Darling Booby LOTD

Eyes: Lid, Sugarpill Darling. Lower lashline, Sugarpill Darling with a damp brush. Crease, Fyrinnae Blue Footed Booby. Brow and Inner Corner highlight
Cheeks: Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Lover, Sleek blush in Suede.
Lips: Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Torture.

You only get one derpy full-face photo because I’m a total idiot and didn’t realise that one of my lashes had lifted, and you can’t really see it in that shot. I’m not really wearing foundation at the moment because I got a tan on holiday and none of them match! I’m making do by mixing Hardy Candy Glamoflague in Medium up and sort of using it as a tinted moisturizer. Meh.

On the eyeshadow front, *swoon* at Blue Footed Booby. It’s not on the site at the moment, but damn, I love the low-shimmer Fyrinnae shadows. They’re just perfect – get thee Damn Paladins if you don’t already.

Bonus video plug: See all my shit!

My storage, collection, set up etc

Quickie Review: Bioderma Crealine H2O Micelle Solution (Makeup Remover)

I’ve been umm-ing and aah-ing over whether to buy this product for a while. It’s easy to buy into products that there is so much hype about, and for around £20 a bottle it’s not the cheapest remover in the world, either. I finally found a decent price online (I went with leguidesante.co.uk and got a 100ml and a 500ml bottle with shipping for £19.47, give or take a penny) so I took the plunge.

…So, what is a micelle solution? LeGuideSante.co.uk writes that it’s a “Solution of fatty acid esters, both emulgatory and filmogenous, enables dirt to be emulsified and surface hydrolipidic film to be reconstituted.” That sounds like…someone has swallowed a thesaurus, no? Well, I’m buggered if I can explain it properly either, but apparently a micelle is a type of molecular cluster where one end is hydrophilic and one end is hydrophobic (one end attracts water, and the other repels it). Apparently bashing these clusters around on your skin causes them to suck up anything that isn’t water – so makeup, dirt, oil, etc.   Sounds pretty darn perfect, right? One would assume from that it’s good for dry skin, it’s also got no fragrance or alcohol, so good for sensitive skin, and t’internet let me know that you can apply makeup straight away after using Bioderma as well. ALL THESE THINGS SOUNDED GOOD.

So…. is it as awesome as everyone says? In a word… yes. In two words, UH, YES. It really does the job – taking of makeup – amazingly well. I’ve used it on everything from long-wearing foundation to mascara to gel liner and paint pots and it makes pretty darn short work of them all. You may need a little more work than others on say, waterproof mascara, but it really does the trick – even models I’ve used it on have commented on how good it is! It dries super quickly and doesn’t leave a residue, so you can apply makeup straight away again afterwards – it’s a life saver for correcting lipstick/liner whoopsies! (Not that I ever make any, of course >.> ) It doesn't dry out my already dry skin at all, either. I do still cleanse my face after using it, as my cleanser has other benefits than just taking my face off.

The only tiny negative is that where the consistency is almost exactly like water, you do need to be careful not to totally soak your cotton pad when you’re taking your eye makeup off, or when you press it onto your eye, you’ll get the product in your eye. It doesn’t hurt at all, sting or make your eyes red, it’s just not exactly pleasant!

While it isn’t the cheapest, you get tons for your money, a little goes a long way and it’s really a bloody good product.

(P.S…Who wants me to attempt a dodgy Union flag look for the Jubilee?)

LOTD with Illamasqua Kontrol

Hola, amigos! I’ve just got back from an awesomely relaxing week in Mallorca with my Team Alpha – we did absolutely sod all for the whole week except swim and BBQ and it was amazing! I didn’t really wear makeup for the whole week so I was quite keen to pop some slap on this morning. I had a package from Illamasqua waiting so I thought it rude not to use some of the stuff! I also wanted to do a bit of an anti-summer look as well.

Eyes: Lid, Sleek Crete. Crease/Lower lashline, Too Faced Exotic Colour Intense Shadow in Night Nymph. Highlight, Sleek Pow!. Liner, Collection2000 24/7 pen liners in Black and Purple . Inner corner, MUA Intense Colour Pencil in Lovely Lilac.
Lips: Illamasqua Lipstick in Kontrol
Cheeks: Illamasqua Powder Blusher in Lover

Lillian recommended Kontrol to me and ohemgee, why did I not buy it sooner? I normally don’t have the balls to wear colours like this on a day to day basis, but really, it’s so worth the dodgy looks from chavvy boys in Sainsbury’s! I was worried regarding the formula of it, but it’s actually spot on and goes on really opaque and creamy! It’s reasonably long lasting as long as you’re not eating a huge portion of yakisoba – the ring left round my mouth prompted the Boy to tell me I looked like the Mouth of Sauron. Cheers, love.

Bonus OOTD? K.

Tye-die maxi: New Look.
Belt: New Look.
Pumps: Primark
Bracelet: present from my Mum, galibardy.com
Earrings: ebay (See above for better pic)

Birthday LOTD = GREEEEEEEN!

Well, I made it to quarter of a century without dying, getting arrested, going on the game or getting caught up in some apocalypse or other. So…. time to wear some green eyeshadow, right?

Eyes: Sleek Matte Ultra Mattes Bright V1 Palette(Chill, Cricket, Dragonfly), black from Sleek Original Palette, Sugarpill Lumi
Lips: MAC Viva Glam V
Cheeks: MAC Blushbaby, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter
Lipstick from Sugar and Vice

 

My parents are coming up tonight and we’re going to the Ace Cafe, and today I went shopping and treated myself to a few bits and bobs including an amazing cherry print playsuit! I’ve never found one that fit me nicely before so that was good. I also bought some fake Jeffrey Campbell Union flag shoes for the Jubilee weekend :D

I’m off to Mallorca for a week tomorrow, so no blog from me till next week!

Sleek Ultra Matte V1 Brights Palette–Swatches and LOTD

Like a doofus, I was waiting outside Superdrug on the launch day of the matte palettes. Okay, it was coincidental that I was there, but I was, so I waited. Ahem.

Top Row: L-R: Chill, Pout, Sugarlite, Dragon Fly, Pucker, Bamm!
Bottom Row: L-R: Cricket, Bolt, Strike, Floss, Crete, Pow!

Look ma, no waffle print! I don’t particularly care how shadows are pressed in a £7 palette, but it does look strange to open a Sleek palette and not see them.

As you can see, if you don’t have a primer/base with these, don’t bother.  Like most mattes, the adhesion on bare skin isn’t great, but then, we never go out without a primer now do we, class? They’re all soft and the pigmentation is great and pretty equal throughout the palette. As normal with Sleek, I’m seeing some colours that look very similar to those in other palettes, especially Circus. I don’t mind this too much because I prefer a palette to work overall than reach for another one to complete a look, but it’s worth bearing in mind if you hate having duplicates. I do, however, find myself wishing that this palette had a black in it! Sleek often included a black and it’s standard in most of their permanent palettes, which a lot of people criticize them for. However, I think this colour set could really have used one – if they got rid of Pucker or Pout the whole palette would be much more versatile.

Sugarlite and Dragonfly are my favourites so far, and Floss and Crete are really pretty. I think Pow! is a very useful addition to the palette and it’s nice for once to see a decent, versatile highlight colour that isn’t a stark white in a Sleek palette as a lot of them lack one. I’m a little disappointed in Bamm! and Strike, however.  Nothing is ever going to top Illamasqua Venom or Sugarpill Flamepoint for matte oranges for me, so I really do think I’m being picky, because the tone of the orange fits nicely in with the palette. Bamm! just isn’t doing it for me either for some reason, but I’ve not used it yet, so hopefully it’ll grow on me.

Compulsory EOTDs? Okay!

Lid, Dragonfly. Crease, Sugarlite blended out with a tiny bit of Floss. Lower lashline, Bolt. Inner corner, Chill.

Lid, Crete. Crease, Pucker. Highlight, Pow! Lower lashine, Cricket and Dragon Fly.

Overall: Worth the money, pigmented, well thought out colours.  Soft, and easy to blend for mattes, so if you struggle with them or haven’t tried them yet, I think this is a great place to start.

Love+

Pretty much what it says on the tin today, a simple bold look with Sugarpill Love+. I lovelovelove red shadows – despite what people say about them making you look sick if you’re not careful, I actually find them really flattering with my eye colour. True, it does take a bit of time to get them blended out  nicely, but what bold colour doesn't? A touch of black to seperate the colour from your waterline and you're set. I wore this to a shoot on Sunday when I had a bit of time to get ready in the morning.

Eyes: Sugarpill Love+, black from Sleek Acid Palette, gold from e.l.f Day2night quad. Lashes by Active Cosmetics
Cheeks: Sleek Suede blush, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter
Lips: MAC Viva Glam V

I really need to put away Sleek Suede and Boots No 7 – I keep using them together all the time! I think it’s a great combo but damn, girl, I need to shop my stash a little bit more.

If you wear one colour for  a statement look, what do you choose?

Because Orange, that’s why.

I love orange lipsticks. You know this. If you didn’t know this, now you do. I’ve got two cracking oranges recently, so here are my boring FOTDs with them.

Eyes: Inglot shadows from this palette, Barry M glitter liner in Gold, Maybelline blahblahblah gel eyeliner.
Cheeks: Sleek Suede Blush as a contour, Boots No 7 Vital Radiance Highligher
Lip: MAC Sail La Vie

Ahhh, Sail La Vie. I knew I’d end up buying it whether I decided I had too many similar colours or not. I thought it might be quite similar to Lady Danger, but it’s much much more orange and a lot brighter than it looks in the swatch. It’s a Satin, which admittedly isn’t my favourite MAC formula, but needs must as the limited edition packaging drives., no?

Eyes: Inglot shadows from this palette, MUA
Cheeks: Sleek Suede as a contour.
Lips: Covergirl Temptation

Ugh, I’m so sick of having massive nasty eye bags in photos – I don’t wear a lot of undereye concealer day to day because if I’m wearing my glasses I just can’t be arsed, but I don’t look this bad in real life! I’m going to blame moving away from the blindingly sunny window and into the “bleh, gross” window. Moving away from the bags and onto the lips, “Temptation” was sent to me by the lovely Kathy, who knows my taste very well indeed! So pretty and lasts really well on the lips without drying. Plz to have this range in the UK.

 

And in honour of said lipstick, because it’s been stuck in my head all day:

 

 

Anyway, sorry to be boring with two neutral-with-orange-lips looks, but hey. I like the orange, and this is the easiest way to wear it!

What's your face worth?

Following on from a conversation with Rachael from The Beauty Spot about ridiculously priced one-off beauty items, it got me thinking how much dollah goes in to your every day makeup. The nerd that I am, I worked out exactly how much this beautious FOTD cost me:

Items:

Mac Prep and Prime Moisture Surge: £28
Hard Candy Glamoflague (in Light): $6 (approx £3.71

Elf Studio High Definition Powder: £6
Sleek 'Suede' Blush: £4.30

BeautyUK 'Peaches and Cream' Baked Blush: £3.99
Collection2000 24h Extreme Felt Tip Eyeliner: £2.99
Maybelline One By One Mascara: £8.49
Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in 'Hazel': £2.99

MAC Satin Lipstick in 'Rebel': £13.50

Total: £73.96

...I have no idea if this is a lot or not. If it wasn't for my primer, this would be a really inexpensive FOTD and if I was wearing a cheaper lipstick it'd be super pocket friendly, but then I'm not wearing any shadows or foundation/tinted moisturizer today, which I normally would.

So basically, out of nerdy interest... how much is your face worth today?

Mani Madness! (Pretty things from the States")

Todays post is features gorgeous polishes sent to me from that there ‘Merica by Wendy. I’ve not really been doing mani posts for ages as my hands, nails and cuticles are really nasty at the moment, so I’m hoping staring at pictures of them will shame me into taking care of my hands better! Anyway, less talk about grossness, more look at niceness.

 

Icing “Lemme See Your Peacock” over Accessorize “Black” (Boring UK polish!)

Lemme See Your Peacock is possibly the most fun I’ve ever put on my nails. A really, really pretty mix of blue, green and fuschia hex glitters that I can’t wait to try over white as well! Instant favourite!

 

Sinful Colours “Cinderella” with Jordana “Cosmic” on the ring finger.

Justice. It is not done. If you’ve not got Cinderella, stop what you’re doing and fix that. It’s the most perfect, princess-y pastel blue with orange/pink glassy flecks in. Jordana Cosmic is a super pretty glitter polish with different size blue and green glitters in it and I thought it upped this mani into mermaid territory.

Color Club" “Holiday Splendor” with China Glaze “Snowglobe” over Barry M “Mint Green” (Boring UK polish!)

I loved this mani. LOVED IT. You can’t see the awesomeness that is Snowglobe or the holo glitters in Holiday Splendor, but trust me. My mind was blown.

Jordana “Copper Blaze.”

IT LOOKS LIKE PENNIES.

Revlon “Whimsical.”

A dupe for Deborah Lipmanns “Glitter in The Air,” I think everyone knows how adorable this polish is by now. I love how sheer it is so you can see the layers of glitter! I actually got a lot of compliments on this shade.

Fingerpaints “Asylum” over Accessorize “Black.”

 

OOOOOOH, LOOKIT THE COLOURS. Don’t lookit the smudges and cuticles. I first tried this over a green, which I thought would look awesome but it sort of sucked the blue away from the finish and it didn’t look that awesome. Over black it’s just… drool worthy. Yeah boi.

 

Do you follow seasonal trends for your nails or just whatever takes your fancy?

A few shots...

Shooty goodness for you today! Hope you like!

 Lauren Watkins by Rhinoa's Photography. Makeup by me using Sugarpill, MAC and Sleek.

"City Chick." Danielle Holbrook by Karolina Marek. Makeup by me using Inglot, MAC and MUA.

"City Chick." Lisa Jane Ralph by Karolina Marek Photography. Makeup by me using Inglot, MAC, Maybelline. 

 Krysal Johns shot by Stuart Runham for Pinupzania. Hair and makeup by me using Inglot and MAC.

"Primary colours." Lisa Jane Ralph by Rhinoa's Photography. Using Inglot, Sugarpill, 120 palette, MUA.

 "Similar colours." Lisa Jane Ralph by Rhinoa's Photography. Makeup by me using Inglot and Darling Girl.

Taupe Eyes and Purple Lips Tutorial

I like taupe. I like purple. So I put them on my face.

 

Eyes: Maybelliner Permanent Taupe Color Tattoo, e.l.f day2night quad, Inglot matte 326. Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner. Salon Perfect lashes in 150. Rimmel Brow Pencil in Auburn.
Face (not shown): MAC Prep and Prime Moisture Infusion, Covergirl Tinted Moisturizer.
Cheek: MAC Mocha, Boots No 7 Vital Radiance Highlighters
Lips: L.A Colours Smooth Plum Liner, Inglot Slim Gel Lipstick in 65.

 

And the tutorial itself…

 

I quite like making video tutorials, but I sure as hell need more practive, so if there’s anything you’d like to see me botch terribly, let me know and I’ll try and give it a stab!