I Touch Roses Mineral Makeup: RePost

I have a friend out in California, named Ahna, that makes handmade mineral makeup, soap, perfume, and much more. I wanted to tell you guys about her because I just got in an order from her today. I have been wearing her makeup for quite a while now, maybe a little over a year, and I absolutely love it. It covers and leaves my face looking like it's been airbrushed without hiding my freckles that I like to show off, and it feels like nothing is there. Her eye shadows last forever, you can put it on in the morning and it will still be there in the evening. Last year I was frequently going to the dentist having my front tooth replaced and I wore her makeup to the dentist's office and came out of there looking the same way I did when I left. Now I don't know how your dentist is but mine always get water on every single part of my face. Before using this makeup I came out of the dentist's office with makeup streaming down my face, now I don't have that problem.

Her perfumes smell divine. There isn't one that I don't like. The one I received today is called After Midnight. This is a scent she remade and I think everyone should have it. It has a beautiful mixture of Rose, Vanilla, Cedarwood, Amber, and something else, I can't remember what the last scent is lol. I absolutely LOVE IT! It's got a warm, inviting scent to it and everyone who has smelled it absolutely loves it.

Along with the perfume I got a big jar of her French Clay Mask. I haven't tried it yet because I'm not too clear on the instructions and I don't want to waste a whole lot of it trying to figure it out but I will be using it as soon as Ahna gives me further directions on using it. I got a jar of eye shadow called Hazel and it is exactly the color you would expect of hazel leaning to the brown side. I also got a sample of a new shade of eye shadow called Reason which is a pink shade and is absolutely beautiful. If your interested in checking out her makeup, and believe me she has everything under the sun except for mascara, check out itouchroses.com, itouchroses.etsy.com, and artcreated.com. At Art Created she sells her makeup as well as her jewelry, her paintings, and photography.

And for the witch in all of us, check out her friend's shop, agonysdecay.etsy.com! I hadn't heard of this one until she sent me a sample of soap from this shop. The sample I got is one little green skull and it looks and smells good enough to eat. Thankfully there is a very helpful sticker right on the bag that tells you Do Not Eat! It's Soap! and there is a cute little spider hanging around the top right corner of the sticker. It is the cutest thing ever. I strolled on over to that new shop and there's some pretty neat stuff there. You'll find handmade jewelry with a gothic twist, soaps, hair accessories, gift tags, and much more.

If you decide you like Ahna's makeup, when you order, let her know Amber sent you. That's my real name, I'm not trying to hide from you guys but from certain members of my family lol. This does not apply over at Agonys Decay.

This is the skull soap from over at Agony's Decay.

And the very helpful sticker that tells you not to eat it lol. Sorry you can't see it very well, I can't seem to make my camera take better pictures.

The French Clay Mask from over at Ahna's shop I Touch Roses.

The French Clay Mask jar open so you can see the inside. It doesn't show the color very well but it's a light rosey pink.

And the eye shadow that I just got from Ahna. It is a gorgeous brownish hazel and I absolutely love it.

We're inching closer and closer to the 50th post! I hope everyone is as excited about the new giveaways as I am! Right now I think we're at post 43 but I might be off one or two.

I Touch Roses Mineral Makeup

I have a friend out in California, named Ahna, that makes handmade mineral makeup, soap, perfume, and much more. I wanted to tell you guys about her because I just got in an order from her today. I have been wearing her makeup for quite a while now, maybe a little over a year, and I absolutely love it. It covers and leaves my face looking like it's been airbrushed without hiding my freckles that I like to show off, and it feels like nothing is there. Her eye shadows last forever, you can put it on in the morning and it will still be there in the evening. Last year I was frequently going to the dentist having my front tooth replaced and I wore her makeup to the dentist's office and came out of there looking the same way I did when I left. Now I don't know how your dentist is but mine always get water on every single part of my face. Before using this makeup I came out of the dentist's office with makeup streaming down my face, now I don't have that problem.

Her perfumes smell divine. There isn't one that I don't like. The one I received today is called After Midnight. This is a scent she remade and I think everyone should have it. It has a beautiful mixture of Rose, Vanilla, Cedarwood, Amber, and something else, I can't remember what the last scent is lol. I absolutely LOVE IT! It's got a warm, inviting scent to it and everyone who has smelled it absolutely loves it.

Along with the perfume I got a big jar of her French Clay Mask. I haven't tried it yet because I'm not too clear on the instructions and I don't want to waste a whole lot of it trying to figure it out but I will be using it as soon as Ahna gives me further directions on using it. I got a jar of eye shadow called Hazel and it is exactly the color you would expect of hazel leaning to the brown side. I also got a sample of a new shade of eye shadow called Reason which is a pink shade and is absolutely beautiful. If your interested in checking out her makeup, and believe me she has everything under the sun except for mascara, check out itouchroses.com, itouchroses.etsy.com, and artcreated.com. At Art Created she sells her makeup as well as her jewelry, her paintings, and photography.

And for the witch in all of us, check out her friend's shop, agonysdecay.etsy.com! I hadn't heard of this one until she sent me a sample of soap from this shop. The sample I got is one little green skull and it looks and smells good enough to eat. Thankfully there is a very helpful sticker right on the bag that tells you Do Not Eat! It's Soap! and there is a cute little spider hanging around the top right corner of the sticker. It is the cutest thing ever. I strolled on over to that new shop and there's some pretty neat stuff there. You'll find handmade jewelry with a gothic twist, soaps, hair accessories, gift tags, and much more.

If you decide you like Ahna's makeup, when you order, let her know Amber sent you. That's my real name, I'm not trying to hide from you guys but from certain members of my family lol. This does not apply over at Agonys Decay

Finding Beauty

Recently I started reading a lovely blog called Domesticated Gypsy and the most recent post was called Women Who Find Beauty. In this post she speaks of associating herself with women who find beauty. I was inspired by this blog and wanted to post something about it.

Finding beauty is never hard, however, some people become so disenchanted with their lives that they cannot see the beauty in anything. I've been there, I know how that feels. Even the brightest, prettiest day can be ugly if you look at things with the wrong point of view. Well wait, I don't want to say "wrong" point of view because even negativity isn't wrong, it's just the opposite of positivity. So let me rephrase that and say even the prettiest day can be ugly if you look at things in a negative light.

Sometimes people become so covered up in negativity it's hard to see why anything is worth your time. Getting out of bed becomes a chore, bathing, taking care of your family, loving your family, all these things become the hardest things you could ever do. But when you change your mindset and decide to think a little more positively, finding beauty is as easy as opening your eyes and taking in your surroundings.

Now I've never lived in the city so I won't comment on trying to find beauty in the city because I have absolutely no experience with that. But I've bounced between living in town with my mom and on the ranch with my grandparents all my life so that's what I'm going to focus on. On the ranch, beauty surrounds us, even in the winter. Grandma mourns when the winter comes around because her beautiful flowers die but she always knows they'll come back in the spring whether because they rebloom (or whatever you call it ... This witch doesn't know a whole lot about gardening although I dearly wish to learn) or because she replants and reseeds. But you can look all around you, no matter what time of year it is and find something beautiful. A cardinal hanging out in the tree outside of our picture window in the kitchen, the horses coming in for feed at 4:30 every day just like clockwork, the dogs running and playing with each other, the hills that Granddad and I ride over almost everyday when I'm home covered in fog.

In town with Mom I have to admit it sometimes becomes a chore to find beauty there. The town she lives in is a little farming town and even in town if you look past our backyard you find a cotton field. There are also all kinds of pump jacks for pumping oil, and the land is absolutely flat ... It is my belief you could look towards the horizon and see forever. The land has been abused by oil field workers and there always seems to be more dirt than grass. But if you care to look you can find things of beauty. Gardens that the older women nurture and take care of each season, the birds that enjoy back and front yards filled with honeysuckle and many other plants, the clear blue sky, the sparkling night sky. My point is if a person takes joy in nature and in the beauty of Mother Nature, they will never be without beauty.

My favorite ways of finding beauty involve nature but it's easy to find beauty in people too. Sometimes that can be hard because like it or not, we do live in a world that has a lot of negativity in it, but there are many people out there that are beautiful. I'm not talking about superficial beauty, superficial beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I'm talking about a person's natural, personal, soul beauty. And yes that is spelled right, I do mean the beauty of a person's soul.

We've all met people that you instantly like because they are beautiful. A person who isn't sure what they are looking at won't  understand it but that kind of beauty isn't about what they look like or wear or anything superficial, it's all about how beautiful their soul is. These kinds of people smile a lot, always have open arms and hearts, and are always there to lend a helping hand. People with beautiful souls aren't that hard to find, just like in finding beauty in nature you just have to be open to it. That's the key to a lot of things in life, finding beauty in people and nature, finding love, finding true friends ... You have to open your heart to these things. I won't go into talking about opening your heart to things just yet because I plan on writing a blog specifically about that later, so all I will say is in order to find beauty in anything you have to open your heart to it and be willing to see it.

These are some of the ways I find beauty. How do you find beauty? What do you consider to be beauty?

Beautiful Paintings

Recently I was searching the web for inspiration. I'm having a little bit of writers block, trying to find something to write about on here. I came across an artist's website that I just love. He does some of the most beautiful paintings. The painting to the left is one of his.

The artist's name is Howard David Johnson. He doesn't do just fairy paintings, there are some of our beloved Goddesses as well. Persephone, Athene, and many more. There are sections for Greek, Norse, and Celtic Mythology and an area called Women In Mythology. His website is definitely a place to be looked over if you like things like this. I know I fell in love with it. Check out his website: www.howarddavidjohnson.com.

My only disappointment is that he has no images of Aphrodite. I was looking for images of my patroness when I ran across this website. He does have an image he calls "Aphrodite's Child," and while it is a beautiful painting it doesn't fit my personal image of Aphrodite. Eventually I am sure I will find an image that I perceive as Aphrodite and although it may be someone else's idea of a different Goddess it will be right for me and I will share it here.