Rant

I ordered a pair of gorgeous red, glittery high heels for a special event I am going to next week over a fortnight go, which still haven't arrived. I have sent 2 emails in the past week, both of which have gone unanswered and telephone three times today and been put on to the answering machine. I also noticed that when you call the company they do not identify who you are phoning and they give a very general response about talking to other customers and dispatching products.

I am not really annoyed, I ordered these shoes 3 weeks in advance so that, if the shoes were too big or too small I could exchange them or return them for a refund in plenty of time to get something else. To add insult to injury I paid for quick delivery, they are situated in Norfolk so it isn't as if the package has to cross any national borders, in fact it is about 100 miles away and inefficient as Royal Mail can be, even they can manage that with little trouble. I ordered stuff from Morgana Cryptoria in Arizona, 5,000 miles away which was sent out in a couple of days had to cross an Ocean, pass Customs before being delivered which took a little over a week.

Not sending a product you have received payment for is not exactly good business practice, especially if the buyer has paid for it to be delivered quickly. My Dad has suggested that she may be selling products she does not have in her possession, then ordering them up to send them out, this is plausible, if rather misleading (i.e. undertaking that goods will be in the customers possession within 2 working days, when you know you cannot fulfil it) or you could claim a deliberate attempt to mislead people. This still does not explain why she has not replied to emails (1 sent on Friday, the other on Wednesday) and why the phone is not being answered . This is really suspect to me, the bad business practice suddenly looks like fraud and this really gets on my nerves. I made my situation clear on Friday that I have to go to Scotland for a funeral and have the event just after I come back but if they don't fit I need to know to buy something else in time for it. So, I lost my patience this after noon and went into town and bought a nice pair which I paid for less than half the price of the first pair. So I am filing a dispute with paypal to get my money back.

Not only has this shoddy customer service cost them the £62 on those shoes but also the money I was going to spend on shoes for my birthday and graduation night outs ( so possibly another £150-200) plus for any other event I go to but now, I'll just order the shoes from a store in the US knowing I will have to wait up to about 2 weeks.

Not impressed.

EDIT: Paypal sorted it, despite numerous attempts over the past week to sort it to no avail, paypal fixed it in an hour.

EOTD: La Fee Vert

TFSI

Nyx Jumbo e/s pencil- Rocky Mountain Green (lid)

Sugarpill chromalust- Absinthe (inner 1/3)

MAC e/s-Wondergrass (middle 2/3)

Sugarpill e/s- Midori (outer 3/3)

UD e/s- Vert (outer 1/2 above crease)

MAC e/s- Bio Green (inner 1/2 above crease)

MAC e/s- Juxt (inner 1/3 lower lashline)

UD e/s- Vert (middle 2/3 lower l/l)

Medusa's Makeup e/s- Electro Green (outer 3/3 lower l/l)

Sugarpill e/s- Tako (highlight)

UD 24/7 liner- Covet (waterline)

Too Faced glitterliner- Obsessed Fan (upper l/l)

Bourjois clubbing mascara black

Morgana Cryptoria Vegan l/s- Absinthe♥

Have edited the swatches for the Stargazer Turquoise l/s and the Medusa's Purple Rain, which are now a truer representation of what they look like.

Which Lip?

I am going to a Masquerade Ball in about a fortnight but cannot decide upon what lips to do.

The dress is purple and accessories are red, the mask is red and gold.

Eyes

Bold in Gold?: Goldilux and lipgloss

Red and Gold?

Nude?

Classic Red?

Swatches: Stargazer Metallic Blue Lipstick

Swatches: Medusas Makeup 3

Purple Rain Eye Dust

Left: On dry skin, Right: Over Stick It primer

Swatches: Medusas Makeup 2

Electro Green eyeshadow

Not over primer. the colours are (top down): Steamy, Swimming, One Off and Sassy Grass. Electro green is at the side.

Swatches: Medusas Makeup

Antoinette Glitter

Left: Dry, Right: over The Fix

Swatches: Stargazer Turquoise Lipstick

Stargazer lipstick over un-conditioned or primed lips.

Bad news and a Haul...

First off here is the nicer stuff, not everything I have bought recently but the stuff I still had out/that have arrived.

Benefit BadGal lashes, Bourjois felt tip liner, Stargazer turquoise lipstick, MAC e/s in Juxt and Atlantic Blue, Barry M 'Bright Red' nailpaint, Medusas makeup eye dust 'Purple Rain', stick it primer, the fix glitter adhesive, eyeliner sealer, glitter in 'Antoinette' and 'Electro Green' e/s. I ordered the Medusas stuff last Monday and it arrived this morning, everything costing less than £27 (excl. shipping and to remain under the customs and excise limit). So I'm impressed, so far.

Some US and UK sweet stuff and the most expensive can of Pepsi (diet with lime-much nicer than ordinary diet but not nice enough for me to spend £1.79 on a regular basis for it) I've ever tasted out of an American Sweet shop in town.

Now the horrible news, my Gran died this morning. She was 88 and had had a stroke at Christmas, so the depressing prospect of the first Christmas without my Mum was a lot worse and since it is close to the 1st anniversary of her death (2 weeks away). So I will be travelling back to Scotland tomorrow to help out and attend her funeral and as a result blogging might be off the agenda for a little while but hopefully, I will have some reviews of the Medusas stuff and some stuff I ordered will have arrived when I get back.

Will try to post some swatches tonight.

Swatches: Orange and Purple Lipstcks

L-R: Barry M 117, MAC Meltdown, Morange And Neon Orange
L-R: Barry M 129, 143, MAC Purple Rite, Up the Amp, Illamasqua Fetish, MAC Violetta and Style Curve.

Violetta (Perm, PRO) and Style Curve (LE) are both very similar, SC is slightly more red toned and is a cremesheen rather than an Amplified Creme.

Morange (Perm) and Neon Orange (LE and Perm PRO) are also similar both are AC but NO is slightly more red toned.

If you have Violetta, you probably won't need to get SC. If you have Morange or NO you won't really need the other.

Review: Ped-Egg

£9.99 from many retailers, £6.66 from Sainsburys.

This has got to be my favourite product of 2011 so far. The Ped-egg has got to be one of those items, where you wonder why no-one thought of it sooner. Essentially, it is like a cheese grater for the hard skin on your feet (perhaps, thinking of it in those terms contributed to it not being created sooner). It is easy to use, painless, quick and easy to clean. there are 4 elements to the Ped-egg; the rounded top, the grater (which slots into the lid), the bottom half and an exfoliating piece of sandpapery stuff (attaches to the bottom half).

All you need to do is rub the grater over the hard skin to remove it, exfoliate and dump the contents of the lid in the bin.

EOTD: Sugarpill

UDPP

MAC- Moss scape paint pot

Sugarpill- Midori e/s

Sugarpill- Dollipop

Sugarpill- Poison Plum

Sugarpill- Afterparty

Sugarpill- Tako

Maybelline- great lash mascara

MAC- Minted eyekohl

Bourjois- glitter liner

Got my hair cut today and got a bit of a surprise about the colour of my hair, I have always believed it was an auburn colour, as a child I got HELL for having red hair and although it has darkened, it has quite red look to it, some people say auburn, some say red and others brown . My hairdresser told me it is golden honey BLONDE!!!!, If she hadn't showed me the charts and explained about base colours and stuff I doubt I would have believed her. So basically I have ninja hair (i.e. it looks like everything but what it apparently is). When I was 12 this would have been the best news ever, now I feel a bit sad as I have grown to love my "red" hair, however, I probably will continue to say it is auburn as I don't really see any blonde.

My hair colour

LOTD: Gradient Experiment

After a fairly substantial hiatus, I am trying to get back into blogging, however, as I am in my final year at Uni and on a fairly demanding course as well as dealing with some sad family circumstances, posting may not be as regular as I would like.

I got Photoshop Elements 9 for my Christmas and have been having some fun with that. PSE9 is helpful for isolating elements of my look and concealing other part such as here, where I have covered the skin but left the lips unchanged (aside from trying to lessen the impact of the gloss which made it look patchy- the colour and application were done using makeup)

Anyway, here is my attempt at a Gradient/rainbow look.

Base : Lip balm

Purple: MAC Violet pigment

Pink: Barry M dazzledust- 64

Orange: Barry M dazzledust- 77

Red: Barry M dazzledust- 84

Gold: MAC pigment- Golden Lemon

Blue: Urban Decay pigment- Shattered

Green: Barry M dazzledust- 95

Lipgloss: MAC lipgloss-clear