Another Face #4 - Jordan

Hi! :D

I did makeup on my buddy Jordan today, she was feeling colourful so I did a look using Sugarpill. I did contouring and stuff too, it was a practice session. Look how pretty!

I don't have a before shot, but I'll try to get one another time. I used liquid liner on her, normally I use gel liner on other people because it's easier to control. I think I'll stick with the gel liner for now, although I do want to become more proficient with liquid liner too. Doing it on myself is a lot easier, but then again all makeup application is easier on yourself! I think I'm doing more makeup tomorrow for someone and again Sunday for Jordan. She's going to a ball so she has to get fancy. I want to do something super sophisticated, I'll have to have a think. I'll look into some celebrity looks, red carpet stuff.

I have a film shoot coming up too that I have to prepare for. It's sci-fi so I have to come up with some pretty out there stuff. I have ideas though and I picked up some bits today to mess with. I also have an assignment that will be put off until last minute. I'm so busy lately! I quite badly need to find time to do my nails. Anyway, here's a product list for this look, see you soon!

Products used:

Face:

Revlon Photoready Primer
Stargazer White Foundation (Highlight)
L'Oreal True Match Foundation - Golden Amber (Contour)
Revlon Colorstay Foundation - Ivory
Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer - Light
Natural Collection Loose Powder - Translucent Neutral
NYX Blush - Silky Rose

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
NYX White Base
Sugarpill - Mochi, Buttercupcake, Acidberry, 2am, Tako
No7 Stay Perfect Liquid Liner - Black
Urban Decay Glide-On Pencil - ZeroMaybelline Falsies MascaraEssence Eyebrow Designer - Brown

Lips:
Essence Marble Mania Lip Gloss - Peach and Mix

FOTD #7

Hey! I'm doing some photo shoots soon to get professional shots to start my portfolio, so I've been trying to come up with looks to use. I did this yesterday, contouring and everything! You know how rarely I post FOTD shots, never mind how rarely I post contoured ones. There's an eye closeup at the end too. Tell me what you think, I'd love some feedback! 

Products used:

Face:

Revlon Photoready Perfecting Primer
Revlon Colorstay - Ivory
Maybelline Fit Me - 120
Soap & Glory Kick-Ass Concealer - Light
Soap & Glory Trick and Treatment Under Eye Dark Circle Concealer - Bright On
Inglot Contour Duo
Maybelline Fit Me Powder - 120
Bourjois Blush - Rose d'Or

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Urban Decay Naked Palette - Sin, Toasted, Buck
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - Chopper, Foxy, Bootycall, Tease, Blackout
Rimmel Scandal Eyes Kohl Pencil - Nude
No7 Stay Perfect Liquid Liner - Black/Brown
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Dramatic Volume Mascara - Black/Brown
Essence Eyebrow Designer - Brown

Lips:

Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer - Nova

Nail Art #1 - Galaxy Nails

Hey guys, today I did some nail art! I don't have much experience with nail art and I'd like to try a lot of the cool stuff I see online. I've tried using dotting tools and I've used stickers before but that's about it really! One I've been wanting to try for a long time is a galaxy nail manicure, I'm sure most people have seen this one before. It's a very awesome and popular manicure, and very easy too! These are the polishes I used:

All polishes are Essence apart from the glitter polish which is from Revlon. Here's a rundown:

• Galactic Black - Black with subtle silver shimmer.
• White Tip Painter - This is the only white I own and I've never even done a French manicure. I will though, I promise!
• Sleepy from the Snow White collection - A pale greenish blue with blue pearl.
• Let's Get Lost - My favourite bright blue and the reason I started using base coats, it stains so bad!
• Ultimate Pink - The name says it all.
• Break Through - Lovely plum shade.
• Passion for Fashion - Violet.
• Revlon's Stunning -  Clear based polish with silver glitter reflecting multicoloured, irregular sized circular and hex glitter.

The basic idea is that you sponge colours over a black base, and work some glitter in to represent stars and planets. I used a cut up kitchen sponge because I had no cosmetic sponges, and I think it worked just as well. Revlon's Stunning is the perfect glitter for this manicure because of the different sized particles. They make for great stars in your miniature fingernail galaxies! I did a fair bit of searching for a polish exactly like this for this manicure, I was so happy when I came across Stunning. Another good glitter for this I've seen used by others is NYC's Starry Silver Glitter.

I really like how my nails came out! I'd like to do it again and try different colour combinations. I took a few pictures in a few different lighting conditions. It's hard to capture how cool this manicure looks in real life!

Natural light

Flash photo

Ring light

Ring light

Ring light

I will most definitely be dabbling more in nail art, I had a lot of fun with this. I'd like to do some gradient manicures too, the ones I see on other blogs look beautiful! We'll see what's to come ^_^

FOTD #5

Hey guys! I wanted to share a look I did last night. I used the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette for the eye makeup. I've been wanting to use this palette more, you can do so much with it! I was a little lazy with my face though and didn't do any contouring.

Now some eye closeups!

Products used:

Face:

Revlon Photo Perfecting Primer
Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation - Ivory
Soap & Glory Trick and Treatment Under Eye Dark Circle Concealer - Bright On
Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer - Light
Essence Silky Touch Blush - Adorable

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
Urban Decay Naked 2 palette - Snakebite, Half Baked, Tease, Blackout, Chopper, Pistol, Verve, Foxy
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil - Zero
No 7 Stay Perfect liquid liner - Black
Benefit 'They're Real' mascara
Essence Eyebrow Designer - Brown

Lips:

Essence Lip Liner - Nude Coral
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick - Mauve It Over
Essence XXXL Shine Lipgloss - Pure Chic

Lenses:

EOS Ice Green

Review and FOTD #4 - Sleek Respect

Hello!

I recently picked up the Sleek PPQ Shangri-la collection. It consists of two eyeshadow palettes, 'Supreme' and 'Respect'. Today I'm reviewing only the 'Respect' palette. Also included in the collection are both 'Truly Mattely Deeply' matte lip colours, 'Jazz' and 'Soul'. I've tried using them but my lips are in bad condition and I can't pull off mattes right now :( I have the dry, flaky lips of a corpse. I'm taking a few days to get them in better shape before I review. The whole collection is priced at €25, which is a bargain. Great gift idea for a family member or friend too! You can have a look at it on the Sleek site here http://www.sleekmakeup.com/ppq-collection-complete. This is Respect:

Outer Box

Palette

Shadows!

The outer packaging is lovely on this one. Sleek recently changed the look of their i-Divine palettes, they made their logo smaller and it looks much tidier. Unlike the other palettes I have, this one has gold writing on it too. Perhaps because it's limited edition but I'm not sure! Here are some swatches:

Gladys White, James Brown, Shalamar, Count Basi Beige, Aretha Orange, Otis Red

Roberta Black, Vandellas, Cameo Cream, Motown Mink, O'Jays, New Jack Pink

Some of the lighter colours don't show up all that well on my skin, I'm very pale. The shadows are good quality, typical of Sleek palettes. 'Respect' contains mostly warm colours, some matte, some satin and some shimmery.There's a great range of colour combinations here, you can make a ton of different looks with this. Here's one that I did!

I used 'Count Basi Beige', 'Aretha Orange' and 'O'jays' on the lid. I blended up towards the brow with 'New Jack Pink' and 'Gladys White' above that. On the brow bone and inner corner I added some of The Body Needs loose shadow in 'Iced Red'. The shadows are really nice to work with, they blend great and the colour payoff is good! I like this palette, there are some unique shades and an endless range of looks you can create. I think this color scheme in this palette would look particularly awesome on darker skin tones! Here's how I finished the look:

I stuck with warm colours for the lips and blush too. I entered this look in the 'Bright' category for Viola's Maddstyle contest which I mentioned before, you can read about it here: http://rodeo.net/killercolours/2012/11/03/contest-neutral-or-bright-win-prices-from-maddstyle-cosmetics/. I'll leave you with a couple more photos and a full product list. See you soon for the 'Supreme' palette review!

Products used:

Face:

Revlon Photoready Perfecting Primer

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation - 120 Classy Ivory

Revlon Colorstay Foundation - Ivory

Revlon Colorstay Under Eye Concealer

Maybelline Cover Stick - Ivory

Inglot Shader/Highlighter duo

The Body Needs Blush - Peaches 'n' Cream

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Sleek Respect palette - Count Basi Beige, Aretha Orange, Ojays, New Jack Pink, Gladys White

The Body Needs shadow - Iced Red

NYX Studio Liquid Liner - Extreme Coffee

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil - Demolition

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Dramatic Volume Mascara - Black Brown

Eyebrows:

Essence Eyebrow Designer Pencil - Brown

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter - Peach Parfait

#FOTD 3 - Sugarpill ColourPunch

Hello! Viola at Killer Colours is doing a contest, you can read more about it here: http://rodeo.net/killercolours/2012/11/03/contest-neutral-or-bright-win-prices-from-maddstyle-cosmetics/. There are two categories, neutral and bright. Four Maddstyle eyeshadows are the prize for each category. I did a colourful look for the bright category that I might enter! I'd like to do a few more different looks for each and choose the best. This is what I came up with yesterday. What do you think?

I might consider the Bubbles look I did recently as an entry too, but I think this one is better. Here's some pictures of the eye makeup. 

Products used:

Face:

Revlon Photoready Perfecting Primer
Revlon Colorstay Foundation - Ivory
Maybelline Fit Me Foundation - 120 Classic Ivory
The Body Needs Under Eye Concealer
Maybelline Cover Stick - Ivory
NYX Blush - Silky Rose

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Sugarpill eyeshadow - Midori, Mochi, Acidberry, Dollipop, Buttercupcake, Poison Plum
The Body Needs shadow - Iced Pink
LA Colours Jumbo Pencil - Sunglasses
Maybelline Falsies Mascara - Black

Eyebrows:

Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set

Lips:

Essence Lip Pencil - Nude Coral
No7 Stay Perfect Lipstick - Tangerine Touch

FOTD #2 - Vice Palette Look

Hello! I finally found time to do a look with the Vice Palette! Viola at http://rodeo.net/killercolours/ is doing a MaddStyle cosmetics giveaway, and I'm trying to come up with looks to enter in either or both categories; neutral and bright. Four MaddStyle shadows are up for grabs in each category! You can find more details here: http://rodeo.net/killercolours/2012/11/03/contest-neutral-or-bright-win-prices-from-maddstyle-cosmetics/. I decided that first I'd try a neutral look:

The contest is open until November 30th so I have some time to try some other looks out before I decide what to submit. I kept this look really soft and feminine, it might make a pretty nice bridal look too. I didn't contour or anything for this one, I'd probably add that if I were to redo it to submit it for the contest! I hope you guys like it. I spent a lot of time on blending, it's something I'm trying to work on at the moment. It needs some improvement! Here's a closeup of the eye makeup:

Products used:

Face:

Revlon Colorstay - Ivory
Maybelline Fit Me - 120 Classic Ivory
The Body Needs - Under Eye Concealer
Maybelline Cover Stick - Ivory
The Body Needs Blush - Passionate Kisses

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Urban Decay Vice Palette - Echo Beach, Nevermind, Rapture, Muse, Anonymous
NYX Jumbo Pencil - Milk
Gosh Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen - Brown
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara - Black Brown

Eyebrows:

Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter - Peach Parfait

Another Face #1

Hey everyone!
Today I got back from Galway, I went up there for my sister Laura's university graduation ceremony. She received a BA in Arts from NUIG :) I am very proud of her and her giant brain!
She wore a beautiful dress with a purple, green and teal butterflies and flowers on it. Here's a nice picture of her with our mother and step-father.

Paul, Laura, Mam

Here's a closeup of her heels, they are sooo cute!

They're by Ruby Shoo. The prettiness almost justifies the pain!

I only did her eye makeup for her, she'd already done her foundation that morning. She wanted her makeup to involve colour that goes with her dress, but not so much that she would look silly. Nobody trusts me with makeup, they always ask me not to make them look like a clown. I would never! I get a bit adventurous on my own face, but there's a time and a place. Here's her finished face:

So pretty!

I had creative control in this situation, but I only actually applied the eyeshadow and defined the eyebrows. This was a daytime ceremony so I wanted to keep the eye makeup relatively natural, with just a touch of colour as she requested it to coordinate with the dress. I wanted it to be soft and pretty. Here's a closeup of her eye makeup:

I didn't line the top lid because she normally doesn't. Since she doesn't normally wear much eye makeup she might have thought it a bit much. I filled in her eyebrows a little with the paler shadow in the Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set. She doesn't normally fill in her brows and I didn't want to scare her, so I just lightly filled them to add more definition to her eye area. What makeup looks 'normal' to me would be quite dramatic for her, so I tried to keep that in mind! I was very proud of my work on Laura. I think the makeup really added to her outfit and enhanced her natural prettiness so much. She said that she liked the look and had at least one compliment that I know about :)


Products used:

Face:

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation - Porcelain
Maybelline Dream Matte Powder - Rose Nude
No7 Natural Blush Cheek Colour - Cool Pink

Eyes:

Sleek - Nougat, Cappuccino (Au Naturel palette)
Soap & Glory - Dandy Plum, Wild Blue (Off the Wallflower quad)
Soap & Glory - The Daily Double - Velvet Pink/Brownie
Essence mascara - I Love Extreme Volume
Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter - Peach Parfait

In other news; I broke my nail polish ban while I was in Galway and it's all Nikki Lou's fault for her review of the Models Own Winter Wonderland collection here: http://nikkiloub.blogspot.ie/2012/10/models-own-wonderland-collection.html
I really needed Jack Frost. I didn't like the rest enough to buy them, but I had to get Jack Frost so I can layer it over black like that, it looks fantastic. Expect it in a nails of the week post soon! I also bought three other polishes..
Also, my wonderful husband Jim returned home last night from Arizona where he was visiting family, and he brought me gifts! I'll feature them in tomorrow's post :D
See you soon!

FOTD #1

Hey! It's gonna be a short one today unfortunately. It's really late and I have to go out of town tomorrow so I have to pack and stuff before I go to bed. Today I did a full face of makeup, so I photographed it and it will be my first FOTD post! :)

I even brushed my hair. I know it doesn't look it, but I totally did. Here's the deal with the eye look. I'm going to feature it it my next post because I used this look to test the Too Faced Shadow Insurance that I got in the mail today (yay!). I'll go into more detail about the application and shadows in that post while I review TFSI. I hope that's cool with you guys!

Products used:

Face:

Maybelline BB Cream - Light
Revlon Colorstay - Ivory
Maybelline Fit Me - 120 Classic Ivory
The Body Needs - Under Eye Concealer
Maybelline Cover Stick - Ivory
Essence Bronzing Compact Powder - Bronzing Queen
Catrice Defining Duo Blush - Apricot Smoothie
Inglot Loose Powder - Translucent

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Urban Decay Naked 2 palette
Gosh Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen - Brown
Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Pencil - Bronze
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara - Black Brown

Eyebrows:

Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter - Peach Parfait

Review with Look - Revlon Colorstay quad - 565 Bombshell

Hello!

I was in town recently and I walked past H&M. In the window there were a lot of pale yellow, grey and black clothes, and I admired how nicely the colours went together. I was on my way to Boots to have a browse, and ended up getting a couple of eyeshadow palettes. One was the Lid Stuff quad that I reviewed the other day. When choosing the other palette, I remembered the Revlon Custom Eyes palette I reviewed some time ago, and how I had meant to check out their Colorstay quads.

There were some lovely colour combinations, it was hard to choose! Goddess, Precocious and Enchanted were some that I remember admiring. Then I saw Bombshell, which was the same colour scheme as the clothes I saw in the window of H&M! I thought it would be nice to do a look with these colours. I don't know much about fashion and trends to be honest, but I think it's kind of cool to coordinate makeup and clothing colours together sometimes. So, maybe someone with the same ideas as me would find this look useful. These quads were priced at €11.20 at Boots.

It's new!

Look idea on the back

The Bombshell quad contains a satin white, a light shimmery silver grey, a dark matte grey, and a pale matte yellow. Like the Revlon Custom Eyes palette I have, there is a look idea on the back. I didn't follow it this time though! I felt like it didn't feature the yellow as much as I would like, and also it is too similar to the way I did the Lid Stuff look that I posted a couple of days ago. So I did it my own way instead! I'll show you that soon, but first, swatches!

These shadows don't have names either :( They're swatched over NXY Milk. I can't find my NXY White base, the cats swiped it underneath something or behind something I think. Damn them!

Sorry about my eyebrows again, lol. They look fine until I put the ring light on my camera, I'll take care of them soon. So for this look I wanted the yellow to be quite prominent, so I placed it in the center. This one's quite hard to apply. You have to really pack it on to make it show up strong. I then placed the dark grey on the inner and outer corners of the eye. I used the light grey to blend the transition between the yellow and dark grey. The shimmer in this grey adds a slight lift to the upper lid. I mirrored this colour placement on the lower lid too, and highlighted the brow bone and inner corner with the palest shadow. I finished the look by lining the upper and lower lash line with black, and applying black mascara. I applied a blue based pink lipstick too, which went really nicely. I didn't photograph it though, my lips aren't in the best condition right now since my Body Shop lip scrub suffered the same fate as my NYX base :( These shadows are meant to last on for sixteen hours. I wore mine for about ten hours, and they lasted very well. Here are a couple more pictures of the look.

Overall I like this palette. I'll certainly be using it more. I like quad palettes in general, they're so handy for popping your handbag or taking on trips with you. They're very reasonably priced too, four shadows for €11.20 is a sweet deal! Also it was technically free for me since I got it as part of a 2 for 3 offer. Hooray!

Other products used:

Essence 'I Love Stage' primer
NXY Jumbo Pencil - Milk
Maybelline Master Precise liner
Anonymous black kohl pencil
Maybelline Falsies Mascara
Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set

Wedding Nails - Forbidden

Hellooo!
My uncle was married yesterday! The wedding ceremony was held at Fossa Church in Killarney, it's a beautiful venue. I traveled to Killarney on Thursday with my Mam and her boyfriend Paul, and we stayed in the Killarney Heights Hotel. The wedding celebrations were held there too, and it was fantastic. There were a lot of guests! About 260 people were there. Everything went so smoothly, thanks to the incredible staff, and a great time was had by all! ^_^

So, on to the nails! I thought about getting gel nails done, but I like to change my nail colour often so I didn't bother with it. I'm actually on a nail polish ban right now, I have quite a few colours I haven't worn yet. Until I've worn most of those, I won't buy any more! I've been browsing on http://www.beautybay.com/ and there are some really awesome mini collections that I would like to acquire. Also, Viola at http://rodeo.net/killercolours/ did a post on Nubar's 'Night Sparkle' recently and it's so pretty. Don't even get me started on OPI's 'The Man with the Golden Gun', a limited edition 18K gold top coat. Disgustingly beautiful. The world of nail polish is testing me! T_T

For the wedding I wore red and black. I don't have any pictures, but if I come across any I'll throw some up. I got ridiculous red heels that killed my feet (I am extremely inexperienced with any sort of heels), and my sister did my hair a bit and I had a fascinator and everything! I rocked a red lip too, but to my dismay I was the only lady there doing so..I guess nobody else was feeling brave! I did my nails with Revlon's 'Forbidden'.

It's a gorgeous, vampy, deep red. I felt really grown up and classy wearing this one. Not that I'm not a grown up, I just don't act like one ~_^ Deep red and berry nails are an Autumn trend from what I understand, so hooray for trendy me! I don't often wear dark colours, I have a lot of brights and glittery/shimmery things. I thought I'd dry something new. I got Sally Hansen's Diamond Shine base coat and top coat too, and I've been using it as both. I found it in Boots after looking in a few pharmacies first. It's worked really well for me since I got it. As a topcoat I much prefer it to the Essence ones I have. It's thinner and dries much faster. I did read some reviews of it online slating it for weakening the nails when it's used as a base coat, but I haven't experienced anything like this yet. If I do I'll be sure to report in! Luckily if I have any problems I have the Revlon base coat to fall back on, and that one's great. I'll keep you guys posted.

There have been many nail posts lately, but I promise I'll do something different soon. I've been stuck for time but nails are always a sure thing with me!

Review with Look! - Revlon Custom Eyes - Rich Temptations

Today I'm reviewing another Revlon product! The 3 for 2 offer is still on at Boots :)

There were a few different CustomEyes palettes available, they cost about €11. I picked up the one named Rich Temptations. I chose this one because it seemed to have the best variety of colours. It consists of 5 shadows, pictured below.

I really like the packaging! It's quite small too, perfect for taking in your purse. It's even small enough to fit comfortably in a clutch bag.
I did swatches of the shadows and everything for you! ^_^
The poor shadows don't have names, but they have numbers instead.

From left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I swatched the shadows over NXY White Eyeshadow Base. I won't be swatching on bare skin at all on my blog. If you're not using an eyeshadow primer or base, you should be.

Each shadow has a satin finish, here's a short description of each:

1 - This one's a pale pink colour. Very pretty in the palette, but applies too sheer for my liking. I really wish this one were a bit more intense, as I really like pink shadows!

2 - This colour looks plum in the palette, but goes on a bit browner than you'd expect. It's still a nice colour though.

3 - A sheer champagne shadow. It's great for brow and inner corner highlight.

4 - A lovely moss green colour! I really like this one because I don't have another shadow quite like it in my collection.

5 - I was sort of disappointed with this one. In the palette it looks like a deep purple, but when you swatch it, it's closer to black. There are subtle purple undertones, but it's not what it appears.

A couple of the colours look a little too different swatched than they do in the palette. I was unimpressed with this to be honest. The colour payoff for the darker shadows is quite good, but for the paler shadows it's not great. I couldn't even build the colour up to make it more intense. I'm talking more about the pink in this case, as I can use the champagne for highlight.

On the back of the package, there's a sort of makeup tutorial! I thought this was quite cool, so I recreated it. I actually wish more products included pictures of look ideas!

The eyeball on the left is my eyeball! :D

Again I used NYX White Eyeshadow Base. The shadows are nice to work with. They apply and blend nicely and they look really good. The dark colours are strong enough that you don't need to pack them on heavily to get them opaque. Until I'd used the shadows to do this look with, I wasn't that impressed at all. Actually working with them and seeing how nice they are to use somewhat changed my mind about them. They lasted plenty long enough too. I wore mine for about 12 hours and it looked pretty much the same as when I applied it.

I finished this look with the following products:

• NYC Liquid Liner - Black
• Essence Kajal Pencil - Black 
• No7 Intense Volume Mascara - Black
• Essence Eyebrow Designer - Brown

To conclude, I like quite like this palette, despite my disappointment after swatching them. I'd be conscious of buying Revlon shadows without being able to test them in-store, though. Next time I'm in Boots I'll have a look at what other shadows they offer. I know they have Colorstay quad palettes so I might check those out, since the other products in the Colorstay line that I've tried are great.

I'll leave you with some more pictures of the look I did from this palette!