Thursday, January 27, 2011

Quick update

Hello everyone! Unfortunately, the video I made for today's post says it will take 50 minutes to upload, despite the fact that it's under a minute. As much as I'd love to have it ready to post, packing up the rest of everyone's orders is way more important.

To everyone who was waiting for the post, I'm sorry. It will be up shortly! Thank you all so much for reading.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Premiering today: Valentine's gift set!


I'm so excited to finally have a gift set in the shop! I thought Valentine's would be a perfect excuse. I hope you all like it. Here's the details:

Notice: Coupons do not apply to this item as it is already discounted.

Celebrate your Valentine with something different this year. Available only for the month of February, you can order a Dark Heart Designs V-day gift set.

The set includes four shadows of your choice (include colors in the notes to seller), and three lip slicks glosses (Teenage Dream, & the unreleased Love Song & Cadence). The unreleased colors will only be available in this set. If you were to buy the items separately, it would cost $40.

Each jar comes with a removable sifter and 1 gram of loose powder eye shadow pigments. All color ingredients are listed with their respective colors. Each shadow is labeled vegan or non-vegan in the descriptions. The only animal I test my products on is myself. Please contact me if you'd like a color sample.

I take great care to make sure that all containers are disinfected and all pigments are bacteria free. By purchasing from me or my site, you are agreeing to release both myself and my company of any liability. If you follow the guidelines posted here:http://darkheartdesigns.com/guide.html, your new shadows will stay clean and safe.

Shadow Ingredients: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Tin Dioxide, Magnesium Stearate, Magnesium Myristrate, Carnauba Wax.

Lip Slick Ingredients: Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Ethylene, Propylene, Styrene Copolymer, Butylene Copolymer, Mica, Strawberry Flavoring, Stevia, Pigment White, Pigment Red.

Available here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66763925/valentines-gift-set

-Tina
http://www.etsy.com/shop/darkheartdesign

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tutorial Tuesday: My Beautiful Zombie

While I was working on the feature for Absinthe, I decided to go ahead & make the tutorial as well. I already had a little bit of an idea in my head from Wendi, and her makeup zombie challenge. Now, here’s what you’ll need:

Dark Heart Designs colors:

  • Absinthe Shadow
  • Paparazzi Shadow

Other makeup I used:

  • Mary Kay Foundation 
  • Blush (A trial type of my own)
  • Avon Eyeliner
  • Avon Mascara
  • Morgana Cryptoria Turquoise Lip Stick
  • Covergirl dark brown shadow to shade brows (this should match your brow color)

Optional:

  • Urban Decay Potion Primer for setting eye shadow

The look:

 
1. Start by applying a light facial moisturizer, and then apply your foundation, blush, and whatever else you use personally. I do my brows before my eye shadow. To do this I fill them in with a small brush and a shade of eye shadow that matches my brows. If you’re going to apply eye shadow primer, you’ll want to do it now.

2. Apply Absinthe on the lid & brow bone, blending with Paparazzi as you go towards the brow. Finish your eyes off with eyeliner and mascara.

3. To do the cheeks in this look, get a small amount of Absinthe on a blush brush, and continue to add and blend until you have a green tint.

4. Finish the look off by using a dark blue/green lipstick, such as Morgana's Turquoise. I also applied Absinthe over the top of my lipstick and blended it in.

I hope you enjoyed this look. It's a little unusual, but a lot of fun to play around with.Until next time!


-Tina
http://www.etsy.com/shop/darkheartdesign

Monday, January 24, 2011

Blogging Schedule

Image credit


Hello again everyone!

I'm going to make a short post today. Things have been busy lately & I'm trying to catch up to them. I didn't have a chance to work on my blog posts over the weekend, like I usually do. Instead, I'm just going to tell everyone what to expect from this blog and myself. I've been working on a blogging plan so that I can stay organized and make more meaningful posts. I want to write content that people are interested in reading.

This is the outline I'll be following:


  • Monday – About me (some about excerpt, etc)
  • Tuesday -Tutorial
  • Wednesday – Weekly news, ad campaigns, etc
  • Thursday – Textless, audio or video feature
  • Friday –Feature (Items, Bloggers, Etsy shop owners, etc.)

There won't be any posts on the weekends. I've found that it's harder for me to make them, and they don't seem to be read as much as posts during the week. Also, it gives me time to work on tutorials, features, and other content. I just hope everyone enjoys reading as much and I enjoy writing. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

-Tina

Friday, January 21, 2011

Feature Friday: The story behind Absinthe

On Fridays I’m going to alternate between featuring some of our products, so you can learn more about them, and featuring other Etsy shops, bloggers, etc. I hope you’ll enjoy reading these features as much as I enjoy writing them!

Absinthe


Absinthe is a medium to dark green with a slight blue tint.

Absinthe was inspired by both the liquor & the green fairy that represents it. Here’s the definition, according to merriam-webster.com: a green liqueur which is flavored with wormwood, anise, and other aromatic herbs and commercial production of which is banned in many countries for health concerns; also : a liqueur resembling absinthe. 

Kylie Minogue as Absinthe

In Moulin Rouge, Kylie Minogue played the part of the green fairy. Her costume & look were absolutely beautiful. I wanted a shadow that invoked the feel of her character. Here’s a little video clip of the green fairy:



I tried to do some swatches of the color on my arm. The lighting is not the best though.


Here’s a simple look using the Absinthe on the eyes, cheeks, and over lipstick.



When I first made this color over a year ago, I had no idea the name would be so popular for eye shadows. I’d change it, but it would take away the entire meaning of this shadow. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post!

-Tina

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

News and other Misc. Info


I’ve been working on a Valentine’s ad campaign over the weekend and I thought I’d include some of the pictures in this post. I’m not sure which I’ll keep or use yet, but I’m sharing regardless.


 
I’m not sure if I like this one. The shadow on the top right is out of line and it makes the heart look funny.

 
I’m also undecided about the masquerade mask. What do you think?

 
This one came out the best in my opinion, possibly because there isn’t much of a V-day theme and that’s just my luck.



I still have my eyes set on a lipstick mold. My goals for this year are to incorporate lip stick and nail polish to the line. Hopefully, I’ll be able to add more to it as well. I’m also working on a few local projects. I’d absolutely love to get my shadows in a local shop here. With their theme, I think they’d do very well in a tattoo shop. I’m going to list my goals on this blog, and post about theme as I achieve them. I believe I can accomplish it, no matter how hard it gets. My biggest mountain to climb is making myself blog consistently. Until tomorrow!

-Tina