Beat Of My Drum

I always knew Nicola was the talented one ...



A little bit Justice, a little bit Uffie ... it's right up my street, even if it does feel like she has ripped them off a wee bit.

Seriously, how hawt does she look?  Even kinda liking her ombre hair ... but Nicola, everyone's already bought that t-shirt!

x

Halloween .....oooooohh!

This year for Halloween I went to my friends party in Newcastle. Jen dressed as Ursula from The Little Mermaid and I went along as Queen of Hearts. If I do say so myself, our outfits were pretty cool but I was mostly impressed with our make up which I did myself for us both.

I had tweeted a lot about this over the weekend so I thought I would show you the results.

Meet Ursula and Queen of Hearts ...
Depending how you look at it either Jen is teeny or I am massive. I am sticking to Jen being teeny, okay?! ;)

The unfortunate thing about going as Queen of Hearts and having loveheart shaped lips is that I looked permanently p****d off the whole night. Oh well, I guess it made me look a little scary in the spirit of Halloween of course.

Onto the make up ... ahhh I was so pleased with the make up...
I will give you a quick summary of the products I used:
FACE: EL Doublewear foundation in Al Fresco (this shows up a little pink on my skin and doesn't photograph too well), MAC select cover up, MAC MSF Natural
CHEEKS: Nars Laguna, Illamasqua blush in unrequited, MAC pearl highlighter
EYES: Bourjois pale blue shadow over the lid, Teal from EL Blue Dahlia collection under eye and in crease, Alice from UD AIW palette over lid and under eye, illamasqua sadist in crease, illamasqua roulette blended out at crease along with Queen from UD AIW palette and FINALLY illamasqua immortal on browbone. All this teamed with MUFE smokey lash mascara, Nadine Girls aloud lashes, Mac fluidline in blacktrack .... phew!
LIPS: Illamasqua lip pencil (unsure of name), MAC russian red

The heart gems above my eyebrow and on my cheek placed as a beauty spot was from a set of Broadway nails, nail & body art kit. I also used these on my nails. Nails in China Glaze Ruby Pumps, NYC white polish in manhattan and a glitter polish over the top.

This kit really deserves its own mention, the gems are still on my nails 4 days later and they show no signs of budging.
Now onto Ursulas make up. Ursula in the movie is obviously purple but I didn't want to paint Jen's face purple otherwise we might lose the effect and we also still wanted her to look attractive despite playing the role of a villain for the evening.
Make up summary
FACE: MUFE HD Foundation in 125, MAC MSF Natural
EYEBROWS: Lined with MAC carbon
EYES: Urban Outfitters blue eyeshadow all over lid, Zara purple duo shadow blended into crease and underneath the eye, MAC fluidline in black track to line the eye, a purple glitter liner underneath the eye, Sarah Girls Aloud party lashes (not shown in this photo)
LIPS: Lined with an illamasqua pencil, Gosh red lipstick
I then shaded and contoured Jen's face with the zara purple duo eyeshadow. This doesn't show up so well under the flash but looked fantastic on the night. Ursula's beauty spot was filled in using Urban Decay liner in zero.

Thats the finished look. I have to say I was a bit gutted to wash all that make up off after the effort that went into creating it but it has definitely got me in the mood for being more creative.

Did you dress up for Halloween?

x

Nicola Roberts Purple Eyes EOTD (picture heavy)

A few weeks ago I was asked to try and recreate the dramatic smokey purple eyes that Nicola Roberts sported on her documentary: The Truth about Tanning. Did you see it? It was an eye opener into how damaging sunbeds can be - a must see!

Anyway, back to Nicola's eyes ... here are a couple of very dodgy pics of the look. Sorry, I literally took a photo of the screen with my iphone. I'm sure there is a better way but ... ah, here you go ..
I decided to tone down the look ever so slightly as it is quite dramatic and dark on Nicola's eyes and could be overwhelming if you're not used to wearing your eye make up so dark. I'm actually so disappointed at how my camera has picked up the colour as it was much more intense and very similar to what we see in Nicola's pics in real life.
Enough already with the cringeworthy photos!!! Okay okay, so onto how I created the eye. I hate anything too complicated, it's just laborious, time consuming and requires far too much precision when using too many different colours so I stuck to 3 shades to create the look.
I used Bourjois Bleu Lavande and 2 shades from the Sleek Graphite palette. First up was the Bourjois Bleu Lavande, all over the lid. Then I used the dark purple from the Sleek palette (bottom row, last colour) in the outer v, socket and blended right along the crease, I also sweeped this underneath the eye. I then used the shade next to this (bottom row, second last shade) which is slightly darker with a hint of navy to add some depth, again this was blended along the crease, outer v and underneath the eye.

Finally, I used MAC Blacktrack to line the eyes and UD 24/7 liner in zero for the waterline. I added some of the white from the graphite palette to highlight the browbone and added lashings and lashings of mascara.

For the rest of the face, I used Revlon Colourstay in Buff, Bobbi Brown concealer in warm ivory, Nars Laguna to contour, MAC Springsheen blush, MAC Redhead MSF as highlight and Rimmel Foxy lipstick with MACs ample pink as a gloss. In hindsight I would have gone for a peachier look on the lips.

How does this look? Was I close?

x

Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation, Nicola's lashes and a Loch Lomond Wedding!

So as previously mentioned I purchased Illamasqua's Rich Liquid Foundation in shade 205. This is not going to be too detailed a review but will rely on visuals to give you an example of this foundations effectiveness.

On Saturday, I attended a beautiful wedding on the banks of Loch Lomond so it was the perfect opportunity to road test this foundation. As I was getting my hair blow dried in the morning I knew I would not have a lot of time once I got home to do my full face so I made sure my base was on before getting there. Once home I completed the look with liner, lashes, bronzer, blush, lipgloss etc. What I am trying to say is that I applied the foundation at around 8.30am and did not touch up all day.

Here is the foundation in action at around 3pm. No touch ups. (Sorry no pics of when it was first applied)
This is me with my mother-in-law, she is so petite, I look the size of Shrek in comparison. Now when you first apply the rich foundation it seems really thick, almost like it will be impossible to blend but this is all an illusion. I apply it with my fingers to my whole face, then buff it in with a brush. It literally takes me seconds to apply, usually my foundation routine would take a full 5 minutes at least and that would be me in a rush! As soon as it is on, it will look very matte and the coverage looks quite full on. It is a full coverage foundation which I like as it kills the intensity of the freckles on my face. After a few minutes though, it seems to absorb with the oils in your skin to create a full coverage yet natural look. It neither covers matt nor luminous but gives a lovely glow to the skin. It is a thick foundation but feels and looks so light on your skin.

Here I am half way through the evening reception after much dancing! (sorry at this point i started to apply a different lipgloss that clearly didn't match the liner, i blame the drink). Again, no touch up to the foundation only a little touch up of concealer under the eyes, which I must say, was not needed I am just in the habit of ALWAYS doing this!
I would say its still looking pretty good at this point. I also wore my Girls Aloud lashes - Nicola's. Not one person commented on them so I assume they didn't notice they were fake - good sign! Because I had quite a busy dress on, i kept most of my make up low key other than the lashes. On my eyes I wore Mac shroom with satin taupe in the crease and a little Mac Mystery for depth along with fluidline winged liner.So back to the foundation, my final photo is of me at 3am in the morning and I think for nearly 19 hours of wear it held up phenomenally - even if i do look zonked! I can imagine this foundation is not for everyone. I know others have mentioned it is drying and i can understand why that might be. I suffer from dry skin but having wore this since Friday I have seen no negative effects to my skin .. and it pretty much only takes a few days for me to notice this. In my opinion this is the perfect base.

And for anyone wanting to know what my dress looked like, here it is .... just a quick snap taken from my hotel room ... not the best but you get the idea.
Have i sold this foundation to you? What do you think of its staying power?

Promise my next post will not be Illamasqua related!!!

x

I tried to resist ....

... but i failed!
Whoops! x

Too cool for school?!

So .... first post on my blog! wow! Here goes ..........

Since around about Christmas time I have been looking for a new foundation. I normally wear Mac Studio fix fluid in NC25 .... however i find it can be a bit thick ... look patchy after a while ... and tends to make me look a little on the jaundiced side!

So being an NC this would mean i am a cool skin tone, which is exactly what the Mac assistant advised me when i purchased the foundation. (Bear in mind i have been wearing this shade for around 3 or 4 years now). Now, I have red hair, quite a deep auburn in fact. I have blue eyes and very pale skin - in fact i never tan nor even burn but i do have a multitude of freckles! I am rarely seen in my naked ghostliness however as I am a major fake tan addict so i always have a bit of colour about me ...... sorry Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud - i just don't do pale!!

So already i think i am sending mixed messages according to the following chart:

Cool: Eyes are typically blue or grey. Haircolor typically blonde, brown or black. Skin has definite blue and pinkish undertones. Cool-toned people look best in colors such as blue, red, pink and purple, or "gem-tones". Usually look best in silver jewelry. In natural light, the color of the veins on the underside of your wrist are bluish. You can wear a white shirt and it is flattering on you.

Neutral: Eyes may be any color. Hair may be any color. Skin has unspecifiable undertones, such as pink, olive or yellow. Those with neutral coloring can wear just about any color clothing and look good. Can wear gold or silver jewelry (no preference as to which looks better)

Warm: Eyes are typically brown, green or hazel. Haircolor typically brown, black, red, auburn, blonde or strawberry blonde. Skin has yellow/orange or olive undertones. Warm-toned people look best in earthy-toned clothing, such as browns, yellows, oranges, yellowish green and ecru. Look best in gold jewelry. In natural light, the color of the veins on the underside of your wrist are greenish. You are most flattered by an off-white, cream or ecru shirt (i.e. pure white makes you look washed out)

So blue eyes = cool ......BUT .... auburn hair = warm

But to add more confusion ... I suit both autumnul tones(warm) and 'gem-tones'(cool) ..... i get away with gold jewellery (when i have fake tan on) and silver jewellery but suit gold clothing better than silver clothing!!????

I am sooooo confused!!!

All i know is that with my current foundation I don't look as sparkling as i should and can look washed out in photos. I also wear Nars Fiji from time to time but again i am not sure whether that shade is warm or cool. I guess i should ask the assistant next time about that one but i am not sure they ever really get it right either!

This week I am hoping to pick up a new foundation so kinda need to know whether i am aiming for warm or cool tones ... i am looking to pick up one of the following foundations so if anyone can rate or slate then go ahead:

Chanel pro lumiere
Estee Lauder double wear
YSL - can't remember the name but it has its own brush attached

So cool or warm, what is your take on this - does it even really matter?