cosmetics! Senna has been around since ’76 and was the first line to ever launch a brow kit with stencils, their Form-a-Brow. They’re truly brow EXPERTS. Eugenia Weston herself is an Emmy-nominated makeup artist and all around eyebrow genius. Not to mention a truly delightful person! I met her last weekend in Chicago, and met up with her again here in LA where she did my eyebrows for me! YAY!! I needed it really bad. My eyebrows were a hot mess. In just minutes she transformed my scraggly brows to gorgeous, arched to perfection goodness! Weeeeeee! The amount of arch she was able to get out of my brows astounds me. I snapped the photo above on the show floor right after she was finished.

Wanna know what’s on the rest of my face? Okay, I’ll tell you.

Face – MAC Studio Fix powder in N3, TheBalm Time Balm concealer in Lighter Than Light

Cheeks – Senna Sheer Face Color powder blush in Clarity (this is from their latest collection -gorg!), Senna Sheer Face Color powder blush in Enlighten (a pale beige highlight)

Eyes – I know it’s hard to see, but I did a look with some shadows from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I used Bootycall, Chopper, YDK, Busted, and a tiny bit of Blackout. I think that’s all of it. Maybe. haha… Oh and I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow in 30E as a base. LOVE THOSE THINGS. The ridiculously amazing crayons coming out of the makeup world these days is so cool. On my lashes is Maybelline Great Lash (with the Lots of Lashes brush).

Lips – Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle

Oh and loads of Skindinavia makeup finishing spray. Loads. Tons. Take my word for it. ;) How can I say no to hair spray for my face? More fun IMATS stuff will be coming soon…and also fun stuff from The Makeup Show Chicago! lol I haven’t even had a chance to blog that yet because I have been so dang busy this week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all INSANE days at work.  :)