Top Ten Autumn/Fall Lipsticks!

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

MAC Lip Pencil in Nightmoth

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

Revlon Colourburst lipgloss in Embellished

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

Illamasqua Lipstick in Shard

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

Collection Gothic Glam lipstick in 3 Revenge

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

MAC Film Noir

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

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Black Cherry

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

MAC lipstick in Hang Up (Cremesheen)

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

LA Colors Lip Liner in Smooth Plum

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

Barry M Lip Paint in 141 Royal Raspberry

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

Wet n Wild Megalast Lipstick in 918d Cherry Bomb

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

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

Creepy Princess

I don’t really know where I was going with this one… I had a vague idea  a while ago of a dusty, crusty old looking demon queen or princess with some sort of carving on her head and wanted to give it a go. I guess that idea doesn’t really make sense as an old, dead demon queen probably wouldn’t have a fresh or scabbed carving on her face, more of a scar, but I wanted to play with some SFX bits and bobs and this is what I came up with:

Closeups of the greasy, bloodied eye, crusty dried blood lips, dusty-looking skin and scarred marking on the forehead. The lips were really easy to do and so was the skin. I just pursed my lips super tightly and applied colour over them. For the skin, I didn’t do a base as I normally would, just contoured and highlighted some areas, darkened my eye bags and tapped powder in random areas for a dusty look.

This is pretty much all I used apart from a black and red eyeshadow from Sugarpill – Just a MAC pencil, some blood, powder, rigid collodion for the scar on the forehead and my PAM Medium Petite Concealer Palette.

Some things I like (fake blood on the eyelashes? I think I probably a genius) and some things I don’t (should have done something more with the nose/contouring perhaps) but it was fun to do, especially as it was a really sunny day outside and I did something so anti-summer!


I’ve also just been thinking that my use of the upside-down star might not actually be cool but I just needed a short-hand for “evil,” and that’s what came to mind.

Quickie Review: Topshop Lip Bullets in Joyride and Heartbeat

I’m not that up to speed with Topshop makeup – I’ve tried a few bits and bobs but I’d rather spend my pocket money on Topshop’s Freedom jewellery range so never really got stuck into the makeup. One of their lip bullets caught my eye on a lunch break recently so in the name of, err, science, I bought two to test!

Oh Topshop, please stop with the white packaging! It looks dead cute but already the tips of my pencils are covered in the product and I know they’ll pick up smeg from my makeup bag no matter what. I do like that these are twist-up pencils though, and that they have the classic lipstick bullet shape rather then being a blunt pencil.

Joyride:

Ohhh, how I love this colour! Helpfully described on the Topshop site as ‘RED,’ it’s slightly less blue-based than it looks here and gives the most beautiful ‘I’ve just eaten an ice lolly’ stain but still with heaps of shine. It’s very slick and smooth on the lips and wears a whole lot better over a lipliner, but it doesn’t bleed or feather. I get around an hour with the glossiness, and it leaves a stain. While it’s slick, I wouldn’t say it was moisturising, it just happily sits there!

Heartbeat:

I simply can’t accurately capture this one folks – sorry! Heartbeat is an orange-coral in the tube that translates a touch more pink on the lips. I’m actually disappointed it looks as pink as it does on me because in store it looked much more orange – I’ve seen other bloggers disappointed by this as well, so be warned. It’s described on the site as ‘peachy pink’ and that’s much more accurate. There’s something about this particular shade that looks almost frosty, even though there’s no shimmer – my lips are in good nick at the moment but this is not going to be a shade that’ll fare well on dry lips. While I do like it, I much prefer the other colour I bought, even though this is the one that caught my eye! Comfort and wear time is the same as Joyride, though.

 

While these are nothing special, they’re nice additions to a summer makeup bag and I really love the red colour! I think they’re fairly reasonably priced, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to collect them all, but if another colour caught my eye… oh well! ;)

Lip Bullets cost £8.00 and be found in store and on www.Topshop.com

One look, three lipsticks

Howdy, y’all! I felt the need to wear a fair bit of makeup this weekend. I’d just got back from a week away, and I don’t tend to wear much makeup at all – if any! – on holiday, I just normally fill in my brows a little and add a thin coat of mascara. So I was gagging to wear a ton of slap! I’d bought some enormous lashes a while ago and wanted to wear them so I went for something a bit glam. (I know it’s pointless when my hair is so awful – that’s what a week of massive chlorine doses/pigtails will do to your hair!)

Eyes: MUA Undress Me Too palette. Urban Decay Perversion and Collection2000 Extreme Felt Tip Liner pen. Candy Kitten Glamourous Lashes in Gigi Belle.
Cheeks: Sleek Contour Kit in Light – contour. MUA blush in Shade 4 – blush. MUA Undress Your Skin Highlight – highlight.
Lips: Barry M Red – lip pencil. Sleek Vixen – lipstick.

While I love a red lip, I really like wearing this type of eye makeup on a long day because it’s so easy to change your look just by swapping your lip colour…

LA Colors Pink Parfait lipliner. MAC Sheen Supreme in Insanely It!

… perhaps to a girly pink….

LA Colors Nectar lipliner, Maybelline Captivating Coral gloss.

…. or to my favourite, a kick ass orange!

Do you ever do an eye look with a view to change the lip colour later?

Simple Brights FOTD with Sugarpill, MUA and Revlon

I hadn’t worn anything bright for a while, but I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to do anything complicated or that would involve using a ton of brushes. Having seen a lovely look where JazzieBabyCakes used Sugarpill Royal Sugar as a liner, I knew I wanted to try it.

Eyes: MUA Undress Me Too (lid, crease, lower lashline). MAC Gesso, highlight. Sugarpill Royal Sugar (mixed with Inglot Duraline), liner.
Face: Stila Custom Color Blush in Self Adjusting Coral, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter. Dr Jarts BB Cream, nameless theatrical setting powder, Le Maq Pro Concealer Palette in Light (to contour/highlight), Collection2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in  01 Light.
Lips: Revlon Fire and Ice

Lo and behold, some photos for my blog where I don’t look like a troll! Hooray! I really, really like this look. I was going to pair the eye look with a neutral lip, but I’ve just bought Fire and Ice and am still head over heels in love with it, so on it went and I really like the result!

 

What’s your favourite pigment to wear as eyeliner?

New Lipsticks: Drugstore Brights!

I’ve picked up a few beautiful bright lipsticks recently, and what with the bloody awful weather at the moment and the fact I barely have time for makeup in the morning, I really genuinely feel I needed all of these in my life!

Max Factor Giant Lip Pencil in Vibrant Pink: I haven’t bought a Max Factor product in many a year, but Boots are having one of thier 3-for-2 deals on at the moment and this caught my eye. Having not jumped on any of the pencil bandwagons over the last year or so I can’t say what this is comparable to formula-wise but it manages to be bright as balls and still feel very light and balmy on the lips. Sadly the rest of the range is less exciting in terms of brights, but this one is a winner even though it does stain like a bitch!

Maybelline Colour Sensation Vivid Lipstick in Electric Orange: A present from Wendy who knows my tastes very well! It looks much more yellow based in the tube which worried me initially as strongly yellow based oranges look just awful on me, but it actually wears beautifully and suits me rather nicely. I’ve heard mixed things from other bloggers on the range, but based on this shade alone it gets a thumbs up! Again, the formula is balmy and pigmented which is rather nice.

Rimmel Apocalips in Siren: I’ve been TRYING to purchase the red shade of this for weeks, but everywhere I got it’s sold out, so I picked up Siren, which is more of a pinky-red instead. I think the shade is absolutely gorgeous and the finish is beautiful but there is something about this that makes me not want to scream and shout from the rooftops about it – possibly that every time I’ve worn it it’s ended up all over my face and teeth.

Wet N Wild Centre Stage Collection lipstick in Fuschianista: Another gift from Wendy, only available stateside, this is from Wet n Wild collaboration with Fergie, which to be honest I find a bit of an odd one! I was delighted with this shade as it’s very similar to one from NYC which I loved back in the day. While that shade was a measly £2 it absolutely awful smelling and the lid would not stay on – no colour or saving on price is worth a stained handbag! I’m happy to report this doesn’t smell rank and the lid stays on, thank you and please.

L-R: Max Factor Vivid Pink, Maybelline Electric Orange, Rimmel Siren, Wet n Wild Fuschanista

 

Bought anything bright lately?

Party Sunset LOTD with 120 palette

I wanted to do a sunset-themed look after seeing Susan, the owner of Darling Girl post a pretty one in a Facebook group, but I think it turned out more tropical looking! All the eyeshadows in this look are using the 120 palette, which I haven’t actually pulled out for a while. Having had the palette for nearly three years now, it’s done me very well and I forgot how pretty some of the colours are!

Eyes: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Beige, 120 eyeshadow palette (matte red, several matte oranges, two matte yellows, cream shimmer, matte pink, shimmery purple, matte navy), Darling Girl Pixie Sprinkles in Golden Child
Cheeks: Benefit Dallas, Make Up Store Stardust.
Lips: 66 lip palette.

I decided to go the whole hog with the cheapness and used a 66 lip palette from eBay as well. The textures aren’t exactly varied or particularly beautiful, but the colour choice and pigmentation is certainly there so if you like playing with really bright or unusual colours I’d definitely recommend checking it out. I also tried to use a cheap eBay cheek palette, but it was too awful and I gave up – there’ll be a bigger rant on this product in an upcoming video – and switched back to higher end cheek products. Dallas is actually my oldest makeup product (I won’t say how long!)

 

Have you all been wearing brights lately?

Labyrinth Mini Series Part 6: The Fireys

“GOOD TIMES, BAAAAAAD FOOOOOD!”

Not gonna lie, the Fireys creeped me out when I was a kid. Also, cheers for taking up a song space in which David Bowie could have been singing. With that in mind, I um… glued a bunch of stuff to my face?

Products: Lid and brows, Sugarpill Burning Heart Palette, Rimmel Brow Pencil in Dark Brown. Liner, Sugarpill Love+ and Elf Lock And Seal (Love+ scraped off with back of brush and mixed on back of hand so it didn’t ruin the pain). Inner corner, Sugarpill Tiara, white from Sleek Circus palette. “Feathers” from a pair of lashes, flakies are nail supplies from eBay.

Hmmm, not too sure of this one. It looks more like my eye is ready for Mardi Gras than looking anything like a Jim Henson character! I think I took the “fire” part a bit too literally. I should have also taken the fluffy parts down along to the end of the brow but it was a pain in the ass and they weren’t standing up. Ah well, any excuse to use Sugarpill Flamepoint, I suppose!

Labyrinth Mini Series Part 4: Toby

I knew I wanted to do something stripey to represent Toby, and considering all he does for the whole film is er, wear a stripey onsie, here's what I did!

NYX JEP in Milk, Detrivore Bone, Barry M Dazzle Dust in no 85 Cherry Red, Inglot Duraline, Inglot AMC Matte Gel Liner in 76.

The more I look at this, the more it bugs me! I wish I’d worked out a way to make it not a triple wing and something more round and cute and more like a baby! It was also a nightmare to do on my wrinkly lids, so there’s lots of imperfections which are doing my head in. However, I do like the triple wing and I might try to see if I can incorporate that into a future look without bringing it all the way through the lid. I added the little circles to represent to poppers on his little outfit, as that’s the only non-stripey detail!

This is Toby (real name, for those who aren’t Labyrinth geeks! Toby Froud is the son of Brian Froud, an amazing illustrator who did all the art and character design for the film) as a baby…

D’aww! And here’s Toby as an adult…

Not bad at all!

Love+

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

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

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

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