Quickie Halloween Look with lenstore.co.uk: Mermaid

You know I’m a big fan of Halloween looks that are quick – if Halloween was a public holiday and we had the day off get get ourselves mystical, spooky or whimsical that would be amazing, but it’s just not the case! With that in mind I tried to do a mermaid look with just a few additions to a regular ‘going out’ look!

First up, I have to mention these gorgeous lenses! lenstore.co.uk very kindly sent me some lenses to try out with some Halloween looks and I was pretty keen – I love lenses and I’d actually already bought costume lenses for my Halloween outfit already but I’ve never tried lenses that just change your eye colour before.



These are the Freshlook Colour Blends in Gemstone Green and I love them! I like how the change your eye colour enough to be eye catching but they’re not as in-your-face as, say, the Marilyn Manson style or Twilight style lenses. These also come in prescription strengths, so I think I’m going to try the turquoise next time!

Eyes: Sugarpill Tako, Velocity, Lumi, Afterparty and Darling. KIKO shadestick on the waterline. Brows, Sugarpill Dollypop, MAC Reflects pink glitter. Pearls are nail supplies from eBay and the sequins are from the pound shop.
Cheeks: Darling Girl Spectral Shift in Mystique
Lips: No-brand hot pink liner, MAC Viva Glam Nicki, Revlon lipgloss in Adorned

I’m really sorry for the lack of pictures – I hate doing makeup in the winter when there’s no good light, but I hope this gives an idea!

If you look closely, this isn’t that far off a normal going out look – a strong eye and lip, with a coloured instead of a regularly filled-in brow. Sometimes a bold look is really nothing more than switching up a colour or product, and the time and technique used is exactly the same.

As a Disney kid, of course I love the idea of mermaids as beautiful, fairy-like creatures like Ariel, but I also I really love the idea of mermaids as sea creatures with scales and barnacles and spiky fins, so I kind of tried to combine the two. I chose a girly colour palette, but added pearls to my eyes, overlapped sequins on my brows to represent scales and extended my eyeliner into long, wispy strokes to represent waves or seaweed. I also made sure there was a good dose of shimmer, to represent to sparkle of the sun on top of the sea, and kept as little colour as possible on my cheeks, adding a soft blue-pink highlight, to try and mimic the sort of washed-out look that skin has underwater. I added some bubbles using face paint going down the neck and the side of my face, and if I was going out wearing this and had a decent costume I would extend that down the side of my arm and up my face a little more. If you’re careful spraying it, you can use hairspray to set any small bits of body paint.

Hope you enjoyed this look! Have you tried changing your eye colour with lenses before? What are you going as for Halloween?

If you want to try some awesome coloured lenses, Lenstore.co.uk have very kindly given me a 10% code for you guys – add Robyn_Reader at the checkout before 30th November to get 10% off!


The lenses in this post were provided by lenstore.co.uk. As always, all opinions in the post are my own.

Quickie Review and LOTD: Vivo Colour Block Eye Palette in Show Me The Money

If you caught my post on the Vivo Colour Stain Lip Crayons, you’ll have seen Vivo sent me a few goodies to play with, including this lovely bright palette! I was really keen when it got to the weekend and it mean I could play with some colour!

I really like how these palette are laid out – there aren’t many square-panned palettes about on the high street so I like that it’s a little bit different. I also think it looks nicer as there’s less black/plastic and more of the colours themselves showing.

Some of you probably know that VIVO are made by the same company that make MUA, and I believe some products are the same but packaged differently. This looks very similar to the Poptastic palette (which I don’t own) but I believe it has one more purple shade. I could be wrong!

All swatched on bare skin.
Top row: Serene, Summer, Crush, Hot
Middle row: Chill, Night Sky, Sizzle, Stormy
Bottom row: Breeze, Sunrise, Wave, Calm

Not bad for bare skin, eh? I wasn’t really sure why there was only one matte shade in the palette (Breeze) as the rest are super shimmery.  Summer appears very green-toned here but it’s actually a light, cool gold that would make a pretty highlight.  Crush and Night Sky have a a blue shift to them that I couldn’t quite capture on camera either. Overall it’s a very pretty  collection of jewel tones and I particularly like Crush, Serene, Wave, and suprisingly for me, Hot. I don’t tend to reach for pink shadows at all and can only think of one other in my whole collection that I love, so for me to want to put Hot on right away really says something!

Let’s try some looks, shall we?

Pink/purple look: Hot all over the lid, Sunrise on outer lid, Chill on inner corner. Serene in crease and on lower lashline over a grey liner. Crush on outer V with a touch of matte black (from another VIVO palette), touch of matte skintone on the brow (also from another VIVO palette)
Green look: Wave all over the lid on the bottom lashline, Summer dabbed in the middle of the lid blended out with Sizzle
Purple look: Lips are Sleek Matte Me in Fandango Purple with Revlon Embellished over the top. Green look: Lips are Vivo Wide Awake

These looks are only applied over a primer and not a cream base as I know from experience these shimmery types of shades need a careful touch with blending and adding a cream base can make it all a bit of a pain to deal with. Having had a play though, I really like this palette and I’m kind of in love with the green look I did as it was so simple but I think really pops! Overall I really have no complaints with this palette. While I think all bright palettes would be more useable with a matte black or brown and a highlight shade in them, that’s beside the point a little bit really I suppose (and VIVO also have some neutral palettes, one of which I’ll be posting about soon!). I really like the choice of colours and think you could wear the majority of them with each other which is nice. With Halloween coming up, I think this could also be nice if you were going as a fairy, mermaid or Barbie!

Show Me The Money costs £3.99 and is available from vivocometics.co.uk

 

As always, where products are sent to me all views are still entirely my own.

Top Ten Autumn/Fall Lipsticks!

While I don’t stick to seasonal trends for makeup – when I see someone saying you can’t wear plum in the spring it makes me die inside – I do really enjoy this time of year when plums, wines, burgundies and purples hit the counters as these are some of my favourite colours. And they do look lovely with the inevitable blacks and greys that come around with winter clothing as well.

MAC Lip Pencil in Nightmoth

One of my favourite lip shades ever ever ever. SImply kick ass.

Revlon Colourburst lipgloss in Embellished

New for autumn 2013, this toned-down vampy gloss is a subtler nod to the trend and looks great layered over…well, pretty much anything else in this post!

Illamasqua Lipstick in Shard

A tad patchy, but the beautiful, buildable blackberry hue is stunning.

Collection Gothic Glam lipstick in 3 Revenge

Collection(2000) came out with a trio of three vampy lipsticks and nail polishes and this was my favourite of the three. It’ll suit most and was only £3, hurrah!

MAC Film Noir

The browner tone of this lippie is gorgeous and ties it in to the 90’s revival as well.

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Black Cherry

It’s a fairly slick formula so you need to keep an eye on it, but I love everything else about it, especially how white it makes my teeth look!

MAC lipstick in Hang Up (Cremesheen)

This is an awful swatch, I do apologise! There are certainly dupes for Hang Up but if you’re a fan of the Cremesheen formula and want a shade in this colour family, you won’t be sorry you got Hang Up.

LA Colors Lip Liner in Smooth Plum

LA Colors are hard to get in the UK, but if you have a Beauty Base or a extensions/wig store near you, they often carry them. This lipliner is AMAZING and was 99p. If you do happen upon the range, get the reds as well.

Barry M Lip Paint in 141 Royal Raspberry

I love the jewel-like quality of this lipstick. Perfect with a simple wash of taupe on the eye.

Wet n Wild Megalast Lipstick in 918d Cherry Bomb

I know a ton of my makeup friends will agree with me that this lipstick is awesome. One of the best mate formulas around for only a couple of dollars, you really can’t beat the Megalasts for the quality you get for the cost. The flat bullets do mean a lip brush is a necessity but who cares? Wet n Wild have a good range of vampy and purple shades if that’s your bag and I had a hard time choosing just one from the range!

Well, that’s yer lot! Honourable mentions to MAC Rebel and Sleek Matte Me in Fandango Purple for a couple of brighter options, and if we’re talking about fall lipsticks I’d *like* to own… Well now! Milani Double Espresso, OCC Black Metal Dahlia, Illamasqua Howl and Salacious…to name a couple! What’s your favourite lip colours in the wine/berry family?

Quickie Review: Scarecrow Love Bites teeth

With Halloween coming up, I needed to buy a good but reasonably priced pair of fangs for my costume. After doing a bit of Googling and reading a few negative review of other brands of false teeth, I saw lots of recommendations for Scarecrow brand. After reading on Amazon that these are perfect for a ‘delicate ladies gob’ (seriously) I was sold and placed an order.

 

Your fangs come in a cute little carry case (it does have a clear cover as well)

The card is awfully cheesy with a vampire love scene and goffick font, but don’t let that fool you! The back has super detailed instructions on how to apply, as well as links to videos on how to apply them as well. Combined with the vial of powder and potion inside, I was a bit nervous about fitting them but ploughed on ahead, somewhat heartened that detailed instructions might actually mean they were decent! I was an eejit and didn’t watch the video beforehand.

Very basically, you mix the two parts together to create a paste, apply this into the centre of the fang, which is hollow and push it on to your natural tooth. Mixing it all up is a bit of a pain in the arse, and I won’t lie, it really stinks. There is more than sufficient product to fix your teeth, though, and to correctly fit them again if you bugger it up the first time. The top to the liquid part doesn’t go back on so once they’re properly moulded, you can’t keep it – so make sure you’re happy with the fit! I’ve heard that the paste does change over time and eventually you’ll need to refit them, so I don’t get why you get 6 vials of powder and one bottle of liquid you can’t reuse, but oh well.

The absolute worst part of this is waiting for the solution to set. You have to do one fang at a time, keep your lip away from your tooth and keep your head back so you don’t drool. For five minutes! I found it easier to hold my lip back with my finger rather than sit there with a flared lip. Once the first tooth is done, you have to fit the second and then leave *both* on for another 15 minutes, making sure not to drool everywhere or dislodge them with your lips.  A pain in the arse to be honest!

Fitting the teeth initially was also interesting. One went on pretty easily, and  other didn’t fit to my  tooth very well. It does say on the product that most people’s teeth aren’t symmetrical, but I almost felt like one of the teeth could have been bigger! It’s odd because when you have a larger tooth than normal, you can really feel it on your lips and mine don’t feel even! It’s odd. If I really flare my lips and you were looking closely you could probably tell they’re not even at the gum line, but that’s more to do with my natural teeth than the product and they look pretty even when talking and for photos. I would say that these particular fangs do seem to be quite small, and if you’ve got larger or broad teeth or you’re a dude this version might not fit you so well – try the Classic, Sabre or Shredder versions which are larger and scarier. This type however are the perfect size as fangs – they’re not too long so as to be uncomfortable or too ridiculous looking, yet not too small so that there’s no point in wearing them.

Trimming a little off the fangs, checking the fit each time.I’d not recommend doing this with your lips already made up, by the way! Lips are Darling Girl Don’t Teal me You Love Me.

You can see in the purple photo that after trimming, some of the glue is still visible. Lips are Sleek Matte Me in Fandango Purple with Rimmell Embellished gloss.

Once both are dry and set – it’s recommended to take them out and leave them overnight, you can trim off the excess mixture. The package says not to take it away from the sides of the tooth or the back, but the top can be taken away as an anything large. Nail clippers or really sharp scissors will do this and I checked mine as I snipped away to make sure I didn’t take away too much. As you can see from the blue-lipped photo, the gum dries roughly the same colour as the fangs so anything you do have to leave isn’t that noticeable unless you’re super close up. I still want to take a file to the glue because as you can see in the purple-lipped photo, some glue is still visible and it’s annoying me!

I certainly wouldn’t eat with these, but drinking seems fine. I’d worrying about them staining so I’d stick with clear drinks to be on the safe side! Talking is… well, I have a little lisp with them, but it’s not awful, and you can close your mouth comfortably and you’re not drooling everywhere – that’s about all you can ask for really isn’t it?  They seem to stay put really well and you don’t need another adhesive each time you wear them as they fit so snugly to your tooth – no chafing of gums or anything either.  You can sort of ‘click’ them off as well, which is super easy too. The colour also matched my teeth pretty well – they’re not a fake, sparkling white which is actually a good thing! I’d also advise not to wear lipgloss or anything on your lips that will move around or stain as your fangs *will* rub against your lips.

For £9.50, I think these are a pretty good deal and even  with the hassle of fitting, and even if you only wear them once for your costume, I think they’re well worth it as they stay in place and look fab! For mass produced fangs I don’t think you’ll get better for your money.

Quickie Review: Soap and Glory Bright Here Bright Now

 

I picked this up on a buy two, get one free Soap and Glory offer a good while ago and it was a surprisingly good little find. I do like a bit of Soap and Glory, I must admit. Their scrubs and shower gels last for ages and are pleasingly enormous to boot!

Rather annoyingly, I believe Soap and Glory have changed a lot of their packaging, so if you’re looking for this in store, I think it’s now a white plastic tube. I actually prefer this sort of ‘metal’ tube as you can get every last bit out.

Bright Here, Bright Now is a soft golden champagne colour in a fairly thin, lotion-like formula which claims to  be ‘brightening, illuminating and radiance-boosting,’  have a ‘tightening and lifting effect’ and that it ‘minimises fine lines & wrinkles, moisturises, smoothes & energises.’

There are really mixed reviews of this product online, which as with any ‘skincare’ item is probably to be expected. The comment I’m seeing most is that it’s balling up/flaking off. It does have silicone in it, so you’re going to want to check what other products you’re using it with it, but I’ve never had that problem when using it at all and find it glides on easily and my foundations play well with it. The tightening claims though? Nah. I never buy into those claims past a temporary effect anyway, but I’ve certainly not noticed anything. However, I do find it lightly moisturising which is a bonus and I really, really like the brightening effect that it has.  I use it all over the face except the T-zone, and have even ran a little down the centre of my legs and my décolletage as well. It’s very subtle, and one of those things that someone else wouldn’t notice, but I do personally notice it and I really like it. Being so subtle on the face, it’s really hard to capture in photographs….

…See? You’d have no idea I was wearing it, but rest assured*I* did! A nice subtle illuminator is a mini confidence booster.

I’ve become really accustomed to wearing an illuminator under my foundation and this has become my go-to. I’ve been wearing it with Revlon Nearly Naked or Dr Jarts BB Cream for the last couple of months, and I’m interesting to see how it plays with Revlon Colorstay which is my winter foundation of choice.

For £12 this is a nice little product, and a nice find when many high street illuminators seem to be very pink! I really recommend this little lovely for winter, and if you keep your eye out in Boots, Soap and Glory are quite often on offer.

Quickie Review and Swatches: VIVO Colour Stain Lip Crayons

Once again, here’s a lip trend I seem to have missed the first time around! A little while ago everyone was cooing over this sort of style of twist-up lip crayons while I somehow managed to remain oblivious, so when Vivo Cosmetics very kindly sent me a few shades I was very interested to test them out indeed!

Much like the Clinique Chubby Sticks, these are nicely chunky twist-up pencils, with the packaging corresponding to the colour inside which I think is cute.

L-R: Miss Independent, Thing Called Love, Sweet Dreams, Wide Awake

‘Thing Called Love’ (left) reminded me of Viva Glam Cyndi (right) and I excitedly went to grab it to see if it was a dupe. As you can see VGC is less sheer and more pink, so not a dupe but certainly in the same family.

Wearing Sweet Dreams with Fyrinnae Equality on the lid, Kiko Color Explosion Multi Tone Blush in Active Mauve.

Overall, I really like these! I’m always on the lookout for sheerer lip products now I have a job where I have to be more conservative, and Thing Called Love is going straight in my handbag for work, it's that pretty! Sweet Dreams is a close second and a nice way to dip your toe into the berry trend for autumn if you're shy of all the vampy colours around at the moment. I also love that all the shades are named after songs and I’ve had Katy Perry stuck in my head all day!

I do think the name of the product is slightly misleading as I only found Sweet Dreams to stain and that was only a light stain. They’re certainly more of a tinted lipbalm than a stain and they’re actually pretty moisturizing – I’ve tried products like this that aren’t anything special in the moisturizing stakes despite being labelled a balm (*coughpinkBabylipscough*). The wear on these is reasonable – two or three hours which for this type of product is pretty decent – they’re not so balmy or glossy they’re going to slide right off but you’ll certainly need to keep it in your bag for applying after eating and drinking. They have a light minty scent not dissimilar to the OCC Lip Tars, but it fades on initial application.

These bad boys cost £3.99 and are available from vivocosmetics.co.uk where they have free worldwide shipping which I think is pretty good!

As always, where products are sent to me all views are still entirely my own.

Last-Minute Works-With-Everything Halloween Look

If you’re stuck for a Halloween makeup or you get invited to a party last minute, this look is super simple, works with anything spooky and will also work with using any colour scheme. It’s also still pretty and a bit sexy if you’re not into gory stuff. If you keep the eyes and lips the same colour it packs a punch, but doing the eyes just black with an unusual lip colour, like blue, green or a crazy purple, is pretty fun and one of those looks that if you’re not confident wearing bolder makeup, you can get away with more easily as it’s Halloween. You also only need two eyeshadows for the eye and lip look and if you *really* wanted, you could do this whole look with six products – a black eyeliner for your waterline, lipliner and brows, two eyeshadows (a dimensional or multitonal shadow for the eyes and lips, and one cooler neutral to contour a little) white or lighter foundation, mascara and a setting powder.

Eyes: Darling Girl Don’t Teal Me You Love Me applied with Inglot Duraline, Fyrinnae Futuristic Glamrock in centre of lid. Rimmel Brown Black eyebrow pencil, Maybelline gel liner in black. No-brand lashes from Savers.
Face: Illamasqua Skinbase in 01, Sugarpill Tako, cool matte brown from Inglot, MUA Undress Me highlighter, setting powder.
Lips: Blue kohl pencil from Barry M, Darling Girl DTMYLM, Fyrinnae Futuristic Glamrock

I started out with a medium coverage white foundation to pale out my face – just pale it down, not look clown white. I was taking it off after to go to the gym so didn’t want to take it down my neck too far, but I would if I was going out. Contour with a cool colour and use a white shadow to highlight to keep the look a bit ‘dead,’ and if you want a little shimmer be sure to use something cool-toned as well – Sugarpill Lumi would have been good for this look actually! Draw your brows darker and more angular, or with pointed ends for a more evil look, and if you want to, overline your lips as well because if you can’t go OTT on Halloween then when the fuck can you? For the eyes, I mixed a loose pigment with a mixing medium to give me some fluidity when drawing the shape, and then filled in the space with the same colour. I patted a little of a lighter shadow on the centre, slapped on some lashes and liner and then copied the colour scheme I used on the eyes for the lips and I was done! Really, really simple, the hardest part was getting the shape of the eyes and overlining the lips neatly, but you really don’t have to do that part, I just enjoy doing it when I can get away with it. The hair took me about 40 seconds so looks bloody shoddy but if I were going out a few minutes teasing the top,  slicking down the sides and running a flat iron through the ends would make a nice quick faux-hawky kind of look.

The best thing about this look is you can throw on any generic Halloween accessory and still look like you’ve made a bit of an effort because of the bold shapes and colours – kitty ears look cute stuck in a big quiff or fauxhawk, fangs and a quick bit of makeup on your neck for a vampire look is easy and works well, stripy witch tights with a cute black dress and clumpy shoes is spooky too. I much prefer to plan out my costumes and make an effort but let’s be honest, a lot of us don’t have the time or cash so it’s good to have something up your sleeve that’s quick and dramatic.

Keep your eyes peeled for a review of the fangs by the way – they’re awesome!

LOTD: Knickers In A Twist

I tidied all my pigments the other day and was instantly sad that I neglect them so much as I have some beautiful, beautiful colours! I threw on a couple for a warm, autumnal kind of look.

Eyes: Lid, OCC Loose Color Concentrate in Triptych. Crease and lower lashline, Fyrinnae Knickers In A Twist. Liner, Maybelline gel liner in brown (waterline), Collection2000 24/7 pen liner in Black. Lashes, Eyelure Naturalites.
Cheeks: Sleek Suede, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter, with Soap and Glory Bright Here Bright Now as a base.
Lips: NYX Round Lipstick in Saturn, blotted (thanks Kathy!)

I’ve waxed lyrical about OCC Triptych before. Go and get it.

And just for fun, here’s the outfit that I wore that day too. I was on a lovely shoot and wanted to look cute. The t shirt is from Hot Topic and is a present from my lovely friend Rachael who knows me all to well. The shoes are Topshop, cardigan/jacket is really old H&M and the leather swing skirt is from a random little ‘market’ shop.

 

I love this outfit and makeup and having worn literally nothing all week on my face and nothing exciting clothes wise, it felt good to throw on some lashes and some sparkly shoes!

Quickie Review: Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Birthday Suit

Man, I haven’t bought a Benefit product for about five years until this one. When I got my first student loan I went nuts on Benefit, and then I realised that I was horrible at makeup and I think that put me off buying from them for a long time. I still think they have a fair few gimmicky items but a recent trip to their new store on Carnaby Street had me lusting after a few things. I picked up one of the Creaseless Cream Shadows to wear at work and I went for the blogger favourite Birthday Suit while my lovely shopping companion picked up another favourite, Skinny Jeans.

The packaging is absolutely beautiful. This is the newer packaging for these products and it kicks the arse of the old black screw-top ones. It’s like a modern Art Deco look and very reminiscent of a lot of Paul and Joe products and the box it comes in is just lovely – I don’t want to throw it away so I’ve been keeping my stud earrings in it on my bedside table (I don’t like to sleep in earrings.) There are a few other things with this packaging in – a little clunky on the lipsticks but I prefer it to much of Benefits other packaging. More of this please Benefit!

This is a really interesting shade – it’s a taupey chrome sort of colour with warmer sparkle, so when you apply it sheerly, it’s a nice cool wash, and when you layer it, it becomes a little warmer. I don’t really know what drew me in to this colour but personally I think it’s very beautiful. I’ve been wearing it alone with a flick of liner for work and I’m really, really impressed with it’s longevity. The first time I wore this, I wore a sheer layer – I left for work at 6.30pm and when I got back around 7pm, I had just a tiny bit of creasing in the deepest part of the crease of my eye which I blended out with my finger, seeing me through until I went to bed. I wore a thicker layer the next day and noticed a little more creasing around 4pm, but nothing horrific. The colour itself is also one that doesn’t look horrific when it does crease, like a starker colour would. I only have a couple of MAC Paint Pots but I have a fair few Color Tattoos and I have to wear a primer with all of them if I want to wear them alone all day, and I’ve not felt the need to with this, so I’m very impressed! If the rest are this good, I would put them above the Color Tattoos easily.

Birthday Suit on the lid with a matte brown from MUA’s Undress Me Too palette in the crease.

I’m really pleased I bought this product and I’m pretty darn interested in getting some more. Skinny Jeans and No Pressure have got my name on them!

Creaseless Cream Shadows cost £15.50 and you can buy them from Benefit stores as well as the Debenhams and House of Fraser websites.