Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Lillian and her partner Claire recently opened a fabulous jewellery store featuring amazingly quirky acrylic pieces .From cute animals to Punch and Judy pieces, they've got some wicked stuff. I sat watching the clock until the store opened last Monday and snapped up my two favourite pieces.
Let's have a look...
Isn't the packaging lovely? It’s like old sweet shop bags! And I'm a sucker for stickers.
OK, the suspense is killing me now! *rips everything open*
....WHAT BABE?!
This beautiful creation is Labyrinth inspired. If I need to tell you more than that, then I'm not sure we can be friends any more. Sorry. My housemate at uni had an amazing Jareth necklace and I was so jealous of it. Now I have one of my own, hooray! More Labyrinth, please, Callooh and Callay!
And look what else I snapped up! Who doesn't need a narwhal with a beret on? (My fiance say it looks like a Cherry Bakewell but that's just as good in my opinion!) I've called him Neville, because alliteration is always acceptable. If you like cute, they have a beautiful ermine brooch and some lovely regal bunnies!
Lillian is a friend of mine, so it's very hard for me not to be biased when reviewing her crafts becasue I'm very proud of her venture and want to pimp Callooh and Callay out to everyone I know! However, I can honestly say these pieces are great quality and you can tell a lot of work has been put in to them. The branding is really strong - the packaging perfectly matches the website and the business cards and little stickers are well done and are lovely touches. I know Lillian and Claire have supported indie companies for a long time and you can tell they know that the little touches really count when you're buying something online. I can't wait to see what else the girls come up with in the future and I know I'll be buying bits and bobs from them again soon.
Alright, I say soon, but I've already got this witch coming my way! Who are your favourite indie accessory companies? Any to recommend me?
One of my favourite films ever is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Yes, yes, yes, it's totally cliche for anyone who has ever worn a black t-shirt to love that film but I don't give a rat's arse because it's awesome. It's totally and utterly adorable, the animation is fantastic and the Burton/Elfman partnership was never better. Anyway I've been wanting to do a Jack mani FOREVER and I finally decided to do it seeing as I had to cut my nails short (I sliced one of my nails open.... long story.)
I'm really, really sorry I didn't clean my mani up, I know it is very lazy blogging, but I finished it late at night and I wanted to snap a picture before I inevitably chipped it the next day, which I did (sadness!), and I didn't have time to take pics in the morning. Also, the dust is face powder, not crack. Pretty awesome, huh? I'm pleased with the one... my favourite is my left ring and thumb. I just did this with acrylic. And I'll tell you one thing - drawing twelve faces that are composed of just a few blobs and a line REALLY makes you appreciate how talented the animators on this movie were!
And geeky mani no. 2:
Weighted Companion Cube. You are the cutest cube ever. Unfortunately I cannot do you justice, as I used the wrong colours, and just pooed it up a bit and had to take you off right away. Good idea though, right?
I'm always in awe whenever people write collection posts, or show their set up. Most people's look so beautiful and professional, and their collections are huge! My 'station' is none of these things, however, I am fond of it. Seeing as this week has been a massive fail blog-wise, due to my being pretty sick (big red nose, puffy eyes, the lot, so no LOTDs), having no batteries for my camera and great big massive cuts on my fingers (so no nail posts), I thought I'd show you guys my little 'station!'
Aaaaaw. When we moved into our flat, we had to adopt a lot of furniture. Eventually we bought more, and I adopted this computer desk for all my pretties :D It was only meant to be temporary, but it's working pretty well for me. On top I have my palettes, tools, beauty essentials, liners, etc. On the sliding drawer I have compartments for (L-R) my blushes, highlighters etc, my indie eyeshadow, my Barry M eyeshadow, miscellaneous eye crap, lipglosses and balms and lipsticks. Underneath on the right I have a box with my straighteners, curling tongs, etc, my makeup books, a box with my false lashes, cotton buds/balls/baby wipes. On the other side is my spare stuff, travel bags, etc.
This looks like a 'Spot The Geekery' game - Hello Kitty, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Little Mermaid, Star Wars! I really am a child - and a possibly gender confused one at that. Under my mirror are my Sleek Palettes, a box of eBay glitter, my 120 palette, my 66 lip palette, my Aqua Colors and Greasepaints, and a pill organiser that I depot my samples into. (Oh, and yes, that is a boot reflected in my mirror. We've got damp in our shoe cupboard and my lovely boyfriend had to clean about a million pairs of shoes.)
Though I love the elegant brush holders people make from beads and vases, it just isn't me. What is me is a Darth Vader mug and a Mickey Mouse organiser. I really need something bigger than both of these as finding the right brush can be a pain in the arse and I don't have room to keep all my cream eyeshadow pencils, Gosh art liners, etc, in the Mickey holder. The Jessica Rabbit shotglass was a present a week or so ago from my mum and dad who grabbed it for me along with loads of other cool stuff from Disney World. Now I have loads of Aqua Colors, I have something pretty to put water in when I used them.
The light isn't the best here, but seeing as I can't find decent lighting in my price range at the moment (or more realistically, my boyfriend won't take me to Ikea which I think is entirely sensible) it does me pretty well. The windowsill gives me lots of room for my pretty shiny things, too!
All my funky jewellery lives here, my fancy stuff gets hidden away...
...my million and one hairbows live in a heart-shaped basket...
...Ariel and Jessica Rabbit pins adorn my mirror, and much more crap besides.
So yeah, not the biggest collection in the world, but not bad seeing as I started from scratch, almost, a little more than a year ago. I left a lot of stuff in the UK with my sister when I went to Canada for a year, where I didn't really wear much make-up because I was snowboarding almost every day for about eight months. When I got back I recovered some of what I'd left and had to start again! Seeing as I still have conceivably more than I will ever use, I can't really complain.
I'd love to see where you girls work, and if you haven't posted a collection post, that too. I really think it's interesting to see how much/what make-up people have when you see what they do with it all the time.
Anyway, have a lovely weekend ladies. I'm off to have a Lemsip and then I'm making me and the man a salmon and couscous nom to eat infront of the Inbetweeners... Yea, I'm rock and roll :P xxx
I'd like to ask you guys a teensy favour. As I mentioned in my last post I'm lacking in inspiration so I thought having a theme might give me some ideas. So would you either have a little vote or give me some ideas for a theme?
I know these have all been done to death but I'd still like to try one! And any ideas are really welcome. Please don't ask me to do Twilight though, I may have to vom on you.
Anyway, for Makeup Geeks weekly challenge, which is comic-book themed, I decided to go with Rorschach, my favourite character from my favourite comic book, Watchmen. If you haven't read Watchmen I totally recommend it, it kicks ass. The film is good, too (awesome soundtrack) but the book blows it out of the water. The look itself was a bit of a fail, and as normal I thought "fuck this" half-way through, but here it is anyway...
The lips were supposed to be like the blood on the happy face. I wanted to do it with my OCC lip tar but thought that staining my face would be pretty bullshit. Ah well, it was fun and I got to wear a hat. I might do a yellow 1950's original Silk Spectre type look too. What do you think?
Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I fought my way downstairs bright and early to see if the postman had brought me my Hi-Fi order. Disappointed to see he hadn't, I turned away and then I heard a plop on my doormat! Yippee!
I took advantage of Veronica's amazing buy 5, get 5 free shadows which I just think was too good a deal to pass up! Obviously I had to get some stuff from the Labyrinth collection. Like every girl born in the 80s, this is my favourite movie. If you haven't seen it, or disagree, I think I may have to have stern words with you. Seriously, its hard being friends with people who don't know why I call the toilet the Bog of Eternal Stench. This is what I got from the Labyrinth Collection (click to see swatches/descriptions on Etsy)
Final Act is a beautiful silver with a hint of lavender to it. #1 Hit single is more the opposite, a soft silvered lavender. They go really well together and I'm sure Veronica must choose her samples carefully, because Another Day Another drama, an awesome Cadburys type purple with holo and pink glitter in goes excellently with my sample Aphrodisiac, which is more of a plummy colour with gold sparkles. Morbid Faith is a beautiful soft blue with a slight purple shift and Sweet Dreams is a minty green with what I see as a slightly aqua shift to it. I was hurting for a green like this, I can't wait to use it with some sexy chocolate browns! Angel of Death, which my picture does not show at ALL, is an amazeballs black based glitter with holographic sparkles! Awesomeness.
Sad Love lip Glaze is a beautiful rosy gloss with a slight gold shift to it, with green/red duo glitter in. Its so pretty, you guys! And my sample was really generous, AND in a pot, not a baggie. Mornings of Gold looks a little pink here, and really its a lot more of a white gold, though it does have a slight pinkyness to it. Its really quite unique, imo. Valentine Evenings is a reddish copper which is going to looks badass applied wet! Slime and Snails looks bluer on the shop swatch, but I find it to be a light green with a slight blue shift and aqua glitter. Down in the Underground... omg, its the fist proper duochromatic colour I have. In my swatch it looks a slightly blackened foresty/emerald green, but it shifts to a blue-greyish lavender colour somewhat similar to Barry M's Oyster grey. I am so stoked with this colour. Between the Stars is a pale, slightly pink lavender, which I adore. I was really missing something like this in my collection.
I don't think this collection is a pastels collection, as some people have said. There are more pastel-y shades, but these babys are super pigmented. Slime and snails, for example, is too bright to be a true pastel I applied them quite lightly in my LOTD below, but I think these would all pop like a motherfucker if y. ou applied them wet or over PE.
Overall, I'm in love, love, love. Superdrug, Boots et al, you have no power over me. I don't want to buy another drugstore product ever again at the moment! Indie company-wise, I've only bought from Hi-Fi and Evil Shades but I am so impressed. All my Hi-Fi shades are beautiful and unique, and I'll certainly be purchasing from Veronica again soon! (Her shop is closing briefly soon, click here to find out why :D)
So, after rambling on and on, here's a LOTD using all my Labyrinth shadows. It was a piece of cake to do. I know I got a bit of Valentine Evenings on my lid, but you can't take anything for granted...
-Eyes: Hi-Fi Cosmetics Between the Stars (lid, middle of lower lashline) Hi-Fi Cosmetics Slime and Snails (inner crease) Hi-Fi Cosmetics Down in the Underground (outer crease, outer lower lashline) Hi-Fi Cosmetics Valentine Evenings (liner) Hi-Fi Cosmetics Mornings of Gold (inner corner and brow higlight) Borjouis Pump up the Volume waterproof mascara Sleek dark brown shadow from Storm palette (brows) Rimmel Loveable Lilac kohl pencil (waterline)
-Face: Almay blush in 130 Peach Hi-Fi Cosmetics Mornings of Gold to highlight Revlon Colorstay in Buff Mememe green concealer
-Lips: Revlon/Vital Radiance lipstick in Raspberry (blotted) Hi-Fi Cosmetics Spotlights Lip Glaze in Sad Love
And one last thing, I LOVE that a lot of the Labyrinth shadows are named for 'As The World Falls Down,' which is my favourite song/scene from the song. So here it is:
Now I'm going to go inside and have a nice cuppa tea :P
Heathers Shiro Cosmetics review got me thinking that I should do some more Pokemon nails....(and watch about 10,000 of the old episodes online...) so I did!
Bulbasaur! Yay :)
And Jigglypuff! When my boyfriend saw them, he asked if I used stencils, so I guess that means they're good! I couldn't get a good picture of Jigglypuff though. Also... I hate Seche Vite. My polish is chipping in like, half a day. Not impressed.
Anyway, Primark, which is a budget clothing store in the UK has a make-up range which is blatantly ripping off Benefit - on the surface, at least.
Benefit 10 on the right, Primark 'The Happy Couple' on the left. I love Benefit 10 and its the only Benefit powder I've actually used so much I've repurchased it. The pink side is a lovely highlighter and the brown is a really nice bronzer with no orangeyness to it whatsoever, and its not too dark for a pasty-faced ginger like me. But its also about £23. So when I saw this Primark 'dupe' I picked it up because it was £2.50. Both have ten grams, just one costs ten times more than the other.
Benefit on the top, Primark on the bottom. Toootally different - and thats because they actually are. 10 is a bronzer/highlighter and The Happy Couple is a blush/bronzer. I don't use the bronzer of Happy Couple on its own because its a little too orangey, but mixed together with the blush, its great. I really like the blush on its own, too.
Happy Couple really is an excellent product. I still love 10, mostly because it lasts all day and its the only shimmery powder highlighter I have - I see no reason to buy another one (although my NYX Pearl Mania in Pearl is a pretty close dupe, but more shimmery). The Primark doesn't last as long but for the money, you'll be really surprised. Its just not a Benefit dupe - just a rip off of Benefits pop-art/retro packaging. The Primark brush is super soft, which is surprising, but it does nothing. I know some people hate, but I actually really like the Benefit box brushes - they're nice and dense and pretty soft.
And lastly, I bought some Rimmel pencils for about £1 each in my local beauty supply:
Loveable Lilac, Forest Green (omg!) and Cool Blue. I've always used Rimmel kohl pencils and while they suck a bit on the waterline, they're pretty darn good for the price.
Thats all kids! I'm off to read Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual which I got in the post today. Mmmm, I love that new book smell!
Rocky Horror make-up for you guys today. I loooove the movie. Tim Curry in suspenders. 'Nuff said. If you haven't seen this movie or the show... Well, while a musical about transsexual aliens isn't perhaps to everyones taste, I still wish to have a stern word with you :P I did Columbia, who shacks up with dead Meatloaf and tapdances the shit out of everyone else, as you do.
Anyway, mainly showing you this because its the first time I tried to cover my brows. Didn't get the ends of them so well, but I don't actually own concealer so I think I did a good job! Not astonishing or even good make-up, but hey, its fun!
So today I'm going full on Star Wars fangirl! I wanted to do some nail art last night because I haven't done any for ages, and in all honesty I've been pretty neglectful of my nails! So I asked my boyfriend for some ideas and he said lightsaber nails, AND he also suggested I did orange and white make-up inspired by the Rebel Uniforms :D So this post is dedicated to Jon :)
First up, my nails. Sorry about the crappy pics!
Super easy, black nails with a white base for the lightsabers. Saying that its super easy, drawing straight lines across your nails can be a little tricky, but you can always clean up any mistakes afterwards with a black nail pen.
I am sorry for my horrifically filthy hand that I have just noticed! I was sharpening pencils and cleaning brushes, etc, this morning, which my excuse for vile filthy paws...
And now for my face:
Is this technically a cut crease? I don't know! Anyway, the Rebel uniforms are orange, hence the, er, orange. I used all 120 palette shadows apart from the white, which is MAC, over NYX Jumbo pencil in milk. The brown liner is Urban Decay Bourbon, which I can't get along with on my waterline but love otherwise. Face is the golden MEMEME highlighter and Lily Lolo Bronzer in South Beach, lips are 66 palette.
I do normally crop my pictures, but my other half is insisting I use Photoshop and not paint, and um, he isn't here and I can't work Photoshop :S
I have another crazier film post for you tomorrow :)
