Create!!!

I've been working on a lot of different projects.  Little things here and there that I want/need to accomplish.
On Monday morning I woke up inspired.  I wanted, needed to make eye shadows.

When the universe sends you a message like this you really just have to go with it.  That's the way I prefer to work...not releasing a collection because it's a certain date, or a certain time, or I'm being gently, sweetly nudged in a certain direction, but because I'm inspired.  When I've tried to force it, it looks and feels well...forced.  Those colors usually wind-up in the scrap heap.

 Sometimes the muse whispers make lippies, sometimes it's tackle a skin care issue, sometimes it's a technical itch I need to scratch.  I tend to go with it, and then I save them up to make a big collection.

This time the muse whispered eye shadow, and I went to work.  You know how some weeks things just "click"?  So far, this week, things are clicking.  The Spring eye shadows are done. And these girls are wild- they want to come out and play!!!!!! We're right in the middle of several projects for spring, and they'll be awesome when they're done, but they're going to take a bit of time to get just right.

I drew on all of the yummy things about Summer for inspiration.  Ice cream, icy drinks, fruit- things that just don't taste the same in January.   The name of this collection is "With a Cherry On Top". 

We went to Finland to visit my brother-in-law and his family on our last vacation.   Under normal circumstances it's a pretty darn great country.  They have the least corrupt system of government, the best educational system, one of the best health care systems, have the highest per capita coffee consumption and they're generally just nice, happy go lucky folks.   No country is perfect, but Finland gets pretty darn close.   I've been married to a true and proper, block-headed, salmiakki eating Suomalainen (that's Finn in Finnish) from Munkkiniemi for almost 12 years.  I like Finns.

IMHO Finland in June and early July is one of the best places to be in the whole world.   Given their long, dark winters they take full advantage of the sunlight, and just go with it and have fun.  We arrived a few days after Juhannus (Summer solstice), and jumped into the party that was already in full swing.

We partied 'till the sun came up, and were home by 1:00 am.  I've never seen a city bustle that late anywhere else- even New York at 2:00 am on a Sunday is pretty much a ghost town.  Helsinki feels like it's just warming up at that hour.  I love it.  

So, Summer- ice cream, refreshing beverages and Finland.

By the way.there's also a couple of gumballs on the site.  Version 4 of the primer- in reality it's at least version 50 (I stopped counting literally years ago), and I've tweaked this as much as I'm going to tweak it.  Hopefully you'll love it, and if you don't- I'll most likely scrap the project for the time being.  It's as close to the original gumball version as I can get.

The other gumball is a new version of the cream liner  The version that's on the site right now uses a special kind of wax that is no longer sold- so I didn't have a choice.  We have to reformulate.  This version is vegan, and slightly different from what we shipped out in the MAC packages.  I backed-off on the wax ever so slightly so it's creamier and easier to apply.

Kippis (to your health)!  Kiitos (thank you)! and Happy St. Patrick's Day!