Freshlook ColorBlends - Coloured Contacts

Freshlook ColorBlends - Coloured Contacts

I just tried these for the first time a month or so ago for a fancy dress party.  Awesome!  I got the Sterling Grey colour after checking out some recs online with pictures from other people.  It gives a nice blue colour, not too bright...

Ok so the pupil doesn't look quite as good as in the photos here - it's actually bigger than your pupil, so a tiny bit of your own colour comes out.  But it's not so bad that it's easily noticeable.

Put them in before you do your eye makeup.  Actually put them in before you put ANY makeup on.  The first time I put them in my eyes teared up heaps.  Took me AGES to get them in.  I've had them in twice now and it was heaps better the second time.  I think you just get the hang of the right technique of getting them flat on your eyeball.

When they're in... they do feel a bit weird for a while, bit like you've got dust in your eye.  But you get used to it pretty quickly.  Also, when it moves on your eyeball you kind of get semi blurry patches of eyesight.  Not anything too bad at all, just a bit of fuzz.  Definitely manageable.

I love these.  I bought mine from www.quicklens.com.au

I just ordered Green and Gemstone Green.  :)

Additional note 22/09/2015 - I now wear contact lenses dailyas my eye sight deteriorated and I wanted to add some important notes on this one.
First thing - You can actually go to your local optometrist to get a sample one of these and to get fitted properly. We all have different shaped eye balls and although the contacts are made to suit as many people as possible - they might not fit you (and if that is the case it's kind of uncomfortable to have them in and they move around too much).
Also - if you have daily ones, one wear etc - don't try to stretch it out longer (it's really not healthy for your eyes). And don't sleep in them! Your eyes need oxygen and having that contact lense over it doesn't allow as much to get in (particularly the coloured ones as they have more coating). I know they make some contact lenses that you can wear overnight but the freshlooks are not made like that.

Oh and clean your hands before you handle the lenses or put them in your eyes.

Can you tell I'm older now? yeh. haha sorry.

Permanent makeup - eyeliner part two

Ok so clearly I've taken a bit of time to get to "part two" of the permanent makeup eyeliner experience.  Apologies.

Kind of crap as it's been so long that I can't remember much of the detail.  So I'll nutshell it.  Basically - there was a second anaesthetic cream that the woman "forgot" about the first time (yeh thanks...).  This cream... was AMAZING.  Couldn't feel any pain when it was on.  So she touched up top and bottom lids... I think I mentioned previously that it's a LOT for your eyes to take so getting both done is a bit too much.  This was just a touch up, but my eyes were so swollen I could barely keep them open to see!

It took a day or two for the swelling to go down (and they felt tight and somewhat painful during that time)... then the same process began with the bits and pieces of scab coming off etc.

In summary - given I've had them for a while now - I'm glad I got it done but yes it was painful.  I think if the place I went to was more experienced it wouldn't have been so bad...
BUT - I really like having them done.  On weekends I generally go no makeup but still feel a little more 'done' due to the eyeliner.  You get used to it very quickly too and I can't really remember what I looked like before!

Day to day - I don't use eyeliner at all unless I'm going for a specific look.  Eg. I don't have the cats eyes type effect done with the tattoo, that's something I would draw in.

UPDATE (22/9/2015) - so my eyeliner is GONE now. From natural day to day washing etc, it's just worn away. And that doesn't make sense with the whole idea that it's a permanent tattoo, but that's what happens with areas like face/hands/feet that get washed often etc.
I think also I didn't go to the most experienced place for gettting this done and I think other places probably could have done a better, longer lasting job.
My mum still has hers, but hers was much thicker than mine.

Would I do it again? Yes. But I'd be more careful who I went to.

Oh and also I think my eye shape has sort of changed with age, which isn't necessarily a problem, but now when I do my eyeliner I do it differently on each eye (because one eye is noticeably bigger than the other.... I think anyway!).

Permanent Eyeliner - Part 1 - Lower Lid

Ok.... so permanent makeup. (that is not my eye pictured!).

I have now had top and bottom eyelid eyeliner done. So a couple of comments first up for basic info:

- At the place that I went to, they only do it in black (which makes sense now that it's done as there's a fair bit of fade)
- They don't use the same tattoo gun(?) pen(?) thing that they use for normal tattoos
- I don't know that they get heaps of training before they start working on people
- Don't do top and bottom on the same day...in fact I challenge you to attempt it because it's almost impossible (your eyes just can't take it)

Alright so where to start. I originally went in thinking I'd get my eyebrows done too, but I soon decided against this when she drew them on and suddenly I had no other facial features except eyebrows. They were just way too perfect and way too obvious. Just not how I roll.

The reason i thought to get the permanent makeup done is... well you already know I like trying new stuff. You also probably have figured I'm pretty keen on stuff that saves time (laser hair removal, permanent hair straightening)...kind of a natural progression. I also have 3 traditional (usual) tattoos, so there was no fear for me in regards to getting something tattooed.

Also - my Mum has the eyebrows done (she had them done in Malaysia) and she's very happy with them.

I've just moved to Melbourne and I did some googling for places that do the permanent makeup(NB. In Australia it has to be called "semi-permanent makeup" - they can't use the term "permanent" because it does fade and apparently that gives a false impression to the consumer). So I googled about and found a chain that does it. I would normally avoid a chain, but, and this is not a race thing, just a "what I know".... I would have normally tended toward an asian establishment to do it... but as mentioned - new to the city so wasn't really "in the know". So the chain had good info on their website and from what I had researched thus far, seemed to have the right kind of writeup. Check it at www.essentialbeauty.com.au

Ok so from there I just picked a place nearby... yada yada.

Pricing - varies a bit, but it's generally going to cost you at least $200. At this place it was $295 for just the lower lid, if you got both lower and upper it was $395... I think... argh sorry I downloaded two $50 off vouchers (one for Mum, one fro me) so I got a $100 discount. Anyway, somewhere in the $300 - $500 range.

So I had two sessions, two weeks apart, I'll start with the first session...

When I got in there, she popped a white anaesthetic cream on my lower lid. Has to stay on for 30 mins. Didn't go that well for me as my eyes would NOT stop watering. Mum and I had to hold bits of my face taught so I couldn't close my eyes (once I closed them the cream would go in my eye and sting). So 30 mins of holding my face. Good times.

Then she starts tattooing - now if you've had a tattoo, you know the sound of a normal tattoo pen thingy. This had exactly the same sound... high pitched 'eeeeeeeeeeee'

So she puts some ink on her glove and basically dips the needle into the ink and then tattoos it on your eyelid - I watched when she did Mum's eyes - she worked in small strokes. So lots of small strokes along the eyelid, then moves to the other eye, then back, then to the other, then back.... etc. She needs to go over it about 4 to 5 times to get good colour and coverage.

The first round was fine, I could feel it, but no pain. So kind of like scratching, pulling a bit, but no pain. I thought "easy peasy". Oh I forgot to mention both Mum and I took two panadol beforehand as well.

Second round - umm ok it's starting to hurt. Bearable, but I was thinking "I'm not sure if I can do 4 rounds....". I started to tense up at this point. Oh and even though I was supposed to keep my eyes open, I totally couldn't (just cause, well, something near my eye? My eye is going to close). The girl said that was okay though, she could still do it. Alright she wasn't really a girl, I should really refer to her as the "lady" but it seems nicer to call her the "girl".
Anyway...
Okay so I was feeling pain. Imagine umm ok it wasn't burning, it was... PAIN. I guess think of if you had a small cut on your finger and you keep brushing something on it. That kind of pain on an already pained area? Stinging pain, stinging, semi-sharp pain.

Third round. I'm starting to mentally sweat. Before she even starts I'm saying "I'm not sure how I'm going to go here". I suck it up and try to breathe my way through it. It HURTS. Goddamn it hurts. I mean it REALLY really hurts. My eyes teared up throughout the entire process, but in this round, as my Mum described it, I was "really crying from the pain".

After the third round I sat up and said "yep I can't do any more".

Mum went next and she was a bit tougher than me - she went 4 rounds. Her lids seemed to bleed a bit (the girl just wiped it away each time). Mine didn't really bleed.

When done, the girl popped some bepanthen (see my other post on this miracle item) on our eyes, and we were on our way. Pain after leaving? No. Swelling? Mum had a little, I had not really much.

Afterwards:

So you put bepanthen on it and try to keep it dry... I topped up with bepanthen every now and then... probably every couple hours I suppose, or just when i woke up and when I went to bed. When the tattoo is "fresh" it's very dark black. It just looks like you've put on liquid eyeliner. And it's a bit shiny from the bepanthen, but you can certainly be out in public without concern.

They say your eyes might feel gritty and dry.... I didn't have this in the first round. Didn't really feel anything different.

I had it done on a Friday morning, the scab came off on Monday morning. I was putting bepanthen on with a cotton bud and on the Monday morning the bud had all these little black bits on it (the scab) and I could see what the actual tattoo looked like - it was WAY lighter than the liquid eyeliner look that I had just after getting it done. Much thinner too. The girl had mentioned that we would need to come back in two weeks for a touch up. I originally thought "pfft no I won't", but it was clear that I would (plus I needed to come back to do the upper eyelid anyway).

After the scab came off - business as usual. I did already like the way it looked, but definitely wanted a touch up. But no further care or concern was necessary, my eyes were as normal.

Next: Part 2 - Upper Lid & Touch Up of Lower Lid.....

Stay tuned..... (PS Part 2 was a VERY different experience.... mostly due to the addition of another anaesthetic cream....)

Eyelash extensions

Eyelash extensions..... beautiful aren't they?

Makes you think wow, that's awesome. I could amp up my beauty quota with this fabulous addition.

Don't do it.

I repeat. Don't do it.

Yep I've had this done and by all means, it looked freaking amazing. But it is SO hard to maintain and it's so expensive that it's SO not worth it.

Alright, so I believe this cost me at least $150, if not more. You get a choice of how long the lashes will be - generally you don't go super long because you'll look like a show girl. And probably a male show girl. You go with the shorter ones, short to medium. And yes, you can trim them after it's done... if you are game.

I went short to medium length. Then you have to decide how many you want, and how thick you want it to look. I think I went a "full set" but that doesn't mean they go on every lash, the beauty therapist does their thing and decides when you have enough. I think you get charged according to how many they use... maybe.

So you go in and immediately you can tell that the beauty therapist is thinking "wow this chick has money to burn". You have the initial chat about lenght, fullness etc.

The procedure itself, they have to clean off any makeup and then basically they are glueing each extension on to an individual eyelash of yours. The fake extension bit - you get told all this stuff about it being awesome "so soft" "just like real". I felt them before they went on and yep that's all true. (there's more to it though).


So it's a long process with the poor beautician girl glueing away at your eyelashes. It's a long time to have to have your eyes closed and, like with the perming, you can tell there is chemicals near your eye.

So when it's done again, as with the perm, you have difficulty opening your eyes. But this is way worse. Your eyes feel like they are glued together, and kind of feel a bit heavier than they were before. It took a fair bit of gentle wiping to be able to get my eyes fully open, and my eyesite was all blurry by this stage.

I look in the mirror and WOW amazing. At this point I'm thinking - this is so cool!!
But something in the eyes of the beautician when I'm paying tells me there may be more to it.



After care. Sigh.

1. You have to sleep on your back because your eyes CAN NOT touch the pillow. Even if you have a satin pillow. You MUST sleep with your face up. Why? Because if you go smooshing your face into the pillow, you will kink the extensions. And there is no coming back from that. I had many nights of no sleep, then gave in and kinked an eyelash - I had to pull it off.
   
   Oh and when I say pull it off - you *can* get it off and keep your normal eyelash, you just have to be careful.
   
   
2. Even though I had the short/medium - I couldn't wear glasses or sunnies because those babies kept banging against the lenses. It doesn't sound like a big deal but trust me it was super annoying.
   
   But hey, I looked awesome. Boo yah. Who cares....... But wait.
   
   
3. Remember how I said the extensions were soft and lovely? They are. But glue isn't. And to get that sucker to stay on your eyelash, it takes a good 3mm of glue at least. And that 3mm section gets harder and harder every day. Suddenly you have these mega hard eyelashes that you can't touch, you can't sleep on, and you can't even hug someone for fear they will smoosh your face into their shoulder and heaven forbid - kink or knock off one of your precious precious lashes.
   
   
4. Sure. You can get "refills". But they cost a fortune. And the time you need to get it done is annoying. So you end up with some falling off every now and then. Yep you'll definitely know it has fallen off because suddenly you see this way thicker than normal eyelash in the sink, and it's as hard as a toenail. And you see a gap in your "full" set of lashes. Yeh you can get away with that for the most part... but after a while it starts to become obvious... which leads me to....
   
   
5. You pull them all out.I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted sleep, I wanted to have normal huggy human interaction, I wanted to not feel as if I had a giant layer of plastic above my eye.I had to pull them out individually.I kept all my original lashes, but washed a couple hundred dollars down the drain. I believe I held out with them for 3 weeks?? That was pretty good because I really wanted to get rid of them well before that. And a little bit of me died everytime one fell out or got kinked. Sigh.
   
   
   

But I did look pretty..... so pretty............ *sob*

Clear eyes

Clear eyes eye drops. I had heard good things about these and basically every woman's magazine I pick up has a suggestion that you use these "every day" so that you look more alert and ultimately... more beautiful of course.

I never really got it to be honest. Sure, I bought them on the advice of magazines. But I buy EVERYTHING on the advice of magazines. I'm a classic sucker.

I bought them, tried them for a couple of days.... and thought... my eyes look the same why am I wasting time and putting something in my eyes that maybe I shouldn't be using so often.

BUT THEN.....

One beautiful morning I woke up from a big night out and started getting ready to head to a work offsite. Looked in the mirror and yikes - I had little red squigglies all over the whites of my eyes. I looked like a seasoned drug addict!!

It was Clear Eye's moment to shine. AND IT DID. I popped a couple drops in each eyes and wow, no more red bits, just nice and normal looking eyes.

Sure - I still had the lazy swagger of someone who had too big a night, but I *did* earn myself a comment from a mate at work of "how come I'm so hungover and you're fine".

Conclusive evidence.

Don't believe when magazines say you should use this everyday (unless you go on a bender every night). Save this one for those occasional mornings where it really can make a difference.

Eyelash perm

Eyelash perm!

Clearly this is not a picture of MY eyes, but you get the idea. So I've only had this done once.

Cost about $30 to $50 depending on where you get it done. It only takes say 30 mins?

You go in, they ask you which of two styles you would prefer - one is getting the curl from the roots, the other is curling the ends. Curling the ends is probably more dramatic, but you get that kind of look of your eyelashes trying to go back into your head. Too annoying for me. I opted for the curl at the base, which "opens" up your eye more.

So you go in, lie down, they clean off your eye makeup, they pop this roll thing above your lashes, then paint some stuff on and you sit there for a while waiting for it to work, and then they wipe it off.
In a nutshell.



So you have to lie there with your eyes shut for quite a while. It's awkward, and I can imagine it would be uncomfortable for some people. I made conversation with the beauty girl about movies. I'm sure she was thrilled.

She then went on for a while about "I don't really get why people get this done, it's such a waste of money". I always enjoy someone bagging out what I'm doing whilst I'm getting it done. hehehe

Ok so it didn't happen to me, but I could feel the strength of the chemicals close to my eye, and I imagine if that substance got in your eye it would sting really bad. Again - it didn't happen to me.

Next they wipe the stuff off, and you can open your eyes again, though it's somewhat hard. Your eyes can still feel the effect of the chemical, and you've been lying there for a while so you kind of want to have a nap.

She then popped out the mirror to show me. Umm they looked exactly the same so on the outside I was like "wow awesome! Thanks!" but on the inside I was thinking "wow total waste of time and money".

Went home, looked at my eyes again - yeh still no real difference. Oh well at least I gave it a shot.

The next day I went to work, with mascara on... and my boss (male) says to me "oh wow did you get your eyelashes trimmed?"

Ok first things first - my reaction was a bit of a "what on earth are you talking about??"

Then he told me this story about how he didn't understand why girls needed to trim their lashes and "how much could they really grow anyway" and how there was a girl on his train everyday that got out her "guillotine" and trimmed those lashes every morning. Again "how much could they grow in one day....?"

hehehehhe yes. I laughed.

I think we all know what he was talking about. hahah so cute. He really was quite relieve when I explained the contraption to him and sent him a wiki link to it. He was genuinely concerned for this girl's safety using that guillotine on the train!

In so saying - I wouldn't risk curling my lashes on the train - one bump and you surely rip those suckers out. Yikes.

Ok back to my point. HE NOTICED.

I went to the bathroom to have a look-see and WOW. They looked frakking amazing. My eyes were so wide and my lashes looked sooooo good.

I loved it.

It lasted for about a month and I've got to say that I had at least 6 unsolicited comments about them - and from people that had no idea I had had something done.

So a definite thumbs up for me.

But, I have to admit I haven't had it done since.

Why?

Well time and money. It doesn't last that long and it costs money and takes time. If I was a wealthy socialite yep I'd get it done constantly, but I'm not. So I guess I'd just save it for a special occasion.

Milia removal

What's milia? It's little lumps on your skin that you get under your eyes.

Sometimes they are caused by high cholesterol, sometimes it's genetic, sometimes it's just whatever? Oh and eye creams can cause them too.

I think I get them through the genetic path.

Anyway at one stage they were really annoying me (they still do but I've kind of given up). I tried to remove them myself - I read on the net that you can poke a hole in one and then kind of "roll it out". Lets just say I was highly unsuccessful in this venture.
So. Next step was to go to a beautician. They do it as part of your facial... before they go ahead and do all the exfoliating, masking etc.
Except when they do it they do it a lot more hygienically then I could! Very light prick and then it comes out - though obviously I couldn't see it coming out. But the girl showed me and it's really just a little round tiny white pea, tiny.
You are just left a tiny bit red there for the day and then it's fine.

So is it worth it?

Depends.

You have to get it done like every month - that really adds up $$ wise. $80 a month adds up.

They say that if you get it done regularly it can get rid of most of them, but then you will need to come back for more facials to maintain that.

Ok so for me that just ended up adding up to too much.

So what I do now is just try to ignore them for starters hahahah, but I also make sure that I don't use eye creams - I use the serums instead - much much thinner. Since religiously sticking to that I haven't gotten any more milia, but it still means I'm stuck with the ones I had.

Verdict? If I had all the time in the world and all the money, sure I'd do it. But I don't.