Blue and Green Jewel Toned Smokey Eye Tutorial (For Rachael!)

I said I’d do this tutorial for Rachael and I’m not a liar, so here it is.

 

 

First, use your blackest base and apply that over your lid, lower lashline and waterlines. I used Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Perversion, because it’s awesome. Just so you know, this step was my total makeup routine circa 2001. No lie.



Set that with a matte black eyeshadow  (I used Sleek) and smudge out the edges of the pencil.



Next, take a metallic navy and really build that up in the crease so it looks vibrant. I used an Inglot shade.



Do the same on the lower lashline…

…and join up the colours on the outer corner. I used a pencil brush for this and the last step. Take a little more black eyeshadow near your waterline if you got the blue eyeshadow too near it.



Looking straight ahead, apply a metallic green in the centre of your lid…

… and the centre of the lower lashline. I used a colour from a since defunct indie company, but tons of companies make a shade similar. Then, take your favourite shimmery blue or green highlight and apply this to the browbone and inner corner of the eye. Again, I used one from a now shut-down indie company but I’d recommend something like Sugarpill Lumi instead.

Now add brows, lashes and winged liner if you need too and you’re done!

 

Because Rachael wanted to wear this look with Face Lace, here’s the look with some! I just blended the blue colour a little further up the crease so there was more of a gradient inbetween the gaps in the applique.

And I also kinda liked how it looked once I’d taken it off, ha ha!

Many thanks to Charlotte from Lipglossiping for the Face Lace – you can see another look I did with it along with some other awesome bloggers wearing different versions here! Face Lace are really strange to wear… having some stuck over a fairly big mobile part of skin is a really weird sensation, but you get used to it! While I do think they’re expensive, now I’ve tried them and seen that they’re not necessarily a replacement for creativity and that you can indeed wear awesome makeup with them… I’m kind of a fan!

Lush Christmas Goodies!

I was lucky enough to have Lush White City host their Christmas launch at my work this evening and the kind ladies let me come along and play. I used to be a fairly sporadic Lush buyer, but since I’ve taken more of an interested in my skin I’ve been much more of a fan! This is the first time I’ve experienced the brand beyond shopping in stores, and the stories behind each product and their development and the enthusiasm of the staff really reminded me of the care and attention that lots of our favourite indie companies put into their products.

Here's what I came away with:

 

 

Three shower gels! I know, I know. But I really loved them all! Everyone knows about the lovely Snow Fairy – it returns every year at Christmas and has a super-sugary, candyfloss and pear drop scent. I find it very sweet in comparison to my usual choices for perfumes and bath stuff, but a little bottle for particularly girly days can’t do me any harm! Interesting to see it's been given it's own label this year - the only non-gift set item to have seperate packaging which I think is a testament to how big a cult fave this is! Twilight is a lavender-based scent, with a strong malty note running through it – like Malted Milk biscuits! I don’t do lavender on it’s own normally, but I really do like this combination – good for sleepy time! I've had the bath bomb before and loved the scent but the showergels are more pocket friendly in the long run, so I grabbed a bottle instead of another bomb.

My absolute favourite out of the whole Christmas range was Ponche, a new shower gel for this year and I cannot WAIT to get naked with it. The bottle says “with orange juice and a shot of tequila. Inspired by traditional Mexican punch, this shower gel is boozy, fruity and uplifting.” The boozy scent is very subtle, but it’s certainly there and give this a richness that makes it stand out from typical spiced orange Christmas scents. I think this would be a nice unisex scent and it’s a lovely warm, wintery smell without being overtly Christmassy (I know what I mean!)

 

I’m not going to list all the products (Check out Musings of a Muse for the full lowdown!) but there were a couple more products that really stood out:



The popcorn lip scrub was DIVINE. I literally stood there eating it. It tastes like salted caramel popcorn and it’s just scrumptious! I do think that sugar scrubs are always overpriced as you can whip them up with items from your kitchen whenever you like, but nonetheless it’s no more expensive that a posh lip balm, it’s effective and my god, it is yummy in my tummy.



Lush have a North Pole soap this year (it’s bloody massive – about as thick as my neck and it comes in a massive pole) which is basically like a big candy cane! The white portion is peppermint and it was so creamy and sweet alongside being very fresh and minty. Not bad at all, Lush! I'll be going back for this, I think my other half might like it.

 

 

Do you get excited for Christmas collections or do you wish companies kept the same things all year round? Does falling in love with a limited edition product make you a sad panda?