Helter Skelter // The Things They Carried

Hello all! I hope you're all ready for summer, it's definitely coming up fast, and this summer will definitely be spent catching up on some good reads. As you may know my bookworm level is at its maximum this year, because I'm trying to read at least 30 books before 2015. It's become sort of difficult, being as I have a knack for picking big, thick books that take me a long time to read, so I'm off to a slow start. So far, I've enjoyed the pleasure of 8 books, all of them being at least a few inches thick!

I just recently finished Helter Skelter; The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi; another lengthy read. I'm only about 30% towards my annual goal, and I'm three books behind! I had started reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, but, I'm not sure if you've seen it before, it's about two inches thick! So, I tucked that one away for later and starting today I will be reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

Before I get to that, though, and now that you've been updated on my nerdy endeavors, I'd like to talk about Helter Skelter.


For those of you that don't know me, I'm a sucker for the macabre. I guess you can say I'm a bit morbid, I mean, I do want to be a SFX Makeup artist. I find fascination in reading about serial killers and mass murderers, or just bad guys in general. I used to want to be a criminal psychologist, and my dream was to one day be able to interview and analyze Charles Manson himself. No, I do not idolize the man, and I don't think he's a good person. (I've had people think that of me, and I just want to point out that in no way, shape, or form do I justify anything that any criminal has done!) I'm simply just interested in how the mind works of that of a psycho. What makes a person want to brutally kill an innocent person? Eat their flesh? Make furniture out of their skin and skulls? Convince a large group of people to kill for you? That is what fascinates me, the Manson murders being the most interesting in my opinion. Being one of the most bizarre atrocities to ever happen in the world today, (It's up there with Jack the Ripper), what is it about Charlie that made people follow him, steal for him, kill for him... like he was the second son of God?

News Prints in Helter Skelter

This book is absolutely amazing, a great read. Written by the prosecutor himself, you literally get the full story, from beginning to end, what happened those two nights in August of 1969. And beyond that, you get the full story on the investigation, the backgrounds of the defendants, the trial, the motive, the verdicts, the penalty, and the outcome; the "where are they now" phase. This novel is so thorough, and 100% true. And to be honest, it's not difficult to read at all! I thought that it was going to be like reading an Encyclopedia of Law, but it is actually pretty easy to follow. The only thing I'd have to warn you about, is that it does tend to jump back and forth a lot. It wasn't really an issue for me though, I just paid attention to the notes at the bottom of the page when needed! The story is absolutely insane, I'm not going to delve too deep into it, because I think you should read it yourself; but here are some interesting things I learned, that I didn't know before, after reading this crime novel:

• The rumor that Sharon Tate's baby was cut from her stomach is absolutely false. Though Susan Atkins did actually think of doing it while she was at the scene, I don't believe she even had any stab wounds in the stomach; they were all in the chest area.
  
• During the trial, Spahn Ranch was burned to the ground in the Southern California fires. Coincidence? I'm not sure. But this information was a bit devastating to me, being as visiting the ranch was on my bucket list. As of now, there is no trace of the family ever living there. The Tate/Polanski house at Cielo Drive was also demolished, this was disappointing news to me as well!
  
• There is no proof whatsoever of Charles Manson ever killing a soul. Shooting someone, yes, but the man lived. There was a premonition that Manson was involved in the beheading of Shorty Shea; but there is no evidence of this, and The People weren't even sure if he was at the scene of the crime, or if it was just ordered by him. (There is evidence of Tex Watson getting rid of Shea's body and items, and he confessed that he did chop the body into pieces afterwards).
  
• There is no evidence of a 'family' now, but members of the family still continue to worship and follow Manson to this day. Sandy Good and 'Squeaky' are just two of them. Squeaky is in prison for attempted murder of the President of the United States (Gerald Ford, crazy right!?) but still continues to write Manson regularly. Sandy is currently living just outside the prison where Manson is held, and though she isn't allowed to visit, her husband visits at least every other week.
  
• The Trial lasted about eight months, from July 1970 to March 1971. The jury was in sequestration the entire time, the longest recorded time a Jury has ever had to be barred from the public.
  
• The motive for the killings of Tate, Folger, Frykowski, Sebring, Parent, Hinman, and the LaBiancas?: The Beatles. Yep, you read that correctly.

Photographs in Helter Skelter

Okay, that's enough of that. If you're intrigued in any way, I highly recommend you to read this book! Not only is it a history of the murders, but it's extremely informational when it comes to law, police work, etc. You definitely learn a lot! Helter Skelter is definitely one of my favorite reads, and I can see myself reading it again in the future. These murders are much more bizarre than you already think they are.


As for The Things They Carried, I know of quite a few people who have read this book, and it has been recommended to me a few times. My boyfriend is one of those who have read it, he's a huge history buff, and he absolutely loved it. I know of a few classes at my college that are reading this book as well, and I think that it is definitely a must-read. I've had this book on my shelf for awhile, I bought it last year I think, and now it's time to indulge.

You'll all be updated once I'm finished, wish me luck!

Sugar Skull Makeup Tutorial

Hello all! This is my first tutorial, so it's not exactly up to par with the usual youtube/blog tutorials I've seen. For example, I'm using my trusty old Iphone for these photos, in my room, with terrible lighting, ha! Anyway, the point is that I'm going to show you how to do this rad sugar skull zombie-esque makeup tutorial. All you need is:

• Black, white, and yellow face paint (I use Mehron)
• Purple (or any theme color you'd like to use) eyeshadow, preferably different shades of one color. 
• Makeup AND paint brushes, along with a painting sponge.
• Liquid eyeliner (it's not mandatory, but it makes things easier!)
• Makeup setting spray, if you need this look to last for awhile!
• Black (or dark purple) lipstick

Okay, now that you have all of your supplies, lets get started!

Step one: First, you're going to need to cover your entire face in white face paint. White is the color I hate the most when covering my whole face, because with a brush it leaves streak marks, and it can also easily become blotchy if you use a sponge that's too wet. So to do this, wet your painting sponge a teeny tiny bit (like literally if you licked your sponge, that's how damp you want it to be!), dip it in your paint, and lightly pat it all over your face. You don't want to brush it, because that leaves streaks, or could wipe the paint off entirely. Be patient, this process could take awhile, especially using white. Don't forget your eyelids! After that's all finished, use a black matte eyeshadow and an angled eyebrow brush to create a cheek shadow. Make a fish face to find the hollow of your cheeks, and just follow your natural shape. Make sure to make the edges sharp, you want the 'shadow' to look creepy! Then blend with your regular eyeshadow brush. If you want, you can add some dark purple in there too; you can't tell in the photo but I added purple to some of the shading!

Step two: Take a very light purple eyeshadow, or whatever color you've decided to incorporate into your sugar skull, and fill in your eyelids, underneath your eyes, above your eyebrows, and almost reaching your temple/hairline. You want big ovals for the eyes, and make sure they're even! Otherwise it looks funky once you start adding the details. Don't add any more eyeshadow other than this light purple until you've outlined the eyes in black, this makes it easier to stay in the lines! You can also use paint, if you'd prefer not to use eyeshadow, but this will make it look a bit flat, and it's a lot harder to get that ombre look!

Step three: Carefully outline the 'eyes' with black paint. It's easier for me to do it in one sweeping motion, instead of little by little. You can go back and fix the uneven parts quicker that way, in my opinion. If you accidentally have some purple leftover outside the black outline, you can use white eyeshadow or white paint and just your fingers to blot it out. Unless you're covering your eyebrows and making them 'invisible', you want to make sure the black outline goes above and beyond them, so you can fill them in with black paint. I don't think you want sugar skull eyes AND eyebrows! (Well, maybe you do. In that case, go for it!) I decided to choose the quicker route to do this, but if you do want a more professional look, you may want to consider concealing your brows!

Step four: Use black paint to make a thick rim around the eyes, then use a medium shade of purple, starting from the rims and blending toward your eye in a complete circle. Leave your eyelid the light purple that you used in step two. After you've successfully blended the medium purple, grab your darkest purple and again, starting at the rim, blend so it fades into your medium purple. After that, use black eyeshadow to blend the black paint in with the dark purple, you don't want a harsh line separating the two colors! Just a heads up, this look requires LOTS of blending to get the ombre eyes! You may have to go back and use the different shades of each color again; and blend, blend, blend away.

Step five: Use a rounded makeup or paint brush to create tiny circles/ridges around the eyes. This step is sort of difficult using yellow and black together, you can use whatever other color you'd like, I just like how those two colors looked next to each other! Again, make sure the brush is really rounded. It makes it super easy to create those little ridges!

Step six: Okay, this part is kind of tough. I totally ran out of liquid eyeliner, so I had no choice but to use a black pencil liner, that's why mine looks kind of sloppy and smudged. Be careful when you're doing this, because if you mess up, its really hard to wipe off with yellow and white face paint underneath it. Don't worry though, mine obviously isn't perfect, I messed up a few times myself! Hopefully you can find some liquid liner or a detail brush laying around, and yours ends up looking better than mine! :P I also added some teeny dots in between the ridges, because I like little details. You can do whatever you want, though!

As for the rest of the look, I leave that to you! Sugar skulls are a great way to show off your creativity, whether you're drawing, painting, or doing one as a makeup. I made mine dark and creepy by adding crosses, spiderwebs, and black lips. I did all of this using black lipstick, black paint and a detail brush, but you can also use liquid liner. The only advice I have to give is have fun with it! Do whatever you think would look cool or edgy. Most Sugar skulls have the traditional spiderweb forehead and sewn lips, but I dare you to try whatever you please!

I actually based this look off of a drawing I did almost a year ago. I drew it originally to do a makeup of it, but I never got around to it until now. I also did a bright, flowery sugar skull that I'll do a tutorial for sooner or later! You can definitely use this look for Halloween or for a party; and you can add little details like black/purple feathers, a tuxedo, etc. I'd love to see what you guys can do with this! Everyone's sugar skull is a little different, and it's one of my favorite things to paint because there are no boundaries!

Here's mine, finished:

Outfit Inspo: Indecisive Weather

Leopard infinity scarf $12 / Butter London balm duo $55 / Black handbag $44 / Sleeveless Blouse $42 / Asos ballet flats $27 / Studded belt $10 / Fox infinity scarf $30 / Watch &  bracelet set $30 / Khaki parka jacket $100 / Black skinny jeans $28 / Various jewelry / Outfit Credit: Fashionhippieloves.com

Yes, I know it's the middle of May, but California weather has been extremely indecisive! When has it not? For awhile it was nice and cool, between the 60's and 70's; at one point we even had a thunder storm. Then, literally out of nowhere we got a week where it was 90, almost 100 degrees. Now its back to 60's, low 70's, but with lots of wind! That's what you get when you live in California; inconsistency. I can't complain though, it's something you learn to love. That being said, I've compiled together an outfit that works with almost any weather condition. This outfit was inspired by Anni of fashionhippieloves.com, her looks are so well put-together, and not to mention she's stunning! The set I put together above isn't the exact outfit, and it's a bit out of my price range, but I wanted to make it as accurate as possible because this is one of my favorite looks all-together. If it's raining, pair with some combat or knee-high/riding boots. Also, I put two scarfs because I couldn't decide; and I feel like this look isn't complete with A LOT of accessories. Be bold!

Things I'm Lovin' This Month; May Edition

This past week has been particularly stressful. I've found myself having school in the mornings, one job in the afternoon, and my second job from evening until about 2am every night. I've been going nonstop, even the weekends I've working, out of town, or have had some kind of event going on; today was the first actual day I've gotten to relax! (Sort of). In that case, I've compiled together a couple of things I've grown quite fond of within the past month, in the time that I've had to myself.

Click the photo to listen! ^

1.) Shake; by The Head and the Heart. Working in retail you tend to hear the same songs over and over again every day that you're there, and I've come to love this one by The Head And The Heart. It took me a couple of days to get the name and the artist, since the song is being played on a cd; I had to take mental notes of some of the lyrics I had heard and look it up at home. Anyway, I feel like I've heard this song somewhere before; when I heard it the first time in the store it seemed to call back to some subconscious memory. It's a beautiful song, I especially love the bridge/ending. So please, enjoy and share!

2.) Urban Decay All-Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. So, my skin runs anywhere from dirty & oily to dry & flaky. It gets oily between my eyebrows and on my chin, and super dry near my nostrils and on my cheeks. Because of this, my face makeup tends to flake or melt off, and my eyeliner/eyebrows/shadow runs and gets somewhat greasy; this all happens within 2-3 hours. I honestly thought I was going to have to buy super expensive makeup (like $60 liquid foundation!), or reapply my current makeup every hour or so; in order to make it work. But when I do SFX makeup I usually use Ben Nye Setting Spray when it's all finished, and it works great, so I figured there'd be a similar product in the beauty industry.

I bought Urban Decay's All Nighter on a whim last week. I have to admit, I totally thought it wouldn't work; but this product is so great! I've heard you should use it before and after makeup application, but I've only used it afterwards (sprayed once on either side of my face), before I've gone to work or out for a long period of time, and by the time I get home, my makeup is still perfectly intact. My eyeliner isn't even smudged to the corner of my eyes, and if I put lipstick on before I spray, it makes that last longer as well! This is probably the first beauty product that I'm actually completely satisfied with, and I'm definitely going to have to go back and get myself a full bottle before my mini applicator is through!

3.) Urban Outfitters Paddywax Glass Jar Candles. I picked these up spontaneously this week as well, when I was buying a gift for a friend, and they are absolutely fabulous. Vanilla + Oakmoss and Ocean Tide + Sea Salt were the two that I purchased and they fill the room completely! The Vanilla & Oakmoss smells of cedar and the outdoors, and the Ocean Tide & Sea Salt smells of open air and cleanliness. I just love them both, and the little glass jars are adorable; I can see myself putting them to use in the future! Maybe a DIY project?

4.) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. If you know me, you know that I'm a huge reader. My books are by far my biggest collection, and I set a goal of how many books I'd like to read per year; this year being at 40. This month I had the pleasure of reading Sylvia Plath's, The Bell Jar. It was recommended by one of my best friends, and it is also of course a classic title. I dived into this book thinking it was a book of poetry, for some reason (maybe because I have seen a lot of quotes from Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar, and they seemed coincidentally poetic), but I was surprised to find that it is actually a novel about a girl named Esther, who is slowly falling into the grip of insanity (still quite poetic!). Though Plath introduces the girl by a different name, I had a feeling that the story had something to do with the author herself, and turns out I was right. The novel is almost completely accurate to true-life events that happened to Sylvia Plath. I find these books much more interesting, because it's not just a story someone thought of off the top of their head (though fictional books are just as intriguing!), but its actually memory upon memory of someone else's life; and that just makes it ten times more fascinating in my personal opinion. I rated the book four stars on goodreads, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is as avid of a reader as I am!

5.) A glass of Barefoot Moscato. When is this ever not a favorite? My alcohol of choice is definitely wine, or some kind of sweet wine, and Barefoot Moscato has definitely been my go-to. I don't drink often, but when I do it is usually paired with a good read, and now, my UO paddywax candle! It definitely sets the mood, and winds me down after a long day. Unquestionably something I've needed all week!

And there you have it, my top five list of things I'm lovin' this month. I'll usually try to do a book review every time I finish one, and I'd like to do a 'favorite song' and/or 'playlist' frequently too. It'd be great to know which topics you as readers are interested in as well, and what you would like to be a recurring blog post. I'm definitely open to recommendations to, well, anything! Happy Monday everyone, lets get this week started!

A little update on life.

Hello all, and Happy Mothers Day! To all the beautiful and empowered women in the world, you are so important to the lives of everyone around you. I don't care if you're actually a mommy or not, today is a day for all of the motherly, caring, and encouraging ladies out there that have had some kind of impact on someone's life. YOU ARE LOVED. And we love and appreciate you so much, even if we can't show it every day. Unfortunately I won't be seeing my mom today, I got scheduled to work (retail... ugh!), but I hope that everyone gets to spend the day with a special woman, for my sake :).

On another note, yesterday I had the opportunity to volunteer at The Human Race in Santa Cruz, California! The Human Race is a nationwide, community fundraising event for nonprofit organizations. The Santa Cruz race in particular is a five mile walk/run, that encourages people to raise awareness and donate for a great cause. I worked the face painting booth all day, and all of the proceeds were donated to women and children in need! (Perfect fundraiser for today's holiday, eh?) Though the entire right side of me is sunburned to hell, I had a wonderful time. It was so great having a line of little kiddies (and adults) who wanted their faces painted by me! 

The only issue I had was time. I can say that I'm pretty good at face painting on myself, but my looks take anywhere from 1-3 hours. I have only painted on other people once or twice, and they still took a pretty long time. It's a lot harder painting someone elses face over your own; I know my own face, and I know I can sit still. Whereas others, (especially kids!) tend to fidget around a lot, and its hard to position your hands in a way that makes it easy to paint. Some of the full face paintings I did on the kids yesterday were taking a long time, and I could hear parents complaining that they 'didn't have 20 minutes to wait for a face paint'. Honestly, it's tough rushing through a painting, which I had to do a couple of times. And I felt bad because the paints I had to rush through, when I had a long line, weren't turning out very good at all. (Luckily they weren't paying me for them! Though I did get a few tips).

I realized that timing is just something I need to work on. I can't have 2-3 hours to do someones face, especially when I start doing photoshoots and things like that. I had such a good time yesterday though, and I'm so thankful that I was given that opportunity, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed the things I need to work on. All in all, it was a great experience!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Bruising; an introduction to SFX makeup

As an aspiring makeup artist, I surprisingly haven't been able to practice as much as I'd like too. Mostly because special effects products can be pretty expensive, and as of right now I'm trying to get myself through school, paying rent, and eating cup o' noodles for dinner every night. Though I'm not complaining, I know it'll all pay off in the end.

From bruise wheels, to fake blood, to latex, to prosthetics... you usually need a vast majority, and a large amount, of these products just to make one look. I've got a Ben Nye starter kit, and I'm slowly adding to my collection; but as of right now I can only do a few things. For any makeup artist just starting in the special effects field, I'd recommend starting off small with some bruising. It's a basic necessity and skill for almost any wounded look, and there are various ways to make a bruise depending on how old, or fresh, it is. 

When a bruise is brand new, it will appear reddish due to the the blood that has leaked from the capillaries under the skin, it wouldn't hurt to add a few miniscule broken blood vessels to this bruise.

Photo Credit: Freakmo-SFX on Deviantart (Makeup)

At one or two days old, the bruise will be bluish or purple in color. The swelling at the site of the bruise will cut off the oxygen, and the hemoglobin will turn blue.

At five to six days old, a bruise will turn a greenish, yellow color as the area begins to heal itself.

At eight to nine days old, a bruise will then turn mostly yellow, or brown. This is the final stage of the bruise.

Photo Credit: How to Fake Bruising with Makeup video by GoldieStarling

It is important to know of the changes of color in bruising over time. If you aren't aware of these stages of bruising, it could make your character look unrealistic or inaccurate. For example, you don't want to put a green/yellow bruise on a character who had been in a fight earlier in the day, or even the day before. You also don't want to put a fresh red/purple/blue bruise on a character who had been in a car accident a week or two before.

The Walking Dead // Fight Club

Bruising is definitely an important part of special effects makeup, and like I said above, its the perfect place to begin practicing! Here are some examples of bruising I've done on my own with a Ben Nye Master Bruise Wheel, a nylon stipple sponge, a simple synthetic sponge, thick (fake) blood, and some q-tips!

Some Tips: Use a patting or stippling motion to give a blotchy or uneven look, try to make it look irregular and inflamed. You don't want to only use red while trying to recreate a bruise; this can create a rashy or burned look. You can avoid this by adding purple, blue, yellow, or green, depending on the stage of the bruise. Raised or swollen areas of the bruise should be high lighted in yellow, in most cases. For example, the cheek usually appears swollen at the high point of the cheek bone, as shown above. Use the nylon sponge and a reddish color to create the illusion of broken blood vessels. You can also use the nylon sponge to add blood to a scrape or cut near or on the bruise.

And that, my friends, is an intro to SFX bruising! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, advice; or you'd even like to share your own bruise creations, I'd love to see them! Please feel free to comment below!