I'm pouting right now because Etsy is down for maintenance and I really want to list my new eye shadow duo, Hollywood Glamour. It's a combo of Ebony and Gold Dust and I'm absolutely loving it (I'm wearing it right now actually!)

So instead of wasting time I thought that I would go ahead and make a blog post about this awesome combo!

Featuring.... ME!

So today I was featured on another woman's blog for the first time and it was so exciting! (Check it out HERE)

Being interviews about my makeup really got me thinking about how little my viewers actually know about me. So, I feel that it is my duty to answer some important (and some silly) questions.

About Nicolette Jenkins
Well, I'm a 21 year old college student studying English Secondary Education in Iowa. I'm married to the coolest man in the world and we have a little one... well... what I mean is that we have a Chihuahua named P. Nut (yes, like Professor Nut... I blame my husband for the spelling). I love makeup and fashion and I'm especially obsessed with makeup.

Do you wear makeup everyday?
Definitely not. I'm a very natural girl and I don't use it when I'm not going somewhere that it seems appropriate. The mall? Yes. The Grocery Store? No. Mom's house? Nope. Fancy dinner parties? haha... like I get invited to those!

What is the coolest thing about what you do?
The coolest thing about making makeup is knowing that you are helping to boost someone else's confidence by enhancing their natural beauty! I also love knowing that I'm giving people a safe alternative to store bought cosmetics.

What is your biggest fear?
I'm the queen of phobias. I am afraid of crowds, the dark, failure, being alone, closets, under the bed, the basement, and a million other things. In other words, I'm a scardy  cat!

What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was little I wanted more than anything to be a marine biologist. The irony? I'm afraid of aquariums. I always worry that there is going to be a dead fish in them. Yeah, I told you I was crazy!

Goals?
My goal for my shop is to be able to sell a complete line of products. I want people to be able to find everything that they need for their makeup routine in my shop. Foundation, blush, bronzer, finishing powder, eye shadow, lippies, you name it!

Fun Fact
When I'm bored I like to balance a pencil between my nose and top lip and sing "row, row, row your boat" until it falls down!

 All finished with the patriotic look for the fourth of July! I'm totally wearing this next month. Anyone else?

The fourth of July is coming up so fast!

As everyone knows, Independence Day is just around the corner. I just realized it to day and my heart started going crazy because I realized that I didn't have anything in my shop to accommodate the glorious holiday! So this morning I went to work creating my first ever truly red eye shadow, Candy Apple!

I know that it doesn't look like it in the container, but this shadow is completely red when it goes on! I think that I'm going to pair it up with Sapphire and make a little duo pack to sell. I'm absolutely loving this and I think that crazy red, white, and blue eye makeup is going to be as trendy this year as it was last 4th of July!

I'm officially a workaholic...

So, the only negative about doing what you love is that it's easy to go overboard. I'm supposed to be heading to the library with my cousin right now and I'm seriously struggling to tear myself away from my work. AHHHH!

Hey pretties! So I thought that, since my first post was a bit of a rant that I should introduce myself a little more officially. My name is Nicolette Jenkins and I am the owner of "DesertOfRoses" on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shops/DesertOfRoses) I sell mineral makeup that is all natural, totally vegan friendly, and all mixed and designed by yours truly. I am absolutely obsessed with makeup and all natural products and that's why I started my business. I want others to enjoy the great feeling you get from looking gorgeous without worrying about what you are putting on your skin. Currently, I only sell eye shadow. I'm working on creating some foundations, blushes, bronzers, and finishing powders, but I want to make sure that my formula is perfect before I begin selling.

When everything isn't going your way...

So I just had a lovely experience. I'll start by saying that there is absolutely no way to get good natural lighting in my house. They only thing to do is to go out onto the porch to photograph. As you can imagine photographing loose powder mineral makeup outside can be a bit of a hassle. Well today I was trying to photograph a new color, winter plum. and I went outside hoping for a quick shoot. After setting up I turned on the camera and realized that I didn't have a memory card. I RAN into the house to get one and luckily I came back and everything was still intact. I got the camera up and running properly, focused in on the makeup, the shutter closed, and when it opened again something had happened... EVERYTHING was gone! lol
Apparently at the exact moment that I took the picture of my one and only container of Winter Plum eye shadow the wind picked up and threw it onto my father-in-laws white, cloth covered chair. Purple eye shadow on a white chair... lovely. By some grace of God I managed to capture exactly ONE photograph of winter plum. And it isn't half bad. Not my best work... but not bad.

So, here's the question. When you have something go horribly horribly wrong in life, what do you do to carry on? I chose to put a smile on my face, laugh it off, and share it with you. What do you do?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101689713/eco-friendly-matte-purple-mineral-eye
(This is the culprit! ^^^ Not a bad photo though! If you want to make this photo worth while please stop by my shop and purchase a jar!)