Join me on Instragram! @cakeface_chronicles

I'm still alive!

I apologize, I've been out of tune for what, 2 years? It's funny because I haven't stopped wearing makeup, I actually probably wear more of it now. I just fell out of blogging.

I remember watching YouTube videos, or even reading posts from bloggers apologizing about not posting because they've been so busy or it's so much work for them to put something up, and I would think "Really? It's not that hard.."

But honestly, it's a lot of work! Taking photos, editing, writing up a post, etc.. And when you lose interest in doing it, it makes it harder.

So what have I been up to?

I've been working full time, trying to figure out what I want to do with school and building a career, and taking care of my puppy!

Meet Roscoe :) He's 10 months old, a Maltese/Shih-Tzu mix, and the love of my life. I always end up on the "cute dog" side of the internet, and I'd always bother my mom about getting a dog.

With the reluctant approval from my mom, I got Roscoe when he was 2 months. I was at a stable place in my life where I had a predictable schedule at work, I had the time, money and energy and was ready to invest into a new member of our family :)

There's been a little of ups and downs with having a dog, especially a puppy, and when people say that having a puppy is a lot of work, it REALLY is. I don't have children, but I imagine it's like having a baby.

Roscoe has been such a happy addition to our household, and as much as my mom won't admit, she loves him. My parents greet him with hugs and kisses before they even say "hi" to my brother or sister or I.

Other than that, I haven't forgotten about Chica de Belleza or my readers. I just lost touch with the blogesphere and wasn't really interested in getting back in to it. I remember when I first started it was all about posting photos of your makeup and developing your artistry skills. Then it switched to sponsored posts and biased reviews, and I wasn't interested anymore.

But, I still get my makeup fix from Instagram. Don't get me wrong, there are still sponsored posts and biased reviews there, but a good majority is seeing what I enjoy most - pictures of makeup, skill and inspiration.

With that being said, I wanted to let you all know that I've made a new public Instagram account lately to quickly be able to showcase my looks to you.

If you're still interested, please follow me @cakeface_chronicles!

Will I still be posting on here? Probably not to be honest. I still stop by on blogger every now and then to catch up on my favourite blogs, but it's a lot more work for me to put a blog on her than posting a picture on Instagram - and let's be real, I'm lazyyyyyyy.

I want to thank you all for your continued support and messages asking me where I am and if I'm okay and I really hope that you join me on this (new) journey!

If you have a makeup account, or if you have any favourites you like to follow, please comment and let me know! I'm totally down for requests so I'd love to hear that too ;)

Thank you guys again! Wish everyone the best for 2014!
- Arezu

DIY Lipstick/Lip Gloss Organizer Using Foam Board!

This post is long overdue, especially since I posted a "sneak peak" on my twitter months ago, but better late than never!

I went on an organizing spree a while ago, and after googling like crazy I came across this amazing DIY foam board lipstick organizer. Unfortunately, the blog that I think I found it from is private now, so you can't view her blog post, but I will link it here so you can check it out if she does ever unprivate her blog. I believe she also posted it on Luxx as well here as well.

Since I had a ton of foam board left over from previous projects - here and here - I decided to tackle this project as well.

It was pretty easy, just time consuming, and the perfectionist in me wasn't completely happy with the final piece because every spot wasn't pefectly square, even though I had measured everything out.

I made the length of the holder to fit in exactly so it didn't slide around everytime I open and close my drawer.

My lip products are nicely organized now, and I can see everything clearly. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold all my lip products, as some are too long to fit in that my drawer won't close properly if they're upright, but other than that, I love it!

DIY Nail Polish Rack Using Foam Board!

I love foam board, seriously, I love it. I decided to tack another DIY project and organize my nail polishes.

You might remember my last DIY storage solution with my nail polishes here, but it wasn't working for me. It was ugly, and if I wanted to root through all my polishes to pick up a colour, I would have the pull each one out because I was just getting a birds eye view - not the colour of the bottle.

After watching TheEasyDIY's make your own nail polish rack YT video here, I knew that it would be something I wanted to do, and I did!

No, they're not all mine. Most of them are my sisters. No, this isn't all of them either. I had to make a second one, but that doesn't look as pretty. One rack holds more than 100 bottles.

It was relatively simple, and it took about an hour, an hour and a half tops. I was planning on making a tutorial, but I ended up using 3 pieces of foam board in total - and that's mainly because I needed to make the two side trims, but my remaining foam board was not long enough. If you follow the tutorial I linked above (here), you can make one using just two pieces of foam board.

I was spectacle about where I was planning to put my racks, because I didn't want it "out in the open", with the risk of my polishes being exposed to the sun/heat and drying out. I wanted to store them somewhere in my closet, but I didn't want to "hide" them either. Right now, they're just lying against the wall on a small table in my room, so they don't have a permanent place yet.

I kept mine as is, but you can customize yours any way you'd like. You can paint them, glue decorative paper, add embelishments, anything!

I purchased my foam board at Micheals, where they retail for $4.99 a piece, but according to Jess @ TheEasyDIY, you can purchase foam board at Dollarama. I haven't seen foam board at my local Dollarama yet, but I did see someone walking the other day carrying foam board with the Dollarama $1.25 price sticker on it, so you can try searching there.

I love my new set up, and I found that I'm more likely to paint my nails because I see all of the colours I have.

This seems like a better option than those acrylic racks, and I think they look better too! Like I said, mine are just laying against the wall, and I'm not too sure if you can hang them/if they would be able to withstand the weight of the heavy glass bottles. My dad saw them and did asked if I wanted to hang them, but I'm not too sure how I would do that. I would expect you have to drill them into the wall to get a steady hold.

How do you store your polishes?

ELF 32 Eyeshadow Palette - Quick Review & FOTD

I bought this ELF 32 eyeshadow palette months ago from Winners for $9.99 CDN. I'm not really sure what compelled me to purchase it, but it ended up in my collection and untouched for months.

I was interested in blogging about this palette and reviewing it, but I hardly touched it. I used it once initally when I first purchased it, but I wasn't impressed - I really had to dig in and pack the colour on, and it faded unusually bad by the end of the day.

I finally decided to dust it off the other day and try to do a look using the palette:







Here is what I used:
» Using my finger, I primed my lid and brow bone using UDPP.
» Using my finger again, I applied MAC's Soft Ochre paintpot on my lid and blending it into my crease.
» Using a stiff eyeshadow brush - I used my SpaResource's Medium eyeshadow brush - and applied the first shade heavily on the inner two thirds of my lid, blending it slightly in the crease.
» Using the other side of the same brush, I packed on the second colour on the outer third of my lid and blended it in the crease.
» I blended everything using my MAC 217 brush.
» Using the same blending brush, I applied MAC's Omega eyeshadow as a blendind colour between the crease and brow bone.
» I applied MAC's Orb eyeshadow on my brow bone using the Quo All Over eyeshadow brush.
» Lined my eyes using the Sonia Kashuk bent eyeliner brush and MAC Blacktrack fluidline.
» Applied Maybelline's Falsies mascara and false lashes (not sure of the brand or #, I mixed all my lashes up) with Duo's clear lash glue.

» For my face I applied my MUFE HD Foundation in #127 with my Sephora Professional #45 mineral powder brush and set it with the Tarte Amazon finishing powder.
» I contoured with my ELF Studio Line blush brush and MAC's Harmony blush and applied Essence's blush in Adorable.

The colours are pigmented enough, on a scale from 1 to 10 - 10 being very pigmented, I would give the palette a 6. However, once you start blending, the eyeshadow tends to fade, so you do have to go back and forth and pack the colour on.

I'm not a big fan of the colour selection, just because I feel it's hard for me to find colour combinations to work with - I usually tend to go for monochromatic looks though.

I think this would be a nice palette for someone who is starting out in make-up, these palettes retail for $5.00 on the ELF website. Which is pretty reasonable - but like I mentioned, I purchased my palette and Winners for $9.99 CDN. If you're someone who has an established collection, you probably won't reach for this palette often because of the fact you have to go back and forth to pack the colours on.

What I Want From You!

One of the main reasons why I started my blog was to have a place where I could post and share things like my FOTD's and be able to chart my progress through the whole beauty domain.

I wanted a place where I could get inspiration and feedback regarding make-up and my make-up looks that I post.

One thing that I wanted to ask my readers is to be able to provide me feedback regarding the things I post on my blog, whether it be my FOTD's, nail posts, or other general stuff I post on my blog.

I wanted to do this quick post to let you guys know that I appreciate and encourage constructive criticisim on my blog. Whether it be stuff like "I would suggest blending out the harsh edges a little bit to get a more seamless look" or..

"I think when you line your waterline with black eyeliner, it looks kind of bare, try adding some colour to your lower lashline?"

I read every comment I get, and I appreciate every one, and I would really appreciate you guys voicing anything you had on your mind.

Obviously, there is a difference between constructive criticism and being rude, and being in the "blogosphere" for a while now, I know that it can be difficult to bring something up without hurting anyone's feelings or stepping on someones toes, but I promise I won't be offended.

Just a quick post, I have a few posts lined up, so I hope to be posting more frequently and often soon. One thing you might not know about me is I hate writing.

Dollarama Find - ELF Dramatic Lashes

I wanted to do a quick post and share with you guys another one of my Dollarama finds.

I found the ELF Dramatic lashes at Dollarama for $1.50!
I actually didn't purchase any because I was in a rush, but this photo is from Square One's Dollarama (in Mississauga, ON).
I've purchased the ELF Dramatic lashes before off of the ELF website, and they're nice. I know they're a huge favourite among many beauty bloggers, and for $1.50, it won't kill you to try them.

Dresser Drawer Clothing Organization Tip

One thing that you guys may not know about me is that I'm a huge DIYer and I love organizing. I love the satisfaction of having everything aligned and grouped together for easy access.

Recently, I had this huge urge to organize my underwear drawer. I don't have any "before" photos, but basically, it was a huge mess. Just a big pile of underwear floating around in a drawer.

I'm pretty sure most girls would be able to relate, but I have a ton of pairs of underwear. My drawer was just a mess, and I found that I always reached for the same pairs over and over again because it made things just so much easier than having to dig through and find a pair.

I decided to Google "drawer organization tips" and found a lot of useful information, but nothing as far as what to organize them in. A lot of people mentioned using shoe boxes or the like, but I felt I wouldn't be able to make the most use out of my space.

And then, it hit me. I had some foam board I had left over from a Chemistry project, and I decided to make drawer dividers out of them.



All you need is foam board (I purchased mine at Michaels for $3.99 CDN for a 20x30x3/16 inch piece), a ruler to measure out your pieces and a hot glue gun. Relatively simple and inexpensive.

I did not glue the dividers into my drawers, I used the hot glue gun to glue the dividers to each other. I just made sure the dividers were the right length so that they would just slide right in my drawer and stay in place on their own - this makes things easier incase I want to change any of my arrangments.



There was no real method to my madness, I just kind of did whatever, but I really liked how everything turned out. I ended up making 6 compartments, which I then divided my different types of underwear in to. I also went through everything and threw out any stretched out/faded underwear, or anything that I knew I wouldn't wear. That helped cut a lot of clutter.

I usually fold my underwear, and that made everything easier for me. Now, if I want to wear a certain style (ie: bikini, thong, etc..) of underwear, I can easily find it and pull it out. Also, when I'm finished my laundry and ready to put everything back, I put my freshly laundered underwear in the BACK of the pile, and I always reach for underwear from the front of the pile. This ensures that I actually wear/rotate everyone, instead of going for the same ones all the time.

I didn't just stop with my underwear drawer, but I decided to go through and organize a few of my other drawers as well, here are some photos to show you different ways to divide your drawers:







I wanted to share this with you guys to show you how easy it is to organize your clothing. After a while, I would seriously open up my drawers every now and then and awe over how everything was so neat, organized and easily accessible. There's no more rooting around in a rage trying to find someone. Everything has it's own place.

It's also made putting back laundry easier as well! I hope this was helpful to some of you, and I'd love to how you guys organize your dressers!