Urban Decay Naked Palettes 1 & 2

When Urban Decay started to give hints online that they were releasing a second Naked Palette, the online makeup world got really excited. I definitely got caught up in all the excitement and rather than wait for others to buy it and post their experiences about it, I succumbed and ordered the Naked 2 Palette along with the other first 4999 buyers of the palette on their website.  

Unlike the Naked 1 Palette, the Naked 2 Palette did not come with a travel-sized Potion Primer.  Instead it came with a mini-Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Naked (sense a theme?). Also, the first online buyers also got a mini-sized 24/7 eye pencil in a gold color (El Dorado).

Along with a ton of other bloggers, here are my pics of the 2 palettes opened showing their different synthetic brushes.  I was not able to buy the first Naked Palette when it originally came out with a double-ended eye pencil, but did get the later release when they replaced the double-ended pencil which caused innumerable production delays with a basic synthetic eyeshadow shader brush. The Naked 2 brush is double-ended with a fluffy blender brush and a skinnier shader brush.

And here are the eyeshadows swatched on my arm over a very thin layer of UD's Potion Primer.  The Naked 2 shadows are on the top row & the original Naked shadows are on the bottom row.  For reference, the foundation swatch on the left end of the top row is MAC's Mineral Skin Liquid in NC37 & the foundation swatch below it is NARS Sheer Glow in Punjab.

Overall, the Naked 2 palette colors are more taupe-ish & cool compared to the Naked 1 colors, minus the Half-Baked (goldish) eyeshadow which is present in both palettes. But for very cool-toned makeup-wearers, Naked 2 may still be a bit too warm-toned.  Also, Naked 2 has 3 matte shades (Foxy, Tease, and Blackout) compared to Naked 1's 2 matte shades (Naked and Buck). 

My initial verdict is that it's a really nice palette, but if you like warm-tones, stick to the Naked 1 Palette.  I've worn the colors of the Naked 2 palette on their own once & it's okay, but I will need to work with it more and perhaps combine it with colors from the Naked 1 palette to get a look I'll be happy with.

Now switching away from Urban Decay to Mary Kay, below is a swatch sheet of the new colors for MK's Winter 2011.  I had attended an event with my Mary Kay consultant and was able to swatch them for reference.  The eye and lip pencils will now come with a tiny shaper/sharpener in its cap and they'll be a mix of new & existing shades.  However, if you're a fan of MK's Dusty Pink lip liner, you may want to contact your local MK consultant as it looks like they discontinued that shade for a new one called Soft Blush.

Back on the knitting side of things, I've timed out a tam I was working on 'cause I knit it too big (my row/round gauge was all out of whack 'cause I didn't swatch!) and I'm in the middle of knitting a sample pair of socks for someone. But in the middle of all that, I knit up a quick pair of fingerless mitts from my leftover Malabrigo Twist in Liquid Ambar:

Pattern: 75 Yard Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts
needles: size 8 & 9 Clover bamboo dpns
mods:
- had enough yarn for thumb "sleeves" so didn't bind off those stitches per pattern instructions & instead put them on waste yarn & later knit in a few extra St st rounds & ribbing.
- tubular 2x2 cast on (Ysolda's) & bind off on the body of the mitts - just to practice

Comfort Food

When Irishgirlieknits usually asks me to do a test knit, I usually do and I'm glad I had the opportunity to test knit the fingerless mitts from her current pattern set, Comfort Food.  It was also an honor since the pattern has special meaning for Carrie since it was in honor of her late grandmother, Mimi.

It's the just how life goes that when I started the cowl to complete the set, that an extended family member had also passed away.  So this pattern is quite the contemplative one.

It's been a little warm, so my Monkeys were not in the mood to model any knits for me, but the younger one humored me anyway.

Yarn: Ella Rae Classic superwash in Royal
pattern size: medium for the mitts

needles: size 8 Knit Picks Harmony circs
mods: None since this was a test knit

This set will be a gift for one of the Monkeys' teachers as I have wide hands and plan to knit the larger size in the fingerless mitts pattern

Playing Catch Up

February turned into an insanely busy month with Stitches West and a family cruise vacation, not to mention a couple secret test knitting projects I volunteered for.  Right now I can only share one of them since Stitches West has passed.



First off, a pair (I swear, but I didn't get tapmouse to take a pic of them on me) of mitts for Pico Accuardi's booth at Stitches West.  Deb Accuardi and Stevanie Pico (with the help of Terri) are a delightful team and I hope more knitters will discover their hand-dyed yarn, much of it with natural dyes. 

Yarn: Pico Accuardi's Stevie Sparkles dyed with indigo.  No label so I don't know if it has a colorway name
Pattern: Snake in the (Sweet)Grass
needles: Uh, I think it was a 2.5 mm (US 1.5), not a US 2.5 (3.0 mm).  I'll have to double-check my notes.  I have a bad habit of not paying attention to the 2.5 mm vs US 2.5 sizing on Ravelry's drop down menu.

No mods since it's a sample.  I've got a beautiful turquoise skein of Stevie Sparkles, so I'm hoping to make my own pair later. 

I've realized I'm not a snap-happy Stitches West attendee despite the XRX lifting the photo-taking ban this year.  All I've got to show for it is one pic of my new KCLWoods shell-inlaid spindle (Ken & his wife are so kind & adorable!) and a couple pretty Sunshine Yarns fibers from her booth.  It is possible to find a pic of me with a few other Sunshine Yarnies in her booth in the relevant Ravelry group thread.  But I'm going to be lazy and not post the link. 

And while I've been good this year at not buying too much yarn (only 4 skeins at the BMFA booth!), I did kinda make up for it with the buying of project bags and other accessories (cough*Namaste*cough).  The project bags are technically for Monkey1 who like any good young knitter, recognizes when she's at her limit skill-wise. 

Monkey1 fell in love with a sample of an On Line Solo 194 ribbon-ruffle scarf at Fashion Knit in Walnut Creek and thought she could handle it once I showed her how.  Turns out that she decided (and rightly so) that knitting with ribbon yarn is actually too fiddly.  So, being a sucker of a knitting mom, I took it over.  I agree that it is a fiddly knit, but I managed to finish it on a one-week cruise to the Mexican Riviera.  My knitting time was helped greatly when we ended up with an extra day at sea due to an emergency detour to Ensanada to drop of an ill passenger, causing us to miss one of the 2 days planned for Cabo San Lucas.  As the captain said, sometimes that's the way it goes.  DH did not like the changes to Cabo since he last went 20 years ago, so I don't think he minded as much.  He loved the old fishing village charm of it which has been replaced with very American touristy stuff combined with the agressive hawking by the vendors.

Sometime in the past month, I also managed to knit Monkey1 a new slouchy hat so I could get my Wesley beret back.  It's such a cute pattern that I'll probably knit another one in the designer's bulky weight version (inspired by a Taylor Swift beret).

Pattern: Diamond Slouch Beanie
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Paints
needle: KP 7 Harmony circs

Just one modification in which I used Ysolda's 2x2 tubular cast on.  Love this cast on.



Once I finished Monkey1's ruffle scarf towards the tail end of the cruise, I finally cast on for my second acid green Koigu sock in which I used the C2B cable pattern from Ann Hanson's Fine Cabled Mitts pattern.  I'm so happy this is pair is finally done.  It's been six months since I knit the first one and probably longer than that when I knit the original first sock that was too small.

Fingerless Mitt Kick

My fingerless mitt kick started off with the last of my holiday gifts.  This completes a set with a pair of Rib & Cable socks that also coordinated with the Koigu acid green set I had knit up awhile ago.  Both sets just got gifted this weekend.

yarn: Koigu KPM in Raspberry
pattern: Fine Cabled Mitts by Anne Hanson
needles: size 2.5 (3.00 mm) KP dpns
no mods for the gift

Monkey2 then asked for a pair for herself in a color she picked out.

yarn: Cascade 220 in Magenta
pattern: Girly Mitts (free off of Ravelry)
needles: size 7(4.50 mm) Knit Picks Harmony dpns
mod: extended the ribbing on top to hit higher up the fingers per Monkey2's request

I haven't taken a pic of the full pair, but these are done.  I decided that Monkey1 would get  a pair of fingerless mitts that would match the Owl hat I had knit up awhile ago.  I also decided to practice my Yarn Harlot lever method on this pair since I hadn't done it in awhile.  I expected to be really tight, but maybe due to the larger size of Clover's size 6 dpns, the mitts actually came out a little larger/looser than I anticipated, not that it mattered to Monkey1 or I.  She's still growing & I have large wide hands. 

yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in Dark Grey Mix
Pattern: Owlings
needles: size 6 (4.25 mm) Clover dpns
no mods

After the January private trunk show of The Plucky Knitter, I decided to wind up the very first skein (& only one up to the trunk show) & knit them into a pair of mitts.  And speaking of my large hands, I had to add quite a bit of length to the pattern as written to have them fit my hand the way I wanted. 

Yarn: The Plucky Knitter MCN sport in Mansfield Park
Pattern: Foxgloves by Clara Parkes (Ravelry link)
needles: size 4 KP Harmony dpns
mods:
- longer ribbed cuff
- longer thumb gusset by doing the increases every 3rd row & added one more set of increases

Last for now, but not least, I had lost one of my burgundy Fetchings & needed a new pair in a similar colorway.  The yarn had been marinating in my stash & I finally felt it was time to knit it.

Yarn: Shibui Knits Merino Alpaca in Mulberry
pattern: Cozy Thermal Mitts (also free off of Ravelry)
needles: size 6 (4.25 mm) Clover dpns
mods:
- tubular 1x1 rib cast on & sewn bind off 'cause I was in the mood to practice

Next up: A few of my long-term projects including a cardigan.  We're going on a family cruise this spring & I'm still trying to figure out what to knitting projects to bring.