Make Up Store Trondheim
I've done a few posts about Make Up Store in the past, and if you take a closer look at these comments you'll understand from our discussion why I've been pretty frustrated with them. I used to love going there just to get lost in my own little Rainbow Heaven, but then they moved and a flight of stairs was suddenly preventing me (and others like me) from entering their store. It made me "boycott" the brand, as I feel like one should be able to expect accessibility in 2010, but now I have officially lifted my "boycott" and I really want to praise Make Up Store for the way they've handled my feeback. I've been communicating with them on Facebook, and our store has now requested a ramp for their entrance. Sadly such a ramp is quite expensive and it has to be approved by the main office, but at least Make Up Store Trondheim has shown understanding and initiative - and I'm thankful for that, it means a lot to me!
About three years ago Øyvind gave me a gift card from Make Up Store for a 50 minute makeup lesson and my choice of products worth 495,- NOK for Christmas. It was the perfect gift, but for several reasons I was always prevented from using it while they were still situated at Trondheim Torg, and when they moved to their new location I figured I'd missed my opportunity. Since I was unable to let it go, I asked them via Facebook if I could still trade my gift card for the products at least as I thought I would be unable to have the lesson done (because of the stairs and everything). She who replied was really nice, and told me to stop by during January to have my gift card redeemed.
The Inevitable Haul
So last Friday I decided to go to Make Up Store, bringing my own car ramp to be able to enter the store. Since I didn't know whether or not it would work, I had asked if Øyvind could pick up a few items for me, just in case. As it turned out there's was no need for a personal shopper, my ramp got me safely into the store. I wandered around for a while, eyeing all their colorful makeup, before I let myself be drawn to the pencils. You might remember that I purchased three pencils at KICKS back in November? Well, I liked them so much that wanted to see if they had more of the Soft Metallics. I found one I didn't see at KICKS named "Wooden Metal", and had a really hard time putting it down. As I was the only customer there at the time, I also had the pleasure of having the wonderful M. to myself, so I started asking her for advice on which colors would look good with my dark brown eyes. She told me that I could use both warm and cool tones, it's the second time this week I've learned that, and pulled out a selection of blues, purples and browns, among them a mesmerizing dark blue and a gorgeous purple. Since I'm supposed to be saving money for our upcoming trip to London, I couldn't go as insane as I would have wanted, so I ended up deciding on "Deep Blue Sea" and "Wooden Metal", in addition to their Blending Eyeliner Brush 217. I was kinda amazed by this brush! It looks like a regular pencil brush (most brands have one), but it had a firmness I've been missing with the pencil brushes I already own. It's synthetic as well, and will be absolutely perfect for smudging any liner, above or below the lash line.


As it turns out I'm getting my makeup lesson after all, and I'm looking forward to it come March. A great big thanks to M., for making my Friday pretty much perfect! And for doing a pretty good job in restoring my faith in humanity.
Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12
Canon EOS 450D: sick, broken or insane?
I've been experiencing problems with my Canon EOS 450D SLR camera for a long time now, almost ever since I bought it back in February 2009, believing it was something wrong with me. I felt like most of my photos had a weird color tint to them, but ended up thinking it was my eyes (and possibly my mind) playing tricks on me. When I started taking product photos for my blog I wanted to have a white background and really good lighting, so I invested in a pair of studio lights and a light tent. I thought this might fix my problem, if it really was a problem, but no.. it didn't. I'm not a photographer, but when you take three photos in a row, in a light tent with studio lights on, then the three photos should be identical, no? Well, they weren't. One would come out with a slight yellow tint, one with a blueish tint, and the last one would be either more yellow or maybe with a green or even a red tint. I've tried with automatic white balance, manual white balance, and the results are pretty much the same no matter what I do. I've lost count of how many times I've been so frustrated I'm about to pull my hair out!
And this is where Twitter did its magic once again: I had pretty much decided to buy another SLR camera, so I shot off a question to see if I could obtain any tips on which camera to chose this time around. I instantly got a heap of replies from complete strangers, and a few of them started asking why I hated my Canon EOS 450D so much. I replied, explaining my problems with the always present yet varying unwanted color tint, and somehow everyone ended up with the same conclusion: there must be something wrong with my camera. Since it's been three years already I didn't have much hope of getting any help with it, but I went back to the store where I purchased it, told them about my problem, and left the guy at the counter looking quite puzzled. Apparently I'm experiencing a problem no one's ever heard of. Lucky me then, huh? Thankfully I still had the receipt, so they took my camera back to ship it off to service. Hopefully they'll find something wrong with it, and maybe I'll get a functioning camera in return, otherwise.. I'll end up getting it back along with a bill.
Have any of you experienced a similar problem?
Interior blogging now?
This is me pulling a stunt, I'm trying out interior blogging! We've been talking about refurbishing our bedroom for a while now, and during the holidays we finally got around to starting on our project. We decided to paint the entire room, walls and ceiling, adding trims along the ceiling and new ones around the doors. Originally everything was painted "white", or as it turned out: a yellowish eggshell. We kept the floor, oak wood floors, painted the ceiling and trims in a matte "Classic White" and chose "Macchiato" for the walls. Unfortunately the color doesn't show up anywhere near true on the photos below, but it's like a light caffè latte as shown on the paint chip above. My Canon DSLR utterly sucks, and the warm lighting in the room makes the walls look grayish.. ugh. We're really happy with the actual color, it's warm and cosy without being too dark. To make the room look as neat and tidy as possible we kept the white details throughout the entire room, like the white computer desk, the white closets, the white makeup chest and the white bed.
Haul: Nordstrom, Sephora and NARS
When I was bored I used to shop to console myself. Then I started shopping when I was feeling down to make myself feel better. Now I'm not sure why I shop anymore, but I really enjoy waiting for Mr. Postman or Mr. DHL, for unraveling what's hiding inside bubble wrap and cardboard, and to behold the beauties unveiled. Yep, I'm a classic shopaholic. Although it might sound quite materialistic.. my stuff really makes me happy, and I need this kind of happiness in my life as long as my body keeps pulling all kinds of nasty tricks on me.
Now it's time to share another haul, a collective one, which Mr. DHL brought me in mid-October. If you don't care much for haul posts or the likes of it, you might as well stop your reading here. As I've done earlier I've decided to break this haul into two parts, where this post is the first one out. Please note that this is indeed a collective haul, which means that everything has been purchased over a certain period of time - in this case, about four months.
LOTD: Sugar Plums in the Snow
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Inglot P445
Inglot P446
Maybelline EyeStudio® Master Drama™ in "Ultra Black"
Max Factor False Lash Effect Fusion in "Black"
Impeccable Brow Pencil in "Taupe"
On December 30th I figured I had to dig out my makeup and do something daring as I had plans to meet up with Renate. I pulled out my Inglot palette, and came up with this look. For the first time ever I decided to try a look with a black base, so I drew a line with the super black Maybelline Master Drama™ pencil, which I think is an awesome pencil liner, and smoked it out with a pencil brush. I then did my makeup as usual, Inglot 445 on two thirds of the lid, Inglot 446 in the outer corner and crease, blended it all, curled my lashes and put on my mascara.
I had a lot of fun playing with my makeup again today, I think I've worn a look like this once or twice this year, and I felt both inspired and happy playing with my "toys" again. I've fallen in love with my Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, even though I'm not quite comfortable with the Base Shadow Brush yet. I find it a bit to flimsy to pack on eyeshadow with, but it might just be me and my personal preferences. I think I'll pick up some more of the Real Techniques brushes later on, as I would like to try the Blush Brush and possibly also the Shading Brush to see if it's any different than the one I already have.
Please excuse the bad quality and lighting, wintertime in Norway isn't the best time to take pictures, and it was shot with an iPhone 4.
Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11

Uncurable shopaholic and makeup addict with an unhealthy love for everything colorful. Medium dark brunette with dark brown eyes. Also known as KinoGodt or Psychedelic Wheels.

