Tempting

The make up I chose to wear in yesterdays post was a little bit inspired by the Olsen twins smokey look that they have been rocking for ions.  I toned it down for day wear so it wasn't as deep and intense as some of their more recent dramatic looks.

-Insert ancient but gorgeous photo of Olsen Twins-

- Insert posey in the manky bathroom mirror photo of moi-

I STILL haven't cleaned the mirror! minger.

I used 2 of my very favourite MAC shadows to create the look, Tempting and Twinks.  Tempting is a lovely shade which is very similar to Woodwinked (another favourite) but slightly less intense.  It's a golden bronze with a slight shimmer, super pigmented and is fabulous to use as there is little to no fall out from it!

I started layering products starting with MAC Patina then applied and blended Tempting at the outer corner.  To add some depth I used Twinks, a rusty brown, in the outer v which also really helped 'lift' the look and avoided a flat bronze appearance.

Face: Chanel Pro Lumiere
Cheeks: Benefit Hoola, MAC Sun&Moon
Eyes: MAC Patina, Tempting, Twinks; MAC Smouler liner; Urban Decay Bourbon 24/7 liner;  Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara
Lips: No7 Nude lipliner; Tom Ford Lip colour in Blush Nude; Estee Lauder gloss in Twilight Petal

I really love wearing this kind of smokey eye and it was a welcome return of the nude lip for me.  I was never truly sold on a nude lip but I think having a break from constant images of nude lips on other blogs has made it a nice change to try on myself.

Lots of you have been asking questions about my hair colour so I am just compiling a post to tell you more about it and to show off some of the products I use most on my hair!

x

17 Wild Metallic Eyes

I blogged about these creme shadows last week when I wore the wild nude shade for a natural look but today I tried out one of the deeper shades from the 17 Wild Metallic Eyes range.

Wild Midnight Blue is a gorgeous sparkly creme shadow with flecks of irridiscent navy, blues and turquoise greens, all blended beautifully to create a deep blue/navy shadow.

Of course, just like I mentioned in my last post, I immediately whipped out the iPhone to take some photos ... 

Excuse my manky mirror!

Then I realised that this hardly represents the truth of the shadow.  It can be applied as a sheer coat with just a sweep of colour or layered on which is the look I prefer.  The sparkle is quite subtle to begin with and almost appears like a sheen across the eyes, however, a creme shadow being a creme shadow, it does begin to crease with time and if you like this kind of look (I do) then you might just love the results. 

Foundation: Rimmel Lasting Perfection
Eyes: 17 Wild Metallic Eyes in Wild Midnight Blue
MAC Blacktrack liner, Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara
Cheeks: Benefit Hoola, Illamasqua Unrequited blush
Lips: MAC Dervish Lipliner, Estee Lauder gloss in Twilight Petal

As you can see Wild Midnight Blue creates quite a deep, sultry evening look.  Once it begins to crease a wash of blue is left behind along with lashings of sparkle so if you are looking for a laid back but intense party look, this is the kind of effortless glitter eyes for you.  I applied with a finger just buffing and blending the edges.  It took all of 2 minutes. 

creased after wear which I love but this photo doesn't capture the sparkle

Although I prefer to apply with my finger, it does get a bit messy and I find that of all the creme shadows I have tried, these really do work well with a brush, something I would normally find awkward with this kind of product.

On an aside note, the mascara I am wearing (and have been for the past month) is Rimmel Scandaleyes.  While it has a lovely thick plush brush, I am not keen on the formula.  Yes, the intensity and pigment is just right and it does create quite fluttery big lashes but I do feel my lashes look hard and a bit brittle once it fully dries.  You might even notice this in the photo above.

You can buy Rimmel Scandaleyes for £6.99 and 17 Wild Metallic Eyes are available at £3.99 each at Boots stores.

I was going to post my outfit post from today but since this post is huge enough, I will do it separately.  Oh, and before I forget, loads of you have been asking about my iPhone cover.  It's a multi colour leopard print and I bought it for around £3.00 in TK Maxx :) 

Does anyone else like a creased shadow?  Have you tried 17 Metallic Eyes?

x 

Japonesque Lip Palette

... Painstakingly decanting my kit lippies into my new Japonesque 36 lip palette.

It's just too much to carry around lots of individual lippies in my kit.  It's heavy and takes up far too much space so this is a perfect solution.  

The Japonesque palette is a handy and very lightweight item however it does feel a little bit flimsy for the price.  I paid about £23 for it and I can imagine it won't be long before it breaks on me which is a little disappointing.  BUT ... I could be wrong.

I have so many more lipsticks to decant and will probably need a few more palettes but I would like to see how I go with this one first before purchasing more.

I have tried to make this a multi choice palette ranging from reds, oranges, peaches, pinks and nudes.  The brands also range from MAC, Estee Lauder, Shu Uemura to Barry M and Rimmel.  Hopefully it works as a one stop shop until I can arrange all my other lipsticks.

Does anyone else use these palettes?

x

Clinique Longlast Glosswear SPF15

In my last couple of 'Cheek of the Week' posts I have been wearing a gorgeous lip colour thanks to Clinique.

I was sent a handful of products from Clinique, mostly suncare I may add, which I will test drive in Barcelona next month, however a couple of lovely cosmetics were thrown in as a little treat. One of them was the above mentioned, Clinique Longlast Glosswear SPF15 in shade Fireberry.

Now I looked at this and thought ... 'Naah, not for me'... the colour seemed a bit too autumnal at first. I thought it would age me and look a little old fashioned. Ooh, how wrong was I?

You know what they say, never judge a book by it's cover? Well, apply the same to lipgloss.
I may not like it on first appearance in the tube but on the lips it's lush. A lovely fire pink (hence the name) with subtle gold flecks. On it's own it gives a sheer but pigmented and longlasting glossy finish but also works well over your favourite lippie. My favourite combo's so far is to wear it over Rimmel Pink Pout, MAC Angel and Revlon Cappuccino.
I barely need to re-apply even after drinks and snacks. Maybe 2 touch up's at the most in a day which I think is terrific. It is suitably gloopy but not too sticky.

This gloss is £13.50 and available at clinique counters now. I definitely think this is worth the money, I have been using every day for past couple of weeks and still have loads left, if this where a MAC gloss, it would be all gone by now.

Added bonus is the SPF15. Did I ever tell you about the time I burned my lips in the sun? No? Well, it wasn't clever and it certainly wasn't pretty!! 'nuff said.

x

Halloween Solstice Star

So, I hadn't planned to go out for Halloween, If I had, I would have made sure I had a kick ass outfit. However, we decided last minute to get together at a mates flat and obviously dress for the occasion. Our dressing up box (yes, we do have one) is at my mother in law's at the moment since we are packing up to move so I had to use the resources I had at hand. Mainly make up!

Initially I was going to go as a doll but then decided I wanted a more casual approach (read: I hadn't tanned or de-fuzzed the legs so a dress was a no-no!). So in the end, I decided to wear a black assymetric top with black bootleg trousers which had a bit of a 70s vibe to it.... make up wise I took inspiration from one of Kate Moss' birthday looks a few years back.
I love this look and have always wanted to try it. I had hardly any time to recreate it so what I managed to churn out is a bit shoddy but I now know what I would do differently.
To create the look I used a Bobbi Brown Foundation stick - this is definitely one thing I would change, the coverage just wasn't enough for this look. I then concealed and contoured with nars laguna.
I used Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Solstice for the star - which looked great to start with but as the night wore on it creased really badly over the lid. I drew a light outline fo the star to begin with then literally coloured it in with the Solstice.
I then lined my eyes with MAC Fluidline in blacktrack then added Ardell False Lashes.
On the lips I used Rimmel Foxy with Gosh Darling on top.

The Hair? Don't even go there - it was a flippin' disaster!!

So that was my last minute Halloween look - what did you guys dress up as?

x

... and some other bits & bobs

While I was picking up my new Girls Aloud lashes today, I remembered I needed some more Rimmel Sunshimmer. I love this. I think I have been wearing it since I was about 17 or 18 and usually use it to top up a tan or add some quick colour. While I was browsing I noticed 'Sunshimmer Shimmering Maxi Bronzer' in shade 002 Sun Love. You will all probably know that I am loyal to my Nars Laguna but I thought I would try this out as a top up to my laguna or even to add some shimmer to my body when tanned.
I would say the colour of this bronzer is strikingly similar to Laguna but has waves of textured gold shimmer throughout. I really thought this would look quite glittery on the face but instead it has given a lovely radiant sunkissed effect and to me, does not look glittery at all, just a subtle shimmer. I will be able to update better when I have worn this a few times but so far I think its great and definitely much better than i expected it to be. Its not going to replace my Laguna but will hopefully complement it. Pretty cheap too, think it was under £5 if i remember correctly.

I also spotted this little Eyeko product. It was the leopard print that attracted me to it, haha, love my animal prints! Its the 'Sexy Eyes' 5 in 1 eyeshadow cake.
To be honest, once I got it home and tried it out, I did regret buying. The pigmentation is terrible and when you do manage to build up a bit of colour with it, it seems to be very cakey. I am notoriously bad at taking decent swatch photos so haven't included any, but needless to say the pigmentation made it a little bit too hard to even catch any colour at all in a photo.

I also bought the new Rimmel mascara 'glam'eyes Lash flirt volume & lift mascara'. Yes, i know I said I would never buy another drugstore mascara after hating sexy eyes but what can I say? I just can't help spending money ... even when I don't have it!!! Anyway, I have tried this out already and will hopefully get a review of it up over the weekend.

x

Friday bargains!

Every Friday I finish up early and usually head into town to do a bit of shopping. Today, I decided it would be best to go straight home as I am desperately trying to save money and will also be in London next week so spend, spend, spend. However, having to buy a birthday card for a friend, led me past Superdrug, Sally's and The Body Shop!

First, I headed to Sally's. I really would like to meet 'For Audrey' by China Glaze in person but unfortunately they didn't have it in stock. I managed to resist everything else in Sally's but narrowly missed purchasing a large, thick barrelled curling tong (i've wanted this for ages) ... i managed to convince myself it could wait until I had tried my new slim barrelled curling tong! Really, how many hair curling instruments does girl need?? ....... Frankly, I don't care, I want I want I want! Anyway, shop number 1 - result!! No purchases.

Then onto Superdrug. The other day I picked up a few bits and pieces from Rimmel as they are on a 3 for 2 offer. I NEVER buy Rimmel products. The only Rimmel product I think i've purchased is their blemish stick, which in all honesty i loved. So today, I thought I would take a look at the offer again, with the intention of NOT buying. Now, I have to admit the first item I reached for, is something that I bought my friend a few weeks ago for her birthday. She swears by Rimmel mascara so I bought her the new sexy curves. I never thought to purchase for myself until I watched Pixiwoo use it. I'm so pathetic that I had to wait for Pixiwoo to recommend something before I was convinced. Shame on me. So anyway, that was the first purchase along with a nail polish and 'Foxy' lipstick. Shop number 2 - FAIL. 3 purchases.

I will be trying out this mascara tonight. I bought it in 'Intense Black' as I have very fair lashes so i like them to look as thick and dark as possible. It has an unusual shaped wand .. kind of inny outy (thats a technical term you may not recognise). My current mascara of favour is Chanel, alternating with Diorshow or Lancome hypnose so I will keep you posted on results.So after Superdrug, I headed to The Body Shop. A few of us will be attending the beauty bloggers event with Body Shop next week so I thought I would pop in and have a look. I love their Vitamin E cream and used to use it religiously so this was the first display at looked at. I spotted a gradual tanner. It was called 'Cocoa Butter Everyday Summer Body Lotion'. Now I am very big on my fake tan and also have a lot of gradual tanners which i rarely use. However, the other day I purchased Palmers cocoa butter gradual tanner so I thought it may be good to compare both these products. I will start using over the weekend and will update on the progress. They both simply smell of cocoa butter with no colour guide as you would expect from a gradual tanner anyway. So far it is difficult to detect any undertone of the tanning system odour, although I am sure this must come out eventually once on the skin. There was a 2 for £14 offer so I also picked up the 'Vitamin E Everyday Summer Face Lotion'. This will be great as I can tan and moisturise with the fabulous Vitamin E at the same time. Shop number 3 - FAIL. 2 purchases.You will be pleased to know after my vow of 'no purchasing' failed, I did still remember to buy the birthday card that I initially visited the shops for!

If anyone has used these products already it would be great to hear from you.

Also if anyone else will be attending the Body Shop event next week, get in touch .. I will be at the afternoon session, it would be great to meet everyone!

Anyway, I probably won't be on too much over the weekend, have lots of plans including a birthday party, shopping, visiting family and having a good old spring clean of my flat!

Have a great weekend Everyone!! x