Friday Favourites! (9th October)

I like the idea of a weekly favourite post! So I'm going to do one whenever I have time. I am not promising every week though! sometimes, I like to go out on a Friday night.. haha.
Venomous Villains & Jin Soon Nail Trend 2010!

(L-R: Rain of Flowers, Formidable, Bad Fairy)

- Bad Fairy looks amazing over a mustardy yellow and over black. Over red it gives it a pinky tinge. I want to try it over a green but I'm tired right now.

- Formidable is intense, I adore it, it looks even better over a purple or a yellow.
- Rain of Flowers is gorgeous in bright lights, and the rest of the time has a little, distinct shimmer.
- Mean & Green, the one I didn't GET, but thought I would like the most.. is weird! It's an odd mixture of green and purple and yellow. It looked weird on the nail. Shame, but I picked up Rain of Flowers from the Nail Trend Collection instead! Silver linings.
- These are PACKED full of glitter. Look. Glitter is gorgeous.
I have work in the morning but I'll do a full review tomorrow, with sunlight and everything!

Winter Coats

I tried on some coats today in Dorothy Perkins and I reaaaally want either a parka or a big duffle coat. I am unsure, though. I have to decide. I really loved the grey-duffle, but it's £65. I do want a new coat, though. Oh, dilemmas..

Dramatic Makeup

More dramatic makeup. I felt like I got into a super deep rut with my makeup and needed a change. So I'm putting down my beloved Naked palette and reaching for my Illamasqua and MAC a bit more. This was today. It looks gold & brownish in this picture, but it was deep purple in real-life and black in the crease. Damn camera.

GOSH Fix Base Coat & Holographic Joy

I wore GOSH Holographic with the Fix Base Coat, supposedly akin to NFU-Oh's Aqua Base, and it's amazing! A polish that would normally have chips in by the end of the first day lasted for three, with only a little chipping around the edges! It also made it much smoother and easier to apply. Definite fan of that one. Oh, and my nails are short again, I was getting irritated!

Green Giraffes & Great Friends

I had the most amazing dessert at Giraffe today. Actually my whole meal was pretty good, but the dessert was amazing. Belgian waffle, roasted banana, chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream. They messed up our starter, but they gave us a little giraffe to make up for it. Mine is the green one. I had a lovely catch-up with a friend from work too, and ended up talking for ages in the restaurant cause we barely see each other at work anymore, it's got so stressful, haha.

How has your week been? I've been rushing to get a painting finished all week so I could really enjoy myself today! I have to be up early tomorrow, but I'm only working until 1.30PM and I get Sunday off! Winner. Sunday lie-in, anyone?

What's red, black and.. black?

Me, apparently, with my mini-haul that I got the other day. I wanted to check out the new MAC collections (Fabulous Felines), and my friend needed some hair dye, so off we went to town! And this is what I got!

China Glaze Nail Polish in Agent Orange

MAC Superslick Liquid Eyeliner in On The Hunt (Black)

MAC Lipstick in Lady Bug (Lustre)

I bought these separately, sort of. I had a free Back to MAC lying about, and wanting a new kind of red lipstick, as my Russian Red was running low, and wanted a slightly more glossy red, a lighter more "day" red lipstick.

This nail varnish is gorgeous, but super awkward to photograph. It's called Agent Orange, but I wouldn't really call it orange, even though it looks it in this picture! It's a reddish-orange, with pink undertones, in some light. I genuinely don't have anything like it, and think it's a really unique colour! It's super pretty, and I've worn it every day since, I love it so much! It looks boring in the bottle, and I thought I might regret it (I'm trying to buy more "traditional" colours!) but I definitely don't, which is good news. (:

And then I got them home and tried them both on, and realised just how perfect they look together! They're very pretty, I'm also wearing the new eyeliner - it has a weird wet-look effect, which I like on its own, but not when paired with eyeshadow, I found out today, haha.

And if you're wondering what awesome new scarf that is..

That would be this bad boy, £6.99 from H&M and I absolutely adore it! H&M scarves always sucker me in, and I buy a few every Autumn/Winter, cause I love them so much. There's another two I want to go back and get.. You can't really tell in the picture but the orangey bits are a super bright orange, and they're lovely and I love it and there is lots of love.

Thought this was a cute little post to do! Anyway, today I'm off to the gym and to see my friend for lunch!

Summer Essentials, Part II, Makeup!

This is the sequel to my Summer Essentials post, and in this I talk mostly about makeup/cosmetic products that are useful! I feel like this is much more my field. There are some great posts and videos out there about the joys of suncream, but I am much much much more of a makeup girl! This is bad, I know, haha. Enjoy!


Tinted Moisturiser.. Sort Of
As you can see, I don't really own a tinted moisturiser. I don't really get the point. Clinique's Dramatically Different Gel is the best thing since sliced bread - all I do is squirt a little bit on the back of my (sanitised) hand, mix with a bit of foundation and it's a blessing. You don't really want to be wearing a full face of heavy foundation when it's thirty degrees outside.


Waterproof Mascara
I hate waterproof mascara with a passion, as it dries out my lashes something shocking, but if you know for a fact you're going to be in and out of the water or near a pool or the sea, you're probably going to want to invest in this stuff. Just use it sparingly.


Bronzer
Since you'll definitely be using SPF (won't you?!), you'll want to make sure your face is nice and tanned. This is my favourite bronzer, because it's lovely and shimmery and a nice goldish-bronze colour. I love ones like this MAC Loose Mineralize powder with a nice wide sifter, so I can use a big 'ole brush and sweep it all over and down onto my chest and neck area too.


Bright Lipstick or Lipgloss
No-one wants to wear a lot of makeup in the summer, and that is that. There's sweating involved and your pores get clogged, and if you're on the beach you don't want to be worrying about smudged eyeliner or mascara.. right? Right. One of my favourite tricks when I'm reaaally lazy is to just throw on some concealer and a little bit of mascara, and then add a really bright lipstick such as Illamasqua's Mistress Lipgloss, shown here, and you're set.


Primer
Generally, I'm not really a big fan of primer. Some people swear by it. I got this one recently and I'm pretty much loving it. It's a weird formula - a mousse, but primer's generally help keep your makeup from sliding all over the place and staying put all day. However, I do sometimes feel like they can clog your pores and make your skin feel really heavy, so apply with a light hand, and because this one has a beige-ish colour to it, all I really need to do after apply is add a little bit of concealer and I'm pretty much good to go.


Blot Powder
I generally don't see many products as a "must-have". This is not one of those products. I love this product and recommend it to anyone who asks me about it. It is a summer-night-out staple, honest to God. Sweep this over your forehead, nose and cheeks, and you will be shine-free all evening. MAC do a Blot Powder, but my favourite one is the Urban Decay one. Firstly, look at that packaging, it's just awesome. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, and I'll be honest, Urban Decay don't always pull it out the bag, they're a little hit and miss, in my opinion. This is a hit, hit, hit. Another thing is the colour: MAC's Blot Powders have a touch of colour to them, which may or may not be your thing. I always felt I looked a little cakey in it. This is a transluscent blot-powder. In the pan it looks white, with a hinttt of purple or blue to it, but when you put it on, it disappears into your skin.
I'll stop now with my mini-review.. haha.


Hand Sanitizer
This is sort of a summer essential, and really just an all the time essential, but I feel I use it most in the summer, where you might be eating outside or going into cities an sightseeing, or using public transport.. Hand sanitiser is just plain sanitary, and useful, and that's about it really.

Did you like this little departure from everyday blogging? What are your summer essentials..? I love all feedback!

Green-Gold Duochrome Eyeshadow Tutorial!

The other day I felt like doing a little tutorial for you guys, cause I wanted to use Illamasqua's Liquid Metal in Solstice! Soooo..

The video, closeups, andddd a list of products after the jump!


Eyes:
Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Solstice
MAC Pigment (Pressed) in Old Gold
MAC Eyeshadow in Sumptuous Olive
Illamasqua Eyeshadow in Melodrama
MAC Eyeshadow in Dark Edge (from the Photorealism Quad)
MAC Eyeshadow in Black Tied
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (for highlight)
MAC Eye Kohl in Feline
L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara

Face:
MAC Sculpt and Shape Foundation in NW15
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

Lips:
Estee Lauder Pure Colour Ultralight Gloss in 09 Sparkling Shell
Rimmel Vinyl 1000 Carat Lipgloss in 255 Steal The Show

Recent cheek combo.

A few weeks back, I made a little promise to myself that I would try and use some of the products that I don't use as much as I should. This involves two of those colours, MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Warmed, and MAC's Hipness Blush from the Fafi collection, so I thought I'd show you how I've been layering my blusher as of late.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do wear blusher, but I don't really ~vary~ too much. For example, I know peachy-coral shades work really well.. and I kind of tend to stick in that zone. I buy other colours.. but I don't really wear them because I fear them. I bought Warmed about a thousand years ago when I was just getting into MAC products and realising what Mineralize Skinfinishes were etc, etc, etc and I was in that phase where I thought that buying everything MAC was good. Oh, how I was wrong. But that's another story.


Warmed is from the old N Collection, it's a warm shimmery bronze, with streaks of light gold running through it which warms the colour up a bit. I've been wearing this brushed over my cheeks and temples, to half contour the face and half bronze, and it does an excellent job, especially when I get a bit more tanned in the sun.


Hipness is from Fafi, like I said, hence the packaging, and it's an inbetweeny pink. It's not too barbie pink, but it's got a hint of coral in it and a teeny bit of summer. I wear this on the front of my cheeks, to add a bit of colour and not just shimmer.


And finally, Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skinfinish. I think this is part of their permanent collection, but don't hold me to that. I don't know how they recommend you wear this, but for me, if I wore it all over my cheeks, it would be a shitload of shimmer everywhere, haha. With this, I just sweep a little bit on the tops of my cheeks and around the temple in a c shape as a highlighter, and I really like the way that looks.


I used the 187 Brush from MAC to apply this, simply because I like the way it goes on, you can apply a little bit of colour and build it up, and apply it directly where you want.


And just so you can see.. this is what it looks like all together.It might seem like a lot of effort, but I really like the way this looks altogether, gives the right mixture of bronzer, colour, and highlight. (: I hope you found this useful, and this is a hint to reach for those colours you might not necessarily! The next one on my hitlist is Light Flush, from MAC, an odd pink-bronze.. haha.

MAC's In The Buff Nail Polish Review..

I stopped by my local MAC counter the other week now, to check out the To The Beach collection. And although I really liked this collection, I have most of the colours they released anyway, as I've kind of realised how much MAC seem to repackage old colours or give them different names.. but that is another point entirely. The only thing that really caught my eye was the In The Buff nail polish.



In The Buff, £8.99
It immediately caught my eye for being such an interesting colour - it's basically a light sandy colour, quite fitting for the collection. I was with my mum at the time and so I asked to swatch it on her nail (because she never paints her nails, and mine are nearly always coloured, haha), and I fell in love with it straight away. I think I loved it so much because she has a much dark skin tone that me, I'm naturally quite pale and my mum's very freckly, which makes her skin much dark. Anyway, it was this lovely, light creamy-beige on her. Next time I was in town, I tried it on my friend Debbie, who also has quite pale skin, and it looked really pretty on her, too, so I thought I would buy it.
I got it home and put it on me and it just didn't look as nice? It definitely looked darker, and seemed to make my hands look super red, and fell more on the yellow side, on my skintone, as I think you can see a little bit in this picture;


As soon as my dad saw it, anyway, he went, "Oh, no, that is awful, what have you done to yourself?" Which made me laugh and kind of hit the nail on the head, haha. Anyway, I left it a couple of days and then decided to try it mixed with some plain white polish, in the hope to make it more like the colour it came out on my mum.. and this is what it came out like;


I 100% more preferred this. This was the light, sandy, beachy colour that I had wanted. I got there, eventually, haha. I think I might tip a bunch of white into the bottle to just try and lighten it a little bit, haha. As usual with MAC polishes, I really had no problems with the application, as some people apparently seem too. All their polishes go on very well and smoothly, and dry very quickly, which I like. The price tag is a bit much, but I don't mind for some of their colours.
Overall, I think if you have tanned or darker skin, this will look great as it is, on me alone it gives me lobster-hands.

Pre-Birthday Spending

It's my birthday in a weeks time, so a few days k gone my mum took me shopping in town and I bought lots of new clothes and some shoes and things.. none of which I'm allowed until my birthday! Sigh, I hate waiting! Haha. But I bought a few things for myself..

Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter, Lush, £5.50
Seche Vite Top Coat, Sally's, £8.99
China Glaze Polish in Frostbite, Sally's, £5.99
Leighton Denny Crystal Nail File and Protective Case, Boots, £10
I definitely didn't mean for them to be all nail based, really, but that is how it turned out, I suppose. I have used all of these and so far I am in love! But I'm going to keep using them for a little bit longer before I do a full review on them. (:
And then I got myself this great shirt from H&M (one of my favourite shops!).

Flamingo Shirt, roughly £10, which I personally think is a bargain for a flamingo, haha, my mum thought it looked dead..
A few days after that my friend wanted/needed (the lines are blurry!) to buy some new shoes.. so as a good friend, I went with her..and got some shoes for myself.. (:

Grey Jersey Flats, Primark, £5
I really wanted some cute new flat for when I dash out to the shops or hanging about in the garden or with friends.. it's a proper bitch to find my size, let me tell you. I'm a size 9. So when I spotted this find for £5 in Primark, I definitely didn't hesitate.


Black Zip-Front Cage Courts, New Look, £22
These were actually £19-something with a student discount card, which is awesome! It's my birthday in seven days (eee!) and I'll be going out with a bunch of friends fro the night out, of course, and wanted some slightlyyy lower heels to wear out so my feet will last all night and not protest.. so I got these. Looking them up on New Look for you, I see that they do nude ones, which are pretty cute, too. Also in size 9! Check it out, big-footed girls.


In The Buff Nail Polish, MAC, £8.99


Cockatoo Necklace, Accessorize, £5
My mum thought this was bizarre, again, but she hates birds.. I love it, it's so cute!

I don't really want to get into the habit of doing haul posts, really, I'd rather do them as like, coming-soon-review posts, haha. That said, expect some reviews!

Frankenwhatting?

A while back now I was reading somewhere about using eyeshadow pigments in your nail polish and became quite curious, but then I forgot about things and went back to my every day life.. Until today, when I stumbled upon Dr. Frankenpolish's blog, and was intrigued. So I bust out some of my pigments, one of my favourites being MAC's Old Gold, which I've had forever and barely made a dent in because it's super pigmented.



In some lights, it looks almost brown and dull, then others, an antiqued gold, then a shimmering green - it's truly one of the most unique colours that MAC do.
Step two, I dug out some old bottles of top-coat where the brush doesn't quite reach the bottom (one of the most irritating things, I swear!) and found an old bit of plastic to experiment on, but eventuallllly..


Voila! Such a gorgeous colour, my mum kept commenting on it at dinner this evening, telling me what a pretty colour it was, haha. I love putting this colour over a black base on my eyes, because it really brings out the duochrome, so I think I'm going to have to purchase a black polish and try that out.
Not gonna lie, it takes a bit of experimenting to get the consistency right, and the top-coat I used had gone a bit gloopy.. but generally it worked pretty well. I think I'm going to raid my mum's craft room, I know she has some exciting glitters in there to experiment with. Have you ever frankenpolished any colours? What are you experiences with glitter..? Let me know! I'm really interested.


Oh, and it was gloriously sunny today so me and one of the besties popped into town for a little window-shopping and some lunch. I shopped, oops.. But check out that green! What on earth, Revlon?! I have never ever in my life spent more than a fleeting glance at your stand, your makeup, truthfully, bores me - then slap-bang in between all the reds and pinks was this stunner. I'll do a post on it as soon as I can!

Sorry this wasn't posted earlier, I rushed out to see a film with my friends - Shelter with Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It was awful beyond words! Honest to God, we almost walked out after half an hour, before remembering we'd paid to see it haha. At least it was good to get out of the house and have lots of laughs for a little bit with some friends, because I just wanted to forget about everything for a little while!

MAC Survey!

I am so sorry I've been so bad with posting! I'd like to say that I've been busy, but the truth is, my days have been so unbusy, that I've become ridiculously lazy and lethargic. I'm trying to break this slump though, and I've been cooking an awful lot, particularly baking. 

That said - I have a confession to make, I'm afraid. Please don't judge me but.. I've been hauling several times this month. Hauling. Big hauls. Two shopping trips to London and numerous visits to my local department stores are bad for my wallet. I was going to update you on everything in one big post, but I think I'll organise it either by brands/different outings/different products.

Anyway, expect lots of pictures soon! Heres a MAC survey I came across. (:

How long have you been using Mac?

Ooh, god knows. Probably since about 2006? Started buying a lot about 2007. Remebering loving Lure in June 06, and getting stuff for my birthday! Heh.

What was your first Mac product?

Trax Eyeshadow! I thought I was so cool.

What's your all time favourite Mac product?

Oh, man. Probably the eyeshadows or the lippies.

What's your least favourite Mac product?

Mascaras/Mineralize Eyeshadows! Sorry!

Do you own a Pro Card?

Nope - one day!

Your Mac foundation shade:

NW 15/20/25, depending on the foundation, and time of year. 

Your favourite Mac-Foundation:

Mineralize Satinfinish SPF15

Eyeshadow:

Love these! I have like five palettes full, and then lots of other eyeshadows and things lying about. I could never pick just one, haha.

Lipstick:

Oh man...I love these! Hmm..my favourites are probably something like Hug Me or Russian Red. Today I wore Plumful and I forgot how much I love love love it.  

Lipgloss:

I only have one, I'm not a huge fan, I think there are some much better ones, honestly! I have two orange ones, the Nice to be Nice from Hello Kitty was alright, I suppose. I like the colour of the Dazzleglasses, if not the quality.

Liner:

I loveeee Blacktrack. Smoulder Eye Kohl's okay, it just smudges like crazy.

Brush:

I think their brushes are amazing, they're the best ones I use. I have quite a few, now.

Nail Lacquer:

It seems a tad overpriced, tbh, cause the quality is never amazing when you swatch.

Pro Product:

Probably glitters or the pro-pans, are my favourites. I adore the 3D Silver Glitter

Comment on the following Mac product; Have you used them? If so, give feedback.

Prep + Prime Skin:

Never tried it! My friend has it, and says it has a bit of a sheen to it.

Full Coverage Foundation:

n/a

Studio Sculpt Foundation:

I do like this foundation, but I'm a bit more tanned now its summer, and I feel it makes me look a tad washed out. When it's winter, I feel like it'll be amazing.

Face + Body Foundation:

n/a.

Mineralize Satin Finish:

I switched from this to the Studio Sculpt, but I think I prefer this, if I'm honest, it gives a lovely shimmer.

Studio Fix Fluid:

I've heard this breaks people out, never tried.

Hyper Real Foundation:

n/a

Select SPF15 Foundation:

n/a

Studio Tech Foundation:

n/a

Studio Fix Powder:

n/a

Studio Stick:

n/a

Hyper Real Pressed Foundation:

n/a

Beauty Powder:

n/a, some of them are pretty, though.

Sculpting Powder:

Used one, do like it. (:

Shaping Powder:

They don't really do much. );

Loose Blot Powder:

Never tried actually, I prefer pressed powders.

Pressed Blot Powder:

LOVE this. Always in my bag on nights out.

Mineralize Skinfinish Natural:

Adore it. Sets my face every day.

Mineralize Skinfinsh:

I LOVE these. They're very pretty, but I never reach for them! I'm not sure why. I wore New Vegas today, and loved it. I was glad, because I've only used a handful of times.

Bronzing Powder:

I have never tried, have other favourite bronzers.

Powder Blush:

I only have two! They're alright, but I prefer Nars blushes.

Blushcreme:

I have a dislike for cream blushes!

Mineralize Blush:

I have two, one I ALWAYS wear, the other is way too dark. Shop lights = misleading!

Gel Blush:

Never tried, swatched it, didn't like.

Cream Color Base:

n/a, they feel a little greasy though, when I swatch them.

Studio Sculpt Concealer:

n/a

Select Cover Up Concealer:

Do love this, for a liquid concealer.

Select Moisture cover Concealer:

n/a

Studio Finish Concealer:

My concealer atm. It's drying, but excellent coverage. I will probably go back to Select Cover-Up, afterwards.

Studio Stick:

n/a, but may try soon.

Lip Erase:

n/a

Tinted Lip Conditioner:

Okay, but I prefer other lipbalms/conditions, like Carmex.

Lipstick:

ADORE. I have so many.

Lipglass:

Have one, but they wayyyy too sticky, blah. Prefer glossy.

See Thru Lip Color:

n/a

Dazzleglass:

I LOVE the colour and the glitter, but I despise the formula. Less sticky, please!

Cremesheen Glass:

n/a, seemed weirdly creamy/watery.

Lip Gelee:

n/a

Lip Pencil:

n/a

Solar Bits:

n/a, cute, but seem crazy glittery.

Nail Lacquer:

n/a, but they seem run-of-the-mill.

Shadestick:

Blech! So glad they're phasing these out. Drying, bad formula, boring etcetc. 

Paint:

n/a

Paint Pots:

Loveee! The three from the McQueen collectio - and they're amazing. Love the colours.

Eye Shadow:

I love the huge range of colours, finishes, everything. People say there are duds, but I think you have to work around it.

Pigment:

I love these too! Wish they were tad small, but they're great. I have a few, really got into them, recently.

Glitter:

Adore them! (:

Eye Kohl:

Alright, I suppose. They smudge like mad, though.

Chromaline:

I have a red one, it's awesome.

Fluidline:

Absolutely love my Blacktrack! Wear it every day, pretty much.

Liquid Last Liner:

I had/have a blue one (I'm not sure where it is! I may have thrown it away). Nice, but I wish they were easier to get off! I hatehatehate oilbased removers, and I don't want to scrub at my eyes.

Lustre Drops:

Almost bought this, sort of wish I had.

False Lashes:

n/a, but they look awesome.

ProLash Mascara,Zoom Lash Mascara,Plush Lash Mascara, Dazzle Lash Mascara:

I have Zoom Lash, the girl talked me into getting it, and I hate it.

What has been your favourite Mac collection to date?

Ohh, wow. I loveddd the Neo-Sci-Fi pacacking! Uhmn. C-Shock was awesome. I wanted everything from that collection. Cult of Cherry was great, as was Star Flash and Alexander McQueen for MAC..

Which Mac collection, in your opinion, do you think was disappointing, if any?

A lot, to be quite honest. Hello Kitty, Style Warrior & Dame Edna (AWFUL packaging!), anything with Mineralize Eyeshadows (Electroflash, etc), Fafi, Metal-X.. I'm a pain to please, sorry!

What products do you think Mac are missing?

Good mascaras and better lipglosses.