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All special effect contacts are soft contact lenses. This means that, with proper care and cleaning, you will hardly notice there is anything in your eyes. Most people can wear costume contact lenses without any problems.

What types of special effect contact lenses are on offer?

Theatrical lenses come in hundreds of exciting designs. You can get cat’s eye contacts, red or black spirals, wolf eyes, bloodshot eyes, vampire, white-out, black-out or even an American flag design. The most popular and trustworthy brands of special effect contact lenses are Crazy Lenses from Cooper Vision and Wild Eyes from Ciba Vision.

See photos of people wearing costume special effect contact lenses at http://www.1-contact-lenses-consumer-guide.com/halloween-contacts.html

As all color contact lenses, costume lenses can be produced digitally (printed by a computer) or hand-painted. As you would expect, the price of hand-painted contacts is much higher than mass produced, digital ones - usually upwards from $150. Hand-painted lenses are the most beautiful, and every detail is very clear.

However, don’t assume that mass produced lenses are no good. They make an excellent addition to your costume for a Halloween party, or just for a fun night out at a club. On the other hand, if you plan to shoot a home movie, where your face will be seen large and clear, a pair of more expensive, hand-painted theatrical lenses would be better.

You can also order custom special effect lenses - an artist will paint any design you like. Naturally, though, custom theatrical lenses are the most expensive.

What effect would you like - just to change the color portion of your eye to something exotic, or to cover the whites of your eyes as well and make them look completely inhuman?

Most theatrical contact lenses only cover your iris, this way you can get an effect of cat eyes, wolf eyes, red-hot eyes or spirals. But there’s another type of costume contact called scleral lenses. As the name suggests, this lens covers your entire sclera (the visible portion of your eye, including the white). Scleral lenses are more flexible in design, because they are not restricted by the circular shape of the lens and whites around. The effects that you have seen in Predator or Dune are achieved with scleral lenses.

However, scleral costume lenses are harder to manufacture, so they are always more expensive than the circular ones - but the effect is well worth it.

Can I wear costume contacts if I need vision correction?

The most popular brands, like Wild Eyes and Crazy lenses, come with or without visual correction. Crazy lenses also come in the most common size - diameter 14.2 and base curve 8.6. This means that they would suit the majority of people.

Most other costume contacts can be only be ordered in plano. However some companies, allow you to specify your prescription, especially when the lenses are custom made.

Make your costume really stand out with a pair of scary theatrical lenses. You will have great fun and be the center of everybody’s attention.]]>

There are several brands of sun glasses that stand out as dependable, fashionable, and with great protection. One of these brands is Oakley Sun Glasses. Oakley sun glasses are offered in many styles. There are models to enable sportsman the best comfort while staying in place even in the harshest extremes as when skiing or running. They also offer sun glasses for different face shapes to create a fashionable look for the consumer.

Sun glasses are widely available. They are available in department stores, malls, even in sun glass hut at the mall, which is a sun glass specialty store offering a wide range of choices to the consumer. Sun glasses are also available on their manufactures websites as well. Also, you can find discount or wholesale sun glasses all over the internet. To find the best sun glasses for you and your face, the best way is to just try some on! Make it fun and find sunglasses that will protect your eyes from the sun and the sun’s glare. Sun glasses should be fun and be able to offer the user protection as well as style.]]>

As I looked at the gift basket, I noticed it was filled with European chocolates. I briefly thought that was an odd choice and was going to look at who sent it when my newborn awoke and let me know it was time for the bottle. After feeding her and putting her back to sleep, I had a bit of a sweet tooth so I decided to open the gift basket and have a chocolate. It was delicious. One chocolate turned to two and two quickly turned to four and before I knew it, I had eaten almost half the basket. This was no small feat as there were a lot of chocolates. I guess I wasn’t quite ready to give up the eating habits I had before the baby was born. As I was enjoying the chocolates, my husband came home and I mentioned that whoever in his family that sent the gift basket really knew what they were doing.

I thought it a bit odd at first (expecting a baby gift basket, if anything) but once I bit into the first chocolate, I knew that whoever had sent this realized just how much I needed a quality chocolate break from the stress of all that comes with having your first baby. This made me remember that I forgot to check the card, so I asked my husband to look since he was up. As it turns out, this gift basket I had halfway devoured was intended for our next door neighbor. It was delivered to us by accident. Here I am, relaxing on the couch with a chocolate in my hand when my husband breaks the news to me. With my chocolate filled mouth wide open, I looked at him so seriously as if to say, “What are we going to do?” He started laughing, which made me start laughing as I now saw the humor in the situation. We ordered a new basket to be delivered the next day for our neighbor and also went by to explain what had happened.

We all had a good laugh over it and I was relieved since I had never formally met our neighbor and didn’t know what to expect. I’m actually quite glad that this happened. I got to meet our neighbor and learned a valuable lesson about checking the card before you open the gift. I also know what I will send my friends and family after they welcome a new addition. I’m sending chocolate.]]>

1)Animals are nice to look at.

Who can ever get tired of watching birds fly or kittens play? Because animals are fun to look at in nature, jewelers use them in their work. People often go to nature for inspiration and then use it in their creations. Animals have a simple elegance to them that is always complementary to a nice outfit.

2)Animal designs don’t go out of style.

Fads and trends are just that; they are here today and gone soon after. Animal designs seem to withstand all of that because they don’t change. Over the course of human existence, animals have remained in about the same state as they were when we first saw them. Polka-dots, loops, zigzags, and starburst bracelets all go out of style at some point. Animals have a degree of permanency that allows for constant design inspiration.

3)The animal depicted in the jewelry represents the person wearing it.

My mother has a leopard lapel that she got from her mother as a birthday present. She and her family come from South Africa, so the leopard lapel reflects great significance to her roots. My mother likes to wear it on special occasions, to church, and just for fun because it reminds her of home.

Other people wear certain animal jewelry because it is a representation of them. Someone who wears a lot of dolphin jewelry might have an affinity for the ocean, freedom, playfulness, and intelligence. Someone else might like elephant jewelry because they are bold, strong, and majestic. Overall, animal jewelry can be a symbolic
interpretation of the individual and an appealing display for others to observe.]]>

Applying Make-up

Knowing what is just right for you is the key to applying make-up. You have to take so many aspects into consideration… your age, your skin tone, type and texture, your facial features, the clothes you will be wearing, your plus and minus points. The best thing about today is that you can play around with colors, and cosmetics to achieve the look that suits you best.

Step by Step Make-Up

Foundation: Choose your foundation according to your skin type. Learn how to apply perfect foundation here at http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/foundation.htm

Eye-Brows: Rightly shaped eyebrows are a must! Eyebrows shape the whole makeup.If you wish to define the eyebrows, use light feathery strokes of your eyebrow pencil. At http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/eyebrow-threading.htm , find how to get a perfect eyebrows!

Eyeshadow: This is the most important part of your eye-makeup, because it can help to recontour the eyes and emphasis to them. Learn tips on applying eyeshadows at http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/applying-eyeshadow.htm .

Eyeliner: After applying eyeshadow your next step is to apply a eyeliner. For learning how to apply eyeliner, refer http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/applying-eyeliner.htm . For wide set eyes, emphasize the inner corners of the eyes. For close set eyes, emphasize the outer corners, keeping the inner corners highlighted.

For a complete guide on eye-makeup and learning the makeup tricks ( http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/makeup-tricks.htm ) and makeup tips ( http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/free-makeup-tips.htm ), look here at http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com]]>

Still on the topic of jeans… remember when all we had to choose from was either a pair of Levis, Lee or Wrangler’s? And all you had in your wardrobe was a choice of black stone wash and blue stone wash?

I remember this quite vividly. There was no such thing as ‘engineered denim’ in the early 90’s when I was a teenager. Yet in the pursuit of being cool, I had to conjure up my own version of ‘engineering’. I got my worn in look by way of scraping my ass up and down the cement footpath out the front of my house (I lived on a main road by the way). Later my mother told me that it would have been a hell of a lot easier to take off the said pair of jeans and rub them against a rough stone. Thanks for the advice mum, but too late. If only my nickname ‘ass scraper’ wore out as fast as my jeans did…

Then something revolutionary happened in the mid nineties (that saved my ass, so to speak). Levis decided that we didn’t have to wait years and years to wear in our favourite pair of jeans, ‘cause America’s convicted criminals could do all the hard work for us! Yep, all those second hand Levis being sold in boutiques actually came from America’s prisons. Imagine the satisfaction for the prisoner, knowing that some good came out of their existence? As long as they served their full sentence, of course (jeans just didn’t achieve an optimum level of worn in-ness if prisoners got out early on parole). So my pre-worn Levis alla ‘break and enterer’ became the ‘hottest’ thing in my wardrobe (just kidding, I paid for them). Really, how could I have been so narrow minded as to think crime didn’t pay?

Moving into the new millennium, jean manufactures suddenly realised that it was wrong to allow such an obvious exploitation of America’s prisoners. Especially when the Chinese could do it for a whole lot less, and quicker too! Engineered denim was born. All of sudden, we didn’t have to wait years for our jeans to hit the perfect level of worn in-ness, because we could buy a brand new pair of ‘pseudo old’ that looked like, well, a bad pair of new jeans. Like anything in its infancy, there is always something NQR (Not Quite Right) about it. Kinda like when CGI special effects first started to appear in film. Much to the rile of everyone around me, I just couldn’t help the comment “Aw that looks so fake!” every time a dinosaur ripped apart a person, or when a ship collided with an iceberg in the middle of the Antarctic. It was just a natural reaction to something that looked completely unnatural when trying to appear natural (also my natural reaction when I see a man with hair plugs, or a woman with a bad boob job. But that’s another blog entry all together). And while I didn’t go around pointing at people wearing badly engineered jeans on the street (only because I too was a serious offender), I did wonder when the edges of pockets were going to be grinded evenly, rather then looking like they had been attacked by cat claws.

Today however, while we are finally perfecting pocket grinding, crotch whisker marks, and thigh and ass sand blasting, isn’t this all merely an improvement on the fake worn-in look? I mean, I have a pair of jeans that I bought almost four years ago in dark indigo denim with only a basic enzyme wash. Over the years of wearing, there has not been even the slightest beginnings of fraying along any pocket; the whisker mark around the crotch goes straight across the thigh, (not splayed out in all kinds of unsightly directions drawing attention to my bathing suit area); and my ass does not look likes it’s been dragged over coloured sand! Perhaps we have forgotten what a real pair of worn in jeans looks like?

In saying this, I’m certainly not against engineered denim. It’s interesting and it’s getting better. And while the ‘new pseudo old’ look has now become my daily bread, the ‘engineered’ price tag that comes with the jeans is nauseating. ‘Authentic’ looking old jeans will set you back around $350 (AUD) these days. Common! For me to even want to pay that kind of money, I’m hoping some Chinese worker is scraping their ass up and down the factory room floor for me.]]>

Millions of people are using gas permeable rigid contact lenses, extended wear, soft-lens, bifocal vision, a whole rainbow of color contacts, no-fuss disposables, and lenses that protect from UV rays. If eyeglasses are more your style, you have never had a bigger selection than what is on the market today. Make a bold statement with colors of eyeglass frames or let the frames blend into your face. I have four different colors of eyeglasses and I plan on buying more. If all of these options become tiresome, you might choose the LASIK surgery where your eye should become less dependent on glasses and you will have the convenience of not wearing anything on your face unless you want to. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up in the morning and be able to see everything clearly without putting on glasses?

Color cares for the eyes
Color contacts are fun and you can present a different personality to the world. Did you always want to be a blond with blue eyes - how about a red head with green eyes? Now you can because of the many choices available. Designer eyeglasses are in vogue so why not buy different eyeglass frames and treat them as jewelry, watches or other accessories that match your clothing? You might be looking for a fabulous pair of reading glasses to bring out in a restaurant. There are even styles of lorgnettes that you can stylishly wear around you neck, and use them as a magnifying glass when the need arose. If you have woodworking or remodeling projects to do at home, don’t forget about safety glasses. They are also more fashionable, comfortable and functional than ever before. It doesn’t matter if it is for fashion, fun or function; take the time to properly care for your eyes.]]>

So what was it that changed my mind? I believe the answer lies in the hands of, well, a handful of people called ‘Trend Analysts’ AKA The Fashion Police. Their job: to serve and protect the commercial interests of fashion companies across the globe. How? By dissecting the public’s psychology of what will be the next trend will be by way of extensive travel and shopping expeditions (those bastards). These ‘trend analysts’ then report back to analysis companies, who then go on to consolidate their findings in industry magazines and websites for the use of fashion companies.

I’d like to say that fashion companies use analysis companies because they’re lazy, but it’s certainly not the case. They’re just scared to make a mistake (can you imagine manufacturing 1000 pairs of high waisted skinny leg jeans only to find that everyone was going for low rise bootleg? Ebay auctioning them is NOT a solution here). There are also unbelievable time constraints between the seasons. So most designers design their range around what they are fed, and if they’re lucky they get to travel around Europe and Japan to buy garments to ‘take inspiration from’. This is why we get a slight variation of the trend theme every season; all our designers are shopping in the same store in London! If you want to see something really interesting, just observe the women with suitcases in major department stores buying size ten (when they are size 12) at the start of every season. Ask them what they do for a living.

Can you see we are at the hands of a conspiracy!? We need to take action. I urge you to burn your pleather Fendi bags! Let’s make up our own trends! I myself am going to knit and extended version of the merkin (If you don’t know what one is, I advise you Google it because I’m certainly not about to explain). Yep, it’s going to be a toasty winter for me rugged up in my black merkin cardigan…

Which brings me back to my original thought at the beginning of this piece (merkins also have the power to bring people back to what they were originally thinking). What was it that made me buy those pointy toe high heels I now so dearly cherish? I believe it comes down to one word: agreement. Agreement by trend analysts, agreement by industry magazines, agreement by designers, agreement in fashion magazines, agreement throughout the stores, and finally, agreement by you. Agreement creates our fashion reality. Not always bad, but within the safety of agreement comes a lack of innovation. And that’s why we need those quirky fashion revolutionaries; so we can steel their ideas, manufacture them times a million, and sell the homogenized version back to you. Back to square one. We again enter into a state of agreement. Weird world we’re living in ain’t it? Now where did I put my knitting needles and my merkin ‘wool’ supply..?]]>

Both have a history steeped in beautiful hand blown glass as well as molded and cut glass.

By 1918 glass was no longer limited to functional items. Czechoslovakian glass began to make its appearance in dazzling and brilliant jewelry. This Czech glass became known as rhinestones.

Rhinestones were manmade gems from highly refined glass. By using various metals the glass was colored to the desired shade. It was then pressed into molds. Each stone was then ground and polished by machine, resulting in a brilliant glass stone. Often the stones were foiled on the back which increased their brilliance.

Today, the same refining process is still used. You will often here rhinestones referred to as paste. Originally paste was referred to a glass stone that made of ground glass which was molded and then melted, producing an opaque dense glass frosted stone.

Paste had many air bubbles and swirl marks. The high lead content glass was then polished and faceted, and set on either copper or silver resulting in a brilliant stone. Today the term paste usually refers to rhinestones.

In Europe rhinestones are often referred to as paste, strass, and diamante.

Austria is another area with a history in rhinestone production.

In 1891 Daniel Swarovski created a new glass cutting machine which quite literally revolutionized the jewelry business. This machine could cut faceted glass, producing finely finished product in a very short time. Prior to this invention it would take a very long time for each stone to be hand cut and finished.

Swarovski’s background in glass making, combined with his glass cutting machine soon found him producing rhinestones with a lead content of over 30%. The brilliance of these rhinestones was superior to anything seen on the market.

Swarovski wasn’t content with his invention and the best rhinestones ever seen. His next invention was once again transforming to the jewelry industry. He created a vacuum plating for the backs of the stones with silver and gold, reducing the need for hand labor.

Still today Swarovski rhinestones are recognized as the highest quality in the industry. Over 80% of rhinestone jewelry manufactured in America use Swarovski rhinestones.

Rhinestones have played an important role in costume jewelry for hundreds of years. It is used to enhance and accent, and sometimes rhinestones will provide the entire design.

During the Victorian period common motifs for jewelry included snakes, flowers, and hands most often adorned with rhinestones.

The 1890s were a time for extravagant jewelry heavily adorned with rhinestones. As time moved forward designs became simpler with figural shapes once again making their fashion statement. However this time they were small and more elegant with small rhinestone accents.

During the Edwardian period extravagance had made a comeback with diamonds and pearls being the focal point. Once again rhinestones were in heavy use, often used to imitate the real thing.

During the 1920s fashions were rapidly changing. Dresses had gone from fitted to a looser more comfortable style. Two distinct styles occurred during this era – the feminine style and the androgynous style.

Jewelry from the 1920s drew on the art deco period. The majority of rhinestone jewelry was made with clear rhinestones.

As the 1920s moved jewelry once again became bolder. Dramatic color was in style. Designer Coco Chanel was an integral figure in the setting the stage for jewelry of this era.

During the 1930s during the depression labor intensive fashion was no longer feasible. While the world was in turmoil, jewelry represented an affordable comfort to many women.

Inexpensive costume jewelry could be used to revitalize an old outfit. The industry began to produce bright colored enamel pieces accented with rhinestones. Dogs, birds, or cats with a rhinestone eye were common place.

The jewelry during the 1940s once again became big and bold with rhinestones being produced in every imaginable color, large stones set on large bold settings was the norm.

By the 1950s there were two very distinct looks – elegant and sophisticated for the more mature woman, and casual and fun for the younger woman.

The 1950s saw jewelry made completely from rhinestones. For the younger woman were flirty pieces, for the older woman sophisticated elegance. Rhinestone parures became extremely popular.

In 1953 the aurora borealis rhinestone was introduced to the market with its fabulous array of color. It was an instant hit!

By 1960s women were wearing very functional clothing.

By the late 1960s the hippie fashions were extremely popular with their roots tied to Mother Nature. Tie dyed shirts, long flowing skirts, frayed jeans were everywhere. This generation had no interest in rhinestone jewelry.

By the mid 1970s the punk look had been born and the rhinestone was revitalized. It was the disco movement brought the rhinestone back to center stage.

The disco movement turned into the club movement during the 1980s and rhinestone jewelry continued to gain popularity.

Since the 1970s rhinestone have remained main stream in the jewelry world. T

hey continue to gain popularity and today there is a style to suit almost every ones needs. There is rhinestone jewelry which is perfect for a bride, rhinestone jewelry for a prom girl, rhinestone jewelry for the young and fun crowd, the business woman, the sophisticated woman, and the mature woman.

Beautiful pieces of rhinestone jewelry adorn almost every woman’s accessories.

If trends are an indication of the rhinestones future, it appears to have a vibrant healthy life ahead of it.

Pleasing for most woman with a fashion sense who instantly recognize the value and beauty of rhinestones!]]>

In recent years, there were films such as Lord of the Rings that relied heavily on special effects and the already great fan base that the novels generated. Crash was an independent film that almost made it to the classics category, but the lewd essence and “rough around the edges” quality of the filmmaking cut its chances in half.

Quentin Tarantino wasn’t able to duplicate his masterpiece tour-de-force Pulp Fiction with his following tries. Jackie Brown was too talky and it lost its audience’s attention after the first 10 minutes and Kill Bill was the exact opposite and could never be taken as a serious cinematic work.

Sixth Sense was an innovation in the world of cinema but it didn’t have enough solidity through out its whole body to complement the great conclusion. The Usual Suspects had the same situation by having a powerful ending but nothing so impressive leading up to it.

How about all those comic book adaptations? It seems like filmmakers these days make films to make money and there is really no drive toward creativity and taking risks. One of the films that was recently nominated for the Oscars was Lost in Translation - which although so small managed to stand on its own too feet. It was a breeze of fresh air and it didn’t feel like two hours; it felt like a casual and satisfying conversation with a person across the dinner table.

Machiavelli Hangman achieved that magic even though it was also swimming in the same low-budget waters as Lost in Translation. When there is so much at stake, there seems to be an awkward sense of restriction placed on how far the film can take you. The high budget and production values place that limitation on risk and spontaneity and it doesn’t leave the story any room for breathing.

Napoleon Dynamite was made just like Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com), on a thread-thin budget but it felt real and that’s the reason for its tremendous success. The irony is that no matter how many of these “real” movies prove successful at the box-office, studios continue to make motion pictures that depend mainly on special effects and visuals.

Learn from the amateurs. Focus on story.]]>