MAC's Heirloom Mix Lipstick: Tribalist

     

MAC X Nasty Gal: RUNNER

In the midst of unloading myself of the hundreds of useless photos on my phone I stumbled upon these babies from December. When Nasty Gal, collaborated with MAC.
So here it is, the beloved Runner. I'd say that Runner is outrageously similar to MAC's Sin, a darker red of it's kind.
Nonetheless, lovely and definitely a limited edition gem!

What I've learned from tattooing myself: Stick and Poke tattoos

I want to start off by saying that this isn't by any means a guide on how to tattoo yourself. This is solely my experience, thoughts and opinions about the whole deal.

As of now, I have 3 tattoos that I have done myself and to be honest I am quite happy about the process itself more than the actual tattoos.

Not being new to tattoo's I realized that if I was going to do this it would be best to use an ink that would not turn that hideous green like some black ink's tend to do. Color pay off was a big thing to me. So with a little bit of searching I came across Kuro Sumi in Eggplant Black.

In all honesty I love this ink. I don't know much about inks but this color is just beautiful!

This ink is solely responsible for me loving the whole experience to the degree in which I do. 

With the ink taken care of, it was time to think about needles.

See I've always been a body modification enthusiast. For most of my younger years, I was set on the thought that I would someday be a professional piercer.

So my thoughts exactly were "hey, I'll just use my piercing needles"

Of course that is just not, not at all a good idea.

The problem with piercing needles is that, obviously they are meant to pierce skin.

So using a piercing needle to tattoo, is just not going to work.

First off, the tip is so incredibly tiny and sharp, so your pokes will be not only painful, but useless because again the tip is so fine and tiny that you won't get a sufficient amount of ink in your skin.

So of course, at that point I was left empty handed.

So at that point I grabbed my sharpest sewing needles and went to work.

I found using a sewing needle quite good. The only thing I must say is that you do have to apply more pressure because the needle is not meant to penetrate skin.

I found this technique to work like a charm for my first, two tattoo's (my first tattoo was the three lines in the picture above)

After having tattooed myself twice, I was content enough and picked up my materials a couple of months later.

This time I was set on using some sort of tattoo needles.

Of course I came across tattoo needles, but with there not being any guide out there on what tattoo needles to use if you were to perform this on yourself, I was left confused.

Not knowing what size tattoo needle to buy, I just impulsively purchased these.

Round liner needles (3RL)

Once I got these needles I felt as they were too thin, but I was determined to try regardless.

I don't recall where, but I saw how in a particular country hand poking tattoos is a cultural thing and I saw a specific tattoo artist use a special technique.

Basically he had several needles together, which I completely tried to imitate.

So to not overwhelm myself I only taped together two needles by the middle.

While tattooing he also mentioned that it was best to go at an angle and almost lift the skin.

So I did the same, this method is amazing and works beautifully. It allows the whole poking process to be less painful.

I also find it to be easier on the hand, the needles almost, ever so gently glide into your skin.

My experience with that tattoo was by far the best. The tattoo came out lovely and ever so straight, and I found that I barely had to go back to the same spot.

Now, about the healing.

I feel as I can go on and on about the healing process.

The healing process honestly has me strongly doubting to ever get a tattoo by a machine.

Now, I almost feel like a tattoo machine "chews" your skin.

Being tattooed twice before hand poking my own tattoo's, I can say the worst part about getting a tattoo was the healing process. For me, the healing process for the first tattoo I ever got was probably horrendous as ever. My tattoo went through this horrible itchy phase, an ugly peeling phase as well as a phase where it almost felt like it was burning. All in all, it was all just painful and obnoxious.

To get to the point quickly, the healing of a hand poked tattoo is just spectacular.

You do not have to deal with any obnoxious phases, and the healing time is so quick! you almost forget that you have a tattoo because you don't feel it all.

So that was my experience, this goes without mentioning that everything must be clean and sterile to avoid any potential problems. Be patient, because tattoos are permanent, so take your time and try to be neat as possible.

* The tattoo ink and needles were purchased on Ebay all together coming at about $12 dollars. 

COLOURPOP Haul: The Darker Shades [swatches+review]

 

Not too long ago I discovered the ever so affordable brand called Colourpop.

I must say, right of the bat I was very pleased. Most of the products listed on their site go for only $5 dollars! which is totally great. Along with that they also having matching lip pencils to all of their lipsticks, and snazzy eyeshadows with great pigmentation.

I tried to not go too crazy and only I ended up picking up only 5 'Lippie Stix's' in their darker red shades.

(Ellaire, Creature, Pitch, Dalia, Feminist) 

I would definitely say that although these lipsticks claim to be "Matte" they are not.

The only shades that almost closely resembled a matte formula were "Pitch" and mostly "Dalia" (third and fourth)

The lipsticks themselves are truly hydrating and have such great pigmentation, again they are not matte as they claim they are, but a smooth satin finish.  

Thoughts: 

My least favorite was "Ellaire" it almost compares to Mac's "Diva" except for that it isn't matte.

The only reason I didn't like this shade is because its a bit too bright for me and doesn't go too well with my complexion.

"Creature" was my favorite shade before I received "Dalia"

These two shades are really similar, as they are both beautiful deep burgundy reds. The only difference between these two is that "Dalia" is more of a matte than "Creature" is.

I was truly impressed with "Pitch" not only is less of a satin finish than the rest,

it is also a snazzy shade to have. The description for this shade, is a dead on. It's a chocolate brown shade with hints of red.

"Dalia" is is my favorite shade of them all, its perfectly matte and just such a beautiful deep burgundy red. 

Lastly, I bought "Feminist" for its name, c'mon Feminist. I feel as the name says enough about the woman wearing it.

Strong, beautiful, and bold.

This shade is just great to have in any collection, its a really deep black/purple with a satin finish.

Overall,

I was pleased with Colourpop's 'lippie stix's'

the darker shades they carry are definitely a must grab, being that they aren't the easiest to get a hold of elsewhere. Especially at it's price you can't go wrong.

Not to mention the packaging is absolutely 

gorgeous.

A New Beginning: The Papaya Guide.

In ode to my love to papayas, of course.
For starters, my name is Paulina! I'm a nineteen year old, native New Yorker, college student.
(Please don't hold the new yorker part to me) haha
My reasons for starting this blog are rather simple.
I've been an avid blogger for approximately 6 years, and though I've always kept it for myself, I've always looked at blogging as something I would love to do.
The decision of doing so today, is shaped by many factors. Although, the main reason is my current obsession of dark red lipsticks! I mean its like you could never get enough, and its safe to say that I am now a lipstick junkie! That being said, I am heavily influenced by reviews and products swatches you find online, and I think that I don't stand alone when I say that. I find myself having to search for swatches of particular lipsticks that I'm looking at before committing to purchase them. I truly find my discoveries helpful, although in certain instances I find that the swatches are made by lovely individuals with a totally opposing complication, thus making them useless to me or in some cases there is simply no review out there.

So who am I?
As I mentioned before, I'm a nineteen year old college student majoring in Business and Administration, residing in Queens and making the ever so treacherous commute to Manhattan daily.
I'm very much fond of the arts. I find myself being an enthusiast of all sorts, and thats mainly due to the fact that I love so many things and I'm very willing to learn. But mostly, what makes my heart flutter is creating. I love making things and thats also due to the fact that I'm very hands on.
I also happen to have a little shop on Etsy, which is almost like my baby. I started my shop of selling vintage denim shorts and a few articles of vintage footwear. Nowadays my shop consists mainly of hand woven bracelets made by wonderful Ecuadorian artisans.
Most importantly, I should mention that I am a very, very happy vegetarian and that I also dislike plastic bags and basically disposable plastic, with all my heart.

All in all, I think it would be beautiful to record my findings and publicize my perspective and my life style to beautiful people on the inter webs, also because I haven't found people who share similar interests as me, and I know you guys are out there!
So I'm off with this venture with a very hopeful heart and open mind!
Till next time~
-Paulina