Stay Beautiful

Look Dump!

2012-02-13T11:39:00.001-08:00

First of all, sorry about my eyebrows! They need a bit of loving so I’m letting them revert to something close to their original stage so I can give them a wee re-shape.

I’ve been in a bit of a makeup rut lately, so I’ve only sporadically been doing any decent looks!

Lid, Darling Girl Whiskey on a Sunday, crease and lower lashline from Sleek Bohemian, brow highlight from Wet N Wild Lust palette.

If there’s one colour Darling Girl know how to do (apart from all of them), it’s golds. This is a perfect colour and crammed full of fuschia sparkles (which don’t show up, obviously.)

I’ll be buggered if I can remember what I used for this. I only know the blue glitter is Caribbean from Sleek. Quite pretty, but I wish I’d used falsies.

All shadows from Sleek Bohemian. Liner is Collection2000 Extreme 24/7 pen liner in black.

Sick of this palette, but expect to see a lot more of this yellow. I love yellow with my eye colour, and this look got me a few compliments which is always nice!

Brows and eyes: Sleek Bohemian. Waterline, Maybelline gel liner.

I was just playing around with the palette one night and thought the red would make a funky brow colour. It does, although I don’t like the look much.

Lid, Venomous Cosmetics Platypus over BeautyUK Metallic Sparks Eye Pencil in purple. Lower lashline, purple from Sleek Bohemian over Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Zero. Waterline, Benefit It Stick. Glitter liner, Collection2000 Glam Crystals in Va Va Voom.

Gotta love purple, right? The BeautyUK pencils are really bloody good, I really need to use them more often. Va Va Voom is probably my favouri

This is the eye look I wore to the ZOMG! bloggers bash. It’s a crappy picture and I can’t remember what I used, but it’s done now. On the internet, out of mind. Or something.

Moon Rabbit Cosmetics Review

2012-02-12T11:04:00.001-08:00

Moon Rabbit Cosmetics are brand new on the indie scene and I’ve got a few of their colours to show you.

How cute is the logo? I think Moon Rabbit is an adorable name and I really like the logo – it’s like something from an old, beloved children’s book, no?

L-R: Mayflowers , Six More Weeks of Winter, Punxsutawney Phil, Six Weeks til Spring.

With the exception of Mayflowers, the colours are from the Groundhogs Day set. Mayflowers is a sparkly light purple with gold and silver shimmers, lovely peachy nude satin colour which rubs down a little pinker when you blend it. Punxsutawney Phil is a deep chocolate colour with a matte base and some shimmer and Six Weeks til Spring is a lovely shimmery medium brown. I have to say I think this set is really well put together – three different finishes from a new company is very nice to see! Six More Weeks of Winter is my favourite of them all and is a lovely everyday sort of colour. Mayflowers reminds me a little of Darling Girl Wicked Game lipstick in eyeshadow form! I love neutrals but it’s so nice to see a brighter colour from them as well.

My samples (1/4 tsp., according to the site) came in sealed clamshells, which is excellent as sometimes they don’t travel well. A sample set of the Groundhogs Day collection is $3 with the full size set going for $12. I think this is pretty reasonable, although currently they’re only available in sets, with the Groundhogs Day trio and the Valentines quad available. Seeing as Mayflowers isn’t in either set, this seems to suggest more colours are on the horizon soon! I hope so, because I much prefer to buy colours alone and I think that offering singles is much more likely to make people try them.

I think the colours looks rather nice on! Lid, Six More Weeks of Winter. Lower lashline, Punxsutawney Phil. Crease, Six Weeks til Spring.

My only gripe with these is that Six More Weeks of Winter had quite a few lumps of unblended pigment in. It’s not exactly hard to blend out, but it’s still something I’d rather not have to bother with. I don’t really know the cause of this, so hopefully this was just a funny batch as the other three pigments are fine. Also the names were handwritten on the clamshells – I know a lot of new companies do this but I do hope that the logo manages to make its way on to the containers at some point (it’s so cute!) as well as some more information. Of course, I can’t comment on what the full sizes come with.

I’m quite interested to see where the company heads – the colours I’ve got are lovely and I’m really impressed with the different finishes. I’ve been using SMWoW a fair bit already! I’ll be keeping my eye on them.

Moon Rabbit is available here http://moonrabbitcosmetics.storenvy.com/

I received the products in this post for review. This will never will affect my opinions – my priority is giving my readers an honest review.

Sweet Delirium Photo Shoot

2012-02-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

This weekend I had a pretty funky little shoot, thought I’d share:

Model: Whiplash

Photographer: Darius Adamek

Jewellery: My Sweet Delirium

Pink look: Brows and shadows, Sleek Good Girl Palette, Kryolan mascara and Kryolan cake mascara as liner. Cheeks, MAC Coygirl, Benefit 10. Lips, Milani Rose Hip, 66 palette pink, Inglot Sleeks gloss (clear). Skin, Revlon Colorstay, Kiehls/Boots Botanics Skincare/

Darker look: Brows, Barry M Dazzle Dust in 66. Eyes, Inglot shadows, Maybelline gel liner, Kryolan mascara. Cheeks, MAC Coygirl. Lips, LA Colours Soft Plum, NYX Almost Black and purple gloss from 66 palette. Skin, Revlon Colorstay, Kiehls/Boots Botanics skincare.

Do you guys like this sort of post? I feel kind of funny posting them – it’s just a hobby, really. I mean, I take it seriously but I don’t want anyone to think I’ve got my head up my arse and think I’m a professional MUA or anything. One day maybe… a girl can dream, right? (Right?!) Anyway, it’s so much fun to do, and I’ve met so many lovely people. This model was really awesome – her tattoo is an enormous octopus :D

Project 10 Pan Update

2012-02-07T02:55:00.000-08:00

A couple of you asked for a report on how I was managing with Project 10 Pan. I've only broken my no-buy rule once for a Rockalily lipstick, and I feel terrible about it because I really didn't mean to do it! However, I have used up some stuff, hooray!

Here's what I was trying to use up:

1- Benefit 10. Hooray, this is finished! All gone! I only had a small portion of the bronzer left, which I used up really quickly. I'd been using the highlight both on the browbone and on the cheeks and I used it up two days ago, hooray! Rachael was lovely and sent me a replacement, as well!

2 – Enormous sample of Evil Shades in Lazy Daze. I've been using this as a lid colour a lot with the purple from the Sleek palette. There's not much left but it's taking forever to get though, it was a huge container, really.

3 - Inglot AMC Cream Foundation. Its hard to tell with this one how much you've used up as the bottle is totally opaque even when you hold it up to a lightbulb! I've been using it most days though - with the L'Oreal primer, it's really nice. It's making attractive spurting noises when I squeeze it now, so I think it's nearly on it's way out.

4 – Gosh Velvet Touch Lipstick in Darling. I've not touched this, because it's vile. I need to maybe do a big Lip Maths post with it.

5 – Dr Lewinns Eye Recovery Complex. I used the last splodge yesterday! I've been religiously using it every night. Must find a replacement!

6 – Darling Girl Holo Gloss in Gold Finger. Gone! I pulled the rubber stopper out and got as much as I could. I wore this on a few nights out and it went quite quickly. Might have to get this one again though, I'll miss it.

7 – Primark Well Licked Gloss in Sorbet. I. Am. Sick. Of. This. Gloss. There's still a third left. I think I might throw it in a fire before I finish it, I'm that bloody sick of it. At least I've made a dent in it, I suppose.

8 –Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero. Not used that often, but I've sharpened it two or three times, so.. it's getting more use than it was before.

9 -Fyrinnae Glow blush in Charm. All gone! Used it in conjunction with Benefit 10 solidly at the start of the project and it went within a week. I have so many neon-rose type coloured blushes that it just needed to go.

10 – Sleek Bohemian Palette. Why did I do this to myself?! Why? It's a nightmare! But I've used up a whole shade! Whee! It's a bit of a dodgy photo, but the brown has a decent dent in it as does the black, and I'm making nice progress on the yellow. There's another coppery shade which is just clinging to the outside of the pan and the whole of the circle on the bottom of the pan is showing through as well. It's madness that I put a whole palette on here.. so I've decided when I use up two more colours, that'll do for me! Some in here are awful - I'd never use the navy or the black up, ever. I'll depot the ones that are left that I like and chuck the rest, the palette really is beyond repair now.

I've been so busy I've not had much time for blogging, and I've been a little bit sick as well, so no fancy makeup for me, really! Hopefully I'll get back on schedule soon. And because this was a horrible all-text post, here's a video of a Slow Loris with a tiny umbrella.

Quickie Review: Rockalily lipstick in Mae Hem

2012-02-04T12:42:00.001-08:00

Mae West once said ‘I generally avoid temptaion unless I can’t resist it,’ a fitting quote for this blog post! I fell utterly in love with this limited edition Rockalily lipstick at the ZOMG! bloggers bash and knew I had to have it. It’s limited edition, so I snapped it up as soon as it came online. (I broke my no-buy without even thinking about it until afterwards, I feel awful!)

I didn’t take another picture of the lovely packaging, but you can see it here.

Eyes: MoonRabbit Cosmetics Groundhog Day Collection.
Cheeks: MAC Style, Benefit 10.
Lips: Rockalily Mae Hem.

It’s a beautiful bright matte orange-red - somewhat similar to MAC Lady Danger, but with more of a pinky undertone, perhaps. It doesn’t dry down to a matte finish immediately – a quick blot will sort that out if it bothers you - but it’s one of the more comfortable mattes I’ve ever worn.

Rockalily is famous for its fast delivery, which is excellent for when you need a lipstick fix! They are – to me at least – pretty bloody expensive at £14 each, and they’re certainly a bit of a treat for me rather than a regular lippy purchase. I think in my old age I have enough lipstick that I don’t mind forking out for one I really want, as opposed to buying 8,000 cheaper ones. I digress. The quality is fantastic and the colours are gorgeous, if not super unique. I’m a fan at any rate – Hot Rod Red is next on my list when I have a bit of pocket money to spare.

January Favourites!

2012-02-02T10:06:00.000-08:00

I done did a video!

Boots Botanics Organic Face Nourishing Eye Makeup remover (£4.07)
L'Occitane Turkish Rose Hand Cream (was with Marie Claire a while ago, regularly £7.50.)
L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer (around £11)
MAC Sheertone blush in Peaches (£17.50)
Illamasqua Vapour matte eyeshadow (£15.50, but it was a gift)
MUA Professional Eye Primer (£2.50)
NYX Mega Shine lipgloss in Chandelier (no idea of the £, sorry!)
Color Club Holiday Splendor (gift!)
China Glaze Snowglobe (again a gift!)
MUA 3-in-1 (£1.50)
Boots are from Migato.

Hope you liked! The Makeup Heroes is a collab between me and a bunch of other bloggers, so please check out our channel and we will love you and give you kisses :D

#ZOMGbloggersbash!

2012-01-31T02:51:00.000-08:00

(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!

2012-01-29T05:21:00.001-08:00

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’

2012-01-28T03:02:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-25T11:55:00.001-08:00

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!)

2012-01-24T02:54:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-23T11:41:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-21T05:03:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-19T03:12:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-17T08:32:00.001-08:00

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?

Green With Envy LOTD

2012-01-16T09:05:00.001-08:00

Hi y’all! I’m back from my holiday – I had an awesome time snowboarding in Italy, eating lots of cake, cheese and pizza and twatting about on the mountain. Thankyou to my guest bloggers Rachael and RaeRae for holding the fort for me – please go and check out their fabby and marvellous posts if you've not already.

Todays look is for the weekly showcase that Wendi hosts in her Facebook group Never Too Much Sparkle – the theme is Green With Envy. I had some new Jessies Girl pigments from Wendy (Sheesh, how many bloggers can I name drop in one post?!) that I hadn’t played with yet so it was a perfect excuse!

I like my face better this way. Deal with it.

Eyes: Lid,Jessie’s Girl Pure Pigment Eye Dust in Majestic Green . Crease, Jessie’s Girl Pure Pigment Eye Dust in Key Lime. Upper crease, Jessie’s Girl Pure Pigment Eye Dust in Antique Green . Highlight, Jessie’s Girl Pure Pigment Eye Dust in . Lower lashline, Wet N Wild Colour Icon liner in Green, Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Stoic. Liner, Collection 2000 Extreme 24/7 liner in black, MUA Glitter liner.
Lips: Wet N Wild Megalast Lipstick in Ravin’ Raisin
Cheeks: Evil Shades blush in Violet Skies

I’m loving these Jessie’s Girl Pigments – cute colours and super finely milled. I’ve seen lots of people on blogs and YT using Pixie Dust as a highlight and it’s easy to see why – it’s a perfect light gold.None of my pictures really show – this look photogrpahed horribly – but I was going for a sort of double crease thing. Ah well.

What are your favourite green eyeshadows?

MAC Red and Orange Matte Lipsticks Swatches

2012-01-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

Scheduled post today, kids, I’ll be back on Sunday!

I love MAC Matte lipsticks, so I thought I’d do a quick comparison of the orange/reds I have, mainly to convince myself I do NOT need any more.

Lady Danger

Lady Danger is a super bright tomato red. It’s only available in pro stores which is such a shame as it’s beautiful. I really don’t get why this isn’t more widely available.

So Chaud

So Chaud indeed! A bright red-leaning orange. It’s definitely orange to my eyes, although I see a lot of people list it as a red. If you’re scared of orange but would like to give it a go, well… this is really in your face, so I don’t think it would help with the fear factor but it is stunning. Obsessed with this colour.

Russian Red

Classic red, leaning blue-based. Lovely pin-up colour and I think it would suit a lot of people. I need to wear this colour much more than I do!

Such Flare!

Very Similar to Russian Red, but somewhat brighter. On the lips it looks more pink that RR to me, but looking at them together I’m not so sure. This was LE from the Glitter and Ice collection but you don’t need it if you have Russian Red already.

Viva Glam 1

Not too bright, not too dark – slightly brick-toned, perhaps? For a good cause and in my opinion will suit almost everyone. No arguments!

L-R: So Chaud, Lady Danger, Such Flare!, Russian Red, Viva Glam 1.

I need to stop buying lipsticks that are all the same :/

Guest Post: RaeRae from Red Lipstick, Black Liner

2012-01-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hi all! I'm RaeRae from Red Lipstick and Black Liner and I'm guest posting for Robyn today!

I did this look special like for Robyn's blog :)

EYES
Sleek 'Curaco' palette- shimmery white (inner corner) and matte black (crease)
Matte white (brow bone)
Maybelline Lasting Drama gel liner
Rimmel Professional brow pencil in Dark Brown
Boots 17 Wild Curls mascara

CHEEKS
Meow Wild Child blush in 'Meow'

LIPS
Sleek Pout Paint in 'Peachy Keen'

Hope you all like it! Thanks Robyn for letting me take over for the day :D

Guest Post: MUA Glamour Night Swatches by Rachael from The Beauty Spot

2012-01-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! I’m on holiday, so please welcome Rachael from The Beauty Spot as my guest blogger today! She makes me giggle and has beautiful swatches, so please go and check out her blog :)

Hiya Peeps,
I recently picked up a few MUA palette's and the first one I have to share is the Glamour Nights selection :)
I wasn't going to pick these up until I saw a review on another blog and really for £4 you can't go too far wrong

All swatched dry no primer.

This is a really pretty palette with some really fun pops of colour to keep me happy. The hot pink is especially lovely and refused to be photographed nicely, my other favourite is the green :) it's a real shame these have no shade names but I understand MUA are introducing names going forward and will eventually backdate (they used a number system before) so everything is named which I'm all for!

There were only really a couple of duds in these 12 shades, the 2nd shade on the first row (purple) was dry and lacked pigmentation which is odd as the majority of the palette is very pigmented and easy to use :| Oh well you can't have everything right! Also the first shade (white) could be a bit more pigmented but I guess that is more personal taste.

Would I recommend this palette? Totally for £4 the quality far outweighs any issue with one or two shades. Also if this palette doesn't float your boat there are lots to choose from, I'm trying to collect them Pokemon style :P I have heard rumours that the Heaven and Earth palette is a good Urban Decay Naked substitute but I haven't tried it myself.

MUA now have a website (HUZZAH!) and you can buy from them here they also offer International shipping however it's not exactly cheap but at least the option is there.
Next up will be the Glamour Days palette :)

Detrivore Cosmetics: Swatches and Looks

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

Wendi of Makeup Zombie did a beautiful swatch-fest of Detrivore Cosmetics shadows a while back, and I decided it was high time I checked the company out. I was feeling a little poor as it was just before Christmas so I just ordered a few samples. Shipping/TAT was all pretty quick considering I ordered just before Christmas/after Black Friday. Sample bags were $1 and I got two free samples and a coupon code for my next order was included as well. Each baggie has an ingredients list, as well as shadow name, number, and a cute symbol of a creature/scissors to denote the type as well. All really well labelled and packaged securely, so lovely jubbly.

Anyway… onto the shadows!

L-R: Vulture, Midas, Vile, Nymph, Vacancy.

L-R: Dust Bunny, Gorgon, Lobotomy (highlight shade) Leviathan.

L-R: Tommyknocker (matte), Creature (matte, free sample), Bone (matte, free sample), Apocalyptic (blush.)

I’m so sorry for the messy swatches… I did this super quick while the sun was out :|

Lovely, huh? Overall, I really like these colours. The mattes are fantastic, and I’m really pleased that I got a sample of Bone as I think a good white matte shadow is never a bad thing to have. Vulture, Midas and Vile are my favourites, and Dust Bunny is very pretty as well. Some shades aren’t as bright as I thought from the website photos, like Vacancy and Nymph, but it’s not a big deal – different monitors, settings, blah blah. Let’s move on to some looks:

Yes, I’ve done this look before with different shadows! I loved this look.Midas on the inner lid, Vile on the outer lid, a mix of the two on the lower lashline and Vulture in the crease with a tiny bit of Lobotomy to highlight. I might do a tutorial on this look?

This look I didn’t like so much. Dust Bunny on the lid, Creature on the lower lashline and Gorgon in the crease with Bone to highlight.

Tommyknocker on the lid, Lobotomy to highlight and also mixed with my foundation, Leviathan on the lower lashline. Evil Shades Devilista on the lid. How nice is Tommyknocker?

Overall… a great themed shop with beautiful shadows. The mattes are well worth a look, everything applied and blended easily. Great variety in the shop (I’ll be checking out the perfumes soon!) and everything is excellently labelled. 5 out of 5!

Have you tried Detrivore? Any recommendations for me?

Quickie Review: Illamasqua Lipstick in Fetish

2012-01-04T01:06:00.001-08:00

I took advantage of the recent Illamasqua sale as I’d never bought any of their products before and thought it was high time I did. I just picked up the one lippy, even though I really wanted Sangers I was planning on picking up some red MAC lipsticks so I was good!

Stunning packaging. Not quite as sturdy as I was expecting, but hardly flimsy. I know packaging shouldn’t really be that appealing and it should be about the product, but come on. That’s nice!

Absolutely stunning, beautiful matte pink-ish purple. I mean, shit son, that is gorgeous. Sadly the formula does not live up to the colour. You know when you open a tube and the bullet looks a little waxy, and you get that sinking feeling? Yeah. It’s not impossible to work with, but the lipstick does cling to itself when you apply it, so it’s hard to get even, and it’s pretty dry. If you like applying your lipsticks with a brush, there’s no way in hell I think you could transfer this onto one. I’d recommend prepping your lips thoroughly and warming this up a tad on the back of your hand.

I’m not too miffed about this because it *is* workable, I only paid £7.50 as opposed to the regular price of £15.50. I’m going to pick up another lipstick before the sale ends. Just to compare, of course.

If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the regular price, Sleek Mystic might do the trick, although it's much brighter and a little pinker.

For more lovely, lovely swatches of Illamasqua Lipsticks and Illamasqua Intense Lipglosses on the best lips in Eng-er-land, head over to Lillians blog

One lipstick, two looks

2012-01-02T10:26:00.001-08:00

I bought MAC’s So Chaud a few weeks ago and it’s become a very dear friend of mine. It’s a bright matte red-orange (I think it leans more orange most of the time) and I love it! I’ve mostly been wearing it with my Inglot neutral eyeshadows. I’m a bad blogger and can’t be bothered to work out the individual colour numbers for the eyes, but let me know if you *really* want to know and I will try and work it out.

Look 1:

Eyes: Inglot shadows, Eyelure lashes. Cheeks, Sleek Suede. Lips, MAC So Chaud.

By ‘eck, I were dead pleased with this look. I don’t normally do this shape with my eyeshadow but I think I might do it again soon. Yay or nay?

Look 2:

Eyes: Inglot shadows, Collection 2000 Extreme 24/7 pen liner, Collection 2000 Glam Crystals in Rock Chick . Cheeks, Sleek Suede and Accessorize Pretty Pink. Lips, Mac So Chaud.

Wheeee, glitter! I was quite happy with how this look turned out even though it was a simple one.

What’s your favourite orange lipstick?

Happy New Year! LOTN and my new tattoo!

2012-01-01T05:51:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, one and all! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Years – mine was awesome. We had a Murder Mystery party last night, swapped Secret Santa presents and proceeded to get rather tipsy. 2011 didn’t really do it for me, so I’m looking forward to this year!

Here’s my look from last night – I didn’t really want to do the traditional all-out glitter look, so I, er, didn’t.

Eyes: Lid, crease and highlight shades from Sleek Storm Palette. Waterline, Kiko Longlasting Stick Eyeshadow in 10. Lashlines, Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Superior. Upper lashline, MAC glitter in Reflects Black.
Cheeks: MUA Blusher Shade 2, Accessorize Baked Blusher in Pretty Pink
Lips: Barry M lipliner in 102, Hard Candy Glossaholic in Lush

I loved this look – gutted it was dark by the time I finished it, as I couldn’t get a decent eye closeup.

I can’t be bothered to do a whole post of all the lovely stuff I got for Christmas, but here are a few goodies that I got! I also got a lovely pair of boots from my fiancé which will be in an OOTD very soon.

Betsey Johnson octopus from my sister! HOW CUTE IS HE?!

Iron Fist ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ shoes from my Mummy and Daddy. (Ha ha, you have to look at my feet!)

And my Christmas present to me, a Stay Beautiful tattoo! It’s on the inside of my upper left arm. It didn’t hurt too bad and only took about 20 minutes to boot! And yes, it *is* my blog name, but I didn’t get it because of that. I named my blog for my favourite Manic Street Preachers song. If you like your men covered in paint and paying guitars, you’re welcome:

New MUA Lip Products

2011-12-29T13:48:00.001-08:00

Just a super quick post today to show you a couple of the new additions to the MUA line!

MUA Lipstick in, Nectar £1

Oh yes, my friend. MUA are naming all of their new products, and they told me on Twitter that all the old products will probably get renamed at some point as well! Hurrah, hooray and woo-hoo! Anyway, on to the product at hand. Nectar is a glossy, sheer orange-peach – more like a colourful tinted balm. Lovely everyday colour, I’ve been wearing this quite a lot – it live in my handbag as its quite nice for an emergency lip colour.

MUA Out There Plumping Lipgloss in Sienna, £2.

Another gorgeous peachy colour, this one is a tad brighter and leans a little more pink than Nectar. It is a plumping gloss, so you do get that annoying sting, although this doesn’t have any mintyness to it. You only get a small amount on the applicator, which is a bit of a pain in the bum, but overall this is gorgeous and well worth the two quid!

MUA Lipstick in Juicy, £1.

Juicy is a bright peachy-pink cream. A little lighter than I’d normally go for, but this would look lovely with a dark smokey eye, no? I’d recommend a lip scrub before this one – my lips were dry as balls when I took this swatch photo.

I love MUA, I really do. A lunchtime beauty fix without making my wallet cry is always a good thing, especially when the products are actually nice! They did release 3 new lipsticks and I think the other one is called Bare, but I couldn’t find it in store, boo!

( International ladies and ladies who have a crappy Superdrug, you can now order online at www.muastore.co.uk. If you make an order before the 3rd of January and you spend £8, you get the enormous Immaculate Collection palette free with it! )

Sleek Bohemian Purple Love

2011-12-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

Hey y'allll! Did you have a good Christmas/equivalent? Mine was awesome and I was quite spoiled - shall I do a Christmas 'haul'?

My Sleek Bohemian palette is on its last legs – the mirror is hanging off, it’s covered in stains on the outside and I’ve hit pan on 3 of the shadows, so I’m trying to use it up. If you see me with odd, cool-toned brows its because I’m using the brown as a brow powder, ha ha! Recently, I’ve been obsessed with the purple in the palette, so here are a few looks with it.

The lid colour, the purple and the crease colour are all from the Bohemian palette. The green glitter is Aromaleigh Spooky, the lips are Darling Girl Wicked Game and the cheeks are Stila Self-Adjusting Coral and BeautyUK Peaches and Cream. I really liked this look!

Same brown and purple from before in the crease, and purple on the lower lashline. The glitter on the lid is the prettiest lilac-green-gold iridescent, and it’s from Wet n Wild. Loooove. Lips are Darling Girl Poison Plum and cheeks are MUA Blusher in shade 2. I’ll be re-doing this look with a stronger crease and lashes soon.

Same purple, some of the same brown in the crease, and the cranberry lid colour is from Bohemian palette too. No so in love with the shape but ohmalawwwwd, this has got to be one of my favourite colour combinations ever. Love. I can’t remember what was on my cheeks or lips.. some peachy things.

Thanks for reading!

Avril Lavigne ‘Smile’ inspired tutorial

2011-12-23T05:38:00.000-08:00

One last post before Christmas can't hurt, right?

May the powers that be forgive me for this. I’m not really a big fan of Avril Lavigne (I should say I’m really not a big fan) but the makeup for the video ‘Smile’ looked pretty damn cool – grungy liner with a blob of green glitter in the middle of the lids. If you have hooded eyes, this is pretty cool as you can’t see much when your eye is open (depending on your eyeshape, of course) but when you look down you see all the good stuff!

So that's a loose interpretation of this look…

… except I went with a neon shadow AND glitter rather than just glitter, and did the liner more to my liking. I should have gone with a peachier lip, but whatever. I also kept my brows as dark as I normally would, although I love Avrils brows in that photo. Let’s go!

1) Prime your lid and, on the outer half of your crease, apply a light layer of cream eyeshadow as a base in a rough circle. Don’t make it too high, you want it to kind of hide in your crease a bit.

2) Over the top, pack on a neon green – or any colour! – eyeshadow. Mine is from Sleek Acid Palette.

3) Now take a kohl pencil and draw your eyeliner on, keeping the line thicker on the outer half of the eye.

4) With some black eyeshadow on a pencil brush, smudge out that line, taking care to meet the bottom of your green patch without disturbing it.

5) Wing the shadow out at the outer corner – it should kind of frame the green splodge now.

6) If you want a bit more ooomph, go across the lashline with a dark iridescent liner. I used Style by FashionistA, but you could skip this step if you want as it’s quite a grungy look.

7) Take the same kohl and line your lower lashline, again concentrating on the outer part of the eye.

8) Smudge the liner with black eyeshadow again – you can go as nuts and as dark as you want here as Avril Lavigne wears a lot of black on her lower lashline. It just it doesn’t suit me so much! – and wing it out in the corner again. You could join it up, but I just thought this was fun!

Add black gel liner to your waterline.

9) When you’re all smudged and luverly, put some Pixie Epoxy/glitter glue on top of your blob, and put some co-ordinating glitter on.

10) Finish up with mascara and eyebrows. I didn’t use a brow or inner corner highlight as I didn’t want it to look too ‘polished’, but you can if you want.

Add some false lashes if you want and you’re done with the eyes! I finished up with a peachy-nude blusher and a nude gloss, but you could go pink or peach just as easily.

Thanks for reading!

Look Dump!

2011-12-21T10:01:00.001-08:00

Last week, I tried to make sure I wore a different style of makeup every day as I’ve been in a bit of a rut, and very lazy in the mornings. The photo-taking part didn’t work out so well, but hey!

Monday:Colourful.

Eyes: Darling Girl Wisteria Cloud on lid, purple from Sleek Bohemian in crease.
Cheeks: Probably Darling Girl Fuji. Lips, probably Silk Natural Pretty Please.

Tuesday: Neutral.

Eyes: FashionistA Gel Liner in Dressed Down Cool. Cheeks, Darling Girl boardwalk. Lips, MUA Nectar.

Wednesday: Smoky.

Eyes: Sleek Sparkle Palette. Cheeks, Beauty Uk Baked Blush in Peaches and Cream. Lips, Inglot Sleeks Cream in.

Alright, it’s not that smokey, but hey, it’s dark, that’ll do.

Thursday: Retro

Cheeks: MAC Stereo Rose. Lips, Silk Naturals Bombshell.

Note to self: Silica powder does NOT photograph well, or like my dry skin! Fail.

Friday:Funky.

Liner: From Sleek Sparkle, and Collection2000 VaVaVoom. Teal mascara also Collection 2000.

Fail of a look, I couldn’t get a single good photo of my make-up but it looked SO cool in real life!

Saturday I am doing a seperate post on, and Sunday was my Kiara look. So maybe Thursday and Tuesday were a bit too similar, but it felt nice to give myself a challenge!

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Kiara from Lion King 2.

2011-12-18T04:28:00.001-08:00

A very loosely interpreted Disney look for you this week as I’m off to a Christmas lunch and didn’t want to go looking too literally like a cartoon lion cub. As awesome as that would be, I don’t think after the amount of wine and food I am about to consume it would look so great! I actually love The Lion King 2, I know a lot of people don’t. ‘Deceeeeption…disgraaaaaaaaace…!’ Awesome.

Eyes: Lid, Inglot Pearl 402. Lower lashline, Inglot shine 07. Crease… doy, idk. A matte chocolate inglot shade. Maybelline gel liner, Maybelline One By One mascara. Brow colour from Sleek Bohemian.
Cheeks: Sleek Suede blush
Lips: Rimmel Vintage Pink

All the lions have really cool eyes – they look like they have thick liner on, almost, and the eye sockets are really defined, with a lighter colour on the bottom and a darker colour on the top. So, that’s kind of what I did – a taupey lid, a gold lower lashline and arabic-style liner, which I’m loving on me at the moment. And because its Christmas, a little bit of gold glitter in there as well.

We’re keeping it strictly Lion Kin themed, and I gave Vijaya Timon to do for her character this week, so go and check her out!

Sorry I’ve not posted much the last week or some, but I’ve been hella busy. I have some swatches, looks and a tutorial for you this week though, promise!

MUA Glamour Days Palette: Swatches and looks

2011-12-13T09:41:00.001-08:00

MUA have really been impressing me at the moment. I grabbed a few bits and bobs a week or so ago – including their £2 eye primer which is amazing – and I’ve been really enjoying the Glamour Days palette.

‘Tis already well loved!

I think this particular palettes shades are very well put together for such an inexpensive palette. That they’ve put that bright blue in there with all the brown/gold tones makes it a winner for me as I love a pop of blue with a neutral look. The two matte browns and the matte pink highlight help make it really versatile. If you’ve got darker hair, the dark brown could possibly even be used as a brow powder, as well as adding depth and definition without being as harsh as black – so perfect for work or a daytime look. I’ve used this palette tons already:

Pretty versatile, huh? All the shadows used for these looks are from the palette. The second to last look I used the dark brown as a brow powder as well. I’m in love with the aqua and gold shade from the top row, as well as the burgundy/copper colour. Really nice selection, I think. FYI, all these looks are just over regular primer, not a creamy base,

MUA palettes are sold for £4. Four quid. I think these are an absolute bargain – the quality is just the same as their very popular single shadows which are £1, and the palettes contain 12 shades. It’s a no brainer really. The only negative is that the palette is a little flimsy, but my others have survived the handbag test and hey, £4.

Have you tried MUA? What's your favourite bargain brand?

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Peter Pan!

2011-12-11T07:32:00.001-08:00

I can never work out if Peter Pan is a hero or a little shit. I’m erring on the side of ‘little shit,’ but on the other hand, he does have a pretty awesome hat.

Behold the look for which I have no good pictures:

Derp derp derp, sideways derp.

Eyes: Lid/lower lashline, green from Sleek Acid. Crease, Ulta Olive Gold, Wet N Wild Envy. Liner, red matte gel liner from Inglot, Collection 2000 Extreme 24/7 pen liner in black. Waterline, NYX Milk. Highlight, green from MUA Pretty Pastels.
Cheeks: BeautyUk baked blush in Peaches and Cream, Darling Girl Boardwalk
Lips: Morgana Cryptoria Bees Knees

Apart from the fact I struggled to take photos of this look (cheers for raining, England) as well as the fact that I *couldn’t* take too many photos of it because my stupid memory card is being stupid, I realy, really liked this look. Red liner, green eyeshadow and orange lipstick? I don’t think this could be more me!

I gave Vijaya Gurgi from The Black Cauldron to do this week, because he is sooo cute – “Munching and crunchings!” – and because The Black Cauldron rocks. So go check that out!

Busy bee, me! Fashion shoot and Circus makeup.

2011-12-08T12:35:00.001-08:00

Last week I had a super busy weekend – up at the crack of stupid o’clock to do a fashion shoot and then off to do the circus.

Model: Karen Tsui
Photographer: Peter Culka
Stylist: Pash
Designer: Martyna DArgiewicz
MUA: Me

Karen, the model, invited me along to a shoot for Theory of E, a new label, at Canary Wharf. All the clothes were so versatile – one top could be turned upside down and worn as harem pants – and all based from one print. We shot the film, for which I did more natural makeup on Karen and then did a purple and hot pink look for some snaps in the afternoon. I’ve worked with Karen before and had met her previously on group shoots before that – she is so lovely and it’s so nice to work with her. And she’s a great model, of course.

When I was all done, I nipped on the tube to Aircraft Circus which was having a weekend of circus, cabaret and family events for charity. My friend Kat who does aerial hoop asked me to come along and help with the makeup – I didn’t even end up doing hers! Anyway, I had to design for two acts, sexy fire girls on the static trapze and whales/seals for silks. Because there were a lot of performers and not a lot of time, I had to work out easy designs that I could show step-by-step:

It’s really hard trying to instruct people who don’t wear makeup well enough that they could do it on their own! I tried to do clear step-by-step, list the products for each step and write instructions on the bottom. I used Kryolan greasepaints, the 120 palette and other various bits and bobs like Sleek blushes and Pout Paints and Kryolan glitters.

This is my male whale!

How rubbish that that photo? It doesn’t show the barnacles or glitter at all, or the awesome costume. I didn’t get any good photos of my performers– the dressing room was in the area where they do their yoga and was really bloody dark for makeup application! The show itself was pretty dark too, but there was a photographer so I’ll post photos when I have some. Anyway, even though it was three nights of go, go, go (one night I did all three fire girls, my two whales, touched up and tweaked the seal, put some makeup on the band as well as the very sexy and awesome baton-twirling guy… and added some glitter here and there all in just over 90 minutes!) I’d really love to do it again!

Phew. I’m still knackered!

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Zeus!

2011-12-06T12:10:00.001-08:00

The Disney version of Hercules is SO underrated. The songs are just… amazing. And the Fates crack me right up. ‘WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THESE SCISSORS?!’

Anyway, Zeus is in it, and he is awesome, though in all honesty he needs to tone down the fake tan.

Eyes: Lid, tan from Sleek Bohemian. Crease, lower lashline and brow lightlight, MUA Glamour Days palette. Inner lower lashline, Silk Naturals Checkered.
Cheeks: Almay Blush in 130 Peach
Lips: Kiko Supergloss

Sorry for the lack of pictures, they nearly ALL came out blurry, I was in such a rush! Anyway, you get the idea. I wish I’d gone more all out and bold with this colour scheme because Zeus in the film is a very in-yo-face character, but it was a work day where I had overslept. If I did this again I would have extended the lid colour into a big neutral wing and shove some falsies on, at least, and used a pink instead of a peach blush.

The earrings are from Callooh and Callay :)

I gave Vijaya the Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood, my favourite childhood Disney film, so swing on by and have a look!

Double Whammy

2011-12-02T15:41:00.001-08:00

So, you know how it is. You get the makeup out, you start messing around.

You do the same on the eye but in different colours. You put drag queen lashes on.

You go out and buy milk.

All shadows 120 palette. Red and yellow gel liner, Inglot. Gold glitter, from eBay. Aqua glitter from Gosh. Double lashes from Eyelure.

I did not, in fact, go out and buy milk. I just went to the gym.

FashionistA Fashion Secret Gel Liners

2011-11-30T14:12:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-28T10:26:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-11-27T02:44:00.001-08:00

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’

2011-11-25T11:20:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-20T13:52:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-19T14:41:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-16T10:33:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-11-15T04:28:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-13T05:13:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-11T16:31:00.001-08:00

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?!

Take some makeup, add some more…

2011-11-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Understated, yes? One shadow, one liner, glitter on brows and in lashes.

A nice shimmery highlight, some more glitter over the existing liner.

Some nail art sparkly things… yes, let’s pop some of those on.

Enormous gold lashes? Why the frack not?

And some MOAR glitter! Okay, I probably could have done 2 pairs of lashes, and more glitter, and some different sized glitter, but hey. That’s a LOT of stuff. The lashes are pretty cool, no? They look like quail feathers, perhaps. Alright, so this look was a mental mishmash, but I hope to work out a more wearable look with blue brows and I’m sure I’ll be using little sequins again soon!

Products used: Sugarpill Goldilux, gold from Wet N Wild Dancing in The Clouds trio, Barry M Kohl Pencil in Navy (brows), Ulta Gel Liner in Ink, Sleek Dip It! Glitter Liner in Carribbean, nail art flowers from the £ shop, gold nail glitter from eBay, FE215 feather lashes sent for review from kkcenterhk.com . (These lashes were *really* long, by the way! I wish I'd kept the portion I'd chopped off and used them on the outer corners. Oh well :( )

Cheeky 10% off at kkcenterhk.com? Enter BLGA143RO10 at checkout.

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Jiminy Cricket

2011-11-07T01:47:00.000-08:00

Ah, Jiminy Cricket! The best character in Pinocchio by far (apart from maybe Cleo, but she’s a fish hussy, let’s face it), I love his little hat and dedication to his job. I was totally stumped on what to do for Jiminy – his skin is a kind of an odd grey-green colour, and there are a lot of colours in his outfit, so it could have ended up a bit of a mess. Anyway, I decided to keep it simple and this is what I came up with.

Eyes: Crease, light blue from Sleek Circus. Lid, Fyrinnae Damn Paladins. Liner and brow highlight, black and white from Sleek Circus. Gold on lower lashline, Sugarpill Goldilux (over black.)
Cheeks: Stila Custom Color blush in Coral
Lips: Wet n Wild Megalast lipstick in 903C (blotted)

I went with a soft blue for his top hat, black liner for his jacket, and a greeny-taupe for his skin. I snuck in a touch of gold on the lower lashline to represent the shiny gold badge the Blue Fairy gives him.

Not too sure what I think of this look but it was a tough one! Be sure to pop along to Fierce Nerditude and check out Vijaya’s Princess Tiana look!

What’s in my bag?

2011-11-05T05:49:00.001-07:00

There *will* be some better makeup posts this coming week, I promise! But I always love reading these posts, so, here is the crap that’s in my bag (minus fluff, lint, reciepts, sweet wrappers and ‘lady things.’) Hooray!

Oyster card – Glass nail file (Kiko) – Tiny Pooh Bear (?) - Business card holder with mine and others business cards (Paperchase) – Red Head matchbook holder (with bobby pins, gift from Kathy) – Shitty old Sony Ericsson phone – Kindle in chavvy zebra print case - £1.50 loose change – Hello Kitty Mirror (Claires Accessories) – Keys (with only 2 keys and 5 keyrings! The Ariel one was a present from Rachael) – Milani Oran-Gina lipstick, Silk Naturals Pretty Please lipstick, The Morbid The Merrier solid perfume in Natali, Darling Girl mini lotion bar in Basmati – Nurofen (for my shitty wisdom teeth) – Old as fuck makeup bag (with mascara, blush, face powder, red lipstick or two, Bonjela (?) – Leopard print pen – Moomin wallet

And my bag itself is the very swanky Barbarella from Aspinal of London (it was a present from some customers at work, it’s way too fancy for me to buy it myself! ) If I’m not using this bag I’m normally using this Iron Fist bag or this cherry/gingham Betsey Johnson bag.

What’s in your handbag?

Lots of liner

2011-11-03T15:26:00.001-07:00

Some days I just can’t really be bothered to faff around with primers and bases and blending in the morning, plus I have new eyeshadows that I don’t want to try out until I have the time to do them justice!

Eyes: Collection 2000 Extreme pen liner in Purple, Sleek Dip It! Glitter Liner in Diablo, MUA Intense Glitter Pencil in Pink Sparkle.
Cheeks: Stila Custom Color blush
Lips: Darling Girl Audrey

Ooooh, hello Grandma face!

Eyes: Collection2000 Extreme Liner Pen in Teal, Fyrinnae Electric Stardust, MUA Intense Colour liner in Forest Green.
Cheeks: Stila Custom Colour in Coral
Lip: Evil Shades Deviant Lipstick in Primrose Path

The Collection2000 and the MUA liner are two of my favourite green liners!

Eyes: Kiko Shadestick in 10, Ulta gel liner in Ink. MUA Intense Glitter Pencil in Silver Sparkle
Cheeks: Stila Custom Color in Coral
Lips: Silk Naturals Kisser Slick in Nectar

From granny face to ‘slept in a coffin’ face. Sigh.

What are some of your favourite liners? Do you ever skip shadows in favour of funky liner?

Stila Custom Color Blush in Pink and Coral–Swatches and Review

2011-11-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

I’ve been pissed off – irrationally – with Boots for some time now. Urban Decay withdrew from Boots stores a couple of months ago (hence the irrationality – my anger should really be directed at Urban Decay) and I was fuming because I was saving my Advantage Card points to pick up an UD palette. But Stila is back in Boots stores now, so I thought I’d sooth my rage and go treat myself to my first products with them. I immediately fell in love with the Custom Color blushes:

Why settle for "almost the right shade" of blush? This perceptive one-shade-fits-all powder blush reacts with your skin's pH to create a one-of-a-kind, customized shade perfect for you!
The ultra-blendable, velvety-soft formula magically smoothes the appearance of fine lines, pores and pigmentation, leaving skin with a luminous, flawless flush*. The weightless powder can be layered to achieve just the right amount of color and coverage.
Key benefits:

No more guessing or wearing the wrong color blush
Reacts to the wearer's pH levels to create the perfect shade every time
Harmonizes with your own skin tone to enhance your natural beauty, not overwhelm it

A blush built truly for everyone, a one-of-a-kind customized color is just a brush stroke away. * The blush contains a spherical silicone elastomer treated powder that provides a soft focus effect and diffuses light. There is a silky feel leaving skin soft and smooth. The treated silicone powder fills in fine lines and wrinkles on the skin, making it appear more youthful.

Taken from the Stila website.

Sorry for the TL;DR wall of text, but I had to put that in. I’m VERY sceptical of anything that claims it adjusts to ones skin, or reacts to pH levels, etc, and tend to think that things just react to heat, or are a universally flattering shade. So before I’d swatched these I was already a bit ‘really?!’ It’s something we’d all like to think could happen, but I just don’t buy it.

The pink is labelled as ‘self adjusting,’ the other is ‘self adjusting coral.’

The pink is a beautiful bright, slightly lilac leaning bubble-gum , while the Coral to my eyes leans very slightly pink, with lots of gold shimmer. The pigmentation is lovely on both of them; enough that I can trowel it on without too much effort, not too much that I’ll look like a clown with one swipe, which I admit was initially a worry with the pink. I picked up the coral first because I was upset that I’d hit pan on my favourite peach-coral blush which has since been discontinued (oh, first world problems! ) but had to go back the next day for the pink as I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A simple skin swatch looks very similar to the pan colour in both cases, but how do they translate on the face?

Here’s the pink, fairly lightly applied – not as bright as in the pan but very pigmented and actually looks like more of a rosy flush than the almost neon pan colour.

And here’s the Coral – a bit more subtle and not as pigmented as the pink, but I’m diggin’. Sorry bout the no makeup, I was re-doing some looks so I took off my eye!

Do I think these colours have adapted to my skin tone? No. Not at all. I have several bright pinks that look rosier on the face than in the pan – Darling Girl Pink Outrage and Sleek Flamingo spring to mind – and Coral looks like the pan colour, so I’m not buying that claim. While they do both suit me, I’m quite lucky in that respect as there’s not too many colours that I put on and go ‘Ugh!’ I’m not sure about the soft-focus either, as my cheeks don't have any fine lines, but they do both give you a nice glow.

Overall, I do love these blushes – very pretty product, pretty packaging, and they last through a working day- What’s not to love? A £13 a pop they’re a bit more expensive than what I’d normally pay for a blush (although I'm a cheapskate Superdrug groupie) but I’m sure I’ll be back for more Stila soon!

Any favourite Stila products to share?

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Cogsworth from Beauty and The Beast.

2011-10-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Hallowe’en, y’all! Hope you had a fab time. My weekend involved men in sock suspenders (and little else), gin, cupcakes and Pass the Parcel. This week Vijaya gave me Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast as I gave her Lumiere last week and she felt they should go together. I quite agree! (And really, what’s more creepy than a walking, talking clock?!) Be sure to go and check out her Duchess from The Aristocats look, I can’t wait to see it!

Lid: Silk Naturals Checkered. Crease, Silk Naturals Hair Pin. Liner, Fyrinnae STFU.

Cogsworth is a pompous old sod, so I didn’t really want to do anything dramatic for him. I don’t think he’d approve of lots of makeup (and my in-laws were coming over so I didn’t have too much time) and although I wanted to play with clock hands somehow I couldn’t work it out! A bit more subtle than what I’d normally wear of a weekend – alright, a lot more – but I thought this was quite flattering and had a lovely glow to it in real life.. I just wore this with clear gloss and light coral cheeks – and a moustache, of course. Sorry there’s not full face shots – the pictures came out terrible and I have at least ninety spots on my chin.

Hi-Fi Cosmetics Evil From Beyond Collection

2011-10-30T11:58:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! So sorry I’ve been a bit of a slack Alice on the posting front – lots of things going on in Robyn land this week. But I managed to swatch the fabulousness that is Hi-Fi’s 2011 Hallowe’en offering. I utterly adored last years Hallowe’en collection and the sample sets from Hi-Fi are a pretty good deal so I couldn’t not grab these.

Swatched on bare skin on the top and Pixie Epoxy below.

L-R: A Demon in Your Bed ,The Vampire Club , Book of Lore, Supulchre, Hell Hath No Fury.

A Demon In Your Bed and Book of Lore look very similar here, but BOL is a deep murky green whereas ADIYB is pretty much a straight up charcoal colour. I’m in love with Hell Hath No Fury – its got lots of green glitter and a beautiful glow to it. Sepulchre is a very nice murky silver and I don’t think I need to say much else about The Vampire club other than I have a ton of looks planned for it already!

L-R: Bela Lugosi, Miss Fortune, A Vampire Scorned, Straight to The Devil , Damned Soul

Click to enlarge this one! I wasn’t really looking forward to A Vampire Scorned as I have lots of metallic reds and they never get used, but this one has lots of tiny purple glitter and larger gold glitter throughout – subtle but stunning. Straight to The Devil stole my heart right away (although with all the red glitter to me it screams Christmas!) and Miss Fortune is gorgeous. I thought it was very similar to Darling Girl Honey Pot but it reads much more green than Honey Pot does. Bela Lugosi is stunning – a light, bright pinky purple that I can’t wait to use as a highlight colour. I probably won’t use Damned Soul all that much as I’m not a huge fan of glittery blacks, but if you are, you can’t go wrong with this one. It’s BLACK!

A few looks? Okay!

Bela Lugosi on the lid, Vampire Club in the crease, Book of Lore on the lashlines.

Hell Hath No Fury on the lid, Damed Soul on the lash lines.

Miss Fortune in the crease, Straight to The Devil on the lid and A Vampire Scorned as liner.

I’ve not got as much chance to play with these as I like, but rest assured they’ll be making some appearances soon!

Did you buy any Hallowe’en collections? What are your favourite Hi-Fi products?

Hi-Fi Cosmetics Looks

2011-10-25T14:35:00.001-07:00

I’ve seriously neglected my Hi-Fi colours of late, which is very foolish of me as I have so many beautiful colours from them. If you’ve not tried Hi-Fi, I’d really recommend them, the shadows apply like a dream and they have a huge range to choose from. So without further ado, here are some photos of my eyeballs with Hi-Fi schtuffs on them!

Hi-Fi Creeper on the lid, Phantom Stranger on the inner corner (both Halloween 2010), Inglot Pearl 402 in the crease and lower lashline. Lips are MUA 11.

Lid, Hi-Fi Between the Stars and Ulta Gel Liner in Ink. Lower lashline, Hi-Fi Another Day Another Drama over Sleek Kajal Liner in Odyssey. Brow highlight, Hi-Fi Mornings of Gold. BTS and MOG are from the Labyrinth collection.

Lid, #1 hit Single. Outer V/lower lashline,Hi-Fi Dark Carnival. Hi-Fi Omen in the crease. Brow highlight is the white from Sleek Acid.

Well, sorry for the dodge full face photos and the shitty close-ups from the last look – I spent time on my makeup that morning (i.e, more than ten minutes) and almost forgot to take pictures before I was out of the door! But see what I mean about the pretties?

I’ll have swatches from the Evil From Beyond (Halloween 2011) collection up soon, as well as more hi-Fi looks (shall I do a Love Week for Hi-Fi?!) so keep your eyeballs peeled. You can see swatches of last years Halloween awesomeness here.

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Genie!

2011-10-23T05:16:00.001-07:00

Man, I LOVE Aladdin, so I was pretty please when Vijaya gave me the Genie as my character this week. I gave her Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, and I’ve been singing ‘Be our Guest’ all day!

Lid: hi Fi Chicago. Inner Lid: HiFi Pixies. Crease: Darling Girl Honey Pot Lower Lashline: HiFi Chicago, Darling Girl Honey Pot

I only did one eye, because I’m a cop out and I was sure I would screw up the curly liner (inspired by the beard, yo) because my MAC 110 is dirty so I was using a shitty ELF brush. Lo and behold, I’m not all that happy with it, so I’m glad I only did one eye. But I’m certainly going to try Arabic-style liner again soon – the inner corner looks pretty nifty – and try and use Chicago more. I’m not really a blue eyeshadow person – my Blue folder seems to be mostly Disney looks – but this one has something special to it!

Please go and check out Vijaya’s Lumiere look! ‘Try the grey stuff, it’s delicious!

Acid Burns

2011-10-22T12:37:00.001-07:00

Ever screwed up a look and then thought ‘Fuck it, I’ll add some fall out and some pink shit?’

I have.

What do you do when your look doesn’t go how you wanted? Wipe it off? Carry on? Go nuts?

Shop your Stash: Samples!

2011-10-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

At the start of the the week, I swore I was going to use some unloved shadow samples everyday. However, I had a couple of awful nasty early mornings, which means a mascara and lipstick day, so there’s just three looks here - I can’t deal with doing my makeup with no daylight. Anyway, a long time ago I started to store my samples in pill organisers, which I soon gave up because it just takes up way too much room. I don’t really reach for them any more, but I’m going to try because I rediscovered some gorgeous colours.

Evil Shades Gift River on the lid, Glamour Doll Eyes Drag Queen in the crease, Evil Shades Suffocation on the inner corner and Sleek black on the outer v. Mac Gesso as a brow highlight.

Sugarpill Lumi on the lid and inner corner, The She Space Oh You Jealous Girl on the crease, Sleek purple from Acid palette on both lash lines. Mac Gesso as a brow highlight.

The She Space Angels Blush on the lid, The She Space Gothic Glamor on the lower lash line and lightly in the crease and Evil Shades Lagniappe (sp?) for liner.

I need to give a few things from my stash some love… would you guys like to see looks from Sleek Acid or some Hi Fi looks? Let me know!

Storage!

2011-10-19T02:25:00.000-07:00

Storage! Exciting! YAY!

Well, *I* think it’s exciting – I love looking at how other people store stuff, what they have, what they keep with what…. but then I’m quite lame. Anyway, me and the other half took a trip to Ikea this week to check out a table we want to buy (again, I'm lame) and I intended to pick up a couple of Helmers. I’ve seen these on lots of polish blogs, and though they might be a better solution that what I was using, which was this:

That’s the keyboard shelf of a computer desk. It worked really well for me for a while, but it was overflowing and I have larger items that won’t fit in there now - I couldn't store tall lipsticks, etc, there. So I took out all the cases from my desk. Now I store my baby wipes, hairbrushes, pins, and makeup scrapbook under there. That photo was taken about a year ago... looking at my stash now is actually quite embarrasing! I have a problem, but hey, at least it's not meth.

Anyway, I didn’t like the Helmer in the end – it was much taller than I expected and as we don’t have a car, it would have been a right bugger getting them home as they're quite hefty . So I ended up picking up a couple of Lennarts – deeper drawers, not so tall and a a third of the price! These were just under £9 each, I don’t remember the exact amount. I’m not after pretty, I’m after functional, so these looked perfect!

I'm going to pretend that they're futuristic and sci-fi rather than boring. I got two, so let’s have a butchers at what I’ve shoved in them - I'm sure this will get re-arranged!

Drawer one: Sleek, Inglot and Wet & Wild palettes, random single eyeshadows, shadesticks, cream and gel liners

Drawer 2: Indie jars and samples. I need to buy another tray for these as they’re double stacked now, and I need a new sample storage other than ‘bag.’Any suggestions? I was using pill organizers to depot them all but that's not really working so well either!

Drawer three: Glitter, glitter liners, blood and latex, sequins, sticky-back plastic for stencilling, Aquacolours and Greasepaints. This is my favourite drawer - I rarely go in here but when I do I know it's going to be for something awesome!

And the second stack:

Drawer one: Tray of lipstick, tray of glosses and balms/stains/Intertubes, etc. I have totally run out of room for lipsticks. These are squuuuuuuueezed in there! I know they're going to overflow at some point.

Drawer two: Blushes and tray of Barry M Dazzle Dusts (I don’t want these to live in here, but this was the only space left! )

Drawer three: False lashes! I guess I could put my Barry M in here but I LOVE having an entire drawer full of obnoxious false eyelashes.

Well, that’s how I’m storing my crap now. The stuff I reach for every day still lives on my desk – my foundation, powder, primers, brows and mascara. My liners and brushes also still live on my desk, and of course all the stuff I have in my kit lives seperately (Although I do use some stuff from the kit on myself sometimes – for example, my 120 palette and Inglot neutral palettes are kit stuff, but I pull them out now and then.)

How do you store your stash?

The Makeup Heroes: October is Depression Awareness Month

2011-10-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

Srs bsns today, folks. There’s been a lot – and rightfully so – of information and posting in the blogosphere this month about Breast Cancer Awareness (Click here to give money and win pretties!). However, October is also Depression Awareness month, which is a cause very close to my heart.

Please take a couple of seconds out of your day to Google some statistics regarding depression in your country; I bet you’ll be shocked. Mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental disorder in the UK, and one in five of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives, especially as we get older, and it's supposedly more commonly diagnosed in women. So my point is, more likely than not, you know someone that suffers from depression. Yet there is so much ignorance surrounding depression – and all mental illnesses – and I just despair at that. It’s not something that is the sufferers fault. It is not something they can forget about, they can’t just pull themselves together and get on with it. The stigma that people with depression and other mental illnesses suffer – as well as everything else they go through – breaks my heart.

Please look after your mental health. For more info, check out Depression Alliance (UK).

Ok, that was very serious. But it’s so important! Green in the colour of Depression Awareness, so today I’m wearing green - eyes,clothes and nails - and I’m sure as shit telling everyone why.

Eyes: Lid, Kryolan Emerald Green. Crease, green from Sleek Acid. Inner corner/brow highlight, The She Space Rules of Reverence. Upper lashline, Evil Shades Acolyte.
Cheeks: Sleek Suede, Benefit Moonbeam
Lips: Darling Girl Holo Gloss in Jaded

Alright, so I don't believe that wearing green or pink or whatever is going to change the world - but even if it makes you think about *your* health, I think that's a positive thing.

Please check out the Makeup Heroes channel for more Depression Awareness and links to all our blogs – we’ll all doing a look for this. Priscilla, Kathy and Wendy now have looks up!

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Lotso

2011-10-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

Vijaya gave me Lotso from Toy Story 3 to do this week. I freakin’ hate that arsehole bear. Although, as a purple and pink thing, I will gladly take him on as makeup inspiration. I gave Vijaya Hades from Hercules for her character this week – one of my favourite villains!

Pictured: A douchebag.

Eyes: Pink and purple shadows: 120 palette. Cream (highlight, inner 1/3 of lid): Sleek Bohemian. Sugarpill Lumi: Inner corner. Darling Girl Flush Glitter, Collection 2000 Extreme Liner: Liner.
Cheeks: Darling Girl Azalea
Lips: Sleek matte lipstick in Mystic

I really LOVE how this look turned out! I very rarely wear pink – especially on my cheeks – but the purple liner and glitter kept it funky for me. I know I strayed quite far away from the character – I should have gone with a more purpley pink. Ahhhh well.

A bit of Darling Girl Lovin'

2011-10-13T13:34:00.001-07:00

One of the reasons I love ordering from Darling Girl is that if you make an order over $10, you get a gift with purchase, which is normally a petit eyeshadow that you can’t buy in the store. I placed a teeny weeny order from DG to pick up the lipsticks I was gagging to have from the Halloween collection (I’m going back for the shadows next week) and fell in love with Monarch, the GWP as soon as I opened it.

Eyes: Lid, Darling Girl Monarch, crease and lower lashline, dark brown from Sleek Bohemian.
Lips: Darling Girl Pumpkin King
Cheeks: Almay Blush in Peach 130

Isn’t it a gorgeous colour? It’s much more complex in real life – sometimes it looks more red, sometimes more brown or purple. Lovely.

While I’m here, I may as well throw in the the swatches of the balms I picked up:

Poison Plum

Everyone was going nuts waiting for this to arrive, and for good reason! It’s stunning. The first pic is one swipe, and the second is built up. I love this both ways.

Pumpkin King

Nightmare before Christmas? Orange? I had to have it. HAD. TO. HAVE. IT.

Wicked Game

This one was *my* idea! Little old me! I said on Twitter I’d love a lipstick called Wicked Game, and Susan made one! Awesome! One of the reasons the Darling Ghoul stuff is so cool is that most of them are ‘designed’ and named by customers which is both really sweet and awesome and very savvy of Susan.

If you want to see ten billion awesome looks with the DG Halloween stuff, go say hi to Wendy!

Zombie Tutorial–Rotten Mouth!

2011-10-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! A reader contacted me a while ago and asked for a tutorial of a zombie look I did for Makeup Zombie’s blog a while back. Even though I’m not really an expert at this sort of thing at all, I thought I’d give it another go – it’s actually pretty simple, and it’s really fun.

I used Kryolan Aqua Colours (you can subsitute these with greasepaints, eyeshadows/eyeliners, or just halloween makeup) liquid latex (if you don’t have or can’t get this, Duo lash glue will work as well), a white pencil to draw the guidelines, some single-ply tissue (tear it up into small strips), and a red lipstick (optional, you can use whatever colour you want, or none if you’re a dude) and foundation. I also used two types of fake blood, because they’re new and I wanted to play. Thick Blood is an almost jelly-like substance, and looks like it’s just starting to scab, whereas, funnily enough Fresh Scab looks more like fresh blood. Again, you can use stuff from the Halloween store but be aware that that stuff more often that not stains. Make sure you have something like a small disposable spatula or a brush you don’t care about for the latex (I used one of the crappy little brushes from an eyeshadow palette.)

Sorry that I have awful acne in these photos, but I can’t be bothered to convincingly shop tons of photos for a gross tutorial.

Using the light pencil, sketch out your wound. Make sure it joins up with your real mouth – you want the design to cover one half of your lips.

Sketch in some teeth. It’s really hard to draw accurate looking teeth, but unless you’re a genius this isn’t going to look realistic, so just make sure you don’t add extra teeth. Make sure you draw the teeth in over your lips as well.

Start colouring that shit in! Remember, you’re supposed to be a zombie, so you don’t want Hollywood teeth! Add a tiny bit of brown/sand shadow/paint to them so they don’t look too pretty.

Latex time! Across the top of your ‘mouth’, add a thin line of latex/lash glue.

Place a thin strip of tissue along the glue, pinching it and rolling it where necessary. Remember we're not going for pretty. Work quickly so you can move the tissue over the wet latex.

Build up the latex/tissue until you're happy,but make sure that some tissue ‘flaps’ over where you’ve drawn your teeth in.

‘Poking’ up and under the tissue, fill in the wound with a red colour.

And start getting gory! Add your blood and scabs and whatnot.

Once that’s done, cover ALL of your tissue in foundation – including all the nooks and crannies - and blend it in to your skin. If you don't want to be skin coloured, you can go green, or add more blue/yellow/purple tones to make you look more rotted and bruised. Go back and add more blood if you’d like – I ran a little black shadow over some places to darken it.

If you want, you can paint thin layers of latex on other spots of the face. After 3-5 layers, you can peel it off and create flaps of skin and open wounds. Fill these in with blood/scabs as well.

And now you're pretty much done!

Just add some lipstick!
Sorry about the non-zombie make-up on the rest of my face – I was baking! Hee hee.

Variations:
1 – A smaller wound on each side, with ‘rolls’ of tissue – the Joker!
2 -Paint green aaaaall over the face for a more cartoon-y zombie.
3- A neater mouth, with less latex – Mobscene!

Let me know if you like and if you want me to try an attempt anything else for Halloween!

Shop your Stash: Wet and Wild Looks

2011-10-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I made an effort to use some of my Wet and Wild which hadn’t had much love from me recently. This is what I came up with:

Using the ‘Dancing in the Clouds’ trio with MUA pink mascara on the lower lashline

Both using the ‘Petal Pusher’ 8 pan which Rachael very kindly picked up for me from her trip to the States.

Using the ‘Night Elf’ 6 pan palette. Love the red in this!

Using the single colours Nutty (lid) and Envy (crease and lower lashline), which is a great alternative to MAC Humid. A touch of light gold from Night Elf on the inner corner.

I love Wet n Wild eyeshadows. Love, love, love. Apart from the fact I usually have to get my crack dealer (Wendy) to pick them up for me, I can’t fault them. The mattes are excellent quality, there are some great MAC dupes in the range, range from singles to eight-pan palettes, and apart from an odd dud and questionable suggested placements of certain shadows, I've got nothing negative to say about them. Come to the UK please, Wet n’ Wild!

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Tiger Lily

2011-10-09T04:27:00.001-07:00

This week, I got given Tiger Lily from Peter Pan as my character. I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of her character – she doesn’t seem to do all that much except what I can only describe as a child lap dance, and then gets kidnapped and does sweet fuck-all about it. Good old fashioned Disney! Probably the less said about the native Americans in that film the better, but, it has Captain Hook in it, sooooo….

This week I gave Vijaya ….. Buzz Lightyear! So go check it out.

Eyes: Sleek Bohemian and Circus palettes, with Kiko Long Wearing Eyeshadow Stick no 10 on the lower lashline.
Lips/cheeks: Silk Naturals Cream Blush in 'Tickled’

I’m pretty happy with this look! Even though the crease didn’t turn out quite how I wanted (FYI, the e.l.f mineral blending brush sucks balls) I still think it’s pretty cute! I should have used a lighter blue and a more reddish pink, but whatever.

Welcome to the family: My latest red(ish!) lipsticks

2011-10-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

As well as my lovely new Rockalily lipstick that I featured in my last post, I've actually added some more red lippies to my collection as well! These lippies are actually courtesy of my internet girllfriend Rachael, who was lovely enough to a) let me raid her stash (she's got tons of great stuff on her blog sale still, fyi) and b) CP’d me a ton of stuff from her recent holiday to Florida.

Morgana Cryptoria Vegan Lipstick in Twinkling Rubies

The name is very apt! It's shot with pinky-red sparkle and it's just beautiful.

Wet and Wild Mega Last lipstick in 918D Cherry Bomb
I really like the formula of the Mega Lasts. Sometimes I think the Wet and Wild lippies get overshadowed by, er, the shadows, which is a shame because check that out! Is that a perfect autumn/winter lipstick or what?

Urban Decay Icon lipstick in Gravity
How cute is this? Again, great for the colder weather if that's your thing. I'll be wearing this with a simple smokey taupe eye.

Dior Addict gloss in 856 Little Red Dress

Posh, innit? I love red glosses, but often they just look very pink. This is layer-able enough to look red, which is fabulous! I have this, a red Inglot Sleek Cream and that red glitter Barry M gloss, so I think I'm set!

While it’s safe to say I have too many red lipsticks, blackened red lipsticks, and pinky-red lipstick now, it’s also safe to say I will end up with more. I’m terrible. I want all the red Kat Von D lipsticks. I want MAC Ruby Woo and Lady Danger. I want more Rockalily. I want a Tom Ford lipstick like nobodies business.

What lipsticks are you lemming right now?

Quickie Review: Rockalily Lipstick in Roulette Red

2011-10-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about the launch of Rockalily Lipstick way back when, I was quite excited! I liked the idea of a capsule collection of lippies specifically geared towards pin-up girls, and as the owner, ReeRee Rockette, is a London girl, I knew I could tick my 'small local business' box and feel a bit smug if I bought one. I'm not too sure about the development of these lippies - all the site says is that they've been selected by ReeRee, so these aren't an indie lipstick in the sense of being formulated and hand-made by a small business. If I find out more I will update.

Anyway.. a week or so ago I decided it was about time I got off my arse and bought one! I chose Roulette Red.

Cute packet! It's a nice touch that it says what it is on the outside, it makes you excited to open it. I ordered this on Friday morning and recieved it on Monday morning which I think is pretty awesome!

An adorable box - very rockabilly - and some promotional gumph with some lovely photos. I had no idea what these boxes looked like and I did a bit of a squee. It's going to stay on my pin-board with my MAC/Wonder Woman box sleeve, because I'm sad like that.

The lipstick itself is in a sleek black case - it feels sturdy and the printing is good. And it has a cute heart on it! So thumbs up for the packaging.

Yum, yum! Lovely blue-based red! It looks a touch glossier than it does in real life, especially with the flash on, but while it’s billed as a matte, it’s not as matte as, say, MAC Russian Red.

I'm getting pretty decent wear out of this - especially if I apply lightly with a doe-tip applicator first and then go over with the bullet itself (my new favourite way of applying lipstick, thanks to Blix!). The bullet is quite slim with a tapered end, which is amazing for application. Anyway, I'm writing this at 1.00 and it's lasted since 8.00 through a (albei very careful) munching of a cinnamon bun. When it does fade, I do get the ‘lipstick ring,’ but while the formula does dry down somewhat, it's not dried my lips out yet which is great. A MAC or a Sleek matte will become uncomfortable for me by the end of the day, and I'll have to take it off.

My only gripe with this is the price – personally I think £14 is very expensive for a lipstick, but then again, I'm a massive tightarse. I don't think the price point is bad, though - most rockabilly girls are obsessed with the perfect red, and when you consider the prices of high end lipsticks, it's pretty reasonable. I do think this is a quality product, though, and I know I'll be back for another colour very soon - I've got my eye on Hot Rod Red, which is orange based.

Rockalily lipsticks are available here.

Too much, even for me!

2011-10-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

I was messing around with makeup the other day and came up with this messy glittery eye…

…and I was looking at it and thinking, ‘This needs some serious falsies action.’ So I went and rummaged through my box (oooo-er, missus!) and found these bad boys:

I thought they were suitably ridiculous and I hadn’t used them yet – I was very kindly sent them by kkcenterhk and haven’t found a use for them yet. Naughty me! Anyway, I popped one on…

WHAAAAAA? They’re HUGE! Like…. ridiculously huge!

I have no idea what to wear these with! If you have a good idea of what I can do with these, then please, let me know. I never thought I’d find a pair of falsies that had me stumped, but I have!

Products used: Black from Sleek Bohemian, Wet n Wild Nutty single eyeshadow, Fyrinnae Polar Bear, Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner in Black, Kryolan Glitter Creme in Black, MAC Reflects Black glitter, kkcenterhk FE108 lashes.

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Pongo from 101 Dalmatians

2011-10-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

I was so pleased when I got Pongo for my character this week. I loved the film as a kid, and I loved the book by Dodie Smith even more. (I actually preferred the sequel novel, The Starlight Barking, which is so lovely.) Anyway, I gave Vijaya Bianca from The Rescuers, another of my favourite Disney films as a kid. Also joining us in the Disney madness this week is Rachael from The Beauty Spot, who’s done an adorable look based on Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Please go and give her some love as well!

I used: white Kryolan Aqua Color, black gel liner by Maybelline, Darling Girl eyeshadow in Honey Pot and neutrals from Sleek Bohemian. Lashes are Eyelure Girls Aloud – Sarah Harding (embarrassing!)

I didn’t really want to include the red from his collar, because I thought against all the white it would make me look pretty sick, but I put in a touch of gold just to keep it interesting. I still think this is cute though, and it’s really easy! If you were going as a spotty animal for Hallowe’en I think this would be cool to wear (after bopping you on the head for not going as something scary.)

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out Vijaya and Rachael!

Quickie Review: Hard Candy Glamoflague (Tattoo coverage!)

2011-10-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

Racheal went to the States for her holibobs recentely and very kindly offered to pick me up a few bits and bobs which I'll slowly be going though. I was quite excited to get hold of Glamoflauge - I've heard so many good things about it that even though I don't really wear concealer, I really wanted to try it.

As always, the Hard Candy packaging is lovely!

The cream is very - a little goes a loong way! The pencil is a pretty standard concealer pencil in my opinion - quite creamy though. This is shade 'light.' It's perhaps half a shade too light for me, so I've been wearing it under my foundation.

The concealer claims to be able to conceal tattoos - well, look at the results for yourself. You can still see the black lines, but not any of the pink. (His wing on the left hand side is covered - I just did this really quickly as this tattoo is under my right arm and thus not very accessible!)

I'm not sure why you'd bother, to be honest, but there you are! I'm guessing this is meant to be a dupe of the Kat Von D concealer, which I understand even less than this one. (Y U want to conceal tattoos, Kat?!) Anyway, the packaging advises you to draw over the darker lines with the pencil and then layer the cream, 2-3 times - this is three layers. If I had to do this on a model, I'd probably use the relevant correctors instead of the pencil, and then use the concealer.

All in all, this a bloody good concealer if you need to conceal the shit out of something. It's a little too thick for under the eyes, in my opinion, and it sinks into my fine lines pretty quickly, but if you're hanging out of your arse and have big dark eye bags, this is going to do the job. I've had some monster spots this week and this is doing a good job on them!

I'd like to see more of a colour range as these are only available in 3 shade, which is a shame because for around $6 I don't think you'll find a better budget heavy duty concealer. Apart from the fact these are only available from Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart site, which sucks, I love this and when I run out I'd probably try and get hold of it again.

Big thumbs up from me!

OOTD: Dinner Lady

2011-09-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

According to my Dad, anyway. Thanks Dad. I wore this last weekend when I went to visit the folks.

Clothing:
Dress: Tups Vintage on eBay
Cardigan: Primark
Narwhal necklace, aka Neville: Callooh and Callay
Pumps: Primark

Face:
Eyes: Shadows from Sleek Bohemian
Cheeks: Almay blush in 130 peach
Lips: Morgana Cryptoria Vegan Lipstick in Twinkling Rubies (thanks Rach!)

The dress is 70's, but the shape and the collar does give it a bit of a wartime feel. I very rarely wear red because of my hair, but I thought this dress called for it so I went and raided Primarni to find a cardi. I'd check the shop I bought the dress from out if you're in the UK and in to vintage as she's got some lovely bits and bobs up there - this was only £18! Alright, still quite expensive for something that someone probably died in, but whatever.