Darling Girl Only One Can Win Collection (Inspired by The Hunger Games) Swatches and First Impressions

Never have I ripped open, swatched and posted about anything as quickly as this before, as you may be able to tell from the photos, ha ha! Hold on to your hats, ladies… I’m very excited to be showing you the Only One Can Win collection, Darling Girls take on The Hunger Games! I won’t explain the names in case you’ve not read the books…

L-R over Pixie Epoxy (bottom of swatch): Boy With The Bread, Live Wire, The Seam, Survival Instinct.

Survival Instinct is INSANE. I couldn’t really capture the glitter, but there is tons. It’s awesome. Boy With The Bread is subtle and beautiful (much like Peeta himself!)

L-R over Pixie Epoxy (bottom of swatch: Mayors Daughter, Obviously A Wig, Well Dressed, Rue’s Lullaby.

Man, no one does a gold like Susan. Mayors Daughter reminds me of a more blingy Jewled Taupe. Obviously a Wig is a stunner, I think people are going to go nuts for it. Rue’s Lullaby and Well Dressed are so girly and pretty, going to be pairing them together soon!

L-R over Pixie Epoxy (bottom of swatch): Fire Inside, The Final Gift, Squirrel Hunter, Songbird Weaponry.

Unintentional but this photo reminds me of an Illamasqua Liquid Metals palette! Squirrel Hunter is PERFECT.

Love Is An Act.

What an awesome pink! It’s subtle but this has tons of light blue sparkle in it. So pretty!

I haven’t even used these yet because I got them this morning, but rest assured I’ll have some looks up in the week! I love the colours overall but Survival Instinct, Squirrel Hunter, Obviously a Wig and Well Dressed are my favourite so far though.

WIll you be picking up anything from the collection? Are you looking forward to the movies?

Products in this post were recieved for free. This does not and will never change my opinions. I forgot to mention that myself, Wendy, Helen and Mandy helped Susan with a lot of the colours and names for the collection as well. Thanks for letting me be a part of it, Susan!

Colourful, minimal, and smoky…

I realised this morning that lo and behold, I’d actually managed to do different looks every day this week so far! WOAH.

 

Monday was a green look using my new Inglot palette:

 

Eyes: Inglot AMC Shine 44, Matte 333, Matte 240. Highlight from Wet N Wild Cool as Cucumber palette.
Lips: Barry M nameless gloss, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter
Cheeks: MAC Fever (lightly!)

Tuesday I misplaced my eye primer, so I went for the tiniest bit of glitter liner and bright pink lips and cheeks instead of focusing on the eyes, which I normally do.

Eyes: Sleek black eyeshadow, Collection2000 glam crystals in Le Freak.
Lips: MAC Impassioned
Cheeks: MAC Dollymix,
Gotta love Impassioned, right?!

And Wednesday, I figured I hadn’t done a neutral smokey eye in a while:

Eyes: Sleek Bohemian palette.
Cheeks: MAC Coppertone.
Lips: Barry M nameless gloss again.

My lips are stained from wearing Impassioned the day before, argh! I’ve not noticed this happening before! I know this looks really purple toned, but it’s all neutral, promise!

Well, perhaps they’re not as different and exciting as I thought, especially as I used the same gloss twice. Oh well! I have some time this weekend so I’m going to do some fun tutorials, hopefully!

Inglot 20 pan Freedom Palette Swatches and Looks

I was very lucky and had some extra pennies, so I thought it was high time I got some decent shadows for my kit. I’m all set for good neutrals, and I have some great palettes with orange/yellows, but I was really hurting for good greens, purples and non-turquoise-y blues.

L-R: Double Sparkle 478, Matte 322, AMC 70, Pearl 426, Pearl 428

L-R: Matte 385, AMC 58, AMC Shine 44, Matte 333, Matte 340

L-R: Matte 354, AMC Shine 33, Pearl 446, Double Sparkle 494, Matte 332

L-R: Matte 346, Matte 334, Shine 39, Matte 388, Matte 320.

 

Lid, Matte 354. Crease, Matte 385. Lower lashline, Matte 340. Highlight and to blend out crease colour, DS 478.

Lid, Skine 39. Crease, Matte 334.Outer lower lasline, Matte 332..Inner corner, AMC Shine 33.

Lid, AMC 70. Lower outer V/lashlines, Pearl 428.

 

I love Inglot eyeshadows. The range of finishes is good, the mattes are excellent. They’re easy to work with, good and consistent pigmentation, and while not cheap they’re good value. This palette – shadows and the palette itself - was £81.50 with my 30% pro discount, so I think it’s about £116 without (cannot do maths.) So yeah, it’s not cheap, but you do get 10% off when you fill a whole palette, and I think they get slightly cheaper the more you buy. But compared to MAC for example, it’s pretty bloody good – I think MAC single pans are £10 now, so even if you filled a 15 pan palette, it’s more expensive than the Inglot 20 pan and you also have to buy the palette separately as well. I *know* it’s annoying to see stuff compared to MAC all the time but it’s really the only eyeshadow system with comparable quality I can think of. If you can get to an Inglot store, go and check them out!

I <3 Alternative Models

 

If you’re not a fan of awesome tattooed ladies in their smalls, look away now!

Model: Missy Poison

Photographer: Brian Harris

Makeup: Me!

I’ve worked with Miss Poison before and she is really lovely.  She’s doing bloody well with her modelling as well, it’s so nice to see awesome people being successful.

Model: Krystal Johns

Photographer: Brian Harris

Makeup: Me again!

Krystal was a doll to work with and turned up with a killer latex wardrobe. That pink dress was something else!

Leichner Camera Clear Tinted Foundation Review

While having a cheeky browse on Fragrance Direct, I spotted this foundation for the silly price of £3.50 for 30ml. I really like stage makeup for certain things, and my palette of Screenface cream foundations has probably seen better days. I thought I’d never heard of Leichner before (I realised later that I have in fact used some of their products before!) and my curiosity was piqued by the ‘all day moisturising ‘ claims, so I picked up a few shades despite reviews online being few and far between. If nothing else I can use them when I do my friends makeup instead of my more expensive kit makeup (sorry, mates!)

The product comes in tubs with a screw-top and a little cover to keep it all neat n’ tidy. Tubs aren’t ideal, but at least they’d be easy to depot from – I don’t think I’d want to carry these big clunky containers in my kit. But they seal up nice and tight and feel very sturdy.

Top row, L-R: Blend of Biscuit, Blend of Porcelain, Blend of Rose.
Bottom row, L-R:  Blend of Almond, Blend of Copper, Blend of Beige.

As you can see, these have a thick cream formula. Some of the ‘swatches’ on the website are reasonably accurate, some are really not, so don’t go by those if you can help it. I’ve read that the colours dry lighter than they appear, but it’s hard to tell once you’ve blended them out, which I always do to see if they match. If I do see it when I use it on others, I’ll update the post but right now I’m not seeing it.

Let’s see how it applies, shall we?

Here’s my face with no foundation or base on. As you can see, I got a pretty ugly situation going on round my chin, and there are some small blemishes on my cheeks as well.

Here I’m wearing Blend of Porcelain with no primer, concealer or powder. I think it’s evened me out quite nicely and while it’s not got rid of all the nastiness on my chin, it’s done a decent job. The spots on my chin were quite dry, and it didn’t accentuate the flakiness I have there or cling to it nastily. I’d say this was medium coverage? It leaves a slight dewy finish, but it doesn't set at all, so I’d really recommend powdering over it, especially if you want to apply powder blush as I don’t think it would play very well directly on top. You’re better off using your (clean!) fingers or a stippling brush with the foundation – sponges eat it and paddle brushes can leave it looking a little thick/streaky. I wouldn’t say this was really very buildable and as it's so creamy, you have to be careful to use creamy products over it or it won't blend. For example, using a stick concealer over the top would be a nightmare!

Essentially, this product is a like thick tinted moisturizer with decent coverage. I wouldn't say it moisturized my skin all day, but it certainly feels good on my skin, and I feel I need to use less moisturizer in the morning if I'm going to be applying this afterwards. I've only been wearing it for a few days though, so we'll see.

If you have even slightly oily skin, I’d steer well clear. I’ve not tried with a primer yet but even on my dry skin, it last only around 4-5 hours before I notice a shiny t-zone (I have a horrible very dry face/chin slightly oily t-zone combination, however.) I can’t comment too well on how it photographs as I’ve only used one shade on one model with wonderful skin, and I didn’t have time to thoroughly peruse the unedited photos. From what I saw, it looked true to application but I don’t think the name ‘Camera Clear’ does the product any favours as I think it gives you an expectation of a flawless skin. It’s a nice dewy looking finish, but I wouldn’t say with my limited experience it’s great for photography.

UPDATE: How well it photographs varies. I do use them fairly often, and it's been interesting to try it out with different powders.

All in all, I really like this product. It’s great for dry skin and it was worth the price.  The only major downside is the scent – it’s very floral/powdery/Grandma smelling. It doesn’t bother me too much, but it’s not what I’d class as pleasant. It does fade on application though, and I do notice that lots of stage/screen foundations can smell similar.

It’s a shame that it’s not that well known a product or widely distributed a product, so will be difficult for most people to find a match.

Graze Box review!

Sorry to post a food post but as someone who over-snacks, I thought I should share this! Graze Box is basically a snack subscription service; for £3.79 a box, you get  four snacks through your post box every week. I went for this because my idea of a snack is 'eat all the things!' and this sounded a wee bit healthier.

The boxes fit through your letterbox (apparently a lot of people get them sent to thier office) and they're made of cardboard so they're easy to recycle. I also got a welcome leaflet, a napkin and nutritional information on my specific snacks. Good stuff.

There's a huge range to choose from! They're all on the 'healthier' end of the scale, nuts, seeds, dried fruits,etc, but there are also breads, flapjacks and so on as well. When you sign up, you can bin foods you don't like - I chucked olives because I hate them - and they'll never get sent to you, and you can select ones you love, and ones to send soon! You do get a random selection across the snacks if you don't choose, so the ratings system is a really good idea. If you're a health nut, there's a nutrition plan to get you the healthiest things, and there's symbols on the site to indicate things like 1 of your 5 a day. Most snacks I've had seem to be around 200 calories, so they don't dent your intake too much! (I'm not a calorie counter at all, but it's good to know.)

My first box I got sent spicy korean rice crackers (delicious!), oat and seed flapjacks  (Like my mum used to make! Lots of fruit) vanilla flavoured seeds (like sweet popcorn almost!) and a dried fruit mix with apricots, goji berries and cherries. When you get your box, you get an email asking you to rate the snacks you got so if you don't like them you won't get sent them again - I didn't like the Mexican dip thing I got sent, so I just binned it and I'll never get it again!

See the little apple symbol? One portion of fruit, mofos!

Sure, the snacks aren't enormous, but they're way more satisyfying than a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar and definitely great for elevensies or to beat that 3.00am 'omg I need a Crunchie' feeling - especially the flapjacks! The quality is great, it's cheap and a much better option that buying a huge-ass bag of nuts or dried fruit you'll be sick of in two days! The Lemon Meringue and the Fig Roll mixes are AMAZING. Om nom nom.

Yummy Fig Roll mix.

If you want to try this, use the code 9B8Y8VXD to get a free box, and I get £1 to give to charity. Nice!

Back to regular makeup posting tomorrow!

Quick Neutral Darling Girl Looks

I’ve been in a bit of a makeup rut lately, and this week I’ve been reaching for my Darling Girl neutrals as they always look super pretty without much effort.

Lid: Darling Girl Mr Ed. Crease: Brown from Sleek Bohemian. Lower Lashline, Darling Girl Midnight Sea.

If you like blurples, get Midnight Sea. I’ve still yet to use it as a lid colour – I’ll get round to it one day! I also need to pop a mini of Mr Ed into my next order. I love lid colours like this.

Lid: Darling Girl A Horse With No Name. Crease: Darling Girl Prancer (v lightly applied.) Liner: Wet N Wild Color Icon Liner in Green.

A really quick two-minute look. A Horse With No Name is just a really fool-proof natural colour. The All The Pretty Horses collection really does have some kick-ass neutrals. Even though I love brights and glitters and unusual duos, I always judge an indie by its netural colours! If it can do those well, I’m sold. It’s so hard to get nice, cheap neutrals in drugstores here.

Lid: Darling Girl Jeweled Taupe. Crease and Lower Lashline: Darling Girl Smoking Gun.

Sorry I only have one photo of this one, it just didn’t want to photograph. If you don’t have Jeweled Taupe, you’re really missing out. It’s super sparkly with lots of pinky-purple shimmer through it. Big love!

What are your favourite indie neutral colours?