FashionistA Fashion Secret Gel Liners

If I see a new brand in Superdrug, I have to get something from them. It’s like a compulsion. Last week I saw FashionistA had arrived in my local store – they have a customisable palette system with seemingly a good range of blushes, which excites me (all sold out though! Waah!) but I also was drawn to these liners:

How weird is that packaging for a gel liner? Very strange indeed! I’m not sure the shape is so great – they’re very deep which I can see causing issues with messy brushes once you’ve used a good amount of the product. The cap screws off to reveal the liner and has a brush in the handle. The brush I’m not 100% sold on – it’s nice for smudging and applying over a large area but it’s not *quite* stiff enough for a good cat eye. Not bad for on the go touch-ups though, and if it’s too short for you, you can flip it over and stick it in the cap which is nice and gives you a bit more control.

Anyway, let’s see the product!

Style (top) is a black with lots of green and blue sparkles. Dressed Down Cool (bottom) is a brown with lots of pink sparkles. Both are so pretty! I did swatch Dressed Down Cool a little thicker than Style but they’re pretty equal in pigmentation and texture.

‘Style’ on the top lashline and smudged under the bottom lashline.

‘Style’ as a base all over the lid (under Sugarpill Lumi.).

‘’ on the upper lashlines and smudged underneath in both photos.  If you enlarge that last one you can really see the pink sparkles.

When I first swatched these, I immediately thought they were cream shadows – very creamy for a ‘gel’ liner, and they took a while to set compared to other gels. When I wore Style on the lid alone, it creased really quickly, so these certainly need a primer if you want to wear it as an eyeshadow base. With a primer, however, they last all day with no creasing at all, so these could easily be a contender for NYX Jumbo Pencils for me! Bring out a white please, FashionistA!  I did find that you need to be a bit on the careful side when creating a wing with these as they don’t dry very fast, but on the plus side that means they’re nice for smudging as you don’t have to be super quick. So swings and roundabouts for application – if you have really heavy lids and find colour transfers onto your upper lid, I’d go careful with these,

Sadly the names of all the liners are on the safety label which covers the lid, so take note of them if you’re a forgetful so and so like me, as the names aren’t on the Superdrug website yet either!

Speaking of Superdrug, I went and swatched a few others in the shop! Cheeky! The gold and black look lovely, but sadly the purples and teals aren’t as pigmented  or opaque as I would have liked for a gel liner. Still decent enough as a cream shadow or a base though, I suppose, but still.

So yes, a few oddities, especially with the packaging, but at £6 each I think I’ll be back for a few more! The black and gold are on my list.

LOTD, OOTD: Cheap and cheerful

I wore this outfit on Sunday and thought it was really cute, so snapped a few quick pics before I went to a shoot for the day. It was only as I was on the train later on that I realised my most expensive item was my lipstick!

 

Skirt: Primark, £8
Tights (leopard print back seam): Primark, £2.50
Pumps: Primark, £6 (don’t do it, kids!)
Jumper: Primark, £5
Belt: New Look, present from ages ago
Gypsy top: eBay, £4.50
Bunny earrings: Claires, £1 on sale

 

Good old Primarni! I’m such a tight ass. But my bag was designer?!

 

(Make it biggerer to see the bunny earrings!)

Eyes: Wet n Wild Nutty, Sleek Bohemian palette.
Cheeks: Darling Girl Fuji
Lips: MAC Such Flare!

My face is pretty purse friendly as well. Do you guys spend more money on clothes or on makeup?

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Daisy Duck!

Old school Disney this week. I’ve got the sluttiest duck in the land, Daisy, and I gave Vijaya Goofy to do.

 

 

Eyes: Lid, MAC Gesso. Crease, pink from Sleek Circus. Lower lashline. MUA pencil in Lovely Lilac. Highlight, lilac from MUA Pretty Pastels palette. Waterline, NYX JEP in Milk. Liner, Inglot matte gel liner with orange from Sleek Circus pressed over the top.
Cheeks: Stila Custom Color blush
Lips: Inglot Slim gel lipstick in 65, Hard Candy Glossaholic in Lush.

Most pictures show Daisy wearing some combination of pink and purple, so that’s what I went with, and I thought it would be fun to use her beak colour as a liner. I found this week really challenging, actually, and can’t quite work out whether I think it’s odd looking or cool. Maybe it’s the yellow liner and I should have done double black/yellow.

Hope you likey! Don’t forget to stop by and check out Vijaya’s Goofy!

Swatches, review and LOTD: Sleek ‘The Berry Collection’

The Berry Collection is Sleeks Christmas Offering this year. While I’m always excited for a new Sleek blush (they’re fantastic, bright and dead cheap) I will admit that I was initially upset at the lack of a brand new, sparkly palette for Christmas, especially as last years Sparkle palette was so pretty.  While I wouldn’t say I followed seasonal trends at all, I’m a sparkle fiend so Christmas is a good time for me). At a glance, this makes no sense whatsoever as a Christmas collection – the kit contains a reddish brown blush, a deep wine matte lipstick and an almost identical colour kohl pencil. Red eyeliner? Matte stuff, at Christmas? Colours most paler skin tones would run a mile at? But that *is* just at a glance.

 

From left to right: Eye Kohl in Mossberry, smudged, and Eye Kohl in Mossberry applied heavily. True Colour matte lipstick in Cranberry. Blush in Fenberry blended out and applied heavily. I have no idea what a fen or mossberry is.

The packaging is Sleeks standard, er, sleek matte black affair. The last few limited edition collection have had fancy images on the packaging – these just have simple red foil writing (apart from the lipstick) which I think is jolly nice.

True Colour Lipstick in Cranberry, in unnatural and natural light.

Eye Kohl Pencil in Mossberry.

FOTD with the whole set! Really liking the blush on.

You know what? Props to Sleek for flying in the face of sparkly, spangly glossy Christmas tradition, because this set is epic, and I’ll tell thee for why. One, I *love* monochromatic looks. Love, love, love.  Two, it’s actually a fabulous colour palette for a winter collection. The only thing that is a little negative – and to be honest it’s more of a worry for them than me – is that the reddish eye pencil will almost certainly put a lot people off, and that I wish the kohl was a tad softer.

The whole kit costs £9.99 from Superdrug, saving you a few squid on the individual items. Overall, I love this set from Sleek and I really love that they broke the mould with this Christmas collection!

 

What do you think of ‘seasonal’ makeup? Do you change your colour palette when it gets warmer/colder?

Bargain alert: L.A. Colors Lip Liners

I struggle with buying lip liners. I don’t know if it’s just where I live, but there never seem to be many available and the ones that are can be a bit hit-and-miss. For example, some Barry M ones are amazing, and some are absolute duffers. A couple of months ago I came across these L.A Colors ones in Beauty Base for the measly sum of 99p so I grabbed a few to try. I wasn’t expecting much when I went to swatch them as I’m not a fan of the eyeshadows (although the polishes are well worth checking out at 99p each as well! I’ll do a post on them soon if people would like) but I was very pleasantly surprised!

‘Smooth Plum.’

‘Cappuccino.’

‘Sable.’

‘Forever Red.’

‘Auburn.’

Okay… so Cappuccino is a rank colour and I should have left that one in the shop. But how gorgeous are Smooth Plum and Forever Red? Well worth 99p at any rate!

These have a nice balance between being soft enough that they easily transfer and hard enough to actually get a decent line on the lips. Like most liners, they are dry, but on the plus side they’re very pigmented so at least you don’t have to layer them on unlike some cheap lip liners I’ve tried (*cough* Natural Collection *cough*) and they do the job under lipsticks just as well as any other liner I’ve tried.

Sadly the stands in Beauty Base get raided pretty fast, so I’ve not been able to grab the shades I’m after from the website – they have a black which I’d love to try.  All in all though, these are a total bargain!

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Dr Drakken!

Vijaya gave me Dr Drakken from Kim Possible this week. I have to admit, it’s not a show I’ve ever watched! I know, a Disney character I don’t know! Shocker. Anyway, I spent this morning watching clips on You Tube and this shiz is hilarious. From what I can gather, Dr Drakken is a pretty shitty villain and hasn’t managed to take over the world yet.

Eyes: Lid, outer V and lower lashline, all Wet n Wild ‘Blue Had Me at Hello’ palette. Crease and highlight, Sleek Bohemian.
Cheeks: Inglot Cream Blush in 81 to contour, Accessorize baked blusher in Pretty Pink.
Lips: MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2.

Hmmm. I quite like the result, but it’s not really what I was going for. I probably should have made it all matte, and had a stronger blue on the lid, but the colours are kind of muted still, which is what I wanted. I still don’t think I can get away with nude lips, though. I think everything just looks jizzy on me. Maybe I’ll try it with a really obnoxiously dark eye, but I think that’s a touch more Jodie Marsh than I want to wear out of the house. Ah, well.

 

I stuck to the T.V show thing and gave Vijaya from Perry Phineas and Ferb, mainly because he’s a platypus, so go check it out!

Pastel Lips

A while ago, the Sleek pout paints came out. I was pretty intruiged as to what I’d use the white one, Cloud 9 for – I imagined I’d use it for lightening other lip colours, but I haven’t actually reached for it that often. Anyway, I finally found a use for it and I feel pretty stupid that I didn’t come up with it before! Mix it with loose pigments to get pastel pretties:

With Fyrinnae Danse Macabre.

With Barry M Oyster Grey.

With Morgana Cryptoria Oogling Ogre.

With Barry M Orange.

With Inaz Cosmetics Power.

I think I still need to play with it some more to get the consistency and opacity nice, but whatever. Pretty!

Mixed up anything fun lately?

Sugarpill Chromalust swatches, looks and review

Recently I got my first ever Sugarpill eyeshadows! I’d been wanting to try them for some time but the jars are enormous! While I don’t think $12 for that much eyeshadow is expensive, I’d just never use them and it would be a massive waste. So when a Facebook group I’m a member of did a group buy where you split the shadows into 1/4 jars, I grabbed a few to try. How could I not?!

 

 

L-R: Lumi, Darling, Tiara, Goldilux, Tipsy, Decora, Royal Sugar

 

 

Decora on the lid, with Tipsy in the crease and on the lower lashline, Lumi as an inner corner highlight. I’m wearing Decora over Pixie Epoxy and it foiled and looked much more metallic than I was expecting. Tipsy is used over P.E on the lower lashline but over nothing but UDPP on the crease – it blends out pretty nicely without losing all of it’s sparkle.

 

Lumi all over the lid. While Lumi is the sheerest of these shades and probably made to be a highlight/layering colour, it’s still gorgeous enough to be the main event on the eye. I really like this one and if I ever purchased a full jar, this would be it.

 

 

Goldilux all over the lid. This shit looks like liquid gold. It’s amazeballs. I did find it to have a lot of fallout – it’s a *very* fine shadow and a sticky base is an absolute must – but it’s super cool! It’s… it’s just SO gold.

 

Darling all over the lid with Tipsy in the inner corner. Darling is a really beautiful colour! Again it’s a very fine shadow, and I did find it stained my lids a little.  I’ve worn it alone on the lid a few times since I’ve got it because I *love* how it looks with my hair colour. Super pretty.

 

Tiara all over the lid with Royal Sugar in the crease and on the lashlines. Tiara is much more sparkly than this in real life, and although it doesn’t have that oomph that Goldilux has – it’s not as bright - it’s very pretty. I was expecting tons of fallout with this one but it was actually fine.

Royal Sugar all over the lid. (This later turned into this). I’d heard a lot of negative things about how hard Royal Sugar is to work with –  that’s it’s patchy and the fallout is awful – but I didn’t have a problem with it. It worked fine over Pixie Epoxy and the fallout wasn’t any worse than a normal dark loose shadow. I’m not a blue eyeshadow person but this one is pretty awesome.

 

Overall, I really like these shadows. I don’t think they’re the be all and end all that some seem to think they are, but they’re certainly bright and pretty. Because Sugarpill are an ‘indie’ company, I think a lot people want to see a little more uniqueness from the shades (Off the top of my head, there’s certainly alternative to Lumi from Kryolan, and Goldilux and Hi-Fi On Tour are exactly the same). I don’t necessarily see it as a negative that they’re not all super unique– I know where to go for unique colours and from a professional standpoint at least I can see the need for bold colours such as these (an MUA might not always want or need ‘unique’ colours, for example.) To sum up, while I really like these and I’m glad I finally got them in my grubby paws, I don’t love them more than anything else, if you know what I mean. In my opinion, they’re kind of on par with Barry M eyeshadows – not the most unique, but good value ( Great, in fact. Just to compare, Barry M is about £4.50 for 3.5g and with the current conversion Sugarpill are about £7.60 for 12g)  and very pretty! I’m looking forward to trying their pressed shadows next.

Half a face!

Let's see what difference half a face of makeup makes, shall we? Men, this is how we decieve you!

I'm wearing foundation, powder, blush, contour, highlight, liner, mascara, shadow and highlights, brow pencil and powder, eyelashes on the top and bottom lids, lipstick and liner and a cupid's bow highlight. Drag-tastic, yes?

I don't wear this much colour on my face normally, or fill in my brows that dark, or have lashes, but my base is the same.as always (no concealer, baby, all Colorstay. That stuff is amazing!) and while my eyeshadow is quite in your face in the video it's not actually *more* eyeshadow that I would normally wear if that makes sense!  But look at the difference. Obviously I prefer my made-up face or I wouldn't bother - it's mostly my light brows and lashes that I don't like.
Silliness aside, I think wearing half-and-half is a great way of trying new things. For example, trying a new foundation out - you're going to be able to make a good  judgement and gather your thoughts for a review a little better if you can compare it to your naked face, no?

Kathy also has her half face video up. If you've not checked out The Makeup Heroes, the YouTube channel collaboration I'm part of, please do! It's just us being silly and trying looks together, it's fun!


Oh... Can I just point out, by the way, that when I say 'this is my naked face,' I MEAN it. No sneaky foundation. *No* photoshopping. Just me. And it always will be.

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Mike Wazowski!

I *love* Monsters Inc., so I gave Vijaya Roz to do this week because I thought it would be funny. A makeup look inspired by a slug in a cardigan who works for a secret organization? What’s better than that, hmm? Anyway, it’s a double whammy of Monsters, Inc this weekend because V gave me Mike Wazowski!

First of all, I’m going to point you to this AMAZING blog post by the gorgeous Tina, who I sort of ripped this look from a little bit. Seriously, what the fuck, Tina. That look is amazing. I will pay you in… er, sweet loving to come and live with me and do my makeup. Anyway, obviously these looks aren’t the same a all and hers is better, but whatever, I gave it a shot!

 

 

Lid, MAC Gesso over NYX JEP in Milk. Blue part, Inglot AMC 371, green-blue glitter GOSH Art Liner. Green, Inglot AMC  59 over Pixie Epoxy. White-silver liner in crease, Hi-Fi Phantom Stranger.

I kinda like it! I wanted to do something round, because.. well, duh, and keep just the three colours – green for his body and eye, white for his eye, and blue for the hat that he wears in the factory because I love the idea of monsters wearing hard hats. I wish MAC Gesso wasn’t so shit, though, I really do. And that my lids weren’t full of crease so I can do detail on them. Oh well.

 

Be sure to go and check out Vijaya’s Roz look!

Tape Manicure Fails

I’ve been playing with tape manicures this week, and let’s just say I’ve not got it down yet!

 

This is Zoya Robyn and L.A Colours Live layered with… ugh, a sheer green from Kiko. While I like the idea of this, I don’t think I should have used one of the foil-y, micro-glitter polishes as the lines haven’t come out so crisp. I also think I should have made the spikes larger.

Sorry for the terrible picture quality here. This Barry M Purple on the top layer and the same Kiko polish as a base. This looks awful on camera but nicer in real life, I promise. I’m not happy with it at all, though – the purple polish was very thing and I think it snuck under the tape a little, especially where I crossed it. I’m going to try with a nice opaque creme polish next time and perhaps switch up my tape – I’ve been using masking tape and I think I might need to try scotch tape.

 

 

Have you tried layering tape for manicures? Any tips for me? Pleeeease?!