#wow i really should have used different colors for the caption on that first pic

[familyofpaladins]

@tmaynt Day 23: Favorite Human Ally

At first I wasn't sure who to do, I love April and Casey, but they had their own days, so I thought I'd focus on some of their other human allies. I thought about doing the Professor from 2003 (Not Professor Hunnicut aka the Fugitoid, The Professor who's name we never learned but was invited to their christmas and never commented on the fact that the turtles were turtles). Also thought about doing Silver Sentry because he's a cool dude, but wasn't sure if a superhuman counted as human lol.

THEN I remembered Cody Jones, and I love him. He's the descendant of April and Casey and is brilliant like his Great Grandma and eager to fight along side the guys like his Great Grandpa. He's a turtle fan boy but doesn't let that cloud his vision of them. He gets to have a silly fun time with the turtles, and the guys get to be out in public during the day thanks to being brought to the future. He's honorary little brother to the turtles <3

[boratanical]

graphics guide

a guide filled with basic info, tips, and answers to common questions that i hope helps people who want to start making graphics

*this was made based on my experiences of making graphics and is what i thought was important to cover but everyone has different ways and approaches so dont feel the need to follow everything on here

what is a graphic?

a graphic (also known as ‘gfx’) is a image edit that incorporates various elements (textures, filters, text, etc) in order to visualize a idea or to create a aesthetic composition 

unlike making gifs, there is no right or proper way to make a graphic so dont get too caught up in the idea that a graphic should look a certain way - just stick with your style and what you think looks good 

anatomy

image/subject

usually the main focus of the whole graphic

you should always try to use a sharp hd picture - getting it from the original source is always the best option 

make sure the source of the picture allows editing - pictures from public sources like a company or the news can be edited while fansite pics and scans need to have permission asked (and if they give you permission make sure you link them when you post your graphic!)

coloring 

often referred as ‘psd’ because that is the format they are in (i.e. pink psd pack)

comprise of multiple layers that can alter the images look 

a lot of people make their own colorings since the outcome of the look also depends on the image’s original coloring 

textures

smaller cut out images that are often used to decorate the graphic

can also refer to a image that can be use as a background of a graphic

can be found in the form of a png (copy + paste into graphic) or a brush (”painted” on to the graphic) 

avoid using any textures that does not state the original poster made them - you could unintentionally be using someone’s work that was not made to be used [read more about it here + resources that you can actually use]

text

text can be used to tell information or just for decoration

try to choose fonts and colors that are legible

faq 

what software can i use to make graphics

most people use some version of photoshop (i currently use photoshop cc 2018) and a lot people have it cracked but if you cant afford photoshop, find a cracked version or a patcher (i used adobe zii 3.0.4 for mac), or are uncomfortable with getting a cracked version then there are other softwares that are just as good!

i can only vouch for gimp since i used it when i first started making gfxs. it is very similar to photoshop and shares most of the same tools and has a similar look to photoshop. it is also probably the most popular photoshop alternative and would totally recommend it if you cant get photoshop!

[visit + download gimp here]

where do you get your pictures from

official sources such as teasers companies release, photos released by press, photos from idol’s instagram - basically photos that are made for the public to see are whats best to use for a gfx. you should download the photos straight from the source so you get it at its highest quality 

some phrases you can use to search for pictures on google: - [group name] photoshoot - [idol name] press  - [group name] showcase  - [idol name] teaser

remember the more specific you are in your search the better! also when you search through google make sure you check your source!

avoid getting photos from reposting websites like we heart it and pinterest  avoid using fansite pictures and scans unless you are granted permission

i don’t know where to start/i’m overwhelmed and i don’t know what to do/ where should i begin

figure out what you want to make or a theme you want to follow - do you want to make a simple graphic or a infographic? do you want it to center around a certain theme like a comeback or a photoshoot? once you determine what you want to do it becomes easier getting ideas and finding stuff you will need for the gfx

example thought process: “i want to make a loona graphic” →  do you want it to be the whole group or a certain member or unit? will it just be a simple gfx or a AU gfx or based on a event that the group is doing? “i’ve decided on doing a kim lip one” → do you want it to have a certain theme like kim lip smiling or kim lip with blonde hair? is there a certain frame of time in which you want the graphic to represent like during eclipse era or hi high era?  “i want it to be from max and match era with her teasers” → from here you can start finding pictures to use and thinking of colors and textures that would fit your theme

where do you get ideas/inspiration from

i mean it’s different for everyone but for me i literally just think of stuff and i’m like wow i want to make that happen asdfsdfj but mostly when i see pictures or watch something thats where i suddenly get a idea 

but tumblr is full of graphic makers!!! ive seen so many amazing graphics from various fandoms like kpop, anime, marvel, etc. 

some amazing graphic editors i know myself include: primirene, ireone, nctjaemin, celo-mar, 1hyungseo, jeongahn, haechxnie, sonxiumin, syua, lulumelody, dinomite, lovelyeo, joohys, whatchatalkabout, yveu, maerinah, mihyon, lorbits, cherryjennie, thatporcelain, monoka, ifbin, 7ww

some other places you can look at are behance (dont go on behance if you have a cracked ver of ps - it might trigger a ingenue software alert that is a huge pain to deal with), pinterest, deviantart, dribble, and probably any social media platform if you just look up #graphicdesign

remember if you take inspiration from someone’s work then you should cite them in your caption - if you are afraid that you might’ve accidentally copied someone when you were trying to take inspiration from them its best to either try to remake the gfx again or just to ask the creator permission if its fine if certain details are similar/same

my stuff sucks how do i get better

literally just keep on making stuff aka practice. you can’t improve if you don’t bother putting effort. 

ways i’ve forced myself into practicing making gfxs is by: 1) starting a gfxs series - its self paced and is based on what you want to make (i.e. introducing my biases gfx series, my favorite outfits gfx series, etc) 2) taking in requests - people who would request from you probably like your stuff so its a win win situation (i.e. send me a idol + era, send me your bias + palette, send me a group and i’ll make a gfx of my fav member, etc)

tips

only sharpen your pictures after you are done resizing them, if you sharpen and then resize it might result in a more blurry or grainy picture 

always save your graphic every 5-10 mins in case photoshop crashes 

 have two copies of your image cutout: one will be the original and the other one will be the one you edit with - in case you mess up like over erasing or over sharpening your image you have a back up you can use

stick with a color palette so you don’t get overwhelmed when having to color everything and it makes all the graphic panels you have look more cohesive 

on photoshop you can favorite fonts!!! take advantage of it!!! your computer has a lot of fonts saved on it and it takes forever to look through a whole list of fonts so by favoring fonts you can see all of the fonts that you like to use for graphics

combine a png pack to one psd → when you open a png pack you will probably get a lot of png files and it gets annoying having a lot of tabs open in photoshop when most of them are just textures so by putting all of those pngs into one psd you can cut down the files you open and can easily see all of your options 

make folders dedicated to colorings and textures that way you can easily access them instead of looking through your computer for a certain file

name your layers... i dont do it because its easy for me to tell what layer is what but when you are working with a lot of layers its best just to name them it’ll make life easier

lock your main image/subject so that when you play with texts’ and textures’ location you don’t accidentally move your main image

use curves to help get a photo back to its original coloring! like if you have a photo that has a weird filter on it just use curves and it’ll help the picture look more natural! [tutorial]

try warping your text to make it stand out more! you can access it by pressing the icon on the top text bar that has a T with a curved line under it. i use flag and wave the most

alter a particular color by using a selective color layer

rather than changing the actual color of an image/texture you can: create new layer → select the image/texture and color it on the new layer instead of on top of the image/texture → change the opacity or the mode of the layer so that the color is put on the image/texture while keeping its detailing and not affecting the actual image/texture

resources

colorings: can be found on deviantart or tumblr just look up ‘psd coloring’ or ‘[color] psd’ 

textures: can be found on deviantart (check to see if its og content or stolen) simply just search what you are trying to find or ‘png pack’ or ‘texture pack’ common textures you can try to find: vintage flowers, memphis shapes, organic shapes, doodles other wesbites: pngtree, creative market, lost and taken, spoongraphics

fonts: if you are looking for a certain font then you can just do a google search but if you are browsing then dafont and font squirrel are really good websites too some of my favorite fonts: abril fatface, agfatumc, antonellie calligraphy, arcadeclassic, bebas neue, century gothic, couture, daily news 1915, dark larch, hondurhas, kotori rose, krinkles, risingstar, sant joan despi, studly, zing rust

color palettes: i made one myself which you can find here, color hunt, and honestly a quick google search will give you tons of options

if you have any questions, other stuff you want me to cover, or want to add more resources and tips then please dm or send an ask! i hope this helps!

[dyscrasia-eucrasia]

Part 5

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Like every day, Angel woke up to an alarm at noon. And, like every day, he considered sleeping in. But he'd established that his Instagram stories started updating at 12:30, and he refused to break that routine. 

He dragged himself out of bed and over to the kitchen. He was in a bulking phase, which meant that at least he got to eat a lot of calories, but even then he had to check the notebook he kept next to the fridge to make sure he was hitting his macros. Breakfast wound up being oats made with peanut butter, greek yogurt, and protein powder. It was ugly to look at and nearly as bland, since there was no sugar to liven up the flavors. That was the sacrifice that he had to make for the sake of his physique - giving up basically everything that tasted good and living on a diet of peanut butter, chicken, and brown rice. 

After he finished choking down his breakfast, he had to take a minute to search his apartment for his wireless earbuds. He popped them in his ears, grabbed his phone, perched himself on the window sill, and proceeded to take a dozen selfies, all with slight variations, until he got the perfect one of himself turned just slightly towards the window, his earbuds clearly showing, the street outside visible but artistically blurry. It took him a few more minutes in Facetune to edit out the puffiness under his eyes and a blemish that was forming on his chin, not to mention lighten his skin and up the saturation of the blue dye in his hair. He needed a dye touch-up, but no one on Instagram needed to know that. 

It took him a few more minutes to craft his story post, carefully weighing the benefits of a filter that gave him dog ears and deciding how many emojis he wanted to use. 

Then of course there was the matter of what to say in the story. His first post of every day was a 'song of the day' post. It took him a minute to think of what song to use. Ultimately, he wound up writing: 'Listening to Bad Guy today! Love Billie Eilish!' and then took another minute to choose the exact font style, color, and positioning. 

He hadn't actually been listening to Billie Eilish. He liked her music, sure, but lately he had been on a nostalgic kick, listening to nu metal. But it wasn't #relatable to post about listening to Coal Chamber. How many people even remembered that the band existed? Certainly none of the e-boys that followed Angel's account. 

No, Angel's brand didn't work with a maligned, forgotten genre from the late 90s. He'd made a name for himself as goth-lite. Not really goth, but not an e-boy either. Rather, he was just a touch edgy, but still firmly in the mainstream gay community. 

All the more reason to keep Bacchus to himself. It was totally against his brand to go to shows with mosh pits. 

'Tell me what song you wanna see me pole dance to!' He added to the post, making a comment field for people to respond. Within seconds, answers started to pour in, mostly Top 40 sex jams. 

He spent a little longer scrolling through Instagram, commenting on videos from other dancers. Every comment was upbeat and encouraging, even if he thought their dancing was a bit shit. There was no room to be critical on social media. He had to treat everyone as if they were his best friend, even if he didn't know them. He was still building his following, and any drama could ruin that. 

His DMs were full, as usual. Most of them were thirst-DMs, a couple were shady sounding guys offering to be his manager. Nothing interesting enough to respond to. 

A notification popped up at the top of his screen from Grindr. He automatically tapped it to go to the app, only to be greeted with a blurry dick pic. He wasn't against dick pics, but they had to have a bit of effort put into them. This one was just lazy. The guy didn't even look like he was hard. 

He tapped the back button to look at the rest of his messages. A lot were dick pics. Some were asking for a hookup. One was a message from a guy he'd hooked up with a few days ago, saying that he had a nice time and asking if he wanted to get together again. 

The guy had been alright. A nice enough bodybuilder who had been surprisingly gentle and considerate during sex. But his personality had been as bland as the meal-prepped chicken sitting in Angel's fridge. Angel knew he could do better. But it never hurt to have the guy on-call as backup if he felt the need to get laid right away, so he snapped a selfie and sent it to him, with a short note that simply said, 'I had fun!' 

With that, he'd had enough social media, and it was almost time for his workout, anyways. 

Thirty minutes later, he met with his personal trainer. He paid a hefty fine for one of the best trainers in the city, someone he trusted to help him sculpt his physique without making comments about trying plastic surgery. His trainer was cute, nice, and painfully straight, which was something Angel had specifically looked for. He didn't want to be distracted by a guy who may or may not be interested in fucking. 

Like always, working out kicked his ass, and like always, he took a sweaty selfie in the locker room mirror with his shirt lifted to show his abs and posted it on his Instagram story. 

His day was far from over, though. He had to stop by the smoothie shop and take a photo of his smoothie - milk, whey powder, greens, banana, and peanut butter - and then go out and take photos around town until he found something that made it look like he was doing something interesting that day. He eventually found a corner of a building that had been tagged with a dozen Mothman stickers and snapped a selfie in front of it, captioned it 'Hanging out with my fellow spooky kids!' and posting it to his main Instagram. 

And then the boredom set in. He didn't really have anything planned for the day, and he still had plenty of time before he had to go to work. Sure, he could go home and put on some makeup and take artful thirst-trap selfies, but he'd done that so recently. He didn't want to make his Instagram nothing but thirst-traps - he had to make sure he was attractive to multiple types of brands if he ever wanted a sponsorship. 

The thing was, trying to be an Instagram star was lonely. He had friends, but they were either work colleagues - and thus rivals - or other micro-influencers. All their conversations were about collabs and SEO and ways to boost engagement. To outsiders he no doubt looked like he lived a lavish and incredibly fun lifestyle as a stripper, but they didn't see the day-to-day boredom or the awkwardness behind running into people who knew him from the club out in broad daylight. 

He wanted someone to talk to who wasn't a part of all that bullshit. 

Of course, as soon as he had that thought, he realized that he wanted to talk to Demie again. 

He wasn't sure if he should. He'd just called him that morning, after all. 

It wasn't that he was worried about coming off as desperate, but more that he was worried about scaring Demie off. He was absolutely certain that Demie was gay, but he was also sure that Demie was a country boy, and country gays were different from city gays. Country boys had such an endearing gee-shucks quality about them, like they were trying so hard to be beer-drinkin', truck-drivin' bros, but they were just a little too soft-spoken and shy for that. 

Demie - from what Angel could tell - was a guy who wanted to be cool to other men but who was also painfully nervous around them. 

It was absolutely adorable, and Angel wanted so badly to get him into bed. 

But getting that kind of guy into bed was a challenge. It was like hunting a deer. Move too fast or too loudly, and he'd run off into the woods. 

Or so Angel assumed. He'd never actually gone hunting. That was too much a white person thing to do. 

Fuck it, he decided. Demie was the first real connection he'd made in a long time. And it wasn't like he was asking for a hookup. He just wanted to talk. 

He settled onto a bench where he could still see the Mothman stickers and dialed Demie's number. The phone rang with no answer. No shit, it was a Monday afternoon. People with normal 9 to 5s worked at that time. 

Well, at least he could leave a message and give Demie his number. He realized he'd never actually told Demie how to contact him. 

Eventually the answering machine picked up. "You've reached Demie and Elaine," Demie's voice said. "If you're trying to sell us something we don't fucking want it. If you're trying to get on our property, we have guns and we're not afraid to fucking use them. Bye." 

"Wow, your answering machine is pretty aggro," Angel said. "This is Angel, but the way. I realized I didn't give you my number. So, y'know, just in case you want to get in touch…" 

He left his number and hung up. He sat staring at the Mothman stickers a little longer. He kind of wanted to send a picture of them to Demie, since Demie in a way reminded him of a cryptid - shy and kind of elusive. But of course, he couldn't, since Demie didn't have a cellphone. Still, he took a non-selfie picture of them anyways. Just in case he got to hang out with Demie sometime.

[spideytrxsh]

My trip to the happiest place on earth: Heroes and Villains Fan Fest

This is going to be really long I am sorry in advance, but I feel like so many celebrities have been letting us down lately so here are great stories about actors we should stan. 

I bolded every actors name so if you are interested in just that particular actor and how they behave with fans you can jump there!

Some things to know about this convention:

It was HVFF Chicago and Walker Stalker Con Chicago, all rolled into one. So most of the focus was on The Walking Dead cast, like Norman Reedus and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. 

I was pretty much only there for the cast of The Gifted and The Defenders. It got WILD on the Walking Dead side.

I also went to everything Riverdale because my friend that went with me loves that show. 

Day 1 actors: Emma Dumont, Sean Teale, Blair Redford, Hayley Lovitt, Élodie Yung

Day 2 actors: Emma Dumont, Sean Teale, Blair Redford, Hayley Lovitt, Élodie Yung, Mike Colter, Lili Reinhart, Madelaine Petsch. 

DAY 1

A lot of you know that Lorna Dane aka Polaris is my all time favorite superhero. So knowing that Emma Dumont was going to be there was v overwhelming. But I brought her some of her fave snacks and a necklace and raced over to her table. There were probably 8-10 people in front of me but the second I walked up she screamed and pointed at me (in full Lorna costume) and goes “YAS QUEEN ITS LORNA” and I got really really really excited about what was coming. She was also bothering Sean and kept sending him her own headshot.

She chatted with all of her fans and as I was getting closer she kept turning to me and chatting with me along with the others in line. When it was finally my turn she kept going on and on about how excited she was to see another Lorna (as she was in full costume) and was SO excited. We chatted for about 10 minutes about Polaris and why we both loved her so much and then she told me HELLA SEASON 2 SPOILERS THAT I PINKY PROMISED TO NEVER TELL SO I AM SORRY BUT WILL NOT SAY A WORD and then I gave her the present and she read the card first and started to cry she was so excited. She screamed when she opened all of her snacks. And then I gave her the necklace and she cried because she loved it so much which honestly amazed me. I was wearing mine too and so she took lots of pics of us in our necklaces. It was of Polaris, the north star, and she said it would always guide her. 

Then we took probably 100 pictures on both of our phones and they are all incredible. She kept hugging me and after about 20 minutes of holding up the line I left and I sat and cried for a good minute because wow she was the most kind person in the world. 

When I saw her later in the day for our photo ops she told the photographer that she was making a weird face so she wanted a second photo with me and then when she hugged me goodbye she told me to pick my fave which is honestly such a queen move. 

At the end of the day she posted a photo of the two of us captioned “I found Polaris” on her insta story and I cried. 

Once I got my shit together I went to Sean Teale, who plays Marcos. BOY OH BOY THIS MAN IS HANDSOME. He was so smooth and that is the only way I can describe him. While he was chatting with another fan I talked to his brother who was so funny and incredible. More about his brother later. So I greet Sean and he smiles and hugs me and loves that I am dressed as Lorna and jokes that if Emma sees me she’ll lose it so just be ready and I told him I was with her for 20ish minutes and he said yup that’s about right. So we chat and talk about season 2 and he kept ragging on his costars (mostly Blair). Then he stopped me mid-sentence and was like wow you have like “mutant colored eyes”. And I about fainted and he was like “omg I’m sorry I mean that as a compliment, it’s like you’re one of us” and I had to keep reassuring him that it was the best compliment he could have given me. Then we took our pic and he hugged me and he smells rly good and he kissed the top of my head and sent me on my merry way. 

Next was Blair Redford. I thought I was ready to meet one of the loves of my life. I was wrong. I have had the BIGGEST crush on him for forever. So walking up to his table was so intimidating. But this giant teddy bear was so warm and welcoming the nerves went away so fast. He told me I looked great as Lorna and again we chatted about The Gifted duh and we talked about his broken foot (which everyone had a different story for what happened. I think I am the only fan that knows the truth) and how he wants to be a writer for the show at some point. And then he stood up to take a pic (which he did not do for anyone else) and had me check it to make sure that I was happy with it before hugging me and I swear in that moment my crops were watered and my skin was cleared. 

Then I met Hayley Lovitt who plays Sage on The Gifted and The Wasp in Ant-Man. She kept telling me how nervous she was because it was her first con and didn’t really know how to act around fans. There weren’t too many people at her table and she was in the mood to talk so we stayed and had a grand time with her. We talked about loving milkshakes and the show and how hot Blair is and it was just a really positive experience. 

As we went to leave I saw that Élodie Yung’s line was empty which had not happened all day, so I seized the moment and ran in real quick. I got my money out to buy an autograph and she stopped her manager and was like no no I’ll just do it. So that was a queen move. And then we talked about Elektra and how she thinks they could bring her back again because hey why not. Her French accent is literally so mindblowing-ly beautiful I cannot get over it. I was just in awe of her the entire time we were talking. Then we got on the subject of how hot it was in the convention and I joked that I am really prone to fainting (which I am whoops) and she was like “No we can’t have that” so she had me sit with her and had her handler get me some water. So I sat with her and had my water and that is how my day one ended. Pretty wild. 

Day 2

I am going to tell this day in chronological order bc it is important.

I went back to Emma Dumont because of course I did and she literally yelled “GRACE OMG YOU’RE BACK HOW ARE YOU” while she was talking to other fans, and then explained to everyone in line that I dressed as Lorna and that we were best friends. So as I am waiting I am talking to her manager and Sean’s brother, who happens to be his manager. They were just really chill guys and you guys that is the BEST way to get perks when you are at these things. MAKE FRIENDS WITH MANAGERS. So it gets back to me and Emma is her regular chatty self. I told her how much I appreciated her posting the pic and that I am sad because she had all the best pics of us on her phone and she goes “Oh girl let me send them to you what’s your number?” and I told her and boom- my phone buzzes. Pics from an unknown number with an LA area code. Emma texted me off her own damn phone and now I have her number and I am waiting for the perfect moment to text her. I will keep you posted on that. We chat. She’s great. She tells me that I have to come back before the end of the day to say goodbye. 

I catch Sean Teale’s brother/manager and ask if it is cool if I just go up and say hi to Sean again without getting an autograph and he was like yeah of course. So I head back up and he goes “My favorite mutant eyes! How are you love?” and then KISSES MY CHEEK AND HUGS ME AND I LOST IT. I mean I was not ok at all. He asked me about my day and everything I did yesterday and he was just so genuine and I felt like he really cared about everything that I was saying. It was magical. 

Then I went to a panel with Élodie Yung and Mike Colter, aka Elektra and Luke Cage. We got to line up to ask questions and some how by some miracle I was first in line. Mike was on facetime with his daughter because she liked to see all of her dad’s fans and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. When they sent the questions over to the line Mike said “is the first question coming from Daisy Johnson?” and I wanted to die I was so excited. I got to ask a question and they gave really great answers. I’ll post the video on my insta! They talked about a lot of really great Defenders stuff and it was really awesome. 

Then we went to Lili Reinhart and Madelaine Petsch’s booths. I am going to start this by telling everyone I have not seen one minute of Riverdale. My friend that was with me loves the show so I went with her. They seemed pretty nice, but they did not stand for photos and everything felt very rushed. I did really like one of Madelaine’s people, who recognized that I was Daisy and talked to me about his time working at Marvel Comics. That was fun. Nothing negative to say about the girls but everything felt very strict and not as fun. Could be management, could be the fact that everything is a gentle amount of chaos. Who knows. 

It was about time for us to leave so it was time to say one last goodbye to my friends from The Gifted. When we hopped back into Emma Dumont’s mile-long line, Sean Teale’s brother/manager saw us and gave me a look, so I went to talk to him while my friend held my spot in line. I told him that I had a comic I wanted Emma to sign and that we had to leave soon because we had about 5 hours of driving to do to get home. We chatted for about 10 minutes, then I rejoined my friend in line. We waited for about 20 minutes and only about 5 people had made it through. There was no way we were going to be able to see Emma again, so we cut our loses and jumped over to Sean’s line, which had almost no one in it. His brother/manager asked what I was doing and I told him I couldn’t wait but he was like “but! you wanted that signed!!” And I was like yeah I just can’t wait and I am really bummed. 

So he goes “well here I’ll get it for you”. He walks over to Emma, who is about 5 feet away, stops her convo with a fan and goes “Hey can you sign this real quick for me?” and she kinda gave him a look because why does he need something signed? And then he pointed at me and she goes “OMG GRRRRACEEEEE ARE YOU LEAVING??” signs it, comes over and gives me a hug, tells me to be safe, and to keep in touch. I will be eternally grateful to this man. I gave him a hug and told him he is the best person on the planet because it is true. 

All this time I am in Sean’s line so it is my turn and we chat some and I showed him what I had Emma sign and he tells us to be safe, gives me a big hug and another head kiss and it was everything. 

We pop by Hayley’s table and give her a quick “hey” and a hug and she told us that she had just seen our posts on twitter about meeting her day one. She is the sweetest.

No one is in Blair’s line so I ask if it is okay to say goodbye. It is at this point that Sean’s brother and Emma’s manager come over to talk to Blair’s manager and she literally could not care less because she knows that I am in love with him so it is fine. I talked to Blair for about 25 minutes about script ideas and plot lines before I literally have to leave the convention so I give him a hug and it’s out the doors I go. 

IF YOU MANAGED TO READ ALL THAT WOW AND GOOD ON YOU BECAUSE THAT WAS SO MUCH. I HAD THE BEST TIME AND I HAVE SOME PHOTOS COMING SOON! 

[boxyladies]

I was SO excited when a representative from Beautycon Box reached out to me and asked if we wanted to review their box for our site. I couldn’t say yes fast enough! I have seen reviews of their boxes on other sites and was considering subscribing anyway so this worked out so well.

First of all, how cute is this box! When I got it out of my mailbox, the first thing I noticed is how heavy it was– I could not WAIT to rip it open and see what was inside. This post is going to be a little picture heavy because I want y’all to get the full Beautycon Box experience!

I thought this was really cute to include, especially for people who are newer to unboxing products. Lighting is so important! Whenever people come to my house, they always wonder why I have these giant, bulky photography lights in my guest bedroom. I don’t pretend to be a professional photographer (at all) but those lights really make all the difference in the world when photographing products!

Beautycon Box

Price: $29 (plus shipping) per quarter

Box Type: With your subscription, you’ll get a box full of amazing new beauty/lifestyle products 4x /year!

Why you’ll love it: You’ll receive $100+ in beauty and lifestyle products guaranteed to keep you on point all year. Beautycon specially curates the boxes with beauty and fashion products that the Beautycon editors love. You’ll also get special exclusive items designed by Beautycon!

How to sign up: Click here and use code BOXYWINTER for $5 off your next box! That brings the box down to $24, which is an amazing deal. This code is only good until March 1, so you’ll definitely want to use it ASAP!

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Each box is curated by a different influencer, and this box was curated by Dulce Candy. How cute is she with those buns? I’ve mentioned a few times recently that I am just now getting into YouTube beauty videos and I realize I’m approximately over a decade late to this game, but I am enjoying learning about new YouTubers to follow. Dulce Candy’s YouTube channel is super cute and you can check it out here. And if you want to hear her discuss this box, click here!

But since you’re probably here to check out what *I* have to say about the Beautycon box… read on. :)

As I mentioned before, I was giddy when I received this box in the mail because it was heavy. I was so excited to see what products they sent for me to play with! And let me tell you… I was NOT disappointed. I even called Matt into the room so he could see everything. As a side note, he is so good to me- he always acts super interested about all of this stuff. (He claims to be actually interested, which is even sweeter.) He is so supportive and wonderful. ANYWAY. This blog isn’t about him, but he was really excited for me when I was playing with all of these products!

And when I say lots of products… I MEAN. LOOK AT THEM ALL!!! I’ll discuss them all in detail below. Let’s get started because we clearly have a lot of products to get through. :)

Skinvolve Body Karate Cream ($40): This is one of my favorite discoveries from this box! The cream has a light rose scent, which I love. But who cares what it smells like if it doesn’t work, right? Well, of course it works! It’s enriched with Argan Oil, which helps keeps skin hydrated, which is obviously so important for me during the winter. Another ingredient in this lotion is caffeine, which is said to help stimulate and tone skin. I’m probably not going to use a lotion to physically firm and tone my skin but if that’s a happy side effect, I’m good with it. I really love using it before bed because of that soft rose scent. It just relaxes me and gets me ready for the next day.

Artist Couture Illuminati Diamond Glow Powder ($26.99): I had never heard of this product prior to receiving it in my box but then immediately afterwards, I saw it on several different YouTubers’ channels as a favorite highlight! And it’s seriously gorgeous. (Swatched below.) Loose powder pigments do kind of scare me a little bit because I feel like I just don’t have time for that- especially when I’m getting ready in my gym locker room. However, I saw Laura Lee (or maybe Stephanie Nicole?) use this highlighter on her face and then spray on a bit of MAC Fix+ and it just melted into the skin and looked so gorgeous. I have never tried MAC Fix+ but after a thousand YouTubers wore me down, I used some of my remaining Birchbox points and have some coming my way. I’m really excited to try this Diamond Glow powder with the MAC Fix+. I’m going to GLOW, y’all.

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Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer in Medium/Deep ($30): When I first looked at this product and showed it to Matt, I was like, “Oh, this is going to be way too dark for me, it’s Medium/Deep.” Then I opened it up and was like, “Oh. I can wear this… but this is NOT medium OR deep.” It’s a beautiful, light brown matte bronzer that I see myself reaching for when it comes to Spring/Summer. Hell, I’m likely going to reach for it prior to Spring just to warm up my face a little bit. I love this!

Swatches of the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer and Artist Couture Diamond Glow Powder

Garnier SkinActive Micellar Cleansing Water ($8.99): If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you know I’m not a super big fan of the micellar waters. I was at the Makeup Show Dallas a few years ago and a gal tried to sell me on micellar water (a different brand than this one) by drawing a line of eyeliner on my hand and then use the micellar water to remove it. But… the line sort of stayed on my hand. I was not sold. Haha. Since then, I’ve received several micellar waters from various brands and I’ve tried to use them to remove my makeup but I just don’t care for that method. HOWEVER. I absolutely LOVE micellar water for removing swatches while I’m blogging! So I’m definitely glad I have another bottle on-hand.

L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Lash Primer ($8.99) and L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Feline Mascara ($8.99): You know I am always down to try a new mascara but I’ve never really liked the white lash primers. BUT. I decided I would try it again to see if I might like it now. And the answer is… no. Since I got both of these L’Oreal products together, I thought I would layer the Lash Primer underneath the Voluminous Feline mascara and somehow, my lashes looked shorter and stubbier than when I’m not wearing mascara at all and the whole situation was basically just terrible. Because of this experience, I almost decided not to try the Voluminous Feline mascara on its own but on a Friday, I used it on a whim and WOW. I was SUPER impressed. That primer did the Voluminous Feline mascara a huge disservice because it is so amazing on its own!

Just check out my lashes in this picture. (Don’t mind the office lighting/cubicle pic.) Can you believe that mascara? I could not believe it. I kept on texting my friends this picture and telling them about this mascara because it is so bomb.

Here’s what the brush looks like on the mascara wand. Seriously, this stuff is amazing.

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment ($24): Ahhh, the gold standard of exfoliators, the ExfoliKate. Kate Somerville makes one of the OG best exfoliators. I remember back in the day, I used to use the St. Ives Apricot scrub and then read beauty editors tell me it was WAY too harsh and those big apricot seed chunks are basically tearing my skin. Those beauty editors ALWAYS said that we should instead be using an exfoliator like the ExfoliKate. It has tiny little granules that exfoliate to reveal bright, radiant-looking skin. And y’all- this stuff is “esspensive.” (Can you tell I’ve been watching a lot of KathleenLights?) The tube I received above is actually $24. That ain’t the full-size price. 2 ounces of this is actually $85. So if you ONLY bought this product, that is the price of this entire Beautycon box. What I’m saying is that you need the Beautycon box in your life.

Luxie Beauty Rose Gold Tapered Highlighting Brush 522 ($24): I love getting brushes in subscription boxes. You can really never have enough brushes, in my opinion. So when I saw this brush, I immediately started using it under Matt’s eyes because I just KNEW this would be perfect for an under-eye powder brush. It says it’s a highlighting brush but I have plenty of brushes I use for that, so I knew I’d be using it for powder.

Ignore the fact that my hair and makeup looks a little weird (I wasn’t feeling the best when I took this picture) but I wanted to show y’all how perfectly this fits under the eye area for dusting on powder.

Rimmel London The Only 1 Surprise Lipcolor in Call Me Crazy ($7.49): Now THIS is a red lipstick, y’all! This makes sense for a Winter box (hello, holidays and Valentine’s Day!), of course, I’m reviewing this box a bit later than that but I definitely think this is a perfect inclusion! The color is a true blue red and it’s just gorgeous. I haven’t worn this out in the real world yet but I have worn it around my house a little and I like it! I just get a little scared of super creamy dark lipstick shades because I’m afraid it’s just going to end up all over my face. I need to figure out an occasion to wear this out of the house!

ColourPop Lippie Stix in Beautycon (a Beautycon exclusive!) ($5): Y’all KNOW I love Colourpop. So I was thrilled to receive a special Beautycon exclusive color of their Lippie Stix in the Beautycon box! And it was in a caramel-y nude shade that I normally do not gravitate to, but I ended up really liking it. I’m actually wearing it in that picture above where I’m showing off my L’Oreal mascara. I mean, I know you probably couldn’t get past the excellence that was the mascara but I *am* wearing this on my lips!

Rimmel London in Call Me Crazy; Colourpop in Beautycon

Biobelle Botanic Fiber Facial Mask (4 for $29.95): And finally, what would a box be without a sheet mask? I received another mask by this brand in my January 2017 Allure Beauty Box and I *really* liked it so I’m excited to try another mask by Biobelle!

There were a few cards in the box – one advertising the new ANTM (which I am digging btw) and I almost threw out the other one but it turned out it was a gift card – $50 at ALI & JAY. (But you had to spend a certain dollar amount, so I don’t count those types of gift cards as part of the value of the box.)

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Final Grade: A+

The Beautycon box is one of the best deals I have come across in a REALLY long time. The cost is ONLY $29 but you can get $5 off with the code BOXYWINTER, which brings the cost down to just $24. And let me tell you, I just added everything up and the value of this box was almost $175. That is INSANE. You get so many amazing products that you NEED this box in your life! Treat yo’self, girl!

If you want to subscribe, click here and don’t forget to use code BOXYWINTER for $5 off your next box! But the code expires on March 1, so use it ASAP. Like maybe even right now. :)

  Press sample sent in exchange for an honest review; All opinions are my own Post contains affiliate links

Beautycon: Winter 2017 + $5 OFF DISCOUNT CODE! I was SO excited when a representative from Beautycon Box reached out to me and asked if we wanted to review their box for our site.