#ZOMGbloggersbash!

(there's a wee NSFW shot at the end of this 'ere post...)

Last night I attended the ZOMG! bloggers bash in London. The meetup was co-hosted by ReeRee Rockette/Rockalily and Zozo/LondonLipGloss and was a celebration of all things social media as well as a bit of a launch of ZOMG!, the new Rockalily colour.

It was a fun night, even though I was terribly awkward! I've never been to a bloggers event before and I went on my tod! I met some lovely bloggers, including the lovely Sparklzandshine, whose blog I have been reading for a while and love. I spent a while chatting to the girls from Illamasqua about social media and thier branding and just how awesome Illamasqua is generally. There were SO many beautiful girls there so I hope people didn't think I was a wierd perv - there were just some great outfits and hair! If there's another event I will need to make more of an effort!

There was a lot going on! We started off with a bloggers bingo, trying to find bloggers who were wearing a certain colour, who did/didn't make youtube videos, who had a twitter name starting with vowel, etc. It was a nice ice breaker!

... gorgeous hats from Little Miss B. How beautiful is the leopard pillbox hat? Gorgeous! There were hats and wigs and you could get your photo taken.

L-R :  Mae Hem, Pompadour Pink, Hot Rod Red, Mans Ruin, Sailors Beware, Mermaid, ZOMG!

Me wearing Mae Hem – I need this colour!
Of course I spent a good amount of time at the lipstick stand - I only have one lipstick from Rockalily and I need more now! It was so nice to actually swatch lipsticks that are only available online. I really want Hot Rod Red and Mae Hem now.

There were a few of these floating around.. everyone leaving thier mark! I kind of want all my friends to do one for me to hang in my makeup room!

I didn't get photos of the amazing hair being done by Miss Honey Bare, or Tigz Rice's pop-up photo booth, or the cupcakes by Temptations Creations.. there was a LOT going on!

And now to the best part... I didn't even realise there would be burlesque dancers! YAY! Below is the amazing Rubyyy Jones, who did a hilarious routine where she was pretending to have webcam sex. Oh, lord, I was in stiches. I'll definitely keep an eye on her and go to watch her again.

And here is my new girlfriend, Miss Banbury Cross. These pictures suck balls because she is honestly the most beautiful lady I have ever seen. She wiggled her boobies at me and I nearly fainted. Go and see her!

Well, that was my night! I'd definitely hit it up if there were another one!

Blix Remix!

I don’t think it’s a secret that I think Blix from Glitter is My Crack is super-duper awesome, so I was really excited when the Never Too Much Sparkle challenge was to do a version of one of her looks. I fannied about for a while choosing which one to do, because she has a lot more lid space than me and often uses a lot more colours than I would. I finally settled on this glitter look, reasoning I couldn’t  balls it up too much!

Sorry about the ol’ pizza face there. Spots being spotty :(

Eyes: Sleek black, cream and brown from Bohemian palette (lid, crease and brow bone respectively), Fyrinnae Moon Child (inner corner), a mix of Hi-Fi Paparazzi Flash Powder in Vengeance and Darling Girl glitter in Jingle Bells.
Lips: Covergirl Lip Perfection in Flame
Face: MAC Cream Colour Base in Move Star Red, Evil Shades Burlesque.

I don’t think I did too bad! I should have brought the black further past the crease, and Blix didn’t blend hers out with a brown, but the black from this palette is really hard to blend and it was stop or ruin the whole thing. The glitter isn’t as vibrant either, but does look better in real life – you can’t really tell, but Vengeance has a royal blue in there as well, which is so pretty! I like the placement of glitter more in the centre of the lid – I’d be inclined to put it on the outer third of the lid normally. Thought I’d stick a picture of me with me ol’ glasses on as I always wear them, but never show them on my blog.

My awesome necklace (if you don’t think it’s awesome, we need to have words) was custom made and is from Velvet Volcano.

Neutral Lovin’

Some of the products in this post you’re going to be seeing a lot of as I’m doing a Project 10 Pan, so, sorry! I did a couple of neutral looks this week and I really liked them so I thought I’d share.

Eyes: All Sleek Bohemian
Cheeks: Inglot AMC Cream Blush in 88
Lips: Gosh Darling mixed with Silk Naturals Black Honey

I really liked this look and thought it came across quite striking in real life for a boring neutral look. Really annoyed that my skin didn’t photograph as nicely as it look in real life – absolutely loving the L’Oreal Studio Secrets primer.

Eyes: Shadows all Sleek Bohemian, FashionistA gel liner in Dressed Down Cool.
Cheeks: Darling Girl Sweet Cheeks blush in Sweet Coron
Lips: MUA lipstick in shade 9.

I very rarely wear anything this soft, but I do like it. I wish that MUA would get on and rename all their products so I don’t have to try to describe shade 9 lipstick!

What are your favourite neutral products?

 

Top 5 blushes

This post is sort of cheating, because I’ve lost one of my other favourite blushes, Darling Girl Fuji. So… sorry for lying, but I wanted to write this post anyway, and I probably would have had to do a top 6 if I could find it!

Clockwise from top, Inglot AMC Cream Blush in 88, Almay Blush in Peach 130, Accessorize Baked Blusher in Pretty Pink, Sleek Suede, Darling Girl Boardwalk.

L-R: Sleek Suede, Inglot 88, Almay Peach 130, Accessorize Pretty Pink, Darling Girl Boardwalk.

Sleek Suede:

Sleek Suede was released with the Nude collection (although it’s permanent, whee!). It’s a lovely peachy-brown, great for red heads and a bargain at £4.29. One of my favourites, I tend to use this at least twice a week. I’m also wearing it on the eyes and mixed with gloss in this photo!

Inglot AMC Blush in 88

 

Beautifully subtle colour for when I’m absolutely stuck for a colour choice as it goes with everything! I also use it as a light contour. These are the nicest formula of cream blush I’ve ever tried – they’re dead natural looking on the skin, super creamy and not greasy like some blushes, and a tiny bit goes a long way. I do need to set with a translucent powder or another blush for best longevity, but still an utter bargain at £9.

Almay Blush Peach 130

This, if I had to pick just one, is my favourite blush of all time. Bright without being scary, it goes with almost everything and lifts my complexion. I bought this for the measly sum of a quid in the pound shop and I am devastated that I’ll probably never find it again, so if you can think of a good alternative I will hug and kiss you A LOT.

Accessorize Pretty Pink

I mainly use this as a highlighter as it gives a beautiful glow. Screw all the MAC MSFs (this is supposedly a Moon River dupe) and what not, this costs bugger all at a fiver and is beautiful if you want just a hint of colour (for pale ladies!) and a gorgeous glow. I’m wearing it here with MUA blusher in shade 2 (an honourable mention, I must say) but if you enlarge the picture you can see the Accessorize blush. Laaaaaahve.

Darling Girl Boardwalk

A lovely bright coral – I’ve repurchased the mini size and really need to man up and buy the full size when this runs out. I really like how buildable this is – you can really amp it up if you want – and I’ve got compliments on this blush before, which is quite an odd thing to compliment someone on, I suppose, if you’re not a makeup junkie! Anyway, I love it, the quality is fantastic as with all DG blushes and it’s dead cheap.

 

Honourable mentions are MUA Shade 2, Stila Custom Color in Coral, MAC Springsheen and Darling Girl Fantasia.

 

What are your favourite blushes?

Confused (a bit of a serious post!)

Recently, a friend sent me a Lime Crime lipstick.

Lime Crime ‘Mint to Be.’

I try to keep drama off my blog – I don’t like to be incendiary, or to perpetuate drama when I could be swatching pretties -  so you might not know that I don’t support Lime Crime. It would take something very special for me to part with my money for one of their products. I find their ethics questionable over and over again. But god dammit, I *love* this lipstick.

I really like it even though a mint green is not all that unique…

I made this colour with Sleek Cloud 9 pout paint and a green Fyrinnae pigment.

…and it’s very expensive. However, if it wasn’t from a company I have so many negative preconceptions about, honestly, I would buy more. The forumla and pigmentation for a difficult colour like that were much better than I was expecting.

Now, I’m not going to start showering dodgy companies with my money. I have better places to spend it.  But this got me thinking - I’m sure a lot of us have “morals” regarding makeup. I certainly do, even though I’m sure I buy things which are much worse than buying from someone who I think is a bad or shady person. I’m sure a lot of my food and clothing is unethically produced, for example, so why do I have such strong feelings about makeup? Well, aside from the fact it's something I am passionate about, personally I think that as a lot of makeup companies have a ‘face,’ it’s easier to direct anger at someone when something goes tits-up, there is often a culpable person. Also, if that someone does something really idiotic or cruel, it’s usually easier for us to find out as they are the face of the brand and will have lots of social media presence. Anyway, my questions are thus:

• Are there companies you boycott?
• What would it take to make you stop buying from a company?
• If something was interesting/pretty/unique enough, would you buy it even if you’d sworn to boycott.
• If you bought something from a potentially controversial company, would you lie about wearing it on your blog? (I.e., say it was from another brand, forget to mention the colour?)

Do I  boycott certain companies? Yes.

Lying about ingredients/unsafe ingredients, scamming, harrassment/bullying and repeatedly poor customer service are some reasons why I wouldn’t buy from a company.

Would I buy from them anyway if I *really* wanted something? Yes. In all honesty, if it was something I really wanted and couldn't get elsewhere, I would.  As for the last one, I’m not sure. I wouldn’t want to encourage someone to buy from someone I had a problem with, but  on the other hand, my problems with a company may not be the same as someone else’s, so why should I enforce that opinion? I don't think I'll ever buy from certain companies, but if someone I knew wanted it as a gift..?

What say you? I’m genuinely just interested, so please be nice to each other in the comments box!

While I'm not intending this to be a Lime Crime bashing post, I do think Mai's recent posts here and here are ones that ought to be read, if only just as an example of something that may turn someone off of a company.

Back to pretties tomorrow!

Black and White

Another look from the Never Too Much Sparkle’s (Wendi’s facebook group) weekly challenge. I haven’t done a black smoky eye for a very long time – to be honest, they scare me and even though I (think) I know what I’m doing most of the time I’m very wary of looking like Jordan/I’ve been punched in the eye. Anyway, I gave it a stab and tried to make the look more fun with some rhinestones and funky lips.

Not too shabby, huh? My top tip for black smoky eyes is to always blend the edges out with a purple or a navy as it stops it looking so harsh. I really liked this look on me – it’s not normally a placement or shaped I do, but I liked it a lot! The lips, however…

..Did not photograph so well. I don’t have the top lip for this look!

And nor did the white ones. I guess I’ll leave that to Jessie J. I also was playing around with foundations that day, which is why I look a bit darker/orange than usual. The hair dye on my head is down to stupidity.

Eyes: Sleek black, cream and purple from Bohemian palette, Hi Fi Phantom Stranger. MAc Reflects Black glitter. Maybelline gel liner. Rhinestones from eBay, lashes from local beauty supply.
Lips: For black/white: Barry M white Kohl, Sleek Pout Paint in Cloud 9/Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Zero and Inglot Sleeks Cream in 99. For the white, Barry M white Kohl, Sleek Pout Paint/
Cheeks: Benefit Hoola, NYX Mosaic Powder in Highlight.

Project 10 Pan

It’s about time I did a P10P! For those of you that don’t know, Project 10 Pan is where you’re banned from buying any more beauty products (apart from essentials like remover, wipes, deodorant, lotion, etc) until you’ve used up 10 products. RaeRae and Jerry  are both doing it as well, so I know I’ll have some support! Here are my products:

 

1- Benefit 10. I only have a small amount of this powder left, and I keep ‘saving’ it, and not using it. It’s time for it to be finished, and if I want more, then I ask for it nicely (too expensive!)

2 – Enormous sample of Evil Shades in Lazy Daze. Used it once.

3 - Inglot AMC Cream Foundation. I always reach for my Colorstay, even though this feels so light and lovely. It’s nearly finished, and I need to use it up or I’ll never try another foundation!

4 – Gosh Velvet Touch Lipstick in Darling. Horrible jizz-lippy colour, but amazing for mixing. I’ve got a wee stump left, so it’s time for me to get creative and play with some colours.

5 – Dr Lewinns Eye Recovery Complex. I really like this eye cream at night, but I keep it on my bedside table and it keeps rolling off and disappearing! Time to finish it up and find a replacement (it was a gift and it’s bloody expensive!)

6 – Darling Girl Holo Gloss in Gold Finger. Again, another one I was ‘saving’ as there’s not much left.

7 – Primark Well Licked Gloss in Sorbet. Even though this cost literally nothing, I quite like it. I have other orange/coral glosses I’ve got since I bought this that I prefer though, so I rarely reach for it .

8 –Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero. Get rid. Buy Perversion.

9 -Fyrinnae Glow blush in Charm. Despite being super pretty, I’ve used this once. I’ve had it for well over a year, so time to suck it up and use some pink blush. Yes, it’s a sample, as is the ES shadow, but I don’t feel bad because…

10 – Sleek Bohemian Palette. THAT’S RIGHT. A whole freakin’ palette. The reason why I need to use it up is thus:

IT’S FOOKED. The black has also hit pan since I took this photo, and the brown has a decent hole in it as well. The black gets everywhere and makes the palette look filthy, and now it’s broken it’s spilling onto other things as well. I love the colours in this palette, but it’s so dodgy now, it’s time to at least use up my favourites, depot the rest and throw the darn thing away. I know I will buy more things before I fully finish this palette, but if I can use up the copper, yellow, and cream at least I’ll happily count that.

Wish me luck! Have you ever done a P10P? Did you fail miserably?

Purple Party Look and Tutorial

I filmed my first tutorial yesterday! I hate Windows Movie Maker. Haaaaate. I also hate my other half (who I inevitably have to ask for help) for taking the piss because I bother to enunciate in the video. Annnyway, here’s the look, using one of the most beautiful shadows ever, Hi-Fi Between the Stars <3

Git yo’ hood up.

Eyes:
MUA Professional Eye Primer
NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk
Hi-Fi Cosmetics Between the Stars (lid)
Purple from Sleek Bohemian Palette (crease and lower lashline)
MAC Gesso (to highlight, not shown... I'm not sure what happened to that clip!)
Kryolan Aqua Color in white
Collection2000 Extreme 24/7 Eyeliner pen in Black
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
Wet n Wild Mega Sparkle Confetti in Lilac Frosting
Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama gel liner
Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown
Maybelline One by One mascara
Brandless eyelashes from local afro beauty supply shop.

Lips:
LA Colors lipliner in Smooth Plum
Gosh Light N Shine Lip Glaze in No 5

Face:
L'Oreal Studio Secrets Primer
Revlon Colorstay in 150 Buff
Hard Candy Glamoflague concealer in Light
Evil Shades blush in Violet Fire
NYX Mosaic blush in Highlighter

 

…And here’s the tutorial! Please let me know if you like it and then I will attempt to make more D:

 

Quickie Review: MUA 3 in 1 Extreme Contour Liner

The MUA Extreme Contour liners were recently released with new, funky shades to compliment the existing black shade (perhaps there was also a brown previously?) so I grabbed a few to try out. The liners have a really interesting flat rectangular nib, which supposedly allows you to draw a thin, thick and medium line by angling the tip.

 

 

At £1.50 (you get 0.4g) I grabbed a few shades to try – Smoked Plum (Shade 6), Sage (Shade 7), Fresh Mint (Shade 3), and Gun Metal (shade 8).

Fresh Mint.

Gun Metal.

Sage.

Smoked Plum.

All these swatches are with the holding the nib horizontally and then swiping, then vertically, and then on the edge to get the thinnest line. These are sold as a ‘shadow liner,’ so as you’d expect, the product is very soft. This is both a blessing and a curse - these babies will *not* tug on your lids at all (great for those who are wrinkle-panickers, like myself!) but I would totally recommend setting them with a powder as they don’t dry down, so are liable to smudge and crease. Being soft and a twist-up pencil, you can’t sharpen them, so I’m not sure that the 3-in-1 thing will last very long once you’ve blunted the sides by drawing the thin line.

The pigmentation is average, but not super fantastic. The brown and auburn which I swatched in store were much better pigmented than these shades. Gun Metal is my favourite colour of the three – a beautiful soft grey with tiny blue sparks (which obviously eluded capture!) with Smoked Plum a close second. I was quite disappointed in Sage – it just reads grey to me and not green. I can see myself using Fresh Mint as a base quite often. The packaging is sturdy and the retractable mechanism works and doesn’t stick, which is a concern sometimes with cheap retractable pencils.

 

Gun Metal as a liner, no primer/base.

Gun Metal as a base – the adhesion is pretty nice.

Smoked Plum on the upper lid and Fresh Mint on the lower – Seeing if they’re any nice for creating a wing. Probably not.

 

Overall, I’m not sure how I feel about these. For £1.50 you can’t go too wrong, I love Gun Metal and I’m possibly seeing potential for creating cut-crease looks, but initially I’m not wowed.

What are your favourite liners?