Possible blog sale..

Due to having a great deal of makeup I never use and never will, tutition fees needing paid and 2 trips planned I have decided to sell off some of my makeup, shoes and handbags. Having never done anything like this before, I am not sure how to go about it, whether or not to restrict it to this blog, ebay or livejournal etc.
If anyone can offer a bit of advice it would be appreciated.

Swatches: Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol.2

As promised here are the swatches from the UD Book of Shadows.

L-R: Perversion, Gunmetal, Ecstasy, AC/DC*
L-R: Nylon*(G),Sellout, Mushroom*, Sphynx*(G)L-R: Half Baked,Twice Baked (G), Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (G), YDK

L-R: Jinx*, Flipside, Homegrown*, Misdemeanor*(G)

Review: Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol.2

Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 2 (£27 Boots)

As mentioned in my last post I have wanted to get my hands on this product since I heard about it, so on Monday I was delighted to discover that my local Boots had some in stock and bought it on the spot (missed out last year due to assuming that there would be some left closer to Christmas - I learn lessons).  I can now see what all the hype is about, it is amazing.

The set has 16 eyeshadows, 2 eyeliners and a primer. 7 of the shadows are limited to the set and the other 9 are available in the full size version from the regular line.  Most of the eyeshadows are shimmery and 5 of them are glittery (Midnight Cowboy Rides Again is extremely glittery whereas Misdemeanor  has a very subtle glitter to it, the rest fall between these two). In keeping with the rest of the UD eyeshadow range, they are highly pigmented.  Most colours are represented in the set (purples, greens etc.) and since it has the eyeliner and primer it is excellent as a gift or to take on trips/holiday etc.

I noticed that one of the Limited Edition colours is called AC/DC, UD used to have an eyeshadow of this name about 8 years ago but it was more like MAC's Beauty Marked in terms of colour and glitter. This AC/DC is a shimmery purple and bears no resemblance to the old one (incase anyone remembers the old one and thinks it'll be the same).

The eyeliners are mini versions of the 24/7 liners in Zero (black) and Bourbon (brown). The primer is a mini version of the famous UDPP and there is also a mirror and a booklet in the box.

It might be obvious but I am kinda in love with this product, Great for anyone who has few eyeshadows or has some of the bigger sizes and wants the limited edition ones .

Swatches to follow.

Update

Another update, since I have not done or bought much recently but it will be the start of term in the next few weeks and hopefully I will be able to buy some of the amazing stuff I've had my eye on recently.

Seen a lot of posts about the new Illamasqua collection (Dystopia). I'd like almost all of  the products in the collection, which is in contrast to Sirens where I was fairly indifferent to much of it. Urban Decay has also got quite a few things that caught my attention, the new primers look good and I would kill for the new Book of Shadows, which I missed out on last year due to the delay in my funding. From looking at the official US website there are a number of great products due out but, sadly, it does not always follow that what is released in the USA will be released in the UK but fingers crossed. The same goes for the Too Faced site, they are advertising the Teddy Bear hair bristles on a variety of brushes aside from the kabuki and flatbuki both of which I have and love. I wish that even if these products weren't sold in UK stores or on a UK based site, you could buy them off the US site and pay for the shipping to the UK.

I have also noticed that Lime Crime are bringing out a range of lipsticks on the 1st October.  I have fallen in love. I have wanted to try the eye dusts but felt that $12 + shipping was a bit steep for 0.07 oz of product but for a gorgeous bright lipstick ($16)  I think it would be worth it and I could buy a dust to try it and not feel as bad about it. The range of bright and bold colours is quite impressive, it has pinks, purples, oranges and red, as well as a black and a blue lipstick,which for a collection of 10 colours is quite good, as not even MAC carries black or blue as permanent colours and Illamasqua doesn't carry a blue (I wouldn't be surprised if this changed one day).   The other thing that stands out is the packaging:  a bright pink tube with a holographic unicorn, what isn't to love about that?  I only hope that it is as good as it seems otherwise I am going to be very disappointed...

I am keen to try the OCC lip tars especially Anime, Pageant and Katricia.  I recently did the makeup for one of my friends and her two sisters for her wedding, which got me thinking about freelancing.  I do have a lot of good makeup and brushes and as lipstick and eyeshadow etc go, I could do some nice looks  for people of different races and skin tones but when it comes down foundation and powders etc,  I only have NC and NW 15 and 20's. Clearly, that is not very helpful, in the town I grew up I suspect it would have been perfectly possible to work with such a limited range but where I live now, it would be difficult to do much with just those. Foundation costs a lot when you have to buy several different colours, so when I was on OCC's site I noticed that they have small sizes but that was for the airbrush system. I have been wondering if it is possible to use these without an airbrush machine and just apply with brushes. But don't want to waste money to find out if it looks okay or not.

I am overjoyed that it is almost time for the Boots Christmas catalogue to be released. Every year I race down to my nearest Boots to grab one and look at all of the stuff they have got in.  It has been like this for years, the only decent places to buy anything in my hometown and the neighbouring towns was Boots and Superdrug (and even then the range was quite restricted), so when the catalogue came out I would give my parents a long list with just about everything from the 17 and Natural Collection ranges on it and hope that on Christmas morning I would have lots of bright and smelly goodies under the Christmas tree. They would sometimes buy a couple of the things on the list as well as "proper" presents, i.e. things I would be able to keep and wouldn't be used up by New Year.  It is much better now that I can buy my own things and don't have to wait until 25th December. Especially now that I'm a bit too old for lists and they would have no idea what to buy, what I've already got and my Dad would have a heart attack at the tills at the price of a singular lipstick, so best done myself.

I love autumn and winter more than summer and spring. You can really go for drama in your makeup and wear lovely deep spicy perfumes and wear gorgeous deep purples and other jewel colours.  It is also easier to wear foundation without it being too hot or humid and ruining the look.  Autumn and winter tend to (or at least they seem to) last quite a long time in the UK, so I suspect I'm in the right place in that respect.

Review: Illamasqua Fetish Lipstick

Illamasqua Lipstick 'Fetish' £14

Haven't been out much so I have not been wearing much makeup recently, so it has taken a while for me to roadtest it and then life turned a bit hectic, meaning I didn't have time to write it up.

Anyway, when the product  was applied the colour was gorgeous and vivid- exactly as I had hoped it would be. I found that it had quite a dry, matte texture (as I think most illamasqua lipsticks have) which coupled with the colour, meant that it really was not very forgiving on dry lips.  I think to get it to look decent you really need to exfoliate  and moisturise your lips better than with MAC (generally speaking).  It would probably be a good idea to use a good lip primer to help with this.

Otherwise there is not too much else to say except that this colour is amazing under the "Fierce" lipgloss. 

Review: Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss

Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in "Fierce" (£12.50)

This just arrived in the post this morning and I immediately fell

 in love with the colour. It is a gorgeous opaque purple both in the tube and once it has been applied. This was something that I had hoped for but did not fully expect to happen, as quite often lipgloss'es apply thinly and do not offer the coverage I had hoped for and as a result I do not often buy them as I am less inclined to wear them alone rendering them a waste of money.  

The other (main) reason I rarely buy lipgloss is the texture.  They have this tendency to be very sticky and gunky and end up gluing hair  to your lips or dragging lots of sticky product across your face and glasses and it drives me insane. The illamasqua lipgloss was different it was a lot less sticky than any other glosses I have tried and despite having been outside I did not have a purple mess all over my face.  The texture is not like a lipstick or a gloss,  it is hard to accurately describe what it felt like but, it was sort of like a half way between a gloss and a lipstick.

The scent was also quite nice something which my Mum agreed on (she hated the colour). There is only really one thing that I think some people would dislike about this product and that is the applicator and the tube.  The tube is quite stiff when conside

ring that it is a squeeze out product, which I think  for some may be a bit of an issue and the top of the applicator is fairly small and I don't imagine that too many people who like to apply straight from the tube would find it very convenient, however, Personally this isn't a problem as I use a brush and appreciate that the tube tends to draw the excess back into the tube, meaning that less is spoiled on the applicators tip or in the lid.

I will most definitely  be buying this again.

 

Swatches

Just received my stuff from Illamasqua this morning and decided to put up the swatches. Will probably put up the review later.2 coats of the nail varnish in 'Baptiste'

top: Lipstick in 'Fetish' 

Bottom: Intense Lipgloss in 'Fierce'

Update

Not updated for a while,but haven't done very much to write about.

My hair has settled down, I think it could have been made worse by the fact that she used hair straighteners, which I tended only to use before I had my hair cut thinner at the bottom and it used to look bushy, with it both cut thinner and straightened the effect was too much (I still prefer the way my usual hairdresser does it)  and whilst I'm not overly keen on my fringe it looks better than it did. All it need was to be washed and  for some of the Kerastase Volumaktiv (not sure how it's spelled) to be sprayed and blow dried. Although I should never be happier with what I can do with my hair than what a hairdresser can do, same goes with makeup, brows and nails (hence why I tend to do my own makeup and brows- I usually only get a polish on my nails and can do it well on my left hand but then other can be a bit messy, I wonder if they'd charge half price for one hand?).

Went on a massive depotting rampage last night and depotted everything but my style warriors stuff, I managed to do it without breaking any shadows and without ruining my straighteners or setting anything on fire so I call it a success.  That said I didn't have any magnets and need another 2 or 3 pallets to accommodate them (about 30 of them now live in  in CD cases so until I get the pallets and magnets I will be anxious for them, so a trip up to B&Q tomorrow for magnets and a rush order at mac.co.uk).  I also hope that they still do B2M and that my local counter will accept panless e/s pots and that they allow you to buy from limited edition stuff (Trimming Talk and Most Popular are crying out to me).

Considering putting an order in for some Illamasqua stuff, my main problem is that I can't see the stuff first (killing my plan for Rich Liquid Foundation- I have been told that anything from RF120 to RF145 is comparable to NW15 I don't want to spend £20 on foundation that is too dark or far too light nor can I afford or want one in each shade). The other problem is, it all looks so good to me, I am trying to constrain myself over the summer but would end up with 7 lipsticks, a dozen eyeshadows, most of the intense Lipglosses and medium pencils and a load of other stuff. I have been tempted to buy the lip pallet but sadly they don't seem to have Fetish or Perilous and those are the two I really want with Box and Ignite. So I'm trying to keep to a £50 limit for the time being (the day my student loan comes in I'm going to go crazy- roll on October. I will justify it as helping the economy by buying British- I may end up walking to Uni everyday- 6 miles and having no books except the crap out of date ones in the library, but I will have amazing makeup). I'm quite keen to see how pigmented they are and the range of colours, I think I may be 'forced' to buy Daemon and Vulgar as I don't really have any red or orange eyeshadows and obviously that is just plain wrong and upsets the karma of my collection (I hope that that works on my Mum if she gets to the post before me- I really doubt it will though).

I may have to kill the hairdresser

She used a razor on it, it is FAR too thin at the bottom and to short at the top as a result I look like a combination of a 15 year old emo, a 1970's glam rocker and just a complete prat.  I really hate it, my Mum is like "Oh, it will grow back" yes, unless I have the misfortune to be like my Dad it will, in the meantime I have got to walk around with what looks like a cheap wig. I hate it more that the mess they made of it for the prom at least it was thick enough and long enough to tie back into a ponytail or bun for a couple of weeks. I told her I do not want it short. She has cut it so that it is short at the top and long-ish and thin at the bottom, like  horrible growing out mullet. I can't believe I actually  paid for it far less tipped them. It didn't look quite as hideous in the salon.  Thing is I don't usually go to that salon, I usually go to the more expensive one across town and get it done by the head stylist for this very reason aside from the guy I used to see up in Scotland for the year or two before we moved, every haircut was shit. I went to other salons down here they were not very nice either. I paid £40 thinking " I know what I want and can articulate clearly, what can go wrong?" Yeah wont be making that mistake again. Next time I'm going to wait for the appointment even if it takes an extra couple of weeks, hair that is too long can be styled in a way that looks okay this shit can not look anything other than shit. the sooner I can tie my hair back in a pony  the better as I can go back to my usual place and have nice hair once more. And I really wanted it to be nice, not anything special just nice.

To make matters worse my skin is really sore and I was hoping to avoid wearing makeup for a couple of days, not going to happen I look like a fat teenaged boy with this.

I have never been so upset about hair before.

FOTD:Pink and Green

Out of boredom asked my friend Lauren to given me two different colours to use for my eyeshadow, she suggested green and pink, stating that her sister had used the same colours on her and it was "mermaid-y".  I wouldn't say that this turned out mermaid-y but I did kinda like the effect, it kinda reminded me of watermelon which I usually have on holiday so giving that it was hot yesterday, it was nice for a change.

TFSI

Romping-lid

Swimming- above crease

Stately Black- in crease

Too Faced Jealous?- to blend out swimming 

Crystal Avalanche- highlight

GOSH e/l Alligator- Lower Lashline

UD e/l Covet- waterline

Bourjois mascara Coup De Theatre

Collection 2000 glitterliner Dancing Queen- upper lashline

Too Faced Obsessed Fan- over Alligator

Dazzleglass- Date Night

Swatches

Here are some swatches from the Edinburgh haul.

 These are the nail polishes from Barry M: Fuschia and Mint Green


L-R: Collection 2000 Glam Crystals Glitterliner; Funk and Hustle and Too Faced: Obsessed Fan 

Barry M Dazzledusts: 82 (Mint Green), 64 (Fuschia) and 44(Bronze). Above is applied dry in natural daylight and below is applied wet in natural daylight. 



Too Faced e/s's: Fantasy Island (Duo) and Jealous?
.

FOTD: 2 Looks

Did my makeup today using the stuff I bought in Edinburgh it looked so nice before it got all hot and wasted.

TFSI

Too Faced Fantasy Island light Gold inner 1/3

Too Faced Jealousy? middle 2/3

Too Faced Fantasy Island Darker Green outer 3/3 and lower lashline

MAC Soft Force highlight

Too Faced Lash Injection Mascara

UD 24/7 liner Covet on waterline

MAC Gladiola l/s

For both looks applied light foundation and bronzer

The second look, I havent photographed from yesterday but it was nice so will describe it.

TFSI

MAC Bare Study all over lid

MAC Soft Force all over lid and as a highlight

MAC Tempting over lid blended above crease and on lower lashline

MAC Night Manoeuvers Crease and over tempting on lower lashline

MAC Blacktrack f/l upper lash line

Too Faced Lava Gloss, Chocolate Lava waterline

Too Faced Lash Injection Mascara

MAC Gladiola l/s

Heat + Makeup= NO,NO,NO

It has been so hot today it is unbelieveable. Went to Edinburgh yesterday but unfortunately I got less than an hour in the shops. Still I did manage to do some damage in Jenners and Superdrug. The Superdrug in Princes Street is amazing, it is so clean and well organised. The testers are used for testing and the seals remained in tact on the for sale products (unlike the one in town where it is just frankly in a disgusting mess and no-one seems to respect the fact that other people might want to buy stuff. more than once I've gone in and had to take the lids off of every eyeliner at the GOSH stand to try and find one that hadnt been used, which they had, despite the tester being prominantly stickered- this really pisses me off).

Did my makeup the last two days as I was going to be outside. Both times it was gorgeous just after I had applied it then I left the house... Yesterday, I was in the car for hours and by time I was half way through my journey my face was greasy and oily (it is usually quite dry) and just generally disgusting looking. Today it essentially melted off my face (luckily I had blotting paper on hand) and it was a bit of a mess within about an hour. No idea what I'm going to do with it until the end of the week as I have to go somewhere everyday and its due to be boiling until the end of the week. The foundation had been mineral as well...

It is so hot I cannot sleep, I have had to have a fan on at night to help me but my Dad has stashed it in his room despite not using it meaning neither me nor my equally roasted brother can get the benefit as he and Mum are asleep in the coolest part of the house. Really pissed off, couldnt get my hands on any tower fans the other day, it isnt usually this hot here, so when it is everyone buys fans etc

I got my exam results today, I got the equivilent of a 2.1 (it was for 1st year so doesnt count towards final grade), I'm quite pleased with it my exam grades were mediocre but I had been under a great deal of pressure due to an illness in the family and I did improve the exam grade by 10% on what I got in the mock exams in January). If I keep this up I will be able to go and do a PhD at Edinburgh or any other Uni, which will rock.

Anyway, here is a picture of what I bought:

Too Faced e/s's in Jealous? and Fantasy Island (the duo), Too Faced glitter liner in Obsessed Fan, Collection 2000 glittery liners in Funk and Hustle, Barry M Dazzle Dusts in 44 (Bronze), 64 (Fuschia) and 82 (Mint Green), Barry M Nail polishes in Fuschia and Mint Green also the MAC Gladiola lipstick I ordered off of the internet (and love).

FOTN: Style Warriors

Just a quick FOTN from tonight done because I'm bored and wondered if it was possible to use all of the e/s's together and for it to not look stupid. I haven't put on before makeup as I took these at midnight and don't want panda eyes in the morning.

Thought that my favourite e/s would be Vibrant Grape but isn't, surprisingly I prefer Tempting which is just gorgeous.

Barbara Daly concealer (Fair) as a base

MAC e/s Soft Force all over lid, then as a highlight after Tempting

MAC e/s Bright Future inner corner

MAC e/s Vibrant Grape outer corner

MAC e/s Night Manoevers crease, lower lashline and as a brow powder

MAC e/s Tempting over N.M

MAC f/l Blacktrack upper lashline

MAC ccb Luna under brow and over Scatterays

Benefit high brow on waterline

Too Faced bronzer Sun Bunny on cheeks

MAC Solar bits in Scatterays above S.B (as a cheek highlighter)

MAC CCb Luna over Scatterays

MAC l/s Morange

MAC d/g Utterly Posh

MAC Fall Collections

Been on Specktra and Temptalia have come to the terrifying conclusion that I need to have at least £272.12 for the items I really, really want the most this Autumn. Thankfully, there is only 1 or 2 things I've seen after Style Warriors and Naked Honey leaving me to try and keep my cash aside for the days these are released. I have been drooling over the eyeshadows due to be released, it's just a pain that the majority of it will be out in the Makeup Art Cosmetics Collection in September rather than staggered over 3 or 4 collections where I could buy without making myself quite poor.

Vanity Post

Yet another post not entirely to do with makeup.  I would do a FOTD, but my eyes are very sore as a result of having had virtually no sleep and not needing to go anywhere, have decided not to try and force it. Hoping to make it into town to do some shopping tomorrow (want to grab one of those sleek Acid pallets and something from style warriors). Am supposed to be going to Glasgow to visit relatives and friends but my exam results are due the day were meant to be there and I really want to be able to access my results online  so that I know whether or not I will have any sort of a summer. On the other hand Glasgow shopping is amazing and I'm a bit homesick even after all this time. 

It is far too hot and my room is like a sauna, the cat is not impressed and has been stretching herself out taking up as much space as one small cat can manage.  She is just so lucky she is so cute and I don't want to go to sleep just now, or I'd be forced to kick her off the bed.

On the plus side,  I have managed to get my hands on MACs Gladiola lipstick.  I went to buy it  shortly after it came out and they'd sold out but someone was selling one for $10 shipped to the UK and used once which I just had to have.  Went to try and order Purple Rite last night of the website but it has sold out so I need to make a trip into town to see if they have it but I'm not very hopeful. I also LOVE the e/s's for style warriors so might get those when I'm in or just wait until we go up to Glasgow, but again I'm not holding out much hope of finding it.

Birthday FOTD

Here is the FOTD for todays look.  Unfortunately it doesn't look anything like how it does in reality nor does the one from last night.

TFSI

Bare Study

Creme Royal  (all of these all over eye area)

Paradisco- inner 1/3

Sushi Flower- middle 2/3

Passionate- over Sushi Flower

Parfait Amour- outer 1/3

Stylin'- over 92

MUFE 92- crease + outer 1/2 of lower lash line

Romping- inner 1/2 of lower lash line

Brule- highlight

Dazzlelight- a little under the brows

Electra- little bit in the inner corners

Stately Black- A long the lash line on the outer corners

Barry M eyeliner 30- waterline

UD 24/7 liner Lust- a little bit on the 92 on lower lash line

Collection 200 glittery eyeliner Shake It Up- upper lash line

Bourjois Clubbing Mascara Ultra Black

Bourjois eyebrow pencil

Lipstick: Sandy B

And here is a picture of Jess look annoyed at being picked up.

FOTD's

Here are a couple of FOTDs fro the past couple of  days. 

This is from last night 20/06/2009




This is from 19/06/2009

Please excuse the text above, I have no idea why it is doing that or how to change it.

20/06/2009:

TFSI

Bare Study

Amber Lights- inner 1/3

Juiced-2/3

Cork- 3/3 and into the crease

Ricepaper- highlight

Stately Black- lightly on upper lash line

Clinique eyeliner in Black Amethyst Lower lash line and waterline

Collection 2000 glittery liner in Retro Chic- upper lash line

Bourjois brow pencil

Bourjois Coup de theatre mascara

Spice- line lips

Morange- applied to centre of lips and smudged out

Clear lipglass- over Morange

Maybelline pure minerals powder foundation in Ivory Rose

Belightful on cheekbones , temples, nose and chin

19/06/2009

TFSI

Red Velvet- on lid

UD- Fishnet- inner 1/2 and over Zero on crease

         Ransom- outer 1/2

         Zero- Crease

         Peace- upper lash line

         Graffiti- lower lash line

Barry M eyeliner on waterline 30

Benefit Bad Gal mascara

All products MAC unless stated otherwise.

York CCO Haul

Went up to the CCO at the York Designer outlet yesterday got a lot of different things, it was amazing. Luckily they had Solar bits from past collections and I got Bronzescape and Scatterays for about £10 each rather than almost £15 each from the concessions or stores as well as a couple of other things I had been needing to pick up.

                                            Hello Kitty Quad: Too Dolly, E/s (top 2): Submarine and Ricepaper,                                                 (bottom 2): Blue Jewel and Stormwatch. 15 pallette, E/s refills in                                                       Brule, Juiced, Amber Lights, Chrome Yellow, Electra and Cork
                                             Pigments:Viz a  Violet, Blue Brown and Melon
                                             Solar bits: Scatterrays and Bronzescape
                                            Beauty Powder: Belightful (from Fafi) and Lip liner in Spice

Ipod drama no. 2

Apple restored access to the songs we'd bought on itunes and after putting them onto the ipod (and backing them up onto a CD) and uploading my CDs (about half of them anyway) I discovered that I had too much music for my ancient ipod to hold and now have to upload songs one by one, removing songs I rarely listen to in favour of my newest purchases (buying music at the click of a button is dangerously easy and costly, but on the plus I now just have songs I like and not just one or two and 10 others so I actually save in the long run plus I lack the storage space for many more discs I have about 100+ CDs and then a few double and treble CD compliations in my bedroom alone and a load more in storage and many have gone to that great CD graveyard known as my brothers room...). Hoping to upgrade my nano to one of those 16gb ipods that can hold thousands of songs but they cost about £200 and I'd want to buy a few new songs to go on it.

Anyway I should be going to bed, I got less than 2 hours sleep last night and I need to go up to Leeds in the morning.  I just never realised that I literally thought I would die, if I didn't have hundreds of songs at my fingertips at any given time. 

Update

Finally got my mac today, it is gorgeous but massive. Unfortunately, I haven't worked out how to upload photos from my camera yet, but will try again later.

I tried to change my itunes account from the really old computer (we only ever used it for itunes)to my new one, unfortunately, it erased all of my music from the account and from my ipod. I had about 800 songs on it, most of which I had downloaded from itunes or from cds which are now in storage. I'm a bit gutted. Since the account was in my brothers name (we have a similar taste in music so shared the account), he phoned apple and the guy there said they should be able to allow him access to the songs purchased (not the ones added from CD) but he was to email them to see about it. I hope to God they allow use access soon.  I'm meant to be going up to Leeds on Saturday. I cannot be in a car for the 3 hours or so it takes to get there without music. I will go insane, my mind will cave in and it will be very unpleasant. I only ever get a bit travel sick if I go for long periods in a car without music and only if it is plugged in to my ears  (I think it must be the fact that it cancels out other noises). Anyway fingers crossed that they let us have access to the music, if nothing else it will be very expensive and time consuming to download it all over again.

I think I may be having a quarter life crisis.  Some of my friends seem to be feeling the same.  When our parents were around our age (I'm 24 at the weekend) they had careers, money etc, in fact my parents were married, had their careers, a house and a car at 19. Since I left school at 17, I've been to college and 2 universities (transfered just before the final year to this course) since I'm studying Law in order to practice, I have 2 more years undergrad, 1 year studying for the Bar, a 1 year pupillage and then I might get a tenancy. I will be almost 30 IF it goes smoothly.  It was so much easier in my mothers day but it has to be said my Mum has an IQ of 145 (with maths-its about 160 without) although I have a higher than average IQ it isnt anything like that (my brothers is probably close to Mums). and if I'm almost 30 when I start my career properly, I'll be well over it when I try to buy a house. The only benefit I see over when my Mum was my age is that now we have computers and non cakey foundation.

Fun With Face Charts: cshock

Have been very very bored since uni stoppped and have been wearing the same looks for conviniences sake, so last night I decided to make use of the face charts I have printed off in recent days to see how it would go. I decided to try the cshock face chart but since I didn't have any of the products from that collection I improvised and used the Ben Nye Grand Lumiere pallet.Since it was like 11pm the lighting was pretty poor but since it is a very bright look it doesnt matter so much and for some reason I kept missing half of my eye with the camera.

Products used:

MAC s/s- Beige-ing

Ben Nye e/s- Ice, Sun Yellow, Azalea,Tangerine, Cosmic Blue, Amethyst and Jade.
MAC Penultimate Liner

GOSH Velvet touch e/l- Girl Power

Benefit Bad Gal Mascara- Black

Random Post

Okay, this post has nothing much to do with makeup just me going on/venting etc.

Just found out that I will be getting a Mac in less than a fortnight, so I'm very pleased and looking forward to just playing around with it to see how it works properly, this shouldn 't have much of an impact on my posting as I will still have my laptop which is quite slow and keeps stoping but it has held out quite well when considering that I got it quite cheap in September 2007 when I went to Denmark to study for a couple of months (this went badly) and had it on for at least 12 hours a day EVERYDAY for 4 months. Aside from the power cable going on fire it has done quite well and I'm just glad I still have it. If the camera in the mac is capable I might do some videoreviews, tutorials (have quite an interesting series planned) etc.

I have had some news recently which will have an impact on my posts at the moment the news is not very nice but it is not certain if it is one that can be easily dealt with (the doctor seems to indicate that if it is one option, it will be easily dealt with, if it is the other option, he'll see what is best then but it is more complicated than option 1). The hope is that I will be able to post frequently (FYI I'm not ill) but I will need the other thing more but that will be a couple of weeks down the line and i should know in advance.

Another thing is I'm getting quite mad at the media and the way it is treating Susan Boyle. They printed things about her which turned out to be false and backed it up with misrepresentations. Throughout the show, she presented herself well as a person (i.e. she was never nasty or manipulative about others and she didn't throw a tantrum when she didnt get her way). People accross the world took to her and admired her talent and the fact that she was a frumpy 48 year old spinster from some wee town in Scotland and not some pretty 18 year old who knew how to play for the cameras, in a nutshell, she was real. But the media (in England at least) really started to dig its claws in and ripped her to shreds for claims it couldn't substantiate (other contestants spoke well of her before and after the final). They printed the pictures of her looking unhappy just before it was announced that she came second (i.e. when everyone thought she'd won) as if it was how she looked when it was announced that Diversity had won (she looked happy at that point, relieved even). Next day she goes in to the Priory due to the stress, Congratulations UK media you've picked on and harrassed a woman with learning difficulties, you must be very proud of yourselves. Also the so called "celebrity backlash" consisted of Lily Allen-a woman who can't sell records unless she's slagging someone off and who has produced a couple of decent songs but not enough to justify the amount of publicity she recieves.

I might be going to Bicester Village, Oxford to the CCO, which I'm quite pleased about and hope there is some good stuff (MAC stuff) there and hope to get a decent haul.

Review: Combined Products

Wrights Coal Tar Soap (£0.76-Tesco):This is a product that I have used every couple of years but could not decide whether or not I liked it that much, I think it is a good dependanble soap that can be used by all of the family but the smell is like Marmite in that you'll either love it or hate it. I like it up to a point, it smells clean and you feel that you can "trust" it to do its job properly and get your skin feeling squeeky clean and that there wont be alot of germs left. It can feel a bit hospitally to be honest and its a bit old fashioned. But over all its a decent soap and it serves its function.

E45 Cream (from about £2.50 for a small tube- the co-operative): A wonderful product that does not require a lengthy explaination. It moisturises fantastically, comes in many different sizes and doesn't cost the Earth. I first discovered it after my doctor suggested it for treating eczema (I get some little patches when stressed) as it is much cheaper than the prescriptions and does the job just as well (for the type I get anyway- there are alot of different types many of which might need to be a bit stronger). It stopped the itch and cleared up the horrible dry patches in under a week. They do have a massive bottle with a pump which is good to use on a daily basis to moisturise skin and try to prevent more outbreakes.

Barry M Nail polishes (from about £2.70- Superdrug and Boots): Have a wide variety of different colours and was vote the best inexpensive nail polish of the year by Instyle. It dries to have a nice shine and look nice and thick with two coats. It tends to be quite good in the chipping department (i.e. it doesnt chip much) but since its so thick (but not uneven) it can take a while to dry properly, but if you have time and patience it is well worth the results.

Review: Nars Night Breed Eyeshadows

Night Breed Eyeshadows in Night Porter and Night Flight (£15.00 each) from http://www.narscosmetics.co.uk/

(Night Porter-Left, Night Flight-Right)

I bought these e/s's a couple of weeks ago and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to make of them.

Night Porter is a dark green with a green sparkle, Night Flight is a dark blue with a blue sparkle. I do actually like them but I suspect that my expectation of them has not been met and I'm feeling a little disappointed, something I don't think would have happened if I had gone into a department store and bought it at a stand where I could see it before I bought it (There isnt a Nars where I live, the closest I'm aware of is probably in London which is over an hour and a half away by train and where I have been a grand total of once since I'm terrified of going on the underground and getting lost a fear i had in New York but not in Glasgow poss. since if you get on the wrong circle you'll end up where you wanted to anyway, just takes longer-still wouldn't advise it on a football day esp if its an Old Firm match most especially if it is at Ibrox which is on the route). Anyway, back to the e/s, I found that to get any of the sparkle you had to press it on to the lid (best done over a primer and base), if you brush it on the colour weakened and didnt look very good. I have used the Night Flight in a look I have already posted here (the eurovision look) and as I mentioned then, it doesnt take to being blended, which kinda limits its scope.

I would probably press it on to the lids over a paint pot like Bare Study until I got a nice dark sparkly look or at the most apply a different shadow to the crease and blend it very carefully to see if it would work. then add liberal amounts of kohl liner to the lower lashline and waterline and then put on a lot of mascara and/or false lashes.

There was a fair bit of fall out as might be expected but there is quite alot of the product probably more than a MAC and I think there is more than in a MUFE refill (but not 100% sure).

As for it being worth the money? Well it was a nice product and it will last a long while but I'm not sure that I personally will get the full benefit from it but it might be fun to get it out now and again but I just dont think I could justify spending another £15 on one unless I saw it in person and decided I really wanted it. It also doesnt help that I didnt own a single item of Nars makeup (that said I'm totally in love with their Albatross Highlighter). I would buy from Nars again ( I have my eye on the sparkling pressed powder but since there are 3 colours and i havent seen them in person I'm a bit reluctant to spend £22- but would like the Gold Rush shade or the Machu Picchu one but not really keen on the Venus which might look a bit too pink and be a sort of little girl-esque nightmare but the others could be designed for people with darker skin than mine or atleast who are capable of getting a tan and not turning scarlet in the sun).

Overall 3.5-4/5

Review: Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes (£2.68 or 2 for £4.00) Tesco

In the past I have used these wipes and for a couple of years they were all I ever used to remove my makeup. However, for the past year I have taken to using various brands instead including Skin Wisdom and Johnsons wipes and liquid and cream eye makeup removers. Some of those were great like the MAC eye and lip makeup remover (not the wipes), Some good like the Skin Wisdom Firm & Lift 4 in 1 Cleansing wipes and the downright horrific like the Johnsons dreamy skin 3 in 1 facial night wipes which certainly removed the makeup along with half the skin from the area around my right eye leaving it red, raw, streaming and extremely painful for a couple of days less than a week before christmas (when A&E was full of drunks, the waiting times were horrendous and the GPs were closed over the weekend since I had to be experimenting with my makeup at 11pm on a friday night- Thank God it had more or less died down by Monday to a point where it was ugly but not sore or I'd have had to brave the Surgery full of sick old people, sick children, or people who had overindulged in alcohol over the weekend but wanted a sick line to get a couple of days extra off work to shop- not my idea of fun).

Anyway, the Simple wipes are AWESOME to the point where they are the UKs No1 cleanser brand (Simple as a whole I'm guessing from the sticker) and have been voted (by beauty industry experts) the best cleansing wipes in Instyles "100 Best beauty Buys" for the past two years. It's difficult to know where to start praising these wipes since there is just so much in their favour but starting with the blurb on the packet it is stated that there is no alcohol in it, no oil, no perfume or colour and no unnecessary or harsh chemical, in essence it is meant to be non drying, non greasy and non irritating. They even state that they are perfect for sensitive skin, which I can definately agree with ( normally I get a bit of burning and a little redness from products which I dont use again and nothing like what I got from the Johnsons wipes). On the back they also assert that they are dermatologically tested AND approved,the last bit is important as most brands have the products tested but it does not mean that it is approved merely that it has been tested, which is an important distinction to make in my opinion.

Whilst all of the above points are important, the product must be effective for it to be worth buying and once again the wipes succeed in meeting and passing my expectations easily. I found that the fabric of the wipes was really soft but that it removed the majority of my eyeshadow in one wipe (I have been wearing quite a lot of dark smokey looks recently)and the rest of the visible makeup in the next swipe, obviously it wont remove every trace of mascara in one or two rubs but it does get rid of most of it and I havent been waking with bad panda eyes as usual although there was a little bit smudged under my lower lashes. To my astonishment it took off all of the MUFE #92 I was wearing which hasnt happened before usually I have a pinky stain where it was applied until the next day when I apply my makeup (it gets taken off with that is removed).

(Pictured: Close up of the wipe- to see the texture of the cloth)

In a nutshell this is an amazing product, which I have no idea why I ever stopped using (actually I do I fancied a change and wanted to try other products but they all fall far short). 5/5

Review: Treacle Moon Body Scrub

Treacle Moon Body Scrub "My Coconut Island" (£2.89) avaliable in Tesco.

Unusually, the weather has been very hot today (even hotter than in Spain and its Bank Holiday weekend!!!!!!), so faced with the prospect of Short sleeved tops I decided that it would be wise to invest in some body scrub and on my hastily arranged trip to Tesco for Ice Lollies and cold drinks, thought I'd grab it there. My local Tesco isn't exactly overloaded with options (despite it being fairly large) but it did have some lovely scrubs including the one I bought.

As the name suggests, it smells of Coconut but not like the horrible scents you'd expect in something costing less than £3. It genuinely smells of holidays spent lazing around the pool or on the beach (if you like that sort of thing) or the warm balmy nights out, on some lovely Mediterranean Waterfront sipping Pina Coladas.

(A close up of some of the grains in the scrub rubbed on to palm of my hand)

As a scrub it was very nice and it was effective, it wasn't too scratchy or abrasive (still, i wouldn't recommend it for use on the face) and when applied in a circular motion to wet skin it was lovely and relaxing. It rinsed off easily enough and has left my skin feeling soft and smooth. It has even made a visible improvement on the skin of my upper arms which usually looks horrible and uneven after more than a year hidden under long sleeved tops due to the winter and terrible weather last summer (and I rarely go out in the sun being pale, auburn haired and Scottish and as a result burn very very easily and need to layer on tonnes of Factor 50).

Treacle Moon also makes other products to go with this and in other fragrances if you arent too keen on Coconut (I'm a total fiend for coconut and pineapple stuff). It doesn't hurt that the packaging is quite pretty too without being too much. I love this stuff BUY IT!!!!!!!!! 5/5

Review: China Glaze Nail Polish

China Glaze Nail polishes in "In the Lime Light" and "Japanese Koi" (£8.95) from http://www.thebeautypartnership.com/ (for UK buyers) and I believe it is avaliable from Sallys beauty supplies in the USA and possibly Canada.

After reading all of the rave reviews of china glaze online I decided to try it out for myself and ordered In the Lime Light, a neon green and Japanese Koi, a neon orange colour. Like most polishes they required two coats and they tended to dry reasonanbly quickly, but had a tendency to look a little bit dull, so a good glossy top coat is necessary. I wasn't a big fan of how they looked but this could be down to the fact that when I ordered I had no idea that they were neon (I prefer creme finishes) and had hoped that In The Lime Light would be like MACs Peppermint Patti (I really wish I had bought it) and that Japanese Koi would be good with my Morange lipstick. That said they do stock a wide range of colours and textures including creme, shimmer, glitter and holographic.

(Pictured: 2 coats of "Japanese Koi")

For the price paid you do get quite a lot for your money (14 ml compared with 10ml for nails inc which costs more) and the promotional booklet that came with it states that it has a long wearing formula with hardeners, I tend to remove my nail polish the night after I apply it (or chip it of if really bored and it has chipped) so I cant really say how long wearing it is but it did last me all day without chipping so I was fairly happy (chipped nail polish is a pet hate of mine, esp when you see a little bit in the centre of bitten nails- yuck!).

I would recommend china glaze but personally I think I'd go for a different finish rather than neon. 4.5/5

Review: Mehron Brush Treatment

Mehron brush Treatment (£4.99) from http://www.teampixie.co.uk/itemdetl.php/itemprcd/300-2T.jpg

(Pictured with the Mehron ProColorRing Neutralizer)This is basically a brush cleaner. To use all you need to do is dip the bristles into the liquid and wipe off on a cotton wool pad or a tissue. It does take off much off the makeup and it does not transfer and of the old product when you use it again meaning that it is very good for use on a daily basis. I would, however, say that it is a good idea to give the brushes a good wet wash with the MAC brush cleaner every few days to take all of the colour out and it might be more appropriate to think of the treatment as if it is a cleansing hand gel, use when you need to and between washes but don't use instead of washing.

Although it did take alot of the product off and it did not transfer any of the old stuff i have found that it does not take the stains out of my white bristled brushes like the 239 which still had some of the blue in it despite having been cleaned using the treatment twice, it was the Mac stuff that removed the remained and the brush now looks as good as new.

The treatment dries quickly and has a nice sort of minty scent to it. Overall 5/5, If you want to use it as your only cleaner 4/5.

Review: Pallets

I got the pallets off of ebayuk seller named tvgametoy (would definately recommend them) based in Hong Kong.
The 88 colour pallet and the 88 shimmer pallet are the same as the ones sold by Coastal Scents. They retail at far less than the Coastal Scents ones but have a high shipping price and the time it takes to get from Hong Kong to the UK is quite long (approx 2 weeks, but it was dispatched promptly so it is down to the postal systems not the seller). The pallets seem to be the same as those being sold on the crown brushes uk website and the are selling for a high price but since it is within the UK it would presumably arrive sooner, if needed in a hurry.

The actual products are quite good. They are highly pigmented, easy to blend and I havent had any problems with irritation or allergies (my skin is quite sensitive). The two 88 pallets are quite rightly recommended all over the internet. The blush and neutral pallets are of a high quality also. Not too much too say as there are literally hundereds of reviews of these products on youtube where it is possible to see the products being used. 5/5

I'm properly back

Had so much on this past while, namely end of term essays and exams, but I now hope to blog a bit more often and have atleast 6 reviews planned and those will hopefully be typed and up over the next couple of days.

Last exam was yesterday and ended up being not very well last night (stress related, not alcohol) and have been very tired and nauseous today so will try and be awake long enough to get at least some of those up tonight.

Pallet numbering

I finally got the pallets (88 shimmer, 88, 28 neutral and 28 blush) last week and I've been really impressed so far, the one problem I have found is that since there are a few colours which look similar, I can't remember which one I used so to combat this, I have numbered the colours.

It didn't take too long to do and has made things sooo much easier. Basically, I wrote the numbers on the clear plastic cover with the pallet over the e/s's with a black sharpie. Not the most creative or genius thing I've ever done but it works.

Eurovision EOTN

One of my favourite nights of the year (I am that sad)...Eurovision.

Have decided to take the easy way out and do a blue,red and white eyeshadow look.

Just posting eyes tonight as the universe has mocked me meaning that the night when my hair has been styled by myself and looks good (not clear from these photos)happens to be during the exam period and I have put on weight, making my lower face look terrible and I have a stress induced break out ( around my mouth and chin area).

There is not a great deal of blending in this picture (I dont find that this combination blends very well) and I tried to give it a slight 1960's feel (i.e. when we actually did well out of eurovision...I hope we do better this year as the woman were sending this year is actually very good).

Face

Mehron procoloring neutralizer

MAC mineralize satinfinish foundation NC15

Barbara Daly Concealer Fair

28 Blush pallet light pink (number 2 as i have labled it)

Nars highlight- Albatross

Eyes

UDPP

MAC e/s Gesso

UD Deluxe e/s Adore

NYX jumbo e/s pencil Cherry

88 pallet Red (number 72)

Nars e/s Night Flight

MAC e/s Crystal Avalanche

Barry M e/l No. 4 (royal blue)

Barry M e/l No. 30 (white)

Collection 2000 glitter liner Night fever

Diorshow mascara

Bourjois brow pencil

Lips

MAC slimshine in Bare

Just summing up

I have decided to attempt pincurls. They are easy and quick to do but take ages to set (I am trying the ones that sit up from my head rather than the ones that sit against my head and are easier to sleep in without messing up). I suspect that if it goes well in future I will wear them at night and pout them in first thing in the morning rather than wear them overnight for the day as it is a pain. Might do a tutorial on them if I ever get a camcorder or the camera on the mac I'm currently thinking on buying, is any good.

Done a lot of makeup shopping in the past week, bought two of the Nars Nightlife eyeshadows (in Night Porter and Night Flight) and if I'm honest I'm not exactly loving them. They look gorgeous in their container but they dont make any great impact once they've been applied and they are so dark I couldn't see a massive difference between them. I also got the Orgasm blusher and the Albatross highlighter (Nars has free standard delivery on orders over £50). The blusher is very very light but it builds up nicely but it would take a lot to look heavy which is quite good. The Highlighter, I am just absolutely in love with, it is light but it give an amazing glow and shimmers a bit without making you look like an escapee from the 1970's Disco scene (not necessarily a bad thing, I love glitter).

Have finally found a way to wear Coppering without making my eyes look sore so I was quite pleased with myself (I teamed it up with Bronze, Club and Shroom- All MAC colours). I probably shouldn't be spending my time doing this as my 1st exam is a week on Tuesday but...

Waiting for a few things to arrive before I post a haul, ordered the two 88 pallets from Hong Kong and they are apparently the same as the ones sold by Coastal Scents. I can hardly wait for them to arrive and hope like hell they don't get damaged on the way here. Am going to buy a couple of things from Lime Crime after my last exam as a sort of celebration. I don't usually drink alcohol so the amount I'd spend on alcohol will go on makeup- which means that 1. UK prices are very high esp on booze and 2. it takes quite alot have any effect on me and i tend to buy the dearer cocktails that dont taste of alcohol as I'm not keen on it (it tends to make me think of nail polish remover or that horrible smelling stuff you have to use on your hands when visiting people in hospital) so I should be able to get a good haul. Decided to treat myself if i do well this year and since i get the results a week after my birthday I should get some good stuff (If I do badly I suspect the alcohol will be more attractive ;p).

Will try to get a couple of reviews done over the next couple of weeks around my studying. And I'm trying to get a good Red, White and Blue look done for Eurovision (16th May), hope we do well this year and dont come last as per usual. The woman we're sending this year is quite pretty so hopefully she'll have nice makeup and since Andrew Lloyd Webber is controlling things to do with her song and public profile abroad as well as a changed voting system (50% of the votes are by judges the rest is the usual political voting). Germany has Dita Von Teese performing to their song. Clearly the Big Four (UK, Germany, France and Spain) have decided to put up a fight this year and its about time. Although Terry Wogan is no longer doing the commentary (I miss him already) we do now have Graham Norton (he is very funny and is so camp he was the most obvious choice in my opinion)

Review: Carbon e/s (MAC)

Just a quick review of MACs Carbon eyeshadow (£9.80- individual or £7.34- pan for pallet).

Normally wouldn't do a review of a fairly basic product like this, however, I got an amazing surprise from this one.

The e/s is just a matte black but it applies so smoothly its unreal. In my teens I went through a mosher/goth stage where black e/s was basically compulsary. In those days I was flat broke and more or less restricted myself to the brands you get in Boots (I grew up in a former industrial town outside of Glasgow- basically there was No 7 (skin reacts badly to this) or 17 or some of the cheaper brands like Rimmel which I'm allergic to). So for 2 years I lived in 17s blacks eyeshadow which wasn't too bad since all I was doing was applying it thickly all over my lid and that was it. I noticed that it tended to drag a little but it was fine.

Now I feel a bit weird buying 17 and have not worn black e/s since I was 17 until recently when I bought Nyx black e/s, well it drags quite badly which given that I wear it as part of a look with other colours isn't very helpful. I have tried a few other brands and got the same thing to varying degrees. I resented paying the better part of £10 for something I was sure would drag but I was wrong, it's amazing. I expected it to be dry and powdery (not in a good way) but it went on nicely and blends so easily and has a nice finish.

I will be buying this again once I have run out and think that it was worth every penny. 5/5

Review: Too Faced Lip Injection

The Too Faced Lip Injection came as part of a set and is also sold individually (approx. £12).
Whilst I don't actually need a lip plumper, I decided to give this a try. When using a lip plumping product it is expected that there will be a tingling sensation, so I was not surprised when I started to experience some tingling, I was unprepared for how unpleasant it actually was. I haved plumpers in the past and expected a cool almost minty tingle as it has been before. Initially, I didn't feel anything but after about a minute a horrible feeling almost like having hundreds of hot, tiny needles jabbed into my lips or having finely ground glass rubbed on started to take over. This persisted for about 10/15 minutes before subsiding and feeling like a normal gloss. I did not notice any major increase in the size of my lips nor do I think that the gloss was particuarly good, if I wanted a gloss the MAC lipglass is cheaper, there is more of it and it is comfortable to wear. The gloss did have a taste similar to Red Bull or one of those medicines you take for a cold as a child. I was seriously disappointed in this product, in the highly unlikely event that I ever use this again farless use it all, I would not buy this particular product despite being a major fan of many of Too Faced's other products. If you have very thin lips and are desparate then it might be worth it but it is likely that you could get a nicer product for less and which would wield better results. 2/5

Update/Other stuff

I have set up a weightloss blog to avoid clogging up this one.

Student Loan is due in on Monday and I plan on getting some stuff and doing some reviews and possibily even a haul depending on what I get, possibily putting in an order to Nars and trying to stay calm for the week and a half until MACs Doubledazzle is released (7 May- we are always so far behind the US it is not even funny, they now have Rose Romance as well although there is only a couple of things I want from that, the two pigments and the blushers). Also considering getting the two 88 pallets and some stuff from Lime Crime but worry about the postage fees between the US and the UK (might just bite the bullet and buy anyway since it is the last loan until September/October and that needs to go on books, stationary and bus fair aka boring but necessary stuff).

This months Instyle magazine has an article with the impossibly glamourous Dita Von Teese. Although she appears to wear very little makeup, it apparently takes her up to 2 hours to do it which, to be honest I don't envy, I can do a full face well in under 30 minutes and walk out the door. It's a very good article and tells you some of the makeup she wears (i.e. MACs Russian Red lipstick, of which she has 30 tubes of, and false lashes, foundation etc) but then again Instyle is a brilliant magazine ( been buying it since I left school although I have read Glamour since it first came out, I tend to go straight to the beauty pages and not bother with the rest of it), I think I saw an Instyle from the US in Borders a few months ago dedicated to makeup but I haven't seen it since and am beginning to suspect that either I imagined it or it was the regular US version but it was special issue/one off which is starting to annoy me a bit.

FOTD: Turkish Delight

Yet another FOTD,this one is inspired by the colours of the sky at sunset in Turkey (it's getting into the summer holiday season and I want to go back). The liner on the upper lashes could do with being a little thicker and the liner on the waterline is just not bold enough. Thought I'd roadtest the lip products I got this morning (absolutely love recieving that little black box). The lighting is not very good unfortunately.

Face as with the last look minus the prep and prime and using Maybelline pure mineral foundation in Ivory Rose (I think it is called that, the number was '02') instead of MAC.

EYES:

MAC s/s Beige-ing

MAC p/m Melon

MAC p/m Fuschia

MAC p/m Violet

MAC p/m Pink Opal

GOSH velvet touch eyeliner Girl Power

MAC f/l Blacktrack

Too Faced Lash Injection

Bourjois brow pencil

LIPS:

MAC Prep& Prime Lip

MAC l/l Beet

MAC l/s Violetta*

MAC l/g Dreamy

*Violetta doesn't seem to be on the main lipstick section yet but I found it under the SS09 Tendertones (LE) and it is avaliable from MAC PRO (PERM).

FOTN 17/04/09

First non review post, unfortunately I was I a bit of a rush, so didn't take as many photos as I normally would but it shows what I want it to. This was just a look for going for a celebratory pub dinner with my mum and brother (I sued my former landlord over a year ago and he's only JUST paid up).

FACE:

MAC Prep and Prime Face

MAC Mineralize Satinfinish Foundation- NC15

Barbara Daly concealer- Fair

Too Faced Bronzer- Sun Bunny (hollows of the cheeks)

MAC MSF- Perfect Toppping

MAC Blusher- Dollymix

MAC Creme base- Luna

EYES:

UDPP

UD Deluxe e/s- Scratch (lash to brow)

- Shag (inner half of lid)

- Underground (outer half of lid)

- Zero (crease)

- Honey (brow bone)

Bloom shadow liner- Ebony Brown (upper lashline)

MAC eye kohl- Costa Riche (lower lashline and waterline)

Maybelline Great lash mascara- Brownish Black

Bourjois eyebrow pencil

LIPS:

Elizabeth Arder 8 hour lip balm

MAC Prep and Prime Lip

Bobbi Brown lipliner- Sandwash Pink

MAC lipstick- Morange

MAC lipglass - Clear

Review: Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual

Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual (£20 at the Bobbi Brown Counter, £13 at Tesco)

I don't normally read makeup manuals as the information is either stuff I already know (i.e too basic) or Theatrical makeup (i.e. stuff I don't really care about). The chances are if I had been in a bookstore I wouldn't have been looking at makeup books for the above reason or if I had seen it at a makeup counter I would have ignored the books and went straight for the actual makeup. However, I was in Tesco with my Mum and only got it because she bought me it and I'm glad she did, I'm hoping to do a bit of freelance work and this book gave me a lot of good ideas as to what I should have in a kit, makeup for photography, booking work etc. as well as the usual make up application, with advice on how to deal with different products and brushes, how to analyse skin and how to do makeup for weddings, teenage skin and mature skin. Quite helpfully there is quite alot about how to do makeup for Asian skin tones and makeup for asian eyes and how best to enhance dark skin as well as white skin.
Whilst this is in no way comparable to studying makeup and beauty at college, it is helpful to those of us with an interest, who want to do some freelancing but cannot go to college due to other committments or the expense. I have also noted a distinct lack of decent online/distance learning makeup courses (except one in Spain but it is highly suspicious and they kept sending me a ton of stupid spammy emails for a month so...) so this would be quite good for people either wanting to do makeup for themselves or getting started and gaining experience. For a career in film and tv it would be of limited use and it would be better for people wishing to make a career in that field or as professional makeup artists full time to go to college, in my opinion. 5/5

I did not include pictures of the book to avoid infringing any copyright laws.

Side note: I do seem to have a lot of 5/5 reviews, this is because of my way of scoring it, if the product is good value and does as it is supposed to its likely to get a 5/5, if it is a good product but not quite worth the money it'll usually get a 4/5 etc. It isn't that I'm easily pleased (nor am I overly harsh) but felt that this should be explained.

Review: GOSH nail varnish

GOSH nail varnish in Holographic (approx. £5)

I bought this out of Superdrug thinking that it was just a glittery nail polish, but saw on another blog that it was meant to be holographic so tried it out. The first coat looked like just a normal glittery nail polish, very pretty but could get much the same for cheaper, the second coat started to look more holographic, the third coat was holographic but I added an extra coat and it looked spectacular. It dried really quickly and I was really impressed with it. I also read that it doesnt work as well with a base coat so I just skipped that and applied a good top coat. 5/5

Picture is of 4 coats of the polish minus the top coat.

Review: Too Faced Lip of Luxury

Too Faced Lip of Luxury Lipstick in Pink Flamingo (£11-12)

This is a product I have been curious about for a couple of months, since I saw the photos in the Boots catalogue at christmas time. The packaging is very pretty and the blurb on the box is extremely enticing and it claims that the lipstick is infused with champagne essence. The lipstick does have a nice goldy shimmer to it and the colour is quite subtle but very nice nonetheless. In regards to colour I prefer the bolder, brighter colours like MACs 'Girl About Town' or 'MAC Red' but I have found myself wearing this more than I had anticipated. The texture was quite smooth and feels a bit like a MAC lustre lipstick in my opinion and it lasted a reasonably long time . I did like this product but still prefer MAC and I will probably buy this product again as well as recommend it highly. 5/5 (based on the qaulity, not my preference of colours)

Review: Beautyuk Eyeshadow pallet

Beautyuk eyeshadow pallet (£2.93)

Bought this product today out of curiosity. Attracted to the bright colours I had expected that the product at only £2.93 would be of poor quality in that the colour payoff would be poor and the product would feel horrible and unpleasant and would not last very long. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the colours were as bright on skin as they were in the pallet and that they lasted atleast a couple of hours until I purposely removed them. The texture wasn't unpleasant and it even has a mirror in the pallet and its size means that this is a convinient product to transport on a night out etc. The look of the eyeshadows themselves reminded me of the photos of the Coastal Scents 88 pallet but unfortunately I cannot compare the 2 as I don't have the Coastal Scents pallet. Since it is quite small you don't seem to get alot of eyeshadow but since it is highly pigmented and costs less than a mocha, I'd say its a bargain. Overall I think this is a good product and would totally recommend it. 5/5

Swatches of the product

The two greeny colours over MACs Cakeshop shadestick.